Ayesha Askham

@Alexi After all this time you ask "Why?" You must surely recognise that Secondlife is slipping out of Linden Lab's control. Firstly there is no consistency about how posts on the GSP are made, now you see it, now you don't. That won't change. Secondly the Marketplace issue is a gamebreaker for many in SL, and in short Linden Lab have demonstrated that they do not know how to fix it. If it does return to function is will have lost so much confidence, both in vendors and customers, that it will not remain viable. I don't like rubbishing The Lab; some of the things they have done are truly awesome, but they are one of the most unprofessional outfits in IT. Their internal communication, if it exists at all, is attrocious. They have some superb organisers and communicators in their employ, yet time and again The Lab undercuts these hard-working folk, and SL ends up as the butt of yet another joke. One last thing; I love SL and what it has done for me: this incompetence breaks my heart.

Oskar Pardon me if I sound a note of caution... Yes last week's roll to the RCs doesn't seem to have thrown up any bugs or issues, but surely running a series of server replacements simultaneously with a server software roll out is flying in the face of conventional logic? We are told time and again that LL operates a secure service and that stringent QA checks accompany any changes. So now we see two groups working on the servers at the same time doing different things. How on Earth will the techs know which change produces a problem if two things are being changed at the same time? That flies in the face of all logic and all that I was taught about maintenance.

Only two small caveats. Firstly Norton antivirus systems seem to dislike the slplugin.exe, so you may need to manually "allow"that. Secondly nVidia cards seem to have fewer issues with SL's graphics than the AMD (ATi) cards of similar spec. Also a GTX will be better than a GT. Otherwise so long as you avoid wireless connection (wireless connections may seem fast but are often "pulsed" so packet loss can be high), you should be OK. Good Luck!

Nalates There is a problem here. Wolf actually makes a very valid point. Support (Live chat) services need to be available at times that are more useable to Non-US customers of Linden Lab. 24/7 phone support is not an exception in the commercial world it is a reality and a necessity. It is long beyond high time that both Linden Lab itself and US based users of Secondlife started to realise that Secondlife is a global system, not a parochial thing. That failure to provide adequate support was laid bare last weekend and compounded by support's inability to realise that the choice of ticket available to basic accounts did NOT include that suggested on the Grid Status page. The lack of worldwide support and its very obvious lack of adequate training let Linden Lab down badly and made the company look foolish and amateurish. That it is not should be plain to all, but the image that was given last weekend was that of a company quite unable to deal adequately with its customers worldwide at a time that competent support was keenly needed. The fact is that Resident help was mobilised far sooner and far more effectively than proprietory systems and that is NOT satisfactory at all.

It seems that the bug blighting many Secondlives has been eradicated from the Grid and Praise be for that. However, it does seem to have laid bare the poor customer communication record of Linden Lab (note...Linden Lab not individual Lindens). Time and again I see customers asking why it is that information takes so long to reach us, and the same comments suggesting that we read a given individual's blog, since they could be bothered (read Had the Time) to attend the various User Group meetings that are held. The point is made that it seems to be individuals who disseminate information, not Linden Lab. I suspect there is a good reason for that, and that is that those individuals that do disseminate information are not employees of Linden Lab and therefore The Lab has no liability for the accuracy or otherwise of the information thus imparted. Most of us know that the individuals that DO meet us at the interface are motivated hard-working people. It is the culture of Linden Lab, started and mentored by Philip Rosedale/Linden that is at fault for the poor communication. I see a comment that improved communication was started by Philip and has atrophied since Rod/vik Humble/Linden took the post of CEO. Really? If that is so it goes against all that Rodvik claimed to be trying to do in his early posts on The Blog. Frankly the culture/ethos of Linden Lab is probably its biggest hobbler. That culture/ethos is not the issue of the current CEO, it is the issue of the originator of Secondlife, a man whose disinterest in the users of Secondlife is no secret. Until that attitude changes (and I don't imagine that I will live long enough to see it) we will continue to be treated like mushrooms.

Oskar Forgive my obtuseness. This issue with a new bug...does it mean that the ghosting issue will not now be fixed this week or did I mis-read? Also, thankyou once again for your painstaking explanation of this process such that numbskulls like me can understand what has to be done each week. I do hope this ghosting issue can be got rid of because it is not simply affecting region-crossers. If an av that has previously been ghosted on a sim TPs back into that sim, apparently it can never get out again, even if it cleaned up its doppelganger!:smileysurprised:

OK Oskar, I think that puts things in perspective thanks.:smileysurprised: I just don't think that the remarks will cut much ice with the great unwashed (or unlogged in). As to the rest of this breakage, well Kelly explains it very succinctly, but again, it ain't gonna go down well. As to the viewer code issues, I'll just drown quietly...I'm in way over my head!:matte-motes-bashful:

@Oskar You know you didn't really address one of the main tenets of Wolf's post; namely, why wasn't the faulty code (which you soon KNEW was faulty), rolled back? And you wouldn't want TPVs to keep pace with the LL viewer so why give them the function IDs? *coughs* Yes, things are better than they were two or three years ago in some ways, but definitely not in others. I doubt your words would comfort someone ghosted on Thursday. I suppose it is unrealistic to expect LL to have staff working at weekends, after all when would they get their recreation? "It's just a game" *coughs again* :smileywink:

This is another example of one part of Linden Lab not communicating/co-ordinating with another. We are starting a Main Server Roll and now we have Inventory Maintenance. Now I was always told not to fiddle with two variables at once when upgrading or fettling a system, because if something went wrong you wouldn't know which caused the problem. I doubt if the laws of logic have changed recently. We are using a system that is run by an incompetent organisation. Note what I wrote. It is not the individuals, but the organisation that causes most of our problems.

@Oskar Wow one thing is fixed...I logged in and got to post first attempt!:smileyvery-happy: SVC-7632...oh dear. Now you say (and I know it's not YOU) that QA have fixed the "ghosting" bug in the threaded region crossing code...this is the same QA that gave us the bug in the first place, so pardon me if I don't rejoice until it is clear that they did their job properly this time. And having seen Philip's comment in the NYT (see Tateru Nino's blog), I wonder how long it will be until I try to log in one day and there is nothing there? Does he have NO common sense? *sighs* "Onward":smileywink:

Well, Marcus, it's like this: Sometimes despite the wonderful search tools in SL you just cannot find what you want in Secondlife. So, if you aren't a good content creator and cannot make what you want, you look on Marketplace....well, well, there it is! Oh dear, the creator doesn't have a store in SL. So you use Marketplace to order your heart's desire...you pay for it...and wait...and wait... and wait. It never arrives, and to add insult to injury you are not refunded because SL tells the creator that your item was delivered! Even worse, the creator sometimes doesn't even see your payment! So, I ask myself, where does that money go? I wonder!

@Cerise and Oskar There can be little doubt that the introduction of the threaded region crossing code has caused most of the issues being reported in https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-28209 . At last it is on the GSP, but it has taken two days of frantic ticketing to get it there. This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed, at least at the next roll, and for many even that it too late. When will Linden Lab stop shooting itself in the foot and attend to its appalling QA record?

Ghosting: Now I seem to recall that if you can get a friend inworld to IM you, your avatar will be logged out, but I don't actually know if that works still. Otherwise it's support and either a ticket and...wait......or if you are Premium, Live chat and they should be able to get the sim restarted if it's a Linden sim. If it's private it's up to the landlord I'm afraid. Also see this JIRA: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-28209 . There is a suggestion that the code changes behind Threaded Region crossing may be responsible for a resurgence in "ghosting".

Oskar Believe me, I am VERY glad Timewarp is no more. I experienced it and I never want to do so again! I wasn't scare-mongering, so your assurance is most welcome!:smileysurprised:

@Dilbert & Tymus Oh Lor that sounds very much as though the dreaded "Timewarp" is back. I had thought LL had exorcised that before the end of 2011. In my limited understanding of things I had thought that the OS upgrades to the newest Linux had been the cure. Seems not.

@Oskar Thanks for the reply, it is greatly appreciated...we certainly weren't seeing any issues we could tie into Server software! On the browser issue, I had Safari, Firefox and Chrome on my last PC at one time or another but deleted Chrome because it wasn't as secure as Google claimed it to be and it caused me too many filepath conflicts. Safari worked well but it being Apple too many other bits of software piggyback on it to be safe. Firefox was OK, but since IE seemed to work well enough and I understood it's innards more I stayed with it.:smileysurprised:

Oskar Linden wrote: The code in RC last week had some issues and cannot be promoted. There will be no Tuesday morning release this week. Second Life Server (main channel) No main channel roll this week. So we had issues on LeTigre...were they fixed...were we told? PS Oskar PLEASE get someone at your end to fix this forum for IE users, it is a Right Royal Pain in the Ass. On one occasion I managed to post without even logging in...this is not my browser. The Fault is at your (LL) end.

OK. Oscar's post answers that...No Main Server Roll...but restarts are usual I assume? I wonder why?

ATi GPUs do have issues with some of the functions of SL. Why I do not fully understand but I belive it is due to Open GL support issues. Basically to run an ATI card in SL you need to turn off support for Vertex Buffered Objects in preferences, then all is well ( I believe...don't take that as Gospel!) For my money don't go with ATi. AMD processors..*shrugs*. My experience with nVidia GPUs is much better, but that may not be true for everyone. 500GB HD? A bit puny frankly. The MaC vs PC war will rage and IMHO it is up to the buyer. MaCs are damned expensive for what you get, but I have to admit that MaCs have fewer warts than Windoze PCs. From a personal viewpoint I've been a PC operator for a long time now and I wouldn't swap, but it's to a large extent what you are used to. If you've run a MaC you know it's idiosyncrasies by now so you probably would be best sticking with one.

@Oskar I see from the Google calendar on the GSP that there is no Main Server Roll this week. I assume nothing was fit to promote? also this was sneaky...I didn't log in!!

@Warumono This won't be a lot of help, but it seems a lot of folk have a similar issue, for some reasons SL's servers just don't "recognise" or receive notification of your login from the login server. I have experienced similar, though only partially similar occurrences where several of my friends do not see me as online until I IM them. IM contact seems to "nudge" the server and I am then seen as online by the friend I IM, and a few moments later by the others! I have even had my partner on the same sim log in and SL still doesn't recognise them as online until I IM them. I say this to give you some sort of work around. Linden Lab seem not to accept that it happens.

@Oskar As Jim Lovell once almost said: "We may have a problem" https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-7615 If an avatar types anything in local chat while sat on a poseball, the av then "floats" above the poseball still in the animation or pose. The av must stand and resit in order to restore the pose. If the av is force-sat then a relog similarly restores the pose. Region is Woods of Heaven on LeTigre.

@Cincia Yes I must admit that IE9 does seem to have a lot of compatability issues...but Chrome fought with my antivirus so badly it nearly wrecked my PC! I had to uninstall it in the end. In all my other applications IE9 seems to work fine..it's just logging into the community pages at secondlife.com that seems to be problematic.:smileyfrustrated: As to being "pure and angelic"...Hmm I'd need to work at that!:smileyvery-happy:

@Oskar Well, by Cincia's definition I am evil, and to be honest I don't care. I've tried various browsers, Firefox is OK Chrome is downright dangerous and Safari s****. I happen to like IE9, and it has no more warts than the others, it just happens to be made by the Evil Empire, so it has different ones:smileywink:. As I said if I try hard enough, I get in (tautology), but we shouldn't have to try so hard and I'm damned if I'll be told which browser I should use!:smileymad:

@Oskar Well, I haven't seen any issues so far on LeTigre...but taking my issues in hammering at these forums until I get in, most folks probably give up and go away mumbling. There is a problem for IE Explorer users in getting into any of the Secondlife forums to post...and it has been going on for quite a while now...it is taking Linden Labs' contractor far too long to sort it out. Could someone at the Lab please kick them up the butt? It is restricting those of us who actually wish to give the Lab coherent info! PS I notice the JIRA works OK. PS: I do finally get in on IE but it takes me several tries and usually a few twists and tricks to actually post!