Perrain Berenohn

I have had 5 hits using auto refresh+ almost constantly for 2 days. Naming my home and agreeing to the “terms” within 5 seconds was not enough to secure a home in Belliseria.

All of the LL apologists will now try to tell what you can do, or could have done, to alleviate what you are going through. But, nothing they say changes the fact that members paying the same fee are not getting the same service. Given all the wonderful things LL has done, and is doing, we can all have patience for a team that has accomplished so much. But, this has gone on for quite some time, and it may go on for another year for some. Not only is this the result of bad planning, the lack of useful information or a plan to ease the currently unfair situation is a bad handling of the mess they have made. Expect to be attacked and insulted by these apologists if you persist with the notion tha LL is not infallible (as you will no doubt see in response to this post), but don’t let them invalidate what you feel. Nearly everything they say is true, but those facts do not negate what you said, which is also true: “Their planning is horrible.” I would use a less extreme description myself, but somehow, this “community” is intolerant of any negative statements about LL, no matter how slight. Don’t let them gaslight you. Also, they will give you good advice, and you can learn from them how to be better informed about upcoming changes. They want to help and that is admirable. Nevertheless, your statement is true.

Sure. I get that those who have seen the progress have a different perception than I have. I still think it could have been handled better. I still think it is unfair. Whether or not being fair is a problem or even possible is a different discussion.

awww.... you are sweet! Thank you! I will do that. Again, sorry if I was vitriolic. I am indeed frustrated.

That depends. I think some inequities might simply be subjective. I think the difference in Linden homes is pretty much agreed upon (witness the rush to grab them). So, in this particular case, I think the unfairness is real. I am not familiar enough with land deals to intelligently answer to your analogy.

Thank you for understanding my frustration. I just felt your saying I was over-exaggerating was an insult. Am I displaying malice toward LL? If so, I apologize. I certainly did not mean to do so. I am just pointing out that I think they made a mistake.

I did not say I was explicitly promised fairness. I just have an expectation of fairness. Maybe that is the problem. Also, why do you feel the need to be insulting? What have I ever done to make you angry at me?

I doubt it.

I did not say I was explicitly promised something. I am not making a legal argument. I am saying that the distribution of quality among available homes is unequal among members paying the same fees.

That does not make any sense. If you disagree with the statement, then I have nothing to be impatient about. Without thinking about me, just look at the meaning of the words in the statement and decide if you agree with them.

Thanks, Luna! My concerns about this are small (although my concerns that people have trouble seeing there is a problem is large). I am sure LL would respond to opinions that are held by a large number of users. The concerns of little-ol-me may not mean much. On this forum, I have simply been trying to express my opinion and see if others felt the same way and maybe had some good advice. I did get that, but it was diluted by the inanity of apologists with insults and weak arguments. We should keep in mind that the name of the forum is Second Life Community. No community can function without some basic, polite manners. Just be nice. It is not hard.

Do you agree with the following statement? People paying the same fees are not getting the same service. If you disagree, please tell me why.

Not as far as I know.

The homes are not equal, therefore the service is not equal. Details of the difficulties in fixing the problem does not mean there is not a problem, and that we are not being given an estimated time (days, weeks, or months) we can expect a solution. Meanwhile, membership fees will be collected by a process that I am sure people have made sure works just great to keep the money coming in. Members paying the same fees are not getting the same service, and we have no idea of how long this will be going on. I am pretty sure LL know this is a problem. I am confident they are working on it. I am confused as to why people have trouble admitting this is a problem.

Sure. But, there has not been a response to what I have said I think the problem is: People paying the same membership fee are not getting the same service. What part of this statement is untrue?

True. That is comforting. I guess my concern at this point is the lack of information about how much time we are talking about. In the Belliseria news interview with Patch (https://thebellisserian.wixsite.com/news), he says waiting a year to release would have only been enough to replace 1/2 of the old Linden Homes. I don't know if that is enough to meet the current demand. But, it makes me think some people may be waiting a year to have the opportunity to get a new Linden home. That seems like a long time to be on a lower tier of service for the same level of payment. I hope that will not be the case. There must be some estimate within LL that could be disclosed in the Forum. Are we talking days, weeks, or months? Do they have no idea? An answer to either of those questions would be nice.

I am amazed at the response to my expression of frustration at what was clearly a mistake by LL. I have been insulted and told things that are too obvious to be worth mentioning. But, the really annoying part is a refusal to acknowledge that LL did something wrong. Saying there was a mistake is not ranting (although, I have admitted it is whining). I have offered remedies for the current issue and ways to avoid this in the future. I am trying to be constructive. It is nice to be positive and to be tough to get through problems. However, it is better acknowledge problems when they arise and discuss constructive solutions. Thanks to those who have provided insight and information relevant to my posts. If your goal is to try to teach me about life, please do not bother responding to me.

Thank you, Evangeline, for posting this url. Patch's answer to this question shows the problem in my view: How do you respond to residents that feel the lack of inventory for homes in Bellisseria is “unfair”? This is a tough question to answer because it emotionally strikes a chord with me. If we opted for a cookie-cutter, universal design like the old Linden Homes, we firmly know that we would lose our edge that has made this project as successful as it’s been today. We could have toiled away in the darkness for another year and met what I predict to be more than half of the overall need to replace the old Linden Homes, but then the wait would have been terrible. Users will be waiting. I am waiting. Nothing about this is terrible, nor would it be terrible for everyone to wait. The problem remains: people paying the same amount of money are not getting the same service. Now, I can see that this was part of the plan and that is a disappointment. In his answer, Patch did not give a good explanation for doing this. There may be one. Perhaps it is easier to make improvements after a small scale release, and then the large scale release can go more smoothly. That is fine. But, then explain to everyone that this is happening, call it a Beta release, and warn people that it may not be a good time to pack up and move your residence. I should not have to pay the same membership fee as someone who has been able to take advantage of access to a home in Belliseria. They could pay more or I could pay less. Tiered access should have a tiered payment. Perhaps they could have tied the upcoming membership increase to the new homes, and delayed the increase for residents with old homes. Maybe there is a better solution. Just saying it is hard to create these great homes does not explain away the unfairness issue. It looks like Patch is saying this unfair situation might go on for more than a year for some people. That is really bad. The problem remains: people paying the same membership fee are not getting the same service. This needs to change.

Releasing enough homes to meet the demand would have been better. Generally, if people are paying for a service and that service is provided unequally among the paying customers, you have a problem. I think a survey to gauge interest in the project might have helped avoid the current situation. I can't think of any MMORPG that would do have a situation like this. If they did, there would be a flood of complaints. Those complaints would be justified. While SL is different from those services in many ways, the transparency and fairness in those services is important in the more competitive market they dwell in. But, hey... I can wait... I love SL and there is nothing like it. Nevertheless, this is a problem. I am eagerly waiting for the solution and hopeful for plans to avoid similar problems in the future. I don't think that is asking too much.

Hmmm. I suppose that is possible. Whatever the case may be, I imagine LL was aware of whatever technical constraints they were working with, but less aware of how popular the new homes would be. If that is true, then the problem was not a technical one and a technical explanation would not really address it. So, we still have the problem.

For me, the issue is that the new Linden home allows one to put more objects in that residence. No matter how you parse the square meters and LI between the new versus the old homes, the package of land and LI in the new homes is more desirable for me and probably for the many people who are flocking to fill these homes.

There is a bit of a Catch-22 for the Premium Member. Yes, I can move back into an old Linden Home. But unless I have two premium accounts, I cannot watch for new homes homes while I am in the old home. So, I have to be without a home for an unknown amount of time to avoid being shut out during the land-grab rush for the next batch of new homes.

I am sure that goes with any job where you affect large numbers of people. There will almost never be a move that does not cause complaints, and those complaints may be justified. It seems to me it would be good to have a way to quantify opinions before making such moves. Surveys, public forums on proposed changes and such... was that done? I don't mean that as a rhetorical question; I truly have no idea.

Thanks, Rose. Let's hope the solution Beth mentioned will be ready soon. In the meantime, I am staying at a friend's houseboat. Sometimes we just have to make do. I am lucky to have good friends to help me out!