Cybin Monde

First, the addition of a "Favorite Landmarks" login option is awesome! I'm sure it will see plenty of use and be a welsome addition to login options. (I love the concept of "options"!) Second, i don't know much about technical things, but it sounds like the new decompression should be a solid step forward. I hope we get to see some metrics on that in a future post! And now, of course, the widgets. Ugh. They would be great additions, if they were Opt-In and not No-Opt-At-All. Although, they do offer a proof of concept and i would be interested to see what other widgets we may be able to utilize in our profiles! Well, as long as they were optional and not required/forced. As a matter of fact, i've even made my own Jira for this. To those reading along, this is NOT a duplicate of any existing Jira on this issue. There were two types dealing with this, "get rid of it" and "allow us to opt-out"; however, i did not see any which requested an "Opt-In" option. This is the angle i took, please feel free to read the whole thing (and vote!): Allow Residents to Opt-In to any and all profile widgets Excerpt: The request of this Jira is to change the application of widgets in profiles to something more in line with the basic philosophy of Second Life. The idea that we can each craft our own experience to be the expression we wish it to be, to convey. Where we are used to having options for almost any feature offered to us. Edit: Just wanted to pimp this never-voted-on Jira of mine while i'm here: Show current Credit Card in Account Summary

A lot of great advancements here! I'm surprised the group limit being raised isn't being hailed as the beginning of a new era of awesomeness or something, after having been clamored after for several years now. Even still, i'm sure there will be many people thrilled at the new group limits. The other work looks impressive as well. The region crossing improvements look good, although i haven't really tested it myself. It does seem that there has been a noticable difference for several people in these comments, which is great to hear! I'm very interested to see how the new group chat pans out. From what i've been reading and from what i can gather, it seems like it should be a massive improvement over the current system. Kudos and good luck! - For everyone who is pointing out how there are profiles which would not be lawfully decent for teenagers to see.. here's the thing, they're currently existing against the ToS. All profiles are supposed to be limited to PG content only. Anything more "adult" than that is against the ToS, an AR-able offense and something which can have consequences against one's account. To argue that children shouldn't be here because there are adult profiles is sound; however, those profiles should not exist as such to begin with. What this points out clearly, is what many of us have known would be a good idea and asked to have for a while now - the ability to have rated (G/M/A) profiles. This would lighten the burden on support in that people could just set their profile rating and no longer have to worry about if the profile meets PG standards. Not to mention bringing in a much easier way to make sure profiles are not unlawfully accessible to the under-18 crowd. It just makes sense. If there's a continent for all Adult rated material, why shouldn't that extend to our profiles? - Lastly, the Facebook/Twitter/etc. content.. is not a "bad thing". While many of us may not want to participate in it, having that extended functionality will appeal to some people. Which is in line with part of what SL is about.. creating an existence of your own creation. Just because you or i like something, or dislike it, doesn't mean the same goes for everyone. Not even the loudest voices/crowds in the forums and blogs could claim to speak for everyone... many times less so, actually. All of that being said... Ciaran wrote: Why are you giving Facebook the time of day when they quite clearly don't embrace the concept of Second Life? You guys should be leading, not following. Cybin Monde likes this.

Greetings and welcome to Second Life and Linden Lab, Mr. Humble! From what I've seen, it should be great to have you here. I went and checked out all 3 of the games listed in the OP, also reading the explanations given. The information within the description for "The Marriage" was quite impressive and it gives me high hopes for what you'll accomplish here. (Not to mention the oft-ignored work you did with Create! A sizable feather in your cap when considering your role here.) Have fun exploring and learning the world! Until after now, Cybin

Sorry to see you leaving, Jack. Thank you SO much for all you've done throughout the years! (And for putting up with all my questions and inquiries about last names/region names, lol) I'm sure whoever takes over where you left off will do a decent job, but there will never be another Jack. You're name is immortalized for very good reason. The best of luck and wishes for your future endeavors, which, no matter what or where it is, I'm sure you'll be a welcome addition providing excellence and substantial productivity. I want to express this better, but I'm at a loss for words. Be well and I hope to see you around the grid sometime. Until after now, Cybin

I just wanted to say it's very sad to see an era passing. I really cannot believe that last names are now an artifact of history, nor can i believe that LL thought it would be a good idea to cut registration down to one name with the last name, Resident, forced onto the account. I have my isues with Display Names, as i also can see some of the good they can provide. Honestly though, registration should be allowing a First/Last scheme to persist. It would have been much better to allow people to choose whether they wanted the last name "Resident", giving the option to replace "Resident" with something of their own creation. The Fisrt/Last scheme which many of us have grown accustomed to is a part of your identity in SL. Yes, i am aware that one can create the illusion of a First/Last name by using a Display Name, but it's not really a First and Last name... it's just pretend and could be changed on a whim, which ends up losing the uniqueness of a true First/Last name. There are plenty of advantages to Display Names; unfortunately, we're already seeing negative side-effects (such as popular names (like "Prokofy") or business' (such as "Ravenglass") being registered by non-related persons) which seems like it'll be a popular new griefing tool. (Yes, i know profiles will show those with the last name "resident", but that doesn't explain if the owner of those properties registered the new name(s) or if it's an unrelated person) With Display Names and the new single username, people have been given more options. Sadly, this also took away options that a large portion of the community enjoys. So, in order to please those who would enjoy Display Names, was it necessary to take away such an endearingly popular naming scheme? Couldn't we have just been able to create two names? Or even given the option to use a space or a period in the single username? One way to redeem the single username schema would be to add an additional use case. Particularly, creating a single name login which could be used to access all accounts under that login name. You're all familiar with this usage from MMOs where you have your account login, but then pick your character (avatar) from a list. THIS would be a welcome usage of the single username creation, especially if it allowed cross-avatar inventory management (and Preferences settings which allow for "per avatar" or "all avatars" settings). TL;DR version: I'm sad to see last names thrown off so unceremoniously. I'd rather we could create a last name instead of being forced to use Resident. Griefing of usernames has already started. Single login access to multiple accounts would be a cool usage.

First... I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!! I totally didn't expect to see this when i did my daily checking of the blog, but boy am i pleasantly surprised! CONGRATS! This is a really welcome addition and should break SL out into the wider populace pretty well. Good thing you guys have been working on the infrastructure! (Which has looked like some awesome work being put in) Now that i've had a chance to breathe... I'm using SeaMonkey 2.0.10 (on Windows XP) and it worked fine for me. I had to wait for some loading times, sure, but I was able to get in and everything did load. Not bad at all. I'm wondering if there would be more extended controls if you're signed into a registered account, although i suspect it's not a "signed in" thing as much as it is a "pared down so it actually runs in a browser" thing. Either way, this is looking really good and i suspect good things to come from it. (I'm also guessing that the Display Name project made this feasible?) If there's anything i would look in to, it would be the directions on how to get from the first page through to logging in. I found myself waiting a couple times when i just needed to click somewhere.... which didn't signify it was a clickable space really. Other than that, i dig it. Great way for people to get a taste of SL, or for meetings, live events... and so on. Thanks! Until after now...

Torley, i think that was the reason given back when my voice held a little more weight, too. Although, honestly, i'm not sure why it couldn't just be added with "Live Chat" in a bigger/more prominent font on the "button" with the paranthetical part in a smaller font, but part of the same button. As such (well, without the font differences): Live Chat (Premium/Concierge) The current behaviour could be used as leverage instead of an obstacle. Or, making a molehill out of a mountain. As in, Basic accounts would be brought to the default self-help page instead (A note could be made on that page, "Used the Live Chat link? Find out more about Premium accounts here!", as/with a link to Premium FAQ), while Premium/Concierge would flow right through. It also infers the answer to "What support options do I have as a Basic account?". So, while it may not be able to be implemented for specific accounts, it can be used both as intended and as additional information/marketing at the same time. Edit: Basic accounts being brought to the self-help page (well, explanation of and links to, that is) is the current behaviour. I double-checked to be sure.

Suella, thanks! That's exactly what i was talking about.. i went back and read my comment and realized it wasn't very clear. It sounded like i was talking about an existing link, when what i meant was "the link, which doesn't exist". Torley, just like Suella illustrated. Currently, you have to click through a time or two to find the link to Live Chat, while just about any other basic support usage has a link from the Help drop-down, chat does not. So, when you said "Where? I don't see it?", that's expected behaviour.

Paulo, you may want to read this blog post as it pertains to what you're asking for: Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services There are some Linden comments further down which go into a bit of detail on what they're talking about, including working on support times and what they mean by "self-help" (it's not just reading material). Torley doesn't work on resolving tickets or in Live Chat, but he can help condense the breadth of the available self-help material so that we have, and can find, the appropriate information. Which is what this is about, working together to make it all easier.

Great to see more work towards making Help easier! While i don't have any threads to recommend, I did have an oft-mentioned idea that would help in a small way. "Live Chat" link in the Help drop-down menu here on the website/Dashboard. Mentioned many times before, i think we've heard "good idea, we'll look into it" from the Linden side, so it may be in the process of being implemented. Figured i'd include it here though, just to be thorough. End Of Li... er, Until after now

I've been watching this Mesh stuff from the sidelines, basically, all along. I finally downloaded the Mesh viewer earlier today. Installed that and a couple (Blender, SketchUp) programs to try out. This is all a new expereince for me and i have to say the possibilities are just awesome. I first tried out Blender, quickly realizing i couldn't just learn how to use it for the first time, as well as make some test object to test in SL. Then i checked out SketchUp. Much easier, even if not quite as advanced as Blender. I made a couple meshes, uploaded and tested out a couple basic things. I confirmed that i could go inside a hole "pushed" into a mesh with no problem. Although, there is a problem if there an extruded section (i think that's the right term, it made a circular thingy divided into sections, i left 2 sections (of about 12?) visible) over a hole in part of the mesh.. even if i only left a small section of it on the side. It seems the bounding box for it was still there. (Not sure if this is specific to SketchUp) I never had a problem uploading. Took me a minute to find out what i had to do in order to make it work. Might be cool to add that as a pop-up help screen (basic directions: load, make sphere, apply mesh, make appropriate Edit > Object changes and whatever else) that only comes up the first time you use the upload for it. I also never crashed or had any lag of any kind. Granted, i was in a region with one other person in it and there wasn't a whole lot of stuff around. Still, it went well for me. (While this is my main account, i also have a small inventory for it. I think i'm still under 3,000 items in my inventory, even after close to 7 years.) Anyway, thanks for the heads up on this Jack! It was fun checking it out, i'm sure i'll bang on it some more at some point.

Hi Maurice! *Waves* While we won't have a tool for every issue out the gate, we're actively looking for areas to expand the Resident tool set, and inventory tools are definitely on our list of areas to explore. I'm not certain what you mean about Premium Residents being "murdered," but Premium Residents do not have their inventory purged after several months of delinquency and non-payment. I just wanted to highlight a couple things you said here, as i know information can quickly be lost in comments (maybe add that info to the OP?). For instance, the inventory purge issue was resolved over a year ago if i'm not mistaken. And the "tool set". A lot of people seem to be thining that "tool set" is referring to a KB type of addition, while i'm expecting it's actual tools to help resolve issues. (" happening to you? Press this button to fix it!") A few things mentioned as common issues should probably expect a tool for them eventualy. Also, useful for any membership, instead of using Live Chat or a ticket. As for the "Hey! What? Basics don't matter?!?" comments.. yes, Basics do matter. However, part of the value of a Premium/Concierge account is extended support. Basic accounts do not pay for support directly, regardless of much money they put into other areas of the system. Not to mention, the cost of a Premium account is negligible compared to what you get (practicaly pays for itself with the L$ stipend, after which the cost is under US$2/month, when paid yearly). Also, Live Chat definitely needs help and is apparently understaffed at the moment. At least that's what i figure is the reason for cutting back the available hours. I'm hoping the new team that's forthcoming (still? yes? i hope!) will provide more comprehensive support than what we've been seeing for awhile with the current non-Linden team. I'm looking forward to the new self-help tools, as well as the trickle down effect from new internal tools. It sounds like a decent re-focusing so far. Really, the main sticking point with support most people have (from what i've read online) is the value of Live Chat and the timing of tickets... which sounds like both should be getting improved. I hope. Until after now...

The retail heads-up is great! That's an advance notice worth smiling about! However, the educational/non-profit advance warning is too short. While i agree that doubling the price is a definite hardship for those involved, i don't know what reasoning has gone into this and may be completely logical. The sticking point is more he timing than the pricing (although the pricing is quite a shift). Basically, the Educational/Non-Profit (mainly Educational) discounts need to be extended until at least June. The best would be if the increases came in either August or September, January is a killer for the reasons already mentioned by many others in these comments.

@Cybin Thanks! Of course, part of the problem is since Second Life doesn't do "sharding/instancing", this has led to orientation crowding in the past. And single-player games don't need to worry about that at all. And the Viewer would need better hooks to "read" what your avatar is actually doing. Nonetheless, they're inspiring ideas — if we can come up with more scalable ways, like integrating the web better with 3D. I've missed "Until after now..."! @Irene Why? No particular reason against that. But, I think it's tricky if you're watching a video of what you need to do inworld... yet you're on a webpage. There's a conceptual disconnect, but the gap is getting smaller. As I've advocated for why so many Residents have found my video tutorials useful AFTER being inworld for awhile, more should get a lovely first impression upfront, too. Suggestions like yours DO help. You know, these two ideas, and your comments on them, had me thinking of another possible avenue. Instead of having tutorials in-between registration setup, have them available to click through to at the end of the Registration process. Then my idea comes in at that point, as an option. You can either skip tutorial info altogether, or you can watch Torley Tutorials and/or you can use an interactive web-based tutorial. The interactive tutorial, i'm thinking, could be like a Flash (or whatever) game type thing. An explanation that the tutorial is meant to familiarize new Residents with the basic controls of SL. Move a generic avatar around in a generic setting (not actually SL, just a mock-up), with descriptions of those basic controls. It could be made to look like the world of SL and like a default avatar so that it relates better once they're in-world (maybe a reminder at the start/end of the video on how to log in to SL proper). The whole scaling issue you mentioned is why i never really pursued it while i was still there, but i kind of like the mini-game web-tutorial thingy. It may not be in-world, but on the other hand... for new Residents, it could help if they knew the basics before even going in-world (with mention of the Learn The Basics tab that is in the side bar). Until after now...

This post is in response to several posts that come after the initial post i'm replying to. Mostly in response to Wayfinder, but not in any order at times. Anyway, onward... Homesteads - I agree on pricing, it made no sense to me either. It's the technological need that i know was a monster. While there may not have been a ton of people abusing the original limits, we also have to consider the secondary effects they were having. One island sucking down resources could cripple other related islands as well. It effected other people. There was a need for the technological breakdown, but i agree that the pricing methods were rather bewildering. OpenSpaces were meant to be used as scenery for the most part, maybe a small gathering. That's why they're called "open spaces", because that's what they're intended to be... open spaces of land/water. You're also right about my "bad deeds/good guy" analogy. It was a poor choice on my part, but it does feel similar to how i view LL. I know the majority of people there are exactly what we would wish them to be, they care and want to see much of the same any of us do. There is just some maverick element to the whole thing that bangs around, with results that at times make no sense... issues where fallout seems not only predictable, but easily staring them in the face, yet still forging ahead with it anyway. So, it's not that i don't acknowledge the disasters along the way, it's that i see light that could lead to a renewed magic. Recently, it's been a rollercoaster ride. A lot of stormy, doubtful clouds have been throwing out some pretty disturbing bolts of doom. On the other hand... well, further down you ask Apotheus for a list of "profound improvements". I went and took a look at some Release Notes to help me come up with this list: Mono support Group Text/Voice Moderation Ability to change Friend Request message Ability to drop Inventory on IM names Ability to "Return All Objects" of a specified resident as an Estate-wide feature Addition of an "Ignore" button to friendship requests to keep online status private Over a dozen translations either added or updated Adult ratings/Zindra (YMMV) More information in About Land Ability to choose desired Maturity rating Allow Dimple/Profile Cut for boxes, cylinders and prisms Change the default cut increment from 0.05 to 0.025 Multiple attachment points, multiple clothes layers/tattoos - (Viewer 2 only i believe) Havok 7 New 16+ age limits on the way (again, YMMV) Mesh on it's way Snowstorm (Thanks for that quest, i like doing research .) And a side note about the "if you hate it, leave" style comments... the discourse here is intelligent, it is not a situation of people just blasting hate. This is the type of conversation that is good to have when things are amiss. Even if you're someone who loves LL and stands by them 100%, you should be able to admit that detrimental decisions have been made by Linden Lab. Not to mention, "if you don't like, there's the door" isn't really a productive way to join a discourse such as the one seen amongst the comments here. But please, do feel free to talk about why you think there is nothing to dislike. On a different point, i haven't been in-world much over the past 9 months, but i know previous to that the grid was in better shape for a couple years than it had been previously. So, if it's gotten worse since the beginning of this year, my point is moot. Otherwise, i stand by saying that the kinda old days weren't as stable as they are currently. (Not the "old days", because the old old days were fairly decent... i think. Been awhile.) Ok, i'm off to watch tv or play some games or something. Be well.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying they're perfect or doing everything right. All i'm saying is that they are doing some things right, as well as correcting some bugs/unfeatures along the way. Both the Snowstorm and RC Server region/release projects are substantial steps forward. There are plenty of issues/concerns which need to be addressed, but it seems we are headed towards a place where many of the current concerns will be iterated into something more crowd pleasing. Unfortunately, LL is tending to hang on to the old habits of making some poor decisions (yes, i know that can be read as being put lightly). It's kind of like that one person most of us know.. the guy who keeps making bad life decisions, but you know he's a good guy at the heart of it all. You make a very valid point about the blog comments, it does seem to have been heating up for a long time and close to a fever pitch currently. The poorly received decisions have obviously outweighed the good that LL has done, but i have seen a lot of positive advancement since SLCC. I'm not being ignorant of the negative side, as a matter of fact it's been hard to witness some of it for me. I'm just a glass-half-full type, both here and in RL. Of course management is more involved with the directions we're finding disagreeable, but it doesn't mean none of them care. For instance, some of the unpopular choices weren't ignorant of the community, LL just had to make a tough choice. Such as Homesteads being created; although, the pricing of the two lower performance islands is another issue altogether. The change was necessary because people were abusing the intended usage of them. I should also mention that i am not saying that people shouldn't be speaking up about the things they care about, nor am i saying they're wrong in all they say. I just don't want to see advancements ignored due to other issues overshadowing them.

Really awesome stuff, Torley!! I agree, the "Learn the Basics" button should probably be at the very top. It's much more intuitive that way. As for tutorials, it's funny.. he points made above are what i had been dreaming up for an Orientation idea. I never fleshed it out, but it's basically a course (kind of like the original) that teaches you things as you do them. Simple stuff; introduction to Sidebar, walk down a twisty path, jump over this log, fly up this cliff, say hi to this... parrot ( ), with extensions off the Basics "winners circle" to teach the basics of Building, Scripting, etc. (kind of like the newer HUDded version), and so on. Anyway, really nice work on making a compact Intro series! Until after now...

You make some excellent points here, Zhirow. Mainly, customer service and the warning time of only one week (my opinion includes the closure of AU instead of giving/selling it away) being the worst offenders. Although, customer support is bar and far at the lead of that pack. Nothing else will matter if customer support doesn't improve. (I'm holding out some hope for the new support that replaces the current non-Linden team. Although, i should mention that i do know there have been a couple of them who were polite and knowledgeable.) I really can't believe the warning time. I even read about it here and never made it in to see if there was anything i wanted to save. It's common for me to only login to my social sites once every couple of weeks, at most. If there had been no mention of it here, i probably wouldn't have found out for a month. Hopefully, Linden Lab has all the data still and maybe they read this... and maybe they decide to open it back up for a month for people to have another chance at getting their stuff. It doesn't matter for me really, i know i didn't have much on there.. i'm just disappointed at the way that community was treated. That being said, i must strongly disagree with your statement that Lindens don't care. I know they care, through extensive personal experience in both SL and RL over the last 6+ years. Now, i'm not saying there isn't evidence that some people who make some decisions aren't very in touch with the Residents, but there's also times when people just disagree over the best way to go forward. It's these times when we hear from the opposition on the blogrums and it looks like everyone opposes a thing, but generally speaking, people tend to post less fervently when they're happy.

Hi Cybin. Could you explain that a little more? Because I don't understand that statement for several reasons: 1) To my understanding, AU code has nothing to do with SL coding. 2) I don't understand how "tech they're bringing over from AU" is going to solve or fix anything. What supposed tech? And what does that have to do with chat, group notices being delivered, or search? To me, this is like saying throwing away all the apples and pulling over the apple cart is going to fix the rotten bananas problem. ; ) Sure thing, Wayfinder. 1) You're right, it really doesn't have to do with SL code. It's the "social site" coding that i imagine is the nugget they're elaborating from. From the first blog about this: In order to focus our resources on integrating that technology to Second Life, Which tells me that they are planning on using the AU code either on the SL web site, or possibly integrating with the viewer. I suspect the "code" is more how to make profiles aware of each other and less about fixing any pre-existing issues. 2) I admit, i don't see how any of this could help group chat; however, i do see how it could help profiles. Let's say the "tech" is used to make our own profiles here on the official SL site (which i could swear reading something about that somewhere), then the in-world profiles get switched to show a basic stub of information taken from the web profiles. This could mean getting a lot more freedom over what a profile may contain, i've been wondering if rated profiles may be more feasible due to this whole thing as well. As for group notices, it's probable that web profile pages would include group pages as well. those group pages could be used to send out group notices (most likely an option over using in-world methods), but then those web notices could be populated into your in-world Dashboard/Sidebar (i don't know, thinking of new methods off the cuff here).. point is, it's possible the "tech" could help profiles and group notices. Even though i don't see it really helping chat.. i was wrong about that part. And then there's Search. I was probably wrong about that as well. (I was rushed to finish that post of mine and didn't review before posting) Search is such an unwieldy beast, i have no idea what will fix it. To be honest, i don't suspect a great Search function in-world for awhile yet.. look how long it took the internet to get decent web searching. We didn't get Google until 4 years after the internet was popular, not that there weren't search engines before that.. but what we have with Google is better than the earlier search engines. So, no.. i don't think the AU tech will help Search, now that i think about it. @Burnman - My point was that some of the things people are asking to be fixed instead of puttering about with AU are things which LL looks to improve by the very thing people are asking that they abandon in favor of fixing the things whcih it may help to some degree. Also, i'm sorry i didn't clarify, but my comment wasn't towards just you specifically. I agree that the tech could have been designed in-house, but i also see how this is an easier path to the same ends. Saying it would cost less though is a bit of a jump. We don't know what was paid, nor how much it would cost LL to have developed it personally. My guess is that it was cheaper to buy AU when compared with paying people to create the code in addition to the lost time in developing other needed tech. Trust me, i do hear what you're saying. I've been here long enough to remember when there were no such issues. There are a lot of things that need reworking, polishing, etc.. On the bright side, regardless of any mis-steps, LL do seem to be striving to make a renewed go at working with the community on a lot of things and making measurable progress (such as the Viewer 2 work in Snowstorm and the recent news about 13-15 year olds). As for those muffins.. i bet they're hanging out with the rotten bananas.

Jack, at the very least, it looks like the AU address could use a redirect message, at either end. Going to avatarsunited.com simply results in secondlife.com appearing. It's bad enough that the site has been closed down fairly abruptly, but to provide absolutely no explanation of what's going on (besides a blog here) when redirecting is pretty bad form, geenrally speaking. Sorina, you (and others) have mentioned: You want to improve and enhance social networking here? FIX GROUP CHAT. IMPROVE IN-WORLD PROFILES. FIX IN-WORLD SEARCH. FIX THE GROUP SYSTEM. To which i reply, yes.. exactly. Except that you're telling LL to stop what they're doing (which will fix stuff) in order to fix stuff. The tech they're bringing over from AU, theoretically, will fix each of those issues to some degree. At the very least, 1 or 2 of them. So, on that point, LL ARE listening and trying to fix those things. That's the shiny side of the coin on this matter.

Congrats on the Tech, LL.. but as for how it was handled, i'm not so keen there. I cannot fathom why the Lab chose to just close down AU instead of selling it to someone. It really shines a negative light on LL as a whole, especially to non-SLers. I imagine they're trying to fathom the same thing i am. I don't know if all of the information is still saved somewhere, but i hope it is. If so, please... PLEASE.. reconsider the closure and think about selling it to someone who can keep the inter-gaming community alive. If for no other reason than to save face. I don't like it, but this makes LL seem like they don't care about anyone. From an outside viewpoint, Linden Lab has just stomped on that site like Godzilla did to Bambi. Then, the way the news is delivered and then the invitation to come join SL seems a bit too light-hearted, in my opinion. It seems all wrong. I may have thought some decisions could have been handled better, but this one feels morally out of place for you guys. Jack, none of this is really directed at you personally. This is commentary on LL as a whole, but more directly towards all of those who make the ultimate decisions. ETA - I originally came to AU through City of Heroes. Adding my SL info was just an aside at the time, kind of a "why not" thing. Granted, i barely ever used the site anyway.. but still, thought i'd add that bit of knowledge.

Closing down AU is a disheartening decision to see being made. It's not an "SL site" and abandoning that purpose in order to fold in the tech of it shouldn't mean the entire user-base has to suffer for it. I wholeheartedly agree with the notion that it would be much better to see the site sold/given away (while retaining rights to the tech), than to see it shut down entirely. I implore "those who decide" to reconsider this option. It doesn't seem necessary and would certainly serve to paint LL in a negative light... and i'd really prefer not to see that happen. (You know i love you guys!) That being said, i am excited about what's in store for profiles. If i'm reading correctly, in reference to the quote of Erica Linden earlier, we'll basically be going back to pop-up windowed profiles in-world (as in, similar to 1.x UI), except they will be based on a web page instead of generated within the viewer code? As long as you manage to separate RL from SL "tabs", it sounds like it could be a huge win... with lots of long-requested options. Rated profiles? Extended groups capabilities (assuming their's a "groups" function on the profiles web site)? Ability to provide multiple links? Marketplace integration? Video "tab"? OK, i'll stop there Point is, i can see a huge win for SL on this side of it, but it's a terrible fail on the flip side. I just hope something amicable will be achieved. Thanks for reading.

(I haven't read all of the comments yet, only got about half-way through.) First, thank you Jack (et al), for responding with this blog post and the current iteration of this project. These productive interactions i've seen recently speaks volumes on where LL is and heading currently. The work towards a more symbiotic and effective method of combining the needs/wants of LL and Residents is starting to shine through. That being said, on to the rest of what comments i have thus far: As for the point about people being lost at sign up due to the way Last Names are utilized, i wonder if as many people would be turned off by it if they could see the entire list at once. Perhaps the current method that's turning people off? As in, people currently need to pick a First Name first, then choose a Last Name from a partial list of names available. If they don't like what's offered, they have to "re-roll" and hope for something they like... assuming, that is, that they have any clue that the list changes (since there is no notice about that). Then, if they decide to go back to a name after re-rolling, they wouldn't be able to find it again since it no longer is offered in any list (at least for awhile, as far as i know). It seems the old method is much easier: All Last Names available to view at once. Freedom to choose a First or Last name, first. Easy to know what's available without having to reload anything. It seems having to alert new Residents that their (user)name choice is permanent and their constant unique identity would be a lot easier than detailing, or even using, the current system. I'm not sure how any new registrations are planned to work, but it sounds like new Residents will be entering a single username? Or will have the choice of either entering one or allowing the system to provide "Resident" if they don't create one. As long as there is still a "First Last" effect, at least scripts will be fine, which avoids a huge headache. However, as you know, i have to side with those who believe the "choose a Last Name" method is preferable to allowing any last name to be used. It's not really needed if Display Names are in place, as the freedom being aimed at is redundant at that point. (Of course, there are the age old points that they're familial and indicative of about what era someone joined.. to which i also agree emphatically.) Also, on a slight side note, while i can see the advantages of Display Names, i can also only think of one place where being able to change your display name is allowed and/or used with any frequency... and that's social networking sites and gaming console gamertags. Not that it's a bad comparison, just something to chew on as it concerns intuitive use of a thing. I'm glad to hear that a differentiation by color is on the table. I would be loathe to not see this implemented, as it would provide such an easy method to see the difference at a glance. (Ceera made a good point about color-blindness. It could be mitigated if the display name color could be changed in preferences, but it wouldn't be such a bad idea to offer another distinction, such as italics or parenthesis. Possibly also in Preferences.) Ceera also illustrated quite well how corporate or registered names may need further protection than is currently in line for Display Names. I know there have been a good amount of others with the same concern and rightly so. It seems this will need to be addressed before it could go live. The idea to allow someone (any account) to pay to be added to a "don't use my name" list is a great idea! Not just for existing SLers, but for businesses/entities that wish to be active in SL as well. I also agree including it as a Premium perk (opt-in) would be a wise move in more than one direction, although i can see where this may be more likely to fall under a paid-for service, no matter who it is. The Display Names list (able to switch on the fly between a few names) is another good point for the RP community, which this is attempting to serve at least in great part. For instance, perhaps only 1 or 2 names in the list for Basic accounts, while Premium gets 3 or 5? From there, this could also be a L$ sink for more name slots, as i don't know that charging for all use of the feature is a good idea. Either way, i don't believe it should be Premium only, as it's too restrictive and would diminish the "shiny" considerably. Jack Linden said: "Improvements to chat so that you can see username if you wish to and so that chat logs include notification of any display name changes by anyone present." Usernames in chat (and logs) should be on by default. No question about it. Mostly to help new Residents learn what Display Names are about by allowing them to show Display Names only if they wish. This offers the same option, while making sure that new Residents don't mistake a Display Name for a User Name. Somewhere up there i saw mention of an idea for separating Display Names out to different use cases. For instance; Family Names, Role Play Names, Business/Education Names. This would allow more flexibility in how they're used/presented (for LL and Residents alike). Granted, it's probably to prohibitive to code out such a monster.. but it seems worth mentioning. (Family Names would be changed infrequently and could be used as an extension of partnerships so that "children" and extended family could be included. RP Names would allow for multiple changes in a day. Education/Business Names would change the least.) If this method were pursued, i would encourage more subsets to be considered as well, such as Estate Names. Personally, i'm not a huge fan of this. I'll be choosing to show Username only, although will probably keep Display Names on over peoples heads (just for laughs). Also, my Display Name won't be changing.. but that's part of the beauty of this, at least we aren't forced to change anything that already exists.

I suspect display names are a compromise that allows existing citizens a choice to use the name they wanted to in the first place, and it will allow new folks to just put in the name they want to. I see no reason why it should be a complete revamp of allowing citizens to just change their names. But just allowing people to change their names would be easier to implement and less disruptive, and would actually allow people to use the name they want - Display names won't do that, because the old user name will always be there. Actually, it wouldn't be easier at all. Display Names are technically easier than alowing everyone to change their Username. Simply because the Username can be in any of a ton of places in SL. For instance, "Zipper Zipply" decides he wants to be "Zapalot Zipply". Changing the name above his head is easy, but propogating that change across the entire grid(s) is another matter altogether. What of any groups he founded or is sole Owner of? Or scripts that have comments "Made by Zipper Zipply" or lines of code that are dependant on sending something to "Zipper Zipply"? Or any objects he created, land that he owns (probably the easiest one to mitigate), friends lists? All of these things would need to be updated (some couldn't be, like in existing scripts.. very problematic when those scripts are sending you money or notifications, etc.), which would definitely take some stretch of time (probably could be done in a few days... if only one person was changing their name in that time) during which a host of issues could go wrong, not to mention the possibility of it not propogating properly. So, basically, allowing everyone to change their Username is technically infeasible. Display Names step around that and allow the basic idea to work without breaking existing content. (Not to say that i'm in favor of Display Names, because i'm an oldbie who prefers our family names. Hmm, "family names"... there's an idea. More later.)

Wow! I really like the new "All" view, not to mention the whole thing overall. Feels a lot smoother, although it may take some time to get used to some of the new UI stuff. I don't mind the size of it all personally, but i can see where it could feel oversized. I'm being further and further convinced that some definite headway is being made. I'm getting a renewed vigor to do things "with" us and in a meaningful and productive way. Not that there aren't some current grudge points, generally speaking... but overall, i expect the work to quickly outweigh the sentiment that LL doesn't listen, especially with both the accountability and opportunity that the more transparent workflow brings with it. Basically... we're heading a truer north. (even if the compass does use a really big font)