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Tari Landar

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Everything posted by Tari Landar

  1. Ok, before I ask, I want to make it very clear that I am not asking anyone to write me, or hand me a script, lol. I really want to do this on my own, if at all possible. That said, here's my problem... I have very basic script knowledge. I am working to improve it but right now I am failing, lol. I HAD this script in my inventory. But I can't find it anywhere. I have been looking for months now and it's really not in my inventory anymore. It's a script I piece parted together from other scripts. (only open source ones of course). I found the pieces and parts of it on a website that had scripting help. But it's been a couple of years now since I last saw it. I really need this script for a project. My understanding of particles and how they work is very minimal, at best. I can tweak scripts til the cows come home, not always successfully, but I don't mind trying. So I've tried taking a couple different scripts I do have, to make this one again. It's really not working out for me. The basic idea of this particular product is to create a "splash" effect and sound on collision. I can make a sound on collision with no issues. I can make a constant particle too, and a touch on/off particle. But I am either extremely dense, suffering from part-timers or totally not looking in the right places. Maybe my search terms are way off and that's why I can't find it. All of my searches leave me empty handed though. I keep finding particle scripts and help that are *constants. Or ones that have a "splash on hitting linden water". That's not what I am looking for. I even checked marketplace to see if someone sells such a script(never hurts to help another creator). I'm still only finding the same things all my other searches come up with. Mostly how to make a fish splash, which isn't what I need. I just need some direction as to where I should be *looking* for help on this. I tried the wiki, but I clearly don't have a good enough understanding of triggers and how to implement them in existing scripts. I just want to understand the mechanics of it, so I can broaden my scripting horizons and work on some projects. Not real sure where to start. The site I used back then isn't coming up in any searches. I don't remember the name of it, but I know it *used to be high on google search for the lsl script terms as that's how I found it to begin with. It was a very plain site that, for the most part, helped dumb stuff down for me so I could better understand the hows and whys. It had some very basic scripts that were easy to adapt and change, but it still explained what, why, when, and how. Sorry that was long winded. I've just been frustrating myself with this one. Figured I'd better seek guidance before I throw in the towel and move on to another project. Thank you in advance :)
  2. Ok then. Just trying to show you it's not the end of the world, happens to lots of people, everyday. I know simply from reading these forums, most people couldn't give a rat's butt about the reviews. They used to, and maybe one day they will again. But right now, the fact remains reviews aren't worth what they used to be. If you want to think that one review has slowed your sales, by all means go for it. I'd prefer to remain positive, personally, and continue on. I'm not going to fret over one review, especially after the fact, when there's nothing you *can do(once you've done all you can that is). If people see you get up in arms about something(and by this I mean the people who would normally give unwarranted negative reviews), they'll know they've hit your hot button. They're more likely to continue doing it. It would be easier to let it go if we had better recourse, but we don't. So you can take the high road, do whatever possible to deal with the issue, and move on. Or, you can continue showing those who leave that sort of review, that it gets under your skin and *will* have a negative impact on your rl as well. In which case.. they win and they'll know which target to hit next. If you indeed think it's someone simply being malicious you're just giving them more reason to keep doing it to you.
  3. I wasn't saying one bad review has no impact on other good reviews. I was saying that reviews in general have little to no impact whatsoever. Whether they are good or bad. They do not have the same impact they used to, or are intended to. One review won't make or break you or your sales of that product. I have the exact same situation, one false review on a product that has no other reviews at all. It has *not* impacted the sale of that particular item. I honestly do not believe that one low rating *will. I suppose if the product "looked" as if it weren't any good and the review someone left(true or false) seems plausible it *might give someone cause to think twice, but I doubt anyone who is interested in making the purchase will decide not to based off one review(yes even one chock full of lies). That's where being able to comment on reviews comes in handy, and it's pretty much the only place it comes in handy. You can explain, as best as possible, so future customers can see. That *will be your saving grace if you get an unwarranted negative review. Sure a negative review *might turn off someone who was already on the fence about purchasing every once in a great while. But not nearly as often as we might think. Of course there are principles involved, and it needs to be changed. I don't think anyone would ever dispute that. I've yet to run into anyone who actually *likes the system we have. It wouldn't matter who left the review, or why. A false review is a false review and there ought to be checks in place to help prevent them. As it stands, this is what we have, and apparently, they aren't changing it anytime soon. It sucks, but it is what it is. Personally, I don't worry about the negative review. I would if it were true, but since it's not there isn't anything I can do. I'm not going to go around and see what other negative reviews this person left, or why. Once it's done.. it's done. I did my best to correct whatever problem there was(there wasn't one) and stated so in my comment to the review. And now that experience is behind me. Unfortunately there will always be people who do things like that. Even if they did change the system, we'd still have people like that. You'd be better off not worrying so much about it. If it were a real problem, you'd have handled it by now and it would have been done and overwith. But because it's not a real problem, it's easier to sit ,stew and be mad(rightfully so), go checking up on this person to see what other dastardly deeds they've done and worry about it impacting your sales. None of those things really matter. Though I do understand completely about being angry, and worrying about the impact it might have(I don't understand going to see what other reviews a person leaves, that practice has always seemed silly to me). All you're doing is adding fuel to the fire for folks who do leave unwarranted reviews though.
  4. Negative reviews could have an impact on sales, at some point. But to be honest, that point isn't right now. Above and beyond what we see here in the forums, a lot of people talk in world too, about marketplace that is. I know very few people who actually take reviews seriously. They simply do NOT have the impact they had before. This can be a good or bad thing, it depends on how you're looking at it. Lower sales could be attributed to just about anything, though. This time of year many have already said they're seeing a decline in sales. Many have also said they experience this same "slump" as it were, every year around the same time. It could be possible that the lower amount of sales is simply just a reflection of less purchases overall. Or, it could be the rating. However if you, as a seller, comment on those ratings and *show people you are trying to get to the bottom of an issue, that low review is more likely to have a positive impact on your sales.(for those actually paying attention to reviews. There used to be a much larger audience doing so, now, not so much) I too miss the discussion area that was on xstreet. That was a really great tool and I think a lot of merchants, and customers, used it to not only sort issues but even improve products. I really wish we had that back. I know we have the comment thing, but, still. This wasn't the same. When I got that low review I thought the worst too, that it would impact my sales, that it would somehow make people leary of buying that item. The fact that for whatever reason I wasn't even able to leave a comment on the review for months after the fact-did not help any. But my fears were pointless, as that product still sells. Though it did slow a bit after that, I don't think it had anything to do with the review and moreso the time of year it was. I rely on my sl sales as well, so anything that could negatively impact my sales could prove to be problematic for me both in sl and rl. But I've learned that the reviews, are the least of my concerns, at least right now. Personally I think if they aren't going to overhaul the review system as it stands they ought to disable it until they can. I like the idea of having reviews and being able to leave them, a lot. I don't like the idea of dealing with a majorly flawed system for ages like this. We'd probably be better off, overall, with no review system in place until they can get one that actually makes sense, is user friendly, and provides a service for both parties. But everyone knows they won't do this. It's easier to hide behind the curtain making shadow puppets that vaguely resembling people doing work.
  5. I agree with almost every thing you've said here. Sellers have very little to no recourse when it comes to unjust reviews. I believe the entire review process needs not only a complete overhaul, but also some *actual instruction for customers. It should be a simple process for us to leave reviews. As it stands now, it isn't, and I hate that. We get far less reviews in general because LL can't seem to get a handle on anything. Instead they focus a teeny bit of time on each and every thing here and there, to make it seem as if they're actually accomplishing something, when in reality they've not done a darn thing. The one thing I have issue with is sellers being given the power to remove 1 and 2 star reviews. As much as it pains me to see folks getting those on items that do not deserve them, it's a reality you need to face as a merchant. Yes a lot of times it very well may be A-a competitor, B-someone who simply failed to read instructions, C-someone who is having a really horrid day, D-someone who confused that product with another or E-someone who is flat out cranky and can't be pleased. But there are also times when a 1 or 2 star review would be warranted. If we give merchants the power to remove any "low" rating, some will undoubtedly remove *warranted low ratings too. In fact I know one seller who will do everything in his power-including having friends leave higher star reviews to counteract any negative ones. While that person may not be the majority of sellers, there are enough of them out there who would abuse this removal power to benefit themselves in the same way. So it really needs to be an all or nothing. Either we're allowed to remove *any reviews, or none at all. At least with the system we have now, this is how it needs to be. We do have the power to flag reviews, though I don't know what good it will do. It would be tremendously difficult to prove a "lie" told via a review. You're not alone when it comes to getting an unwarranted low review, it happens to the best of creators. Adding a comment on to their review is about the best you can do right now. Unless the review is very blatantly nasty and violates some sort of rule, we're somewhat stuck with them. But there is a little bit of good news as well. Most people, don't even pay attention to a lot of the ratings, much less put a whole lot of faith into the lower reviews. Especially if there is no comment and it's simply the star ratings. As those migrated with us to marketplace. I take reviews with a grain of salt, I honestly think most people who actually use marketplace do as well. Otherwise things with lower ratings, would never sell. I hate low ratings, unwarranted ones, as much as the next person. Unfortunately they are going to happen no matter what sort of system we end up with. The only item I have ever gotten a low rating on, has sold a *lot and I've only gotten one complaint about it, despite what the rating actually says as that person is not the one who contacted me. I had forgotten to change a script, well I put the wrong version in the box. That person contacted me the day I had listed it. I had it fixed as soon as the person sent me an IM and fixed the one in the box as well. Since then, not a single complaint, the one low unwarranted review, yet it still sells all the time. People don't put as much faith in the reviews as we think they might, or ought to. I know I certainly don't to be honest. Unless I see a *lot of really negative *written reivews, but even then I may still consider the purchase.
  6. Since marketplace came out, I had only about 5 failed deliveries. All of them occured during Sl glitch days when the grid was wonky all over. In the last week, I've had no less than 15. Sometimes it was a multi-item cart, and sometimes not. A lot of the failed deliveries were for the one item I "sell" the most, and it's a freebie. So folks don't feel the need to let me know it didn't arrive, they just get a new one. I resent 5 items over the last two days. That's excessive by my standards and I don't like it one bit. ALL of these "resent" orders say they were delivered, on both my end and the customer's. I have only had 3 that were actually a failed delivery and said so, on either my end or theirs, but that was the end of last week. In most of those resend cases, the redeliver link is not there in the order page. It was only there for 1 of them. I simply sent the item to those folks in world. I don't mind doing so, even if I never got the money for the item-mostly because I don't want my customers to think badly of *my service, beause of LL's inability to get things straight. So a little bit of money lost here and there, is worth keeping a customer-and possibly gaining more. It still bothers me that so many failed deliveries are happening lately. It's not just ones that *say failed though. Quite a few of the people I've been speaking with about this have said they too are getting contacted by people who did not recieve even though mp says "delivered" on both ends. This is just as troublesome as when it actually says failed. In fact, I'd say it's more troublesome, because unless someone tells me I have NO clue they didn't get the item. Maybe instead of waiting for these issues to get bad, LL should start acting a little sooner. I know, wishful thinking on my part, but it's been a couple weeks of people complaining about this very issue. You shouldn't wait until the ceiling falls in to fix the weak spot on the roof. It's a pretty stupid move.
  7. Start simple! Find in-world classes(free or otherwise, that's up to you). There are tons of online tutorials. One of the websites I frequently send folks who are new to building is http://www.mermaiddiaries.com/2006/11/build.html It may not be new but it is an awesome start, as it describes things very simply and is extremely easy to follow. Once you've got a hold on these things, you can move on to bigger and better builds. Or you can do what I did and just start throwing prims out there, moving them, texturing them, changing them.. until they form something(useful, or not). Anyone *can be a creator in sl, if they want to. Whether you believe you've got the talent or not. It just doesn't necessarily come as easy to everyone. I've been building in sl for a while now(not nearly as long as most, I am quite sure), yet I am still learning new things and improving on a daily basis. If you always leave room for growth, you'll continue to sharpen your skills as time goes on. I may never reach the artistic abilities many creators here have, but I've come a long way since my first plywood box(which was absolutely awesome I might add). I've since moved on to other skills as well as building and I'm doing pretty good, I think anyway. My scripting could use some work, but I've never claimed to be that good at it to begin with. Be prepared to frustrate yourself, as well. I still do it, all the time. I absolutely love creating in sl, no matter what it is I am working on. But I am also my worst critic, and I often frustrate my own self because I expect perfection, despite the fact that I don't *strive for it, if that makes any sort of sense. When I get stuck on something, I seek out help. Usually it's by either wandering in-world for ideas/help, or going to google and typing in what it is I am trying to do. You just never know what you'll find that way. It's how I found mermaid diaries, ages and ages ago. That site was a true lifesaver for me. I hate youtube tutorials, personally(I'm just odd). And some sites seem to assume you've already got some experience. Whereas her stuff. spoke to me like the noob I was and truly broke things down(with pics even!). It also helped me understand how others did this, that, and the other. Full perm free stuff on marketplace, or even inworld can be great tools too. You can take them apart and examine them to figure out how joe blow got that dang thing to work. That's how I got my first scripts written. I took apart things(only things I have permission to look at and break, of course). Then I figured that if there were free scripts in sl there had to be ones on the web. Again google was my friend. You would be quite surprised what you can learn simply by googling what it is you want to make
  8. I can tell you some of my hubby's favorite gifts I've given him, but I do agree that for most men, gifts are not necessary(though greatly appreciated) and *might cause a twinge of needing to be reciprocated My favorite "gift" is simply an awesome night of fun. It doesn't have to be sexual or even slightly intimate in nature, if you don't want it to be. Truth be told hubby and I have spent many, many, many days and nights wandering the grid looking for fun things to do. Visiting a zoo, an amusement part, rainforest, replicas of rl locations we'd never be able to visit(the Africa sim is pretty darn cool, and you get to ride zebras all over the place too, or ride in that air balloon). I would opt for a fun time, over an *actual item, personally. We've taken our jet skis out on some open waters(you know how fun it is to crash into a sim crossing with one of those, lol). We've wandered the grid in search of new places to explore-and sit on things(we have a habit of sitting on objects one may not normally sit on.. we never do harm though, promise). We've been to almost every kind of sim you could possibly imagine, and plenty that you couldn't. We've both taken turns scouring the grid for places we can go, and then taking the other there. There are a lot of cool museums too. We're not into the club scene, so we avoid it like the plague, but we do love to explore. It also gives us great ideas for building projects. But anyway, some of the gifts he's really loved have been... Man jewelry, mine in particular likes certain types of necklaces, I've gotten him a few over the years A cat-it almost identically resembles his rl kitty-except that it's pixels (and it wasn't one of the breedable ones that *needs to be fed, he can take the cat out whenever he wants, at the moment it lives in his inventory, I have a beagle pup from the same place who also lives in inventory until we decide to take them out, lol) Anything built by me-yes long before my building skills were even somewhat decent, I built and gave him things. It's sort of like that ashtray or statue you make for your mom as a child. It may not be the prettiest thing on the planet, but she loves it anyway-because you made it If he has any specific hobbies you know of(rl or sl) anything related to them would be seen as awesome, most likely. But my #1 rule is, unless it's serious, expense should be considered. An expensive gift can often be taken as a desire for more, or possibly one party believing there is more there than the couple has discussed. I know some have no qualms with expense in sl, and spending whatever they want on whatever they want, but the other party may not share the same belief. For example I have a friend who bought his sl girlfriend-at the time-a piece of jewelry. It was very pretty, a gorgeous necklace from one of her favorite stores. It wasn't a ring, it didn't come with some sort of unwritten promise or even an "I love you", as they weren't *to that point yet. However she took it as something more than he intended. She assumed the greater cost he spent(to him it was *not a high price, but that's how he feels about a lot of things in sl and their cost) was some sort of indication that they were further along in their relationship than he meant for her to. It sort of hurt some feelings when she realized her assumption was way off. They're still great friends(after some very lengthy conversations and what was nearly a nasty "breakup"), so no harm, no foul, but you really never know with people. He learned very quickly that you *need to be clear with people, with regard to your intentions. If you don't know your intentions, yet.. you need to tell the other person. He considered it a lesson learned.
  9. I thought that's what it was as well. But yesterday someone placed an "order"(lack of better terms here). It was a multiple item one. I don't normally go check each and every order after I get it, but this particular product doesn't sell too often. When I saw the message in local that it sold I remembered that there has been a "qeued" order for one on my merchant page for a good couple of weeks now. When I checked, it was the same order that had been sitting there "qeued", and now delivered. She had put it in her cart and never processed the order So now I am wondering if perhaps "qeued" means *any order not yet fully processed. Not really sure. Hard to tell with these folks running the show.
  10. All wonderful steps to help alleviate some of the issues that come with capping, but they still don't fix the underlying issue. The cap limit is too low, period. Regardless of what we *can do to try and get around it, it's still far too small. 25 may not be much to some and they may never get that many messages while offline, so they'll never cap. But a great many do get that, and more. Not all of those messages are necessarily ones that could be done away with by those steps, either. I know I personally minimize how many ways I *could potentially cap, already. I have for quite some time. I don't see nearly as many messages as some others on the grid probably do though. It's quite likely that even if those folks took all the same steps as I do, they'd *still cap regularly. I still cap regularly, even with every possible "precaution"(if you want to call them that). I have very few groups that I keep notices turned on for. I have all offlines and such sent to email. I don't send messages to customers regularly so I'm not contributing to their potential cap issue, either. Cap limits will always be an issue, until they raise them. I've yet to see a good reason *not to raise them. I may not be a techie, but if there were a technological reason for their desire to keep the cap at such a very low amount, one would think they'd have shared it by now. People have been asking for years, it doesn't take this long to at least say "no, we can't, here's why...". Heck even a "no, we're not going to raise the limit" with no other explanation would be nice, lol. But they've not even given so much as that. Then again, I take a look at who we're dealing with, and there's not much you can say but "eh, it's Linden Labs". They've not got the best track record for making wise decisions. I'm not even going to get into the DD discussion, lol. I don't know nearly enough about it to care at this point, and plan to reserve my opinion for when I actually see it being implemented. I consider the two issues two completely separate entities. Capping and failed deliveries that is.
  11. How much are you looking to pay for this job? (that might make it easier to find someone willing to do it)
  12. That is my belief too, that avatar to avatar inventory offers don't count in the cap limit. But that's just been based on my own experience. Even when I DO cap, if the inventory offer comes from an av, I never miss/lose it. If it comes from an object I would normally lose it after capping. But since I turned auto accept on, I don't lose those either. Because they aren't things I have to acknowledge/accept, it just drops directly into my inventory insteading of adding to the already qued list of "messages". I never did understand why object delivery of any sort would count as a "message". It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I've no clue which linden ought to be responsible for these issues(cap limits, and failed deliveries). I just know that whoever *is* in charge(if anyone), clearly isn't doing their job. Both have been huge issues for a long time now. DD may solve the failed delivery issue, in theory, I'll save my opinion for when I see it live. But it still doesn't address the cap limit, which is obnoxious in it's own right. I haven't seen a linden employee address the cap limit in quite some time. I don't hold much hope that they ever will. I know it may be a minor annoyance to some and not exactly a priority to fix. But it's been a pretty big complaint for quite a long time without so much as a second look. I don't think it would require that much work on their part to at least up the limit.
  13. Then you are getting the wrong impression I never said you HAVE to be online. I said it's suggested, and we're told to be certain we, or the recipient, are online, for a reason. I also said it's been an ongoing problem, for quite some time. Personal anecdotal experiences don't change what's been happening for ages. I , personally, know more people who have bought things for folks offline(or themselves) and *not gotten them. That doesn't discount your experience, it just happens to be mine. Obviously they stuck that warning in there for a reason. My guess is that it happens that way(being offline increasing the chance that you will not get the item) more often than not. Clearly rather than fixing the issue they stuck the warning in there, you know, so it looks like "something" is being done. There is really no way to determine if the ims capping was the issue, or if it was simply because she was offline, though. Considering the instances of offline deliveries not going through is pretty high, I'd lean that way before I'd blame IMs capping. But that's just my opinion. Ims capping is a huge issue, always has been. Even a simple google search will show you that. People have been asking for years for them to increase the cap amount. I have yet to see them provide an answer as to WHY they refuse though. I don't see an end to that problem anytime soon, either. LL doesn't seem too concerned with it-though they ought to be.
  14. I forgot something in this reply I wanted to add... Most of SLM's delivery failures are not due to IMs capping. IMs do not cap when you're online Delivery failures when online occur for who knows how many reasons, but IMs capping is not one of them. Most delivery failures happen when people are online. So it would be that myriad of issues causing them.
  15. I completely agree it's not acceptable. I was just letting you know why she didn't get it. As it has nothing to do with IMs capping, she just wasn't online when it attempted delivery. It's been that way ever since I began purchasing "out of world"(on whatever the site was called at the time, lol, we've been through so many now). I've had to talk to more than one customer about the same issue in fact. I don't mind redelivering if they're out the money. (well I mind that LL has my money, but I don't mind assisting the person, I mean). But I do always explain to them that making sure they are online(or recipient for gift orders is on) will help lower the incidents of delivery failures. I've never thought it was a *good idea for deliveries to fail if someone is offline. But I have always understood why they tell us to make sure we're online, or the recipient is(because of this flaw). I know there specifically used to be a big box that explained this very thing to us on checkout. Is there still a warning there when you make gift purchases? I haven't bought any gift items since it switched from xstreet. Direct delivery is a great step in the right direction-as far as that's concerned. Just doubt it will be out and ready anytime soon. So we'll ahve to make do with what we've got until they change it. At least we now know they're making some sort of an attempt. I'm a glass is 3/4 full sort of person
  16. The cap limit is this.. Maximum number of offline messages (involving IMs, inventory offers, group notices and group invitations) received before messages get capped is 25. Taken from here.. http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Limits/ta-p/700099 And the idea of your friend not getting her item due to capping could be a possibility but it's more likely that it didn't deliver because she wasn't online, period. Even if the message delivered. Delivery failures to residents who are *not online at the time of the purchase happen quite often. It's also why they tell you to be sure you are online, or your recipient is online before hitting purchase (at least xstreet did, I can't say I have made purchases for others since marketplace opened, so I don't know if it says that now). That said I cap on and off, some weeks I get by without capping once, other weeks I cap every single day, lol. I even once went almost two weeks without capping! That was actually a little sad though, there's usually a reason I cap and it's because I have the sales messages from marketplace turned on. So that clearly showed less sales those weeks, ever sad. You can go into your groups and turn the actual "receive notices" off. Open a group, right there on the group info page there are two checkboxes-show group in my profile and receive group notices. I turn notices off for every group that I don't *need to have on. I can always go in and manually check the group notices. For some of my groups with larger memberships I have to do that anyway, and now it's become second nature to check them. Since sl sometimes fails to send notices properly.
  17. It's not because I am "sensitive"(or an argument for that matter-just a discussion), it's because I'm trying to help you realize that this is *exactly what folks will think... that you intend to "scam" them You're not the first person to ask for full perms art, but odds are most of those before you had ulterior motives. I'm sure many after you will too. People tend to protect their art, as best they can-well most of it anyway. Even when they want to share it with the world. You shouldn't be offended or something simply because I am pointing out that it's not a reasonable request in my opinion to ask an artist to simply hand you stuff willy nilly with absolutely no protection for them. What if you screw up their artwork? What if you simply take it, and start profiting? I know, you have no intentions of doing either, right? No one ever admits that they do, though. People will be cautious just handing stuff out like that unless the intention is to allow the next user to do whatever they want with it. I am sure there is a lot of full perm art on the marketplace though. Have you checked there? Usually it will state somewhere in the ad what the "rules" are for the art, and if not you can always contact a creator. It never hurts to ask. I wouldn't be surprised to get told no though. Just move on and keep looking. I bet you can find lots of stuff.
  18. You can build around art. You don't need to link your build to another person's art. I don't know of any gallery that has multiple artists' work that requires or even requests full perms on the art that gets donated. That's not to say they don't exist, I've just never been to one. I've been to quite a few galleries in sl, some no longer exist and some have been around for years. I know people that own the galleries too and they don't ask for full perms and none of the donating artists even make the items full perms. A couple that I've been to, the artists themselves rez the art, which is pretty cool too. I could see art for sale needing to be transfer but that enters a whole different world than a gallery with art on display. You should take a look around at some of the galleries around sl and see how it's done. Most of them feature SL only artists as well. It might give you some ideas. Why not work on some art of your own? Then you won't have to worry about perms
  19. Yes I know there has never been a time when merchants *didn't make that claim. Doesn't necessarily mean it was a valid claim though. Or that all of those merchants were correct in their assumptions there was a grid-wide slump. I wasn't saying slumps don't happen, or sales don't dip at certain points naturally, even. In fact I said quite the opposite, as until recently I was having all the same issues other merchants were.
  20. Eh, search is skewed to high heaven. I wouldn't put much value into any results you get from it. Whether it's marketplace or in-world. Results change more often than most avs change their clothes. It rarely, if ever, has anything to do with things merchants are doing differently, which annoys me. It's all issues on LL's end of things. I don't really put much worth into "rank" for that reason alone. The system they use to determine it, is flawed, at best. Funny how they want us to master the few tools they give us, to expand this great big virtual world, and make it marvelous(for them, so they earn more, of course...and if we want, for us too ). Yet they can't even master the tools they have to run it. If I had that many employees slacking off somewhere, I'd be ashamed. At least, for now, I can claim(because it's true) lack of skills, lol. I can't build as well as some because I'm just not there yet. Someday I will be, but I make no promises and certainly don't make my customers "pay" for services I *might give them, eventually, perhaps, if I feel like it on a day in the distant future that doesn't end in "y". Linden labs has no excuse for "not being there yet". They have the money and the manpower and still can't fix minor issues. I don't get it. Guess I don't have to though, no one ever said I had to understand them. Drives me bananas.....and yet, I stay, go figure (in other words good outweighs the bad...but they still annoy me)
  21. You may not find too many artists willing to simply hand you something full perm. You might want to rethink that approach. If it's not for resale, you have absolutely no need for anything to be full perm. Why do you need the art to be transfer? If you're not selling or giving it away, this permission(at least) doesn't need to exist. I'd never give my rl artwork(well most of it) to someone full perm unless I was giving it to them to sell, for their own profit. I've given a lot of it out, just never with full permission.I see no reason to leave my stuff modify either, if I am just handing it to someone for display purposes. But that's just my own personal hangup. I've made that mistake more than once and eventually learned from it I don't mind giving stuff out full perm, most stuff(that I created of course, or have permission to hand out full perm). But artwork meant just for display is a whole different story for me. I don't want to give someone the impression that I am giving them full reign with my stuff. It opens up doors that I don't want opened.
  22. Only a money pit if you make it so. I've never considered mine a money pit, but even if I did, who cares? Maybe others do consider them that, but they must enjoy something about them, or they wouldn't have them at all. For most of those virtual animals-well the breedable ones, people can make money off their offspring. Sometimes quite a bit of money, sometimes not. Sometimes the offspring simply pays for basic upkeep of the original animal(s) too. Not too different from rl in many aspects, lol. I'm sure there are plenty of other areas in sl that people are constantly putting money in, for basic upkeep/functionality of something. Anything can be a money pit, if you want it to. Virtual animals that require being fed to function, have been around sl for quite some time. Not everyone enjoys them, but those that do usually have a lot of fun with them.
  23. That's exactly how I feel as well. All too often merchants look at things through their merchant glasses and forget that they too, are customers, in one form or another. At some point in sl, we've all had to "pay" for something and we've all been a consumer. We've all also been new at this, that, or the other. Which is something people even nonmerchants lose sight of way too often. That's not to say all merchants think about is money. They just lose perspective sometimes, in some cases not so sure they ever had it, lol. I try to look at everything from more than just my own pov. Even if I don't agree with the other person, it helps a heck of a lot to at least TRY and understand their pov too. Certainly makes fixing silly mistakes people make much more fun. When I can recall instances where I too, have done the exact same, or worse, to something. Often times it ends up turning into a "ok, this is how you'd do that if you wanted to" lesson. Can't say anyone has ever been offended when I've offered advice that way. Guess they would if I put it out there in a condescending manner. Which is something that happens more often than some people seem to realize. Don't think it's always intentional, or even that the merchants realize they are doing it. But it's a big reason, imo, why people refuse to make any sort of comment-complaint or otherwise. You never know how the person will take it.
  24. Sadly I can't contribute my sales info to help prove any sort of decrease, for once. Not that I am complaining. But this has more to do with the fact that some of my newer products sort of have a niche market..kinda, and the sales for those products always increase when I first bring them out. I've added quite a few new things recently with more to be added in the next day or so. So overall my marketplace sales are up. But I am really small potatoes compared to most merchants. Thus far I haven't found too many merchants who are having the same experience I am. Not all too long ago I wasn't having it either. They sure seem to have done something to hurt merchants on the marketplace lately. Really stinks, and merchants have little to no recourse. It's adapt or die...but no one can figure out HOW to adapt when things get wonky. At least that's how I felt not too long ago myself. Granted most years that I have been reading these, well *any sl forums, I have seen merchants say "such and such time, expect a decrease" or "during this time, sales are always low". It seems to be expected as the norm. I probably should, but I don't agree with that opinion. I think if given the proper tools merchants could have way more "up" time than down and there would be no expected waves of low sales. But LL doesn't provide those tools or even help people better understand how to use the few tools they DO give. I only know what I do because I'm nosey as heck and read a lot. If I were a new merchant, I would be entirely lost and likely ready to give up the first time I hit a lull in sales.
  25. That's so very true. I take complaints, well actual ones, a bit more lax than most do, I think. It takes a lot for me to complain about something. Mostly because I know how much likely went into creating it. But also because most creators do *not want to hear they've done something not right. I'm not real sure why merchants feel insulted. Personally for me, I am *never insulted when someone has an actual complaint. I recently got a review on one of my products from someone that was, well, entirely false. But had that person actually contacted me(or if they chose to *now contact me), or even actually stated what the issue was, I would have fixed it. I can't fix what I don't know about. That was actually the first complaint I've ever gotten like that. I've gotten people who contact me with "HELP", and similar messages though, lol. Usually it's because they rezzed something and moved it wrong(playsets for example, they need to sit a certain way for my swing script to work right), or re-textured it accidentally, or sl is just being **bleep** retentive and mucking up the performance, things like this. Easy for me to fix in most cases, but a headache when they happen for the customer I'm sure. I've helped lots of people when marketplace fails to deliver, who wants to bother with the ticket system, when it's easier for me to just hand it to them. In one instance an empty box came, really not sure how that happened at ALL. I'm always happy to help people with things that go wrong, if they do that is. Even if they did get negative or even hostile with me, I'd likely just smile, take their words at face value and continue trying to help them as best I can. But then I have rl experience with customer service and, imo, people can be way more brutal in person. In real life you can't just click the x I don't take it as a personal insult, even if someone hated my product, I wouldn't. There's no point in doing so, imo. I'll get a lot further if I simply fix what's broken, wrong, not working and do my best to keep the customer happy. I don't think I'd be able to give my all to the customer when trying to rectify the issue if I was sitting there feeling insulted. There has only been one product since I came to sl that I have ever had an issue with and *not been satisfied with the results when I complained, though(not that I complain very often, it's a rarity). I had a pretty lengthy exchange with the creator. Several of us in his group had an issue with the exact same product(part of it being simply sl and the way it works, the rest being the way the product was created, it boasted things that it actually does not do properly). He promised a refund, which never came. That is probably the only negative review I have ever left. Now had the creator actually made a good faith effort, I would have put that in my review, and subsequent follow up-part of it *is in there. That's really all it takes, show me you care about more than my lindens and you won't get a negative review from me. Even if you *can't refund, just tell me you can't, don't promise it and not follow through. But this person seems to have a track record I have come to find out from others with similar experiences. Such is life. Just as it's possible to run into a "bad"(if you want to use that word) customer here and there, it's possible to run into a "bad" creator here and there. This one has been my first, and only not so good experience with a creator. Sometimes I think creators believe their products can stand on their own. Or their products are so very good that the loss of one customer means absolutely jack. Personally I think that it really doesn't matter how good your products are. If your customer service stinks, that alone will speak for you, in many ways. Bad word of mouth travels a heck of a lot faster than good.
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