Clean up the Forums!

[LlazarusLlong]

Well, mainly clean up the General Discussions forum.

Xiola asked for observations, so I am starting this thread inviting SPECIFIC suggestions relating to returning GD to a state where reading the titles of the most recent threads does not induce an advanced state of narcolepsy.

My principal suggestion is that GD should be returned to its purpose, which is not one of being a channel for LL to distribute propaganda or instruction; neither is it the place to ask naive technical questions - about lag, graphics cards, viewer functionality etc, which have been answered hundreds of times before and would be happily answered by those experts in cut-and-paste that inhabit other parts of the forums; it is also not the place to complain, whether about unjust disciplinary measures, poor customer service or how Wagon Wheels now seem to be much smaller than when you were young. [Actually, it just might be the right place for that last issue, given the apparent age and senility of many participants.]

So, use that Report Inappropriate Content button, not to whinge about somebody pointing out that your semi-literate post was incomprehensible, or that they had a different political philosophy from you and were able to make a more effective exposition of their position, but to request the moderators move irrelevant threads out of GD to a forum where cluelessness is less likely to be publicly highlighted, and assistance generously provided by those who would like to feel superior.

You could start by RICking the Linden Lab threads that have been unilaterally selected for stickiness. Why Xiola should enforce her demands (incorrectly interpreted by most respondents) for potential promotional material is unclear, and clutters up the top of the list. The Skill Gaming Policy Thread would probably have held a position of "popularity" anyway, by virtue of its intrinsic interest to many excluded users from stalinistic states of the union - but that announcement and debate (if there ever actually was one) has run its course and it is now just clutter, and as for the continuing stickiness of an announcement of the conclusion of a beta program in 2012, you have to wonder whether LL's intention is to deter and divert, rather than encourage participation.

Running down the current topic list I can see a variety of thread titles which have no right to be in a GD forum, some of which have already been moved (generally as a result of co-operation between myself and an apparently bored moderator) and I am now issuing a call to action to those of you who would like to see GD restored to its previous position of pre-eminence among the online coffee-shops, so that those who are not suffering from terminal ennui might be encouraged to return to their keyboards and offer provocative, tightly argued and correctly spelled commentaries on issues of the day.

At the very least it will enhance the efficiency of the moderators in identifying trouble-makers, and kettling them in a confined, 'controllable' space.

And by the way, I have RICked this thread myself and asked for it to be moved to a more appropriate place: Forum Feedback...

[LlazarusLlong]

It might also be useful, especially for those who come to the forums in some sort of emotional state and in ignorance of the occasionally arcane taxonomy, to create some new forums for popular or recurring topics which do not appear to be specifically covered at the moment. Here are some suggestions:

• Complaints
• Suggestion Box
• Nostalgiafests
• Pedantry
• Hyperemotional Outbursts of a Pseudo-Romantic Nature
• Linden Soap Box
• Lies About The Future
• Pictures of Ugly Avatars Even Their Mothers Would Disown
• Hello Today, Me Too, Content Free Unthreatening And Irrational Uberoptimism, With Kittens
• Depressed But Accurate Observations
• Pointless Picture Competitions Won By Popularity Not Quality

I am sure that the combined intellects of forum participants can add to this list.

Oh, and don't bother suggesting a Zombie forum; we've been there, tried that and died again.

Nor a Vampire one - once bitten, twice shy.

PS I have been informed that my last suggested category already exists.

 

 

[Ohjiro Watanabe]

Next time you might want to try something short and snappy.

[LlazarusLlong]

Knowing the abbreviated attention span of most forumites (and their consequent inability to remember, at its end, how a long sentence, much less paragraph, began) I initially did that, but

"***bleep*** ***bleep*** Linden Lab"

got censored...

[Rhys Goode]

/me starts to read a long, rambling, sensless post, yawns, moves on.

[LlazarusLlong]

---

Rhys Goode wrote:

/me starts to read a long, rambling,

sensless

post, yawns, moves on.

---

/me points to his explanatory post just above this one which exemplifies and vindicates his observation so well that you might erroneously think Rhys might be a sock puppet . . .

. . and realises that he should have also mentioned something about most forumites' inability to construct their own sentences, albeit brief ones, without their including at least one egregious grammatical, spelling, or orthographic error.

/me recommends that such people should stick to Twitter, where their limited cognitive capabilities won't be stretched . . . too much.

[Ohjiro Watanabe]

We may be ugly 

But we have the music

[LlazarusLlong]

First we take Manhattan.

 

Warnes does nothing for Cohen's lyrics, but Stevie Ray nails it and extra.

[Perrie Juran]

---

LlazarusLlong wrote:

• Pedantry

 

 

---

An interesting suggestion.  Isn't that where most of your posts, including this one, would wind up?

[LlazarusLlong]

---

Perrie Juran wrote:

---

LlazarusLlong wrote:

• Pedantry

 

 

---

An interesting suggestion.  Isn't that where most of your posts, including this one, would wind up?

---

Sorry, it's an error; I meant to type "paedophilia" but the forum spellchecker changed it.

[Kelley Wonder]

See Dick postulate on the meaning of life the forums,

See Jane sigh and shake her head,

Sit Spot.........good dog.

[Medhue Simoni]

Initially, I was perplexed by this topic, until I went and looked at the Stickies. Do we not have a category just for our Avatars? It's pretty bad when the people that run the forums can't even put their posts in the right categories. Personally, I've given up on the forums. LL doesn't give a crap, and neither should I. We, meaning the community, has made numerous good suggestions for the forums, with LL not responding AT ALL to any of them. Nowadays, I'm lucky if I come here once a week, and that is only to check that I didn't miss something. You'd think, with so many employees, a few might actually deal directly with their customers in the forums.

Just like Rodvik, Ebbe is dropping the ball. We go months without hearing even a peep from LL. It's ridiculous. With almost every other company I deal with, I know everything about what they are doing. Nothing is really a secret at all. They understand that the community is the most important part of their jobs. Even the coders understand this. The crazy part is, LL has no fricken reason to hide things. Nothing they could ever come up with is worth hiding. They gain NOTHING by hiding things. If anything, they more than anyone should be as open as possible, because their whole business model is based on what we the community does. If LL does something, we can make it better, or we could make it totally fail. Including us should be a primary part of their discussions.

Ebbe, are you awake? How about filling us in on what is going on at the lab? You do understand that almost every game company does weekly, and some even daily podcasts or Youtube videos. Most don't even have a reason to do this, like LL does. Unity is the closest thing to the SL platform, and they have videos almost everyday. Go onto their forums, they have actual Unity workers there answering questions and engaging. Seriously LL, you tell us how complex SL is, yet nobody at LL  answers anything, EVER.

[LlazarusLlong]

---

Medhue Simoni wrote:

Ebbe

, are you awake? How about filling us in on what is going on at the lab? You do understand that almost every game company does weekly, and some even daily podcasts or Youtube videos. Most don't even have a reason to do this, like LL does. Unity is the closest thing to the SL platform, and they have videos almost everyday. Go onto their forums, they have actual Unity workers there answering questions and engaging. Seriously LL, you tell us how complex SL is, yet nobody at LL  answers anything, EVER.

---

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for an answer here, Medhue. It took Ebbe NINE MONTHS to respond to a Missing Persons Forum callout.

 

 

Apparently, he's been "busy" . . .

 

[LlazarusLlong]

Well, guys, I don't know if you've noticed, but whether you considered my OP tl;dr or a minor extract from a magnus opus, it seems that it has struck a chord with somebody that has nothing better to do than take an electronic broom to the forums and sweep out some of the garbage that has been gathering dust. Stickies, begone!

Now, what about a Sub Forum called "A Linden Answers". I bet you THAT would get some eyeballs on the forums.

[Lynda Baran]

"/me points to his explanatory post just above this one which exemplifies and vindicates his observation so well that you might erroneously think Rhys might be a sock puppet . . .

. . and realises that he should have also mentioned something about most forumites' inability to construct their own sentences, albeit brief ones, without their including at least one egregious grammatical, spelling, or orthographic error.

/me recommends that such people should stick to Twitter, where their limited cognitive capabilities won't be stretched . . . too much."

So, because you don't like the way some people reply in the forums, make spelling errors, find your longwinded, rambling post boring, etc  you want to get rid of them.  Who are you really, the Representative to SL from ISIS? 

[Griffin Ceawlin]

---

LlazarusLlong wrote:

...forumites' inability to construct their own sentences, albeit brief ones, without their including at least one egregious grammatical, spelling, or orthographic error.

---

Ouch! Gonna take me a long time to live down that silent p, isn't it?

[LlazarusLlong]

---

Lynda Baran wrote:

"/me points to his explanatory post just above this one which exemplifies and vindicates his observation so well that you might erroneously think Rhys might be a sock puppet . . .

. . and realises that he should have also mentioned something about most forumites' inability to construct their own sentences, albeit brief ones, without their including at least one egregious grammatical, spelling, or orthographic error.

/me recommends that such people should stick to Twitter, where their limited cognitive capabilities won't be stretched . . . too much."

So, because you don't like the way some people reply in the forums, make spelling errors, find your longwinded, rambling post boring, etc  you want to get rid of them.  Who are you really, the Representative to SL from ISIS? 

---

Where did I say anything about how I felt about such people? Where did I indicate whether I liked them or not? Where did I say that I wanted to get rid of them? Where did I suggest that Rhys should be decapitated and her (his?) head be paraded publicly on Youtube as a warning to those who did not listen in kindergarten?

I made some observations, which  proved strikingly and immediately accurate, and offered some constructive advice to those disadvantaged who are patently struggling to cope with a potentially complex interactive textual environment.

 

 

By the way, I think I shall commemorate your arrogation of the Hitler meme to a 21st century context  by informing the Urban Dictionary that  Godwin is now old hat, and that discussions terminated by the mention of an Ancient Egyptian Goddess who was a bit of a cow too should be described as "Baraned".

 

[LlazarusLlong]

---

Griffin Ceawlin wrote:

 

Ouch! Gonna take me a long time to live down that silent

p

, isn't it?

---

No foul! You fixed it - which would have been enough to prove your commitment to clarity of exposition - and before anyone else noticed it.

[Darrius Gothly]

---

LlazarusLlong wrote:

---

Griffin Ceawlin wrote:

 

Ouch! Gonna take me a long time to live down that silent

p

, isn't it?

---

No foul! You fixed it - which would have been enough to prove your commitment to clarity of exposition - and before anyone else noticed it.

---

I pnoticed it.

[Magnus Brody]

---

Ohjiro Watanabe wrote:

Next time you might want to try something short and snappy.

---

... et sans déjà vu.

[LlazarusLlong]

Sorry, Magnus, I correctly identified that your own thread was all talk and no action.

Which is fine for a General Discussion Forum.

So I started this one; which has already achieved its initial aim.

And which is why I recommended that this thread be moved to Forum Feedback.

I might start another one offering advice to mods next.

Or perhaps one highlighting inconsistencies in the ToS/CG and suggesting fixes.

Or even a discussion about how dismally awful Scotland are at rugby.

My forum, my imagination . . .

[irihapeti]

---

LlazarusLlong wrote:

Kittens

 

---

i vote for kitten photos. Here is my first entry:

 

ps. are we allowed to post more than one entry?? I be happy to post heaps more if we are allowed ok

 

[TundraFire Nightfire]

I say we need more eyebrow dogs!

[Medhue Simoni]

---

LlazarusLlong wrote:

---

Medhue Simoni wrote:

Ebbe

, are you awake? How about filling us in on what is going on at the lab? You do understand that almost every game company does weekly, and some even daily podcasts or Youtube videos. Most don't even have a reason to do this, like LL does. Unity is the closest thing to the SL platform, and they have videos almost everyday. Go onto their forums, they have actual Unity workers there answering questions and engaging. Seriously LL, you tell us how complex SL is, yet nobody at LL  answers anything, EVER.

---

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for an answer here, Medhue.

It took Ebbe NINE MONTHS to respond to a Missing Persons Forum callout

.

 

 

Apparently, he's been "busy" . . .

 

---

That is like the perfect example of what I'm talking about. Not only does Ebbe not come to his own forums, but no lindens do either. Even the so called moderators can't bother themselves long enough to let Ebbe know about a thread, with his name in the title. Oh, I know I'm not going to get any answers. I've done numerous threads with his name in them. I'm not saying he has to be here all the time, but a few minutes every once in awhile would do wonders. Being busy is not really an excuse. We are all busy, and I bet quite a few of us are much more busy and work many more hours than he does, but here we are.

If nothing else, I'm evaluating the numerous options I have to spend my time at. What I see from other platforms, are people engaging as much as they possibly can, even CEOs. What I have seen from LL over the past 5 or so years could barely fill a 3 page notebook. To me, this just doesn't look good. Seriously, I'm looking for a reason to keep promoting this platform, when I could be promoting others.

Supposedly, they have this new platform coming, which we have heard nothing at all about, and that really worries me. I know the history of the company pretty intimately and seen bad decision after bad decision. It's almost like they have no clue what they are doing. Just look at Fitted Mesh, or releasing mesh avatars who's eyes aren't even rigged. Fixing any bug is a year long process, if it ever gets fixed.

Yeah, Ok, It might seem like all I'm doing is bash them, but it's because I love the concept of the platform. It's because I know personally, and work together with creators in this world, whether here or on other platforms. I'm criticizing them because I give a crap. Heck, for whatever reason, I keep paying for my sim.

[LlazarusLlong]

---

Medhue Simoni wrote:

 

Being busy is not really an excuse. We are all busy, and I bet quite a few of us are much more busy and work many more hours than he does, but here we are.

---

Yeah, but how low is your handicap?