1. I have to say I was rather disappointed with many of the residents attending the townhall. While thoughtful questions were asked there was much shouting of obnoxious jabs at LL.

I understand that many residents are frustrated but the fact of the matter is the lab is clearly concerned about fixing the issues. The world we enjoy and, in some cases, profit from is tremendously complex and I'm quite sure the lab doesn't want to see it fail or even slip backwards.

The resident behavior at the town hall coupled with the incessant vitriolic comments left on the official blog is the most counterproductive method of communication I've witnessed since middle school.

There are real problems, there are real people working on those problems, there is only so much time in the day and so many man hours available. If everyone who fires off a useless sarcastic remark on the job that LL is doing spent 10 minutes on the beta grid we could make great strides in improving the world. It takes everyone involved to make this thing work. Let's not waste our time.

V

Posted at 6:00PM on May 3rd 2007 by Veeyawn

2. "Using the "Report bugs" feature is useless. Report your bugs via Jira instead"

Really should tie those two together, making a report auto create the Jira report, but oh well.

I agree with Veeyawn. Too many idiots wasting Lindens time to get any real good questions and suggestions from senseable residents. I'm sure LL got something senseable enough to get some idea.

Posted at 6:32PM on May 3rd 2007 by Nacon

3. Sounds like it went much as expected. As a software architect it all seems inevitable. The problems people are complaining about are complex problems with complex, ongoing solutions. It's going to take time and a lot of effort. They didn't expect to grow so fast so soon. Their architecture wasn't suited for it and now they are having to rethink it all. And architecture is the hardest thing to change.
Asking them to stop taking on new members won't help. They can't do that. They would die overnight.
Asking them to "put everyone on it" won't help. These are not problems that can be solved by lots of bodies. A couple of very very good people have to think very very hard about it, and take action very very carefully to avoid bringing everything down.
That's just the way it works.

Posted at 7:03PM on May 3rd 2007 by Jaymin Carthage

4. Well geez, craig.... As long SL doesn't slap ads banner on the side of your screen. SL should do better than AOL.

(idiot)

They already know about it, been working on. People are just complaining about it at the wrong time. It has been underway for 3 months. Think all the new features aren't designed to make scaling better? Those are just extras.... that came with the new scaling method that they have been working on. (duh)

Patient or get out, go back to There.com or AOL if you like. Just don't rock my (and everyone's) boat.

Posted at 7:44PM on May 3rd 2007 by Nacon

5. So, from what I saw of the town hall meeting (am going to read the transcript in a few), it sounds like basically they took a full hour to say what they usually sum up in a grid-wide message "We are aware of issues with teleporting, inventory, and presence on the grid, and are working to resolve the problem as soon as possible. Please check the official SL blog for updates"

Somehow I'm not surprised.

Posted at 7:50PM on May 3rd 2007 by Neural

6. Closer to 14 months, Nacon. That was when the majority of the staff were switched away from new features to bug-fixes and architecture scaling. In the last 3-4 months we've started to see the first results of that architectural work.

Posted at 8:27PM on May 3rd 2007 by Tateru Nino

7. See? that kind of behavior with Craig is not welcome.

Stop rocking our boat.


And ahh... true, Tateru. I guess that's what I must be thinking of.

For some people don't understand how the new sculpted prim should help with the scaling. It should tend help with less prim being used in SL, thus less common bandwidth loading. I can see a lot of items using 150 prims turned into one sculpted prim. That's a start.

Posted at 8:53PM on May 3rd 2007 by Nacon

8. Geez, calm down.
I want to know how many people actually make a livable wage (as in, you don't need another job because SL provides your entire income) AND/OR have spent a decent amount of money in Second Life. These are probably the most important people to listen to. SL has 6 million residents, OK, but how many of those really matter.. something like 100-200k at most, maybe? Sorry, but LL does not give a crap because most SL users are around for very little time and don't pay them anything for the time they spend on SL. Why bother listening to anyone except the paying customers, which are so incredibly few that it's probably hard to weed them out?
You can't really compare AOL to SL.. because everyone on AOL paid (except for the fake accounts and AOL4Free.. I know you know what I'm talking about, don't play coy with me), but relatively few people in SL pay. AOL was really powerful for a long time because they provided a service that relatively few others could offer with the same ease of use. Anyone that has tried out Prodigy, Compuserve, Netcom, eWorld (you rule if so) etc know that the ease of use for all of those except eWorld was really crappy as hell.
How many people reading this have parents? How many people reading this have parents that would understand how to get around BBS' or do much of anything on the net besides surf the web? That's what AOL was/is for. SL is much more advanced, doesn't make people pay for using it, and has about as many problems as AOL used to have even when it was "good" as you suggest. I used AOL since 1.0, and I have to say, it was never as great as all that. It took AOL something like 3-4 years to get to 3.0 from 2.5 (and 2.6 for Mac). Guess who invented half of the stuff that AOL finally incorporated in that release? What, you think AOL actually came up with Buddy Lists? Ha, Mac users had that long before it was implemented into the actual program, it was called "Big Board."
SL has comparatively few paying customers and has been growing at a rate much faster than AOL ever did. Cut them some slack. They're doing the best they can given the circumstances. If you don't like it, don't pay. You can even still use it and not pay! How many free demos do you get allow you more or less absolute access to the program on a permanent basis? None? Thought so.
In other words, either support Linden or don't and expect no support right back at ya.

Posted at 8:57PM on May 3rd 2007 by rp

9. i posted this to LL's blog, but they are "awaiting moderation" meaning my account is toast anyways, so i figured since they won't allow this flaming pile through, it's wise to get it out there.

well this is my final post to second life. i am fed up honestly with the lack of answers. they are continually round about “oh we are working on it” or “the software limits us” or “the TOS says we aren’t liable” well, 4 years you’ve been working on SL. in the last year SL has to 6+ Million “residents” YOU (LL) have succeeded in growing, but YOU have failed in delivering stability, concurrency, and YOU have failed to provide feedback tools for your clients. WE as your clients in the last month have been thrown to the wolves. YOU have become absentee landlords. YOU are refusing to answer emails, YOU are refusing to allow us a true furom to express our issues, and YOU are refusing to give answers as to why you have failed us.
i am leaving and cancelling my account from SL. so this is MY opinion.
THIS IS WHY AOL IS NO LONGER THE FORCE IT ONCE WAS!!!!!
YOU have created something great, and we love the world you created for us to play in. YOU have provided us with a system we love, and we hate to see ruined. I love SL. and i would rathe give up something i love, because it’s no longer what i loved, than see it wither into a shadow of it’s former self. AOL died because they couldn’t provide access, were unstable, and released update on a monthly basis that introduced more bugs than they fixed. sound familiar?
AOL died because they outsourced their support, lacked a support structure, did away with “aol guides”, and refused to take responsibility for times when their systems failed. Sound familiar?
AOL died because they expanded to fast, celebrated the growth early, and failed to invest in the infrastructure that enabled them to do business. sound familiar?
AOL died because they introduced more features with every release, introduced “not ready for release” features, and pronounced “new and improved speed, features, ease of use” features and then teased us with vaporware. Sound familiar?
YOU have introduced and announced vaporware as the next big thing, and then failed to produce it. YOU use teaser technology to keep us excited about “new features” and then fail to implement those technologies realiably. YOU have repeatedly failed to fix major wounds in the grid with more than a plastic bandage, instead of the surgery it would take to make it better. YOU finally have moved almost 3/4 of your staff to bug fixes. YOU have moved 3/4 of your staff to fixing bugs that have been around since last august. YOU are denying us the rights to our own creations through YOUR lack of business forcasting. YOU are more concerned with others finding YOUR problems then finding them YOURSELVES. YOU actually said in the townhall meeting, that “opensource will find a way”…..
THIS IS NOT A SATISFACTORY ANSWER!!!!!!!
WHY DID YOU TAKE AWAY OUR ABILITY TO GET ANSWERS?
WHY DID YOU TAKE AWAY SUPPORT?
ARE YOU SO SCARED OF RESIDENTS THAT YOU SET IN WORLD HOURS AND NEVER SHOW UP FOR THEM????
ARE YOU SCARED OF IRATE CUSTOMERS?
ARE YOU SCARED OF RESIDENTS SPEAKING THE TRUTH?
ARE YOU SCARED OF LISTENING TO CUSTOMERS?
ARE YOU SCARED OF US BEING MORE ANGRY THAN WE ALREADY ARE?
IF YOU DON’T FIX THESE ISSUES SOON, IT WILL BE A RETURN TO “THE RIG” ONLY PHILIP, CORY ET ALL, PLAYING WITH PRIMITARS…
PLEASE FIX SL!!!!!!
DON’T HINT AT SOMETHING, AND THEN NOT DELIVER!!!!!!
PLEASE BRING BACK SUPPORT!!!!!!
PLEASE GIVE US ANSWERS!!!!!!!
DON’T CUT US OUT OF OUR WORLD!!!!!!!!
DON’T RELY ON US TO DISCOVER YOUR FAILURES, HIRE BETA TESTERS, PAY THEM TO FIND THE PROBLEMS BEFORE YOU SHIP IT!!!!!!!!!!

Posted at 9:01PM on May 3rd 2007 by craig cleghorn

10. @ nacon, lol, well considering i didn't come from there.com, or AOL, you aren't understanding where this is coming from....
(big nacon idiot)
hey, every notice nacon rhymes with f*cken?
you are probably nothing more than a SL enthusiast that doesn't love the world like I do. LL is responsible for the infrastructure, and instead of being a LL cheerleader like you (go get your skirt on) i am someone trying to scream for them to save it!!!!

noone stands up and screams enough for people to FIX things, and i noticed that all teh answers were pretty much the same and to quote the idiot in cheif... i mean resident of the white house her in the US "it's my job to run it, you job to go about your business"

when you are unable to log in, and when YOU are unable to actually get into SL and when YOU are able to past where your nose seems to be firmly placed, maybe then you will realize that this open letter was an opening shot at LL to fix things, instead of just implementing new features and praying that they work with the cobbled together software the server's are already running....
now you'd better get back to phillip, he's got a job for you nacon, and you'd better get ready to swallow

Posted at 9:03PM on May 3rd 2007 by craig cleghorn

11. Craig, whilst you are entitled to your opinions, so is Nacon.

Please keep the discussion civil. We have a bit more leeway here than on the old fora, but personal attacks are still not allowed. Keep it up and I'm afraid I'll be editing your comments or removing them.

It doesn't matter how angry you are, not attacking others for disagreeing with you is a matter of basic courtesy, and one we will enforce if we have to.

Posted at 9:10PM on May 3rd 2007 by Eloise Pasteur

12. It rhymes with bacon and this isn't SL Herald.

RP got the right idea there.

Posted at 9:22PM on May 3rd 2007 by Nacon

13. I don't go to townhalls because of one simple reason: People tend to write less clearly than they can think, and Townhalls seem to be the pinnacle of that within SecondLife.

Yes, it's all up in the air. And yes, a lot of people are worried - including myself. And yes, if you want to go you should go.

But as for Jira and all the other stuff - LL is in completely uncharted waters, and their vision is clouded by an apparent glaucoma. That they are using Wordpress instead of a full up content management system for their blog/site sort of demonstrates that they are not scaling well.

Posted at 6:09PM on May 5th 2007 by Nobody Fugazi