According to Gigs Taggart, he and several others were scammed for a combined $10,000 US dollars or so, and while Linden Lab appears to have banned the perpetrator, Taggart says that Linden Lab are basically allowing the fraudster to get away with it.
Bargaining in good faith, Taggart made an offer on an island for sale, unaware that the seller was receiving money for the sale of the same island from other would-be purchasers. The first purchaser ended up with the island, but everyone else has nothing to show.
The Linden Lab Land and Concierge staff have announced the opening of their new office inworld. They hasten to point out that it is not for support, but within a half hour of the announcement, the island was already busy with curious onlookers, some of whom were hoping to get a hold of a Linden Lab staffer. Within 45 minutes, at least one Resident was asking Jack Linden land support questions. I fielded a few of the more technical questions for Jack, but the place is getting busier and busier.
It will be interesting to see how this works out for the Concierge/Land Team, whether this ends up providing a useful resource for Lindens and Residents, or if it's a place the Linden team will want to avoid.
Jack Linden tells us that Linden Lab is aware of Lindex problems involving the purchase of Linden Dollars. These problems usually result in an error message and no billing taking place, but 'usually' doesn't mean always, so we presume that some people may be being billed without result.
It's under investigation at the current time, and it's not yet known if this is related to the other problems that are taking place on the grid at the moment. All in all, it hasn't been a great week technically for Second Life.
[Update: 8:42am - Linden Lab urges caution with purchasing L$ at this time, and are still investigating.]
A few minutes ago, Jack Linden posted that the First Land program has been terminated. This will no doubt cause as much complaint as the program has drawn recently.
Though many residents have been calling for an end to the First Land program, we will likely see as much criticism of it's closure -- from the same people in some cases, if you watch closely. I'd recommend some popcorn, quality street-theater like this can be hard to come by.
If you're a sim owner (ie: Not a mainland sim) on a class 3 server, you can get an upgrade to a class 5 server if you order now. Jack Linden says this is on a first-come, first-served basis, while stocks last.
The upgrade will cost you $400USD, and increase your monthly fees to $295USD/month. This isn't available to the owners of class 4 servers as Jack says, "The performance of a class 5 server, for most uses, is not significantly better than a class 4 machine."
Additionally, monthly fees for existing islands will remain the same until the next (time not yet specified) policy review.
1. A staff member of a hotel or apartment complex who assists guests or residents, as by handling the storage of luggage, taking and delivering messages, and making reservations for tours.
2. A person, especially in France, who lives in an apartment house, attends the entrance, and serves as a janitor.
Despite the unflattering departmental name, Harmony Linden, Dee Linden, and Ethan Linden have been moved up from Liaison posts to working in Linden Lab's Concierge department. Concierge is responsible for the deployment and support of resident-owned sims (aka Private Islands).
They join Cyn Linden, Fritz Linden, and Jack Linden, already in Concierge, and the able (if very busy) Guy Linden (who is responsible for just about all the mainland-related land-issues), that brings the total Linden Lab, Second Life land team to seven.
[Update: It's been pointed out (and quite rightly) that Concierge cover any suitably large landowner, mainland or private]
According to Gigs Taggart, he and several others were scammed for a combined $10,000 US dollars or so, and while Linden Lab appears to have banned the perpetrator, Taggart says that Linden Lab are basically allowing the fraudster to get away with it.
Jack Linden 
A few minutes ago, Jack Linden posted that the First Land program has been terminated. This will no doubt cause as much complaint as the program has drawn recently. 
If you're a sim owner (ie: Not a mainland sim) on a class 3 server, you can get an upgrade to a class 5 server 
