Torley's Take on Trouble: SL's Most Beloved Linden Attempts Communication Breakdown Repair

I met Torley Linden in 2005, when I was still a Linden myself, and at the time, he was a Resident named Torley Torgeson, and not exactly a "he", but most certainly, among the community's most beloved figures.  He joined the Lindens shortly after, while I left the Lindens some months later, and what's striking is how he's managed to retain so much of his original, dazzlingly wacky identity, even after "going corporate".  After I reported on a reader survey indicating a monumental decline in Linden-to-Resident communication quality, I posted a response from Linden community director Robin Linden, and in Comments, Torley followed that with his own perspective.  Reader response to that, it's fair to say, has been mixed.  As an ironic demonstration in communication breakdown, it's worthwhile conversation worth reading, and participating in: do so at this link.  I just hope clarity comes sooner rather than later.

Comments

[Torley]

Ah Hamlet, we actually met in 2004. I have proof here:

» http://torley.com/its-407-am-and-i-really-shouldnt-be-up

while the images are broken, the spirit remains. I wish you had asked me for a more updated picture, tho, I have a tan now and... I've expanded my gender spectrum to include shambling slime molds and Dazzle Bats!

But seriously (and maybe not): in my early days, I met Robin near the behind of a giant reading dragon, and then in the Second Life Public Library proper. Her warmth and compassion for Second Life and its Residents taught me a lot about the kind of people that work at Linden Lab, as did the many encounters I had in times to come.

If I were to die tomorrow and be surrounded by people who've positively impacted me (I watched Big Fish yesterday, such an emotional ending), a lot of them would be Lindens and Residents.

I detest the us vs. them stuff. I hate when assumptions are made that Lindens all run supercomputers immune to lag and that we never suffer content loss or everyday bugs. A lot of us have SL issues (I have personally), but not all of us have the time to talk about it — e.g., devs have work to do fixing those bugs, our IWorld Team is great at spreading the word about service-wide issues, and we've certainly gotten way better at putting up technical post-mortems on the Offiicial Linden Blog! It's those moments when I like to help share those perspectives, a type of resonant osmosis, if you will... and this is true both ways, Resident<—>Linden.

Sometimes, people just wanna know they're not alone in their suffering. People everywhere, online and off, want to be treated well, hugged (altho sometimes they won't admit it), acknowledged. You can put dense layers of technology in the mix, but that doesn't impair the humanity, merely interprets it in different ways. I am sure when some folks come off mad in text, they might be a lot more pleasant in person. I know this because I've been through it.

Perception is reality for some. This, I am understanding too.

Good communication should not be accusatory. It is, at its heart, about coming together and providing pieces of the puzzle. Thus, I'm not trying to "repair" communications (I understand it may be "perceived" as such); I'm just sharing what I've lived in my role at Linden Lab. I've asked a lot of questions, heard a lot of answers, and I'm still curious to learn and improve.

I also shy away from superlatives like "most beloved", because the credit, the glory doesn't belong to me. I'm a catalyst, and I support my coworkers' and community's endeavors. I don't like making others feel uneasy with my popularity. I started Second Life, Day 1, as another face in the crowd, but came to love this place. And I still do.

Again, I advertise my inworld Office Hours for the purpose of LIVE discussion. I find spontaneity can be a powerful enabler of helping communications flow. My hours are text-only for now, but I'm open to doing voice ones in the future if there's demand:

» http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Torley_Linden#Office_hours

I can't help you with things outside my realm of expertise, but there's a lot within it (as described on that page) I hopefully can give you a guiding hand, and a friendly smile on.

Especially when you, as a Resident, have taken the time to come and be a part of Second Life and want us to grow and prosper together, it's the least I can do.

I don't have all, or even most of the answers, but the ones I do and can share, I will. :)

[Lem Skall]

"Sometimes, people just wanna know they're not alone in their suffering. People everywhere, online and off, want to be treated well, hugged (altho sometimes they won't admit it), acknowledged."

This is the kind of "we're family" stuff that I refer to in a comment over at the other post. Sorry, Torley, nothing personal but I am not interested in being family with LL especially when we also keep getting the "we're just your plumber" "metaphor" from the same LL (Robin's own message and http://metaversed.com/06-nov-2007/metanomics-reloaded-gene-yoon-aka-ginsu-linden are just examples). LL are the ones making it "us" and "them". We're all human and I treat everyone as such (that's why I don't go all Prok on LL) but forgive me if this is strictly professional and business to me.

[starcomber Vig]

Second Life is not a community.

Since June of 2006 when the press started to realized SL was a topic they could sell well the defining aspect of SL-as-a-community started to fade away out of the horizon.

As of today we do not have a community but a sprawl of interest groups, devs, providers and, largest pool of all, short-lived visitors and tourists.

Most of the early adopters have left SL, many have become affiliated and business partners and some of these early users are clearly vocal the most about what LL does or does not.

Why?

The idea that the Gods have fled the place is obviously too harsh to even receive acknowledgment. The fact that LL declares now out loud that SL is a mere "product" seems like blasphemy to these users. The reason Torley is a natural last resort in such debate is due to him being THAT BRIDGE between now and then and that is for his personality and meta-language, shocking and effective at a time and a paternal/maternal figure as well.

But is it true that the Gods have left the world?
It is false.
You can find Lindens at every corner these days. You can talk and ask mostly many of them at every hour of the day and night during office hours, so often in fact that I wonder if it was not more feasible economically to reinstate what everybody need the most: Live Help.
In my opinion the venerable and missed hotline to a small circle of operatives is what conforms to "delivering and supporting a product" best.

If Lindens are in fact present what makes said users so vocal and negative?
The fact that LL has no clear answers to their questions as their questions are about policy, regulations at a large, stuff that LL can not and does not want to deal with.

We may wonder why LL recognizes these office-hours necessary and/or even productive.
LL may be under pressure from many old-timers to show up sometimes and explain, coordinate and direct.

Old time users (strong developers and businesses via their devs) mostly demand policies, not tools.

Younger residents demand mostly tools, not policies. Younger residents realize that LL can not police the world neither have answers about political issues that happen to unravel in-world. Their take is realistic and legit to a company that delivers a product.

These two corners of the problem, but there are many more, are what make communication troublesome.

May LL give up entirely with the illusion that a community still exists that is not limited to developers and large in-world business we all may have better grounds for a meaningful and rich debate.

[Frans Charming]

@Starcomber The 2 groups you describe are there, but from my experience they are not as clearly divided by being old and new. They have more to do with expectations and desires.