What Are the Most Interesting Things Zee Linden's Saying in the Closed Forum?

Linden Chief Financial Officer Zee Linden has just published Second Life's latest economic stats on the official blog. Most of the presented metrics seem favorable, on the surface at least. (Though since the beginning of Openspace imbroglio began in late October, Linden acknowledges, the size of the world has shrunk 10% in size.) Still, he begins by claiming, "Financially 2008 was an outstanding year for the company from a profitability and cash flow perspective."

However, all this data is actually just a selective bite in Second Life's larger fiscal burrito, and isn't worth considering without a fuller context.  To even begin getting that, you must read the discussion forum on the official site, which is closed to non-Residents.  The public blog's reply thread was actually closed after several readers posted comments, which were subsequently deleted by the Lindens.  ("[W]e've turned off comments because we find we can have a better discussion in the forums," Zee writes here.)  In the forum topic, Zee is currently answering questions from Residents, many of them extremely angry over a host of grievances.  Most of his replies there are surprisingly candid, and totally contrast with the data presented in maximally glowing terms offered on the blog.  Here's one, from this forum post:

[Our] credibility took a hit because of the way we launched Openspaces then had to change it. It will take time for us to restore that. I've apologized for that many times. We're not perfect, but we're getting better.

At another point, after acknowledging that the wave of outside hype over Second Life led to an unsustainable situation in 2007, then insisting that the future for SL is good, he adds:

I'm not sure that type of stuff belongs in a general audience blog post though.

And on that point, I must disagree for many reasons.  For one, the future well-being of Second Life is not simply a function of profit and activity.  It's also about the heated discourse going on in the forum-- what the Residents say to Zee, and why, and what he says in reply.  That's just as crucial. 

So I put it to the readers of this blog: what are the most enlightening or revealing things being said by Zee, and why are they so important?  Go to this forum topic, log in with your SL name and password, give it a fair read, pick out your own highlights, and report on them here. 

Image credit: www.cba.ca.

Comments

[jason kenny]

Personally I would put a lovely bench so all the squirrels could use it and maybe add a mini bar and a Jacuzzi at a later date just for the wildlife though!

[jason kenny]

I don’t know some moments of this post..

[Arwyn Quandry]

"[W]e've turned off comments because we find we can have a better discussion in the forums,"

That's great - If you're a Main Grid resident. Any teen who wants to join in a discussion is isolated and ignored, as Lindens never post on the TG forums, aside from Blue's leaving announcement and one or two comments from Katt Linden. Actions like this really, really annoy me. Maybe Jacob was right that they're going to shut down the Teen Grid, because they're sure doing a good job already of acting like it's gone.
Thanks for ignoring us, Lindens. That's how you keep your future MG residents happy.

[Ciaran Laval]

I very much appreciate Zee's input on a forum thread. However unlike the previous thread where he engaged in discussion, he's started this one from a losing position because of the amount of spin in the original blog post.

I like this comment:

"It does seem like we continually solve one problem and run into another one though doesn't it! FJ has the right priorities and is working on the right things. I'm very glad to have him on the team. With 9 years running the dial up network at AOL - he knows what it takes to scale. And he knows how to drink a beer. I'll be taking a break from the forums to do just that with him in a few minutes."

That seems to suggest that the new guys are settling in well and that there's some harmony within the camp.

I must admit however to being confused as to what he means about a new lower priced full sim product coming along, with a premium alternative. If he puts full sim tier up people really will get the pitchforks out!

[Vint]

I know I should go read the forum tread, but fear another depression coming on after doing so. I'll just refresh this page once in a while to get the highlights... .

[Iggy O]

I skimmed it all (yow). This interested me. Belle Loll wrote:

"I earned 2200 L$ per week in 2007. In 2008 it was 1200 L$. Now I closed almost all my inworld-shops. And I don't buy anything anymore because I don't like grey stuff."

Zee Linden replied:

"So I'd like to learn more about your experience. Is it fewer new residents? More competition? or are some of your goods being copied? To what do you account the decline in your success?"

Belle followed with a note about how gray, slow-to-load textures take a lot of the fun out of SL. To this Zee added:

"Grayness & missing textures is something we're working on. Lots to do in the rendering pipeline."

I'm glad to hear that!

I'm seeing more and more lag and "gray stuff" on a system that used to run SL just fine, and even on more modern systems at work. Belle's comment really sums up a lot of the frustration that residents feel in any sufficiently built-up region.

To be fair, however, my OpenLife experience is far worse (both on PCs and Macs): two avatars who never rez, and gray everywhere. To their credit, they do reply quickly to support requests in OpenLife. But it's no SL alternative, yet.

Better and faster rendering would indeed make SL more fun again.

[Ener Hax]

nice balanced post Hamlet. that is nice he took some blame, I missed that and was mad at Jack's incredibly insulting spin. it cost us on our estate (went from 18 to 12 sims with conversions) over a thousand dollars. we would have had our first significant profitable month in December, but nope, thanks to the OS debacle.

if full sims change prices, well that will likely finish us off. we are climbing back out of the hole and hit 88% occupancy (we were at 94% then went to 56%)

btw, i loved your book: The Making of Second Life . . . it gave me insight and helped me see how much LL is winging it as they build the world.

lol, but they need lots of work on customer service! they can't seem to answer simple emails looking for positive info. we spend nearly $3K in tiers and have been posing 2 simple questions since November (success stories of smaller corporations isl and licensing for screenshots for an eLearning textbook). maybe if you read this you can answer that!

that would be about right, I bought your book for $20 or whatever, and you answer my screenshot question while LL gives me the run around! M Linden responded on his blog, had George get a hold of me in-world, then a business contact I personally met emailed me, yet still no answer!

even Ning, whom I have spent 0 with answered me within 24 hours on a question!