Lindens on Why They're Not Paying SL Bloggers in Lindens

I got a response from Linden Lab about the recent controversy in which they asked SL bloggers to blog about SL on an unpaid basis for the company's community site, and the exchange went like this:

"Hey Pete," I e-mailed Peter Gray, company spokesman, I'm sure you've seen the uproar over this post: "Can I get an official comment: How come you guys are not offering to pay these bloggers, at least in Linden Dollars?"

And Peter Gray sent me back this reply:

"We thought that the size of our blog's audience would be an appealing proposition for some community bloggers hoping to raise their profile. Previously, when we put out calls for blog contributions around specific themes (e.g. fashion last September), we used the same guidelines, and it seemed to work well."

So there you are. What's your reply to that reply?

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Comments

[Scarp Godenot]

We of course notice his total avoidance of the question and the issues.

Very Bureaucratic PR speak.

A non answer answer. But then again what would one expect? A dialogue?

Not bloody likely. Just the same old Parent-Child transaction.

To rephrase what is really being said: "We have decided, take it or leave it. The end." Or to quote W.C. Fields "Go away kid, you bother me...."

my 2 cents

[Emperor Norton]

Scarp "To rephrase what is really being said: "We have decided, take it or leave it. The end." Or to quote W.C. Fields "Go away kid, you bother me....""

Yep, and that thinking turned out so well for SL when M Linden said that. The problem companies like LL don't get is they need their customers a lot more then their customers need them.

I believe the correct reply to this is "call us when you decided to get serious"

[Yesha Sivan]

Why should Linden lab pay? if they get what they need for free?

[Mera]

Instead of shooting from the hip I think LL deliberately should choose some bloggers that fits their profile and image. Then pay them. They could change bloggers now and then though. This way they get value for money and dont buy a pig in a sack :]

[Melanie]

How is this a "non answer"?

He said it quite plainly, they figured it is an opportunity that some bloggers would like to use to raise their profile.

I don't understand how people aren't getting that the compensation isn't monetary, it's in social value.

There is no one single media entity within SL that has a truly powerful, universal coverage; there isn't a single newspaper or magazine or blog that absolutely EVERYONE in SL recognizes when you mention it. In RL, you say "Wall Street Journal" or "New York Times" and everyone knows what you're talking about; there's no equivalent to that in SL. The Lindens control that, and this is an opportunity for bloggers to get exposure on that medium.

[Harper Ganesvoort]

Agreed with Melanie on this; Peter did not dodge the bullet at all here. Linden Lab has the right to determine if they'll offer pay -- or not -- to writers on their blog, as long as they do so fairly from the start. And, as for the editing, who doesn't reserve editorial control to themselves on their own blog? Even the ones with co-writers, I suspect that if one committed a "grosse Goofup" (in the words of a cheat sheet from my old chemistry teacher), the other writer(s) would surely urge them to correct or retract.

[Nanu]

i spare my thoughts on this as they get deleted again anyways .. like the last 3 times ... >.<

[Emperor Norton]

That brings up the flip side of all this. These blog posts are going to be worth every penny LL pays for them (i.e. nothing) The professor writers won't work for free so all it will be is enthused amateurs and this is going into their corporate website.

LL still is not getting it that Second Life is their product they have to sell.

[shockwave yareach]

A raised profile! I never thought of paying my tier in denominations of raised profile before! What a novel idea...

[shockwave yareach]

When they are ready for some serious screeds by serious writers, they can make a serious offer. Until then, the offer is as unreal as the SL platform itself.

[Scarp Godenot]

Re posting great blog posts and being one big happy SL family is not what this is about. That would be just fine.

Linden Lab want original, unpublished content on spec, with all the rights of a normal paying client for free.

Those are different animals entirely.

[Aki]

This whole issue reminds me a lot of a similar problem going on with the New York Times' editorial cartoon submission. Cartoonists were emailed individually and asked to submit their work to be chosen for exclusive publication on a weekly basis, with the winner to be paid $250. Cartoonists responded in a manner probably not expected by the NYT (see Daryl Cagle's article on the kafuffle here: http://www.cagle.com/2012/02/the-new-york-times-cartoon-kerfuffle/ ) and I can't help but wonder if all sides on the LL debate can take away something from how things went with the cartoonists.

Time is money, LL. If you want quality content, pay your bloggers what they deserve!

[Nalates Urriah]

I'm with Melanie.

I have Google AdSense on my blog. It pays the hosting and registration fees and a little profit. I'll be able to by better heels...

The advantage of getting one's blog noticed by some majority of SL users can improve traffic and thus income.

In your (Hamlet's) case as a paid professional writer with an established rep the advantage of appearing there is probably minimal. For new and small bloggers it is a significant advantage and probably worth the effort.

There are other ways to gain notoriety. But, this is a really good one. The opportunity to appear on the leading blog pages for all the forum/blog readers to see is a valuable thing. The exclusive requirement is a problem for me. Otherwise I would probably participate.

I think Scarp Godenot's 2 cents is way off the mark, sounding more like a hater's opinion than an objective informed opinion. :P Unfortunately he is not alone in his thinking. :(

[Riisu]

Now everybody should understand why SL official blogs have been silent for a while. LL need some new fresh cannon fodder. Blog posts have a tendency to explode to the face of their author when LL is involved. [/sarcasm]

I stopped blogging a long time ago but, even as an ex-blogger, I feel insulted by LL's proposal.

[shockwave yareach]

@Nalates

The only people who will be seen on LL's blogs will be people willing to say that all is well, everything is fine, and pay no attentions to all those skeletons in the closet over there. To whit; cheerleaders. And it is understandable that LL's own blog would engage in cheerleading to some extent.

But anyone promoting their blog while simultaneously singing the song LL wants sung and dancing the Watusi the way LL wants, isn't writing any believable blog I'd be interested in reading in the first place. I want to hear the good AND the bad. I want the truth, or as close to the truth as we can get in this day and age. And nobody who gains notice by joining the LL Propaganda Corps. will be willing to say anything negative about SL, even though it's true and factual, because they'll lose the readership the LL blog brings when LL removes them from the blog.

You can't tell the truth about management in management's own newsletter. And I wouldn't visit any blog of anyone willing to sell out their principles (for free no less) just for a little attention. If all you want is attention, pose in your underwear on Facebook like everybody else does.

[Metacam Oh]

Isolated by itself, there is nothing really wrong or negative about having a blog with volunteer writers. However taking this in line with the other frequent serial blunders from the Lab, you can see why people are pissed off.

If you are asking for volunteers and free work, you look bad by then following that request up with a draconian list of demands, exuding the attitude that people should thank the lord almighty to write for them for free.

Now of course, who knows what they are really thinking, but the tone and the wording give that impression.

It's the, we're better than you, we know better attitude that continually comes across combined with the lack of respect or value for the customer. So of course when they ask for free content from their customers, who pay them at the very least double what their actual product is worth, with the giant reward of Linden Lab owning your work exclusively, people are immediately going to have that feeling again. I know I do. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel, and start doing what made you successful in the first place, which is expanding the capabilities of their platform. We know you are a business Linden Lab, but could once and awhile we not feel like you are only about sucking the remaining blood from our veins?

[Pussycat Catnap]

I think most of the folks would be fine with the free if the authors retained the rights.

If losing the rights to the material, compensation is the norm.

A 'fanzine' takes free articles because it takes no rights.

A 'magazine' pays for content because it takes the rights.

Remember my apartment newsletter example yesterday? That's the fanzine.

To be frank they should check with their legal department over this, vis-a-vis the issue of 'consideration'.

[Dartagan Shepherd]

"We thought that the size of our blog's audience would be an appealing proposition for some community bloggers hoping to raise their profile. Previously, when we put out calls for blog contributions around specific themes (e.g. fashion last September), we used the same guidelines, and it seemed to work well."

"So there you are. What's your reply to that reply?"

Users paid for lunch the last time, I thought they'd keep doing that every time?

Meanwhile, we're waiting for real news from LL. Any news.

While a Flickr pic of the day is worth 1,000 words (and cheaper too), 1,000 words from LL themselves says more than 1,000 pictures of the day.

Community content is great, rather see what LL is doing themselves from their own mouths on their own site.

Blogging? You first, LL.

[Ann Otoole InSL]

Accurate response that reflects my spot on comment in the previous thread. If you want money then don't worry about it. If you want exposure then it is something that might work for you.

Frankly the so-called self aggrandized self important SL bloggers that are complaining just lost all my respect. Nobody in SL is important. It is a tiny niche. End of story.

[Selby Evans]

So what is the size of the blog audience? How does it compare to NWN?

[Kim Anubis]

Peter Gray is on my short list of Lindens most likely to give a damn, so I'm going to give him a break and shut up.

[Mera]

Im sure some bloggers would benefit from this even if they didnt get paid. That is not the issue here. In my point of view this will cost LL money (edit blogs and administrate it) and I think they should use their PR money more wisely.

They wont get the best bloggers this way, only mediocre ones im afraid and that wont sell Second life. This will only look cheap as everyone will see these bloggers r cheerleaders and not many are interested in reading a blog like that im afraid....They need to get some really juicy stuff into this if they want success and they wont get it this way.

They need a really good blogger that is a genious in social media too, not only blogging. Twitter, FB and plurk are important to combine with blogging. This is a lot more work than most ppl are prepared to give for free if its going to work the way LL want. A blog has to be combined with other social media to succeed.

This will only make them look like amateurs im afraid...

[bobo]

money for us....
crap for you...

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Why buy the cow when you can just show it the meat grinder and it will dutifully turn itself into hamburger, inch by painful inch, for free?

Personally, if it was exposure I wanted, I'd doff my clothes and go for a stroll on the New Jersey Turnpike during rush hour. Linden blogs? 'Cha, right. Spin ain't cheap, and babies, you need all the help you can buy.

[JayR Cela]

Who Care's

or

What Me Worry

JayR Cela :_)

[Rusalka Writer]

I'm a member of the Writers Guild of America, West. We went on strike a few years ago over the producers' practice of posting Guild-covered material (movies, television shows) on the Internet without compensation to the writers. Their excuse was that writers should be glad to have more people viewing their creations. We struck for four months because no, we'd like to be paid, thanks very much.

[Pussycat Catnap]

If LLs wants to increase exposure and thinks we should all be happy to be compensated for just exposure - why not make land free and not take a cut from Marketplace?

That would give them more exposure too.

[Hiro Pendragon]

That's all well and good, but Linden Lab should not expect to have:
a. Original content not syndicated elsewhere.
b. Editorial control. They should either accept a blog entry or reject it, or ask the author if a small change can be made.

It's these two points that are silly.

[Tethys Pestana]

Write what we allow to be written and we will allow you to read what we want you to read. Doubleplusgood!