SL Fashion Bloggers Rarely Criticize Badly Optimized Products Because They Usually Get These Products for Free (Comment of the Week)

Good point from reader Myndy Heartsdale on why SL fashion/accessory bloggers rarely criticize products they blog for poor optimization and other technical flaws. Part of it is because they're mainly using these products for solo fashion shoots, but there's also a subtle incentive at play. As Myndy puts it:

One little thing that's not mentioned: many bloggers get the product for free, then they speak positive things of it; so far I have not seen a blogger criticize a product because of their possible issues.

"That is absolutely true," concurs SL blogger Chic Aeon:

"But bloggers DO HAVE A CHOICE in what they blog... It is OUR credibility on the line too. So when readers figure out that we blog everything from "deeigner VGY" even when there are obvious mesh issues, you can't move in it at ALL etc. -- then our fans have our number and likely won't be reading much of our musing in the future."

Chic's own blog has a good recent example of praising a new product (above) while also gently pointing out some issues:

Di loves this new gift from .:AMUI:.  for the Teleporthub.com group ($10 to join). The Belinda outfit comes in plenty of sizes including standard sizing for non-mesh bodies so your chances of finding a fit are good.  This is not a PERFECT fit though and if your avatar is less than average in their build, it may not work for you.

Once again, if you're an SL fashion blogger and give technically critical reviews of popular fashion brands which need better optimization, get in touch! 

Comments

[Sasy Scarborough]

You will find that a lot of long-standing bloggers have built relationships with creators and if they find a fault with an item will contact the creator to let them know so that they can fix it. Some do it, some do not and some can react very unexpectedly about it.

I have had bloggers tell me of abuse they have copped from Designers they respected and blogged for years, that have trashed them going forward. There are also situations where because we tend to stand still and unpack, put on and then jump on a pose stand that we have not seen an issue with something as evident. That has occurred a few times to me over the years. As mentioned if we do not like something, if something does not work, we don't blog it, it is a waste of time to spend hours doing a post to point out that this is horrible, or that does not fit.

It has been suggested many times that there needs to be a proper review site, but unless there was payment of some kind to facilitate the time taken to find these horrible fitting items, wear them shoot them and then be negative about them, it would just be a horrible way to spend any time of the day, nevermind the time that is precious to many that they can spend in Second Life.

We are blessed with the ability to try demos, Fashion Blogging is about showcasing items, it is about showing the readers the ways in which an item can be worn, the colour combinations possible, and the idea of a look and how it combines with a location, decor, etc. As Chic - a very good Blogger for many many years - does and many of us do, if we are talkers we will mention the need to tweak, to change your cleavage sliders, to wear on an underwear layer instead of clothing for a better fit, those are things we can share, and we do :)

Nice post.

[Sasy Scarborough]

We also do not get anything for 'free' friends get free things, bloggers get items that there is an expected exchange for, as in a blog post featuring said item. You may want to explore some of the 'rules' that are now set for Bloggers to follow, and also the expense that goes into Blogging in Second Life.

[Susan]

The LOD change has been out for a while now but I haven't seen any mesh upgraded. I have items that completely disappear when you get 2m away from them now. Not a word from the creators or the bloggers.

I also wish bloggers, and customers, would call out designers who don't bother to learn to weight their clothing. I'd say 90% of mesh skirts clip when you walk in them. You never see it in a static pic on a blog post. When rating an outfit this is just overlooked. Why?

[Chic Aeon]

@ Sasy

As I was reading through your comment and nodding :D, I knew this was an old-timer blogger writing -- and so it was when I looked at the author. A few of us are still around and I am happy to see that!

Also though about the "exchange not free" idea. As bloggers we DO have the option of opting in (or applying as the case may be) to blogger groups. We do get a list of criteria that we agree to follow. Personally I am not in any of those groups.

I have never been fan of blogger groups and honestly don't see that they are working out all that well for the creators either. I am in a few brand groups (grandfathered with no need to follow the rules or in most cases report) but some easy sleuthing tells me that many to most of the bloggers in the group are simply not blogging the items as they promised. Blogger groups get completely revised fairly often. At least one designer I know has abandoned the group and now hand delivers again (to me anyway).

In the old days (and still in some cases) bloggers had actual conversations with the designers they featured. Designers even asked for advice. Now, most of the blogger groups have lost that camaraderie. I DO miss the old days.

and @ Susan

I for one am not going to point out bad LODs on my blog. I have been running at LOD 2 for well over two years now. Some of the designers that I regularly blogged for are no longer featured. That was the primary reason. There is a place for those items and the creators making LOD4 goods have an audience. "I" am no longer that audience and hence those designs are no longer featured on my blog. I am not going to change my LOD settings to feature goods that could easily (oh so easily) work at lower LODs. That is no doubt partly a CREATOR outlook as well as a blogger's. Those lines mix sometime.

And about the clipping in skirts. As someone who has tried several times to weight paint a skirt, I can tell you that it is almost impossible to negate clipping completely on a tight skirt that heads towards the knees. That is partly why we have so very many mini-minis out there. Easier to rig. A slight flare helps a bunch of course. So personally I don't count that as a huge flaw. There are demos people can try and their willingness to have their skirt split should be up to them. Me? I am most often wearing pants *wink*.

This whole conversation -- some on the SL forum and some here on this website -- has been very good for me. I had already made some creator and blogger decisions because I DO very much believe in credibility. Yesterday I did a blog post outlining some of that. It is important to walk your walk --- in my book and on my blog anyway.

And to all the new bloggers out there -- remember it is important to have FUN along the way.

[Sasy Scarborough]

I am so old and always delight at seeing your blog, especially the name of it Chic ;) as far as groups and opting in, yes definitely although many change rules from what was opted in to, and history does not seem to matter so much these days. I understand though people are running businesses to pay their bills, so if they feel that fresh faces make that happen more so then so be it. I have always shopped very hard in Second Life, so I have never been reliant on what has been sent, I just appreciated it. I am getting hand sent now too, so I bet I know who you mean.

As far as LOD and blogging that stuff, some bloggers know the ins and outs of the tech behind product creation in Seecond Life, but many do not, a lot of bloggers have joined SL discovered blogging is a thing and run with it, and anyone that is less than 6 years old, may have never even experienced mesh, system layers etc. They went straight into mesh bodies and parts, and wear the corresponding items made for them. I once recently had to check something and the item in edit was so dense there was no visible quads/tris whatever, it was almost solid yellow, I yelped in fear.

People often forget that creators in Second Life have often joined the grid, hung out for a bit then been curious about creation and learned from others or tutorials that are often not for Second Life, so the creative process is very different and does not put any information out there about fine tuning and being considerate in terms of how heavy your mesh is.

Want something to appear smooth hit smooth ten times that works :D uploading it works too, so why would they think or know they are killing the grid, people attack bodyparts for scripts and LOD which is laughable because they do not even compare, I have seen people list the numbers and point out how one body is xx but the other is xy so shoot it! but will then wear hair that is half the alphabet or shoes that could burn the eyes of the sun.

It is not a bloggers job to correct the ways of the world, we have been trying for years to share info, little things here and there, but we are also only going by the info that we can obtain, that we know from working behind the scenes or being creators also. As much as people want to picket and wave pitchforks, at the end of the day you will never have enough want a blockier looking item over a smooth, so it will always be an uphill struggle.

[Weekend Ruiner]

I have been in many conversations with bloggers who have to get creative in order to blog something they find terrible.
for example, some skyboxes where baked in light was somehow being projected through a solid wall, or from invisible light sources whereas the actual lights in the box didn't.

There were a range of HiFi products doing the rounds that one blogger mentioned to me that it was "too freakin' big" (they were right - scaling was way off)

Sure, they get items before the general public do but they have to put up with trying to get often bland objects into an image where they look ok as failure to post anything favourable ends up with them being removed from the blogger list.

[Chic Aeon]

It is not a bloggers job to correct the ways of the world, we have been trying for years to share info, little things here and there, but we are also only going by the info that we can obtain, that we know from working behind the scenes or being creators also. As much as people want to picket and wave pitchforks, at the end of the day you will never have enough want a blockier looking item over a smooth, so it will always be an uphill struggle.

I so agree that bloggers are not meant to be the police force -- and I sincerely HOPE that the middle ground in mesh becomes the norm.

And to Weekend:

Sure, they get items before the general public do but they have to put up with trying to get often bland objects into an image where they look ok as failure to post anything favourable ends up with them being removed from the blogger list.

What is so very puzzling to me is WHY anyone would want to keep blogging a brand that puts out things they hate and / or are sub-par. Bloggers DO HAVE CHOICES.

There was a time, long long ago (yes, I know I am ancient although Sasy beats me) there WERE no blogger groups or blogger copies. Those that wanted to write, show and tell did their own leg work. They bought items or won items or found gifts --- OR even blogged DEMOS after they came on the scene. Somehow we survived and honestly we had much more enthusiastic audiences that most bloggers have now.

I do get that times have changed. I am just not so convinced that they have changed for the better.

[Pussycat Catnap]

@Sasy's first comment:

We actually have a proper review site. The MP reviews system. No go find a popular merchant and pick a bad product from there and give it a 1-star review.

Or better... give it a 4-star review. Watch the drama that ensues...

@Chic for "I for one am not going to point out bad LODs on my blog. I have been running at LOD 2 for well over two years now":

But I and others don't know who those folks are. If all the reviews I see are just positive, I have lost my ability to trust that reviewer - even if behind the scenes there is a more complex picture. I need to know not just what you like... I need to know what to avoid - especially if my tastes are not the same as yours.

I happen to be more informed than most SLers. I not only know how to check this stuff myself... I also have the extremely rare bit of knowledge of even knowing about this stuff in the first place...

If I were not me... if I were one of your regular readers or another blogger's regular reader... and I was not a technical person... I might lack all of that ability to 'protect myself' from bad product... So I go to a blog to learn what's cool... and then I go buy stuff... and when at the event, I see that 'really nice handbag over to the left' and pick it up as well...
- and then I'm in my groups talking about laggy SL is... or in my favorite club complaining about the lag... when the entire problem is my brand new handbag... that I didn't know was from a bad designer, and I didn't know how to spot that on my own...

Sadly... not enough people read my blog, when I post to it, about this kind of stuff... and the people who's blogs do get read... they don't post this info...

so I keep going to venues and seeing people complain about SL being laggy... and trying to tell them they're causing the lag with the stuff they have on... and seeing them react in rage at me... because their favorite blogger is the one who said that stuff they have was cool... and because I tend to be a bit more blunt than they would like... :)

[Pussycat Catnap]

@chic: "There was a time, long long ago (yes, I know I am ancient although Sasy beats me) there WERE no blogger groups or blogger copies. Those that wanted to write, show and tell did their own leg work. They bought items or won items or found gifts --- OR even blogged DEMOS after they came on the scene. Somehow we survived and honestly we had much more enthusiastic audiences that most bloggers have now."

There were also a lot less bloggers at a lot less frequency. It takes time and money after all. But the honesty is / was better...

I think over the years I have only had 2 or maybe 3 offers to get stuff for free. One of them recently - which I turned down - from someone who's cheapest product of interest to me is several thousand lindens...

I don't blog often, and have never been a fashion blogger. So of course I don't get these offers. But I can imagine the pressure if one did.

I actually get offended when I enter a shop and I get or see a note somewhere for blogger applications. To be that is like a politician hiring people to rig elections for them. Just imagine if your local mayor had a sign at city hall setting rates of pay for voting for his favorite council members...

That's the state of the SL review community...

So corrupt it makes politics look honest.

[Chic Aeon]

@ Pussycat :D

Well I did publish a long and fairly detailed article (linked here at NWN a bit ago) on how to test things. It isn't my first "educational article" although I try to keep those down to a low number as most folks really only want pretty.

I stand by the "people need to learn" theme. ANYONE can watch and see when an item comes into view and no longer looks like triangles -- or reversely cam (or WALK) away and notice. THAT takes no skill at all -- just pushing an arrow key.

I chose LOD2 for my personal benchmark (both blogging and creating) since it is the default for Firestorm and 75% or so of SL users choose that as their browser. If someone is running at 1 LOD then some of MY creations may work and some of what I blog may not. I have always gone for the middle-ground as I think that is the most fair position.

If I have readers at LOD1 and they get mad that "I" liked something (actually LIKED, not just blogged) well they certainly have that right. I am not forcing anyone to read my musing and recommendations.

I have decided to go back a bit and return to my early day roots some. It will be much more fun.

And as to the frequency of blogging back in the day -- ten years ago I had 357 posts (for 9 months). In 2009, the first complete year that I blogged I had 766. They are still linked in my sidebar. So many of the gals blogging back then were busy little bees. I think Gogo posted daily and Achariya Maktoum was a frequent blogger. Sasy blogged a lot and there was someone that did a new hair everyday.

My posts in the last three years have been in the mid 300s -- so basically a post a day. My plan for this year is to slow down some -- purposefully; I want more enjoyment and less work.

And yes, I too am not all that happy with the state of blogging -- or the state of the nation for that matter. We do what we can do and try to be true to ourselves.

[weekend ruiner]

there's a creator who really disliked my point by point criticism of his overpriced creation that I had to totally retexture and fix that he removed the listing, then re-listed it in order to not have any negative feedback.

[Chic Aeon]

Commenting on this older thread as noted just now that Berry had a lot of info on her current post that was very much in the "let the readers know" vein. While I have no intention of shopping via hud, I thought all of her comments sounded very just.

I sometimes wonder why folks DO NOT TEST or have a BETA before they make something live. Not new news at all, just never ceases to amaze me.

Her is her post: https://strawberrysingh.com/2018/05/29/lookbook-cosmetics-hud/

[Chic Aeon]

And at weekend ruiner -- relisting is completely against the Marketplace terms and if you want you can certainly report the person :D.