What is "OPEN and TRANSPARENT" Communication?

For quite a while now I've been thinking of just how I can put my next question to the "friends" in San Fran, and still I'm not sure just how it should be formatted.

You see, while I can be quite vitros here in the BLOG, and quite cutting to the bone of our "friends", I strongly believe that if someone says something that is supposed to be taken seriously, then what they say should be HONEST and WITHOUT QUESTION.

A couple months ago, our friend Robin Harper, made a point to say that "Linden Lab is a very OPEN and TRANSPARENT company, especially when it comes to communicating with the Residents". At that time I took that comment at face value, just another "hot air" saying to appease the masses. But as time wore on, and I see just how CLOSED Linden Lab has become in it's communication with the Residents, I have been forced to re-examine this little tidbit.

So, when a company representative claims their company is "OPEN and TRANSPARENT" in Communication, what does that mean to you? Does that mean they close comments on ALL their BLOG Entries, with the exception of the "OH Look at the cool thing we did" posts? Does it mean they hold ONE HOUR a week in-world office hours and claim to "be concerned" about everyone's questions, but then refuse to answer them?

In my opinion, the ONLY "OPEN and TRANSPARENT" thing about Linden Lab communication is just how "TRANSPARENT" that statement is when it's put up against the facts. While Ms. Harper can "claim" what she wants, and sadly she might even believe it, the truth is that Linden Lab has once again turned a blind eye to the Residents of Second Life.

Why is this many wonder. When this summer, they promised anew efforts to communicate with the Community at large. Perhaps feeling the sting of the angered Residents has gotten to our friends, and I can't say I blame them. The last thing I would want to do in my job is read one scathing comment after another, with NO WAY to help. This is the problem really. The new "mission statement" announced by Mr. Rosedale speaks proudly about where Second Life was, has been, where it's going, and what it's purpose is for, but never touches on how we are going to get there if Second Life can't continue to hold up under the GRID. After this last MONTH, I think Mr. Rosedale's "mission statement" was poorly conceived and timed.

So, once again, let's turn to the source and ask Ms. Harper directly, "What IS OPEN and TRANSPARENT Communication?" And I'll do just that, but please know, and I fully expect, to once again be ignored, since by answering she would have to seriously defend this position without laughing, and I just don't see that being an option at this point.

What about you? What does "OPEN and TRANSPARENT COMMUNICATION" mean to you? Why not let Ms. Harper know what YOU think should be done, perhaps together we can all convince her she is using the WRONG WORDS to describe the current air of "OPENESS" at Linden Lab.

We are once again experiencing...oh hell you know the rest

Yes, today at 7:42AM PDT, our "friends" in San Fran once again announced the world of Second Life is apparently experiencing issues with Logins.

This time the culprit is said to be a bad DNS record or server, but once again, you must take what our friends in San Fran say with a LOT of grains of salt.

The real surprise to this observer is simply this. With the WORST record of any production or even BETA month in existence at Linden Lab, Philip Rosedale, the CEO of Linden Lab, and supposed CARING BOSS to the Community, has chose to remain silent. Not even sending Robin Harper out to calm the troops. Of course, they might better be able to gauge the reaction of the Second Life Community if they would ever allow COMMENTS on the Blogs. Although, maybe that's the point. Perhaps Mr. Rosedale got tired of hearing the majority of the Community asking to a Stable Grid and decided just to shut out everyone.

I actually laugh when I think of the times I've spoken with the employee's at Linden Lab and am told how much a wonderful BOSS Mr. Rosedale is, and how he really cares about Second Life and the Community. Well, I guess if you remain silent while your whole world crumbles around you it shows something about your character; or the lack of it.

When will the management team at Linden Lab finally realize that by saying and doing nothing is NOT the right way to handle these issues? I've invited Mr. Rosedale and Ms. Harper to speak on this very subject, but I sincerely doubt they will. The only time they ever seem willing to talk is when they want to speak about something that is coming to Second Life, not something being done to FIX Second Life; apparently these two individuals believe Second Life is just fine.

Time to put the pipe down, take off the rose-colored glasses, and take a long look around there Mr. Rosedale and Ms. Harper, your world is dying, and your customers are fleeing in droves.

It's time for a change...sadly

Friends, as we have all struggled through the last few weeks in our lovely virtual world of Second Life, I know you, as I, have grown more and more frustrated by the continuous Network Issues greatly effecting our time in Second Life.

This past month of November, is THE WORST month on record for Linden Lab, and what makes it so bad is the complete and utter silence from the top. While the GRID of Second Life continues to fail multiple times each day, those, who've not only allowed Second Life to come to such a mess, but directed it to such a mess, remain steadfast in their silence, hoping that somehow someone from their own ranks will rise up and pull a savior act.

This is the hardest Blog I've written, but I think time has come to call on the resignation of Philip Rosedale and Robin Harper from the ranks of management at Linden Lab. Their apparent non-caring management style is the ONLY reason Second Life is in such disarray. Philip and Robin were given dire warnings, not only by this old-timer, but many many others, concerning the eroding world of Second Life, and chose instead of FIXING the world, just heap more and more enhancements on it. This has no doubt left Second Life trying to catch it's breath daily, and when we see the number of in-world Residents rise, we see the world falling flat on itself; exactly what many of us predicted and warned Mr. Rosedale and Ms. Harper. Now that these dire predictions have come to pass, the only RIGHT and REASONABLE thing for these two non-caring individuals is to finally admit the error of their ways and kindly leave so some other and hopefully more CARING individual can step in and save Second Life.

Philip Rosedale and Robin Harper I once counted as friends in our world of Second Life, they've both sat and chatted with myself and my compatriots in-world before, and I always appreciated that, but now, for whatever reason, it seems these two high managers of Second Life have either forgotten what Second Life was about, or just no longer care, and either way, it's time to call for their departure.

Our world of Second Life will best be served by a management team that cares about Second Life and the Customers that make up the Community of Second Life Residents. We can no longer sit idly by while the management team of Second Life continue to destroy our world, it's time to rise up as a Community and demand satisfaction.

Sorry Uncle Philip and Aunty Robin, but sadly for all, your time has come to take your leave. Give us our world before you completely destroy it!

Before starting Second Life....consider this

It DOESN'T WORK!

No kidding, today has been laughable at best in the virtual world of Second Life, where on the Official Blog it's been noted that Network problems have been reported and resolved, yet the resolution apparently failed to actually make it into the virtual world itself.

IF you are lucky, every 1 in 50 Notecards actually got saved, every 1 in 100 attempts to Teleport were successful, every 1 in 5 chances to place a VOICE CHAT call actually connected, every 1 in 15 purchases were delivered successfully, and every 1 in 10 logins were actually made successfully!

In an attempt to get answers I turned to our wonderful friends at Linden Lab and heard the following: " "

That's right, apparently all of our friends at Linden Lab are either too busy or just too ashamed to actually respond to questions concerning the incessant Network problems that have plagued the virtual world of Second Life. I believe it's probably the latter, considering if it were the first, things would be getting better, and it just seems to be getting worse day after day.

I guess the next thing the Official Blog will tell is that a number (in the high thousands) of SIMs have failed and will be brought back up as soon as they can find someone who knows what they are doing; thankfully Real Life is still there.

Oh well, alas it's true, Second Life is no longer dying, it appears it's finally dead. Thanks Uncle Philip and Aunty Robin, you did so well at aborting a wonderful creation!

Once again MODERATION is their word for CENSORSHIP

Recently, while visiting our friends at that other place I frequent, I posted a comment on the Blog Posting concerning the Graphic Card Frame Rates and LAG.

Instead of posting my comment, as our friends do with everyone else, I found my comment "moderated" and "waiting for approval". Just in case someone that reads this doesn't understand what that means, it's simple, "We have chosen to practice CENSORSHIP because we are an 'OPEN and TRANSPARENT' company".

I do find it a bit bemusing that Robin Harper "harps" on this idea that Linden Lab is a very open and transparent company, one that prides itself on their communication with their Customers, but at the same time, chooses to only respond to those that are blowing sunshine up their skirts. I'm sure we can all agree that ANY company that says they are "OPEN and TRANSPARENT" surely is speaking only in terms of those that agree with them, NOT with those that might disagree with them.

Quite frankly, this isn't such a shock to me, considering how much "manure" the Linden Lab people have been tossing out on the Blogs recently. Tell you what, let's just review some things about the Linden Lab "OPEN and TRANSPARENT" communications and company.

First, this should have been good news, Linden Lab announces a "Initiative" to tackle the Asset Server Issues. It SHOULD have been good news, but it was also 9 months too late. Not only that, but since their announcement, well, that's all there's been. No other communication from the "open and transparent" Linden Lab.

Second, Linden Lab and IBM announce they are working together. Linden Lab chooses to state that IBM will be helping "stabilize" the grid, while IBM says something completely different. When confronted at an OPEN MEETING in Second Life as to what the real truth was, Linden Lab employee's state, "The press release speaks for itself and is quite clear". That's the "OPEN and TRANSPARENT" communication we've come to love from Linden Lab.

Third, Linden Lab chooses to HIDE a bug, rather then publicly announce it so their Customers in Second Life would be able to take steps to correct the issue. Almost one month ago, there was a very strange bug, that when a Resident would bulk upload images, some of those images wouldn't actually upload, instead a random image (from someplace not identified by Linden Lab) would be put in it's place. While there was a SMALL Blog Posting concerning this, it was on the FRONT PAGE of the BLOG site for only 3 hours, and 99% of the Residents in Second Life were unaware or ever made aware of this. When I suggested that perhaps Linden Lab might choose to make more people aware of this issue by posting a MOTD (Message of the Day), well, of course, it didn't happen, once again showing just how "OPEN and TRANSPARENT" Linden Lab is.

Fourth, Linden Lab posts a Blog Comment concerning Graphic Cards and the Frame Rates one should expect to see. Of course, they arrived at their numbers in the usual smoke and mirrors manner, and didn't actually rely on say their Customers to see what REAL Frame Rates were being actualized. Once again the "OPEN and TRANSPARENT" Linden Lab is at it again!

Well, since Linden Lab is being so "OPEN and TRANSPARENT", I was thinking, perhaps they could answer a few questions for us all. So here goes Uncle Philip and Aunty Robin, let's just see how "OPEN and TRANSPARENT" you are:

1). IF Linden Lab really does care about the best interest of the Community Residents, why did it take them 8 MONTHS before setting out to tackle the Asset Server Problems?

2). IF Linden Lab really does care about the best interest of the Community Residents, why is it there is a way to recover LOST ITEMS but they choose NOT to help the Residents with this?

3). IF Linden Lab really does care about the best interest of the Community Residents, why have they continued to add enhancements to Second Life, when 90% of the Residents have voiced the opinion that BUGS are more important then Enhancements?

4). IF Linden Lab really does care about the best interest of the Community Residents, why haven’t the Community Residents been kept up-to-date concerning major bug issues such as the Asset Server problems, the Teleporting Issues, the LAG and PACKETLOSS issues?

5). IF Linden Lab really does care about the best interest of the Community Residents, why does Linden Lab choose to speak “inaccuracies” instead of telling the plain truth? Example, IBM and Linden Lab press release. Linden Lab tells the Community IBM is here to help with the Stability of the Grid, IBM says that “Stability of performance” will come when the UI is standardized. At meetings with Linden Employee’s, Linden Employee’s REFUSE to clarify the meanings of these two completely different statements and merely say, “The press release is clear enough”.

6). IF Linden Lab really does care about the best interest of the Community Residents, WHY do they insist that ALL bug reports being filed MUST have re-producable steps or they won’t be worked on?

7). IF Linden Lab really does care about the best interest of the Community Residents, WHY are volunteers told they must answer questions according to “the company line” even when the “company line” is quite false?

8). IF Linden Lab really does care about the best interest of the Community Residents, WHY are certain players (FIC) given preferential treatment over others? Examples: What is the wait time for an Island and why can a certain player order an island and see it in action in two days? IF LINDEN LAND is NOT to be sold to Community Residents, how did Angel Leviathan suddenly become the owner of 1/3 of Kissling Land when it was “Linden” owned? IF there IS no way to recover items that are lost, HOW did Kona Linden recover my lost item AFTER I wrote to Robin and Robin told Kona to go do it?

9). IF Linden Lab really does care about the best interest of the Community Residents, WHY do they hold in-world “Office Hours” and then leave questions un-answered that are asked at those same “Office Hours”?

10). IF Linden Lab really does care about the best interest of the Community Residents, WHY is it that 90% of the people in-world now think that Linden Lab Support is laughable at best, and NON-EXISTENT most of the time?

Feel free to NOT answer any or ALL of these questions, as I’m sure once again you will be the “open and transparent” company you strive so hard to be, and the one we all know you to be.