Play it again Sam

Don't ever let it be said that Linden Lab doesn't go all out when wanting to prove to everyone just how CORRECT I am.

This from just 5 minutes ago this Wednesday Evening:

Login, Transaction, Information issues

Posted by Status Desk on December 23rd, 2009 at 04:57 pm PST

[POSTED 4:57pm PST] We are currently experiencing some issues which may prevent residents from logging in to Second Life. This issue is also affecting updates of in-world information, including online status, transactions and other related functions. Please refrain from making any transactions or handling no-copy objects until this blog has been resolved.

So, I've asked this before and no one cares to offer an answer, but let's try it again: Hey Blue, is this that CHANGE you said the New Management Team was going to bring to Linden Lab?

You know how to whistle don't ya? You just put your lips together and... Blow.

The Wheels on the Bus go round and round

You know what I like most about our Friends at Linden Lab? They never fail in proving that I'm correct when it comes to my judgments concerning their abilities in keeping Second Life up and running.

Taken from today's GRID STATUS:

[UPDATED] Login issues, plus Transactions, etc.

Posted by Status Desk on December 22nd, 2009 at 12:56 pm PST

[UPDATED 12:56pm PST] This issue is affecting updates of in-world information, including the in-world balance display. Please refrain from making any transactions or handling no-copy objects until this blog has been resolved.

[POSTED 12:38pm PST] We are currently experiencing some login issues which may prevent residents from logging in to Second Life. We are working to resolve this as quickly as possible and will update this blog post as information becomes available.

What more can I say, except, I told you so!

Thanks Blue and the rest of Linden Lab for showing me just how much things WON'T change under the new Management Team.

Unable to Load Notecard....Please Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try.....

One of the most amusing rumors I hear concerning Second Life is that the Management Team is positioning Second Life to go Commercial.

People tell me tall tales and Grandiose plans of how Linden Lab is wanting ALL Individuals in Second Life to quit so Linden Lab can focus their attention to Corporate America/World.

While these rumors are fun to listen to, every once in a while someone comes along pleading with me to take them seriously when they tell me this plan. I admit, there are some interesting happenings from Linden Lab that one could conclude that they don't like the Community of Second Life very much, but it's doubtful that Linden Lab has enough forethought or even expertise to make such a plan come to fruition; even if they did, the plan fails on multiple points.

I agree that Linden Lab is once again setting themselves up for a Hate-Fest when they decided that they would not only charge people for LISTING items on XSTREETSL, but also they are going to charge commission for any sales of those items. Yes, this is a slap in the face to every single content creator in Second Life and shows once again just how disconnected Linden Lab is to the Community. That being said, it's not a very good point to dream up a conspiracy theory with.

IF Linden Lab were wanting every person to just stop coming into Second Life so they could close it down and focus on "bigger fish", they would have a terrible time getting any Corporation to buy this product as it stands today.

Just how many times in a week do we see a status Blog update stating that something is wrong? Regularly we see login problems, Asset Server issues, rolling restarts because they found ANOTHER bug in their latest code, and so on and so on. Just today I spent the good part of a 1/2 hour trying to remodel a store in Garman and the only thing holding me back is the fact that Linden Lab can't fix their Asset Servers and my Config Notecard won't open.

It's been TWO YEARS now since we were PROMISED that the Asset Server was the NUMBER ONE PRIORITY of the Team and they would fix it SOON. Seems to me that Linden Labs definition of SOON leaves (as usual) something to be desired. I wonder just WHY it's taking our friends at Linden Lab to correct this? I mean, TWO YEARS is a very long time, especially to programmers.

Of course, as usual, no one at Linden Lab cares to speak about such matters and instead they bring us news of "Behind the Firewall" product for those Corporations that want to have a Second Life Grid all ready to go, but don't want to open it up to everyone in the world. One wonders just how Linden Lab gets these Corporations to purchase this product when Linden Lab can't even keep it running more then 7 days without a major problem.

I was really hoping that Blue Linden was right when he suggested I hold off making judgements concerning Linden Lab Management Team, that perhaps they would actually do great things. Well, I held off for nearly 7 months, and that's a LONG time, and what have we got to show for it? Greed Driven Fee Policy's at XSTREETSL, a New Product for the Corporate World, and bugs in Second Life that were PROMISED to be fixed TWO YEARS AGO.

Well, I really don't have to say it, I mean, if you can't figure it out for yourself, you are either dumb or just a fanboi. So, I'll just end this here and go back to trying to open my Notecard.

Unable to Load Notecard....Please Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try and Try....

I'm back...No change at Linden Lab....go figure

Well friends, I'm finally returning to the Blog. I made a promise to a certain Linden and said I would hold my tongue until such time that the NEW ORDER at Linden Lab had time to prove themselves....and prove themselves they did.

There are three separate points that I want to bring up today, so, put on your seatbelts as it's time to get going.

First, and most recent, as many of you are aware, I became a Private Island Owner back in June. Of course, this was something I have wanted since Linden Lab announced that you could own your own Island, but until last June I wasn't in a Fiscal position to make it happen.

My Island, Patapsco, is just another extension of myself. I put up my Store and a New Resident area, and the rest has been dedicated to friends and strangers that needed a place to call home. This is not out of the ordinary for me of course, and while many of you think I'm just too nice, I feel that in order for Second Life to continue depends on the Community. I believe having a Strong Community that welcomes New Residents and Strangers is important, and because of that I do what I do on Patapsco.

A couple of days ago we had a small hiccup in Patapsco. Two groups got into an argument and began sabotage one another by returning each others items. Yes, this was very childish, but as we all can attest, sometimes we do things that we normally wouldn't. Once I found out what had happened, I took the necessary steps to be certain this didn't happen again, and then submitted a Support Ticket to get a ROLLBACK performed. This ticket was submitted at 5:00PM CST and unlike what others have told me about Support, by 10:00PM CST I hadn't heard anything about it. I told the Residents of the Island they might hold off creating anything, in case the ROLLBACK occured during the evening/morning hours. This morning after getting my required Coffee intake, I checked my email to find a Response to my Support Ticket. I was told that because these people intentionally returned the items the ROLLBACK would not happen, as LL reserves ROLLBACKS to catastrophic events only. Exactly what LL's definition of Catastrophic has yet to be defined of course, which allows them to use this as an excuse to play favorites.

Now, let's look at the facts here. As a Private Island owner I'm contributing $300/month to the LL coffers, and I'm supposed to be at the HIGHEST level of support available. ROLLBACKS are one of the easiest items for Support to do, as I have requested them TWICE before (on land I didn't even own) and was granted them. Before my "leave of absence" I promised Blue Linden that I would give Linden Lab a chance to prove they are making concerted efforts to change for the better. Well, here's one thing they haven't changed at all, LOUSY Customer Service. What's nice to know though, is Linden Labs Customer Service is as bad as it is for Conceirge Customers as is it for Premium Members. You do have to give them props for being Consistent about that, consistently bad, but consistent.

Second, Linden Lab recently announced that XSTREETSL merchants would have to PAY to PLAY. That's right, if you want to sell your Items through XSTREETSL, then you are going to be charged a listing fee per item, per month. Not only are you going to be charged a listing fee, but you are also going to be charged a commission for every sale you actually make. I've always been one of those people that think "double dipping" is rude and unsanitary, but in this instance it's just plain greedy. In a time when Linden Lab wants to have a Strong Community, they are pushing away those Merchants that create for their world. I guess the next logical step in this process is that Linden Lab will announce that there will be a fee for every listing you or your products or your store are mentioned in the Searches and for every sale you make, there will be a commission charged as well. Guess Blue Linden was right, this New Order are taking huge strides for Second Life, I just thought Blue Linden meant FORWARD, not backward.

Third, Linden Lab announced that there is a New Continent out there and will contain Parcels of 512Sq. M. and will have housing already installed. This sounds interesting, and maybe even forward thinking, until you visit these cookie-cutter land masses. When I "examined" these parcels, I had one thought, Internment Camps. Everything is exactly the same. Every House, tree, road, etc, is repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over. There isn't an ounce of creativity, everything looks plastic. Why Linden Lab would think this environment would be a PLUS for New Residents entering Second Life says a lot about the New Order and their understanding of the Community. As I suspected a few months back, Blue Linden's expectations of the New Order are far from reality. This new Continent looks as if a first year design student sat down and thought up their version of the 1950's Tract Homes. Apparently the New Order's idea of the perfect Second Life Community means we stop thinking as Individuals, we bury our Creativity and we blindly follow these new leaders. There's just one small problem with this; that's not the Second Life Community. Sure, a New Resident might choose to live in these unattractive cheap and boring homes, but after these same New Residents begin to tour more and more of Second Life, they will see just how ridiculous these Land Masses look and will "jump ship" faster then a rat leaves a sinking ship.

Well, over the past several months, I sat idly by, watching and waiting, and today that wait is over. I see clearly that the New Order is the same as the Old Order, and no matter who is in charge at LL, it's still operating under the same old philosophy. It's official, the New Order of Linden Lab has no experience in the Virtual World of Second Life and therefore they cannot understand the harm they are doing to Second Life and the Community by being so disconnected. At least the Old Order was able to say, "I know Second Life and my vision says we go this way." This New Order cannot say this and by the looks of things they only basis for their decisions is greed.

I now am looking for another Virtual World to belong in. Perhaps places like In-Worldz is where the real future is at. At this point, there's no being upset, as I said it before, and even after these months that have passed, I will say it again, "Second Life is Dying." There is but ONE way to cure the illness that is in Second Life, and that is to kill Linden Lab. Don't worry friends, I'm not supporting a violent attack on Linden Lab, we don't have to take such drastic measures, this New Order is doing what we need done by itself and quite satisfactory.

I have waited for this day, and now that this day has come, my eyes view only destruction.

Same SH*T...Different Site

It didn't take long, and that's why I refused to start a betting pool for this.

Yesterday, our friends at Linden Lab, reported problems with XSTREETSL.COM login. Apparently those people using passwords greater then 17 characters were being TOO cautious and are now required to reset those passwords to something 16 characters or less.

So, once again, our friends at Linden Lab have shown that whatever they touch, they break. I guess this is, just like in Second Life, the first in a LONG LIST of problems that will be occurring at XSTREETSL.COM.

Just once, wouldn't it be nice if Linden Lab could show themselves to be competent and not wreck whatever they tried to "fix"?

Here's a challenge for our "friends" at Linden Lab, "Try going 5 business days without having something mess up or break with Second Life".

I would open a betting pool for this but, as we all know, never bet against a sure thing.

The Showcase 'Ho Down

There's been something on my mind for quite a while and I'm tired of holding my tongue. For all the people on the SHOWCASE sight that I know, I apologize for this rant, but something isn't sitting well with me!

If you don't yet know of the SHOWCASE part of Second Life, you should. Here's a place where, if you have a pretty location, attract a MAJORITY of users, have content (also known as PRODUCT) that is unique, and are in good standing with the Linden Employee's (F.I.C.), then you can have your business listed for FREE!

Let me say this, MOST of the SHOWCASE listings aren't "for profit" and I have no issue with those, but under FASHION the majority of those listed are "for profit" and I wonder just why Linden Lab thinks it's necessary to promote one "for profit" venue over another?

Having Linden Lab include "for profit" venue's in the SHOWCASE shows just how much favoritism exists as Linden Lab. Reading through the "requirements" for possible listing, one can see it's all about being "pretty" and "in good standing" with Linden Lab. Of course, as usual, Linden Lab includes some "requirements" that trip up just about EVERYONE listed, so let's take a look at those.

First, "Does the venue appeal broadly to the Second Life community?". So, let's ask the obvious question first. How do you measure this? Is Linden Lab using Traffic Figures to substantiate this claim, even knowing that many sites inflate their traffic numbers artificially? Does Linden Lab have a way to measure just how many Residents have visited these places, and if so, will they be willing to share and show the rest of us that these "chosen" venues do have a "broad appeal" to the Second Life Community? Just what does "broad appeal" mean?

Second, "Is the venue exceptional or unique?". Who defines what is "exceptional or unique"? What are the definitions for these terms being used? Just how "unique" is a Fashion Outlet store? Let's face it, the world is over-run with Clothing Stores, can we really say they are a "unique" venue; how about "exceptional"?

Lastly, "Has the venue or one like it been included before?". This Criteria alone should reduce the "for profit" venues to none, since every single listing now has been shown. Does this mean the "for profit" lists will go away next month?

The SHOWCASE option in SEARCH in-world and on the Second Life website are unfair listings as not everyone is allowed to be seen in this location. You can't "buy" your way onto the list, as you can pay for search listing spots, nor can you get on the list by having more "PICKS" listings then anyone else. The SHOWCASE list is completely chosen by Linden Lab employee's, without any clarification of what and how these terms are used (that's the transparent and open system they tout apparently). Being placed on this list is nothing more then what our friend Prokofy has warned us about, being a part of the "Fetted Inner Core", as it's nothing more then a "who's who's favorite" list for Linden Lab employee's.

Unless Linden Lab is ready to open SHOWCASE to every single "for profit" business out there, I think it's time to take it down; of course, they won't, showing again that "favoritism" is the rule of law at Linden Lab.

A Voice Crying from the Wilderness...or is it just gas?

Well friends, it's happened, someone gave me a platform to air some of my opinions and not being one to back down, I did just that :)

Stuart Warf, of the Second Life Podcast Network, chose me to appear in his "5 Questions" section, in which he asks 5 questions and the participant answers them. While this isn't a "just let me rant" option, I did at least get to air some grievances while at the same time get to speak about Second Life.

Second Life Podcast Network is a great place to visit and I suggest you make it a regular stop, even if they don't see the writing on the wall concerning Officers of a Corporation leaving on a regular basis like I do :)

So, here's the interview, I hope you all enjoy it!

More Bad News for the Lab

A source which will remain anonymous has reported to me, and I have confirmed this, that Linden Lab CFO John Zdanowski is leaving the company as of April 15.

This marks the second major Officer of Linden Lab to leave this year, Robin Harper left recently, saying, "I’m planning to take some time to explore a few different avenues as I decide where, when and what the next chapter of my life will entail..."

Mr. Zdanowski started at Linden in September 2006 and has seen Linden Lab grow significantly from One Million a month in revenue billing to Six Million a month.

This will no doubt come as a surprise to everyone, especially those at Linden Lab, as Mr. Zdanowski believed strongly in Linden Lab, stating in a CFO.com article concerning the future of Linden Lab, "I do believe that this is a very interesting company that can, in the long run, be a stand-alone public company." It seems a bit odd that a CFO, who believes his company will one day go public, would leave before that happens.

It has been rumored that Mitch Kapor has been dissatisfied with the profitability of Linden Lab and has started to replace people one by one . If this is true, one must wonder who's left to replace?

Not knowing Mr. Zdanowski myself, either personally or in-game, I will not comment on what he did or didn't do at Linden Lab for the Second Life Community. Many people I've spoke with said that Zee Linden (Mr. Zdanowski's in-world personality) was considerate and attentive to the needs of those he met. I will say this, I did invite Mr. Zdanowski to meet with me and he never replied. I of course I expect any Linden Lab employee to treat me in this manner, so it was no surprise to me.

The real question now is, just how stable is Linden Lab when their CFO is jumping ships? We, the Second Life Community, will probably never get to hear the insights Mr. Zdanowski has about operational stability, but I'm sure each of us would like to.

I do wish Mr. Zdanowski best wishes in his future endeavors, and can only hope that this isn't the start of a very dark age for Linden Lab and Second Life.

**So much for this just being a RUMOR. Gee, guess I was actually right....again....hmmm

Little Boys and their immature attitudes

Isn't it refreshing when you find a company that acts just like a little kid?

You know the kind, the ones that don't like what's being said, don't like being called out for their lies and deception, don't like being told just how bad they are acting, and when they are confronted, act as if it's all your fault for pointing out their obvious issues.

Linden Lab has reached an all-time low, even if you thought they couldn't, by acting just like the bratty little kid whose parents never discipline and think their little boy is a perfect little angel, while the rest of America knows that kids a brat. You see, without notice, nor reason, other then me pointing out the Linden Lab flaws in PRIVATE EMAIL's, Linden Lab has decided to "ban" Bob Bunderfeld from posting comments on their Blogs. Once again, Linden Lab has shown that they are not to be trusted, by not following their own rules. These rules are clearly posted on the BLOG Site and I've followed them exactly as requested, yet Blue Linden decided that I should stop posting comments, since I was apparently a bad seed. The only thing bad at Linden Lab is the stench coming from a rotting company refusing to acknowledge their own indescretions and lies; but then again, we already knew that.

Not to be outdone of course, I have PLENTY of Alternate Accts., since I've been doing my BOT research, and will just post under one of those names, and the real beauty is, they can't stop me, since they don't know how, and even if they did, I would question their competence, considering all the problems they've had over the past two weeks.

I have just ONE question now, just how bad will Linden Lab get before people decide they've had enough?

OH! One more thing, I'll be making a very SURPRISE announcement here soon, to hell with those at Linden Lab :)

Another Detour - Another Linden caught Lying

Greetings my friends, I hope today you are doing well.

Today, once again, we are called to Detour from our advertised (starting to sound a lot like Linden Lab; promising one thing, delivering nothing) blog posting and bring up what everyone has been screaming about for the past two days; except mine has a bit of a twist.

As many of you know, I decided to "do the right thing" and offered my services at the Educational Fair that took place last month. During that time I was conducting the New Resident Q&A's from the main stage there. As happens from time to time, a lot of New Residents didn't arrive for the Q&A, but we still moved forward, taking questions from the audience that was there. During that time, someone from the audience asked how I saw Linden Lab combining the Teen/Adult Grids.

The Teen/Adult grid combination cannot happen until Linden Lab moves ALL MATURE Content to it's own Continent and requires Age Verification of ALL. This is exactly what I said would happen, but, to my dismay, Pathfinder Linden said I didn't know what I was talking about, that there were many "options" being looked at, and people should NOT take me as an authority on this subject. Well, back then I had nothing concrete to go on, just LOGIC, and I said, perhaps that's true, but we'll see. You see, if you look at the issue of combining the Teen/Adult grids, there is only ONE WAY to do that, and that's just what Linden Lab implemented two days ago.

I really enjoy when Linden Lab Employee's knowingly sit in my events and LIE. It really builds up and air of Confidence with me and other Residents. To be honest, that's the first thing I look for in a "Professional" company, that their employee's would LIE to me, I know then and there, that Company is one I really want to do business with.

To be fair, and in the sense of "Open and Transparent" communication, I did email Pathfinder Linden and asked for a Public Apology, and received no word back. My thinking was since he was BOLD enough to LIE in a public venue, then perhaps he could show that same BOLDNESS and correct his LIE in front of people as well.

Another high point in my dealing with "Professional" company's is how their Ethics and Integrity hold up; with Linden Lab you could build a 100 Story building on their Ethics and Integrity, long as it was on sand.

Now, this idea that ALL MATURE content is being moved shouldn't surprise anyone. I publicly stated this was the next move on Linden Lab part once they announced their plans to combine the Teen/Adult grids. Next friends, after the Mature Move is completed, you will see Linden Lab announce that the Teen Grid and Adult Grid will be combined and those that want to access the Mature Grids will have to go through Age Verification. This USED TO BE a free process, and it might still be, so if you want this access, it would be worth the effort to go to the Second Life Website and go through the Age Verification; otherwise you most likely will wind up paying for the service VERY SOON.

So, once again, we see Linden Lab being true to their past; lying, cheating, and stealing from the Residents. No surprise there, that's what we have received from Linden Lab before and I promise you this, that's what they will provide to us in the Future.

We interrupt this Traffic for a special announcement

Sorry friends, had to throw this in before carrying on with the Traffic Study/BOT Study Blog Series.

As many of you are aware, the new BLOG look has been unveiled at the Second Life Website. It certainly is better organized, and even prettier to look at.

Just one problem I've found so far. The same bullshit is going on behind the scenes as was before. I said this once, I'll say it again, it didn't take a NEW LOOK for the Blog to be effective, it takes a NEW ATTITUDE by the Linden's.

What I mean is this. While discussing the CNBC Fluff piece done last week about IBM/Linden Lab, I asked for a comment on the Failing Grade given to Linden Lab by the California BBB. We, the commenters, then began talking about different things associated with that thought, and before long, the new Executive Officer Amanda jumped in to the fray and was actually talking with us. After a few rounds of "this and that", Blue also jumped into the fray. Unfortunately though, Blue was there to STOP the communication, not enhance it. Blue reminded us all, at least us Commenters, he won't say if he scolded his Boss, that Off-Topic Comments were reason enough to be banned from the Blogs.

I find it interesting that someone at Linden Lab had the guts to speak up on any subject only then to have their employee's tell us we can no longer communicate on this subject, under penalty of Ban.

Guess I was right, a prettier package didn't help Linden Lab at all, perhaps it's time to pretty up their attitudes?

Integrity...it's a funny thing

Recently I began working on a new Series to report here in the Blog. Before I get started on that though, a few "bricks need to be laid" as a foundation for this new series.

Integrity is something many people would say they have, yet few would actually obtain it. Even more so, Integrity seems to be all but non-existent in many company's today, unfortunately this is even more true for Linden Lab.

Let's take a look at what I mean. Integrity means you do what you say, you live what you say, you uphold the highest moral compass possible. When I first came to Second Life, I would be the first to tell you that the people at Linden Lab seemed to truly care about their work, the community they were building, the future. As time went on though, I discovered that either these people were very good liars or greed had changed them; I'm still unsure of which of these two it is, but it doesn't really matter, they both lead to what we have today in Linden Lab. Today, you would be hard pressed to find anyone in Second Life, older then 6 months, that think Linden Lab has the Second Life Community in it's best interest. Why do you think that might be?

If we start chronologically, many will point to the recent past as to the largest mistake on record for Linden Lab; that being the OpenSpace fiasco. Linden Lab was fully on-board when they began selling OpenSpace SIMs to customers, and although they put a "sliver" of verbege in the "rules" of using an OpenSpace SIM, they themselves never once enforced those rules, even after their own admission, that these rules were being broken. Not only were these rules broken by the owners of OpenSpace SIMs, they were also being mis-used by Linden Lab employee's as well. Linden Lab suddenly decided the rule-breaking, but only by the Community, needed to be dealt with. So, M came along an posted a Blog that blamed the Customers for all the OpenSpace SIM problems, yet never admitted Linden Lab culpability when it was pointed out that Linden Lab Employee's had mis-used OpenSpace SIMs.

This is a prime example of what it means to LACK integrity. Not only that, but we can look even further back to see this isn't a one-time thing. Two years ago, the Second Life Community began reporting that inventory was disappearing. Linden Lab, in what seems to be their practice, began questioning whether the Community actually knew the extent of their Inventory enough to say it was missing. Then, made one excuse after another, before FINALLY admitting there was a major problem, SIX MONTHS after receiving the first report.

Once again, we can see the true lack of Integrity here by Linden Lab. Instead of trusting what their customers where telling them, they decide to attack the integrity of those customers. This has been a long standing tradition with Linden Lab for years now. Tell your customers they don't know what's going on, that way you don't have to do anything until more and more people are screaming.

I could continue this practice of pointing out Linden Lab's lack of Integrity, but I think my point has been made.

Now, that we understand that Integrity isn't something that Linden Lab is interested in, we can more easily understand why they operate in this manner.

Two or more years ago, it was announced by Linden Lab that they would be using a NEW search engine. This new engine wouldn't look at Traffic Figures, Keywords, or other known "tricks of the trade". Here we are, long passed this announcement, and what have we seen wrought? We have seen a HUGE RISE in BOT activity, more Keywords then descriptions, and more "tricks of the trade" being used by Store Owners to keep their place among the OLD Search Engine, that was supposed to be a distant memory by now.

So, what has happened? Why are we still using the OLD Search Engine, when we were promised long ago that something new was coming? This can probably be answered by relying on the old stand-by that never seems to fail; Linden Lab doesn't know what Integrity means. Oh sure, some in the Community will say that the person that was supposed to be doing this new Search Project was dismissed and no one else was assigned, but why would that stop Linden Lab from at least announcing that Plans had changed? There is the crux of the problem of Integrity. When you lack it, you do all sorts of things that wind up upsetting your Customer base.

So, for my new Series, I've decided to conduct an experiment. How hard is it to "massage" your traffic numbers? How difficult would it be to make more then the supposedly allowed 5 acct limit accounts? Do keywords really work? Does adding your store to other's PICKS increase your Search Ranking?

These answers will be forthcoming in upcoming Blogs, and to make sure these results can be verified, I will go into exacting Detail that will allow anyone/everyone to setup their own BOTs and setup their own ALT Accts. This way, everyone running a store can see just how easy this is, and everyone has an even playing field when it comes to Search Rankings.

Of course, all of this would be for naught if Linden Lab would finish the new Search Project, but seeing how that is unlikely, then I will proceed.

Finally, let's talk about the BOT problem. While many would blame the owners of BOTs for this problem, I would point out, that these people are doing what they must do to survive in a system setup for Failure by Linden Lab. If Linden Lab would have had some Integrity, they would have finished this promised new Search Engine Project, and these BOTs never would have come to fruition. So, let's place the BOT blame squarely where it belongs, with Linden Lab. Since M is the new spokesperson for Linden Lab, I, and I'm sure everyone, would like him to speak up concerning the lack of Integrity of Linden Lab and the many dropped projects that were promised to us Customers, but never fulfilled.

The ball is is your court M, show us that things are changing, as you promised when you started, show us you want to bring back Integrity, tell me, tell us, I'm wrong; but do more then just say the words, shows in your actions.

Running for Office

My Friends, I've decided to join the Dark Side; if it will have me that is.

What I mean is, I have put forth my name for consideration to the TOP of the TOP at Linden Lab to join the Executive Team.

Now stop your laughing! I'm absolutely serious about this. I have actually emailed the big guns at Linden Lab asking them to add ME, the royal pain in their butts, to the Executive Team at Linden Lab.

I feel, as many in the Community do, that there is NO VOICE on the Executive Team, or at Linden Lab, that gives consideration to the Community, the Customers, the ones paying the bills! I've been within the Community for nearly Six years now, and I certain don't have trouble speaking my mind, nor am I apt to become blinded by the "famous" personalities at Linden Lab.

There are two reason why I have made this decision. First, and probably least, was today's announcement that two new people, who have absolutely NO EXPERIENCE with Second Life, have been added to the Executive Team of Linden Lab. Second, and the MOST important reason, was my poor New Resident Q&A Event at the Education Faire yesterday.

Yes, I failed absolutely at the Event. It was horrid, only ONE New Resident showed, and the audience was filled with Educators and Lindens. Educators were there I'm sure to see how someone who's been doing New Resident Education for so long has survived all this time. The Linden's were there, I'm sure, to keep me in line! I mean seriously, do we need 4 Linden Employee's at my New Resident Q&A Event to keep me in line?

Anyway, instead of having a New Resident Q&A Event, it turned into a general Chit-Chat that covered a wide range of subjects, with yours truly moderating and offering his opinions. While the Linden's in attendance didn't agree with some of what I put forth, I think the audience saw the wisdom to my words. I would like to say that we were so popular that we were pulling people away from the booths, but I'm sure most of the walk-in traffic was due to people seeing a mob of green dots and they wanted to see what was going on. But, when those people arrived, they sat down, listened, and even joined in the discussion.

While I may have blown the New Resident Q&A, I did moderate a high-level discussion that dealt with things from Teen Grid Merger to Freezing the production of Second Life.

I think it's high time that Linden Lab put someone on the Executive Team to watch out for what the Community wants, for what the Community is thinking, for the Customer and not the Dollar, and yes, I think I'm the person for that position. What I would like you to do, if you agree, is to write the following people, letting them know you think I would make a great addition to their Executive Team. If you disagree, I want you to email the following people and tell them you think I should absolutely NOT be allowed on the Executive Team.

Personally I don't care either way how you feel, I just think it's time to get someone on the Executive team that will start looking out for the best interest of the Community; I just happen to believe that I'm the best person for that.

Names:

Philip Rosedale - philip@lindenlab.com

Robin Harper - robin@lindenlab.com

John Zdanowski - johnz@lindenlab.com

Mark Kingdon - markk@lindenlab.com

Tom Hale - tomh@lindenlab.com

Frank Ambrose - franka@lindenlab.com

Brian Michon - brianm@lindenlab.com

Joe Miller - joem@lindenlab.com

Howard Look - howardl@lindenlab.com

Marty Roberts - martyr@lindenlab.com

Cyn Skyberg - cyns@lindenlab.com

Judy Wade - judyw@lindenlab.com

Gene Yoon - geney@lindenlab.com

Customer Service Part Two...or is it Three?

I need to give fair warning to everyone reading this, please sit down before going any further.

I have acquired space and time at the upcoming Education Faire Pavilion. That's right, yours' truly has been scheduled to speak to other Educators about Educating in Second Life.

The strange thing is, I was trying to sign-up to do my New Resident Q&A events there, to give the Education Faire a look at how real Residents learn about Second Life.

It went like this. After being admonished to play nice by Katt Linden, I thought I would go ahead and offer my New Resident Q&A events for the week the Faire was going on to Pathfinder Linden. That's exactly what I did too, explaining just how I saw my involvement and exactly what I would do. About a week later I got an apologetic email back from Pathfinder Linden asking what dates/times I would like to be added. I explained that I did my New Resident Q&A's on Monday's at 2PM SLT, Wednesday's at 3PM SL TIME, and Friday's at 10AM SL TIME and run 1 1/2 hours. I got an excited email back an hour or so later explaining I'd been signed up for those dates/times at the Main Pavillion and needed to let Pathfinder know what my Title should be, what my Talk would be about, etc. Now, I'm all for giving me 1 1/2 hours of time to speak to an audience in Second Life, but that's not even close to what I said I wanted to be doing. So, very sweetly, I emailed Pathfinder Linden and pointed out that I wasn't asking to Speak at the Faire, but to run my New Resident Q&A event. Once again I got back an apologetic email from Pathfinder Linden about the "mis-communication" and again was asked, what my Title should be, what the subject I would be speaking about, etc. I've yet to respond, fearful that if I do, I might be signed up to be CEO of Linden Lab all the sudden; oh wait.....that would be a good thing :)

OK, sorry, let's not get off track here. Now, before you Pathfinder lovers start screaming at me that he's busy and should be cut some slack, I agree. As a matter of fact, I think if one person is so damn busy, he probably shouldn't be alone in setting up something so important.

That's not my point here though. The point is, that when dealing with Customers, you should probably take a deep breath and very carefully read what's being transmitted. Pathfinder had two chances to get this right, but each time, chose to breeze through what I was saying and then decided on his own what I wanted my participation to be.

I'm not picking on Pathfinder here, but this is the problem at Linden Lab that I've been talking about for so long; employee's aren't listening! This goes for ALL employee's, not just Pathfinder. In the past 4 years, I can honestly say, I've not experienced one good Customer Service issue within Second Life. From being told to wait, after only explaining half a problem, to being talked down to by some New Employee. Customers should NOT be treated in such a manner and if Linden Lab doesn't wise up to this fact, they will be the next "Circuit City".

Now I have a dilemna. Should I try and get through to Pathfinder about the event I was offering or should I just go ahead and present a talk about educating in Second Life? The real problem I see is my bad habit of going off the prescribed subject and get into Linden bashing. The Education Faire would not be the right avenue for this. Then again, if I do a successful talk, perhaps I would be viewed as someone with intelligence by Linden Lab rather then just a vitrol acid spitting ass.

I think I'll give Pathfinder one more try and see if I can't get him to understand exactly what I've offered. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll just have to use my time and give one hell of a talk, wouldn't that surprise the hell out of most of you :)

What is Customer Service?

If you ask a Linden Lab Employee what Customer Service is, they'll give you a URL or ask you to contact Live Support. But IS that Customer Service? Personally I have to answer NO, and let me explain why. I currently own 3 stores in Second Life. Whenever a Customer of mine complains that they either didn't receive what they paid for or complained about what they bought, I don't haggle with them, make them prove they bought something from me, or tell them to talk to someone else. No, I have one simple rule to my business, "The Customer is HAPPY". I apologize to my Customer, then give a full refund, then give them what they didn't get in the first place or try and find an alternate to what they were looking for. To me, this is proper Customer Service, not only that, but it's proper Business and Marketing. The Customer, when taken care of properly, will gladly spend his/her refund in your store after treating them like they were KINGS/QUEENS, not only that but they will also tell their friends about this fantastic place where they treat you wonderfully!

Now, let's compare that to two examples I ran into recently.

First, I have this friend, who's a Premium Member New Resident (meaning he's already SPENT money for the privilege of playing Second Life. His main acct, on his Second Day, got stuck in world and wouldn't logout. So, he contacts Support and reports the issue. After NOT hearing back for two hours, he creates an Alt and comes in-world seeking help. I have him do some things, hoping to shake his Main Acct loose, but nothing we tried worked. I then asked a few Lindens that were online to help him out, seeing that the Lindens are all big on the "New Resident Experience". Robin Linden responded, asking that he email her the particulars and she'd look into it. Now, before we go any further, let's give Robin KUDO's for at least responding and taking time to help out. Benjamin Linden didn't respond at all and Siz Linden responded with the URL.

My friend then sent Robin in the information via email and got back a response that shocked even me. Boiled down it said, "Contact Support". So much for being Helpful there. Having the appearance of being Helpful and actually being Helpful are TWO SEPERATE things.

So, there's an example of how HIGH LEVEL management responds to cries for help in-world, now let's look at another example.

This morning I logged in, hoping to work on my store in Garman as I'm currently expanding it. I logged in, did my IM maintenance, and then tried Teleporting; as usual for the past week, I was told that the teleport took too long and I should try again LATER.

Now, here's my thinking on this. If Second Life isn't working, then those Linden's in-world should HELP those left in distress. That's the PROPER way to treat a CUSTOMER so they remain HAPPY and feel good about SL that they will tell their friends and more and more Residents come to SL. Frontier Linden feels differently of course. I asked Frontier Linden to drop me off in Garman, very nicely, since Teleports weren't working. After 15 minutes Frontier came back with the URL and told me to contact support. I said I didn't need Support, just needed a quick ride over to Garman. Frontier Linden refused my offer, and I then said, "Nice Customer Support". At this point, you would think, any employee would stop and think to themselves, "Am I handling this correctly?" I don't mean according to the "Policies", as we all know, Linden Lab Policies are flat out WRONG when it comes to Customer Service, and a number of other things too! Now, back to our thought here, "Am I handling this correctly?" What would be in the best interest of the Customer and our business? How can I best handle this request so the CUSTOMER is HAPPY with our product? All of these are valid business questions and SHOULD be asked before responding to any Customer. Instead though, our friend Frontier Linden just used the old stand-by "Contact Support".

Here's one of my BIGGEST PET PEAVES in all of Second Life and in Linden Lab employee's. If you read the profile of the Linden's you run into, 95% of them have in their Profile that if you want SUPPORT, you should contact the Website and leave them be. If you are going to be in-world as an employee of Linden Lab, you should be overly kind to ANY Customer that contacts you and before you brush them off to "Contact Support", you should LISTEN to what they are saying and ask yourselves those questions we mentioned earlier. IF the issue isn't something you can't take care of quickly and easily or you just don't know how, then perhaps you should contact Support FOR the Customer and put the two together for a chat, instead of coldly saying, "Contact Support and leave me alone". Remember, we pay YOUR salary. WE are the reason YOU have a job!

Without Customers Linden Lab employee's wouldn't be able to feed their families. Without Customers Linden Lab employee's wouldn't be able to pay rent or their mortgage. Wihout Customers Linden Lab employee's wouldn't have a job. What would they do next? Blame the Customers? If Second Life fails, it will fail in part due to the FAILURE of Linden Lab employee's practicing Common Sense Customer Service.

So here's to you Robin and Frontier, it's time to brush-up on your Customer Service skills. Don't, and you have no one to blame but yourselves if Second Life fails!

Looks like we made it....

As promised friends, here's your update from the Linden's as I promised:

*UPDATE*

Everett Linden said:

"The Linden Prize is open to all Residents, but the focus of this prize is on projects that have demonstrated real life impact. There are Residents doing amazing things strictly within SL that are having impact, but that's not the focus of *this* prize.

Having said that, we debated different types of Prizes, all with the goal of showcasing the work, creativity and contributions of different Residents.

As a result, I expect you'll see other contests and prizes in the future with different areas of focus. "

Glad that SOMEONE finally said something, even though they didn't answer the original question, Everett did admit THIS PRIZE (like there's going to be others; sure) isn't for everyone, actually not for 99% of the Second Life Community, but at least Everett had the balls to admit this!

*UPDATE*

There you go, silence. Even after a NICE email and an even NICER Forum Post, Linden Lab remains silent; so much for "it's how you ask" that doesn't get a response.

I want to give a shout out to Ciaran Laval who has decided to declare a new word today, "Bunderfelded", I'll let you read about it instead of ruining the surprise.

Now, let's get back to this issue where Linden Lab refuses to respond, even when asked NICELY.

Katt Linden made a HUGE deal about how I interact with her and other Linden Lab employee's and went as far as saying this was the reason no one answered my questions; here's what Katt had to say:

"Katt Linden: Now please remember that if you want to be part of the conversation, you must be civil."

So, if I'm civil, I can be part of the conversation. Should we remind Katt Linden what "conversing" means? It certainly isn't having one person asking a question and the other not responding. I thought ALL Linden Lab employee's were High School Grads, don't we teach basic grammar in our school systems any longer? I would ask Katt Linden just what "taking part in the conversation" means to Linden Lab, but apparently no matter what tone I use, she's not going to respond.

I also asked Blondin Linden to respond to the Linden Prize issue, but he also refused comment. I guess Linden Lab believes that if you don't respond to the hard questions then they don't exist. This is the most common way for Linden Lab to deal not only with hard questions, but also with hard problems, like login issues, teleport issues, asset server issues, almost all the other bugs listed in JIRA, except those which require spelling or color changes.

The question is, what am I to do now? The only time Linden Lab employee's respond to me is when I piss them off. If I ask nicely, they ignore me, even though they say that's what they want. I guess I'll just have to go back to pissing them off, since that's the only way that seems to get a reaction.

So here's to you Katt, Blondin and Pathfinder! The nicer more civil Bob Bunderfeld is finished, back to being the asshole, since it's the only time you ever responded.

Where oh where has the TRUTH gone?

Today, I took an opportunity to hijack a Forum Thread over at SecondLife.com to ask a simple question:

"How is winning a $10,000 prize from Linden Lab recognition from the Second Life Community?"

As you recall I Blogged about this Linden Lab Prize earlier this week and this was one of the HARD questions that simply fell on deaf ears when Katt Linden closed the Forum there.

Katt Linden took offense at me asking this question, and removed my post. I of course, pressed the issue and posted the same question again. This time, instead of removing my post and locking me out of that Forum, Katt decided to confront me in-world.

Now, I originally was going to blast Katt Linden for her inconsiderate behaviour and lack of ethics, but something Katt Linden said to me made me realize that she was right about one thing between Linden Lab and myself; I've been quite acidic in our relationship.

I'm not one to run from the truth so I'm here to tell you, I'm quite the asshole at times when I deal with Linden Lab and the Employee's that work there.

So, now that I've come forward with my truth, let's see which Linden Lab employee comes forward with their truth. Like closing Forums instead of answering questions or confronting acidic assholes in-world and still refusing to answer questions or making accusations during said confrontation and running away, instead of again, answering questions. Does Katt Linden have the ETHICS to step up and do the right thing or is she just looking for me to back down and stop asking hard questions?

Here's what I'm going to do. I'll be emailing a copy of this Blog Post to Katt Linden and give her a chance to confront her own truth and see if she might be willing to actually answer the original question asked:

How does winning $10,000.00 from Linden Lab equate into recognition from the Second Life Community?

Now, like the RULES and QUALIFICATIONS of who can participate in the Linden Lab Prize, I have a qualification myself; I want an answer to the question, not propaganda, not what the top 10 people will be getting, but the simple truth, "How does winning $10,000.00 from Linden Lab equate into recognition from the Second Life Community?"

So, stay tuned here to see if Katt Linden cares to respond or will she just "run for the hills"?

Linden Lab and Television commonalities....

Just like Sunday Afternoon TV has nothing but crap or re-runs, Linden Lab has the same problem with Teleporting and Login Failures.

If anyone wants a real interesting read, head over to the GRID STATUS page for Second Life.

Notice in the past two weeks how many times Linden Lab has had problems that caused them to either restrict logins or disable them all together.

Now, I know it takes a while to track down issues, and I'm for giving Linden Lab their time to fix things, but these issues have been ongoing for two years; just how long is long enough?

Maybe I'm old fashion, but I know if it took me better then two years to fix a problem in a system when I was working in Coding, I'd be out of a job; matter of fact, I'd been out of a job at the end of a month, but who's counting?

So, for all your Linden Lab support kiddies, just HOW LONG should we give Linden Lab to fix these issues before we complain?

For me, we've past that point, quite a while ago actually, so while I wait for the Engineers at Linden Lab to fix this latest problem, I'll be asking for people's heads.

Thanks, I hope your Sunday is going better then mine!

All Publicity IS NOT good for you....apparently

This week, our "friends" at Linden Lab, posted a blog reminding everyone in Second Life to NOMINATE anyone they feel who might be worthy of winning a prize from Linden Lab.

This time though, our "friends" decided to open a Forum on the subject so the Community could ask questions, respond, give feedback.

The idea, according to our "friends", is that this prize (Grand Prize is $10,000USD) is somehow a recognition of the Second Life Community. I suggest you read the Forum posts before listening to me drone on.

OK? Ready now? Notice how the Forum "closed" after hard questions and poor feedback were presented? Guess Lab can't stand the idea of "Open and Transparent" Communication.

As you see, Linden Lab Employee's were at a loss to explain just exactly HOW this prize equates into Recognition from the Second Life Community. If you read the rules and qualifications of the Contest, you will see very few Residents in Second Life are actually able to participate. Mostly, those that are qualified are from the "GRID", those "little" guys that made it big building by contracts in Second Life, like Fizik. If you take a really close look at this Contest, it really does seem slanted to just a few individuals.

I don't mind that Linden Lab wants to run a Contest to bring more recognition to Second Life, but do they have to be so closed minded in how they run these Contests. Apparently, someone like myself, is woefully unqualified to be a Linden Lab Poster Child, even though I have been working for nearly 6 years in New Resident Education. Even great Builders like Barnesworth Anubis isn't qualified for this contest, which is the most amazing thing I've seen, since Barnesworth would be a great Poster Child for Linden Lab; at least he would'nt be bad mouthing Linden Lab during interviews :)

Once again, our "friends" at Linden Lab have failed to understand the Community of Second Life. This is due largely in part to the idea that Linden Lab Employee's don't come to OUR world unless it's something to do with their job. I know of only a handful of Linden Lab employee's that still log into their pre-employment accounts and even then it's for such a small period of time that even they aren't able to gauge the Second Life Community.

Linden Lab isn't looking for a real Community Mover and Shaker in this "contest", they are looking for a Poster Child that will speak wonderfully of them; looks like this contest was tailor made for our friends like Fizik Baskerville. I think it would have been a lot wiser to just hire someone like Fizik to be the Linden Lab Poster Child instead of running some faux contest and pretending to be looking through the ranks of the REAL Shakers and Movers of the Second Life Community. Maybe Linden Lab understood one thing about the Movers and Shakers, that they could care less about Linden Labs' prize or contest. None of the Movers and Shakers in the Second Life Community would even allow themselves to be considered for this type of cheap sell out process Linden Lab has setup.

First Linden Lab screws the pooch with the Open Space SIMs and here they are shortly after, hiring a spokesperson thru some faux contest. Once again, our "friends" at Linden Lab prove their inability to do the simplest of things. Here's to our "friends" at Linden Lab, when you screw up, you do it so well!

They did something right!

I woke today to find a simple, but amazing fact staring at me from my inbox:

"Hello Bob Bunderfeld,

We at SL Forums would like to wish you a happy birthday today! "

Linden Lab, in all their ineptness, was able to send a Birthday greeting to yours truly!

I want to congratulate Linden Lab on their incredibly hard work to get this working. It must have taken them months in the coding and development, but it works!

This is great news, for now Linden Lab can use their hard won experience in this battle to attack and defeat all the other problems we see in Second Life!

Look up my friends, our freedom fighters approach, our day of atonement is close at hand, for Linden Lab has finally done something RIGHT!

Thar she blows!

Auntie Robin has a new "blow hard" piece up on the BLOG. Another Artsy-Fartsy way that Second Life was used.

About the ONLY THING noticeable in this Blog Entry was that Auntie Robin actually had a Forum open for discussion; nothing like discussing nothing when we could be talking about the incredible lag everywhere. Looks like Auntie Robin is starting to hear the Community's cries about what she promised just three years ago, "Open and Transparent" communication.

Perhaps Auntie Robin can instruct the rest of her staff on the correct procedures necessary to open comments and Forums!

Then again, maybe Auntie Robin will offer up a definition of "Open and Transparent" Communication for us all to enjoy sometime soon!

Shut Up and Take It Like a Man

Well, it's official, after much outspoken criticism of Linden Lab by it's own Second Life Community, Linden Lab has decided to go ahead and move forward with their plan to either convert OpenSpace SIMs (OS) or critically limit them, as of January 5, 2009.

Let's take a little stroll down the History Path shall we?

For you that missed it, Linden Lab announced that they would be selling OS to users for just $75USD each. Apparently Linden Lab thought these OS would be used merely for water property, sparce forest land, or just cute gardens that took no critical resources to run. In the TOS of the OS purchase, it did state that these OS were to be used in such a manner, but, in their usual way of "screwing the pooch", Linden Lab failed to sale these OS with the current prim/script limits. Instead, they gave the user 3750 PRIMS and did NOTHING to curtail scripts. Not only that, but there was no enforcement of the TOS Policy, and people do what people do when they are given 3750 PRIMS and no script limits, they use them!

Last August these OS Servers apparently hit a Critical Mass and things began lagging out badly on these OS; never mind the horrid lag on the mainland. So, after "careful inspection" it was decided that the problem of the OS lag (never mind the mainland lag) was due to the CUSTOMERS who used up all those resources they were given and never managed by Linden Lab. Now, during this same time, Linden Lab opened a new land mass called Nautalis; this point will become important soon, bear with me. It was decided by the "brainiacs" at Linden Lab the best way to handle the OS meltdown issue was to blame the customer and force them to either abandon their OS or convert them over to a much HIGHER PRICED private sim; in the retail world this type of action is known as 'Bait and Switch'. This action caused a public outcry not seen before in Second Life. Over 10,000 Complaints were logged (thought I didn't know that eh Auntie Robin?), and many of these pointed out that the new land mass made generous use of OS Sims; that's right, Linden Lab used these OS just like their customers did, but did they blame themselves? Those "brainiacs" over at Linden Lab then said they were going to push back the time limit before ROBBING their customers and have a meaningful discussion with the Second Life Community concerning the OS issue. Once again, Linden Lab proved they didn't know the meaning of "Open and Transparent" communication, as during this time, they received more complaints about their new pricing and time table, then positive comments, and in true Linden Lab fashion, they went ahead with their plan, making absolutely no changes to it; during this time Linden Lab changed their motto from "Where Worlds are Born" to "Where we steal your money":)

So, here we are today, one day before Linden Lab begins 'ripping off' their customers. Jack Linden is the latest to drink the Linden Lab Kool-Aid as he Blogs about this upcoming crime. As done before, this Blog Post is closed to all comments and has no Forum open for their Customers to comment. Most likely Linden Lab is just tired of reading all the complaints, as I would be if I "screwed the pooch" this badly.

Once again, "Open and Transparent" communication has a completely different meaning at Linden Lab then the rest of the world. At least this time "Open and Transparent" isn't the only saying that gets beaten up, so does the meaning of "Fair Market Practices".

Happy New year - Here we go again!

Well Friends, welcome to another New Year in our lives. As 2009 starts up and 2008 gets laid to rest, our "friends" at Linden Lab has kicked in the propaganda machine already.

Up this time to blow the Hot Air Machine for Linden Lab is Claire Linden. Claire writes about the International expansions in Second Life and points out that 60% of the users in Second Life were from countries OUTSIDE the United States. What Claire didn't report was how many of these "users" were bots or alts left running; one wonders just what the real numbers are when you subtract those two. Claire also speaks about 2009 and how Linden Lab hopes for a good year, while Linden Lab is hoping to do better in 2009, I wonder just how well things would go for them, especially with the Second Life Community, if Linden Lab began practicing their ever faithful phrase, "Open and Transparent" communication.

You see, while Claire Linden likes to speak of the "hope of the future" for Linden Lab, what she fails to do is Open Comments or even open a Forum Discussion for the Second Life Community to chime in. Linden Lab is getting an early start on shoveling the manure for sure and as usual is hoping the Second Life Community will just sit back and be brain-washed by its Hot Air Propaganda.

So here's to Claire Linden, the newest in the "drink the kool-aid" club at Linden Lab, and to our Favorite Auntie Robin Harper, for once again showing us all that "Open and Transparent" communication, is no communication at all.