Responding to your Responding to Feedback

Well Friends, it looks as though perhaps our Famous M Linden finally has figured out a bit about the Community; we want to be heard, we want our feedback taken seriously!

Today, M Linden posted that HE has heard us and is happy we are still speaking our Minds. It's wonderful isn't it when someone at the top responds to everyone about how much he appreciates our Feedback. Not only does he appreciate our Feedback, but he also is inviting EVERYONE (that includes me too) to in-world Office Hours that HE himself will be hosting. Mr. M Linden goes on to inform us about what everyone at Linden Land is doing and when they will communicate to us those items and the results of their hard hard work; isn't it wonderful?

Wait, somethings amiss here, I'm actually saying that M Linden and Linden Lab is doing something right? Well, no, I'm actually being quite sarcastic here, because while M Linden likes to say he's "listening to our Feedback", knowing many will skip over the subtle difference between "Listening" and "DOING SOMETHING WITH" our Feedback.

You see, one thing you have to understand about Linden Lab, they lie. There's no use in calling it anything else, by Omission or Commission, the folks at Linden Lab have lied to use for years. Remember when Robin Linden used to say, "Clear and Transparent Communication" as she spoke about what was happening at Linden Lab, yet refused to DEFINE what that meant exactly to the Community? The same is happening here, M Linden is using Subtle word phrases to raise the HOPE of those that fail to clearly distinguish between what he is saying and what it means. I, like the next person, would love to believe that M Linden is really going to take our Feedback and apply to the decisions made at Linden Lab, but that's not at all what he is saying. M Linden is merely stating that he READ our Feedback, not that will have any place in the decisions going forward. Just like his predecessors before him, M Linden is well versed in the art of Lying by Omission.

When M Linden comes out from behind the deceptive words and spells out exactly what he means, only then can we trust what he says. When M Linden says, "Your Feedback states that you don't want an Adult Continent, so WE won't do it", then you know he is not just HEARING you but also taking what you said to heart and giving you what you want. Remember, it's THEIR WORLD but OUR DREAMS. Somewhere in year Three, Linden Lab forgot about the partnership it tried so desperately to have with the Community. Linden Lab decided that no longer would the Community, the PAYING CUSTOMER, would have a voice in the development of the World we LIVE in.

I challenge M Linden to do more then just HEAR our Feedback, but also apply that Feedback to the future of Second Life. You keep saying how important our Feedback is, yet when you ask for it, you have already made the Policy Change, and what you really want is the people to blow sunshine up your skirt. Just when will our Feedback be taken seriously? Just when will our Feedback be acquired before Policy is decided? Just when will our WORLD be our's again?

It's easy to play word games M, it's harder to slip them past the people time after time, and much harder each time you try. So, stop with the lies, come out and say what you mean, stop hiding behind vague and deceptive wording, start acting like the Professional you commonly claim to be. It's time for show M Linden, it's time to be honest, real, Clear and Transparent, and every other thing you and your predecessors have claimed to be in the past. It's time to prove me wrong, show me, show everyone, that I'm off base, that Blue Linden's faith and trust in you isn't blind, but worth it.

To be honest, I think you are full of S***. I won't lie about that, and I won't hide behind pretty words to describe how I feel. You want me to change how I think of Linden Lab? Give me a reason, a real reason, something concrete, not just words, show me that your Team isn't just a retread of the Old Team. Show me just why people should take what you have to say as truth. Show me I'm wrong, and I'll happily drink your Kool-Aid.