A cursory glance at the Second Life user groups page is extremely disappointing these days.
- Adult Content
- Content Creation/Mesh Import
- Server/Sim/Scripting
- Open Development
- Pathfinding
- Server Beta
Of these adult content is listed as no longer running due to lack of interest, which is fair enough but still disappointing. Then there’s Server Beta which I’m pretty sure has been merged with another meeting. Oskar ran server beta but he has left the lab.
In years gone by there used to be meetings for land owners with Jack, general community issues with the likes of Lexie, Amanda, Robin and Blondin, governance with Michael, marketplace with Pink, yadda yadda yadda. There were numerous meetings, they’ve quietly been removed in the wake of a rather appalling attitude to communications with the general community from Linden Lab.
Now there have always been gaps, even when there were numerous meetings, merchants who wanted to complain about content theft had little options, but they’d be squeezed in somewhere. These days, they don’t really have anywhere to go and now they appear to be hijacking other meetings, which in turn is causing a strain in tensions with other residents who are getting frustrated that their meetings are being taken off track.
Annoyed merchants turned up at Nyx Linden’s meeting on Monday. This isn’t the right meeting to take complaints regarding content theft and griefing, but where is?
Nyx tried to point out that this wasn’t the right meeting, and did so politely. Nyx also said she would pass on their requests for a meeting. However the merchants arrived at Andrew Linden’s meeting, again the wrong meeting and according to posts from Nalates Urriah and NeoBokrug Elytis the merchants are starting to engage in some unsavoury practices. They’re threatening to keep coming to these meetings until they get a response. They are engaging in behaviour that isn’t helpful to those who regularly attend these meetings or those who organise these meetings, in short, they are causing problems and they really need to take a step back and consider whether their actions are responsible.
The thing is, where else can they go? This is where Linden Lab need to step up to the plate and create a channel for merchants to raise their grievances. Merchants simply shouldn’t be left out in the cold with no place to go and the lack of communication really is a factor here.
On the other hand, merchants need to understand what Linden Lab can and can’t do and whether they like it or not, they are going to keep being told to go the DMCA route on content theft. When it comes to abuse reports and governance, Linden Lab aren’t going to divulge too much information. However when people feel that systems aren’t working, and it’s clear here that merchants feel the systems aren’t working, then they will take action to bring attention to their grievances.
The merchants have made their points at these meetings, it’s now time for them to step back and see whether Linden Lab do provide a meeting. Linden Lab, they really need to offer these merchants a channel to air their concerns, this should foster positive relations between merchants and Linden Lab, rather than the poor relations that are festering now.
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