I was exploring the glorious streets of Meauxle Bureaux, home of The Linden Department of Public Works. I was strolling along, minding my own business, when a horse drawn carriage pulled up alongside me, the door opened and a voice ordered “Get in, your presence has been requested“. Cautiously, I entered the carriage, only to find myself immediately blindfolded.
After a journey of not inconsiderable time, I was bundled from the carriage, taken through a door and sat in a chair, “Gray of The Lab from San Francisco sends his regards“, a voice whispered in my ear and then the blindfold was removed. The room was in darkness but slowly illuminated with light. I heard footsteps, a woman’s footsteps by the sound of it. My hunch was correct as shortly a woman stood before me.
“Xiola Linden, Second Life Lead Community manager, pleased to meet you. The word on the street is that you want to ask questions,” she said.
Somewhat taken aback, I wondered where I was. Had I been taken to the top secret location that the Lindens deny exists, Area 51 style, was I in LindenWorld? I asked the woman claiming to be Xiola if she had ever been to the top secret LindenWorld HQ that us mere mortals can’t visit?
“If I told you, I’d have to ban you. 🙂” she replied.
This told me two things, one was that I was not in LindenWorld and two that this really was Xiola Linden, only a lead community manager would talk of the ban hammer in such a fashion. The further fact that I’d met Xiola before confirmed the truth, I had been smuggled into a secret location, to conduct a secret interview with Xiola Linden, which I am now at liberty to be able to share with you all.
Xiola Linden has been at the forefront of Linden Lab’s renewed vigour for good community relations, she can be found on Twitter, Flickr, the official Second Life blog, at inworld events and more. Whereas it would be grossly unfair to give Xiola all the credit for these renewed good community relations, she is certainly a star attraction. However what of the team itself, I asked Xiola how many people are in the community team?
“We have a small dedicated community team whose job is to focus 100% on our communities, but there are many people outside of our team whose jobs of course include caring about about the community, interacting with users, and keeping their eyes peeled for community-related issues. It’s good to know too that many Lindens spend time inworld on alts (I know I do!) so you may be interacting with a Linden and not even know it.”
Continue reading “The Mystery Of The Secret Interview With Xiola Linden”