{"id":2508,"date":"2012-12-24T15:02:12","date_gmt":"2012-12-24T15:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=2508"},"modified":"2012-12-24T15:04:33","modified_gmt":"2012-12-24T15:04:33","slug":"user-groups-and-wiki-need-greater-visibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=2508","title":{"rendered":"User Groups And Wiki Need Greater Visibility"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was recently taken to task over my suggestion that <a title=\"Linden Lab's Poor communication\" href=\"http:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=2478\" target=\"_blank\">Linden Lab&#8217;s communications are poor<\/a> because I don&#8217;t go to <a title=\"User Groups\" href=\"http:\/\/wiki.secondlife.com\/wiki\/Linden_Lab_Official:User_Groups\" target=\"_blank\">user group<\/a> meetings. I used to go to a lot of office hours when I was a lad in Second Life and after they were changed into user groups, I went to a few of them. User group meetings are not vastly different to office hours, even back in the day some office hours had agendas, such as Bridie&#8217;s bug triage meetings, whereas despite Jack&#8217;s best efforts, agendas never really took off with Jack&#8217;s meetings. However the point that I don&#8217;t go to user group meetings and therefore miss out on discussions is a fair one, discussions with Lindens do happen at user group meetings.<\/p>\n<p>The thing here is that there are just four user group meetings officially listed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Content Creation User Group\" href=\"http:\/\/wiki.secondlife.com\/wiki\/Content_Creation\/Mesh_Import_User_Group\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Content Creation\/Mesh Import<\/strong><\/a> &#8211; Discussion on content creation, currently focused on mesh import.<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Server\/Sim\/Scripting\" href=\"http:\/\/wiki.secondlife.com\/wiki\/Server\/Sim\/Scripting_User_Group\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Server\/Sim\/Scripting<\/strong><\/a> &#8211; Simulator issues and technology.<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Open Development\" href=\"http:\/\/wiki.secondlife.com\/wiki\/Open_Development_User_Group\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Open Development<\/strong><\/a> &#8211; Open source policies, resources for contributors, and progressing contributions through the Snowstorm process; for open source contributors.<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Server Beta User Group\" href=\"http:\/\/wiki.secondlife.com\/wiki\/Server_Beta_User_Group\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Server Beta<\/strong><\/a> &#8211; Anything pertaining to server changes and public beta testing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There used to be something like four a day covering a wide variety of topics, now we get around five a week (Open Development is scheduled for Monday and Wednesday). However leaving that aside, these meetings are useful, user groups provide a high level of richness, although they are poor in terms of reach. The minutes are usually updated on the wiki for each user group, so if you can&#8217;t attend the meetings when they happen, you can catch up via minutes of chat logs.<\/p>\n<p>However finding out about the existence of user group meetings isn&#8217;t exactly straight forward and surely something can be done about this. I know where the wiki is, but when you look at the main second Life website, it&#8217;s really not obvious that user groups even exist, let alone that there&#8217;s a wiki.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2509\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2509\" style=\"width: 448px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?attachment_id=2509\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2509\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2509\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?attachment_id=2509\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki1.jpg?fit=448%2C268&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"448,268\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Community Dropdown\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Community Dropdown&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Community Dropdown&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki1.jpg?fit=300%2C179&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki1.jpg?fit=448%2C268&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2509\" alt=\"An Image Should Be Here\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki1.jpg?resize=448%2C268\" width=\"448\" height=\"268\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki1.jpg?w=448&amp;ssl=1 448w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki1.jpg?resize=300%2C179&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2509\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community Dropdown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The community dropdown gives no indication that there&#8217;s a wiki. There&#8217;s no link to it there, despite the fact that there&#8217;s a <a title=\"Community Resources Portal\" href=\"http:\/\/wiki.secondlife.com\/wiki\/Community_Resources_Portal\" target=\"_blank\">community resources portal on the wiki<\/a>!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2510\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2510\" style=\"width: 452px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?attachment_id=2510\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2510\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2510\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?attachment_id=2510\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki2.jpg?fit=452%2C330&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"452,330\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Help Dropdown\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Help Dropdown&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Help Dropdown&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki2.jpg?fit=300%2C219&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki2.jpg?fit=452%2C330&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2510\" alt=\"An Image Should Be Here\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki2.jpg?resize=452%2C330\" width=\"452\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki2.jpg?w=452&amp;ssl=1 452w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki2.jpg?resize=300%2C219&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 452px) 100vw, 452px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2510\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Help Dropdown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Help dropdown doesn&#8217;t list the wiki either. However one can stumble across the wiki, if you&#8217;re a developer and you follow the developer link from the main website at the bottom of pages:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2511\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2511\" style=\"width: 531px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?attachment_id=2511\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2511\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2511\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?attachment_id=2511\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki3.jpg?fit=531%2C103&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"531,103\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Developer Link\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Developer Link&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Developer Link&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki3.jpg?fit=300%2C58&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki3.jpg?fit=525%2C102&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2511\" alt=\"An Image Should Be Here\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki3.jpg?resize=525%2C102\" width=\"525\" height=\"102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki3.jpg?w=531&amp;ssl=1 531w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sl.governormarley.com\/slpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nowiki3.jpg?resize=300%2C58&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2511\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Developer Link<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This takes you to the <a title=\"http:\/\/wiki.secondlife.com\/wiki\/Second_Life_Develop?lang=en-US\" href=\"http:\/\/wiki.secondlife.com\/wiki\/Second_Life_Develop?lang=en-US\" target=\"_blank\">developer portal of the wiki<\/a> and from there it&#8217;s not difficult to find your way to the main wiki. This has links to bloody useful resources, such as the <a title=\"LSL Portal\" href=\"http:\/\/wiki.secondlife.com\/wiki\/LSL_Portal\" target=\"_blank\">LSL Portal<\/a> for scripting. Maybe I&#8217;m missing something here, but if I were a new resident, how would I find out about the existence of, what are in some cases, excellent resources on the wiki?<\/p>\n<p>My view on user groups is that there aren&#8217;t enough of them, for example, <a title=\"Merchants Need A Usergroup\" href=\"http:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=2445\" target=\"_blank\">there should be one for merchants<\/a>. Blondin&#8217;s community meetings have never been replaced, nor Jack&#8217;s land meetings, these were popular meetings. Linden Lab obviously don&#8217;t feel they are beneficial, but really, to those who attended them, they largely were. The existing ones are full of good information, however as I said earlier, user groups simply don&#8217;t have the reach of a blog post or forum post, they can&#8217;t by their very nature of taking place inworld.<\/p>\n<p>Reach could be extended by forum posts informing people about user groups, similar to how the server team do an excellent job of communicating server deployments <a title=\"Second Life Server Forum\" href=\"http:\/\/community.secondlife.com\/t5\/Second-Life-Server\/bd-p\/SecondLifeServer\" target=\"_blank\">in the server forum<\/a>. Those forum posts are really useful.<\/p>\n<p>The wiki itself, should be more easily found, there are excellent resources on the wiki, it shouldn&#8217;t be too difficult to make it loud and clear that the wiki exists.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"twitter-share-button\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" data-url=\"http:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=2508\" data-via=\"Ciaran_Laval\">Tweet<\/a><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,\"script\",\"twitter-wjs\");\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was recently taken to task over my suggestion that Linden Lab&#8217;s communications are poor because I don&#8217;t go to user group meetings. I used to go to a lot of office hours when I was a lad in Second Life and after they were changed into user groups, I went to a few of &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=2508\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;User Groups And Wiki Need Greater Visibility&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[19,1022,468,467],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6rJUK-Es","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2508"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2513,"href":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2508\/revisions\/2513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}