Coming your way soon: the Second Life Support Portal
Thursday, May 17th, 2007 at 1:18 PM by: cynlindenIn the next week or so Second Life support will leave its current transitional phase and we will implement a significant step in the ongoing changes to support services in Second Life. As we have grown we have struggled to support our Residents in the best way possible. After many months of feedback and input from the Residents, and software implementation and design work on our side, we are finally ready to launch the first part of these changes.
What’s different?
Initially you will access the support portal through the website. As we get further down the road you will access this through the F1 help key in the viewer.
Basic Accounts: Basic accounts that were free or paid a flat, non-recurring fee of US$.9.95 will have access to the revamped Knowledge Base and solution finder. Public Help Island is also available inworld.
In addition, you will be able to submit a support ticket if:
- You get stuck while creating a Second Life account
- You are getting an error message that states you cannot log-in from your location
- Your account has been disabled and you need it reactivated
- You need to report a region being offline
- You are an estate manager and need to request a rollback
You can access all of these resources through the Support Portal. You will also have full access to billing support when needed through the billing phone line.
Premium Accounts: Premium accounts that pay a membership fee monthly, quarterly or annually get further access. They can:
-Access the Knowledge Base and solution finder
-Submit a support ticket
-Have a live chat session with a support team member
-Have access to their own personalized support history page which tracks all ticket and correspondence, as well as live text chat session for later reference and to monitor progress
These services will initially be available through the Support Portal on the website.
Concierge Accounts: Concierge clients (US$125 per month or greater in Land fees, mainland or private estate) have access to the above services plus:
-Dedicated phone line currently with 17/5 coverage and moving to 24/7 shortly
-Live text chat and ticketing coverage with extended hours
-Monitoring of rollback requests17/7 with grid back up the hours we aren’t yet covering
You can access those services through the Support Portal on the website.
What prompted this change?
About 9 months ago we started looking at what would happen to support when we had a community 2, 3, 10 or even 100 times bigger than we had then. As part of that work Robin and I held a series of gatherings with Residents to gather feedback from anyone who was interested in discussing the future of support in Second Life.
During these meetings we also introduced the idea of tiered support levels, to great response. The general consensus at both the Lab and inworld was that this model makes good sense. Because Linden Lab is a both a community and a business, we must consider both what makes sense for us financially and what makes sense for the community in terms of available support.
Through those meetings, office hours and other Resident interactions, you have made it clear to us that you expect excellent support, particularly for those who have invested in Second Life through their subscriptions and their land purchases. We of course want to provide that to you, and we believe that tiered support will allow us to be more responsive, more focused and more attentive. As we solve problems for one Resident, many of those solutions will benefit the entire community through inclusion in the Knowledge Base and Solution Finder.
To further that aim, we have invested in both a Knowledge Base Editor and a Technical Writer to clean up the current Knowledge Base for transition, and to allow us to speedily add pertinent knowledge when you need to find answers quickly.
What we are implementing now is only the beginning, I will provide further detail of each support option in further posts. As we progress and identify needs we will enable other support options and tiers as it makes sense based on the growth of the Second Life population. We’ll open up avenues for the community to contribute through submissions to the Knowledge Base, and by holding regular meetings inworld in small groups to solicit feedback. We believe this approach will help us continue to develop support services in a way that benefits the community as a whole.
Thank you for your continued patience as we grow. We are excited to be able to offer you this greatly improved service, and are looking forward to continued positive changes in the future.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:24 PM
Good move. Well done. Keep up the good work.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:28 PM
Nice, however why didn’t anyone mention these plans when Live Help was closed down??? Would have been nice to know that SOMETHING was in the works rather than just left to hang.
LL’s lack of maintaining customer services and informing customers of such completely amazes me. A lot of bitching, speculation and rumors could have been avoided with just a few words.
*slaps forehead*
SunShine Kukulcan
May 17th, 2007 at 1:31 PM
As a Premium Account holder, I was really questioning its value in the current SL framework (I also fear the advent of voice). I also realize that you are doing your best behind the scenes to scale the grid. I welcome the portal and, in particular, the tier system. A couple more incentives at each tier will certainly keep me as a Premium member. Good work.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:32 PM
I hope this new support system works better then the old one. I have been trying to get land issues taken care of for 6 months
May 17th, 2007 at 1:36 PM
Well thought out and structured. And nice incentive to move residents toward premium memberships. I’ll reserve judgment until I can see if the implementation matches the plan.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:36 PM
I have to second that Sunshine, but the biggest problem still remains gtting inworld help when you need it.
But at least they have made a way for people whose accounts they are mysteriously closing without warning can get in to via the web, although with mixed results if the slx forums are anything to go by. People of course have to post there because if you are one of the millions of people Linden makes it hard to pay for anyhing, you can’t access anything Linden based…
Some of this might change with PayPal Europe moving from the UK to Luxembourg, but I’m still waiting for an answer on that too….
May 17th, 2007 at 1:38 PM
Thank you! Finally seeing something being added (or returned) instead of taken away and even better, a benefit for being a premium subscriber.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:45 PM
Have to Agree with #2, why whait so long that residents get mad and start thinking of leaving. Not easy to have good suport we all know that. Anyway Lindens the trust in you with this post is going up again.
Hope you will succeed i delivering good support in balance with financiel maters.
( Quest to, how can I claim my right to concierge support )
Where can I find it at the moment?
Keep up the good work and thanks for the post.
Sharp
May 17th, 2007 at 1:49 PM
Excellent!
I have been a free account for seven months, and I am very glad you are going to make this change.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:53 PM
If you are goig to tiered there should be another level in there between basic and premium. The existing basic should be for ‘no payment info on file’ and maybe ‘payment info on file’. Those with ‘payment info used’ but who don’t have an active premium account should get a bit more options but not as much as an active premium account. Those who have used their CC have obviously contributed to SL’s community (and a fair number like me were premium at one point and as things stabilize in SL/RL will be again).
Also when you talk of support tickets I assume this is for ‘I need help’ type support only? I’d hate to think that only premium/concierge residents could file abuse reports or bug reports.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:55 PM
Looking good! Weekend support too, well done.
BTW will ‘You are getting an error message that states you cannot log-in from your location’ include the situation where you try to login after a crash and it says the region is restarting and so won’t let you in?
May 17th, 2007 at 1:56 PM
So… those that want help from support need to upgrade to the 9.95 a month plan or we cannot issue a support ticket for basic problems?
What about those that before we open and start shoveling out money have a question about a service or group we wish to bring to SL? Are we stuck to not being able to ask and get a linden response?
I think changing the structure of the support system is a great idea, however this does alarm me that my company has to put money out first before even getting a repsonse.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:00 PM
Seems the blog invites more criticism than kudos so I would like to add my thanks as well. Good to be reminded you are continually looking and moving forward.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:02 PM
Support improvements are always welcome.
It is perhaps hard for many of us to bear in mind that SL is expanding at such a dramatic rate it is quite possible that the best-laid plans of avis and men may be overwhelmed by the new reality.
I applaud new support initiatives and fully understand that it may not always be possible to provide the level of service many might desire - but I am confident you are doing your best. Thanks for all your work.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:03 PM
So in other words, anyone who isn’t paying you $9.95 a month gets no help whatsoever.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:03 PM
I’m happy…with one caveat. Will the live-chat support persons be knowledgeable? Or will they be the standard ‘live-chat’ people that we get from so many other corporations where it’s less than useless?
Don’t get me wrong…I’m happy…and honestly I don’t experience many problems with SL at all…but if the time comes that I DO need help (and I am a concierge member)…I want to talk to someone who knows what they’re talking about…not someone reading prompts from a computer screen in a call-center…
May 17th, 2007 at 2:04 PM
This is an excellent step forward. I’m greatly relieved to see that residents get support that’s proportional to their investment in SL. It definitely opens up access to support that isn’t bogged down with thousands of low-level help requests, like “How do I unpack this box”?
Thumbs-up!
May 17th, 2007 at 2:05 PM
Way to go! This sounds like a very positive development. Looking forward to seeing it live up to its promise!
May 17th, 2007 at 2:11 PM
What about Lifetime US$ 225.00 Accounts?
May 17th, 2007 at 2:16 PM
Excellent!
The ability to track the status of tickets from the website is something we’ve needed for a long time. Perhaps as a next step you could look at setting SLAs for responding to tickets?
May 17th, 2007 at 2:17 PM
This is a huge andmost welcome step in the right direction. Thank you LL folks for doing this. I am applauding your action here!!
May 17th, 2007 at 2:20 PM
Seems like a very good plan to me
Totally fair.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:20 PM
Woww! Finally!!
(clap,clap,clap)
I think in SL like a business and always wanderer why this is handle like a favor or something.
I think the difference of support by fees is the best way, because who use this for just playing a game may be wait a little. First the people who invest tour money and expect the returns of investments.
For me, this is a significant advance. And i wish to see in a little time, the ToS of this accounts, different by fees, becomes different too.
Because actually, this ToS is “a pretty” wrong for those people who’s putting your money here.
But i’m glad to see this thing. Shows good-will, future vision, or something.
I’ll never ask you for the 2 serious problems i report and never returns, if you’re working hard on this system and it works.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:21 PM
It would be nice to have an option to pay a per incident fee for a live session or for a phone support call for those who would not qualify under their membership plan. That shouldn’t replace what is offered, but if someone really needs to talk to support on the phone, there should be a way for that to happen.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:25 PM
I’m glad to see this. After my recent support experience (or perhaps ‘lack-of-support’ experience would be more appropriate) I’m all for priority support for people who actually invest money into Second Life, be it through land purchases, Premium memberships, or purchasing Lindens on the LindenX.
Cyn, is Linden willing to offer some sort of guaranteed issue turn-around time to paid accounts? As it stands now we have 800-number support and e-mail tickets, but considering it takes a few days to get an e-mail response or numerous calls to the 800 number to talk to a human being, saying you’re going to offer these things means absolutely nothing unless you’re willing to improve response time.
On top of support, what is Linden doing to communicate individual issues with end users? You could significantly reduce your support load by just letting the residents know what you’re up to. If you suspend an account for some reason, contact the user and let them know why. If the reason was bad contact information, give a specific error message on login (bad contact info, please call support or update via the website). Don’t leave us in the dark.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:25 PM
Schizm Neutra it looks like you misread the topic on this blog post.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:26 PM
As a Basic Account user who reads the downed sim page as useless for sims that are merely acting really badly for huge stretches of time (massive downloads pending, failure to rez, etc) and has found Live Help useful to resolve those issues often on behalf of 20+ other people suffering in the area… (which includes a lot of user churn as the sim in question includes an infohub and a sandbox)
I’m debating wether I should be an incredibly poor sport and do what I can to ignore and let those situations fester, as this support problem appears to me as totally ignored and unacknowledged, despite several attempts at bringing it to attention by me and others, and after this stab in the face I feel I owe nothing towards any further attempts at managing these problems.
Is this irrational of me?
May 17th, 2007 at 2:29 PM
>Alyx Stoklitsky
>So in other words, anyone who isn’t paying you $9.95 a month
>gets no help whatsoever.
I read “LIMITED” support which is as it should be.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:36 PM
Hey,
just a short quesion: so as a basic member with payment info on file =and= used (!) there will be =no= support (email / ticket system) if i’ve another technical issue then the listed above?!
Looking forward to feedback from linden lab.
Regards
Cedric
May 17th, 2007 at 2:38 PM
About time you get a decent customer service department. The last few weeks have lacked in decent service since you took down your live help. No answers to e-mail or nowhere to ask for help or support when needed. I do a bit of land trading in SL and I need “a guy” to help me when I need him. Having a concierge who can teleport over to assist you with a problem when needed is giving customer service.
At the moment non of this exists.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:44 PM
This is the first bright move I’ve seen from LL this year. Very good. And making it so the premium users get something for their money is a good touch.
Now if you can reinstate global Abuse Reports to deal with the texture griefers who aren’t anywhere near ones region (so no landowner tools work), we’ll be on our way to a useful system once more.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:45 PM
GREAT JOB LINDENS!!! WELL DONE!!!
May 17th, 2007 at 2:46 PM
As a private estate owner, the system seems to me fair and professional.
For those residents having land at private estate, the should address land related issues to estate management.
on the other hand, that means more need for support in the estates and lindens should go to a fair market, so that the private etsate are able to stay at lindens prices.
paying 195US$ tier for a SIM or 295US$ for a private island… doesn´t make any sense, esp. if the etsate provide more service.
must be some other way round, or at least back to 195US$ for an island.
cheers
Ralf
May 17th, 2007 at 2:50 PM
[...] Cyn Linden has announced the imminent launch of an improved support system for SL users. In the past few months there appeared to be a deterioration in support options for users including the closing of a number of sections on the SL community forums. [...]
May 17th, 2007 at 2:52 PM
“As we get further down the road you will access this through the F1 help key in the viewer.”
I worry a bit about this part because I can’t access the F1 without the game crashing. Basically, I can’t access the web while in the game.
coco
May 17th, 2007 at 2:53 PM
This sounds very positive indeed. And I hope also an indication of the level of improvements we can expect to see throughout SL.
Good work like this deserves to applauded and encouraged.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:59 PM
After the recent paranoia-inducing censorship campaign and the upcoming addition of bandwidth-sucking features that hardly anyone wants, it’s nice to finally read something reasonable *positive* here.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:06 PM
kudos, but what about billing questions??? I just got off the phone after 20minutes of holding and no response from any one in billing. Now if this is the case I’m sure with other premium members then I am shocked by the total lack of support, especially when I’m trying to catch up on my tier payments….
May 17th, 2007 at 3:08 PM
So if a Basic user logs in and all of his or her inventory is gone you are just out of luck? We won’t even be allowed to report it?
Wonderful support option.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:09 PM
Vickie Maidstone Says
kudos, but what about billing questions???
Your a paid member then, right?
May 17th, 2007 at 3:09 PM
Guys. The new system you added yesterday to reactivate disabled accounts is STILL not working.
http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/05/16/a-fix-worth-a-thousand-logins/
Can you please fix that so I can get my acount back. my MAIN account has beeln locked for over a week now. This is costing me a lot of money.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:11 PM
On a side note, I am a premium member. Can I get some decent support here? All I’ve had on this issue is a single generic reply from support, and the two rather vague and so far useless blog posts.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:14 PM
I will wait to see how this rolls out, as I have been offered lollipops here before and gotten only a chewed stick, but I think the plan is a solid one. I hope it gets the 100% LL backing it will need to succeed.
Question, where are you going to get the ppl who man the support lines, and are you going to train / test them before they go live… PLEASE!!
DRD
May 17th, 2007 at 3:17 PM
Too little too late. I got so tired of the griefing, especially from the same ppl over and over, not matter how many abuse reports were filed, I quit.
I closed my account yesterday and will now go see what other worlds out there starting truly care about the ppl who work hard to make them something.
Too bad Lindens, I think it was a great idea… but has really gone sour as of late.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:28 PM
1: Will this also apply to abuse reports?
2: How is someone supposed to report that something is BROKEN and needs to be fixed, if they are not Premium?
3: Will you consider offering an option for non-premium members to subscribe to full support ticket resolution service, without requiring a Premium upgrade?
May 17th, 2007 at 3:37 PM
Ah. Feels good to finally browze a blog and note that not everyone (Heck basicly no one) is complaining! And when lindnes browze this blog, and they are, they will also see the satisfaction from their members.
As I said before; Times change and things change, secondlife - and along with every other company - is a trian and error process. Sometimes they get things wrong, or what seems so, and sometimes (like this one) they do the best possible thing!
@ the people complaining about limited basic member support: Not to offence, however basic members do take up space in the system and act on bandwidth. They contribute to the concurrency, ect.. If you are not PAYING linden labs for the hardrive space you take up, then they arent going to give you similair perks to the people who PAY.
-Jokeiroo
May 17th, 2007 at 3:37 PM
This all sounds very positive.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:38 PM
I’m just a basic account holder, and thought I’ve spent a bit of money in-world, I think this is a balanced and fair way to handle support. If I were regularly paying money, I’d expect more support. But since I don’t pay monthly, and there’s no guarantee that I’ll ever convert another real US$ into L$, it makes sense that I’m at a limited level of support. That being said, even before this announcement, I was thinking about upgrading.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:39 PM
I like this idea. I’m only a free basic account holder but at least implementing this might shut up all the premium Blogwhiners who constantly bang on about how the free account holders should be denied access to this that and the other the moment anything puts a strain on any aspect of SL. Now Linden Lab has something which actually gives premium members an advantage, which is a step in the right direction.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:45 PM
Excellent; it’s about time Linden Lab
I LOOK forward to this, and can’t wait for it’s implementation. 24/7 concierge will be nice 
May 17th, 2007 at 3:47 PM
Sounds like a great a plan.
What about support for multiple languages? LL currently has liasons who speak a variety of languages (Yeah Rika and Chiyo!). So lets do a bit more in supporting non English Speakers.
I would like to suggest that the label strings for the objects of the portal UI be put together in an XML document and put out as part of the open source project. Do that, and I can guarantee that at least the Japanese community will have the UI done in a few short weeks. And I am sure the French, German and Dutch communities would be just as enthusiastic.
Translastion of the knwowldge base is a huge task and will take longer, but at least starting with the static portions, meaning the portal UI, and account pages, would be a great first step.
This move really adds value back into being a premium member, but with more than 60% of SL’s users being Outside of the US, one assumes that English is not the first language of the majority of residents. Let’s really do this right and make the portal as friendly as possible to the majority of residents.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:52 PM
A major step forward! Thank you LL! Any possibility that one day maybe mainland region owners might be able to restart their own regions? I dont mean any of the bells and whistles (force sun, etc), but having this one simple feature for full region owners might also help reduce workload by alllowing the region owner to restart, thus avoiding any LL intervention, freeing you guys up for more pressing issues…
Once again; THANK YOU!
May 17th, 2007 at 3:57 PM
This service, if it lives up to its description, might make it much more worthwhile to upgrade to Premium. Since First Land went away a few months ago, the main advantage of being Premium was the stipend. And the stipend is just barely enough to offset the membership fee.
But now we will have enhanced support as well. It sounds pretty good– allthough the enhanced support is only a little more extensive than what everyone had until Live Help was discontinued.
May 17th, 2007 at 4:00 PM
[...] we have some flesh on the bones of the new look support services which are due soon (probably next [...]
May 17th, 2007 at 4:02 PM
The outlined plan sounds reasonable, logical, and fair. What I would like have defined, however, is “account.” Would that include so-called Alts for a user, an inventory backup methond recommened in “the Official Guide” published this year?
May 17th, 2007 at 4:02 PM
Two suggestions:
1: Allow the ability to submit a support ticket for any “Payment Info Used” account. Give those of us who paid money to LL at least SOME preference over a free unverified account that never paid LL a penny.
2: Allow Estate Managers the same support access as the sim owner to this support, for issues relating to the sims they manage, regardless of their membership level. It used to be that as an Estate manager, I could get Concierge support for the sims I manage, Now, because I am Basic, the only support function I can do as an Estate manager for 5 sims is to request a rollback? I can’t even request a restart when the sim is clearly acting flaky?
May 17th, 2007 at 4:08 PM
Which category do the old $225 Lifetime accounts come under?
May 17th, 2007 at 4:11 PM
If I understand, Basic account holders will not have access to the Knowledge Base. Is that correct? I can see not allowing write access, but the KB is/will be/could be a way for people to answer their own questions without involving LL staff, and that seems like something you’d want everyone to be able to do.
May 17th, 2007 at 4:12 PM
This looks a heck of a lot better… why didn’t you post this as a plan way back when? This ‘transitional’ phase didn’t seem very transitional…
But then all phases are transitional, aren’t they?
I hope these plans work out. The tiering of them seems fair as well. The implementation, though, is the hard part.
May 17th, 2007 at 4:13 PM
I’d also like to second Damien’s question. Will Lifetime accounts be considered Premium accounts for support purposes?
May 17th, 2007 at 4:15 PM
@ Damien and Fractal
I would certainly hope LL would honor your lifetime as premium. To do otherwise would simply be unjust
May 17th, 2007 at 4:16 PM
What about Lifetime US$ 225.00 Accounts?
Where do they fall?
May 17th, 2007 at 4:16 PM
/me hugs CynLinden
Thank you and the team for finally letting us know that you have been listening after all - at least to some of the things that are being said.
This is a positive step in demostrating that LL is starting to take a more professional attitude to running this whole shebang.
I echo Sunshine in that it would have been good to have heard a little more of this earlier when the message was dropped on us that Help was being effectively withdrawn. It would have saved a lot of grief I’m sure if LL had have been a little more forthcoming with information.
But I’m pleased that my continued payment of a Premium account is beginning to be justified….
I only wonder what else is in the works that we don’t know about, but which will actually resolve alot of the issues that a number of people here are concerned with.
May 17th, 2007 at 4:24 PM
Well speaking of support options they need to update the recorded messages on the phone support. There’s one message in the set that says to use the Live Help in game (which no longer exists), and the knowledge base has quite a few entries referring to removed help options.
May 17th, 2007 at 4:27 PM
DOES THIS MEAN THAT WE WILL ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO GET, YOU KNOW, HELP? AS IN WHEN WE NEED IT? NOT A PHONECALL THAT WILL NEVER BE ANSWERED, OR EMAIL THAT WILL NEVER BE ANSWERED, OR A SUPPORT TICKET THAT WILL NEVER BE ANSWERED?
DOES THIS MEAN THAT WHEN THIS GOES LIVE, IF RIGHT THEN, I HAVE A SERIOUS PROBLEM, SOME ONE WILL RIGHT THEN AND THERE SAY “HI, WHAT CAN I DO?”
IF THE ANSWER TO THIS IS NO .. THEN WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT HOW IT IS NOW?
A VERY SERIOUS AND DIRECT ANSWER WOULD BE APPRECIATED. NOT WITH WHAT YOU HOPE IT’LL BE LIKE, OR WHAT YOU THINK IT’LL BE LIKE, OR WHAT YOUR PLANS WOULD BE LIKE IF EVERYTHING WENT GREAT …. A SERIOUS DIRECT NON BS ANSWER PLEASE. THANK YOU
May 17th, 2007 at 4:32 PM
Come on folks. Read the post. Free accounts will continue to get help through a revamped knowledge base and solution finder, and can submit a support ticket in certain situations. They’ll provide the help. Its just up to the free users to find it themselves on the website for the most part. Fair enough for them I say, as long as the KB and SF are well done.
“Nice, however why didn’t anyone mention these plans when Live Help was closed down???”
Another example of needing to fully read posts. They always said it was part of an ongoing plan to revamp support.
May 17th, 2007 at 4:36 PM
The fact that free accounts get less help is typical tripe we see from Linden Labs. A double standard. This basically leaves basic account people, or people like me, who transitioned back to basic, high and dry.
This is a big problem to me, because I have been having inventory errors. Things I paid L$ bought with real money, disappearing from the world and my inventory. And there’s no avenue for support. And because of this plan, there won’t be!
May 17th, 2007 at 4:38 PM
Woooot! Thank you! I’ve rather missed LiveHelp, and the above changes sound very attractive.
May 17th, 2007 at 4:39 PM
Linden Labs, this is a good and very professional idea. I thank you for this approach and hope to see the implementation soon,
Thank you
May 17th, 2007 at 4:40 PM
@54 Did you have to have all caps like you were shouting…no one like to be shouted at…thanks.
I like the new tiered system because a.) I am a conceirge and yes indeed I do believe that, should I pay and invest more, I should get better service…selfish of me; but, eh, I don’t care. And b.) I am often on Help Island Public helping others answering questions and such, so I like the idea of being able to have access to my resources whenever I want.
Two colorful thumbs up to LL on this.
May 17th, 2007 at 4:43 PM
BROVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Duke
May 17th, 2007 at 4:43 PM
Sounds like a good move - pats on backs all round
May 17th, 2007 at 4:48 PM
People, LL don’t deserve praise for this. This should of been in place *before* they opened the flood gates. It’s disgusting that premium members (in fact *any* paying member) had to live through the last few months with basically zero support. LL should compensate us and be asking our forgiveness.
May 17th, 2007 at 4:49 PM
LL takes a lot of flack for when things go wrong. I want to take this opportunity to praise some good thinking and choices. Well done! Excellent job.
PS: I can now take pictures without crashing! Another thank you!
May 17th, 2007 at 5:05 PM
Thank you, this is great. Do I need to sign up for the concierge account (my land tier is $125 and will go higher) or is it automatic?
May 17th, 2007 at 5:29 PM
I am a little confused can somone clarify on this?
May 17th, 2007 at 5:42 PM
OMG! TY TY TY LL! Its about time us prem users get something for our time and money!
Ya! *does her happy dance!*
On a side note: Abuse/Bug reports will still be available to all correct as that is still highly needed for all residents.
May 17th, 2007 at 6:00 PM
This is a nice step, very nice from currently having really nothing to something better and existent! Woo!
Any possibility of getting a Yahoo Answers like service in the future?
May 17th, 2007 at 6:19 PM
I think this is a wonderful idea. It seems that LL is really growing and is indeed trying to better itself, along with the Second Life product. Sure, the free accounts will have a tough time, although everything will even itself out — but you get what you pay for. Kudos to all the LL team!
May 17th, 2007 at 6:29 PM
Cyn,
This is a much-needed thing, and I applaud.
May 17th, 2007 at 6:46 PM
Thanks LL !
I expect some more info in the next Live Helper meeting
May 17th, 2007 at 6:53 PM
Thank You LL!! If it works the way you say it will and we do indeed actually get help it will be much appreciated:))
May 17th, 2007 at 6:54 PM
I like
May 17th, 2007 at 6:55 PM
Looks good for Premium and Concierge customers but basics get virtually nothing. I think they should at least be allowed to “pay per use” for being able to file a support ticket. They ought to be able to get help in some way if they have problems such as loss of inventory or other major bugs.
May 17th, 2007 at 7:26 PM
Sowhat happens to the non paying ppl that have questions? Are they now just going to keep on bothering other paying residents till they get annoyed enough to get a Linden for them?
May 17th, 2007 at 7:32 PM
As where is a Thread full of Serious Questions….at First, i would like to recommend what this thread will be reopened after it reach 100 postings…the news is great tohear what something will be done, but where are SERIOUS questions in here what should be adressed…if not, the post wil lbe near useless for those which had serious Questions it did not answered…the fact what it reach 100 posts dont mean what everything is said.
2nd i would realy like to see some linden giving clarification to some of the serious questions asked here….please do so, where are a hand full
3rd I would like to add another serious question as it affects ME
IF a Group of ppl has Free Accounts but a own Sim or even a Group of Sims, no one of those will have any access to the important Parts the Concierge Residents have what pay high Tier Payments…except the one paying the bills….is this right?
If yes, as a Sim can have Serious Issues 24 7, muhc Teams running Sims have Estate Managers named to address issues when the Owner personaly is not at hand….ths wil mean the Owner can request a Rollback for example, a Estate Manager only can give Out Tee to suffering Residents and if the Estate Owner has a Vacation in Real life and cant access SL for a few days for some days…the sim is freaked for days without the chance anything can be done as the Estate Managers are not Concierge Level and the Concierge is forself not at hand?
Is this right? IF yes, I would strongly request what this is rethinked about…would it be better to say, Concierge Resident Level Access to help is given to those, what Pay high Tier payments, OR are InWorld given high authorized Status like Estate Manager by the original paying resident?
These ppl are acting in the name of the paying Resident, so blocking them out of Help Access is like blocking the paying person out…and as you do not want acounts to be shared…you should consider of let those what need a working Infrastructure even if they are not in place in person toshare their rights.
This I would realy and strongly Request tobe answered by a Linden.
Also as where are only 18 Posts left till this thread autoclose and we, the residents are again forced to be silent, i please everyone writhing in this thread to sign my request for 1) keeping this open and 2) bringing in a Linden to address the serious Questions in here toshow the lindens what i am not alone in the opinion what some things in here need tobe addressed.
May 17th, 2007 at 7:34 PM
Must say well done to linden labs for this move,was apparent before that with the flux of free accounts support became almost non exsistent,while i support a free world when your paying for a service and you cant get help with major issues obviously something had to change.I know this will upset a lot of free account holders and would me to but i think for the time being as second life is growing at such a large rate this is probably the most sensible solution.
May 17th, 2007 at 7:48 PM
Thanks for the massive delay in response to the thousands of residents who were puzzled, upset, angry at your removal of Live Help I still dont feel that this is enough in my honest opinion. You need to inform us of things like this BEFORE making the changes not after then tell us youve decided things after the fact. Second Life has quickly gone from the Virtual Reality that we the residents could escape to from RL and be and create anything we desired having only our imagination limit us to a stressful ever changing environent with Real Life issues and politics constantly being added that is removing the freedom and fun I have been in SL for three years and sure back when I started there wasnt as much activity or as much inworld etc etc, but it was alot less drama free alot less buggy and laggy and you Lindens seemed to actually care back then. Please stop looking so far in the future as to having hundreds of thousands of people online and trying to rush to get SL ready for that now, stop worrying about RL politics and issues stop closing your ears to the residents who if you have forgotton MADE SL what it is you made the code we made the world remember that! You will never ever get the numbers youre thinking of online at this rate as they will come and see the lag and bugs and stress and drama and strict rules and go back to a fun game.
This wont be read by a Linden infact it will probably be overlooked by most people but what else can I do? Ive tried making groups and approching LL and sending notes and making petitions and get no results.
Stop thinking about the people to come and focus on the people here for gods sake LL we are here making this world we are shaping it not the people that might come in the future.
Yours knowing it will be ignored again,
ORO
May 17th, 2007 at 7:50 PM
*claps* very nice job lindmans, about time you bring something that doesn’t piss of the entyre community !
I have always been thinking about doing what many other big online bussiness do… paying members specialy like the estate owners should get a life help chat on the website option… seems like you came to that idea to i realy like to see this working soon enough.
And i agree with what the others say residents should first talk to the estate managers and they should talk to linden.
in the army you don’t step directly tot eh general either it would be alot better to split up the help system and so spread it over entyre sl!
May 17th, 2007 at 7:50 PM
@76 if you read the original posts it tells you you will have access to live chat session with a support team member,if you are a premium account holder
May 17th, 2007 at 7:56 PM
@80 true but this is a step forward to actually being heard again after months and if they say only conceirge accounts are people with problems then there will be 1 hell of a lot of upset paying customers,i think this is a step towards getting heard again so lets wait and see and keep our fingers crossed that this is going the right way
May 17th, 2007 at 7:58 PM
Yay! Congrats Lindens on an excellent plan. Fair for all sides–you get what you pay for
May 17th, 2007 at 7:58 PM
Sounds like my prayers are heard. First see how it goes before i get all excited and such
May 17th, 2007 at 8:06 PM
well if im honest if i payed 1695 for a sim and was paying 295 a month maintainence i would expect a better service than someone paying 10 a month so they have to have a cut off point,they chose conceirge level that seems fair to me in not at 125 a month but im prepared to see this as heading the right way,i doubt it will be perfect i doubt the lindens its gonna be perfect but it is a step in the right direction so i give it thumbs up.
May 17th, 2007 at 8:16 PM
read what i wrote first,there are cut off points at 125 and free levels,do you want them to offer different support for 9.95/25/50/75/125/etc its a base they have to chose a cut off point and they chose concierge level,now would you rather go back to live help lets think,today 42000 people online lets split that in to work sleep and play so 120000 users per day but lets account for those who live here,say 100000 logons per day,if 1% of those encounters a problem that is 1000 people the small staff has to deal with per day so maybe they will get to you in july/august,so is this a better idea to take out 70000 of those users?
May 17th, 2007 at 8:19 PM
#87 if I’d realised it was more suitable to use my SL name when first commenting I would have but this is a blog and accepts any name and I don’t want to go through the moderation issue again.
Whereas I welcome this issue, I’m going to go off topic because it’s annoying me. How can you justify giving users different levels of support when you don’t believe we’re whom we claim to be? What on earth is the point of me being a premium account holder when you are telling me that it doesn’t mean anything?
I’m sorry but although I agree with the policy on support, I don’t agree with the tags you’re applying to me. I find it extremely hypocritical that my details are good enough for you to offer me this level of support but not good enough to verify who I am.
May 17th, 2007 at 8:21 PM
It’s trolling when you can’t give a proper responce to someone who just said why don’t you at least wait and see?iI think your here to just feed a greivence about 1 perticular problem you have your not here for whats good for the community just need a place to moan,why not offer a constructive alternative?like deal with me and no one else matters?yeah i think that would suit you.
May 17th, 2007 at 8:22 PM
You missing the point by saying 70000. Your jumping at assumptions. point is those that falls between 125 and lower will get no help ( or jus tlike now ). After seeing that land griefters are still doing their BS and having 2 abuse reports looked at and tosses to the said shows me those that are FULL memebers and paying tires will get the same NO COSUMER SERVICE ( NCS ) as they do now. There still a hell of a hell f alot more lower 72.00 accounts then island owners and its use that will be stuck in CNS.
Usagi
May 17th, 2007 at 8:24 PM
@91 you havent even seen how this is going to work and your already saying you get no support,for god sake talk about glass half empty
May 17th, 2007 at 8:26 PM
Perfect. Freebie accounts get what they pay for. Minimal service which will free up reps to handle those of paying customers. I love it. Hats off to Linden Labs on this one !!!
May 17th, 2007 at 8:30 PM
What your point? all i said was there will be problems alreay . If Abuse reports aboutr land griefters are STILL looked at as “LOW” key issues. what makes you think anything will change? Please all i said in my first posting and you failed to notice ….”Also land owners that have less then 125.00 a month don`t get the service? Still people paying slightly less are goin to be left out?” is what my point……you just rehashing issues and assuming wrong
May 17th, 2007 at 8:32 PM
Its about time LLABS took action after 1 year of hell with those accounts. But the $125 land issues is still alittle fuzzy those owning less will be getting the sam CNS as they do now. BUT they have acess now :/ OH BOY!
May 17th, 2007 at 8:32 PM
because you wont have abuse reports,you will have a live chat session,take free accounts away from that = improved service you should really go back and read this blog
May 17th, 2007 at 8:54 PM
“36 Ceera Murakami Says:
May 17th, 2007 at 3:28 PM PDT
1: Will this also apply to abuse reports?
2: How is someone supposed to report that something is BROKEN and needs to be fixed, if they are not Premium?
3: Will you consider offering an option for non-premium members to subscribe to full support ticket resolution service, without requiring a Premium upgrade?”
3.) Q is intersting……and or having a option to upgrade to say 15.00 a month?
May 17th, 2007 at 8:56 PM
Even though I’m in the ‘lower tier’, I think this is a smart move. Many companies that provide a ‘free’ product, like open source software distributors, have paid-for support tiers similar to this, and it seems to be a well workable and proven model. I look forward to seeing how well this works for you and us (users) both.