[UPDATED] Lights on at the Lab
Thursday, October 11th, 2007 at 5:14 PM by: Ginsu LindenI had a little fun poking at someone else’s mistake about Second Life, so it’s only fair that I make this crystal clear, just in case it wasn’t obvious already: Linden Lab has made more mistakes about Second Life than anyone else ever has.
That shouldn’t be a startling admission: When you are the one developing a product or service, you have more opportunities to make both right and wrong decisions about what you’re making. This is probably true about any complex product offering - the maker makes more mistakes than anyone else because no one else has so many chances to screw things up!
What’s different about Linden Lab is that this place is more transparent about its operations than any other private company that I’ve ever seen. For example, there’s the constant stream of information about our service status, straightforward talk about our grid problems, detailed explanations about governmental tax charges, extensive data about our growth statistics, even open discussion about our future grid architecture. The amount of information we expose about the operation of Second Life is appalling, in the view of some. For many others, it’s not anywhere near enough.
One of the great things about this flow of information is that transparency exposes mistakes while simultaneously motivating both correction and prevention. We don’t mind being called out on our mistakes if it helps us improve our service and develop a product that more people will love.
Of course, it would be ideal to never make any mistakes in the first place, but anyone who tells you they can do that has never done anything great.
The tricky part is finding the level of transparency that achieves the right balance between beneficial correction and burdensome maintenance. At a certain point, exposing a mountain of information becomes as opaque as hiding all of it. We’ve tended to err on the side of exposing more rather than less information, and in making these decisions one of our main guides is comparison to other companies offering similar services.
Not that this is a competition or anything . . . but we love to hear about others who are handling the same challenges better - because there’s always someone out there doing it better, and our job is to learn from that example. Here I’m not really talking about the features of Second Life - I’m pretty sure if there was a virtual world with the same features but with, say, rock-solid stability and faultless customer service, we’d hear about it every day until we came up to par or we went out of business trying!
For this post, I’m mostly interested in how other companies handle the transparency of their operations. What are your favorite examples of corporate transparency, who runs your favorite company blog, who finds the best balance between saying too much and too little? I’m sure good examples are out there, and I’d love to hear enough specifics to be able to learn from them.
UPDATE (original 8 Oct, 19:15, update 11 Oct, 17:14):
Thanks, everyone, for your comments - I’ve read through the first 149. Please note Robin responded in a comment. Here’s the messages I heard, and their frequency in the 148 comments (excluding Robin’s):
9% Here’s an example for you to study. [more on these below]
31% Thanks! You Lindens are doing ok . . . or at least I’ve seen worse!
32% Linden Lab sucks! You’re full of lying, hypocritical corporate bull, and you’ll never do anything right!
26% Give us more information, give it to us faster, and give it to us at the right time.
22% We’ve told you a million times: Focus on stability and bug fixing, no new features!
11% Communication is a two-way street, and you Lindens don’t listen.
12% Hey, fix this one issue [issue varies], willya?
Here are the suggested examples:
Southwest - cited for great blog, self-deprecating humor, customer-centric mission statement, employee relations, crisis communications, and apologies for overzealous dress code enforcement.
Nintendo - cited for respect for customers, at least in Japan.
Sun Microsystems and HP - cited for blogs [Sun, HP]. And Fake Steve Jobs - (humorously) cited for humor.
Smash Bros. - cited for timeliness, technical information.
American Express - cited for customer service reps’ politeness, professionalism and preparedness.
Walmart - cited for employee teamwork.
World of Warcraft - cited for forums and service.
LibraryThing - cited for candid admissions and answers. [examples not cited, but they do have a nice blog. and - hey, cool!]
New Coke and IBM PC market share examples cited.
Lush Cosmetics - cited for humility in the face of restart after failure.
Thanks everyone for the great examples - many of these provide real opportunities to learn from, and I hope we can find our own way to meet those high standards.
October 8th, 2007 at 7:25 PM
This is the best post I’ve read in quite some time. I’m only surprised no one has responded.
Southwest Airlines has a great blog about the things they do right and they have never been afraid to poke fun at themselves to get things corrected. Reading the book “Nuts” which tells some great stories about Southwest may be educational.
Southwest isn’t perfect, but they make a great effort to make their customers happy.
One funny point about Southwest, their mission statement is great in terms of their customers. However the part about how they treat thier own employees is better.
The crash of the Southwest Airlines flight 1248 and how they handled a mistake of that proportion might be a great thing for LL to read to understand how to work on even fatal public relations.
Just my .02L
October 8th, 2007 at 7:34 PM
I think people want you to listen to them more than anything.
October 8th, 2007 at 7:34 PM
Hm… I can tell you a place that is far worse…
Entropia. It’s locked up tighter than fort knox. I migrated from there to here and never looked back, except to cash out.
October 8th, 2007 at 7:37 PM
Thank you! Persistent Prim Drift be damned, this post makes me feel better. I used to work for (then) Cingular Wireless and they never would have posted something like this. In fact, talk like this in the hallways was a actionable offense.
Donuts for Everyone!
October 8th, 2007 at 7:38 PM
So are you saying the Lights are on, but no one is home? Seems like the only people at Linden Lab that know whats going on is the concierges. I think that in my year and a half that I have been in SL, everything has broken atleast once, except you taking your tier money every month. That is the only thing I can count on. But I love the Lab and what you do. Keep up the good work. I just wanted to poke some fun also. I love SL and all the people I have meet here. Dee Linden will marry me? LOL <3
This is the only blog I read and the only company that I deal with. And I am happy with the communications in the blog.
Just me with some Spontaneous Fun.
October 8th, 2007 at 7:39 PM
So in the future you plan to hear us when we don`t like what you done? Or maybe pssible try to do what we like for a change?
October 8th, 2007 at 7:40 PM
Nintendo is good about this but they have a different level of respect for their customers in japan.
October 8th, 2007 at 7:40 PM
Open communication is good; we hear fairly regularly about rolling restarts; grid issues, etc etc.
My question - why don’t you stop adding new features and start a stabilization program? 25% of SL log ons end in failure (your numbers) - that is mind boggling.
October 8th, 2007 at 7:41 PM
Certainly, openness and honesty helps everyone - the facts get out before the rumors do, thereby avoiding Mark Twain’s caution that “a lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. Less hassle for everyone, and that can only be a good thing.
As for good weblogs - personally, I tend to read very few corporate ones, but some Sun and HP folk have some worth reading. Various people and departments at the BBC have some excellent ones as well.
And of course, there’s Fake Steve Jobs. =:)
October 8th, 2007 at 7:42 PM
Hey…who hasn’t made a mistake or two in business?? You guys are the leaders in virtual reality and always will be in my opinion.
October 8th, 2007 at 7:52 PM
For the technical more experienced some more background what goes wrong often would be appreciated. It may give you some response from others how in there idea can be prevented this and that if the issue is known. Well there is also a downside for LL since the information could also be used to make ‘competitors’ like opensim (DeepGrid) prevent the same mistakes in the developing process.
October 8th, 2007 at 7:52 PM
“For example, there’s the constant stream of information about our service status”. Wrong, things start going hairy and its hours if not days before you post something about it.
“straightforward talk about our grid problems” Perhaps once you finally figure out there’s a problem, and if it’s a weekend forget it, we all know we have to wait until monday for anything to be ‘fixed’.
“detailed explanations about governmental tax charges” Yes, once you put them out and hit people with them without any notice.
“extensive data about our growth statistics” mhmm, how many of those millions are alts? Millions of users and only 30k on at a time, we’re not stupid.
“even open discussion about our future grid architecture.” Age old story, fix your existing problems before enhancing them, but I’d be wasting my breath letting you know this because it’s been said a million times and nobody listened.
Perfect examples? Hmmm, You’d do well to look at your main competition, and by that I mean World of Warcraft, even COH. How many times have I crashed off those games? This is honest to God truth, never once. I know the architecture is different, of course it is, but YOUR job is about customer experience, and whining about architecture difference is for the companies going down the tubes.
3+ years in SL here, I feel I can say my peace finally.
Lets get a rock solid platform first folks, that’s all your customers have ever wanted, you only have to read the forums to know it.
October 8th, 2007 at 8:00 PM
I can’t really point you to any examples you could learn from, but I can give you some pointers. This post is rather ironic, as the one thing I’ve seen LL most soundly and harshly criticized for is *lack* of communication. The gambling ban and VAT implementation are two examples that spring to mind. Both may well have been necessary, but they were handled very poorly from a PR point of view.
Blogs and performance metrics are all well and good, but if you listen to the customers, they’ll tell you what they need to hear about. You post these blog entries, and provide resident forums, but who really reads them? That should be at least part of at least one person’s formal job description. Call him or her Reader Linden. S/he should read *all* the forums daily, and all the blog comments, and advise management on what people are talking about. Then *speak to those concerns*. When you start talking about what the Residents are talking about, I can guarantee you that customer satisfaction and morale will soar like an avatar with a Neo Flight attachment and a stuck page-up key.
(Why all the forums? Because people discuss the darndest things in the darndest places.)
October 8th, 2007 at 8:05 PM
now i agree whit linden ,its new ,new medium ,and in development ,and do it ,not easy i think ok i am olso not agree with lag slow down ,but it s a price for many things they do well good ,and yes it s great sometime on second life ,don t always but many avatars have i better life because linden in rl ,thx karl seungmo
October 8th, 2007 at 8:06 PM
Just Fix The Problems that are here now. And make the sims eaiser to fly across or make them bigger
October 8th, 2007 at 8:08 PM
Some others have said it, but ‘feature bloat’ (aka the Microsoft Disease) is at the root of much dissatisfaction. Having a ‘rock solid’ experience is much more important than zillions of new features, IMHO. A recent example is ‘voice’; I sat in on exactly ONE meeting involving voice and fled in horror as the North Texas twang on a monotone grated until I could stand it no longer. Interestingly, I find most residents (except for escorts) have little interest in voice either… they never use it, nor discuss it. This all reflects in my view the overwhelmingly obvious and overlooked problem with Second Life: a class structure much like that of much of South America. A small, highly educated elite (less than 8 percent) of scripters and programmers live in their own world, while the other 92 percent of us live with minimal skills or knowledge in a world without an organized educational system. I’m always struck when I read the ‘Second Life media’ (including blogs like this one) that they are describing a place unlike the one I actually live in while I’m online in Second Life. For many of us, Second Life is precisely that: a SECOND LIFE. 2L is not ‘a platform’, a ‘grid architecture’, nor ‘an economy’. It’s simply a new and better place in which to interact, learn, explore, build, or view. And often it’s just a place where one can ESCAPE the conflicts, arguements, frictions, hatreds, etc of real life. Am I missing the point?
October 8th, 2007 at 8:13 PM
My biggest beef, that I have, is the lack of direct customer support for the masses. When I first arrived, we could contact the Lindens if we had problems and we could tell by the “points” they earned in building and other areas. As an idea of how likely they were to be knowlegable, about problems. Then Linden Labs, decided to make it impossible to tell when the Lindens were on, unless you had em on your Friends list. And to the best of my knowlege, there is now no direct *online* support unless you have a corcage account with a tier of 125 USD or more. The vast majority of people on SL can not *afford* to spend that much for land. Also the vast majority of the people on SL do not need or want that much. Or want to own land. And yes, I have a “Paid Account” abet only a 9.95 account, which I made when I could not remember the proper spelling on the first one.::chuckles:: Although I have not needed live help in a very long time, it is a confort to know it is there. And it is a very important asset for new people who need help. I tried the “Help Island” once and I received *0*, none, nada help. I have forgotten how I resolved the issue, but it was. Also from what I have heard, the “submit a ticket” thing does not work well, as I have of people who has not been contacted for many days when they had a problem. Linden Labs, *please* show respect to the little people, and restore Live Help through the Lindens. We need it, for all of us. Adeel Cave
October 8th, 2007 at 8:22 PM
Reply to 1.
Interesting you mention Southwest.
The “Love” airlines from the 70’s who has been caught of late being accused of being ‘uptight’. The latest is the flap about the guy with the “Master Baiter” Fishing T-shirt that someone felt was offensive, so Southwest, in it’s unending effort to make it’s customers happy, asked the passenger to turn his shirt inside out. You can imagine the rest, as the third story in less then 3 weeks is out about them, all instances where the best, rock solid, company, has stubbed it’s own toes in an honest effort to please all of their passengers,even the dam prudes.
October 8th, 2007 at 8:25 PM
It is real simple in concept, tell the truth and then deal with peoples’ reactions. I do it all the time in rl, you should learn to do it in sl.
October 8th, 2007 at 8:29 PM
None.
Linden Lab has it’s problems and mistakes but something I very much appreciate is the level of transparency. It’s comforting for me to know without hassle when the problem is on the SL side and not my computer. Is saves me a from troubleshooting frustration.
What I do recommend to LL is to listen to the techs in the community who spot a real problem and send a warning. Another is when an issue like the VAT comes up again to discuss it with the community in a more timely fashion.
October 8th, 2007 at 8:29 PM
From where I stand you folks are doing quite well on average.
Before coming to SL I played many MMORPGs who, in structuce and community come closest to what SL is, and noone, be it Microsoft (Asheron’s Call), Sony (Everquest or Star Wars Galaxies) or French newcomer Nevrax (with the cool Saga of Ryzom) ever manage to fully satisfy their community, be it in decisions about their online world’s future or their communication with the fanbase.
Does this mean one can say “Well, develloper-community communication is simply that way” and keep it like that? Of course not.
The best experiences with community feeling I had with those games where the company realized how close some of the users feel to their products. What in my opinion allways helped were folks who stood in direct contact with the base, for example in a game’s official forums.
Of course those weren’t able to answer to every single thread, but I as a user allways felt taken more seriously if the company was representing itself (amongst other channels) through people who took an active role in forums.
Your blog here isn’t bad, but it somehow lack the possobility of a real dialogue. You post a message, ppl respond to it. You can, of course, react to those responses in a future blog article, but the dynamics simply aren’t the same as in a discussion thread.
My 2 cents. Regards - Kruge Kubrick
October 8th, 2007 at 8:36 PM
What would be similar corporations? LL is in a special category because its product, SL, is created in a large measure by the community. The relationship between LL and the SL community has to be therefore special too. Because of that, LL’s transparency towards the SL community has to be much higher.
Besides that, and I think this is already mentioned by others, the general issue in LL’s case is not transparency as much as communication. Transparency and communication are not the same thing and they intersect only in a small measure.
October 8th, 2007 at 8:36 PM
Sometimes it is less about the tranparency than it is about the timeliness. Considering too long about how to make a statement is erroneous, it results in a “spin”, every company I like is merely straightforward and honest, sometimes I think the legal representation of LL is too active. I just want to know what is going on and that aspects of SL are being worked on, when there are problems in SL it is more obvious to the residents than to Linden Labs , a reasonable exchange of information should be considered.
I am recieving responses to bug reports from weeks ago, there has got to be a better way than that.
October 8th, 2007 at 8:49 PM
It’s all good to hear, but timely communication is more important in this case. Blog before you make major changes, not during or after!
It’d be nice if you could somehow glue a calendar of rolling restarts, downtimes etc. to the SL frontpage. I know the blog is linked on there, but not enough people are reading it. Sometimes you get your act together, announce a rolling restart a week in advance, and people miss it because it’s shoved off by Torley’s-caffiene-infused-Tip-of-the-Week and other announcements. Then they end up yelling at you and saying it wasn’t announced….
Essentially, there’s a lot of communication, but you need highlight the every-resident-needs-to-know stuff, staple it to the login page, and make sure it’s there on time.
http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/index.html
Smash Bros. does weekly updates from their development. Highly polished, lots of lil’ tidbits. It’d be nice to have a technical blog or something for the developers to show off new minor features day-to-day, even if they’re not here NOW now. Might be too much to tease, but it’ll give us techies something to drool over and keep everyone else assured you’re actually working.
October 8th, 2007 at 8:50 PM
[...] Life News for October 9, 2007 An interesting post on the Second Life blog tonight called Lights on at the Lab In which ginsu asks, is anyone doing it better, in reference to the problems that Second Life has, [...]
October 8th, 2007 at 8:57 PM
Actually, I think this post itself is an example of poor communication. It is presented as a request for feedback but, in fact, if one really wants feedback one doesn’t start by saying that they’re doing a great job: “this place is more transparent about its operations than any other private company that I’ve ever seen.” I am a cynical person but even as objectively as I can be I don’t think this is a genuine request for feedback. I rather see it as a message that tries to convince us that LL is doing a great job in spite of our complaints for LL’s poor communication with us. So once again, we are being talked to and not listened to.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:08 PM
I guess they dont answer resumes either
October 8th, 2007 at 9:10 PM
Some people are not happy unless they have found something to pick/moan at.
I think to anyone that matters, the level of transparency LL provides on certain issues is a bonus & valued information, especially for those of us that like to know what is what.
I’ve dealt with many companies in the past, never before have I seen information on product/service so available to the general customer base & public. Keep up the good/hard work.
4/5
October 8th, 2007 at 9:10 PM
Linden Lab pretending to be one of us, or pretending to listen to us, does not impress me, and it doesn’t fool me.
This article only further proves that Linden ignores everything except federal law enforcement and critical mainstream press.
Meanwhile, Linden continues to ignore us, and allows the camping farms to continue their death-grip on the entire SL economy, exploiting the obsolete and corrupted traffic point system that no longer serves the economy.
If Linden wants to talk about transparency, they should stop drinking their own kool-aid and recognize when they’re throwing us under the bus, because we can see it plain as day.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:16 PM
I like the idea of Reader Linden - you can’t be transparent if you don’t know what’s going on.
I think transparent means putting all the information out there, even if seems like too much. Figuring out how to organize it should be the challenge, not deciding what to publish and what to keep secret.
Re Doc’s comment:
I use voice, and so do all the people in the SL Shakespeare Company, and every other theatrical group iSL. Also poetry readings in several of the literary groups. Also for brainstorming meetings of any kind where we want a lot of interaction all at once. It’s probably good for SL sex. too. It’s going to take some time for everyone to get used to Voice plus IM plus Chat all going on at once, but some of us are doing it now. Anyone who can’t or doesn’t want to talk, can still participate by typing; I’ve never heard anyone having a problem with that.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:17 PM
Amazing that it takes a Second Life Resident to point out the obvious, but even more amazing that someone at Linden Lab actually had the backbone to admit to their hypocrisy.
Thanks for listening Uncle Philip, now how about we let up on the Close Comments from here on out, or will it take another nasty worded letter to shake you from your sleep?
October 8th, 2007 at 9:21 PM
The very best company I have come into contact with so far regarding customer service is American Express. Their people are always well-trained, polite, professional, and ready to assist you in any way. I would recommend looking into how they train their customer service representatives as a model.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:21 PM
Great post. I for one greatly appreciate the level of transparency exhibited by Linden Labs. Things aren’t perfect…I know that and Linden Labs knows that. The point is they are working very hard to make Second Life the best virtual world anywhere. By working together with Linden Labs and understanding each others needs Second Life will continue to grow and improve. As someone who works full time in Second Life I have a vested interest in the success of Linden Labs. Sure, I don’t like down time and stuff. But that comes with the territory when using such a rapidly expanding and revolutionary product. These things are growing pains the end result of which will be a mature and even more useful product. So instead of rolling the eyes during the next downtime take it as an opportunity to meditate and visualize on what Linden Labs is working so hard to produce for the future.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:31 PM
Havent posted here in a while, but I think this is worth a mention…
LL is far more open than most companies. That’s a very good thing and it’s appreciated. As far as building the Metaverse, you guys have had your share of issues but I think the heart is still in the right place… I don’t know if you can do it but I’d rather you guys trying than a typical business-focused company.
That said, I have a few issues…
Why have there been no town halls in months? Is the town hall idea cancelled? Will there ever be another one?
I realize that SL’s ever expanding population makes large scale events difficult (even with Pooley Stage split among 4 sims), however I miss the large scale open discussions. Perhaps IRC or something would be a better medium until large scale events become more practical… focused events dealing with particular categoris or issues are good too.
Second, please remove the 100 comment limit on this blog. The combination of no general discussion forums (you aren’t legally required to moderate them, really!) and 100 comment limit here greatly curtails any kind of discussion about what’s going on.
Communication is good. 2 way communication is much much better.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:32 PM
this is fuey it is so transparent you cant get a customerservice rep to save your Second Life….look i dont know you from the next linden but transparent actions lead only to more mistakes. why not focuse on this for a change, fix the stability in SL before christmas. we need it more than ever before.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:37 PM
This is an apologia for yesterday’s lambasting of the Yankee Group? Or is it an undeserved self-congratulatory homily?
You state that “the amount of information we expose about the operation of Second Life is appalling…” I think you may be confusing “validity and quality” with “amount”.
Keep on truckin’
October 8th, 2007 at 9:39 PM
I’m not a techie. As someone stated earlier, not all of us in SL are….as Lem Skall says, about feeling as though we’re being talked to, and not listened to, I can agree somewhat. However, I would say we’re being talked AT, not spoken TO. I like Torley’s posts, the tips of the week are helpful for some of us who are new and still learning how to really use all the tools at our fingertips. Once or twice I’ve seen a few posts on here that spoke to me, the layman, about what was going on with the issues at the time. I think it would help us all if LL would consider, that the residents of SL vary from “gamers” who are just here to party and goof off (like me sometimes), to develepors, technicians, artists, and even rocket scientists, (probably even a few brain surgeons too). Can you please, LL, find someone, as it was earlier suggested, who can communicate with us in a clear and concise manner, who can do so in a timely fashion, even if it’s to write a mass blog entry to let everyone know “Hey this is what’s broken, this is what we think is wrong, this is what Ops is doing to fix it, for those of you who understand the technical aspect, here is a more technical explanation (place URL here and please make sure it’s not broken) and we’ll let you know more in 1 hour”…..I think blogs of that nature would make a WORLD of difference…..I know the ONE blog that I read that was similar to this DID make me feel better, I DID feel like LL was working to make my experience better, I DID feel like my use of their product was appreciated, and I for one would LIKE very much to KEEP feeling that way…..so please, ginsu, whomever you are….don’t ask me which company I’d rather you be more like….tell me instead, in plain detailed terms what LL, you, and the other lindens are doing to show me, and us all….that you hear us.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:55 PM
agree w/ shadow…
silence < talked AT < talked TO
I think LL does a generally good job, no make that a very good job, however on some issues you guys fall into the talkAT category.
As far as development of the client, coding, etc from what I have seen LL is excellent, good 2way communication. I strongly support the open source ideals LL has chosen to embrace, and hope that the community interaction continues to grow.
I think in the past however, policy has been one area that could use a bit more TWO way communication. Case in point, age verification systems / mature content policy / ageplay policy. For the record I’ve never engaged in ageplay (or for that matter anything sexual inside SL), however I thing the various issues could have been handled with a lot more community participation, especially when the resulting policy affects all residents.
There was (from what I recall) little discussion about the implementation of ageplay policies, or ID verification, or discussion of which ID broker to use. Many people raised the (valid) complaint that the company LL chose to use for ID verification may be trying to build some kind of huge identity database, and (IIRC) no assurance was given that the broker wasn’t going to keep all the verification data we provide indefinitely.
If these policies had been better discussed with the community, especially the choice of ID brokers, that would have gone a very long way.
I recognize that sometimes LL has to make decisions in order to avoid getting sued or running afoul of the law, however even these decisions warrant something better than a blog entry informing the population of a new policy that they have had no chance to discuss.
Also, I agree with others about Torley. Torley’s articles and vids are always upbeat and informative and a pleasure to read.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:04 PM
Thank you, ginsu. Just, plain, thank you.
It apparently doesn’t stop people from flaming, though. Look at them go.
Grain of salt, I always say. Keep on truckin’ fellas.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:07 PM
I agree with #35 Chris too….there is no reason to not allow residents to comment on every blog entry. It may make us feel better to get our opinion out there…and helps us heal if we have had an issue with SL. Also, I agree to remove the 100 comment limit as if folks want to comment they should be able to…don’t worry…I am sure that with the number of new blog entries all the time..which is wonderful…no blog will ever get more than a few hundred comments…it will get too old to be commented on after a couple weeks.
Keep up the good work…and yes…become more transparent…the way to build a true community is to share the knowledge and seek input from everyone. This blog is a great forum for information sharing…and should be a main source of info for every resident! I am amazed at the number of folks I talk to inworld who never have read or checked this blog…but that is ok too….if they are not intersted…that is up to them.
Oh, and finally…yes..identify a few excellent and helpful Lindens like Torley to maintain this blog…we need the best right here on the PR front lines!!
October 8th, 2007 at 10:16 PM
My goodness, what a wonderfully crafted bit of propaganda.
It’s quite clear that the stability issues do not lie so much in the realm of mere programming mishaps as they do in upper-level management and marketing decisions (cf. voice). The same is true of LL’s other problems (cf. age “verification”).
Very cute asking the users of the service for tips on how to make it better (as if that wasn’t continually offered anyway) with no assurance at all and even less of a track record that they will be listened to at all. Brilliant empty PR.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:17 PM
Well Walmart has daily/weekly meetings with employees so everyone knows what’s going on. It doesn’t matter your position, from maintenance to assistant manager. Everyone is appraised of the enter workings and ways to improve.
The associates are encouraged to voice their opinions and ideals. Walmart is a team of people working together to improve customer satisfaction. With out that team spirit Walmart would not be as successful as they are today.
This is a good example of how Second Life should going about their business. Listening to the players that are in the trenches daily.
We are the future of Second Life. Second Life can not be simply run on one mans ideals and put into action with out the players opinions and ideals. We are your customers as well, and if we don’t like our shopping experience we will shop somewhere else despite your everyday low prices. =)
The “this is they way we’re going to do it like it or not” isn’t working.
It’s wasting our time and yours creating more headaches and people pulling out. Lets start being a team rather then isolating us.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:23 PM
maintain the blog? They should be maintaining the forums. And for an example of that go to the WoW forums they have a *lot* of forums, and manage to manage it somehow. I think LL could learn from that…
October 8th, 2007 at 10:26 PM
transparency.
Are we talking corporate transparency or benchmarking?
If we are talking corporate transparency then we are not talking about technical performance metrics.
Sure we would love to know more tasty details on the corporate side of Linden Research. However, unless it relates directly to technical performance quality improvement I doubt many people are really interested with the sole exception of improved communications on planning. I.e.; the VAT thing, when will IdV be rolled out, exactly what data is and has been transferred from Linden Research to Integrity and exactly what data is transferred from Integrity to Linden Research, etc. Transparency on this matter is mandatory as it involves identities.
As for improving Secondlife…
How many people at Linden Research know what the value of plus or minus three standard deviation on metrics is? Does anyone at Linden research know what control limits are? Has Linden research implemented +/- 3 sigma trending monitors with alarms set to go off when trending or an out of control condition is present? Has Linden research grasped the importance of not introducing any new variables into Secondlife at all until the complete system is stable enough to establish control limits?
Done correctly such a quality monitoring system will alarm when such strange things happen like a cruddy lithium watch battery on a drive array controller goes bad. It won’t say thats what went wrong but it will give enough warning time for a controlled shutdown so the root cause can be discovered whilst protecting data integrity.
In addition, such a system, combined with a true transactional architecture, can be a boondoggle for many many other purposes.
Ok so the root question would be how committed is Linden Research to Continuous Quality Improvement? Does anyone at Linden research know who Deming was? Does anyone at Linden Research know what Kaizen is?
Come on and be transparent about that topic.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:30 PM
rocksolid, defy my points with valid reasons and I dare you to sound valid. Your response was typical 3rd grade reasoning.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:30 PM
[...] (Oct, 9th 2007): Ginsu Linden wrote a post about all this, the lack of communication, good to see they want to work [...]
October 8th, 2007 at 10:31 PM
I hate to say this but I have to agree with comment #18.
The flow of information from LL is pretty good. I am not sure what could be done to improve it since you are doing better than most pieces of Software of this Type. Look at IMVU, twice as many bugs but only thing they do is tell the users it is their fault that the program crashes tend dozen times. I am a former IMVU user and I have dealt with their service and support. They are very focused on distracting their users with new features to keep them from thinking about the bugs and glitches.
LL does not do this. I am uncertain as to the complete truth of this but according to the BLOG here most of the recent updates were not adding new features. They were bugfixes. Oh that is one thing that would be a good piece of info.
Have an easy to find section detailing all the known bugs and the efforts being undertaken to resolve them. Show us that you are working to stabalize the virtual world we inhabit. I do not suffer that many crashes, I use the release candidate viewer, but I do get alot of stumbling points, where the client locks up for a few seconds then continues on like normal.
In simple: LL could help the users by makinga public, easy to find, Buglist and detail what is currently being done to repair it and possibly list some known causes of severe bugs so that users can try and work around it until the Bug is fixed.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:32 PM
DreamHost is my favorite corporate blog:
http://blog.dreamhost.com
October 8th, 2007 at 10:51 PM
I’m not sure why I still play SL….LL has killed a lot of the fun in it, I suppose I only stick around for my close friends, but the day someone developes an SL-IM, then I’m gone. But what I find fun to poke at, is LL’s inability to help free accounts. And, to provide evidence to this, what some might question as an assumption, here ya go:
This is a reply, from a Linden, on LL’s inability to provide full help coverage to basic accounts, one can compare this to the US’s inability to provide full health coverage to basic families.
“Linden: (Saved Fri Sep 07 03:58:41 2007) Basic Accounts: If you are a Basic account holder, you have access to our in-depth Knowledge Base and Solution Finder. You do not have access to our Inworld or Outworld support teams. However, we’re constantly improving our Knowledge Base and Solution Finder to assist Residents who are Basic account holders with resolving your issues independently.”
Ah the joys of what money can buy you, which in SL, is happiness.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:59 PM
Hey can Jack Linden post as to why there is no mainland on the auction page, and if and when it will return?
October 8th, 2007 at 11:03 PM
I can’t believe this post is a feedback request. Starting a post with >>> “What’s different about Linden Lab is that this place is more transparent about its operations than any other private company that I’ve ever seen…” and then go on to effectively say “show me someone who does it better”, is pretty crass, especially hot on the heels on the farcical communications regarding VAT. Amazingly, the VAT post is even highlighted as something well done! >>>”For example, there’s the constant stream of information… about governmental tax charges..”
The furore over VAT was to a large extent caused by poor communication: no advance notice, no explanation of what legislation was driving it, no clarity as to why it hadn’t been charged before, no clarity that there was no VAT embedded in the original base price, no attempt to cushion the impact by phasing it in over a month or two, no recognition of the fact that this will be a significant issue for the Europeans.
No - just send an email to those affected and in some cases send it after the bill with VAT had arrived.
The gambling cull was just as poorly handled.
It strikes me that the LL policy of crashing through bad news and mopping up the aftermath is a deliberate policy. It’s that hip/cool/ do it on the fly/planning is for dinosaurs routine.
Another point is that communication works two ways. LL delivering information it wants customers to see is not communicating. It’s poor public relations. Journalism minus the truth.
Ensure that bad news is never delivered in this blog on a Friday afternoon. Evidence the fact that you listen to the weight of comments made. Remove the 100 comment limit. Provide some valid commentary/whitepapers on important issues.. land supply, griefing, camping, grid stability..
It’s rather serendipitous.. you’ve asked “How can we improve communication”.. and the residents’ comments above say “stop talking at us - and listen to what we’re saying to you”.
Your lights might be on.
But are you listening?
October 8th, 2007 at 11:09 PM
How about making it NOT possible to leave your junk or spam or griefing scripts in a sim when you leave? How about that one thing? How about just that one thing?
Mike
October 8th, 2007 at 11:12 PM
Anyone who has played the earlier EA games like The Sims the game were terribly buggy and what made it worse was the users of the game literally stretch the limits of what the game was designed for.
The standard official policy from EA Arts was not to use and uninstall any user made products but what personally made the game as popular as it was at least for me and those who were hard core about was the customized parts and the community that surrounded this and their several content developers who began actually selling their content.
EA games I don’t think ever really got it and still hasn’t entirely got this from what I have seen. I spent lot of money on their products eventually I found SL and i wouldn’t spend another dime on their products.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:13 PM
Great post. I suggest “forcing” your employes to spend 25% of their day in game. That way your whole company will understand what you’re really dealing with. At some point I think you’ve lost track of who’s your income here, the players, and the game they play.
It’s just a feeling I have, I could be wrong.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:18 PM
hmm best blog has LibraryThing. a small start up that knows to admit it when it has got it wrong.
and answers questions instead of ducking them.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:25 PM
The flavor of transparency frequently encountered with LL reminds me of people who make excuses about why they cannot pay a debt, or perform a commitment. The transparency seems to be better characterized as excuse making.
Success stories relating to information sharing by other corporate entities may provide interesting anecdotes but transparency will never replace good performance and customer service.
Sometimes the information shared by LL is frustrating and the result backfires. One example was the disclosure by LL that employees can choose what to work on, or not, which seemed to present a business environment of chaos in light of all the bugs and stability problems.
People dont want to hear about why problems exist when the same problems are disclosed over and over. Customers want resolution, stability, and are happier when the corporate entity interacts from a position of competence, and not from one of excuse making in the name of transparency.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:26 PM
A thought for you…
A game that i used to p-mod for (runescape.com) had a very interesting concept that kept its players REALLY happy and YOU COULD SEE what improvements they were making based on PLAYER suggestions and ideas. it was quite simple, actually… a post, or as they called it.. “forums” .. open to registered (members) users for comment, and everyone for viewing. what made this so interesting, is that over time (i was pretty much on the game from the get-go) it evolved into a mass mercantile, (like a version of SLEX) a roleplaying forum for those who were interested in that aspect, a clan forum for group based… but the most interesting part is that it took on a life of its own…. the suggestions/rants forums have now evolved into guaranteed content polls for users… meaning, while keeping control of content.. they had a way to let the masses see THEIR ideas in-game… and it has taken off like you cant believe!!
where i see this helping out second life could be a good number of things… first and foremost.. it would bring back the world “created by its users” which made SL so popular to begin with.. im not saying it isnt… just more to the effect that sometimes it seems like things are taken out of the players hands and just “handled” … of course.. lawsuit-pending decisions SHOULD be handled by the million-dollar-company that employs lawyers instead of its residents who are anything from graphic designers to bartenders like myself… but there are MORE than enough things that could have kept multiple people happy by asking for a decision… the AVS idea ( i for one support it, but some dont have HALF the education and information to make a reasonable justification for it yet) (hint, LL…… lol) the voice debate… (ya.. most whiners are 40 yr old virgin-ites who dont want to lose their 4 year reign as the hottest lesbian stripper in the club.. but the argument of lag has its valid points.. and we COULD stand to see two seperate main viewers for those who dont want it… again one i FULLY support.. i LOVE voice.. but to each their own)
in any case… my point here is that giving us an open forum could do GREAT justice to re-installing people’s faith in a “user created game” … might be worth checking out how runescape runs theirs.. quite a simple thing, really.. and adds GREAT benefit to the users end of things, as well as the game itself…
oh, and MAD PROPS to you, ginsu… ive actually been waiting to see someone “run down the hallway naked” here and give in to the better side of humility. and hopefully SOME people will read this (*cough* post-whiners *cough*) and realize that JUST MAYBE the lindens have a REALLY FULL plate… and it takes A LOT to run something like this …. and a few hours of shutdown is out of the makers hands when the crap hits the fans sometimes, and maybe you cant get into that “fr33 s3x” sim for a little while.. but in all honesty.. in the 7 months ive been on here… i like the way SL has evolved, and hope it will only continue to …
… honestly… i would like to see you whiners find a better environment… we actually have more freedom on here than ANY other MMO out there… maybe sometimes give a little back?? ya??
… just my thoughts..
H.H.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:28 PM
On the surface at least, Linden Labs has the appearance of transparency. I am afraid though, that except for the superficial, I really don’t see it that way. Saying “We goofed” is not enough. What the goof is, and the steps being taken to see it does not happen again, that to me is being transparent.
We seem to get details when it is a vendor to LL that goofed, but often it seems that questions about a problem are posted and never really answered. Often in fact, the blog comments are closed.
Example: Why did it take LL so long to fix the “vanishing water bug?”
Example: Why do we continue to have inventory problems?
Example: Why do the voice clients seem to have several problems that the non-voice do not, that do not seem to be voice related?
Example: Why do bugs seem to fixed, only to pop up later in another version? (sounds like version control issues to me..)
While it is true that LL is more open than many companies, not too many companies have a prodoct that is TOTALLY DEPENDENT on the customers building the pieces that really make it a product. With out the SL content creators, those of us on this side of the Blog, you have a bunch of computers, some virtual water and a barren virtual landscape. So, LL is open when compared to say FORD. But not nearly open enough to be my business partner… yet.. that is exactly what we are.. Business Partners. So YES!! you need to keep us involved and informed.
Let me end with this Ginsu.. If the tables were turned, would you be happy with the information flow out of your partner company? Would you be okay with your co-lo vendor saying “Ooops, we goofed, but we fixed it” ??
DRD
October 8th, 2007 at 11:31 PM
One last though, before I get labeled as a whinner, etc. I am still here, after more than a year. I still see the potential.
Yes, we have more freedom, get more feedback, etc. than any other MMO I have been involved in. However, the relationship between the users and LL is also unique and unlike any other MMO I have experienced. I do more, and more depends on me here in SL than any other MMO.
So yeah, I expect more..
DRD
October 8th, 2007 at 11:34 PM
I for one read the BLOG. I just wish I could count on it for *timely* information! Too often things are going obviously badly in world and there is no entry for hours. We need someone in charge of in world communication 24/7! Just “something is wrong and we are looking into it” would be an improvement,
October 8th, 2007 at 11:35 PM
just wanna make something really clear so there is no confusion-
What I’ve said in my previous posts should not be considered a complaint. I think as Ginsu said there is always imrpovement to be made, but as a whole Linden has done an awesome job of managing the community. I don’t consider this blog to be propaganda, nor should anyone else IMHO. I believe they’re trying, and while they may not be perfect, they are at least thinking about their community communications which is much more than I can say about many other companies.
As I said I think LL could do a bit better on the policy communications, but I only say that because I think they might just want to hear it and maybe become a better company from it. It’s my opinion, meant only as constructive criticism.
I’m not angry, I’m not pissed off, not even annoyed (well maybe a little annoyed that my comp can’t run SL worth a damn but that’s not LL’s fault :D). I bought my subscription a while ago because I support the idea of SL and the principles with which LL is building it. Sure there are issues, both technical and otherwise. And hell I don’t know if LL can pull it off (turn SL into internet 2.0) but I’d sure as hell rather support LL’s effort than say AT&T or some other big faceless company that only wants my money. LL isn’t perfect, but they’re doing pretty well and are certainly a hell of a lot better than many others. I’d buy them all a beer if I lived in SF
And with that, I’m out for the nite. Good luck to the last ~50 posters…
October 8th, 2007 at 11:53 PM
The best thing you can do is tell the truth and exactly what happened. Transparency is a thing of the past and if you want to operate in a tech savvy world with tech savvy people you have to tell them what you broke so they know for themselves because some of us have a really good understanding of how SL works.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:56 PM
Quote: “What’s different about Linden Lab is that this place is more transparent about its operations than any other private company that I’ve ever seen.”
Very well, may we please have the list of wagering games that have been vetted by the gaming hit squads and found to be ‘games of skill’ and hence conformant to the TOS.
Thank you so much for being so transparent about this problem.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:58 PM
You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. Do some mistakes, it’s ok. As you pointed out, usually people learn from mistakes. That is what “moaners” and “whiners” are good for… to let you improve. Let them whine and listen to them. As long as they do this, they are still interested in being your customers.
The transparency and information flow of LindenLab has a lot of capability for development, even though there have been many mistakes in this area by LL. Sometimes, a message like this comes up, which is very promising. But then, something like the VAT disaster on information happens. I cannot understand how you dare to try to make it look like you were “transparent about your operations”, after all it was the citizens who had to demand for this information very intensive.
I prefer to have too much information to not enough, but the problem with LL is more that the information is not there in time.
- The server status page tells me all is up and running but I can’t login, or it says “grid is down” but I am logged in.
- [RESOLVED] but it’s not… just see the last “Worldwide Grid Slowdowns”… it was closed, re-opened, updated, resolved… and still it is very slow..
- If you are aware of a problem, tell us, even if you don’t have a clue about it. Say “yes, there is a problem… dunno, we find out”. or “we decided to wait until it heals” or “Noboday here knows what to do. we wait for xx to return from holidays”. Your customers believe that anyway, if you don’t say something. Anything is better than nothing. If you wait until you know more about it or solved it, people will believe you do not know about the problem (or its severity) and try to get heard by adding off-topic comments to some blog that is currently open where nobody will find it. And they will get angry. disappointed. Telling them from the beginning gives them hope.
(I wish I had a previewer and edit function just as it is in other forums)
- Listen to your customers. Fore example, most of them said (and still say) make it stable before you add new features.
Hey, and be more honest!
Your post tries to make us believe that your mistakes have been a good job.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:59 PM
Very much a self serving undeserved pat on the back IMO.
Fix the bugs, at least have someone working through ans assigned to the critical ones on the JIRA, critical bugs setting for weeks without so much as a note on what LL is doing about them is quite unacceptable. As is the increasing lagg prominent on the grid in many areas, ( 5 different pc’s, 3 different IC’s, 4 different accounts, not me, not the pc, not the connection, others are complaining also).
Transparency is wonderfull and appreciated, but the timeliness and communication of major policy changes need to be handled much better. Wheather you like it or not, wheather it was intended or not, and wheather they should be doing it or not the fact is people are in here making their living now. You need to realize your decisions now impact peoples livlihood and begin acting like it. These people are depending on LL to make solid decisions, to keep a workable stable platform up and running. Decisions like a late friday update and leaving the grid to flounder untill monday costs people money, and lots of it, You do not act like you realize this.
2 way generous timely communication, stability, uptime, better handholding through major changes (not necciscarily one on one, just walk through it with us on the blog better even <glaring example - answering the resident questions about the third party service being used for verification).
Talk to us like adults, read the forums, open up better lines to accept criticism, pay someone to read conplaints, coalate it and advise managment on resident attitude and major issues weekly.
Dont blindside us with major changes. BTW not everyone bothers to read the blog, it is truely a poor medium to relegate mojor changes to the community.
I would also like to be proven wrong that this is the first one of a seris of LL posts to soften the community for a soon to come bombshell, that pattern has repeated itself before, and this looks like the start of it again.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Linden Lab does expose more of its innards than most companies and opens itself up to criticism. I appreciate the attempts at honesty by providing metrics. But there is a profound sense that you are not really listening.
You got a clue the second time around on the VAT issue.
You STILL haven’t gotten the clue about Project Open Letter. The rampant asset server instability is a huge deterrent to investment in this game - as a business owner, and as a resident. Inventory - worth thousands of L, that you will not replace - sometimes disappears. Building tools don’t always work the way they should. Although Havok 4 should take care of many instability problems, it still will not cure the chat session closing bug that has never been fixed since 3-4 mandatory releases ago and drives people out of busy, chatty groups on a daily basis. You break our furniture with changes to LSL, without thinking about the impact on business owners and residents. The map api has been broken for six months and no progress has been visibly made - you can’t see most of the new continents, if any. Heck, even the Forums are starting to slow down and give database errors. What is wrong with the databases?? We have this thing called JIRA where (amazingly) we vote for bugs to get fixed and some seem to be a permanent fixture. What point is there to using JIRA for triage if you won’t actually take care of popular issues? The low hanging fruit is easy - but if you have a holdup on the hard stuff, you can do a much better job at telling us. We can’t really see where the supposed 70-odd percent of resources went, other than to implement new features that bring with them new bugs(voice - I do like it, but I would have preferred fixes to group chat and build tools first).
I could go on, but that is exemplary of how many of us feel that the only people you are really talking to is yourselves.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:03 AM
IMHO, the main thing that needs to be changed in SL, it to allow residents to back up their inventory on their own hard drive. SL will never be a viable business opportunity for the individual entrepreneur until this happens. Currently, if your inventory is lost, you have no way to recover it. In my multimedia training at SDSU, perhaps the main thing that was drilled into us was that if you don’t have 3 backups, you don’t have any. Currently at Linden Labs, we have one.
Point: you spend countless hours developing an online business, and your inventory is lost, by circumstances outside of your control. It is simply not worth the investment of time and money to create a business in SL at this time, as the risk of catastrophic loss is just too great.
I think in order for SL to become a foundation of the Internet, this change must happen. Sure, major companies use SL for web meetings, but they don’t count on it for their bread and butter.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:17 AM
This blog post appears to be making all the right noises.
- but only if one reads in a vaccum, knowing nothing about the past performance.
“For example, there’s the constant stream of information about our service status, straightforward talk about our grid problems, detailed explanations about governmental tax charges,..”
That last one on VAT is outrageous. This is NewSpeak. It’s brazen-faced lies.
It completely destroys your post for all those who were suddenly slapped with the increase (of up to 25%). It was on my account before I got the email and obviously well before it was blogged.
Never mind who is doing “it” relatively better.
You should set out to put the customer first. You absolutely don’t do that.
There have been some very informative blog posting by LL, but they are definitely the exception.
We get too little to late - or nothing.
What caused last Friday’s issues? The Blog only records that they occurred, over and over. Are we in for a repeat next weekend? Has anything changed?
I think that LL is killing customer confidence.
This blog posting worries me. It’s corporate PR speak. Anyone with half a brain can see the contradictions in it. In that, it could be said to exhibit transparency, but not they type that you refer to.
I hate to be negative, but that reference to “detailed explanations” (on VAT) pushed my big red button.
Your actions on VAT spoke of nothing but contempt for your customers - not because of the VAT itself (that had to be done), but because of the way you simply slapped it on the bill without the slightest warning.
Stop treating us like ignorant peasants.