Category: Web User Group

The following notes are taken from the Web User Group meeting held on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2019.

These meetings are generally held monthly on a Wednesday at 14:00 SLT, and are chaired by Alexa and Grumpity Linden at Alexa’s barn. The focus is the Lab’s web properties, which include the Second Life website (including the blogs, Destination Guide, Maps, Search, the Knowledge base, etc.), Place Pages, Landing Pages (and join flow for sign-ups), the Marketplace, and so on and the Lab’s own website at lindenlab.com.

General Updates

• Resident-to-Resident Mainland Auctions: user-to-user auctions for Mainland parcels launched on March 26th – see the official blog post and my own report. The response has been exceptionally positive.
• New Linden Homes: samples of the first types of new Linden Homes due to be released “soon” are currently available to preview through until Sunday, April 7th. The preview is open to Premium and non-Premium account holders (although the houses, once available, will only be available to Premium account holders. You can read more about them, and the preview in my article New Linden Homes Preview.
  • The Lab is currently working on the web site for the homes: the process flow for selecting and obtaining a new Linden Home, etc.
• SL.com: work has been carried out to fix broken direct SLurls, and work is in progress to further improve the new user flow, including the new starter avatars.
• Marketplace: it is believed the recent issues with Wish Lists and with gifting have been resolved.
  • The message received by a user blocked by a Merchant has been revised to make the situation clearer.
  • Issues with transaction histories not displaying correctly should be resolved.
  • Work is continuing in preparing the MP for the return of last names / name changes.
  • The most recent blog on Marketplace updates can be found in Second Life Winter Web Work, dated February 28th, 2019.

Animated Group Tags

I’ve covered the use of scripted tools that can make rapid and multiple changes to a user’s group tag display. These actually a) use a function in a way not intended; b) can put significant strain on back-end services (trying to propagate multiple group tag changes from multiple users across the grid).

As noted in my previous notes on this, Linden Lab indicated they would be making back-end changes to reduce this issue, and as per their March 8th blog post on the subject, these updates have been deployed.  As a result, many of these scripted animators have now been removed voluntarily by Merchants. However, those that have not been removed are going to be blocked.

Marketplace Store Managers

A long-standing request that is now just started to be worked on is Marketplace Managers – the ability for Merchants to appoint “managers” to help them run their Marketplace store.  Details are still being finalised, but broadly, speaking:

• Merchants will be able to assign roles to their “managers” – what they can do, etc. So, for example, a Merchant can upload good to the MP, but assign a manager the ability to create and manage the actual listings for those goods.
• Actions taken by managers will be logged and fed back to the Merchant, so they can keep track of what is going on with their store.

In Brief

• Once the current tranche of work on the Marketplace is closed-off, the web team will likely look at Events.
• This meeting marked the last for Alexa Linden as a Product Manager with direct involvement in the web services. She is going to be focused on the viewer and the server / simulator. Reed Linden will be stepping into her shoes with the Web services.

Peace of Mind  – blog post

The following notes are taken from the Web User Group meeting held on Wednesday, September 26th, 2018.

These meetings are generally held monthly on a Wednesday at 14:00 SLT, and are chaired by Alexa and Grumpity Linden at Alexa’s barn. The focus is the Lab’s web properties, which include the Second Life website (including the blogs, Destination Guide, Maps, Search, the Knowledge base, etc.), Place Pages, Landing Pages (and join flow for sign-ups), the Marketplace, and so on and the Lab’s own website at lindenlab.com.

Marketplace

New Deployment – New Features

A deployment to the SL Marketplace was made on Wednesday, September 26th. However, due to some issues surfacing, it had to be rolled back, causing the grid status report of Marketplace Maintenance.

This is actually the update that includes more of the promises Marketplace updates, including:

• Wish lists.
• Follow favourite merchants.
• A new drop-down of people a user must frequently sends Marketplace gifts to.

It will now be re-scheduled for deployment once the issues have been fixed.

Clean-up

The Lab will shortly be starting a clean-up of the Marketplace. This will most likely be done by running different queries with different criteria, and seeing what the results would be in terms of removed listings / stores.

For example, one query might be run against all users who have not logged-in to Second Life or the Marketplace in (say) 10 years or 6 years, and see how many items might be unlisted as a result. If the outcome is thought to be a manageable amount (i.e. not half the Marketplace potentially vanishing), then the query might be run, and the items unlisted. Then the process will be repeated over a shorter time period (e.g. say not logged in for 8 years of 4 years, depending on the original query). Other criteria, such as number of sales of an item over a number of years, or how frequently an item is flagged etc., might also be added to the mix over time.

This does mean that items that still work in SL, but the creator is no longer active in SL or the Marketplace, will likely vanish. However, as items are only being unlisted, and affected merchants will be contacted and advised where possible. So, they will always have the option to log-in to the Marketplace and re-list their items if they so wish.

Web Updates Release Notes

It is hoped that a location will be established for web property release notes, just as there are pages for release notes on SL wiki.

Automatic Landmark Updating

This is an age-old problem: how to automatically update store (or other) landmarks following a move. In 2012, Toysoldier Thor came up with the concept of the Virtual Landmark (VLM) – see here for the essentials – and which eventually lead to Darrius Gothly developing VLM for Virtual Worlds – see here for the essentials. VLMFVW are not ideal (I have not tested them in five years to confirm whether they still work), but at the time they did assist with the problem.

Unfortunately, having landmarks that can be remotely updated is seen by the Lab as requiring an entire new landmark system and (presumably) and entirely new asset type which would exist entirely independently of existing LMs (and so could cause confusion among users), so this is not something that is likely to happen in the short-to-medium term, if at all.

Date of Next Meeting

Wednesday, October 24th, 2018.

The following notes are taken from the Web User Group meeting held on Wednesday, April 25th, 2017.

These meetings are generally held monthly on a Wednesday, and are chaired by Alexa and Grumpity Linden at Alexa’s barn. The focus is the Lab’s web properties, which include the Second Life website (including the blogs, Destination Guide, Maps, Search, the Knowledge base, etc.), Place Pages, Landing Pages (and join flow for sign-ups), the Marketplace, and so on and the Lab’s own website at lindenlab.com.

Meeting Format

A point to remember with the Web User Group meetings is that they are informal discussions on things like the Marketplace.

While the Lab does give information on the work they are carrying out, plans they have in-hand for updates to web properties, etc., equally, a lot of what is discussed is ideas and the taking of feedback from attendees, and should not necessarily be regarded as statements from the Lab as to what will happen, it priority, or anything else.

Within these reports, I try to indicate those plans / actions / projects that are in progress, and offer a differentiation between “firm” plans and ideas under discussion.

Web Updates

On April 16th, 2018, the Lab slipped out an announcement on a number of web property updates, which notably include the following.

Marketplace Guidelines Change

The SL Marketplace Fee and Listing Guidelines have been revised with regards to the policy on pricing products on the Marketplace in comparison to pricing the in-world. Previously, the guidelines stated:

The following actions are disallowed. Note that these actions are disallowed by the Second Life Terms of Service, and are restated here for clarification.

• Anti-Competitive or Abusive Behaviour. Examples include, but are not limited to:
  • inflating prices on the SL Marketplace, in comparison to in-world or other e-commerce sites”

This has now been revised so that in-world pricing is no longer exempted, thus:

The following actions are disallowed. Note that these actions are disallowed by the Second Life Terms of Service, and are restated here for clarification.

• Anti-Competitive or Abusive Behaviour. Examples include, but are not limited to:
  • inflating prices on the SL Marketplace, or other e-commerce sites”

With the Lab noting:

We’ve removed the section which applied to in-world stores.  This was contrary to your interests and our interests.  Marketplace is a tool to use in your overall product marketing strategy and if you’d like to differentiate pricing between on-line and in-world stores, that’s your decision to make.

Transaction History “Quick Filter” Options

A set of “quick filters” have been added to the transaction history page on the dashboard at secondlife.com. These provide the ability to list all transactions for the current day (“Today”), the last 24 hours (“1 Day”), the last 7 days and the last 28 days.

Please refer to the announce for the full set of web-related updates.

Other Items

Legal Question: Resale Prices on Full Permission Items

Is setting a minimum resale price on full permission items legal? this is being referred to the Lab’s legal department. However, such things as recommended retail price options, FTC guidelines on supply chain selling (both of which are slightly different, admittedly), would suggest the practice is acceptable.

Lootbox Legal Status

Questions have been raised on the use of lootboxes in Second Life. In some countries (e.g. China, Japan, Australia, The Netherlands, the Isle of Man (UK) and now Belgium) they are regarded as gambling and subject to regulation / financial penalties. Additionally, lawmakers in the United States and mainland UK are said to be looking at the status of lootboxes. The questions asked in relation to Second Life are being referred back to the Lab’s legal team.

Premium Subscription Changes

At the April 20th, 2018 town hall event, Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Linden confirmed that as a part of pivoting Second Life’s revenue generation away from a heavy reliance on land, the Lab are looking at introducing a range of Premium account options which will have different levels of benefits associated with them – see here for more (includes an audio extract of his comments).

While details have yet to be finalised, Grumpity Linden spoke to some of the ideas under consideration at the Web User Group meeting. Because her comments are likely to be of interest beyond that meeting, I’ve provided a transcript of her comments, with an audio recording.

In Brief

• Need to comment on a JIRA item (bug report or feature request) and cannot? send an e-mail to letmein-at-lindenlab.com giving your avatar name to request JIRA comment access. Note that if a JIRA has been imported by the Lab or had its status changed, you may still not be able to comment on it.
• Linden Homes size increase: Linden Homes are currently undergoing a face lift, and Grumpity indicated the plan is to increase them in size (presumably to 1024 to match the “free” tier offered to Premium members. There is no time frame on when the updated Linden Home will be available, although it is hoped they will be ready before the end of 2018.

The following notes are taken from the Web User Group meeting held on Wednesday, March  28th, 2017.

These meetings are generally held monthly on Wednesdays, and are chaired by Alexa and Grumpity Linden at Alexa’s barn. The focus is the Lab’s web properties, which include the Second Life website (including the blogs, Destination Guide, Maps, Search, the Knowledge base, etc.), Place Pages, Landing Pages (and join flow for sign-ups), the Marketplace, and so on and the Lab’s own website at lindenlab.com.

Meeting Format

A point to remember with the Web User Group meetings is that they are informal discussions on things like the Marketplace.

While the Lab does give information on the work they are carrying out, plans they have in-hand for updates to web properties, etc., equally, a lot of what is discussed is ideas and the taking of feedback from attendees, and should not necessarily be regarded as statements from the Lab as to what will happen, it priority, or anything else.

Within these reports, I try to indicate those plans / actions / projects that are in progress, and offer a differentiation between “firm” plans and ideas under discussion.

Marketplace

• Priority item flagging: under discussion at the Lab is the idea – put forward by Merchants at a previous Web User Group meeting – that “certified” Merchants priority in flagging and the Marketplace reports. This “certification” might be through the payment of a fee.
• Survey: the Lab is considering a Marketplace survey in which Merchants can indicate their preferences around possible enhancements, etc., to the Marketplace and perhaps submit and idea of their own.
• Feature requests: specific, well thought out idea for new features for the Marketplace (and Second Life in general) can / should be submitted via the Second Life JIRA.
  • It is preferable that only one idea (or a limited set of related ideas) for new features is submitted per Feature Request submission.
  • Feature Requests are triaged (reviewed) by the Lab on a weekly basis.

• Marketplace search: the Lab is aware that there are issues with the MP search function, and hope to be able to improve it. However, reporting that search “is broken” is sufficiently helpful. If there are specific instances where search fails to work as expected which can be specifically defined, these need to be reported via a JIRA bug report, with detailed steps so that the Lab can see (and reproduce) the problem, then take steps to address the issues.

Destination Guide

• The Destination Guide suffers from a large number of locations listed within it which have ceased to exist in one way or another (the region no longer exists, it has changed hands and been re-purposed; the owner has made it private with access control, etc.).
• There is curation of Destination Guide entries, but this is described as inefficient as it doesn’t parse all the DG categories “very frequently”.
• There is discussion at the Lab about automating the curation process to help with the removal of outdated locations, but nothing so far is on the road map for implementation.

Place Pages

For an overview / looking at creating Place Pages, please refer to my article: Creating Second Life Place Pages.

Further development of Place Pages is planned, with one of the first added features, possibly appearing in the near future, is support for land auctions, offering the same functionality as the current auctions. This will be expanded over time to offer resident-to-auctions.

Name Changes – Further Information

• “Original / legacy” last names will not be re-opened for use.
• New users joining Second Life will still be given the automatic “last name” of “Resident”, but have the option of changing if they wish.
• The fee for name changes has not been announced, however, at this point the indication is that the fee will be in fiat currency (i.e. US dollars) not Linden Dollars.
• One of the reasons the return of last names will take time to be implemented is that all of the SL web properties – like the Marketplace – have to be updated to recognise users as they change their names (something which applies across almost all of the SL services when you think about it).

Governance and DMCA

Issues around Governance, the Marketplace and the DMCA process continue to be raised.

Governance User Group?

Often at user-group meetings questions are asked around matters of governance or which may be related to legal / financial issues (e.g. fraud or alleged cases of fraud). All of these matters are overseen by teams outside of the technical personnel who attend the in-world meetings, and so – while it may be frustrating for those raising the questions – cannot comment on or address such issues.

There are discussions at the Lab about holding a Support / Governance user group in the future. There is currently no date as to when this may take place, or whether, if it does, it will be a one-off or one of a series. However, once the dates have been established, it will be announced through channels such as the User Groups wiki page.

DMCA Filing

Currently, the Lab’s Infringement Notification Policy requires that DCMA notices are filed with Linden Lab via mail or fax.In December 2017, it was indicated that this would be revised so that DMCA’s can be filed via an on-line form. The provisional date for implementing this change had been around January / February 2018, however, it has been subject to delay.

Oz and Grumpity Linden indicated the reason the form has yet to be deployed is twofold:

• The original version of the form was subject to a change in requirements, and so had to be re-worked.
• The submission process has to be robust enough to prevent abuse (e.g. repeated multiple filings from an individual on the same issue);has to have checks in place to ensure the submitter’s credentials can be verified; and has to meet the requirements for non-Second Life users to be able to file a meaningful DMCA notice (e.g. in the case of an external company finding copies of their copyrighted material is being sold unlicensed through Second Life).

It is hoped that form will be available in the near future.