I was discussing this a little with my friend Meghan yesterday, and made a short mention of it in my last blog entry. I'll call this entry "How to effectively get your message across" or "When things in SL® don't work" or "Cram it, whiners", or "Taryn goes a-ranting". Regardless what the name, I hope I get MY message across, and I hope someone, somewhere, finds it helpful.

There is no shortage of Second Life® residents that have issues; some more pressing than others. The blog at www.secondlife.com is proof enough of that. Whenever comments are open, no matter what the posting, you'll find entry after entry of negative, nasty posts. Some are merited, most are not. They often make me cringe, for various reasons. For example, this past week, there was a post about the Second Life Day of Remembrance. Most of the posts were positive and supportive. At this point, I'm no longer surprised by the people that chose to hijack that thread to post about "Stability Issues", but it's still sad to see.

Linden Lab cannot post an entry that doesn't end up having many comments about how they should stop fooling around and fix the grid. Yes, the last few weeks has seen SL plagued with many issues. Teleport, transactions, object creation & modification, inworld communication tools, issues with the new viewer, traffic reports, logins - nothing has been spared. No one is denying there are issues. And, it's frustrating to see a blog post saying they've "found the root of the issue, and it's been resolved so the issue should not reoccur". Then we see the same issue the next day.

However.

There is a time and place for this kind of thing. When there is a blog posting about something LL has done with residents, for residents, especially something like a "Day of Remembrance" and people use that opportunity to gripe about the grid issues, it only deepens resentment. Is it really necessary? There are SO MANY different forums for making your voice heard - to post on an event blog about it only discredits the person posting the comment, in my opinion.

I'll say it again: there are SO MANY forums for making your voice heard. They are, for the most part, vastly underused. There are many reasons why that could be. Maybe people aren't familiar with them. People don't know where to look. People don't understand where to start. Lack of personal troubleshooting ability. Lack of understanding about how Linden Lab works. Unfavorable bias towards LL due to personal experience, or more likely, the 2nd or 3rd hand stories from a "friend". The list goes on... So, lets look at some ways to make your voice heard. How to get your message across, without sounding (and being treated) like a whining child.

1. The Structure at Linden Lab.

It never fails... anytime a Linden does something positive, fun, exciting... people gripe about how they should be "fixing the grid". People, not every employee at LL is a technician. They aren't all codeslaves, developers, programmers, etc. There are many different departments at LL, and each person and group has their own set of projects. If you pick a Linden at random to message about an issue you are having, there's about a 90% chance (probably higher) that the person you are contacting has no more ability to fix the issue than you do yourself.

Here's a different way of looking at it. You go to Costco. Your tires need replacing. Do you walk up to the pharmacy counter and ask how long it will take? You could, but you wont get far. If you dont get an answer there, will you next try the deli? Perhaps the guy bringing in the carts from the parking lot. He should know. No? Maybe a cashier? That would be ridiculous, right? Of course it would! You'd go to their auto bay! Why would anyone else know the answer to that question? If you can't find the auto bay, then yeah, it would make sense to ask around - pretty much any staff can tell you where to find it.

2. I need a Linden!

This analogy seems silly, and it is. People don't walk over to the deli at Costco and ask how long it takes to change their tires (well, maybe they do, but I don't want to know about it). So why is it any different when it comes to LL? So many people are under the impression they can just "get ahold of a Linden" and their issue will be fixed. They message Lindens at random, telling them about the issue they are having. And, somehow, are surprised and offended when they don't get a response. Now, its not as easy as finding the auto bay, but there's still plenty of ways to find the person you need to be talking to. Start here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Roles. Now, this wiki page is not complete, but it's enough information to get you started. If you are still confused about who to talk to, try dropping by Help Island Public and asking a mentor, they can often give you a better idea of what the different Linden roles are. All mentors are not created equal - if you don't get a good answer from the first one, don't hesitate to ask someone else! Ok, so now you have an idea who at LL you should be speaking to. How to get ahold of them? Random IM is not recommended. Guess what? Lindens are busy. There are about 250 of them, divided into teams. There are hundreds of thousands of active residents, with some 13 million created accounts. Their profile says "don't IM me directly for help" for a reason. There are 2 good, effective ways of getting in touch with the Linden(s) you want to speak with - office hours, and email.

Email is so easy! Every Linden has a LL email address. Use their first name, and add @Lindenlab.com to the end. Voila! Their email. Not to be confused with @lindenlabs.com, which wont exist. For example, Blue Linden can be reached at blue [at] lindenlab.com.

Another good way is office hours. The vast majority of residents have no idea that many Lindens make themselves available for your chatting pleasure once a week, usually for an hour. Sometimes there are topics, sometimes there aren't. Keep in mind, when you are looking for an office hour session to attend, that asking questions that are outside the scope of what that Linden deals with wont get you very far (if this doesn't make sense, reread the Costco analogy above).

A list of various office hours can be found here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Office_Hours

Here's some hints. This is not so much from my own personal experience dealing with LL, rather, it's a common sense thing. Don't start by sending an abusive, nasty email. Would you contact any other company that way? Probably not. I have worked in tech support for 5 years, and I'll let you in on a secret. When I have a customer that calls in, speaking in a rude tone, being demanding, being pushy - Newsflash - they don't get my best service! People deserve respect, and you get what you give. Also, make sure you are clear about what you are looking for, and what they can do to help. Don't email Lindens individually for tech support help - that's not what the email address is for. I would expect you'll get a form letter type of reply. Provide a way they can contact you back. Remember, although SL is a fun environment, you are initiating business contact, so use proper business communication etiquette. Swearing? Probably not cool. Although it depends on the Linden ;)

3. Nothing is working!

Not every issue requires direct contact with a Linden. In fact, the vast majority of issues DON'T require you to speak/get assistance from a Linden. There are many people around that make themselves available - try them first. They are usually less busy, so you can get more one-on-one assistance. Look for mentors in any welcome area. Go to NCI, Help People, Orientation Station... there are plenty of places that are dedicated to helping not only new users, but more seasoned residents as well. They can help with a wide range of issues, and if they can't help you with the specific issue you are having, they can usually direct you to where you can find more support.
Also, before you place blame - look from within. In this case, within your computer. How old is it? How much did you invest? Did you cheap out and buy the walmart special, or did you invest some good $$ (or time) into a decent gaming computer? You don't need the best of the best, but bargain basement isn't going to cut it, not in the world of 3D rendering. Are you trying to run 3 or 4 computers, all running applications that are accessing the internet, across an unencrypted wireless network that your neighbours are probably "borrowing" as well? Of course nothing is working.

4. What *are* some of the resources they would direct me to?

It depends on the issue, of course. You may need to file a support ticket. www.secondlife.com/support > choose "submit a support ticket". Contrary to popular belief, you CAN enter a support ticket with a basic account. You have limited options, to be sure, but you can still file one.

You may need to call the support line. LL offers 2 - a billing line, available to anyone, for billing and account related issues (lost password etc), as well as a concierge line, for residents that own over a certain amount of land (estate owners, etc).

You might be given a jira link, or told to look on jira for the issue. If the issue is already there, add comments and vote. If not, add it! The website is www.jira.secondlife.com, and it's the Second Life feature request and issue tracker. It's not the most intuitive software to use, but with a little practice, you'll figure it out. The login for it is the same login info you use to sign into Second Life.

They might recommend, also, that you go speak to a specific person inworld. Someone who has experience dealing with what you want to accomplish. Want to gather some data about the SL userbase, get some numbers? Talk to Tateru Nino. Want to know how to hook up your wii controller to your computer to cruise around Second Life? Look up SignpostMarv Martin. Interested in finding out more about the mentor program, and how the program itself runs? Talk to Doctor Gascoigne, Jezzie McCellan, myself... there are others as well :) Want to know more about how Linden Lab runs, how things are set up, how they do things? Gwyneth Llewelyn has an excellent understanding of that. There are many "specialists" inworld, that have tons of great information. SL is all about the community, so help others, and accept help when it's offered. Reach out :)  [Disclaimer: I am not promising the people I have mentioned WILL be able to help - just listing a few specialists in different areas of SL].
Also... there may be a place inworld that can help you. Want to learn to build? The Ivory Tower of Prims is a great tutorial center for that. There are classes, video tutorials, self-paced learning centers... SO many great resources. Check them out. There are also many, many different resources available outside the SL world - wikis, blogs, etc. You are on my blog, so you probably already know about some of them. :)

5. I pay for this, you know!

Argh. We hear it time and time again. Here's my take on it.

No one is forcing you to have a premium membership. No one is forcing you to rent/own land. No one is forcing you to use the Lindex® to buy $L. No one is forcing you to put any money whatsoever into SL - or even to be a member. When you signed up for that membership, bought the land, made an exchange on the Lindex... did you see anything, anywhere, that promised you extra support? If you did, you are delusional - it's not there. The only exception to that is large quantity land owners - concierge level residents. Maybe, in general, LL SHOULD offer more support. But the bottom line is, they have what they have, and you accepted that when you signed up. Use the resources that ARE available, you'll probably find a fix to the issue you have. If people spent half the energy they use to complain, on researching and finding an answer, most issues in SL would be resolved. Of course there are exceptions to this, but they are really the EXCEPTION, not the rule.

 * * *

Communication is key. But what is even more key is PROPER, EFFECTIVE communication. Linden Lab can't fix an issue with the grid if they don't know it exists. When they are looking for their next "grid fix" issue, where do they get the information on what's wrong? Here's a hint - it's not from the negative, nasty posts on their community event blogs. Bug reports, jira entries, support tickets.

This entry is not intended to solve your issue. I am just trying to get something off my chest. I'll post more entries with specific ways to get help - I promise. If you've found it entertaining, awesome. If it has given you some information that helps you to better understand how things work, or helps you to get an issue resolved, even better. If you would like further information on anything I have mentioned here, please don't hesitate to contact me.

As always, if you have a suggestion on something you'd like to see me blog about, please post a comment, and I'll do by best to write things up for you when I get a chance.

Taryn London.

Many thanks to Ganesha for her feedback on this entry.