by Cummere Mayo
I don't post here often. When I do, I know I make several people groan. But sometimes that can be a good thing.
For a while I have stated that SL and RL can be very dangerously brought together with very little information and that Linden Lab needs to take a stand, close some major exploits, and get their heads out of their asses about Facebook and web profiles.
It seems someone might be listening. I've noticed Facebook "like" buttons have become much more scarce and have even disappeared from some places. Thank you, whoever made that call.
The trouble is, LL is continuing to react to privacy matters, too slowly, and far too late. Remember how I said like a broken record in past posts that it doesn't take much to link SL to your RL no matter how careful you are?
Well various groups around SL have taken that to heart. One even has a wiki that has been leaked at least once a year that proves that not only can this be done, but it has been done, and in fact continues to be done. In fact despite apparently being told they could no longer use this wiki, this group is continuing to grow it.
What is worse is that there is proof that Linden Lab is a willing accomplice. At least two previous Lindens were given access to the wiki according to wiki entries this group added themselves. Plexus and Teagen. I have not asked Teagen if these accusations are true. I honestly don't wish to know.
What information about users is included in the wiki?
Well according to the wiki's creator, something like 1/10th of the users of SL are in the wiki. Each entry varies greatly. For some its really small and bland. A couple of sentences such as "so-and-so met this person at Ahern and they seem okay."
others are not so benign.
Entries on at least one real life couple include not only information about their main second life accounts, but information about their real life names, occupations, the companies they work for, schools they attended, geographic location, possible medical conditions, alternate accounts, even their children.
Another entry included information on another woman who found out her partner used fake information to bypass the age verification system. In it despite that she immediately cut off contact with that person, they accused her of illegal sex acts with minors, and then went on to list real life information on her, and her employer, even documenting trips she and her boss took. To my reading it stopped just short of accusing her of having an affair with her boss.
Other users had private emails, private conversations, blogs both private and public, facebook and/or linked in accounts, and even photos of themselves and their houses. Some of these entries are even on people this group thinks are or might possibly be minors.
Multiple people now have uncovered tracking systems that this group used to track avatars and someone even found a chat recorder hidden on their lands by way of well known exploits. These systems recorded the locations and/or conversations of the users and was compared to facebook searches, google searches, and ip addresses to attempt to id a person.
Even accounts that were not tracked had information gathered from innocuous bits of data compared with Google searches, Linked In, Facebook, blogspot, wordpress, and other sources.
Before you say this is all a game, you should know this group admitted to calling and emailing employers and universities in attempts to get people fired or expelled; bragged about tailing people around the SLCC conventions recording, doccumenting, and possibly photographing every move; admitted to filing homeland security complaints for "cyberterrorism;" and, my personal favorite, contacted the family of a user pretending to be friends of that user to both confirm that user was dead and to add more information about his family to their wiki.
A former linden has confirmed that Linden Lab has known about this group AND OTHERS LIKE IT for years and has done nothing for fear that stepping in might cost them financially or hurt their image. Worse LL has pretty much given these groups free reign knowing full well what they were doing under the advice of their legal department.
Rodvik: It is time to step up. Fire all the Lindens that colluded with these groups, fire all the lindens that colluded with these groups, find new legal council for Linden Lab, reverse the bans that came about because of these groups AR parties, and make a policy where deliberate attacks on other users privacy get swift bans and possibly legal action.
A huge 10,000 post discussion thread which has many relevant links, screenshots, and so forth can be found at http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/63339-jlu-harvesting-ip-addresses.html but many other sources have carried this including the herald and other blogs. There is now an online petition to have this group shut down and several comments and replies to comments posted on Rodvik Linden's profile page.
The FTC seems to have been brought in as well with complaint reference numbers being 32191970 and 32301189.
Showing posts with label CM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CM. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
My Redzone story and why I am glad to see Storm-1037
By Cummere Mayo
(xposted)
For over a month now Redzone has been coming under attack. I myself entered the mix when a woman hating griefer named Willilicious Georgette told me to fuck myself and worse. The full conversation was posted without my consent into the “neighborhood watch” that Redzone watches. At the time that was posted it wasn’t a violation to post it elsewhere, however it became such since then so I cannot post it here…
That conversation happened because I dared to point out that Soft Linden told the Redzone members to stop “monkeying around” with jira number vwr-24746. I decided at that time to educate myself about Redzone, CDS, Quickware, etc. The product advertisements and my subsequent treatment by Skills, Zfire, and their ilk let me when I told them in no uncertain terms I wanted opted out galvanized me. The stories and accounts of countless victims including many I knew personally drew out a vicious streak that know me well know I reserve for those that dare fuck with my friends.
Since then I have been maliciously accused of harassment for posting on the jira and closing out jiras that were either thinly veiled attempts to circumvent the TOS, or ideas that simply are ludicrous and ignorant, like the idea of making everyone use a credit card and linking alts via credit card. I have had my sim, my store, even my linden home (yes I actually have one and LIKE it), griefed. I have had numerous false abuse reports filed against me and those who stood up for me. I have had someone attempt to spoof my name in a horrible attempt to frame me for greifing a Redzone sim. I have been accused of trolling the Redzone forums where I do not and will never have an account. Ive had threats in world and sent to my email with promises that I will be banned from Second Life or bodily harm.
Through it all I have put up with it only losing my temper a few times. You know why?
Here it is: I am one of a number of people taking this fight to everyone. I’ve sent emails to Rodvik, Alexa, Soft, Sue, Amanda, Blondin, and several other lindens on this. Not all of them answered but the ones that did so sometimes in rather spectacular ways…
I’ve been ported to linden only areas to discuss what Redzone does, how Zfire planned to get around the adjusted community standards, some of the pitfalls of how LL could handle things. I was one of a few residents that knew that the media urls are going to no longer be masked specifically because of Redzone, CDS, etc. (If you don’t believe me check out https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/STORM-1037 where oz put the process into the Snowstorm backlog and assigned it to this sprint which means it should be implemented soon.) I was asked then to supply screens of everything I could and send them to Amanda, Soft, and Blondin, and to direct others to do the same.
I was one of the few that was aware that LL is actively wanting to take on the Media Filter that Cool Viewer and the Phoenix viewers have. Snowstorm told me if I could find a dev to implement a viewer cookie filtration system they would be interested. I approached Tonya from Phoenix and literally begged her on the SLU forum to look into it and I am hoping she will have the time to do it soon. Allot of this I couldn’t talk about till today because I was specifically told not to, but Amanda gave me the okay today.
Constantly I was told by Redzone users that I was trash, a copybotter, a stalker, a griefer, a whore, even a terrorist. Yes that’s right I’m a terrorist because I fought to destroy Redzone! Constantly I’ve been told I would be banned from Second Life.
Through it all, I’ve watched principled Redzone user after principled Redzone user start to realize what Redzone really was and what the core of the Redzone user group was like walk away and scrap Redzone. I’ve even suggested combinations of land settings, scripts, and orbs that did a far better job at copybot detection and protection (as much as can be done) to some of them.
I watched someone that I was convinced was attacking my roleplay half-sim walk away from Redzone. For the record, much as I don’t want to say it I no longer think Srilania really was the griefer. So Sri if you read this I apologize for that (and you should thank your partner and Jessica who both convinced me to keep an open mind. If they hadn’t I wouldn’t have seen past my dislike for you and, I admit, my sincere desire that it was you.)
I watched Zfire’s promises and predictions turn to ash, as LL pulled his product down off the marketplace twice, and blacklisted it in world, rewrote the CS, and pretty much publicly repudiated Zfire’s claims. I watched the Redzoners attack the TVPS that installed the Media Filter and watched Zfire add a ban by viewer feature. I watched LL respond with Storm-1037 as well as adopt the Media Filter as well.
I suspect I will be the target of allot more abuse from Redzoners. Some of them seem to think I am one of the causes of them falling down. Some FIC conspiracy taken right from a page in Prok’s book… I welcome it and all the AR’s they intend to throw at me. If LL actually listens to their garbage and bans me, so be it. After all, I intend to fully take Zfire down if he follows through on making his database public. However, it won’t be in world, it will be in the criminal justice system. I’ve already been asked to serve, and have agreed to do so, as a prosecution witness in a criminal case if he does make the database public.
Further changes are coming and it will interesting to see how Redzone, CDS, and Quickware users respond. Already they are whining about how implementing https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/STORM-1037 will destroy their privacy. Rather ironic don’t you think?
The only ones Storm-1037 might hurt are DJs but allot of DJs really don’t mind if people listen to their streams from afar. However, the two actual Djs responding to the forum, and the partner of a third DJ are all for it. In fact I have two DJ streams that are entered into my radios that I have been told I can listen to whenever I want (assuming they are broadcasting) from my home or sim. They feel it to be free advertising and a way to share with friends. And if privacy is really an issue you can always feed the stream through a proxy and then something like dyndns. There will be a half second delay or so but eh…
What the Redzone users fear—and rightly so—is that this is simply the next step in driving tracking systems and alt detection systems off the grid. And it is…
(xposted)
For over a month now Redzone has been coming under attack. I myself entered the mix when a woman hating griefer named Willilicious Georgette told me to fuck myself and worse. The full conversation was posted without my consent into the “neighborhood watch” that Redzone watches. At the time that was posted it wasn’t a violation to post it elsewhere, however it became such since then so I cannot post it here…
That conversation happened because I dared to point out that Soft Linden told the Redzone members to stop “monkeying around” with jira number vwr-24746. I decided at that time to educate myself about Redzone, CDS, Quickware, etc. The product advertisements and my subsequent treatment by Skills, Zfire, and their ilk let me when I told them in no uncertain terms I wanted opted out galvanized me. The stories and accounts of countless victims including many I knew personally drew out a vicious streak that know me well know I reserve for those that dare fuck with my friends.
Since then I have been maliciously accused of harassment for posting on the jira and closing out jiras that were either thinly veiled attempts to circumvent the TOS, or ideas that simply are ludicrous and ignorant, like the idea of making everyone use a credit card and linking alts via credit card. I have had my sim, my store, even my linden home (yes I actually have one and LIKE it), griefed. I have had numerous false abuse reports filed against me and those who stood up for me. I have had someone attempt to spoof my name in a horrible attempt to frame me for greifing a Redzone sim. I have been accused of trolling the Redzone forums where I do not and will never have an account. Ive had threats in world and sent to my email with promises that I will be banned from Second Life or bodily harm.
Through it all I have put up with it only losing my temper a few times. You know why?
Here it is: I am one of a number of people taking this fight to everyone. I’ve sent emails to Rodvik, Alexa, Soft, Sue, Amanda, Blondin, and several other lindens on this. Not all of them answered but the ones that did so sometimes in rather spectacular ways…
I’ve been ported to linden only areas to discuss what Redzone does, how Zfire planned to get around the adjusted community standards, some of the pitfalls of how LL could handle things. I was one of a few residents that knew that the media urls are going to no longer be masked specifically because of Redzone, CDS, etc. (If you don’t believe me check out https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/STORM-1037 where oz put the process into the Snowstorm backlog and assigned it to this sprint which means it should be implemented soon.) I was asked then to supply screens of everything I could and send them to Amanda, Soft, and Blondin, and to direct others to do the same.
I was one of the few that was aware that LL is actively wanting to take on the Media Filter that Cool Viewer and the Phoenix viewers have. Snowstorm told me if I could find a dev to implement a viewer cookie filtration system they would be interested. I approached Tonya from Phoenix and literally begged her on the SLU forum to look into it and I am hoping she will have the time to do it soon. Allot of this I couldn’t talk about till today because I was specifically told not to, but Amanda gave me the okay today.
Constantly I was told by Redzone users that I was trash, a copybotter, a stalker, a griefer, a whore, even a terrorist. Yes that’s right I’m a terrorist because I fought to destroy Redzone! Constantly I’ve been told I would be banned from Second Life.
Through it all, I’ve watched principled Redzone user after principled Redzone user start to realize what Redzone really was and what the core of the Redzone user group was like walk away and scrap Redzone. I’ve even suggested combinations of land settings, scripts, and orbs that did a far better job at copybot detection and protection (as much as can be done) to some of them.
I watched someone that I was convinced was attacking my roleplay half-sim walk away from Redzone. For the record, much as I don’t want to say it I no longer think Srilania really was the griefer. So Sri if you read this I apologize for that (and you should thank your partner and Jessica who both convinced me to keep an open mind. If they hadn’t I wouldn’t have seen past my dislike for you and, I admit, my sincere desire that it was you.)
I watched Zfire’s promises and predictions turn to ash, as LL pulled his product down off the marketplace twice, and blacklisted it in world, rewrote the CS, and pretty much publicly repudiated Zfire’s claims. I watched the Redzoners attack the TVPS that installed the Media Filter and watched Zfire add a ban by viewer feature. I watched LL respond with Storm-1037 as well as adopt the Media Filter as well.
I suspect I will be the target of allot more abuse from Redzoners. Some of them seem to think I am one of the causes of them falling down. Some FIC conspiracy taken right from a page in Prok’s book… I welcome it and all the AR’s they intend to throw at me. If LL actually listens to their garbage and bans me, so be it. After all, I intend to fully take Zfire down if he follows through on making his database public. However, it won’t be in world, it will be in the criminal justice system. I’ve already been asked to serve, and have agreed to do so, as a prosecution witness in a criminal case if he does make the database public.
Further changes are coming and it will interesting to see how Redzone, CDS, and Quickware users respond. Already they are whining about how implementing https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/STORM-1037 will destroy their privacy. Rather ironic don’t you think?
The only ones Storm-1037 might hurt are DJs but allot of DJs really don’t mind if people listen to their streams from afar. However, the two actual Djs responding to the forum, and the partner of a third DJ are all for it. In fact I have two DJ streams that are entered into my radios that I have been told I can listen to whenever I want (assuming they are broadcasting) from my home or sim. They feel it to be free advertising and a way to share with friends. And if privacy is really an issue you can always feed the stream through a proxy and then something like dyndns. There will be a half second delay or so but eh…
What the Redzone users fear—and rightly so—is that this is simply the next step in driving tracking systems and alt detection systems off the grid. And it is…
Monday, February 7, 2011
Hey LL, Can I have my Privacy Back?
by Cummere Mayo
In the past few weeks a trend is sweeping though the forums, the jira, the blogs, and through office hours. That trend is Second Life users demanding their privacy back.
First came the rebellion against the new version of web profiles as people objected to their real life tabs being displayed and with the mandatory widgets, particularly the infamous spyware tool known as the Facebook Like button. People grew more upset when they realize their OLD profiles had also had widgets and tools to trade them and that LL had never really disclosed the fact that for over two years we have had unprotected profiles.
The reaction was swift and furious with residents demanding that widgets be made opt-out, opt-in, or removed all together; profiles get more security or be moved back to in-world only; and majorly slammed LL for the breaches of privacy.
Sadly several people went on a mission to like and link SL profiles to Facebook and now the very people that pointed out the risks are seeing them firsthand. People are facing divorces or, like me, job loss because of these massive breaches of security.
Next came a revival of the push to get the LSL online exploit fixed for once and for all, this brief push was overshadowed by users finally having enough with a more invasive, if often inaccurate, system that brags about breaking the TOS by collecting Ip addresses, installing cookies, and then attempting to link avatars as alts. This system marketed as a supposed anticopybot system (and yet by thier own stats has identified less then .002% of the alts to be actual copybotters), includes a hud that has complete access to an off-world database that people use to find and stalk the alts of people. This system is known as Redzone, and people want it and others like it banned. Especially since it has proven itself to be a great stalking tool. In fact on thier own forums Redzone specifies the hud version was made especially for people that wanted to trace and find alts of people on land they didn't own.
The opposition to privacy has been kind of haphazard and very accusatory and led by some well known stalkers and the owners of Redzone and seems to be pretty much variations of "I should have the right to know who your alt is," "You must be doing something wrong if you don't want people to know who you are/what you're doing," and my personal favorite, "If you want Privacy you shouldn't log on the Internet." None of these arguments has any real merit and only seem to come from people that are unhealthily obsessed with knowing what other people are doing.
Already, other grids are looking at the opportunity to cash in. Inworldz and Opensim have much more stringent privacy policies with better enforcement. If there is one thing that can be learned, the majority of LL users still want thier privacy!
In the past few weeks a trend is sweeping though the forums, the jira, the blogs, and through office hours. That trend is Second Life users demanding their privacy back.
First came the rebellion against the new version of web profiles as people objected to their real life tabs being displayed and with the mandatory widgets, particularly the infamous spyware tool known as the Facebook Like button. People grew more upset when they realize their OLD profiles had also had widgets and tools to trade them and that LL had never really disclosed the fact that for over two years we have had unprotected profiles.
The reaction was swift and furious with residents demanding that widgets be made opt-out, opt-in, or removed all together; profiles get more security or be moved back to in-world only; and majorly slammed LL for the breaches of privacy.
Sadly several people went on a mission to like and link SL profiles to Facebook and now the very people that pointed out the risks are seeing them firsthand. People are facing divorces or, like me, job loss because of these massive breaches of security.
Next came a revival of the push to get the LSL online exploit fixed for once and for all, this brief push was overshadowed by users finally having enough with a more invasive, if often inaccurate, system that brags about breaking the TOS by collecting Ip addresses, installing cookies, and then attempting to link avatars as alts. This system marketed as a supposed anticopybot system (and yet by thier own stats has identified less then .002% of the alts to be actual copybotters), includes a hud that has complete access to an off-world database that people use to find and stalk the alts of people. This system is known as Redzone, and people want it and others like it banned. Especially since it has proven itself to be a great stalking tool. In fact on thier own forums Redzone specifies the hud version was made especially for people that wanted to trace and find alts of people on land they didn't own.
The opposition to privacy has been kind of haphazard and very accusatory and led by some well known stalkers and the owners of Redzone and seems to be pretty much variations of "I should have the right to know who your alt is," "You must be doing something wrong if you don't want people to know who you are/what you're doing," and my personal favorite, "If you want Privacy you shouldn't log on the Internet." None of these arguments has any real merit and only seem to come from people that are unhealthily obsessed with knowing what other people are doing.
Already, other grids are looking at the opportunity to cash in. Inworldz and Opensim have much more stringent privacy policies with better enforcement. If there is one thing that can be learned, the majority of LL users still want thier privacy!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Its the Little Things...
by Cummere Mayo
When it comes to love its often the little things that make all the difference in a girl's heart; The kisses, the random hand squeeze, getting the door, the random box of chocolate, the "your beautiful" when her mascara has run in the rain.
When it comes to viewers, that adage "Its the little things that matter most" still holds true. The big things make the viewer usable or not, its the little things that make people fall in love with it or hate it. Lately, TVPs have been much better about that kind of thing and thus have been wining over far more admirers then Linden Lab's official viewer. However, there are signs that might be changing soon.
The latest few rounds of Snowstorm test viewers have had a few neat things that make things so much nicer and have helped finally make the 2.x viewer turn the tide from merely tolerable to almost decent.
First off, some of the movement and animation controls that were scattered across different menus were gathered up into a movement group and moved under the "me" menu. this makes it much easier to find them then hunting through different menus like before.
Next the voice button disappears when you turn voice off now. Another small thing, but it frees up space for other buttons that are perhaps more useful, and to those that are deaf or mute, it means they don't have the voice button sitting there mocking them.
The mini map built into the nearby people subtab. I was skeptical at first how useful it would be, but once I saw it I fell in love with it. To be able to instantly see not just who is near me but where they are near me is wonderful. Furthermore, if you click a name on your nearby list it automatically highlights the dot representing that person. For business owners and role play game masters this tool can be extremely useful for responding to someone that needs help or to knowing where a greifer might be hiding.
Another small but noticeable thing is the stability. The new round of 2.5 and 2.6 viewers are much harder to crash then previous versions. Which means less crashes for everyone, and seriously, aside from griefers who doesn't appreciate less crashes?
And finally, allot of little settings that didn't persist like custom water color changes, and inventory sorting options are now persistant so there are less things you have to reset every time you log in.
The viewer still has a long, long ways to go, but the more of these changes that Snowstorm can continue to push through and the longer they keep up this pace, the more attractive viewer 2.x will be to users. Keep it up Snowstorm!
~CM~
When it comes to love its often the little things that make all the difference in a girl's heart; The kisses, the random hand squeeze, getting the door, the random box of chocolate, the "your beautiful" when her mascara has run in the rain.
When it comes to viewers, that adage "Its the little things that matter most" still holds true. The big things make the viewer usable or not, its the little things that make people fall in love with it or hate it. Lately, TVPs have been much better about that kind of thing and thus have been wining over far more admirers then Linden Lab's official viewer. However, there are signs that might be changing soon.
The latest few rounds of Snowstorm test viewers have had a few neat things that make things so much nicer and have helped finally make the 2.x viewer turn the tide from merely tolerable to almost decent.
First off, some of the movement and animation controls that were scattered across different menus were gathered up into a movement group and moved under the "me" menu. this makes it much easier to find them then hunting through different menus like before.
Next the voice button disappears when you turn voice off now. Another small thing, but it frees up space for other buttons that are perhaps more useful, and to those that are deaf or mute, it means they don't have the voice button sitting there mocking them.
The mini map built into the nearby people subtab. I was skeptical at first how useful it would be, but once I saw it I fell in love with it. To be able to instantly see not just who is near me but where they are near me is wonderful. Furthermore, if you click a name on your nearby list it automatically highlights the dot representing that person. For business owners and role play game masters this tool can be extremely useful for responding to someone that needs help or to knowing where a greifer might be hiding.
Another small but noticeable thing is the stability. The new round of 2.5 and 2.6 viewers are much harder to crash then previous versions. Which means less crashes for everyone, and seriously, aside from griefers who doesn't appreciate less crashes?
And finally, allot of little settings that didn't persist like custom water color changes, and inventory sorting options are now persistant so there are less things you have to reset every time you log in.
The viewer still has a long, long ways to go, but the more of these changes that Snowstorm can continue to push through and the longer they keep up this pace, the more attractive viewer 2.x will be to users. Keep it up Snowstorm!
~CM~
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Calling "Social" Team Out.
by Cummere Mayo
[Additional notes edit: I debated long and hard about cross posting this here, but in the end, I decided I should.]
Anyone following web profiles knows about the battle for privacy being waged by users agaisnt the Social project team at Linden Lab. Its being played out in forums, in chat rooms, in Blogs, on twitter, and in the jira; one of the most voted jiras being web-3494 written by yours truley.
In that jira several major issues about privacy and preferences are raised and and argued for by nearly all the comenters, leading to some "concessions" and promises. Promises that have yet to materialize. I'm going to blast through these in rapid succession.
Promise 1:
Said by Yoz on 1/20/11:
"As you may have noticed, the Real Life section has been removed from publicly-visible web profiles for the moment, so as to bring the new web profiles in line with the old ones. We don't know if or when they'll be back, but we would like to offer residents more control over the visibility of individual profile sections in the future; if this comes about (the likelihood and timing is not certain) then the Real Life section would be part of that."
The facts:
For a short time real life tab did indeed seem to be hidden but across the board the last couple of days everyone has been seeing this tab again. heres the thing, we don't see it on our OWN profiles, we see it on others. (For independant confirmation visit the Linden Lab blog here and read recent comments.) This is a depressing and outright inexcusable breach of privacy.
Promise 2:
Said by Yoz on 1/20/11:
"But, this is a good time to remind everyone: if you're sharing information in your profile and you have "Show me in Search" ticked (which also currently enables public web profiles), then it is at the very least visible to millions of Second Life residents and the Search system. Profile information is also explicitly excluded from the Privacy Policy (see section 6)."
The facts:
Turning off "Show me in Search" does NOT disable the web profiles for either the old or the new style. In v1 it removes you from the internet and in world search engines only. In v2 for both the world.secondlife.com and the my.secondlife.com it removes you from the inworld search engine, but still keeps you in the web search engine. For both it also only requires a password to see your profile details but still shows at minimum your name, photo, and a join here link to those not logged in. This is INEXCUSEABLE.
Promise 3:
Said by Fredrik on 1/25/11:
"We just deployed a new version that removes the Share This widget for profiles that have the "Show me in search" option checked.
We are working on a complete overhaul of the privacy settings that will allow users to have more control over their privacy.
Until then please do come with ideas and constructive feedback."
The facts: Neither checking nor unchecking this seems to have any effect at all on the Share This widget. It still shows up on everyone's profile once you log in. Again inexcuseable.
In all three cases we were told these three changes were already implemented and deployed. So my question to Social team is this: Do you really think we are that stupid that we cannot tell what our own profiles are doing? Did you really think before you fed us these lines? What exactly did you gain by lying to us?
I'm calling you out on this Social. Step up to the plate and implement these changes and apologize for the lies.
update 2/3/11:
Ive been told that the real life tab change was backed out as part of a process toward a more robust and grandular preferences system coming soon. I am taking a wait and see attitude on that one.
~CM~
Crossposted
[Additional notes edit: I debated long and hard about cross posting this here, but in the end, I decided I should.]
Anyone following web profiles knows about the battle for privacy being waged by users agaisnt the Social project team at Linden Lab. Its being played out in forums, in chat rooms, in Blogs, on twitter, and in the jira; one of the most voted jiras being web-3494 written by yours truley.
In that jira several major issues about privacy and preferences are raised and and argued for by nearly all the comenters, leading to some "concessions" and promises. Promises that have yet to materialize. I'm going to blast through these in rapid succession.
Promise 1:
Said by Yoz on 1/20/11:
"As you may have noticed, the Real Life section has been removed from publicly-visible web profiles for the moment, so as to bring the new web profiles in line with the old ones. We don't know if or when they'll be back, but we would like to offer residents more control over the visibility of individual profile sections in the future; if this comes about (the likelihood and timing is not certain) then the Real Life section would be part of that."
The facts:
For a short time real life tab did indeed seem to be hidden but across the board the last couple of days everyone has been seeing this tab again. heres the thing, we don't see it on our OWN profiles, we see it on others. (For independant confirmation visit the Linden Lab blog here and read recent comments.) This is a depressing and outright inexcusable breach of privacy.
Promise 2:
Said by Yoz on 1/20/11:
"But, this is a good time to remind everyone: if you're sharing information in your profile and you have "Show me in Search" ticked (which also currently enables public web profiles), then it is at the very least visible to millions of Second Life residents and the Search system. Profile information is also explicitly excluded from the Privacy Policy (see section 6)."
The facts:
Turning off "Show me in Search" does NOT disable the web profiles for either the old or the new style. In v1 it removes you from the internet and in world search engines only. In v2 for both the world.secondlife.com and the my.secondlife.com it removes you from the inworld search engine, but still keeps you in the web search engine. For both it also only requires a password to see your profile details but still shows at minimum your name, photo, and a join here link to those not logged in. This is INEXCUSEABLE.
Promise 3:
Said by Fredrik on 1/25/11:
"We just deployed a new version that removes the Share This widget for profiles that have the "Show me in search" option checked.
We are working on a complete overhaul of the privacy settings that will allow users to have more control over their privacy.
Until then please do come with ideas and constructive feedback."
The facts: Neither checking nor unchecking this seems to have any effect at all on the Share This widget. It still shows up on everyone's profile once you log in. Again inexcuseable.
In all three cases we were told these three changes were already implemented and deployed. So my question to Social team is this: Do you really think we are that stupid that we cannot tell what our own profiles are doing? Did you really think before you fed us these lines? What exactly did you gain by lying to us?
I'm calling you out on this Social. Step up to the plate and implement these changes and apologize for the lies.
update 2/3/11:
Ive been told that the real life tab change was backed out as part of a process toward a more robust and grandular preferences system coming soon. I am taking a wait and see attitude on that one.
~CM~
Crossposted
Monday, January 31, 2011
The Jekyll and Hyde of Linden Lab
by Cummere Mayo
In the time spent as a volunteer at Linden Lab one thing that has been constant is Linden Lab's lack of consistency. The teen grid, attempts to turn SL into a social networking site, taking marketplace live before it was ready, mixing the SL with RL, all things sworn by LL not to do, then done. Then there are the things like Adult content scandal, the homestead sims, the new search, display names, web profiles where vastly unpopular things were rammed down the community, often with severe consequences for the community, and in turn Linden Lab. These things helped contribute in a drop from concurrency of over 120,000 to well under 60,000 on the average day.
Yet throughout all of this Linden Lab keeps saying that they listen to the community, accept feedback, and want more community involvement in policy making. This is both Linden Lab's biggest truth, and their biggest lie.
Much if not most of the community seems to feel these statements are a lie. For those that don't, sometimes reconciling all this is hard. Sometimes, very hard.
Here's the deal: Linden Lab is bipolar; it always has been, at least in the three and a half years I've been active in Second Life. To drastically over simplify things there's two camps at Linden Lab. The part that desires community involvement and the part that just feels they know what the community needs more then the community does and this split has had drastic consequences for both Second Life and for Linden Lab themselves.
From the time I joined Second Life there were those like CG, Nyx, Andrew, Bambers, and many, many others, that opened their offices and sent a great deal of time explaining changes coming to Second Life, projects they hoped to see happen, and things they were working on. At the same time they collected feedback from the residents they could which sometimes changed things, and sometimes didn't but at least these lindens were visible, listened and explained their reasoning.
At the same time we had the Jacks and Fredriks of Linden Lab. Those who pushed through things because it was what they saw as good for Linden Lab and/or Second Life and to hell with the thoughts and needs of those that actually use Second Life, even those that make their livings though Second Life.
Many of these decisions forced to a feeling that is best described by one of my merchant friends: "We succeed despite Linden Lab, not because of them." Many of fled Second Life and many new users aren't sticking around. Other grids have been watching the past two years and pounced on their chance to take away business from Second Life. As a result two of these grids have concurrencies that are almost as high as Second Life and will probably surpass them by the end of this year.
Currently, there's hope that some of that can be reversed. Snowstorm and the Mesh team are not only incredibly open to feedback but actually have used much of that feedback in the decision making. Today Gez stated at one of the open source user group meetings that he wants tvp devs, heavy chat users, and chat mods to join a user group he intends to start in order to get feedback and help coordinate the transition to a better group chat system within Second Life.
Snowstorm and Mesh have shown their way is better. They are far more productive, and while users don't agree with every decision made, the discussion is open, and users at least understand the reasoning leaving for a much happier user base and a better, more respectful kind of interaction, even with some of the most passionate of disagreements.
This is the kind of thing that will save Linden Lab and Second Life. I truly hope Mr. Humble will recognize that fact and push those at Linden Lab that still opt for closed doors and "we know whats better for you then you do" kind of approach to work with the community or find work elsewhere.
It will take allot of work for Linden Lab to turn Second Life (and both its and Linden Lab's reputations) around. One of the first steps would be to temporarily shut down the new profiles and force the Social and Marketplace teams to adopt approaches much more like Snowstorm. The next is to get these new user group meetings going within the next two weeks and then to have those groups spend the next two weeks actively listening to the Second Life community. Maybe more.
Allot of those in favor of keeping the users in the dark seem to rationalize it with "We can't please everyone," "The users don't know what they really want. They can't even agree with each other," or my personal favorite, "We need to do this for new features we have planned."
My experience in Snowstorm shows that while you can't please everyone you can please most users, that the community can often come up with great compromises on its own, and where it can't, having options wherever possible does, and that by being open about your ultimate goal, you often can get there faster and with less friction by listening to the community and working with them instead of against them. While it can delay things initially to get user feedback and have community involvement, often that time is a better investment, because often later on things go faster because there's less to rewrite or change, and because there's far less damage control to do afterwords. Furthermore, dev time is far cheaper then PR time, and it takes allot more PR time to get back in good graces then to just take the time to communicate in the first place.
I have a huge investment in Second Life, although at times it really has hurt my real life, especially thanks to the privacy disaster with the new profiles. I don't want to see Second Life fail, and I am working very hard to do what little I can to make Second Life a much better place.
So now I am calling upon Mr. Humble and all the Lindens that truly understand that Second Life cannot exist without the vast diverse community to step up to the plate. Its time for those who have been working with the community to not only suggest but to demand their coworkers do the same. It is time, ladies and gentlemen, for Linden Lab to bury its Mr. Hyde.
~CM~
ps: Crossposted to another blog.
In the time spent as a volunteer at Linden Lab one thing that has been constant is Linden Lab's lack of consistency. The teen grid, attempts to turn SL into a social networking site, taking marketplace live before it was ready, mixing the SL with RL, all things sworn by LL not to do, then done. Then there are the things like Adult content scandal, the homestead sims, the new search, display names, web profiles where vastly unpopular things were rammed down the community, often with severe consequences for the community, and in turn Linden Lab. These things helped contribute in a drop from concurrency of over 120,000 to well under 60,000 on the average day.
Yet throughout all of this Linden Lab keeps saying that they listen to the community, accept feedback, and want more community involvement in policy making. This is both Linden Lab's biggest truth, and their biggest lie.
Much if not most of the community seems to feel these statements are a lie. For those that don't, sometimes reconciling all this is hard. Sometimes, very hard.
Here's the deal: Linden Lab is bipolar; it always has been, at least in the three and a half years I've been active in Second Life. To drastically over simplify things there's two camps at Linden Lab. The part that desires community involvement and the part that just feels they know what the community needs more then the community does and this split has had drastic consequences for both Second Life and for Linden Lab themselves.
From the time I joined Second Life there were those like CG, Nyx, Andrew, Bambers, and many, many others, that opened their offices and sent a great deal of time explaining changes coming to Second Life, projects they hoped to see happen, and things they were working on. At the same time they collected feedback from the residents they could which sometimes changed things, and sometimes didn't but at least these lindens were visible, listened and explained their reasoning.
At the same time we had the Jacks and Fredriks of Linden Lab. Those who pushed through things because it was what they saw as good for Linden Lab and/or Second Life and to hell with the thoughts and needs of those that actually use Second Life, even those that make their livings though Second Life.
Many of these decisions forced to a feeling that is best described by one of my merchant friends: "We succeed despite Linden Lab, not because of them." Many of fled Second Life and many new users aren't sticking around. Other grids have been watching the past two years and pounced on their chance to take away business from Second Life. As a result two of these grids have concurrencies that are almost as high as Second Life and will probably surpass them by the end of this year.
Currently, there's hope that some of that can be reversed. Snowstorm and the Mesh team are not only incredibly open to feedback but actually have used much of that feedback in the decision making. Today Gez stated at one of the open source user group meetings that he wants tvp devs, heavy chat users, and chat mods to join a user group he intends to start in order to get feedback and help coordinate the transition to a better group chat system within Second Life.
Snowstorm and Mesh have shown their way is better. They are far more productive, and while users don't agree with every decision made, the discussion is open, and users at least understand the reasoning leaving for a much happier user base and a better, more respectful kind of interaction, even with some of the most passionate of disagreements.
This is the kind of thing that will save Linden Lab and Second Life. I truly hope Mr. Humble will recognize that fact and push those at Linden Lab that still opt for closed doors and "we know whats better for you then you do" kind of approach to work with the community or find work elsewhere.
It will take allot of work for Linden Lab to turn Second Life (and both its and Linden Lab's reputations) around. One of the first steps would be to temporarily shut down the new profiles and force the Social and Marketplace teams to adopt approaches much more like Snowstorm. The next is to get these new user group meetings going within the next two weeks and then to have those groups spend the next two weeks actively listening to the Second Life community. Maybe more.
Allot of those in favor of keeping the users in the dark seem to rationalize it with "We can't please everyone," "The users don't know what they really want. They can't even agree with each other," or my personal favorite, "We need to do this for new features we have planned."
My experience in Snowstorm shows that while you can't please everyone you can please most users, that the community can often come up with great compromises on its own, and where it can't, having options wherever possible does, and that by being open about your ultimate goal, you often can get there faster and with less friction by listening to the community and working with them instead of against them. While it can delay things initially to get user feedback and have community involvement, often that time is a better investment, because often later on things go faster because there's less to rewrite or change, and because there's far less damage control to do afterwords. Furthermore, dev time is far cheaper then PR time, and it takes allot more PR time to get back in good graces then to just take the time to communicate in the first place.
I have a huge investment in Second Life, although at times it really has hurt my real life, especially thanks to the privacy disaster with the new profiles. I don't want to see Second Life fail, and I am working very hard to do what little I can to make Second Life a much better place.
So now I am calling upon Mr. Humble and all the Lindens that truly understand that Second Life cannot exist without the vast diverse community to step up to the plate. Its time for those who have been working with the community to not only suggest but to demand their coworkers do the same. It is time, ladies and gentlemen, for Linden Lab to bury its Mr. Hyde.
~CM~
ps: Crossposted to another blog.
What is Storm-2?
Written by Cummere Mayo
Meow its been a busy couple weeks with allot of news. Firestorm code to be integrated into Snowstorm, teleport and region crossing compression, interest list changes, major changes coming in Group chat, and so much more. Its more then a poor sweet neko can juggle keeping track of in her paws! But today I want to address something hinted at a couple of weeks ago in this blog: Storm-2.
What is Storm-2? Well Storm-2 is the unofficial designation of the second jira officially assigned to Snowstorm. This jira deals with the first part of making a ui that can fully store and remember custom layouts and preferences for rapid saving, shifting, and recall. Storm-2 is also the unofficial designation of the developer build built to both test what has been coded so far as well as demonstrate the concept and allow for planning of where to go next.
So far the functionality is VERY basic. It saves and stores the locations, dock states, and even number of instances of some floaters and many sidebar tabs. Floaters and tabs currently able to be saved and recalled include the profile and inventory tabs.
There are some issues though. the Build floater is not saved or recalled, and the sidebar state isn't yet saved and recalled. Nor are search strings or the specific profiles inside those panels saved yet. The former are on the road map and the later are still being discussed. I personally would like to see some of the preferences saved and recalled too, at least the graphics settings!
That's really about it so far. But this project isn't done yet, and it is meant to be the start of a larger project to make the viewer much more customizable and usable. Don't be expecting to see Storm-2 in an official viewer anytime soon though. It is a very big project and at times can't be included in sprints because of other important issues and projects. Still, its a sign of great things to come.
~CM~
Meow its been a busy couple weeks with allot of news. Firestorm code to be integrated into Snowstorm, teleport and region crossing compression, interest list changes, major changes coming in Group chat, and so much more. Its more then a poor sweet neko can juggle keeping track of in her paws! But today I want to address something hinted at a couple of weeks ago in this blog: Storm-2.
What is Storm-2? Well Storm-2 is the unofficial designation of the second jira officially assigned to Snowstorm. This jira deals with the first part of making a ui that can fully store and remember custom layouts and preferences for rapid saving, shifting, and recall. Storm-2 is also the unofficial designation of the developer build built to both test what has been coded so far as well as demonstrate the concept and allow for planning of where to go next.
So far the functionality is VERY basic. It saves and stores the locations, dock states, and even number of instances of some floaters and many sidebar tabs. Floaters and tabs currently able to be saved and recalled include the profile and inventory tabs.
There are some issues though. the Build floater is not saved or recalled, and the sidebar state isn't yet saved and recalled. Nor are search strings or the specific profiles inside those panels saved yet. The former are on the road map and the later are still being discussed. I personally would like to see some of the preferences saved and recalled too, at least the graphics settings!
That's really about it so far. But this project isn't done yet, and it is meant to be the start of a larger project to make the viewer much more customizable and usable. Don't be expecting to see Storm-2 in an official viewer anytime soon though. It is a very big project and at times can't be included in sprints because of other important issues and projects. Still, its a sign of great things to come.
~CM~
Monday, January 24, 2011
Web Profiles: A counter View
Posted by Cummere Mayo
Previously you heard from another talented and intelligent person about why the new web profiles were a good thing. I'm going to present the counter argument. I strongly believe the new web profiles presented are not a good thing, for the viewer, for the user, or for LL as implemented currently. Here's why:
1) The new profiles are too much like facebook. "But I like facebook," you say. Granted, and granted facebook has an estimated 500 million accounts. But here's the deal, facebook is very proprietary of thier image, and very hostile to using thier service to promote virtual worlds. In fact, if you create a profile based on your virtual avatar from Second Life or any other virtual world or game, it is a TOS violation and if reported they almost always delete. In addition most of the users that use facebook do so for a while and move on. Many accounts are there because "Everyone is doing it," but rarely updated. Many people don't like the feel or use of facebook, or its lack of privacy.
2) Which brings us to the next point, the lack of privacy in these new SL profiles. There is a small but vocal segment that seems to consider privacy an outdated concept, in as a rule this segment believes anyone that wants privacy is hiding something that must be exposed and that they have a right to expose it. This same group says the very real dangers of losing jobs, rape, stalking, and so forth are just a paranoid conspiracy. Well, it must be a conspiracy that affects the real world so much that employers, schools, law enforcement communities, governments, and victim support groups all buy into.
For those that don't know much about me, my real life job is in law enforcement. Things leaked onto facebook have led to rapes, assualts, and so on (and here is the kicker) EVEN WHEN THE VICTIM WASN'T THE ONE POSTED. In some cases the victim didn't even have a facebook page. People use "like" widgets, share widgets, and twitter widgets all the time to share pages sometimes with private information. Facebook automatically recommends pages to "friends" of the facebook account that likes objects, as well as people with similar listed interests. Furthermore many facebook apps use the facebook api systems to trace pages that have been liked either recommend them to other facebook users based on keywords or to attempt to link pages to profiles with clues like key words, images, and the ip address of those that click on widgets. The only way to have any control over these is to not have the widgets on them in the first place.
LL never let the user base know that the last version and currant version of profiles both had facebook and twitter widgets built into all profiles. In addition; Linden Lab had the new profiles displaying the REAL LIFE tab of all profiles to the entire world for a minimum of two weeks before anyone noticed. From what I understand it took threats of legal action for LL to hide the real life tabs. Even now they are only investigating whether to possibly make the widgets opt-out or opt-in. This with no less then 4 differ ant jiras asking asking that they be made opt-out, opt-in or removed alltogether. Even people that have no issue with the widgets are furious that LL made them mandatory.
Furthermore, with the web profiles available to just anyone, jobs are at risk, school enrollment is at risk, marriages are at risk, etc. Why? Well, many schools and jobs want to promote an image of a certain kind of professional "upright" persona. If you're sl profile gets linked to your rl, then you're company might just find that kid avatar group, furry group, bdsm group, or strip club group you belong to grounds for terminating you for violating company or school policy. And your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend might just object to that SL partner you never told them about.
"But if you don't put your RL info in your tab no one can find you!" Uh sorry, yes they can. All it takes is one person or app to connect you one way or another and spreading the word. In some cases it might be because you happened to use a particular phrase in your profile that you use in facebook or a blog, or in every day conversation frequently. In addition, LL is now putting tools into profiles actively encourage you to post rl information. Don't believe me? Go to my.secondlife.com/(youre.username) and check out that little bar that says "profile completeness" and look at the three links right below it. Go on. I'm not gonna tell you what they are. I want you to see for yourself. There is a rumor, shared with me by someone at LL, that one or more of those links may soon become REQUIRED.
4) The currant profiles and the previous version have less privacy options then the ones used two years ago. If you look at the viewer 1.x preferences you have two profile options: show in search, and show on the web. In viewer 2, you can only have it visible in both or neither. Which means merchants, business owners, and so forth MUST show their profiles to the whole web if they want their customers to find them easily. This has annoyed allot of business owners.
5) The new profiles make doing some tasks in the viewer much harder. Things like IMing, inventory sharing, adding and removing friends, etc, are much harder to figure out how to do if you don't want to open up those web profiles.
6) If you can get them to load... the profiles sometimes require a certificate to load which the LL viewer is incapable of downloading. Most (but not all) versions of firefox and Internet explorer can and do automatically download the certificate, but if you don't have one that can, and/or don't use one of those browsers to open a profile first, you cant even access the profiles from in world.
7) Avatar notes ( log files ) don't seem to be carried over. This is not as big a deal to me as to some, because most versions of viewer 2 didn't have them at all and after a couple months i quit using them, but many users still rely on them, and I'd kinda like to have the stuff I had in one carried over just because some of those notes contained balances of money loaned or borrowed or of things i used to remember who they were.
8) The profiles lag. it takes 4-10 seconds to load the web profile, more if it stalls which they often do, requiring a refreshing. Then if you want to offer a teleport or start an im, it takes another few seconds between when you send the command and the signal gets to the viewer, assuming you have a very fast connection.
9) The new profiles are huge. Literally, the floater already takes up roughly half the screen when it comes up, and still has to be stretched to see the entire profile. Most of that is due to White Space from bad formatting. But this means its hard to roleplay, build, or follow ims while you're looking at a profile.
10) Most users don't seem to like them. This might seem like a silly reason to say that the profiles are bad, but keep in mind this is a service that to varying degrees many users pay for. They don't have to stay, and many haven't. User concurrency is well below what it was a year ago. Unhappy users go elsewhere. And even the loss of non paying customers can cost big time. Just ask the people at yahoo.com or msn.com.
Now I'm not saying that web profiles are bad idea, or that these profiles can't be salvaged. They can. Make ALL widgets opt in, provide more privacy options, and reformat them slightly to get rid of most of the white space, and move the basic controls like pay, add/remove friend, etc back to the viewer, and fix the bugs and you will have allot more people liking them.
~CM
Previously you heard from another talented and intelligent person about why the new web profiles were a good thing. I'm going to present the counter argument. I strongly believe the new web profiles presented are not a good thing, for the viewer, for the user, or for LL as implemented currently. Here's why:
1) The new profiles are too much like facebook. "But I like facebook," you say. Granted, and granted facebook has an estimated 500 million accounts. But here's the deal, facebook is very proprietary of thier image, and very hostile to using thier service to promote virtual worlds. In fact, if you create a profile based on your virtual avatar from Second Life or any other virtual world or game, it is a TOS violation and if reported they almost always delete. In addition most of the users that use facebook do so for a while and move on. Many accounts are there because "Everyone is doing it," but rarely updated. Many people don't like the feel or use of facebook, or its lack of privacy.
2) Which brings us to the next point, the lack of privacy in these new SL profiles. There is a small but vocal segment that seems to consider privacy an outdated concept, in as a rule this segment believes anyone that wants privacy is hiding something that must be exposed and that they have a right to expose it. This same group says the very real dangers of losing jobs, rape, stalking, and so forth are just a paranoid conspiracy. Well, it must be a conspiracy that affects the real world so much that employers, schools, law enforcement communities, governments, and victim support groups all buy into.
For those that don't know much about me, my real life job is in law enforcement. Things leaked onto facebook have led to rapes, assualts, and so on (and here is the kicker) EVEN WHEN THE VICTIM WASN'T THE ONE POSTED. In some cases the victim didn't even have a facebook page. People use "like" widgets, share widgets, and twitter widgets all the time to share pages sometimes with private information. Facebook automatically recommends pages to "friends" of the facebook account that likes objects, as well as people with similar listed interests. Furthermore many facebook apps use the facebook api systems to trace pages that have been liked either recommend them to other facebook users based on keywords or to attempt to link pages to profiles with clues like key words, images, and the ip address of those that click on widgets. The only way to have any control over these is to not have the widgets on them in the first place.
LL never let the user base know that the last version and currant version of profiles both had facebook and twitter widgets built into all profiles. In addition; Linden Lab had the new profiles displaying the REAL LIFE tab of all profiles to the entire world for a minimum of two weeks before anyone noticed. From what I understand it took threats of legal action for LL to hide the real life tabs. Even now they are only investigating whether to possibly make the widgets opt-out or opt-in. This with no less then 4 differ ant jiras asking asking that they be made opt-out, opt-in or removed alltogether. Even people that have no issue with the widgets are furious that LL made them mandatory.
Furthermore, with the web profiles available to just anyone, jobs are at risk, school enrollment is at risk, marriages are at risk, etc. Why? Well, many schools and jobs want to promote an image of a certain kind of professional "upright" persona. If you're sl profile gets linked to your rl, then you're company might just find that kid avatar group, furry group, bdsm group, or strip club group you belong to grounds for terminating you for violating company or school policy. And your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend might just object to that SL partner you never told them about.
"But if you don't put your RL info in your tab no one can find you!" Uh sorry, yes they can. All it takes is one person or app to connect you one way or another and spreading the word. In some cases it might be because you happened to use a particular phrase in your profile that you use in facebook or a blog, or in every day conversation frequently. In addition, LL is now putting tools into profiles actively encourage you to post rl information. Don't believe me? Go to my.secondlife.com/(youre.username) and check out that little bar that says "profile completeness" and look at the three links right below it. Go on. I'm not gonna tell you what they are. I want you to see for yourself. There is a rumor, shared with me by someone at LL, that one or more of those links may soon become REQUIRED.
4) The currant profiles and the previous version have less privacy options then the ones used two years ago. If you look at the viewer 1.x preferences you have two profile options: show in search, and show on the web. In viewer 2, you can only have it visible in both or neither. Which means merchants, business owners, and so forth MUST show their profiles to the whole web if they want their customers to find them easily. This has annoyed allot of business owners.
5) The new profiles make doing some tasks in the viewer much harder. Things like IMing, inventory sharing, adding and removing friends, etc, are much harder to figure out how to do if you don't want to open up those web profiles.
6) If you can get them to load... the profiles sometimes require a certificate to load which the LL viewer is incapable of downloading. Most (but not all) versions of firefox and Internet explorer can and do automatically download the certificate, but if you don't have one that can, and/or don't use one of those browsers to open a profile first, you cant even access the profiles from in world.
7) Avatar notes ( log files ) don't seem to be carried over. This is not as big a deal to me as to some, because most versions of viewer 2 didn't have them at all and after a couple months i quit using them, but many users still rely on them, and I'd kinda like to have the stuff I had in one carried over just because some of those notes contained balances of money loaned or borrowed or of things i used to remember who they were.
8) The profiles lag. it takes 4-10 seconds to load the web profile, more if it stalls which they often do, requiring a refreshing. Then if you want to offer a teleport or start an im, it takes another few seconds between when you send the command and the signal gets to the viewer, assuming you have a very fast connection.
9) The new profiles are huge. Literally, the floater already takes up roughly half the screen when it comes up, and still has to be stretched to see the entire profile. Most of that is due to White Space from bad formatting. But this means its hard to roleplay, build, or follow ims while you're looking at a profile.
10) Most users don't seem to like them. This might seem like a silly reason to say that the profiles are bad, but keep in mind this is a service that to varying degrees many users pay for. They don't have to stay, and many haven't. User concurrency is well below what it was a year ago. Unhappy users go elsewhere. And even the loss of non paying customers can cost big time. Just ask the people at yahoo.com or msn.com.
Now I'm not saying that web profiles are bad idea, or that these profiles can't be salvaged. They can. Make ALL widgets opt in, provide more privacy options, and reformat them slightly to get rid of most of the white space, and move the basic controls like pay, add/remove friend, etc back to the viewer, and fix the bugs and you will have allot more people liking them.
~CM
Hello World! (Again)
By Avatar Cummere Mayo
It's a shame that 2.5 beta is being overshadowed by issues over the web profiles, both security/privacy and technological issues. Because deep down, 2.5 is the best 2.x viewer to roll out of Snowstorm or LL.
Before I am lynched, let me state that I am no fan of the 2.x ui. In fact, I hate it, and have pushed hard for major changes, some of which have been implemented in all or part, and some which have not been.
no. here's why I like 2.5. If you don't factor in the memory leaks and runtime errors (which are a known issue and we hope can be fixed), for most people 2.5 seems fairly stable. Most of the time I will have maybe one or two crashes a day. Which, considering I'm usually using an ALPHA build of the viewer is pretty good.
Additionally in 2.5 something like over a hundred bugs were fixed, and several new features were introduced. One of these great features is the ability to access your favorite landmarks from the starting screen. This feature sadly broke for me and a small percentage of other users and we aren't quite sure why yet. But its still a nice feature.
That's not to say 2.5 is anywhere like "there" yet. It's not. There's tons of work I want to see done. I have over 100 open jiras that I have created for bug fixes, feature requests, and other changes I want to see. overall, though, except for web profiles which I will discuss another time I take allot of pride in 2.5.
Why? Why do -I- a resident take pride in 2.5?
Well, because I tested allot of it. I worked with developers in and out of Linden Lab and ProductEngine giving feedback about features, bugs, and the look and feel. Some of that feedback was used to make changes, some was discussed and ultimately didn't affect the outcome, and some of it was simply confirmation that things seemed to work right.
In addition, some of the things snowstorm has worked on have been ideas ive had or bugs ive found durring testing that others worked hard to correct before the beta shipped. So testers like me have reason to be proud.
Who am I? I'm Cummere Mayo. Some of you might remember me from Linden Watch. Some of you might know me from various Roleplay Groups I've been involved with. Some of you might know me from Jira, or the forums. Yet others might recognize me from clubs I've worked in or frequented, or shopping groups, or from my handful of products still on marketplace, or any of a number of other places.
My priorities for Second Life are as follows: Make it easier and more useful for Content Creators, make it more Accessable, make it Customizeable, and protect Privacy. (Capitalizations are intentional.)
Those that know me know I'm passionate, brutal, involved, and rarely hold my punches. Those that don't know me will learn those facts soon enough. JayR has invited me to be a guest blogger here. So for as long as I'm welcome, I would like to share my insights, views, and knowledge with you.
~Cummere Mayo
It's a shame that 2.5 beta is being overshadowed by issues over the web profiles, both security/privacy and technological issues. Because deep down, 2.5 is the best 2.x viewer to roll out of Snowstorm or LL.
Before I am lynched, let me state that I am no fan of the 2.x ui. In fact, I hate it, and have pushed hard for major changes, some of which have been implemented in all or part, and some which have not been.
no. here's why I like 2.5. If you don't factor in the memory leaks and runtime errors (which are a known issue and we hope can be fixed), for most people 2.5 seems fairly stable. Most of the time I will have maybe one or two crashes a day. Which, considering I'm usually using an ALPHA build of the viewer is pretty good.
Additionally in 2.5 something like over a hundred bugs were fixed, and several new features were introduced. One of these great features is the ability to access your favorite landmarks from the starting screen. This feature sadly broke for me and a small percentage of other users and we aren't quite sure why yet. But its still a nice feature.
That's not to say 2.5 is anywhere like "there" yet. It's not. There's tons of work I want to see done. I have over 100 open jiras that I have created for bug fixes, feature requests, and other changes I want to see. overall, though, except for web profiles which I will discuss another time I take allot of pride in 2.5.
Why? Why do -I- a resident take pride in 2.5?
Well, because I tested allot of it. I worked with developers in and out of Linden Lab and ProductEngine giving feedback about features, bugs, and the look and feel. Some of that feedback was used to make changes, some was discussed and ultimately didn't affect the outcome, and some of it was simply confirmation that things seemed to work right.
In addition, some of the things snowstorm has worked on have been ideas ive had or bugs ive found durring testing that others worked hard to correct before the beta shipped. So testers like me have reason to be proud.
Who am I? I'm Cummere Mayo. Some of you might remember me from Linden Watch. Some of you might know me from various Roleplay Groups I've been involved with. Some of you might know me from Jira, or the forums. Yet others might recognize me from clubs I've worked in or frequented, or shopping groups, or from my handful of products still on marketplace, or any of a number of other places.
My priorities for Second Life are as follows: Make it easier and more useful for Content Creators, make it more Accessable, make it Customizeable, and protect Privacy. (Capitalizations are intentional.)
Those that know me know I'm passionate, brutal, involved, and rarely hold my punches. Those that don't know me will learn those facts soon enough. JayR has invited me to be a guest blogger here. So for as long as I'm welcome, I would like to share my insights, views, and knowledge with you.
~Cummere Mayo
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