Cutting a loss

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:47 -0700

Cutting a loss

I've finally decided to quit visiting the SL Forums. It's not as though there was a last straw; I'm not angry or offended or anything like that. It's just not worth it. I'm not getting anything out of it any more.

There's no reason to say goodbye there. I'm not interested in listing my reasons for others to dissect, but I do want to spell them out here because this is *my* blog.

First of all, one of the things I hoped for in the new forum was Linden participation. Usually a post from a Linden is a sort of revelation; it cuts through the pure speculation. Sure, we may not like what they say. We might argue with it, but a post from a Linden is always appreciated.

However, the Lindens don't post much in the forum, and the ones who used to post have been laid off. (I'm going to have more to say on the subject of Linden forum-posts in the future.)

Second, there is precious little discussion. It's not really a forum, because different points of view aren't tolerated. It's impossible to have *any* discussion of Viewer 2, for example, but not because the topic is inherently divisive. It's because there are attack dogs who won't tolerate anything but unconditional love and admiration. There was a thread recently in which a questioner was attacked for asking how to improve Viewer 2's image. Apparently thinking that its image needed improvement was tantamount to "hate".

Third, adult topics are taboo, because there are children present. I don't particularly care about adult topics, but Linden Lab slipped the kids in there without telling anyone. Their official position is still that there are separate forums for children and adults, but it isn't true.

Fourth, I don't find the sense of community that I felt in the old forums. I'm willing to find it; I wanted to find it. It's not that I'm looking for the same thing. It's not necessarily that my old friends are missing. It's that the people who dominate the forum are kind of mean and intolerant. They're constantly jumping down the throat of people who don't agree with them.

Then, there is the software itself. Jive's SBS is the worst web-forum software available. I can say that without any fear of contradiction. I've even considered offering a substantial cash prize to anyone who could find a worse alternative. I've no fear of ever having to pay, but I haven't been able to figure out the terms of the contest. I don't want someone writing a worse piece of software just for the sake of the contest — and that of course would be the only way of winning.

In the first place, the navigation is awful. This is true of the blog side as well, but it isn't as noticeable because LL doesn't blog that much. It's hard to find things on purpose; the search always delivers incomplete results. You can't get a list of all your own posts, for example. Any other web forum delivers that with a single click.

Second, you can't subscribe to threads except by email. In fact, Jive's SBS spams you by default. The more you participate, the more spam you receive. This makes threads hard to follow. In fact, it requires a lot of clicking and scrolling that no other web-forum software would ever subject you to.

Third, there is no dependable place to find updates. With all the feeds Jive makes available, there is none that simply delivers the most recent posts. The "main threads" page often misses threads, for no particular reason. It's not due to moderation: threads missing from the main page can be found on the overview for an individual channel. But why should anyone have to work that hard?

I'm done there. I doubt anyone will miss me; I've posted so little since the change. And honestly, I don't have hard feelings. I can see that many people are happy there, and that's good. It's serving a purpose. It's just not for me. I'm the wrong demographic or something.

Seven

Cutting a loss

Cutting a loss