I guess I should have seen this coming ages ago after Linden Lab first suspended hirings, then kept holding off on the resumption of intakes...
On Dec 11 this year, LL is shuttering three Second Life Volunteer groups: Second Life Mentors, Second Life Mentors Q&A, and the Instructors team. With this, the volunteer programs that Linden Lab originally put in place back at the beginning of Second Life are all gone, officially.
This is kind of upsetting in a way - I've been on SL Mentors nonstop since December 2006, and the fact that it's going away (albeit for good reasons of scalability) makes this the second time this has happened - I was on Live Help when it went away too. It's certainly a sign of the times when things that worked back in 2003/2004 no longer work in this day and age - like keeping 3.5k folks in one group. ^^;
I haven't posted in a long time despite this news being available because I've been busy trying to ignore this happening: trying out Torchlight, playing with the new OpenGL shift/zoom effects on Photoshop CS4, attending the Anime Festival Asia this weekend.
No longer one, yet still a mentor... I guess that sums up the peculiar state I'll be in very shortly. I'll still be in-world of course, just spending more time building up other things...
See you guys in world... or better yet, throw me a notecard - I'm getting my IMs capped a lot of late despite notices trickling down to a dribble in my most important places...
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4 comments:
Well, they could have just fixed the group handling for large groups. I mean, that would actually make sense, no?
it could have gone either way. But seriously though, a group that becomes too big can become monolithic, cumbersome and slow to react. In this regard, decentralising to the Resident Help Network might be a good idea... as long as Linden Lab pay more than lip service to what it does for newcomers.
LL created the mentor monster by getting the group up to 3000 plus mentors, they created this rod for their back, then promptly found themselves overwhelmed.
Then came renewals, mismanaged and lots of good mentors missed out.
I ws given assurances by the Vteam that geniune cases could contact the Vteam and a case by case study would be undertaken.
Many sent notes to the Vteam and all were refused, even folks that were in hospital at the time and could not renew.
So much for assurances.
Then re-assigment of various members of the Vteam to other operational areas of SL and no replacements for them being sought.
I missed that obvious sign.
Then the new help database, when SL and LL already had the knowledge Database, I refused to get involved with that on the grounds they were wasting money.
I even stopped attending Vteam office hours, what was the point of going the answers were always the same, we dont know anything.
IMHO they knew, they were just forbidden to tell the Mentors that supported them.
The signs were there, and I missed a couple of them.
Mentors were saveable and could have gone on to bigger and better things.
In true Rails style I even sent letters to M Linden with possible solutions, which were ignored.
Not even a thank you I have received them, poor business practice in any company, big or small.
But What do I know, I am only a small user, of no importance and obviously they think I know nothing.
Well dont fret folks, we have a vehicle, it is gassed and moving forward.
I could tell you my gut feelings but I wont, I dont wish to spread panic within the Mentor ranks.
Have faith, a lot of folks are working hard to retain Mentors and the values we hold dear.
Dont step in front of this bus, you will get run over
Too many help groups not supported by LL will eventually hit them in the face. People want people to talk to not endless hours of search in Knowledge Base or Wiki or even bots.
However, the Bug Business Bug has hit LL recently and obviously.
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