Directions and Decisions - Op Ed

Reprinted from a forum post -- sometimes those words just fade into the mist :D

Thanks for all the comments.

It seems by now that most people feel the cut back on groups was the major inappropriate decision in the recently announced restructuring package. There may be good reasons for this tech wise -- a balancing act; but what The Lab continues to forget is how things will LOOK and be RECEIVED by the citizenship.  I will say they are listening now more than in those years when Lindens did not walk upon the earth. That is good. 

As I have been reading ALL these threads, many saying the same things I was reminded that when the new premium levels were first talked about (by Ebbe at a Town Hall) the point that he kept trying to make was that The Lab wanted to make Premium SO WORTHWHILE that everyone would want it. 

I am going to pause for a couple of seconds here for that last line to sink in.

Lots of good things have been happening here lately and some things are going well. I actually had 90fps at my Bellisseria home the other night instead of 15 (and yes it was a painful few months with my framerate in the dumpster and nothing "I" could do to fix). So I am feeling a bit more warm and fuzzy than I might have been a few weeks ago.

The Traditional and Houseboat releases have been a great success
aside from some miscommunication which ended up "looking" like bait and switch to many members that were unable to get a house after clicking on an ad that said they could have one. The new Linden Home continent has been one of the best things IMO that LL has done in a decade.    Hence, those new homes certainly fit into the "make Premium so good" theme.

I don't particularly have a giant problem with the rate increase. There is nothing at all in the new package that I care about however. Aside from my Bellisseria home I would be perfectly happy back on Basic mode.  So, it seems to me that Ebbe's goal (and assumably the goal of other company VIPs) of "so worthwhile" didn't quite hit the target.   We don't know why. We don't know what's going on in the boardroom. We have a few whispers and a few speculations and some hints --- but we don't know.

Hopefully that group slot downgrade for basic member will get readjusted since even many Premium members are put out by it.  Hopefully some new perks WILL get added in the future.   Yet more land per account maybe?  There is certainly plenty of it still out there.  Perhaps by the time the new Super Premium (or whatever) level is unveiled the perks WILL be too good to pass up.

Most all companies make both good and bad decisions. Figuring out just when to cut losses is tricky.  Most of us here want Second Life to succeed and carry on for many years. Hopefully we can muddle through this rough and muddy patch and get to the other side of the canyon. 

EDIT: As of 5 pm (ish) SL time there will be no changes in groups for basic membership. See this post. 

Back brace and cane are VERY old items from [hate this].  I never pitch a worthwhile prop. This photo was made for fun in response to a "Bellisseria as a retirement community" thread on the forums.