Tilia and YOU - Updated

This original post was updated at 2 AM on July 11th and several other times. Additional information in italics. 

I am not going to comment much about Tilia and the upcoming changes to Second Life here until AFTER the Tilia Town Hall Metting on Friday.  I am hoping some adjustments will be made to the original announcement; there certainly has been enough outcry to warrant some rethinking of position.

I and others have been VERY vocal however on the SL Forums (Tilia Takes Over thread).  It is very BAD form to make an official FAQ thread and then delete many long, thoughtful and important questions --- let alone not answer any of the hard questions for over a week now.


Here is your homework.

The official Tilia changes August 1 post from The Lab is HERE. 

The Tilia Terms of Service is here.

The Tilia Privacy Policy (only applicable to those in the US) is here.


Be informed. Make your own choices. 


Visit the Town Hall meeting or watch the video. It should be interesting to see the "spin".


Various updates as well as bullet points of the Town Hall can be found by continuing  with reading(long post; want to keep it all together).

Tilia Town Hall Video is here!

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Evening update:  


Post deletion continued throughout the day with many people repeating their original questions and demanding answers. Unfortunately comments continued to be deleted and the week and a half thread remained volatile with  arguments within the questions -- most to be deleted once again when a moderator returns to work.

Many questions still without answers include one of mine from nine days ago; it has been echoed and asked again by many other SL citizens:

 
This unprecedented (in my memory) truncation of  comments has caused some forumites to exit the thread, forums and perhaps Second Life. It is difficult to decipher the specific meaning of comments such as "that's enough of this -- I'm outta here".   One positive action was born of the vitriol, there will be a written transcript available of the Town Hall meeting -- this after many citizens agreed the record was necessary.



A forum comment from 2 AM (not mine):

I will post a link to that text when it is available, so return to this post if you have difficulty finding the printed word version of the proceedings.  


Edit: Friday, 7 - 12 at 1 AM

While I haven't been watching the Tilia FAQ thread as closely as I was it appears that The Lab has now decided to leave all comments in rather than delete some. So towards the end of the waning thread there are many bits of chatter that are NOT questions.  They have not returned previously deleted posts. The have not answered any further questions since Monday.


Edit Friday morning : Not long before the Town Hall was about to happen there was an official post to the FAQ thread stating the there had been a change and that NOW only those with USD balances in there account would need to agree to the the Tilia TOS.  This made me a very happy gal.


Edit Friday after Town Hall:

Overview and bullet points of Tilia Town Hall

OF COURSE  be sure and watch the event on your own or read the transcript and find out information that may pertain to your situation--  and check my interpretation. The original source is ALWAYS the best source.

My personal Tila questions were all either answered or had become a non-issue before the Town Hall. These are the bullet points that "I" personally found most interesting.   There were about 84 avatars at the meeting including Brett, Grumpity and Patch Linden.  

[Grumpity - not a quote see the transcript or video] Since OKing the Tilia TOS will only be needed by those with a current USD balance, then if people do not want to sign the Tilia TOS, they need to "get rid of their USD balance". 

I had already figured that out and plan to have accounts with a USD current balance (left over from premium payment) process their USD balance to Paypal before August 1 so that they will not have to OK the Tilia TOS (which was my personal end goal). 

[Grumpity - not a quote see the transcript or video] for those that have prepaid their membership on the recent "deal" and have a USD account balance that will not need to be used for over a year, they will not be charged the no activity fee as long as they have a premium membership. Beyond that, all people need to NOT get charged the fee would be to log into the their SL web account.   The fee will be no more than $3.00 US.   [Brett originally stated the $3.00 US fee as the maximum; it depends in part on laws from various areas.

[Grumpity - not a quote see the transcript or video]  Soon it will be easy to tell if you will need to supply personal information -- or MORE personal information for those that have already sent things in.  There will be some indication (like button and or link) that tells you if you are good to transfer credit OR if you will need to supply more information. 

[Brett - not a quote see the transcript or video] Tilia can ONLY be accessed via your SL website account. 

[Patch not a quote see the transcript or video]  There is a POSSIBILITY that people may be able to pay tier or membership directly with linden dollars - - thus keeping away from a US dollar balance.  This is NOT A PROMISE (that part is a quote :D) but something that The Lab is looking at. 

Things went smoothly. Grumpity could use a better microphone I think though -- she was pretty blurry sound wise compared to the very clear fellows.   

Many plans have changed from the original Linden Lab announcement, mostly because of people who were willing to take part in the process and explain their concerns and viewpoints. Not all questions asked were answer and likely not all will be, but I am very happy with the concessions made and I can personally continue with Second Life while upholding my moral beliefs. So for me personally this was a good conclusion. I am happy to have taken part.