Linden Lab Neglects Potentially Serious Application Bug And/Or Network Latency Issues.

Well, here we go again. Some more people have lost money since the $2,000 US that was lost in one transaction. And after talking with people, asking non-leading questions, I keep hearing the same things.

Odd that I'm the one asking the questions but not someone from Linden Lab, but hey. It affects me more directly than Linden Lab, so I'm interested in understanding the problem. So are a few other people.

Here's an excerpt of a conversation with one of the latest victims of not only Landbaron Merlin, but a buggy land sale interface (posted with explicit permission):

[8:41] Nobody Fugazi: how did it happen?
[8:41] Nobody Fugazi: a transfer gone wrong, or what?
[8:42] Seargent Crossair: I was typing in the price and the screen jumped
[8:42] Seargent Crossair: land sold almost instantaniously for 8700
[8:42] Seargent Crossair: not 87000

I've seen the interface do this, as have other people. In fact, Muratus Losangeles (the guy who built the cool PC in SecondLife) got hit this morning when he was using CTRL-V to paste in prices... and the price did not show up right. Hardly sounds like 'human error'. Sounds more like 'application error' and 'network error'.

Not that we're seeing network errors at all - you know, inventory not showing up and other things in the open letter. Is it a strange coincidence? Is it sunspots? Or are these issues with network latency?

What if these issues are not human error? Has that possibility even been explored? I, for one, believe that some of these *are* human error but find it difficult to believe that so many people would be making the same errors.

And there's *nothing* on the SecondLife blog which even attempts to warn people of an issue. Nothing. At. All.

Seargent Crossair lost 80,000L. Roughly $288 US. Would limiting non-verified accounts help with that? We don't know, we don't have any data. I could go out on a limb here and say that these losses are probably over $10,000 US at this point - they were over $5,000 US last week - but this is not worth mentioning on the SecondLife blog?

Linden Response

Linden responses, after severe poking, has gotten the 'We're talking/working on it' response. Talk Faster.

I've distributed a notecard with my response to these responses in world for people who do talk with the Lindens (I'm tired of chasing them around, emailing them and even calling them). The notecard has something along these lines:

I have been told by friends and others that Lindens have said "We're talking about it" and "We're working on it". Some trust Lindens, but I have not had the occasion to find anything positive with anything said.

Here are a few facts:

(1) Landbaron Merlin has easily made in excess of $5000 USD, perhaps even $10,000 USD.
(2) What are being called 'mistakes' could also be called 'latency bugs' and 'application bugs'. Myself and others have seen this ourself, and land buying information being unavailable may be another symptom. Of course, for Landbaron Merlin this is a 'feature'.
(3) Landbaron Merlin continues making money.
(4) Linden Lab continues to dismiss this issue publicly by not talking about it; there is nothing on it on the website or 'Official Weblog'. So they aren't even trying to *warn* people.
(5) A few people are continuing to be told that "Linden Lab is working on it".

Comment on (4): This is the equivalent of quietly watching a child traverse a busy highway and when the child is hit by a vehicle saying "The child made a mistake." WHAM. No effort to stop the child, which is negligence at the least. LESSON: Don't let committees babysit children.

This keeps being attributed to Human Error. I've seen land information displayed improperly more than once. I've seen cuts not take immediately. I've seen issues which demonstrate network latency issues.

There are two responses that fit well together when I hear "we are talking about it" and "we are working on it". These are not personal, they are simply what I say based on empirical evidence of action related to Landbaron Merlin's activities.

(a) I don't believe you. Prove it.
(b) When can we expect a solution by?

We need a solution NOW, So, the next time you talk to Jack or Torley or whoever, feel free to say (a) and (b) for me. If you get responses, please let me know.

Too much manure is bad for flowers. The same with community.

No, what Landbaron Merlin does 'isn't against Terms of Service', but is it within the spirit of the Terms of Service? And more importantly, why isn't the possibility that this is a bug being acknowledged?

Liability, maybe. And why hasn't the major media been talking about this? Maybe it's too sensitive an issue for them. But from where I'm sitting, I'm seeing negligence in Linden Lab not acknowledging these issues publicly; they have made no obvious effort to inform the public about this issue.

And I am seeing them allowing what many perceive to be a negative behavior to be rewarded. They'll respond to an open letter. Maybe they need another one...