Stroker Serpentine

First off, I am not going to bitch about this as I know I am not the only one LL has ever royally screwed. Here's the skinny for my SLU peeps. Warning: tl;dr

Several weeks ago, I was called at home around midnight by my manager Andrea Faulkner. She had "that tone" in her voice that immediately let me know something was wrong. She asked if I was aware of any major grid malfunction or if I had pissed off LL somehow. She told me to get my ass into SL so she could show me.

When I logged in I was bombarded by IM's of "My SexGen doesn't work" or "Menu not loading". Andrea additionally cut/pasted similar IMs she was getting in email. I immediately knew what happened after this fiasco last year:

https://blogs.secondlife.com/communi...C4A0D5D6E7A4D1

We had been blacklisted.

I rang up concierge and they were nice enough to expedite a ticket through to the DevTeam. The next morning Data Linden showed up and we isolated the specific script that had indeed been blacklisted.

This was Data's response:

Data Linden: The asset-ID got blacklisted, now I need to find out why
Stroker Serpentine: Doesn't sound good :-/
Data Linden: Okay here is the issue
Data Linden: I can take it off the blacklist, no problem. BUT this won't solve the problems already there

Stroker Serpentine: Going forward..Any indication as to WHY it was blacklisted? The LS one and NOT the Mono one?
Data Linden: And the blacklist has propagated to this region already and the script now remains in the object if rezzed
Stroker Serpentine: LSL*
Data Linden: That I still need to find out, the person who did add it is not yet available
Stroker Serpentine: I mean, this was kind of sudden. It blind-sided us
Data Linden: It is a bit weird too, since we almost never blacklist by Asset-ID
Data Linden: It's dangerous

It was a script we use to store the rotations and offsets in virtual memory. Of ALL the scripts it had to be THAT one. I was pissed and wanted answers. I left a voicemail for Cyn Linden and Marty Linden (their attorney) and heard nothing back all day. I at least thought Marty would return my call as he knows Frank (my attorney) and would at least have contacted him. Nadda.

Finally, I emailed Philip. I have emailed him once in all these years. He responded within a couple of hours, and I voiced my discontent about the whole situation and he assured me that someone would be in contact. He apologized and seemed genuinely concerned.

The next day I get an email from Garry Linden whom said he had been apprised of the situation and wanted to help. He apologized profusely and we had a phone convo to discuss how best to stem the tide of IM's we were receiving. Since this affected every item we had used the SexGen anim system in it apparently broke about 50 UUID's and ten's of thousands of items that were rezzed inworld at the time. There was no easy fix. We decided to just "deal with it" and provide personalized service instead of making some impersonal "Repair Kit" available on XStreet as Garry suggested.

We have since been dealing with thousands of broken items built over 2-1/2 years. The IM's don't stop. I can't tell you how hard it is to log in most days. I believe in my heart that our customers are the best on the grid. They have been understanding and supportive through all this mess. Plus, I have learned from experience that you live and die in SL based upon your reputation.

I suffered through all the comments over the years of "This is what you can expect from trying to build a business on pixels and spacebucks". There's a lot of truth in that I suppose, however, coming from a content business prior to SL, I also know it's an honorable profession with many opportunities. Virtual property is a tangible commodity IMO.

What has really pissed me of through this whole thing is that apparently ONE Linden had the authority to cause this damage. The script was blacklisted AFTER Linden Lab would have been closed. I am not particularly a "Conspiracy Theorist", but this smacks of abuse and incompetence.

I would appreciate any help in getting out the word that we can fix this. It's going to take time and patience on both ends. We're still dealing with 100's of IM's at a time. Pixeleen did us a service by posting this story and the notecard:

Alphaville Herald : Strokerz Second Life SexToys Broken

Initially, I felt it was best to keep this quiet and just deal with the consequences individually. I was concerned for the damage it would do to our reputation. Now, I just want to get it over with.

If you would like to link to this post (SLU) please let people know that we're willing and able to make this right. We're giving free upgrades and gifts to try and salvage our customer base. For the most part everyone has been understanding, but sometimes we lose an IM or return. Occasionally we get the "I paid good money for this and it doesn't work!" They usually squelch their discontent when we explain what happened and give them something free.

Finally, I want to thank Persephone for being such an amazing friend and letting me rant in her ear about this over the past few weeks. I truly wanted to quit SL. Persephone was a voice of reason through this entire debacle. I have been truly blessed by some of the most amazing friendships here. It's very humbling.

I'll close with one of my favorite quotes from Richard Bach..

"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof."

Yeah..I'm an emo *shrug*. Sue me!

Lucifer Baphomet

This is the borkage the repair kit sorted, Stroker?

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Johnnie Carling

Well if it helps Stroker... I was impressed how fast I got the repair kits.

But I would of liked to know before i wanted to use your product that it may be broken. Instead of standing there naked going WTF.

But while i was at your shop looking for some sort of notice about the problem... I ended up buying a new bed... love the new styles!

Stroker Serpentine

In hindsight, you're probably right Johnnie. I wish there were an effective way to get grid-wide announcements done. Many do not read external forums and/or blogs. We "try" to get people to join our support group, but the 25 limit is a struggle for most of us.

I do know that several days passed of anger and being overwhelmed before I realized that I had to completely replace everything in our shop as well. Luckily, networked vendors were not affected. I really underestimated the amount of products we had out there and the extent of the issue.

No excuses, I apologize.

Lucifer Baphomet

No apologies necessary..

Andrea was speedy and efficient when I found my bed was borked...

Strangely the chair and swing which are both pretty old seemed ok

Stroker Serpentine

Yes Luc..the repair kit will fix the issue. Andrea and I both agreed that we should handle as much as we can personally so that we can give a free upgrade or gift where possible.

If you did not get one by using the repair kit, please IM me inworld.

I tried including a gift with the repair kit, but people kept dragging it inside their bed's contents. Which was an additional headache o.O

reeneebob Birmingham

Man Stroker, you have my sympathies - LL should give YOU a gift for the headache this has caused...

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Stroker Serpentine

I need to say this and often...

Andrea Faulkner has been with me for many years. She is the best manager anyone could ever hope for. Generally, she is patient, courteous and professional. I am proud to have her represent our enterprise. She has been a godsend throughout all of this.

I said "Generally" only because she is not a doormat. She doesn't suffer ignorance or abuse very well. That being said, I believe she has only orbited less than 50 people from our shop.

(That I know of)

Sansarya

All my sympathies, Stroker. Anyone who knows you, even only through forums, knows you wouldn't screw anyone over with your products. Your reputation is stellar.

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Phoenix Psaltery

With lots of zeroes on the end.

Whoever did this should have his ass canned. that's ridiculous.

P2

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Cindy Claveau

The other day I pestered Stroker with a chat log taken from a group I'm in, where one of the members was bashing on SexGen customer service and raving about how shitty service was.

I called him on it, and pointed out that LL had broken the scripts and Stroker & Andrea were positively snowed under with complaints. Honestly, I think some people are fucking spoiled to death and have no desitre to understand the tribulations of major content creators, much less major content that is broken by LL's stupidity.

I have to wonder, Stroker, if there's a way to find out which Linden blacklisted your stuff. If they worked in my shop, they'd be canned so fast their ass would get caught in the door on the way out. That's nothing but lousy business on their part.

Vivianne Draper

I'm fairly certain Ten will let me post this on SCD (or she'll do it herself).

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Chip Midnight

That really sucks, Stroker. Sorry that you guys are having to deal with such a customer service nightmare. I've often thought it might be a good idea for people who sell script based content to put in a disclaimer and limit the length of time the product is warrantied. Since legacy support isn't something that we can count on from LL over the long haul it seems a bit unfair for customers to expect a replacement or fix for a product that stops working two years after they bought it. Everything we make will become obsolete at some point, and that's about the only thing we can absolutely bank on. I've never bought one of your products but it's obvious how much you care and how far out of your way you go to support your products. My hats off to you sir.

CaleVinson

Warning: the following is written by someone who is clearly in La-La-Land.

If I was LL, and I incorrectly deleted a script that broke thousands of objects across the grid, I would at least come clean, and explain what happened on the LL blog, and possibly in a log-on message too. The theory being that I had an obligation to minimise hurt to the content creator and his customers, and the best way to do this was to get information out as quickly and as widely as possible.

Of course, if LL did actually do this and I missed it, feel free to slap me around with a halibut.

Sooz Pascale

God luck with this problem Stroker. If I can do anything to help [i can't imagine what it would be] just say the word.

Finally, do not let THIS one go away gently. Raise the hugest uproar you can and if possible get those imbeciles to reveal who did this and hopefully send HIS butt to the unemployment line.

Sooz

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Aodhan McDunnough

Was this something specific to Stoker's scripts or are there others similarly affected?

Phoenix Psaltery

It's apparently SexGen-specific because Moron Linden blacklisted one of the scripts that makes the SexGen tick.

P2

Siggy

My sympathies dude - I know exactly what you're going through. I hope you bounce back from it and don't let the experience drag you down too much... I've travelled that road myself and it's not pretty.

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And as it was in the beginning, so too shall it be in the end. That bullshit is bullshit, it just goes by different names.

Ned Easterwood

I will say right now that we got great service from Stroker for our three items that were affected.
The older bed that Bea has - a gift from Sarah - was not affected.

Stroker rocks.

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Ned

Stroker Serpentine

Thanks Sig.

What really wrinkles my raisins is the dichotomy of accountability. Out of one corner we hear "Bring your Enterprise/Business/Research Team to Second Life and invest in our community, resources and vibrant economy". The other corner of the mouth murmurs "This is a new and disruptive technology, we can't be held accountable for every little server hiccup..read the TOS".

LL doesn't get a hall pass when we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars, just because "Shit Happens in the Metaverse".
Not when WE built the vast majority of everything that goes through the GPU. We continually play Three Card Monty with policy and tier, always to the benefit of Linden Lab. Not to mention that we are held hostage by login access and the "All Great and Powerful Asset Server".

It's really a form of extortion when you think about it. You pay for the "privilege" of bolstering LL's bottom line. PMLF of 5K+ hasn't made any significant advances in years. Ask yourself, is that because of the lack of ingenuity? Or is it because once you reach a pinnacle of success you have your knees cut out from under you by a policy change, content theft and disgust to the point of surrender?

Six years and billions of dollars into this software as a service and nothing has really changed dramatically. Residents are still losing inventory, sims still buckle and crash under strain and content theft has reached rapacious proportions. M Linden touts progress, but the benchmark was pretty damn low to begin with. It's mind numbing. But the churn keeps churning and the corp speak turns to din.

If I were still a plumbing contractor and sent a plumber to your home to fix your leaky faucet and he/she ended up flooding your home overnight, who pays? I can tell you, because I have been there. The contractor does. "Ooops sorry 'bout that!" doesn't cut it. Nor, can I hide behind a TOS that absolves me from all responsibility.

This isn't the first time this has happened by any means. More often than not it is the direct result of employee incompetence (or agenda), not technology. I am sick of the ambivalence and the tail wagging the dog. We are not pre-schoolers in need of a Day Care Center.

I really think I should start blogging again, but, without the "Linden Blue" colored glasses. I've been hesitant to do it because my spelling and punctuation really sucks. However, I am not a "quitter". I'll ride the horse until it either drops out from under me or finishes in the winners circle.

There's a lot of fiber in sour grapes.

Winter Ventura

Stroker.. you have my sympathies. I'm dealing with a not too dissimilar customer service load myself.. though nothing on the scale you're dealing with. But I know the feeling at 5am, of checking my email first, to see how many offlines I accrued and what sorts.. and judging whether I should log in first thing, or give it a rest and have something to eat first.

I don't keep my sexgen rezzed, and tend to just pull it out of inventory when needed. It was a gift from an ex, and to be honest I don't really have much by way of a "house". (the core is also attached to a bed design that I've never really liked.. but it was a gift, yanno?)

Do you have a process in which we can "get in line" for whatever repair kit is involved here without massively adding to your inworld flux of stress? Or do I even need to bother? (since it was unrezzed at the time all this happened).

I just rezzed it now, and the menus do seem to work for me (it's a Platinum, v4.01).. and the balls are rezzing like normal. Hrm.. maybe I don't even need this fix. Yup, animations are running, switching, changing position.. What's broken, exactly? cause this seems to look ok to me.

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Stroker Serpentine

Whinter, fortunately items that were in inventory should be fine. Data Linden reversed the blacklist the next day so that stored items "should" be unaffected. The damage was done to everything (beds, toys, genitals) that used our version 5 scripts and rezzed in world.

Unfortunately (for us), the majority of residents do not keep their SexGen in inventory. Beds are typically placed on display in a resident's residence.

Resident's residence? O.o

FlipperPA Peregrine

Stroker, you're an amazing guy, and sorry you'll having to deal with this gross level of incompetence.

Crap like this would have happened a few years back, but when people like Robin and Cory were around, it would have been dealt with in an expeditious manner. The new regime has not impressed me.

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Peregrine Salon: Flip & Jenn's thang.

Aodhan McDunnough

Don't worry. I'm a grammar cop every so often. This is correct.

Winter Ventura

This, however..