eku Zhong

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Culprit Blog * Culprit Store

Hitomi Tiponi

Or LOL - 'Lovable Old Lindens'

Duckie Dickins

From what he said at last thursday's meeting, Oskar was expecting company from out of town so I'm sure this may of put a dampener on planned activities. At least it makes you stop and think whether to take your guest out for a fancy dinner or have fast food and a little extra left over for rent at the end of the month.

Hitomi Tiponi

Yes, that is what he said - at least he didn't have an expensive holiday planned

Soda Sullivan

Darien, you placed the words "just a man" in quotes and attributed them to me and I am wondering why? Those words were not contained in my post anywhere. You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts. My post included no discussion whatsoever of whether this is an important person or not. His last name is Linden, so he is pretty important and obviously well liked in world.

All I was just saying, and the ONLY thing I was saying, was that I would imagine that a man who was just fired, or who just quit his job, probably has some real life issues to address and possibly real life family and friends to speak with which take WAY MORE importance over his virtual friends in SL.

Nika Talaj

Just an observation: rodvik has been consistently moving to close down direct communication between residents and Lindens. (You may say that his own occasional presence here disproves that, but actually he shows up only for rumor/damage control - to prevent rumors from spreading from SLU to the blogosphere, not to share anything new. If you want to hear from rodvik, make an incredibly over-the-top assertion about a recent LL annoucement.)

Given LL's shrinking employee base, shutting down these time-consuming links to residents may be simple expediency. In some cases, the best way to pursue that policy may be to send a particularly well-connected employee on their way.

I've had to face the difficult task of firing/laying off someone when the decision fell in the holiday season. Best to do so ASAP, even if they have a vacation coming. If you can get it in before Thanksgiving, they have a shot at getting something new before Christmas.

Not saying any of this applies this applies to Oskar, just general observations.

Adeon Writer

Oskar worked with the resident beta testers. Maybe they've decided to do their testing in-house now and no longer need us?

Otherwise I don't see how losing Oskar is a good thing. He was one of the few that knew what was going on.

Is someone else going to post the server change-sets I wonder, or will we be blind to that now?

Nika Talaj

I suppose they could continue to make new feature sets available to beta testers, and just tell folks who find problems to file Jiras. But I don't know how many new major features they are planning for SL - if it's just minor rollouts from now on, perhaps they will just roll them out directly onto the non-release channel servers, as they've been doing lately, and live with the inevitable rollbacks.

When they closed down Jira visibility, they said that users should watch release notes to find out if something they were curious about had been fixed. So I imagine those will at least stay, for the moment.

Innula Zenovka

In the past, I think Maestro has usually posted in place of Oskar when Oskar has been unavailable. Perhaps that arrangement will continue.

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Lexbot Sinister

I don't think so, last meeting i visited a few days ago mentioned arranging another pile-on test.

o_Oskar

Hello, I am the Linden formerly known as "Oskar". Now how do I prove that? Hmm, well I took this picture today:
- imgur: the simple image sharer

You can map it against an old pic that Teagan Linden took of Yoz and I at SLCC 2009.
- Oskar and Yoz | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
(ironically Yoz was also mysteriously let go just like I was 2 weeks ago)

To solidify all rumors, yes my employment was terminated by Linden Lab last Friday. It was a surprise Skype call with the manager of my department and HR. At the same moment all my accounts were locked and I was told a courier was on the way to my house to take my laptop. This is standard operating procedure at the Lab. The reasons given were quite vague, but at the root of it was complaints from a griefer who I had banned from a private testing sandbox that I managed after he was harassing people and threatening to crash them and the region.

I was also told that there were issues with my communications. I don't understand that because I have operated in the role of public communicator for the lab for three years and have always had stellar reviews. It's not like the reasons really matter anyway. When the Lab wants you gone it's over.

To be quite honest this has all come as a surprise and a shock. I have known for a while that this would happen eventually though. All Lindens fear 'the skype call'. The old Linden culture is long gone. Many Lindens are disappeared in that way when the Lab no longer has use for them. It has been difficult working through the changes at the Lab the past few years. I could have left, perhaps I should have left on my own. I would have been better off. I did not choose to do so because I was dedicated to the wonderful residents I have met during my 4 years working on SL. I was committed to all of you and committed to making Second Life and Linden Lab a better place. I felt I was fighting the good fight and didn't want to just run away. I felt that I was making a difference. I hope that I did.

I have no idea what is next for me. I have varied passions that I will follow until I feel the need to pursue further employment.

I have nothing disparaging to say about Linden Lab, in fact I am not legally allowed to because of the wording of my separation agreement. :-) Linden Lab is cotton candy and kittens, unicorns and rainbows.

I greatly appreciate all of you who friended me and were so passionate about helping me make Second Life a better place. Your enthusiasm to help find bugs greatly helped the quality of the server code. You are all amazing. You are Second Life, not Linden Lab. Never forget that. I love you all and will miss working with you greatly!

o_Oskar

Chrono Cogshine

I havent been around here as long as everyone else, but from what i can see the community holds you in high regard and the way you were treated is abhorrent and unjust.

I really do not think that there are any lines for the lab to cross anymore.

Marianne McCann

Thank you for everything, Oskar. You made my own time in SL that much better.

Phoebe Avro

Oskar leaves LL and SL breaks for 7 hours, does that say anything^^

Polo

I was never involved in beta testing, but I'm sure that along with all those who were, I appreciate Oskar taking the time to come here to put speculation to rest. As others have noted, no doubt he has a lot of calls on his time at the moment, so posting here was a kind and considerate act.

I've worked places where the prevailing management philosophy was 'we'll use you up then discard you without warning'...I do question whether that sort of philosophy leads to the highest quality of work.

Of course in American corporate culture this sort of thing is not at all unusual. But for industries with a large creative component (such as SL surely has), the 'be anxious every minute about that Skype call' method of management/employee relations seems to be particularly unproductive.

Not that it's really any of my business, except as a long-time fan of what SL originally offered--that "we're all in this together" spirit.

My best wishes for a happy and productive future to Oskar, and also to those Lindens who remain employed at the Lab.

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They say you can't do it, but sometimes it doesn't always work.
----Casey Stengel

http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/new...noob-anti.html

Marita

Ozkar , You may have been thrown under the proverbial bus by the lab but you can always find a nice home here.

How many times does LL have to shoot themselves in the foot before they learn.

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I think politicians should be required to dress like race car drivers.
That way we'd know who their corporate sponsors are.

Jessica lyon

Perhaps I'm still somewhat of a newb in here but I have never seen so many people watching one thread* At last look 158.

Lexbot Sinister

Oskar, now that you don't have to do the Dark Sides bidding, will you stay with us?

Mad Mouse

A Skype call? Really? Whatever happened to "step into my office"?

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Beezle Warburton

Maybe all of the sacked Lindens could band together and form a competitor . . .

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Innula Zenovka

Didn't Oskar work from Seattle, though? Rather a long step to San Francisco.

Lucifer Baphomet

I'm sure they've all signed contracts that would prohibit them from doing such.

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Darien Caldwell

I was really hoping it would turn out to be a false rumor. Really. I happened to catch Oskar while he's inworld. At least I got to say goodbye. SL just won't be the same.

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[H]arsh Styles

Mad Mouse

Oh, I didn't know that. That would make sense then.

mikka Luik

Hell of a subject to break my lurker silence on but hell - thanks Oskar, appreciated your work and your communications and best of luck in the future.