Some time ago, when Linden Lab took over XStreet, I posted about how this was undoubtedly likely to be the end of the Xstreet Forums. Unfortunately, it seems I was right, as a post on the Second Life™ blog yesterday confirmed the forums would be moving over to the SL forums area. They were, as ever, scarce with the details. But I will sulk anyway.

Linden Lab remind me of a kid I used to know when I was growing up. Jordan, he was called. And he was right miserable little bastard, to be honest. We’d all be playing football nicely, minding our own business and he would come along every single time we played and ruin the game. Either he would run off with the ball or he would run off with the sweaters we were using as goal posts or he would throw stones. Why? Because he just could not stand to see anyone having fun. And don’t go feeling sorry for Jordan. He was invited to play frequently, but instead it seems he just preferred to be an annoying little shit. Well congratulations, Linden Lab. You just shat all over my game of football, burst the ball, ran off with the goal posts and are now sitting smugly on the sidelines rubbing your hands in a ‘muah ha ha ha, the power is all mine,’ style gesture.

Alright, so childhood grudges aside, what the Hell is the problem with those forums staying separate? The blog posts claim the overall look will improve and functionality will be made better. But if you look at the existing Second Life forums and compare them with the XStreet forums, you will see why so many prefer XStreet. The official Second Life forums are messy, difficult to navigate, awkward and generally shit. There is a thriving community on the XStreet forums who enjoy the banter, the advice and of course classifieds services. They are hugely well read forums and the likes of the merchant’s forum there provides sound advice for people who are PAYING LINDEN LAB for the right to sell items there. Surely the commission Linden Lab takes from such sales (which can be pretty hefty on pricier items) should entitle people to the use of such services as forums there?

I just can’t see the harm in leaving it there. Ok, so not everyone likes it. Some people prefer the official SL ones. Personally I hate the official SL forums. They are overly policed and really awful to operate. But even if Linden Lab prefer their own, why can’t they just leave the XStreet ones as they are? It doesn’t cost a fortune to run them and there’s a group of happy posters over there just minding their own business. Will children in Africa spontaneously combust if the XStreet forums stay open? No. Will the global recession be drawn out for the remainder of the century? No. Will martians land and annihilate the population? Probably not. So why not just leave them there??

And it’s ok people talking about using other forums entirely independent of Linden Lab. Of course, other independent forums are great insofar as you avoid the gestapo like moderating of the Linden Lab affiliated ones, but people simply become comfortable with what they know and this is just another fine example of a decision on which no residents have been consulted. In something that is supposedly a user created world and in which we are frequently reminded that the residents are what makes SL the place it is, you would think there would be at least an attempt to consult with us before stupid decisions like this.

Then again… that would be too sensible I suppose.

Now, can I have my football back please?

Tags: linden lab, second life forums, xstreet forums
Categories: Random Thoughts and Musings

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 5:17 pm and is filed under Random Thoughts and Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.