Socially|Mundane

For quite some time there has been outcry to Linden Lab to raise the 25-Group limit. That would be the "system groups" - you know the ones. The groups that are used to primarily manage parcels and often used to idiotic tags over your name like "I AM A MASTER!!!" or some silly thing like that.

The main purpose for the outcry had to do with creators and merchants using the groups as "update" groups. At first, these were product updates. A newer version of a product your own is sent via this update group to you so you will have a current version of your sex bed, sex throne, sex rug, sex house, sex whatever.

Then, of course there is the ridiculously-famously competitive and vitriolic drama-infested "fashionista" culture of Second Life. They want to spam the hell out of their customers in order to stay competitive in an SL industry that is fraught with drama and a laughably seething amount of competition. They were the biggest whiners. The loudest minority of SL residents bitching at Linden Lab for that group limit to be raised. Though not all whiners are in this camp. They also are the ones crying for more attachment points so they can crank their Avatar Rendering Cost twice as high as it is already, making lag exponentially worse than it is sometimes right now.

But, I digress.

Since at least 2006 and probably before that there always have been "update' servers. They send out product updates for your sex-thing whenever a new version was available. They didn't need you to be part of a system group. They are wonderful.

Then a someone came-up with the idea to use them for all the other reasons a system group is used for - sending IM messages. And along with that idea, came the enterprising genius of creating a recurring subscription to use this 'technology'.

It's called "Subscribe-O-Matic" and it's a great idea. Because of the increasing competition in this market space, there is now a limited version of Subscribe-O-Matic that is free. That's because there are better systems available in world now. One has been around as long, if not longer that Subscribe-O-Matic and that's the "Subscriber Kiosk" by Fred Allandale. I'm not here to plug either system, so I will leave it at this: I have done my research and there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Fred's system is by far that absolute best system with the highest ROI of any of them (Yes, I know. I just plugged one.)

In fact, I highly espouse this system in my book blog that come with the SBSL book (okay - I said that so I can plug my book so you can go buy it. Now. Right now. Muahahahaha):

"SBSL: Successful Business in Second Life - Second Edition (Second Life - Business)" (Ari Blackthorne)

However, the problem with Subscribe-O-Matic and even the Subscriber Kiosk and systems like it, is the propensity for abuse. Yes, I said abuse.

I have purchased items in world, then the next thing I know - I am receiving frivolous announcements from that merchant. This pisses me off to no end. Yo, dip-shit, if I wanted updates from you, I would have joined your update notice system.

The nice thing about the Subscriber Kiosk is that it is an opt-in system. And more importantly, it is easy to opt-out. Besides, it's the only system that offers a nice Transfer/Copy remote kiosk plug-in (optional purchase.)

I pump out a magazine every month and this thing is stunning in terms of features, offering things no other system does, including the Subscribe-O-Matic - and once purchased, there are no recurring subscription fees.

But, back to the abuse of these notification groups:

When the Subscribe-o-matics first came out I was thrilled. I could keep up with new releases from all my favorite stores and venues without taking up rare group slot real estate. wOOt!! I am a huge fan of the SOM because it is a classic example of people using technology and creativity to get around a limitation of the world. At the same time, I am dead tired of SOM spam.

[via Second Life® of My Dreams: Subscribe-o-matic Spam]

So, all you creators and merchants out there: read that blog article and take heed. Because when you spam, you piss people off. When you piss people off, you create bad-will. When you create bad-will, you create bad word-of-mouth.

Need I say more?