The following article is by Ari Blackthorne and is published as part of the SL Blogger Mix and Match.

Why do public-facing Lindens seem to always get a bad wrap?

I blast Linden Lab a lot. But I also try to stand on the side of LL employees who face the public when I feel they are getting a raw deal on the blogs, forums and so on.

I tried contacting someone at Linden Lab to at least clarify, if not verify my synopsis and hypothesis that I am about to explain. Did I actually expect an answer? No. But like most humans, I still tend to hold onto hope. Of course there will be no answer. That way, anything I say cannot point back to Linden lab - truth or not. So I’ll just repeat my email to them, but edited for general public consumption. This will be based on the whole Openspace scenario and my hypothesis is on how most companies in the united states work.

And I apologize, dear reader, that I will present a lot more questions and practically no answers. but they are really rhetorical. Food for your own thought.

I understand Jack Linden is in charge of managing virtual land in Second Life. But what does that mean? Does he do technical stuff directly related to the server code? Does he also “manage” the land masses - such as overseeing the design and look of the virtual land? Does he set the tier fees? In other words: how much say does he have in the big picture. Of course, I ask about Jack, but really referring to all top-tier employees of Linden Lab.

I am with the understanding of how he might manage that part of the economy - cost per square meter in Linden Dollars - and tries to adjust how much land to create to help balance this. However, when he looks at this stuff, does he have any say in the real life financial areas that affect this? Or does he just ‘report’ what he knows, and then other number-geniuses at Linden Lab actually create the formulas - and then he acts on them?

In the case of Openspace fee structure - was it the financial department that first looked into this fee structure? Or was it the technical people reporting to the financial people and then they had the “pow-wow” meeting to discuss what can be done, bringing Jack linden into the mess?

Does Jack have the say (or influence) on actual tier fees or is it really the finance department that handles that part of the machine? What I am asking is this: how involved is he in the other aspects of it - such as determining the tier fees, policies regarding virtual land (not code law, but Linden Lab policies) and so on.

Now, here is why I am asking this: My understanding based on how a company works:
Jack Linden is the one who faced the public with the notice and announcement of the tier fee increase for Openspace sims. The public was ready to crucify him almost instantly. From my perspective and with a bit of reasoning, that’s just not entirely fair.

I am of the belief that Jack, being the one in-charge of managing virtual land in Second Life, is the appropriate person to make such announcements, but he is not the cause of the reason for the announcement.

In other words, he is not the person who necessarily suggested this amount or when to implement it. Perhaps suggesting a rise in fees, yes - but I doubt he is the one who came-up with the actual numbers of the new rate and so many things that naturally work against each-other internally .

That he is simply a member of a larger picture that involves many people, all responsible for their individual parts of that overall picture and Jack is (in this case) just the “messenger”.

For example: The technicians note that there are Openspace sims being overused for what they were designed for, they report to Jack. Jack gathers reports, analyzes, reports to Robin (or someone else in-charge of a bigger picture.) Finance department is brought in, financials are analyzed to see what the cost/profit ratio is and that is all compared to the Grid resource usage overall and in whatever particular areas. So in addition to the in-world economy, there is a real economic effect, primarily in the return on investment the company is getting regarding to the way these resources are being used.

All these people meet, ideas are all thrown around, the idea to raise tier comes into the plan, both for ensuring appropriate income for the company’s cost to profit ratios (ROI) and also based on the popularity of the product (brings sales prices more in line) to better control the supply and demand of the product, while maintaining a good profit so the company remains strong and viable.

A plan is built and presented to the powers that be: Robin, Mark, Philip and board, etc.

The plan is approved and vetted in terms of all the logistics and fine details - lots of little details the customers couldn’t hope to fathom. Once everything is worked-out, understood and approved, all anticipated lash-backs considered to be within the acceptable levels and so on, An announcement is written, vetted and approved as written.

Whether those lash back level were in the anticipated range or not I have no idea. However, consider this:

Jack makes the announcement.
Jack becomes the poor fall-guy for the whole company.

Hey, maybe he gets paid big bucks to be the fall guy, doesn’t matter to me.
Jack is just an -example-.
Jack is also Joshua Linden, when he used to post Knowledge-base tips.
Jack is Torley Linden when he posted Tutorial tips.
Jack is Katt Linden when she posts helpful snippets about all things Second Life.

“Jack” is just the consumer-facing employee who gets the “bad wrap” and all the anger and hate and vitriol directed against them, for what the entire company chooses to do. Or for whatever issues the company’s product is undergoing, even though the company doesn’t like it any more than the customers and is actually working hard to resolve it.

The Linden Lab employees who do communicate with us directly through blog, forums or other means are not usually the end-all, official decision-makers and really don’t deserve to be the brunt of a lot of the attacks that come their way. They are simply the face of the company with regard to that particular communication and there always is a much larger picture people always seem to forget even exists.

Whew!

Now the first thing we all need to remember is this: Linden Lab is not a seat of government and the Linden employees are not government workers. They are a company. One that is in the game to make a profit. As big a profit as the customer base will allow. I am not so sure some of them deserve the acid we throw on them many times. It’s the unfortunate side effect of communicating with the population in a two-way method. Unusually for a company with this kind of product.

On the other hand, though the mob has a mob mentality, it is Linden Lab’s fault for creating the mob with a mob’s mentality: by not providing easy, reliable and definite means of communicating our grievances.

So, Linden lab: I pity your employees that get thrown under the bus all the time. But I also chastise you for making every reason in the world for it to happen.

To everyone steaming, hopping, mad and angry at Linden Lab: find the address to the ceo and the Board, including Philip Rosedale. Redirect all that anger at them. It’s what they get paid the big bucks for.

And as for Jack Linden? Yes, he makes the big bucks and has a lot of say in the virtual land stuff. I used him only as an example. But at the same time, I still believe he is just a messenger.

Ari Blackthorne

http://sociallymundane.com and http://commonsensible.net

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Author of the above post: Ari Blackthorne

Person who suggested the subject: Ari Blackthorne

(My post will appear on Girl Wonder Speaks…about Second Life, subject suggested by Meara Deschanel)

Finally, thanks to Vint Falken and ArminasX Saiman for their work on organising the SL bloggers Mix’n Match!