Caledon Oxbridge Q&A for 2014-08-17

15:01	Steadman Kondor	greetings all
15:02	Wordsmith Jarvinen	Welcome, all.
15:02	Martini Discovolante	hello Everyone!
15:02	Tali Rosca	Welcome to another week's QA with the Deans, a questions-and-answers session where the deans will answer questions to the best of their knowledge and expertise.
15:02	Tali Rosca	We each cover a separate area of the Oxbridge operation, as seen here: http://www.caledonoxbridge.org/qna_index.php
15:03	Tali Rosca	...but we also have picked up a fair bit of knowledge about SL in general, so we may be able to answer questions about more than just Oxbridge.
15:03	Tali Rosca	So with that said, who has the first question?
15:04	Steadman Kondor	only if you click the button to accept them :)
15:04	Tali Rosca	Only if you bring them yourself. We're not using 3rd party cookies.
15:04	Casterman06	thank you Martini
15:04	Kamilah Hauptmann	Will there be cookies?
15:05	Tali Rosca	Anybody?
15:05	Tali Rosca	Anybody?
15:06	Sir Kyle Chalice (wolforphenoc)	Hows the progress on the mesh replacements for campus going?
15:06	Sir Kyle Chalice (wolforphenoc)	oh so many miles in the air
15:06	Red Quixote	I think I have some cookies somewhere
15:06	Tali Rosca	To be honest, I don't know about the progress.
15:07	Larkylouz	I turned off cookies. I'm on a diet. . .
15:07	Steadman Kondor	dean rav isn't here today for that mesh building question unfortunately. i believe he is still tweaking the lecture hall
15:07	Wordsmith Jarvinen	For that, you need Dean Ormstein.
15:07	Steadman Kondor	and the entrance hall is in the works
15:07	Tali Rosca	It has been a while since I cornered Ravelli about it.
15:07	Martini Discovolante	Ravelli is the architect of record on the mesh-inations
15:07	Wordsmith Jarvinen	But this week, you can ask about the CATS. ;)
15:07	Steadman Kondor	yes :) mr serapis is in attendance
15:07	Phrynne	I believe Mr. Serapis may be away for a few minutes, but will be back soon.
15:08	Phrynne	perhaps it would be good to save the questions for a little while
15:09		Wordsmith Jarvinen Stuffs the question in the first in, little while out stack.
15:09	Tali Rosca	I think it has been some quiet weeks in SL overall, so there has not been many "official" news and updates to talk about either.
15:09	Tali Rosca	But we do finally have group bans.
15:09	Red Quixote	woot
15:09	Jorge Serapis	apologies, was organising a munchie for the q&a. :-)
15:10	Tali Rosca	In other words, *Jorge* has the cookies!
15:10	Red Quixote	you didn't get any cookies Jorge?
15:10	Gronk Seriman	So I can ban annoying groups now?!?
15:10		Phrynne reaches across and takes a cookie
15:10		Gronk Seriman smirks
15:10		Tali Rosca laughs. "That is not *quite* how it works."
15:10	Red Quixote	drat
15:11	Sir Kyle Chalice (wolforphenoc)	Wait that's why I've suddenly lost all my groups except coug D:
15:12	Tali Rosca	Jorge, if you're with us, can you give us an update on the CATs? -Its been a recurring question at the QAs.
15:12	Phrynne	Maybe they're out on the Caledon Quest?
15:12	Jorge Serapis	Well, good news and annoying news.
15:12	Jorge Serapis	the good news is, the scripts are finished and the system is ready to be updated.
15:12	Jorge Serapis	The annoying news.
15:12	Jorge Serapis	My computer has died (I am using SLGO on an antique netbook)...
15:13	Jorge Serapis	.. so until I can urchase a new computer, the project will be on hold.
15:13	Martini Discovolante	ingenuity.
15:13	Jorge Serapis	Great Cog willing, it will be sometime end of this week.
15:13	Red Quixote	Cog bless you then Jorge
15:13	Tali Rosca	That seems to be a trend! I've heard of several people having their computer blow up in the last couple of weeks.
15:13	Jorge Serapis	At the moment, Judy Vee, Dear Ophelia, Dorothy rush and sumie are flying.
15:14	Tali Rosca	What about the subs?
15:14	Jorge Serapis	when the new computer happens, Leosanni will be added to the list, and hopefully a new service.
15:14	Jorge Serapis	The subs will be activated tomorrow am..
15:14	Jorge Serapis	.. their routes also need to be adjusted.
15:15	Tali Rosca	Bright Shadow and... ?
15:15	Jorge Serapis	our nation's recent border upheavals have impinged on them.
15:15	Jorge Serapis	Midnight sun.
15:15	Gronk Seriman	Do the new scripts use any of the new Pathfinding features, or are they just brute strength scripting?
15:16	Wordsmith Jarvinen	Was it ever figured out what LL changed to cause the onset of the rezzing problems?
15:16	Jorge Serapis	I don't know, to be honest, Miss Gronk. I will assume the pathfinding feature will be implemented. I am useless at scripting, but will ask.
15:16	Jorge Serapis	the rezzing problems were an issue of the watchtower function.
15:16	Kamilah Hauptmann	Careful of regions with pathfinding turned off.
15:16	Steadman Kondor	who is scripting this?
15:17	Jorge Serapis	the ships talk to the watchtowers to monitor their health.
15:17	Tali Rosca	I don't think they use pathfinding. There's little use for that, really, since they are cruising open skies.
15:17	Jorge Serapis	Rehman Polanksi.
15:17	Gronk Seriman	I know so little about Pathfinding. But I thought of CAT when I heard about it.
15:17	Tali Rosca	The pathfinding is more geared towards navigating (in fairly complex routes) between walls.
15:17	Jorge Serapis	when the ships can't communicate with the watchtowers through an external app, the watchtower assumes the ship is lost at sea and rezzes a new one.
15:18	Jorge Serapis	it also sends out a die order to kill the existing one.
15:18	Jorge Serapis	When regions are offline, the watchtower and ship can't communicate.. that's why the ships breed.
15:18	Red Quixote	aye,. those rough Caledonian seas
15:19	Jorge Serapis	at the moment, it's a glitch with no real reasonable solution, so it's a necessary evil.
15:19	Jorge Serapis	des and I have the keys to the watchtower to stop them.. so a quick IM or email will put it to right.
15:19	Wordsmith Jarvinen	It seemed that communication was being lost at times even when all sims were up.
15:20	Jorge Serapis	Yes.
15:20	Jorge Serapis	trust me when we say it was a major thorn in our collective sides. :_)
15:20	Wordsmith Jarvinen	Which made me wonder if LL has meddled with communications.
15:21	Jorge Serapis	Kaluura Boa, or former scripter was working on a solution, but sadly he passed away in RL end of last year.
15:21	Kamilah Hauptmann	Using a remote server can be 'lulzy' at the best of times in SL.
15:21	Sir Kyle Chalice (wolforphenoc)	they change the method to zombie carrier pidgeons that have a 50% change of falling apart mid transit?
15:21	Wordsmith Jarvinen	Sad in many ways
15:22	Jorge Serapis	His business partner pitched in to keep it going, thankfully.
15:23	Jorge Serapis	His friends miss him terribly (he was the first SL/RL death I cried upon hearing the news), so the best way to honour his memory is to keep the CAT flying.
15:24	Wordsmith Jarvinen	Tis true -- honor an artists creations, and scripting is an art.
15:25	Jorge Serapis	hear, hear.
15:25	Tali Rosca	And also a reminder of the nature of SL.
15:26	Tali Rosca	There are real, individual persons behind the things you see.
15:26	Gronk Seriman	I'm glad to hear about the subs, too, I kile them!
15:27	Wordsmith Jarvinen	I imagine, rather than pathfind, the llSetKeyFrameMotion is useful. I suspect that was implemented when the original scripting was done.
15:27	Jorge Serapis	airships, subs, a ferry.. and some airplanes are on the drawing board. :-)
15:28	Wordsmith Jarvinen	I've always felt that the transport systems are part of what gives Caledon its character as a community.
15:28	Martini Discovolante	it is a daring age
15:28	Martini Discovolante	itiiii]
15:29	Martini Discovolante	sorry0--- i am losing my keyboard input abilities!
15:29	Tali Rosca	Thanks for the update on the CATs. As I mentioned, that question has kept coming up at the QAs.
15:29	Jorge Serapis	I admire all the different arts caledonians bring to our nation.
15:30	Tali Rosca	Other questions?
15:30	Larkylouz	Hear, hear, Jorge
15:30	Jorge Serapis	I took a sneak preview at the new lecture hall. Absolutely lovely.
15:30		Kamilah Hauptmann walked across Martini's keyboard.
15:31	Wordsmith Jarvinen	A true feline endeavor, Vicerine. :P
15:32	Jorge Serapis	question: how is attendance overall at Oxbridge's classes?
15:33	Wordsmith Jarvinen	We've been running somethng like 85 student hours per week
15:33	Very old leather fireside chair DINKIE, WITH PILLOW whispers	(⇞PgUp or ⇟ PgDn ) change your pose. Touch for menu.
15:34	Tali Rosca	And our traffic is fairly steady.
15:34	ShenKu Firelight	not when the SIM is full ... like now
15:34	Tali Rosca	It has risen a bit over the summer.
15:34	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	Especially the Lindal crowds
15:35	Wordsmith Jarvinen	I need to run the stats for the last two weeks, but previous ones looked like this (the data is start of week)
15:35	Wordsmith Jarvinen	2014-06-08,75 2014-06-15,120 2014-06-22,76 2014-06-29,89 2014-07-06,81 2014-07-13,59 2014-07-20,75 2014-07-27,97
15:36	Gronk Seriman	Any more news about the inworld schools and LL joining hands?
15:36	Wordsmith Jarvinen	Some of the dips relate to professor's being away.
15:36	Jorge Serapis	the last numbers are the unique avatars per day?
15:37	Tali Rosca	No; class "man hours".
15:37	Wordsmith Jarvinen	Those are cumulative student hours; the number of students in each class summed over the week.
15:38	Jorge Serapis	*makes a thumbs up*
15:38	Tali Rosca	For raw traffic, we track one-day old avatars and 7-day-old avatars.
15:38	ShenKu Firelight	For what purpose ?
15:39	Martini Discovolante	it helps us track interest.
15:39	Tali Rosca	It jumps a bit, but one-day is around 250 per week currently, and one-week is around 450.
15:39	ShenKu Firelight	thank you
15:39	Wordsmith Jarvinen	To have some measure of the service we provide, both from the tutorial, the tutor help, and the classes taught.
15:39	Martini Discovolante	and it is how we discovered that we had been accidentally removed from the destination guide at one point.
15:40	Tali Rosca	It helps us correlate various events in SL, with that destination guide incident being a good example.
15:41	Martini Discovolante	It was instituted when we were part of the :: Gateway Program, so we knew how many chose us.
15:41	ShenKu Firelight	I have a question ... new avatars run the risk of "infection" from the Bloodlines players ... vampires and werewolves ... What is being done about that?
15:41	Martini Discovolante	we do not allow biting here.
15:41	ShenKu Firelight	I, myself, was enticed and mislead into the trap as a newbie, and to the day regret it.
15:41	Wordsmith Jarvinen	Well, infection is actually the risk of being entered into their database.
15:42	Martini Discovolante	meh. some just get bit to get it over with
15:42	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	I have not seen any obvious recruitersrecently-
15:42	Larkylouz	What does being in their database do?
15:42	ShenKu Firelight	yes, but shouldnt something be done so that a new person could understand about the Bloodlines situation?
15:42	Tali Rosca	I think bloodliners account for a fairly significant amount of the people who end up swimming after talking to our staff.
15:42	Larkylouz	I AR'd one who tried to bite me last week.
15:42	Wordsmith Jarvinen	It lists someone as bitten and by whom. May have other data as well.
15:42	Larkylouz	And ejected and banned them.
15:43	Tali Rosca	If they truly do sneak around, we can't do much about what is going on in IM between people.
15:43	Steadman Kondor	we could warn them as a group, then group ban
15:43	Tali Rosca	But if known, they are confronted and told to stop.
15:43	Sir Kyle Chalice (wolforphenoc)	You know come to think of it, in all my time here someone's only tried to bit me once
15:43	Wordsmith Jarvinen	If they are wearing "quart low" tags we require their removal.
15:43	Martini Discovolante	and, should anyone "Ask" to bite you.... Feel free to ask them if thye would like a stake in the heart.
15:43	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	I have blocked number of biting objects
15:43	Phrynne	What about the garlic necklaces?
15:43	Phrynne	do they still work?
15:44	Steadman Kondor	i've never been asked to be bitten. it must be my love of garlicky dishes
15:44	ShenKu Firelight	I am from the Bloodlines "database" ... trapped ... but am not FOR the Bloodlines game
15:44	Larkylouz	We do have to keep a balance between being careful/keeping Oxbridge safe and falsely accusing someone just because they like vampire play.
15:44	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	Garlic nacklace is another way to end up in their database
15:44	Phrynne	but as someone who does not want to be bitten, I believe.
15:44	ShenKu Firelight	I believe KNOWLEDGE about the Bloodlines is the best defense
15:44	ShenKu Firelight	Maybe a Bloodlines Class?
15:44	Jorge Serapis	garlic necklaces. fashion faux pas.
15:44	Larkylouz	Is thre anything in the orientation about Bloodlines.
15:44	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	Bloodlines is mentioned as part of the AVatar Safety class
15:45	Kamilah Hauptmann	Bloodlines is only one of hte many add to a database shenanigans in the grid.
15:45	Tali Rosca	I'd say making a class about it is giving it *too* much credit.
15:45	Larkylouz	Mr. Firelight, we have an Avatar Safety class here that is excellent. I would be very surprised if Professor Kidd did not cover Bloodlines and other such dangers in her class. She is very thorough
15:45	Kamilah Hauptmann	Try those 'sex organs' that some dude cn use to add another av to a database which then spams the victim with warnings they're pregnant and to come save their baby for L$XXXX
15:45	ShenKu Firelight	I just wish more people were aware of it all
15:45	Martini Discovolante	but honestly-- Bloodlines spampires are regarded as the door-to-door magazine salesmen of SL.
15:45	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	Devoting a whole class to them would mean giving them more attention than they deserve
15:46	Steadman Kondor	yes, they are no more annoying than many other troublemakers
15:46	Wordsmith Jarvinen	Or the email spammers
15:46	Noriko Engawa	I'm not sure I understand the concern. Is it stealing passwords or something? Or is it just the annoyance of knowing people are on some sort of list?
15:46	Steadman Kondor	the second
15:46	Martini Discovolante	the irritation of beign game fodder.
15:46	Larkylouz	Is therea way to get one's self removed from their lists?
15:46	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	And pushiness of the bloodliners.
15:46	Tali Rosca	It is the annoyance, and the principle that people feel they can draft you into their game.
15:47	ShenKu Firelight	its just a form of oppression
15:47	Jorge Serapis	At the end of the day, Bloodlines is just another facet for vampire RP.."let's see who gets the most bites", et al.
15:47	Jules Doghouse	who bites the most
15:47	ShenKu Firelight	yes, Jorge ... exactly
15:47	Tali Rosca	Actually, I'd argue that Bloodlines and vampire *roleplaying* has very little to do with each other.
15:48	Jorge Serapis	It's really not threatening, but I can see how it can be unsettling for people ignorant of it.
15:48	Martini Discovolante	it is basically recruitment, which is not allowed here, and new folks are sometimes very impressionable. they are afraid that one choice has now colored their entire SL.
15:48	Sir Kyle Chalice (wolforphenoc)	You know as a lion, I think the competition can be who can bit the blood liners the hardest, I'm sure it would be more entertaining
15:48	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	Bloodliners are collecting bites, not playing a role.
15:48	Tali Rosca	As I have mentioned before, a "true" vampire would fit perfectly in the Victorian setting of Caledon.
15:48	Wordsmith Jarvinen	Recruitment to what closely resembles a MLM scheme.
15:48	Jules Doghouse	nobility is so rare these days
15:48		Larkylouz chuckles
15:49	Martini Discovolante	htat is also why we do not allow any sort of combat/biting meters worn here.... it can disturb the new folks.
15:49	ShenKu Firelight	it is a shame there is not another "program" that aims to gain only bloodlines players, and gather them through trickery into another database ... like a stake in the heart
15:49	Martini Discovolante	we DID have a werewolf outbreak once!
15:50	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	Bloodliners have Lycans, that is, werewolves, among them.
15:50		Tali Rosca would be confused if bitten by a werewolf.
15:50		Larkylouz realizes that she hasn't seen many of those werewolf newbie avatars lately.
15:50	Tali Rosca	I'd start chasing myself.
15:50	Noriko Engawa	Oh, now I see the problem. I'd hate to see a new resident tricked into thinking they had to pay into their system to keep using SL.
15:50	ShenKu Firelight	yes, a form of symbosis in the Bloodlines
15:50	Martini Discovolante	this was a proper Victorian werewolf, no pedestrian huds or meters to be seen...
15:51	Martini Discovolante	just howlign disembowelling danger and mayhem!
15:51	Jules Doghouse	thier hair is perfect
15:51	ShenKu Firelight	nothing wrong with that, Martini
15:51		Martini Discovolante fans her kitty self.
15:51	Tali Rosca	A lot of people come from a MMO background. If they see a "system message" about something happening to their avatar, they are likely to assume it is quite definitive.
15:51	ShenKu Firelight	the wrong is tricking ppl into BUYING huds and further developments in the Bloodlines
15:51		Jules Doghouse would like to meet thier tailor
15:52	Tali Rosca	Awooo
15:52	Martini Discovolante	we have also had Realestate spampires here... who want people to join their "family"
15:52	Sir Kyle Chalice (wolforphenoc)	so another dean is howling mad...
15:52	Wordsmith Jarvinen	All of which are things we can advise against. No, you don't have to do that....
15:52	Martini Discovolante	and donate that free 512, i am sure.
15:53	Tali Rosca	Any other questions before we run out of time?
15:53	Jules Doghouse	how much tim eis left?
15:53	Jules Doghouse	ahem...
15:53	Martini Discovolante	seven minutes
15:53	Jules Doghouse	no
15:54	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	Time for couple of barks
15:54	Jules Doghouse	no further questions your honor
15:54	Jules Doghouse	woof
15:54	Phrynne	Headline: Caledonians barking mad
15:54	Gronk Seriman	Who let the dogs out?
15:54	Jorge Serapis	footnote* situation normal
15:54	Jules Doghouse	<.<
15:54	Larkylouz	I just sent a comment to th epurveyor of Aether Chrononauts telling them that their sURLs are opening RL maps rather than SL locations. A LM to Steelhead actually found a downtown Seattle pub by that name last week!
15:55	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	HEadline: Caledonians chewing up Bloodliners :-)
15:55	Larkylouz	Garlick Invites Bites!
15:55	Larkylouz	*Garlic
15:55	Jorge Serapis	footnote: situation normal. :-)
15:55	Steadman Kondor	chrononauts lead to real drinks?
15:56		Wordsmith Jarvinen Remembers making UV emitting darts early on in his SL journey....
15:56	ShenKu Firelight	Thank you for your time ...
15:57		Jules Doghouse seconds that emoticon
15:57	Jules Doghouse	:)
15:57	Jules Doghouse	ShenKu very much indeed
15:58	Tali Rosca	If there are no more questions, let us end a couple of minutes early.
15:58	Wordsmith Jarvinen	Thank you all.
15:58	Tali Rosca	Last chance.
15:58	Jorge Serapis	What is the average speed of an african swallow?
15:59	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	Plunging into crevasse or nor?
15:59	Jorge Serapis	:-)Traditional last question asked.
15:59		Steadman Kondor laughs.
15:59	Steadman Kondor	stop peeking at my crevasse!
15:59	Wordsmith Jarvinen	Depends if it's riding on a CAT or a sub.
15:59	Steadman Kondor	take care and gnite all ;)
15:59	Tali Rosca	o.O
15:59	Martini Discovolante	thanks everyone for coming!
15:59	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	Bedtime for me
16:00	Sir Kyle Chalice (wolforphenoc)	night elf
16:00	Kamilah Hauptmann	Blowing this popscicle stand to make room for others.
16:00	Larkylouz	Good night all
16:00	Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter)	Be seeing you
16:00	Gronk Seriman	Thank you, Deans!
16:01	Sir Kyle Chalice (wolforphenoc)	Thanks for not throwing me in the ocean deans!
16:01	Jorge Serapis	BRAVO!!!!!!