| 15:00 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Well, let's get started. |
| 15:00 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Welcome to Q&A with the Deans. |
| 15:01 |
Carl Metropolitan |
First we talk, then you ask us questions. We will try to be short :) |
| 15:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
First order of business, Linden Labs appears to have taken Oxbridge out of their Social Island exit teleporters, leading to a big drop off of people coming to Oxbridge. |
| 15:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
There is no reason to panic. |
| 15:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
LL does what LL does. |
| 15:03 |
Carl Metropolitan |
We are best off doing what we do and doing it well and ignoring LL. Because LL can't even remember what they did six months ago normally :) |
| 15:03 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
Do we have any info on whether this is true acrss the board for independent gateways? |
| 15:03 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I have no idea. I can ask in the HEQ. |
| 15:03 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
Just curious. |
| 15:06 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
It sounds like it's become harder to determine, from what Marion Questi wrote with that data. |
| 15:06 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
"When our numbers fluctuate like this, I always suspect LL of some manipulation in the intake process. I see that all Social Islands 1-9 have been upgraded to the new HUD based tutorial. Also the Portals have been redesigned so I am now unable examine their contents for Landmarks. I'm not sure where people are being sent now or which Portals will send people to Oxbridge." |
| 15:07 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I suspect we've been taken out of the teleporters. |
| 15:07 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
It is more difficult to send an alt through to check the new experience, as I find that they recognize my IP (I assume) and do not send me to that new experience. |
| 15:07 |
Carl Metropolitan |
But who knows. |
| 15:07 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I have not created a newbie in quite a while. And I have domains I can generate emails on. I will try i. |
| 15:07 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
which makes it hard to know what new folks deal with before they come to us. |
| 15:09 |
|
Wordsmith Jarvinen (thinks of new avatars shot full of neuroaccelerants and then subjected to chaos) |
| 15:10 |
Carl Metropolitan |
My main point is that we don't need to worry about this. Let LL do what LL does. |
| 15:10 |
|
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) is reminded of various software and website "improvements" that did not work well for several months after the "new innovations". |
| 15:10 |
Carl Metropolitan |
It might be something like that, too. |
| 15:11 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Larky, since Phyrnne is ill today, do you have anything you wanted to say for Commons? |
| 15:11 |
Agatha Macbeth |
Aww |
| 15:11 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
We are working to up the level of assistance in the plaza, to be sure everyone gets helped and no one gets ignored. We're trying to greet as many people as possible, cam around to check on people in the orientation, and damp down distracting activity that sidetrack attention from the business at hand. This is an ongoing process; not the first time we've strived for this and it certainly won't be the last. |
| 15:12 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
Other than that, business as usual. Groundskeeping is ongoing - Phrynne amuses herself by changing at least one thing every day. So is working on staff materials like notecards, training, etc. I believe we've had a few people show interest in becoming tutors, although I don't know where that stands at the moment. |
| 15:14 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Thank you Larky. The good thing about the slow down on newbies is it makes the problems Commons deals with a bit less pressing. |
| 15:15 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
It can get a bit hectic at times. I am so thankful for our knowledgeable and generous staff. |
| 15:15 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
As long as there is no more "fluffy unicorn" songs... |
| 15:16 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
This implies that there were fluffy unicorn songs. (raises one eyebrow). |
| 15:16 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
There was today.... |
| 15:17 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
To ad nauseum |
| 15:17 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Fluffy Unicorn Songs are not as bad as some stuff we've dealt with :) |
| 15:18 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Wordsmith, do you have any thing you would like to say? |
| 15:18 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
Part of the "damping down" that Larky mentioned is asserting that the plaza is not a general recreation area. |
| 15:19 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
Within the sim limitations we do have the Cafe Vox parcel, voice enabled as the name implies. |
| 15:21 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
Moving there can be insisted on as it becomes a matter of tutor environment. Again, minimizing the distractions. |
| 15:22 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
Thank you, Word. That is very helpful to me. |
| 15:23 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Okay. I tried a newbie. It took me to an existing area called "London City". I will have to come up with a better way of spoofing the LL system, I guess. |
| 15:23 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
The one thing I have today is more Samm's. She has put together a prototype teacher application form at http://samm.nfshost.com/Oxbridge/teacherapp.html |
| 15:23 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Hm. I have seen lots of London City tags for a long time |
| 15:24 |
Carl Metropolitan |
This seems to be one of the new Community Gateways that were set up in the last round. |
| 15:24 |
Carl Metropolitan |
We chose to not participate in that program due to unacceptable terms and conditions on the part of Linden Lab. |
| 15:24 |
Carl Metropolitan |
And general lack of trust in them. |
| 15:25 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
They've been popular with new folks for quite a long time. I'm not sure why. |
| 15:26 |
Carl Metropolitan |
SL seems to send at least some newbies directly there.' |
| 15:27 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Let's take questions from everyone now? |
| 15:30 |
engacia |
how many staff are required at the plaza during slow periods and how many during busy? just a ballpark figure. |
| 15:31 |
Carl Metropolitan |
0 and 0. It is all volunteer. The tutorial is designed to work without anyone there. It is nice to have people around, but not essential. |
| 15:31 |
engacia |
i've seen as many as 5 congregating |
| 15:32 |
Carl Metropolitan |
As long as we are not overcrowded that's fine. |
| 15:32 |
Carl Metropolitan |
We have a script that tells us when the sim is getting too full, and staff people know to teleport out if there is an issue |
| 15:32 |
engacia |
thank you, mr metropolitan, for clarifying that |
| 15:32 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
It can also depend a lot on the nature of busy. Whether we have minor griefers, multiple people in a clothing mess, ... |
| 15:32 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Different turos have different opportunities to be present. |
| 15:33 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
We are all volunteers. While we would like to have a staff member there 24/7, it isn't practical. That's part of the reason why we expect non-staff to act in a helpful and polite manner, and not use the plaza (or other parts of the sim, with the possible exception of Cafe Vox) for their own social hangout and playground. |
| 15:35 |
engacia |
also, dean phyrnne has issued a statement which stated, ' It has been the policy at Oxbridge *not* to move sleepers, no matter how long they sleep. This has been in force since late last year. We had a script that automatically moved sleepers away -- and something went wrong and it started moving people for no really good reason. And there were some complaints, and a lot of discussion about it with Desmond Shang, the landowner. The script was turned off. We no longer move *anyone* unless they are misbehaving, and going AFK does not count in that. If Oxbridge fills up, that is taken into account and whatever activity is going on may be moved to the alternate lecture hall, which can house 40 people instead of 20. But if it fills up, it fills up. People will come and go, and I have not seen it stay at 20 for more than an hour. If anyone tells you otherwise, they have not been paying attention to the notices that are sent to staff.' [Editorial note: The change in policy is correct. The comment about the script is not. AFAIK the script was not running at this time and the removal of sleepers was being done manually. ~WSJ] |
| 15:36 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
Yes, that is my understanding. |
| 15:37 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Okay. Next quesiton? |
| 15:37 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms2) |
How is the Patron program functioning? |
| 15:38 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
There were some policy changes after Desmond brought up some issues. These were mainly in letting sleeping avatars remain unless the space was absolutely needed and in not addressing "marginal" clothing as long as the "bits" were covered. |
| 15:40 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
A later check revealed no further complaints of the type he had been worried about (there was no specific data between actions taken and complaints). |
| 15:40 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I am going to do a drive to recruit some new patrons as some have fallen off. I am blaming the economy in general. |
| 15:41 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
May I point out that being a patron involves $10USD per month It really isn't that much, even though L$2500 sounds huge. |
| 15:42 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms2) |
May I ask how long we have have donors dropped from the rolls? |
| 15:42 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Several months for some. |
| 15:45 |
Agatha Macbeth |
Is Oxbridge a homestead for any particular reason/necessity? |
| 15:45 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Yes. Finances. |
| 15:45 |
Agatha Macbeth |
Ah |
| 15:45 |
Agatha Macbeth |
Surprise |
| 15:45 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
About 1/3 the cost. |
| 15:45 |
Carl Metropolitan |
And we have to raise our tier, hence why Andrea's question was important. |
| 15:45 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Raise our own tier. |
| 15:45 |
|
Agatha Macbeth nods |
| 15:46 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
Apart from the library, Oxbridge supports the entire sim from donations. |
| 15:47 |
ZiggyFritz |
What does being a patron entail, may I ask? |
| 15:48 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Contributing 2500L$ per month to Oxbridge |
| 15:48 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Approximately 10USD |
| 15:48 |
ZiggyFritz |
No responsibilities, other than that? |
| 15:48 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
Getting to watch the donation coin go stark raving batzoid in excitement? |
| 15:49 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Right. |
| 15:49 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
And getting a plaque. |
| 15:49 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Yes, the plaque is cool, too |
| 15:50 |
ZiggyFritz |
Sadly, I've nowhere to hang a plaque... |
| 15:50 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I put my plaque in the display case in the Cathedral :) |
| 15:51 |
Carl Metropolitan |
But if you are interested, IM me please. |
| 15:51 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Do we have any other questions? |
| 15:52 |
ZiggyFritz |
I shall, thank you. |
| 15:54 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
Announcements? |
| 15:55 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
Andrea? Elfbiter? |
| 15:55 |
engacia |
excuse me, i must go. thank you, everyone. |
| 15:56 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Okay. I think we shall bring this session to a close then. |
| 15:56 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Goodnight everyone. Thank you all for coming. |
| 15:56 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
Thanks you all. |
| 15:56 |
ZiggyFritz |
Thank you. |
| 15:56 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
Thanks all. |
| 15:51 |
Carl Metropolitan |
But if you are interested, IM me please. |
| 15:51 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Do we have any other questions? |
| 15:52 |
ZiggyFritz |
I shall, thank you. |
| 15:54 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
Announcements? |
| 15:55 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
Andrea? Elfbiter? |
| 15:55 |
engacia |
excuse me, i must go. thank you, everyone. |
| 15:56 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Okay. I think we shall bring this session to a close then. |
| 15:56 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Goodnight everyone. Thank you all for coming. |
| 15:56 |
Wordsmith Jarvinen |
Thanks you all. |
| 15:56 |
ZiggyFritz |
Thank you. |
| 15:56 |
Badass Fae (larkylouz) |
Thanks all. |