Dirk makes a good point about informing users about Linden meetings, I was at a meeting last night with six or seven fellow residents and three Lindens, the theme of the meeting was advertising!

You have some really interesting insight into why people complain.

“Modern human wants shit his/her way, and by its own beliefs of self-importance it demands it – generally using aggression”

I think this is probably right on target (at least for some people).

Although there are a lot of things I like about the new viewer, I completely understand your frustration with the right panel. As a left handed person myself, it took me quite some time to get used to, but I’m getting there!

As far as Facebook is concerned – after the initial annoyance I figured I couldn’t care less. I use Fb less than 20 minutes a week. Second Life, on the other hand I use daily and upon loading 2.0 I nearly had a heart attack because of the unnecessary design where everything is stuck to the right hand side (Imagine how annoying can this be to a left handed person – I can since I am ambidexterous with predominant left- meaning- I like left oriented layouts, from the dinner table to websites, smoking with my left etc…). Icons for buttons instead of text to make it more ‘user friendly’….sorry to tell you but if a person anywhere in the world managed to get to Second Life in the first place I would only hope they’ve already learned words like “map”, “friends” and stuff like that….so the argument of making this user friendly is silly, if you ask me. Also, if I want to use any of the features I like in the viewer – i have to stare at the huge black right hand side BLOB that I cannot move anywhere…and that disgustingly reminds me of IMVU.
I suppose the biggest issue I have with it is that it seems like the Lab is preemptively knitting viewer cozies for some ‘promised customers’ of the prosperous future when the creators of SL are its CURRENT users without whom LL would have nothing but code and server space.

To both platforms – Some times you are right on the money – sometimes you are not…but man……when you are NOT – you really are NOT! haha
Let the stuff EVOLVE by popular votes- work on things people NEED first..(25 groups limit, multiple partnerships, flexi sculpties….WHEN????) ..and put a new black dress on AFTERWARDS. I could care less about being able to hand a website to a friend on a prim – for example – if i want to do that – i copy a link to them in chat.

And so on…..
*passes out*

There is quite a bit of the interface still broken or misplaced and those things just have to be worked out. You can’t really embrace the changes when the changes aren’t logical. The addition of one or two more steps to complete certain tasks can’t really be seen as anything but a step backwards as far as usability. It is very clear that few residents find the communication tools intuitive or helpful. The inability to view multiple profiles, the increased possibility of missing a message or an item passed to you or the fact that paid classifieds are buried in the resident’s profile rather than having a tab of their own so residents get more value out of the money they pay for classifieds are all quite legitimate complaints, to name just a few. It is important to call those issues out lest we have a weaker tool on our hands rather than a more powerful one.

In the case of Second Life, I do agree that there are groups and communities of residents that actively participate and provide essential feedback and constructive criticism. Most of the people who participate in these ways rarely complain. That doesn’t mean that they are always happy or pose only positive views of everything. They just express their thoughts in a constructive way that moves whatever feature forward. Grace McDunnough wrote one of the best critique’s of the new viewer and was very critical of the new search/event listings (as she should be). I’m referring more to posts and comments like OMG the New SL Viewer Sucks Balls!!! While this user might raise a few valid points, they are hardly constructive and mixed in a sea of counterproductive, hollow rants, curses, and attacks.

I wasn’t suggesting that complaints are invalid simply because users didn’t attend or participate in certain activities. I was however suggesting that often many complaints are extreme and exaggerated. Every time Linden Lab introduces a new and often requested feature some residents act like the sky is falling. Surely you remember the colossal train wreck and the chaos that ensued when the Lab announced voice and sculpted prims. If you had listened to many bloggers/commenters at that time, you might have believed that the virtual sky was falling and that those features would lead to the end of Second Life. They argued there would be no more anonymity, or builders because of these features. While Second Life may have lost a few builders who refused to learn new technologies, I think we have mostly all adjusted to virtual life with voice and sculpted prims. You can hear many of these same complaints if you look at the conversations surrounding current topics like mesh support.

So, I was implying that since the virtual sky never fell, and virtual live went on, many of these complaints were invalid. You are right to argue that saying those complaints were invalid was drawing too large a conclusion and I would have to agree that it was probably not the best choice of words. I should have opted for exaggerated. Nonetheless, these types of complaints were still (in my opinion) more an aversion to or fear of coming changes, rather than usability.

I agree with most of your thoughts on Viewer 2.0 and that the Lab needs to take a more active role in making sure all residents know how to participate.

Thanks again for the thoughts and suggestions!

I loaded 2.0, it caused me a few problems, but it’s still on my computer. I like some of the features but don’t see any great advantage to others. It appears that it will open some new artistic possibilities, but I’m still enjoying stretching the current viewer’s capabilities.

Bottom line is that I won’t switch over to 2.0 full time until either they make me or I get bored with the old one.

Reed’s comment above (“Anonymity + Large Audience…”) is spot on. Most of the whining that I hear is inane and doesn’t deserve much mention. It’s to be expected when people don’t have to back their words up with their face.

To suggest that the majority of the complaints may be invalid because many residents do not attend or participate in the activities and events you mention is drawing a conclusion without verifiable evidence. This would be akin to taking notice of a new resident and making assumptions about their ability and knowledge without knowing anything about their background, education or proficiencies. It is also a bit leaning to suggest that the complaints are simply a matter of aversion to change rather than lack of usability.

Office Hours, Special Meetings and Invitations to Test are rarely given any prominence. Although, I think we can agree that having residents attend and participate in such activities is important. An occasional mass e-mail alerting residents that their input is wanted, needed and greatly appreciated could be sent just as easily as e-mails about shopping and places to visit.

The Viewer 2.0 code is a good, solid improvement. It deserves high praise. The SL Viewer 2.0 interface leaves a great deal to be desired and requires a great deal of work, suggestions, input and revision by all residents. I agree that more residents should become more involved and I think Linden Lab should make it known when, where and how residents can participate in a way that the message actually reaches the residents by sending a detailed mass e-mail or placing a banner on their dashboards right next to their Linden Dollar Balance.