Linden Lab Corrects Mistake with Apologies

The following has been cross posted at Virtual World Sailing.

Good News! We have heard back from Patch and Dee Linden (who head up the land team for LL).

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Here is the body of a ticket filed October 9 refering to an original ticket filed on October 5:

From MTW to Patch/Dee:

Hi the following inquiry was appended to a thank you
response from me (October 5) in regards to the adding of BS Crow's Nest to the
additional Friday reboot schedule. Perhaps I should not have mixed to issues
under one ticket number. I now supmit the inquiry as a new ticket.

New Ticket contents:
Perhaps you can help clarify something
else about the Blake Sea regions. The plan always has been to try to keep
them and the surrounging sims of the USS touching the Blake Sea on the same
server type (SL Server). We have been getting so many complains about the
Blake Sea in the past week or so that we started looking around and see
that nearly all of the Blake Sea regions are on a new Beta server type,
Snack. I feel pretty confident that this might be related to the many
complaints we have been receiving. Can you help us understand what is going
on and why? Is there any chance we could get the Blake Sea on the SL
Server? Lots of folks are curious and concerned.
There has been some useful discussions on the Virtual World Sailing Forum that was recently started.
However here is a typical complaint we are hearing these
days about the Blake Sea. I do not believe the following [thoughts about LL intent] is true but it
would be very helpful if you could provide us with some input to share with
the sailors.
"Just to give you an idea of the problems in Blake, I was RD over 2 sets of
races today one for Nacra and one for Tako, The nacra races only half the
racers finished 2 races and NONE the third, In the Tako races not a single
person finished any race all 8 crashed every time, people were crashing
before the race it was nothing short of a disgrace, my personal opinion on
this matter is simple, LL has lost interest in SL despite its loyal and
caring CUSTOMERS. They have switched their focus on their new game, moved
resources and personel to that platform and SL can go hang...
[remainer of message truncated by the buffer limit of ticket filing system]

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We received the following two responses this AM while I was at work and am
only now getting to post here on VWS

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Oct. 10, 2014, 5:17 a.m.
Dee Linden
Hello MarkTwain,
I am so sorry I have not been able to respond before today -- Patch and I
are on this!
Dee
=======================
Oct. 10, 2014, 7:39 a.m.
Dee Linden
Hello MarkTwain,
All Blake Sea regions have been moved back to main Second Life Server (SLS)
code.
Patch and I want to extend our apologies for any performance issues suffered
due to border crossing into non-SLS code regions.
We have alerted our Operations team that these regions need to remain on
SLS, and additionally I have added a recurring event to my personal calendar
to check to ensure that should one slip through the cracks and land on an RC
again, that it will be caught quickly.
Best wishes,
Dee
========================

So it appears that the problem should be solved. Please post your Blake Sea sailing experiences here of the next few days and see if the issue has been solved.

Gemma has shared what was certainly a frustrating experience she had with Reed Linden that occured in a close time frame to Patch/Dee's responses above. About the only thing i can figure out from the exchange with Reed is that "the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing" in some fashion.

Bottom line is what I said a couple days ago... "the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Thank Patch and Dee for your responses and thank you Gemma for your involvement is helping to get the issues resolved.

On top of the fact that the Blake Sea is back on the main servers where appaently they should have been all the time, we also have a commitment that Crow's  Nest will get two reboots a week just as Blake Sea - China does (China's strategic position makes it arguably the most heavily traffic region in SL).

Blake Sea's Current Woes Due to LL Change?

This has been cross posted at: http://www.virtualworldsailing.com/index.php?/topic/177-blake-sea-bad-performance-cause-by-ll-change/

A lot of you, myself included, have noticed how bad the Blake Sea regions have been performing recently, especially in the last week or so. Rich Reynaud (Hollywood Airport Manager) and I were kicking around in the Blake Sea testing a few things when it quickly became apparent that LL has made a major change in the Blake Sea this week.  Nearly every region in the Blake Sea is presently (or at least at the time of his writing) running on a new Beta server called SNACK.  

You can read all about SNACK on the SL wiki here:

http://wiki.secondli...wiki/Beta/Snack

As you will read there SNACK is supposed to be used only in sandbox applications and in Beta testing situations. At least that is how I am reading it. I have put a request into LL to give us an explanation why the major of the Blake Sea regions are now on this "server release candidate."

I am not a code type person, perhaps there is a good reason LL is doing this and I will pass along any answer the provide as soon as I receive it. 

In the mean time you all, as residents and customers of LL, are free to files tickets and bug reports as outlined in the wiki.

One thing that the Blake Sea needs is for all the regions to be on the same server type. Back in the old days this was done more consistently than it seems to be being done now. Perhaps this "test" is related to solve some of the issues that comes with less manpower to monitor the particulars of whatever structure exists between the servers that produce the Blake Sea and the larger infrastructure of LL's server farms. Hopefully we will get updated.  

I have been told by a high level Linden that the old adage "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" lives in LL. While we await for some insight I think maybe it is time to do some squeaking.

SYC and Powerboat Racing in the Blake Sea

Recently I, Mark Twain White, sent out a notecard to many in the sailing community addressing a number of issues, not the least of which was why we at Starboards Yacht Club now host powerboat races in addition to sailboat races. I have included that section on powerboat racing as a new page here at the journal for those of you that did not see the notecard and so that everyone that cares to can share a link to others that might not understand why SYC has taken this controversial step. You can click on "Why SYC Hosts Powerboat Races in the Blake Sea" to read the story.

Who Administers the Blake Sea?

There is a lot of misinformation and even disinformation circulating in SL as to what role I, MarkTwain White, play in the Blake Sea. I have just uploaded a new page called "Who Administers the Blake Sea" I hope you will take time to read it and to help enlighten folks who do not understand the nature of the Blake Sea (an arranged recreation area that exists because of a partnership between Linden Lab and the owners of the United Sailing Sims).

New Improved Blake Sea Combined Calendar

The new Blake Sea Combined Calendar

Just in time for the increased activity in the Blake Sea is the new and improved Blake Sea Combined Calendar. For the past two years the yacht clubs of the United Sailing Sims and others close by have been using the Blake Sea Combined Calendar to share with each other and SL boating events in the Blake Sea area.

Gemma Vuckovic has been maintaining the calendar for some time now. And now she has released the calendar on a Wordpress page. The new calendar can be found on the side bar of the Journal as well as the sidebar of the new Starboards Website.

The direct address for the new calendar is: http://gemmavuckovic.wordpress.com/combined-sailing-calender-2014/

If you have a club that plans to hold events in the Blake Sea you need to contact Gemma for instructions on how to post to the calendar. If you are planning to use any of the start lines in the Blake Sea you should contact the yacht club closest to that line to make arrangements for your event.

The Fleet Honors Fanci Beebe

On Monday night a spontaneous event occurred in the Blake Sea area that brought together three communities in a sim filling event to honor one of our own.

The SL sailing community and the United Sailing Sims recently lost one of their key leaders to cancer. Fanci Beebe was one of the the driving forces behind the Sailor’s Cove sims and Fisher’s Island Yacht Club passed last week. Her SL partner Patrick Leavitt announced on Saturday Fanci’s passing. She died at home surrounded by family. SL memorial services are being planned.

Over in the Fanci’s Deep sims (named for Fanci) we have created a small island where folks can come by and leave a memorial in her honor. Fanci’s Memorial Island is located at Fanci's Deep NE (15/14/22) and will stay in place through October. The memorial will then be moved to Union Passage and the Fanci’s Deep facilities there.

Fanci’s Deep is a new development in the United Sailing Sims that will serve the needs of three communities. Merfolk are creating a Mer Community in the four and a half sims centered on Fanci’s Deep. Additionally the pirate community now uses Fanci’s Deep for their contested water battles (now that the Contested Water sims in the Blake Sea have been closed to full rezz and combat). And of course the sailing community reaps the benefit of these changes by having  the southeastern portion of the Blake Sea returned to peaceful sailing and boating.

Last night the Blake Navy and Pirates organized a fleet to sail past Fanci’s Memorial Island and fire broadside salutes to Fanci. Sailors and Merfolk from all over SL were there to witness and participate in the event. The island. which  is located at the four corner intersection of the four Fanci’s Deep region, filled up before the event started and the overflow crowd spilled into the other three Fanci’s Deep regions.

It was very exciting and very touching to witness the some dozen ships of the fleet sail in from the west and pass the Memorial and crowd guns firing out to sea in honor of Fanci. Many thanks to Amanda Dallin and Blue Manbi who organized the fleet on short notice.

The History of the Blake Sea

After two long years the full story of the Blake Sea can now be told. Click below.

The History of the Blake Sea