Group Polls, Voting, Democratization Tools
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Jack Skallagrimson
Similar to how there are 'notices', maybe even as a supplement to notices, groups need a tool for easily deciding what the majority wants on a particular issue with a list of previous polls, who voted (visibility toggle), and the outcome. "Wait, do we not have that already?" apparently not. Would go a long way towards group cohesion, and it comes to me as a surprise that residents have managed to get anything done so far without this basic feature.
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updated the status to
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Issue tracked. We have no estimate when it may be implemented. Please see future updates here.
Fionne Burleigh
I'll preference this with - I am not a techy person. There are easy to use 3rd party options for things like polls and voting. Plus most chats (that I am a member of at least) are not what you would consider "democratic" in nature. They have a specific purpose (i.e., retail, events, etc). All I want is for LL to fix chats (and currently IMs too). They have been broken and needing updated for a good percentage of the 21 years I've been in SL. LL could have worked on overhauling chat when they were completely broken, but instead they just stuck a mustard pack on the program and sent it back out. I've always been convinced that LL would do away with chat if they thought they could and were happy to lose many inworld chats to Discord.
Beatrice Voxel
Interesting concept.
Would be useful for groups that are 'democratic' in operation.
But as others have said, the group chat/notice system needs an overhaul. Adding these things are a 'nice to have' idea, once the 'need to have' stuff has been determined and an update workflow established.
pehf Resident
I don't think the concept is a bad idea but I think groups could do with a general revamp anyway. I've never been quite happy with everyone relying so heavily on Discord, especially as they're abusive and a prime hacking target.
I think a good idea would be to look into why so many SL groups rely on Discord and see if some of that could be replicated into something more SL friendly. Polls, persistent messaging (especially important for moderation), images, reactions, multiple channels, and offline access would probably be top of my list.
That, I appreciate, is not a small project! An option I guess would be for LL to take one of the open source clones like Spacebar or Revolt and see if it could be made the basis of an enhanced groups system?
AlettaMondragon Resident
pehf Resident Pretty much so. Discord is far from perfect, of course, but one thing that is a very serious advantage, along with those you mentioned: it works. Group chat in SL often doesn't. It's not unusal that half of the online group members don't receive a session in a large group. Periodically there are massive group chat failures hitting almost everyone. The big move to Discord started when some large groups couldn't offer support in their group chat anymore because of the constant failures. Then I assume even more people discovered (me included) how much more convenient it can be to use Discord, exactly because of the features you mentioned.
AlettaMondragon Resident
Groups where this is important use social media or Discord servers for polls and such discussion. Anything that can help against unnecessary censorship and one-sided narratives in public groups is a good idea. Of course we must keep in mind, whether the group is open for all or not, eventually it is the owner's decision (or some overly strict group officers' that are never being held accountable for their decisions) what should go in their group or not, and if there's a clash, it's not worth staying in their group anyway.
Jack Skallagrimson
AlettaMondragon Resident Right, the options are there and have been there for groups to organize 'on' major platforms, but by and large, "why should I have to go off of SL" and have everyone else in the group download the thing, accept the cookies to get tracked, sign up etc. etc. ..? when in matters pertaining to SL with people in SL, it makes sense that it should just go on 'in' SL.
steph Arnott
Jack Skallagrimson, don't post abusive comments then delete so others can not see. We can do that childish trick also, an BTW, your comment delete are seen by others.
AlettaMondragon Resident
Jack Skallagrimson I agree, but I think "the damage has been already done". When LL fails at something, we find other ways to make things happen, and then LL is at a disadvantage if they ever want to implement things we use on external platforms. For example, let's say they decide to overhaul the web profiles and feed, it's one thing that they would have to do a very good job, but still, would people use it instead of Primfeed?
Beatrice Voxel
AlettaMondragon Resident Primfeed is occupying a niche that Flickr closed a while back. It's primarily for photos. The SL 'feed' could be that also, but... I think the horse is out of the barn already.
Unless the Lindens want to adopt Primfeed and make it the official SL feed mechanism.
AlettaMondragon Resident
Beatrice Voxel Maybe they do? I've been saying this for years that I wouldn't be surprised about it. I wouldn't be entirely happy about it. I started using Primfeed very recently, it has advantages over the SL web profile and feed structure, but it's not the same and wasn't really built for the same purpose. Maybe it would be better if they just hired Luke to fix the web profile and feed system for them and then they could see if that competes with Primfeed or simply does the trick and Primfeed would keep going the way it does, while others could just use the web profile system more efficiently as a bulletin board that isn't about getting a lot of likes and followers or to promote something.
steph Arnott
That is an invented word and lousy grammar.
Ruby Starlight
steph Arnott Are you saying “democratization” is an invented word? First of all, all words are invented. That’s how words work. Secondly, democratization is a real word. And third, are you ok? What is the point of you coming in here just to criticize and be rude? Maybe find a hobby and some purpose in life, bud. Too much Second Life for you, you’ve forgotten how to be a person.
Coyote Enthusiast
We did have this at one point. The system is in place, but for a simple "Yes / No" vote. It's called "Group Proposals". However, It was removed from the viewer side long ago. https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Group_Proposals_Tab_Test
I get that this isn't entirely what you are asking for, but the system is in place so that does mean LL could potentially expand upon it. The capabilities on the server still exist for it too.
Jack Skallagrimson
Coyote Enthusiast Yes, I vaguely remember the idea being floated around the same time we got those drop-down menus on the right-hand corner that allow you to adjust your seat / dance etc. IIRC There was a pretty heated debate that giving people the option to poll would cause (
checks notes
) drama, and SL went in the direction it did with this.But that was when SL's biggest destination was Sandbox Cordova. I believe it may be time to revisit the issue.