The future of OSgrid part II

After reading through the daily G+ Mail explosion, i found this link to a Blog with a title stating: Holy cow, is OSgrid Done ?   In response on the fuzz about shutting down Town hall meetings. Below is a (partial) quote i found in the Blog's comments, which i think is relevant and handy to conclude this topic with. For context you find the source in the link at the bottom.

""Here is the real story:
1. We have clarified longstanding policies and begun to enforce them uniformly. While there are plenty of good, wholesome use cases for both children and child avatars employed in VR, it is my opinion that OSgrid is simply not one of them. It’s too mature, too wild west, and we do not have the resources to certify that no children are present in some highly adult contexts. The official policy, however, is that no one under eighteen is allowed on OSgrid at any time. Child avatars are not allowed in the public areas controlled by OSgrid. Child avatars are allowed on private regions and lands. OSgrid staff will not attempt to investigate private regions unless a complaint of abuse has been made.
2. While the Administration Team has been restructured, it hasn’t lost any members. In fact, it regained an old and longstanding one: me :) We stand united on these actions, they are anything but unilateral. Our support staff is also increasing. Numerous volunteers are putting in many hours building, scripting, designing and teaching. Our residents are investing their time in OSgrid’s future.
3. The change in the Town Hall Meeting format, to one of suggestion/comment boxes is designed to provide a more balanced, accessible system of communications which gives every resident a chance to be heard. In the “live” Town Hall Meeting, I was barely able to be heard over then din and interruptions. If I can’t be heard, neither can the quietest person in the room. The people who are unable to attend the meetings will also have a chance to get their questions out under the new system. While some may have found the drama entertaining, it certainly didn’t encourage participation. I am hopeful that this new system will.
4. In spite of all of the talk of an exodus, our numbers are down consistently by about 30 avatars – which about accounts for the number who left in a huff – mind you, they weren’t even asked to leave, much less did they get thrown out; they just refused to accept any change and left. But those numbers are recovering rapidly, by about 30 new users per day, and various shifts in concurrency peaks associated with new accounts.
I’m relatively certain that some of those are the old users who left returning with re-rolled characters. As long as they don’t cause trouble, I don’t have concerns over that.
5. We are currently putting together a plan to nearly double the size of the asset server, adding some significant storage performance improvements in terms of hardware speed and software compression of asset blobs. These changes will put us on the road to the future, and should serve the grid well for years to come.
6. Donations took about an $80US/mo hit from this so called ‘exodus’ – this was rapidly replaced with significant numbers of new donations, and several that were cancelled and restarted at higher rates.
7. The legal status of OSgrid as an organization has been less than settled for literally years. That is about to change however, as we have a new organization specialist on board who has a career in the non-profit sector, and he says that we will be just fine; it just takes time to patch these things back together.TL;DR: OSgrid is in fine shape; better than ever; and that represents a trend that will continue for the foreseeable future.  ""


Source :  Click

OSG changes, Standalone, Metropolis

Every once and a while changes occur. In life, work, relations, and also in the grids we live in. Most people don't like changes, they are good "as they are" and they value other things than progression, like for instance reliability, security, friendships or their community. As "progression" is not a guarantee for "satisfaction"
(example ?  V1 to V2 viewer in SL springs to mind), some people are opposed to anything.

Lately there is a lot of buzz regarding the new "owner" of OSgrid. Many of the "issues" i read are bound to personal issues with the individual, and since none of them concern me, I as a "regular" OSgrid resident could care less. I do see a lot of new things happening in OSG. Greeters in the plaza's, welcome area taken in use, better starter AV's, and a plan to get OSG registered properly & formally, with a board of representatives, a decent TOS etc.

From a user point of view, i say "better late than never". OSG could use some serious work on it's community-sense, and professionalise a bit. Too long it stayed a "test grid" without a forseeable "stable" version on which this grid can prosper. It's most important asset, the people in it, felt isolated and unheared  which has been expressed in numerous occasions. So i appreciate the choices and effort the new OSG management put in so far.

Unfortunately, every grid has it's rules. OSgrid did pretty well "without" but if you want to proffesionalise, you have little choice than setting a standard somewhere. And there is always people that don't like "the" cq "any" rules. You can discuss them, but cannot deny them. Someone will (have to) make a descision, and stick to it. One obey's the rules of the house he's in. This policy is pretty much globally accepted, so on a grid it's no different. If one cannot live with the rules that apply, too bad, cut losses, and go elsewhere is the only option.

All the fuzz and drama, and the "conspiracies" about OSG's future commercial plans, and who is appointed to assist / greet people and for what "deeper reason", are bit well, much for me.So far I get the same great free service here i enjoy since i left SL, and for my person, little has changed, apart from having missing some friends that left. This as they could not comply with the "new"  terms or just have a personal or moral issue now things start to take more serious shape. And since the new greeters cant help with everything, (and not everybody is willing to put up with "the establishment" for help), there will always be user interactions.
Too early to run away screaming for Foxx. (oh and my tip for the week : Read this Link  as in, been there, done it before, will likely have to do it again).

One thing i dislike is that OSG appearently killed HG connections to Metropolis. As a lot of european users left / moved / migrated / abandoned OSG to live in that grid that is not handy. I can't find why, but it is a sad development. It means i have to miss some close friends, and relog to be able to talk to them....

Hence i dropped 3 sims in Metropolis aswell, and since i'm testing a bit anyways, i have also setup a nice hypergrided standalone, which you can find here (for now) : Red Dragon Nite Club  ( if it gives a 404, im asleep, and so is my server ) . But whatever grid you are on, and regardless of who owns it,  you should always be able to visit a Red Dragon Nite club.

Just pics

Last weeks Town Hall meeting - The future of OSG

The asset issues mentioned in the previous topic appear to have been resolved or mostly gone away. This might have been the aftermath of OSgrid having moved to a different server, which for the rest has been a smooth transition thanks to the tameless effort of the OSgrid admins. Gossip and rumours about the reason of this transition were debunked in last weeks OSG town hall meeting.

If you are a regular OSGrid visitor but never / rarely attend the town hall meetings, but you do care for this grid and it's community (like myself), i really suggest you read last weeks log. Find it HERE . Mind you will not find the usual tech talks. It's pretty much discussing the future of OSgrid.... 

It will also prepare you to be able to understand better if /when/why changes take place.
Note: No panic, the grid will not change or seize to exist tomorrow, but a lot is going on for the guys running & maintaining it.

OSG will likely soon call on it's community, and i'm pretty convinced the community is happy to pick up the call. There are very creative and intelligent people in "our" grid and we are with many. 

You can start helping here, but for what i understand other input is highly appreciated as well. The best place for suggestions is likely the OSG forums or for quick replies, try IRC