Profiles evolve again:
A couple of days ago I was e-mailed a questionnaire from Linden Labs (LL), asking me what I thought about the latest Profile/Interests features. I told them this:

"I like the new Interests feature, but it seems to feel separate from the 'in-world experience' (which is a shame). How about an additional feature that enables you, when viewing lists of recommendations, to see if those people are currently online to arrange to meet up, or send them an IM to arrange a time and place to meet. I prefer to meet up with people and chat to them first before adding them as a friend - many people don't appreciate random friend requests"

But along with Viewer 2.8.0 changes have been made to the Profiles (again), so having answered the questionnaire, based on the previous profiles, their efforts to ask me my views seem pointless in hindsight.

Some people aren't interested in the Interests feature, but I'm intrigued and think it could be useful for many. It's probably not of any interest to those that are well-settled in SL with an established circle of friends and no interest in actively seeking new friends.

So how do the new profiles look?... First impressions... bland and empty. Linden have split the profiles up into 'tabs': Feed, About, Picks, Groups and Notes. Firstly, by default the Feed tab is what you see first, and I've not come across anyone that uses the feature, so you're presented with a blank page. Secondly, when you go to About, which is what you're used to seeing first, there is no side-panel on the right showing if the person has any pictures or is in any groups, these are all hidden away in the third and forth tabs.

You can 'correct' the issue with Feed showing first/at all, by altering your Privacy settings (by editing your profile). These are Facebook-style options but by setting Feed to viewable by Nobody in the dropdown, you will remove that tab/section from your profile and thus make the About show first... expecting everyone in SL to do this is obviously ludicrous and until this area is addressed, anyone viewing someone's profile is going to be annoyed at having to click again.

However, one area where an annoying additional click has been addressed is the option to IM (instant message) the person from their profile - it's no longer hidden away in the dropdown menu of options there.

As the Interests feature is something new, it surprises me that this is not given its own tab. This area does seem to have evolved a little since I last looked as it now feels more integrated into the viewer/profile section. Suggestions are can be presented inworld (instead of only through the SL website) and you can choose to find out a little more about that person by clicking to view their profile. I still feel that the list of suggestions should tell you if that person in online (you have to choose to view their profile first if you want to find out - viewing someone's profile who is rarely online (when you are) seems pointless), and the feature needs to have an air of acceptability about it - like, it should be felt that it's acceptable for strangers to find your profile based on mutual interests, and it should be felt acceptable for that person to contact you, and it should be felt acceptable for that person to suggest meeting up. Maybe an opt-in for each of these stages to not worry those not comfortable with such ideas would be the right way to go about this.

I would like to see the About page taking priority in profiles (maybe ditch the Feed feature altogether since LL seem to have done nothing to promote it/inform users of its purpose). I would like to see a return of the Pics to the profile page (not just a separate tab), maybe just showing a few down the side (like before). However, Linden don't make it all that easy for users of their Viewer to add pictures - I get the impression it's easier in other viewers, so they really should address this.

Returning to my point about the hope that the profile interests feature might take off, I feel this will depend on people's attitudes. I do find that people's attitudes towards others online is a bit... *thinks for the term to sum it up*... selfish at times and this seems to differ between the sexes. This is not something I have only observed in SL but on (other) social networking sites too. I find that it's generally the guys that make the first contact. The way I see it is, you have to treat people how you want to be treated and you have to put into SL what you want/expect to get out of it - if you want people to talk to you, then you have to talk to them - not many people realise this - they will log in and do nothing, they seem to expect people to talk to them, and when that doesn't happen they get miserable and lonely - SL can be a lonely place but you have to think, what if everyone acts how you act? It's a bit like a pyramid scheme, the whole system only works if everyone participates - if you don't approach anyone online and start a conversation then how can you expect anyone to approach you and start a conversation? I know this is a little bit of a rant but it's because I know from experience that I can hang around in a busy area all day, even with people on my friend list online, but if I don't make the effort to talk to someone then I can end up going the whole day without talking to anyone. I think SL becomes a lonely place when it becomes a selfish place - when you log in and expect people to talk to you but you don't think about talking to them. Granted you might be going through a rough patch emotionally, but still, positive thinking and a positive attitude is the way forward. Coming back to my point about the sexes, I think women have it easier because it's generally men who approach women, and I think because this happen often enough (because lots of men are easy!?) women don't make the effort/first move. Women also seem to complain about men approaching them 'for the wrong reasons' but again, a suggestion here might be that they do the approaching for a change. Anyway, back to technical stuff...

My Computer:
What computer you use can will have an effect on your experience - I have found SL likes RAM and a 'lack' of it seems to cause more problems than a slow broadband speed for example. I have found 2GB with Windows Vista to be inadequate on some systems so for Windows Vista and Windows 7 I would recommend 4GB. A reasonable screen size will also add to your experience - I can only imagine that roaming through SL on a netbook is not too pleasant. SL works well on a nice big widescreen display and while I don't have a widescreen display, I do have three (4:3) screens and SL works well. I don't stretch the window right to the edges but just enough to put the world chat on the left screen and the menu on the right off to the right (stretching it further increases your peripheral vision and you can even see round corners!). A large screen or multiple screens also gives you the advantage of being about to multi-task without having to minimise the viewer - you can watch someone's youtube video or read their blog while chatting to them for example. SL gives you a range of graphics options and the world can look very pretty when set to maximum but it's only advisable to do this if you have a good graphics chip.

Internet Access:
Another area that can hamper performance is obviously your broadband speed. I'm actually uncertain if lowering the graphics settings puts a lesser demand on your connection - logically I would think that on a higher setting more detail is downloaded, and on a lower setting the opposite is probably true. At home I am stuck with using a mobile broadband dongle with a limited connection speed of 1Mb at best. This is enough though. The real problem for me comes from the monthly data allowance of only 3GB (this is the total data downloaded and uploaded in a month) - when I go over this limit I can't get on SL in the evenings. Another problem is that voice chat doesn't work.

There are few ways to reduce your data usage:
 - lowering your graphics settings is a theoretical one
 - don't travel around too much - TPing (teleporting) to busy areas uses more than a quiet simple sim
 - don't stream media/music
 - when you're staying in one place and just chatting zoom in on a still area - look at the ground for example
 - use SLiteChat instead. This is a simple chat client - you can't travel around, you don't see the world and your avatar doesn't load. It's pretty dull but if all you're logging in for is to chat with friends this is ideal. Sadly once I'm over my monthly allowance this client still doesn't work in the evenings.

More stuff:
More about my computers and mobile broadband	I often write a little philosophically about reality and I've read a few such books, Click here if you're interested

Profiles in Viewer 2.5:
14/02/11: I shall now list all the things I don't like about the new profile thing in 2.5 which as you will have seen if you have upgraded/been upgraded opens in a new window instead of the pane on the right.

- It opens in a new window. I would have preferred the pane on the right to have still been used to show a basic profile and then a button to open the profile window to show the full profile.

- The profile window doesn't always open. Half the time when I click to view someone's profile, nothing happens and I have to do it again.

- My profile opens instead of theirs. I think if the persons profile fails to load quickly then it reverts to loading your own profile.

- Two clicks to IM. When viewing someone's profile it is then a simple one click to add them as a friend, but you have to do two clicks (Actions > IM) to IM them... lots of people get annoyed by random friend requests and this two-click process to IM someone doesn't help.

- Size and position. The profile window always opens up in the same location (pinned to the top left corner) and the same size. This is annoying for me because I use three screen and I always have to move the profile window into the centre to read it. It would also be nice if, after you've resized the windows, i.e. made it a bit smaller, that profile windows would always the same size.

- Unable to 'hide' content. I got to like (like many) the ability to 'hide' content in my profile, by making people click to view more if I put more text in the box than would show on the screen.

- Navigation. I am finding the navigation of the new profiles to be a bit awkward. Like when I view someone's pictures, click on that picture to enlarge it, and then navigate back to the profile.

The only benefits I can see from the new profiles is the ability to open multiple profiles and minimise them so they are still open for reference. I suppose over time I'll get used to the new layout, but again, I don't see why one has to be shown a full profile when a basic profile in the right-hand pane is adequate for a quick view to see what someone is about.