Hey everybody,
I'm sad to inform you all that I can no longer provide personal technical support for any of the products that are available on my own store and on the virtualdisgrace.com marketplace store.
I really tried to please everyone, but at this point I am so occupied with answering product questions and moderating social disputes at Arcadia, that it is impossible for me to get any focused development and design work properly done anymore at all, which was the only thing that I still really enjoyed doing on Second Life.
I don't have the funds to hire another CSR, Luna is sorely missed, but even during the times when I had her, most questions and problems ended up with me nevertheless. Every day I find myself responding to messages for at least 3 hours when starting my day, before I can even begin to do real work, and then still get constantly distracted with questions.
It is hard for me to understand why so many people expect of a developer/designer to provide this amount of technical support and after sales service, especially during the times when there were support contacts available - and all that for digital downloads that sell for cents and hot-dog prices.
Probably it is because I would almost always respond to every DM or IM, but I stopped doing that now because it really didn't solve anything. It is always the same questions, that are answered in the same way they are on this website, like in an ancient greek version of hell, where the tormented soul has to repeat the same action for all eternity. Like Sisyphos.
The work I do on SL is not rewarding for me unless I can do at least what I enjoy doing to some extent. I'm feeling so fatigued and done with it all, that those customers who try to pressure me into compliance for doing over-over-time, so I hopefully would prevent negative word-of-mouth and 1-star reviews, can't reach me anymore emotionally at all, because I truly just don't care.
If I had to scrub toilets and floors in some office building as a 38.5 hour job, I would earn more than tripple the pay that I do now, and work half the time. You see where this is going?
I deserve to have a life and some level of self fulfillment beside my job or work on SL. I am not a customer support person, but a designer and a developer. I work a minimum of 10 hours every day, and I can easily fill these hours with design, studies, tests and creation, without doing any support.
The reason that there are no new releases anymore is because I barely get the chance to create, although I am here all the time and do work really hard. Being social and helpful, and being productive and creative, is a completely different space of mind for me.
These two are exclusive to one another, they are an entirely different construction site.
I can no longer do both at the same time. Not only because it makes me less product, effective and slowed down, it frankly makes me unhappy. I have to make a decision about what to do now.
Something needs to change, and probably I will come up with a good solution anyway.
In all fairness, I did have great help when people asked questions in the Fire Flower group on SL and on Fire Flower Deluxe on Discord. The help I received when others were answering questions was awesome, it's just that most people don't go there to ask, they all ask Wendy Starfall instead.
Now, I know there will be people being upset over this. I know there will be people saying that if the job is too hard for me, I shouldn't run a business and quit. I realize that customer entitlement is out of control since eBay and Google empowered the whole wide world to award stars and put comments on every- and anything, but... this is how it is now with me and with my products, sorry.
For the virtualdisgrace.com line of things, and the Gift of X collars, customers who don't want to ask in Fire Flower or Fire Flower Deluxe, can also try to contact:
VirtualDisgrace Resident
Garvin Twine
Grey Mars
I am however off limits for customer support now and forever, and if that means my little shop dies, well then so be it, I'm cool with scrubbing floors and toilets, I can listen to Spotify while I do that too, and when I come home, I can do whatever I like - no questions, no pressure, just free time.
Sincerely,
Wendy Starfall
PS: Please don't misunderstand my post. I don't blame people who are looking for help. They just contact who they think knows the answer, which is usually me. The problem is not everyone else, it is also me and my personality, because I feel worried and guilty when not responding, as I genuinely want everyone to have a good experience with the things I make. Just, please, let me make the things, and give me that freedom and peace of mind back. Thank you. ♥
I'm sad to inform you all that I can no longer provide personal technical support for any of the products that are available on my own store and on the virtualdisgrace.com marketplace store.
I really tried to please everyone, but at this point I am so occupied with answering product questions and moderating social disputes at Arcadia, that it is impossible for me to get any focused development and design work properly done anymore at all, which was the only thing that I still really enjoyed doing on Second Life.
I don't have the funds to hire another CSR, Luna is sorely missed, but even during the times when I had her, most questions and problems ended up with me nevertheless. Every day I find myself responding to messages for at least 3 hours when starting my day, before I can even begin to do real work, and then still get constantly distracted with questions.
It is hard for me to understand why so many people expect of a developer/designer to provide this amount of technical support and after sales service, especially during the times when there were support contacts available - and all that for digital downloads that sell for cents and hot-dog prices.
Probably it is because I would almost always respond to every DM or IM, but I stopped doing that now because it really didn't solve anything. It is always the same questions, that are answered in the same way they are on this website, like in an ancient greek version of hell, where the tormented soul has to repeat the same action for all eternity. Like Sisyphos.
The work I do on SL is not rewarding for me unless I can do at least what I enjoy doing to some extent. I'm feeling so fatigued and done with it all, that those customers who try to pressure me into compliance for doing over-over-time, so I hopefully would prevent negative word-of-mouth and 1-star reviews, can't reach me anymore emotionally at all, because I truly just don't care.
If I had to scrub toilets and floors in some office building as a 38.5 hour job, I would earn more than tripple the pay that I do now, and work half the time. You see where this is going?
I deserve to have a life and some level of self fulfillment beside my job or work on SL. I am not a customer support person, but a designer and a developer. I work a minimum of 10 hours every day, and I can easily fill these hours with design, studies, tests and creation, without doing any support.
The reason that there are no new releases anymore is because I barely get the chance to create, although I am here all the time and do work really hard. Being social and helpful, and being productive and creative, is a completely different space of mind for me.
These two are exclusive to one another, they are an entirely different construction site.
I can no longer do both at the same time. Not only because it makes me less product, effective and slowed down, it frankly makes me unhappy. I have to make a decision about what to do now.
Something needs to change, and probably I will come up with a good solution anyway.
In all fairness, I did have great help when people asked questions in the Fire Flower group on SL and on Fire Flower Deluxe on Discord. The help I received when others were answering questions was awesome, it's just that most people don't go there to ask, they all ask Wendy Starfall instead.
Now, I know there will be people being upset over this. I know there will be people saying that if the job is too hard for me, I shouldn't run a business and quit. I realize that customer entitlement is out of control since eBay and Google empowered the whole wide world to award stars and put comments on every- and anything, but... this is how it is now with me and with my products, sorry.
For the virtualdisgrace.com line of things, and the Gift of X collars, customers who don't want to ask in Fire Flower or Fire Flower Deluxe, can also try to contact:
VirtualDisgrace Resident
Garvin Twine
Grey Mars
I am however off limits for customer support now and forever, and if that means my little shop dies, well then so be it, I'm cool with scrubbing floors and toilets, I can listen to Spotify while I do that too, and when I come home, I can do whatever I like - no questions, no pressure, just free time.
Sincerely,
Wendy Starfall
PS: Please don't misunderstand my post. I don't blame people who are looking for help. They just contact who they think knows the answer, which is usually me. The problem is not everyone else, it is also me and my personality, because I feel worried and guilty when not responding, as I genuinely want everyone to have a good experience with the things I make. Just, please, let me make the things, and give me that freedom and peace of mind back. Thank you. ♥