[sldev] 1.19.0 Group Chat

[Matthew Dowd]

>     Just thought I'd pass along some info as to LL's decision to remove 
> some "features" of group chat in 1.19.0.  The main reasons for this was 
> to make group chat (and conference chat) opt-in instead of opt-out as 
> there are countless complaints about "group IM spam" and frankly, I 
> agree with the complainers about this one.

I think we *all* agree with the complainers - what we disagree on is the solution.

What, I (and I think others) believe the complainers want is a means to *opt out* of Group IMs for a particular group - *not* as has been implemented, making group IMs out in.

I'm afraid that by rolling this out before the additional work to allow auto login (preferable without group IM tab clutter) to selected groups, this will be perceives as yet another feature loss and will be *yet another* unpopular change.

I can appreciate the DB load issues - and whilst I can understand the desire to reduce DB load by removing features it does seem a worrying trend if we have to sacrifice features in order for SL to grow (we lost ratings due to database load, what will be the next feature to go?)

Sorry to sound negative - but I really do think this one needs further work before going live.

Matthew
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