Oh dear - Check your inventory

April 29, 12:30am Update: Earlier this evening, I received an email from Dizzy Banjo who shared with me that Bid Messmer had just confirmed some problems regarding inventory management issues. I just spoke with Bid, and this is what I learned...

Bid Messmer: I have always worked on scripting exercises and things just to test ideas, I save them for later in case what I learned becomes useful. I don't have to start over. This was a project I did that was based on hive behaviour in physical prims... and I am now working on a project were I have to script a bunch of insects, so it would have been handy not to have to spend another week re-inventing the wheel.

Now I try to rez the object and it doesn't show... I can hand it to others, and they can't rez either. I filed a ticket. Rowen Linden came and she tried to rez things she hadn't rezzed in a long time, too, and her things didn't rez either, so she went and asked the Inventory Management team. She came back to say that she had spoken with the project manager of Inventory Management, and had been told that back on September 12th of last year, Linden Lab had run a program that collected unused objects and removed them from the database.

Back a ways, if an object wasn't rezzed by anyone between Sept 12th and early December, they had a program sweep through and delete it permanently from the server.

How prevalent is that? Have you found anyone else with that problem?

Bid Messmer: Yeah, a few, including Lindens who never heard about this. Their inventory team said it only deleted items that were unreferenced and not in an active account... deleted accounts and such. I am a VERY active account. Here all the time. I have about 4-5 things so far I found that will never rez again. This is just a warning to everyone, if you've got important projects, to rez them every few months.

Which Lindens did you speak with?

Bid Messmer: I am not sure which Lindens were on the dev groups commenting. I had a friend relay for me, but Rowen Linden was my Concierge contact and did the leg work and got the answer. Talked with her today on the phone with a Concierge call.

You discovered this today?

Bid Messmer: No, I first noticed this a week or two ago, but with all the asset issues I figured I'd try again later.

So you kept on trying?

Bid Messmer: Yeah. A few items, all from a while ago. If the item was transferred to someone else, and that other item was rezzed in that time frame, it seems to have protected it from that sweep. So a commercial item is likely not to be affected. If anyone else has a copy, then likely protected. Also, since they admit they run this on deleted/inactive accounts, it's likely a glitch that doesn't effect everyone, but I know damn well I wasn't ever out in that time.

Before and after I spoke with Bid, I rezzed several items to see if I ran into any troubles. I also contacted Tayzia Abattoir, owner of the longest-running museum in Second Life® - the Crescent Moon - since my immediate concern was that valuable and extremely rare pieces of art that she holds in her inventory might have gone missing. I am happy to report that she has not yet found any unrezzable objects. I agree with the two people who commented here that I should have waited until I had more of the facts, but the initial information I received was comprehensive enough for me to believe that the issue exists. Has anyone else experienced troubles with this?

~*~

I've just been informed that any object in your inventory that you didn't rez between September 12, 2007 and early December, 2007, may very well be g*o*n*e. While the objects may show in your inventory, they are likely unrezzable. More info soon.

If you find that this has happened to you, would you please let me know?