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?

Arcadia Asylum's inventory... it's gone: asset server issues are calamities

October 1 addendum: Thanks to the prompt efforts of Kona Linden who responded to NPIRL'er Ponk Bing's request, we have been able to verify that Arcadia's inventory is in place and appears to be fine. For more information, see the 16th comment to this post. Thanks Kona and Ponk!

Arcadia Asylum is the self proclaimed queen of trash in Second Life - and no, we're not talking about smut... she's strictly PG. Arcadia, whose first SL rez day is imminent, is peerless in giving a place that "urban decay" look. You see, it was Arc who built the now defunct Slum City, and Rags to Riches as well as the Pawn Shop at the Hobo Village Infohub.


I haven't finished introducing you to this feisty steam-punk urchin unless I also mention that she is resolute in her belief that all creations in Second Life should be open source and free. Her profile reads, "If you payed (sic) for anything made by me, even for L$1, you were SCAMMED!!!" Arc's made a pile of freebies, and they are - every single one of them - full perm.

Anyway, I got word on Saturday that the contents of her inventory had been wiped. If you know Arcadia and her builds, then you will probably agree with me when I say that this is a tragedy. (P.S. - In Arcadia's very, very special case, most everything she created is "out there," so her builds are still there. So are many of her textures, which she freely gave away when Slum City still existed. However, rebuilding your tools from scratch can't be anything more than a downer and a drag.)

Arcadia's vehicles can be found all over the grid.

Arc's reaction to the situation was to say that she was going to move on to other virtual worlds and go make her freebies there. We haven't heard from her since.


Hobo Village Infohub is a mess. An intentional mess. After the demise of the gambling industry in SL, Arcadia tossed slot machines in the bonfire there.

This got me mulling over the implications of lost assets. There are a handful of people in Second Life whose inventories contain one-of-a-kind treasures, not just of their making, but that of many other creators. What if their inventories were vamoosed?

I logged in last night and posted a question to the knowledgeable crew in the First Look group: if LL wanted to, could they back up a specific person's assets? "Probably not," was the reply.

Darn. I had hoped to propose that Second Life set up a program whereby, on an annual basis, a few people's inventories were given the designation of "Second Life Treasures," and then promptly backed up in order to preserve these repositories as living patrimony.

I realize that this would not be an easy program to implement. Beyond the technical difficulties, the selection criteria for whose inventories are the most valuable would most assuredly be a controversial and political Waterloo, but I still maintain that it would be worth the trouble.

Meanwhile, we are still Arcadia-less. For days now and every few hours I receive an IM from one great builder or another that begins "Arcadia's inventory is lost," or "has anyone heard from Arcadia?" The Friends of Arcadia clan, which is evidently enormous, is fretting. Is demoralized. Misses her... a lot.

Here, Arabella Steadman is wearing Arcadia's backpack... so complete with goodies, it might as well have a kitchen sink hanging from it.

Arc, if by any chance you are reading this... please come back. I hereby promise to give you anything from my humble inventory that is transferable. I think it is safe to say that so would scores of others.