So Linden Lab are removing the ratings system this update, and I can’t help feeling just a little bit melancholy. Sure it’s not something that’s ever been widely used (yet again it’s another cool feature that Linden have buried to a certain extent in the user interface), but I always get a little kick when someone rates me up.
But there’s another knock on effect. While it didn’t cost a huge amount to rate some one (only 25 L$), the rating system was one of the few economic sinks in the Linden Currenty – Economic sinks are used to slow down inflation and stabilise currency by taking money out of the system with no tangible finacial reward. Taxes are good example of this, but we don’t have taxes in SL, remember. And surely the load that the ratings system is placing on the databse system is more a function of the huge increase in membership, and not any fault in the ratings system?
The LL Blog points to a number of alternatives, but really, is Linden believed in the ratings system, it would still be there, and more easily accessible. This is a bad call.
