UPDATE 2: “Jam-packed” Linden limits new Second Life signups
By Adam Reuters
(Updates to show that registration page is live again)
SECOND LIFE, March 14, (Reuters) - Linden Lab blocked new registrations to Second Life for several hours on Wednesday with a message that it was “jam-packed,” which the company said was posted in error.
The Second Life registration page, bearing the headline “Sorry, we’re currently jam-packed,” stated: “To ensure the best possible experience for all of our Residents, we are temporarily limiting new account registrations. There’s been a huge influx of new Residents into Second Life and we are working hard to keep up with the demand.”
The message appeared while the entire Second Life grid was offline on Wednesday for a scheduled update.
The page, created as part of the company’s previously announced contingency plan for an overcrowded grid, was mistakenly posted and did not represent a shift in policy regarding new registrations, Linden Lab spokeswoman Catherine Smith said in a phone interview.
“The grid message you saw was accidentally triggered,” Smith added in an email. “As usual, when the grid is down for maintenance, registration is closed.”
The company said last month that “[w]hen the Grid is under stress, resulting in content loss and a generally poor experience, we would like to have an option less disruptive than bringing the whole Grid down.” Second Life has had frequent outtages as the number of concurrent users has passed 30,000.
The “jam-packed” message also carried links to several Second Life businesses, including SLProfiles, Second Style, SLBoutique and Snapzilla, as suggested places to “get a start on your Second Life.”
“Trouble is, the ‘jam-packed’ page is clearly the wrong one to show in this instance. We’ve filed a bug against this internally and will make a more apt one for next time!” Yoz Linden said in a comment on IBM’s eightbar blog, which first reported the page’s existance.
As of 1330 Pacfic time, the registration page and the Second Life grid had returned to operation.
