(News for July 26, 2008 -- Updated July 30, 2008)

Hi there! Seven Shikami, 7Seas Coder, here.

I'd like to talk to you about two problems folks have been experiencing, and what we're doing about them. I get asked about these a lot, so I figured it'd be best to address it to the community at large rather than on a person to person basis.

ZERO XP CATCHES

Now and then, people seem to get the wrong number of XP for the fish they catch; a common worth 5XP, or a SUR worth 0XP, or any combination between. Sometimes it even claims you're not actually in a fishing area when you certainly are!

This is a known issue. We WILL be fixing it in the upcoming Verison 3.0 changes, which are coming sometime in August / Early September. We'd love to fix this NOW, believe me! But we need Linden Lab(tm) to implement Mono, a new scripting system, before we can issue the new fishing rods.

(In all honesty? The XP you're getting is actually correct! The problem is our old friend "lag". The sim you're in is likely running a big contest, and that means lots of avatars, lots of fishing, lots of scripts, lots of LAG! That lag means the fish server delivers your PREVIOUS fish to you too late, so they arrive at the wrong times, and appear to have the wrong score. For instance, if you actually missed, but a previous fish arrives late, it appears to be a 0 XP catch. Your score and XP earning are actually A-OK... the mistimed fish just make things LOOK messed up.)

Again... this WILL be fixed in our upcoming changes. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we'll all have to tough it out until then. It's better than doing this the "wrong way" and rushing it out the door before we've got the tools we need to do it right!

NON-DELIVERED ITEMS

You caught a SUR! ..and it doesn't arrive. You bought bait! ..and it doesn't arrive. Hey! What's going on here? Where's my stuff?

First, check your Mute List and make sure you don't have Seven Shikami, Meissa Thorne, Jen Shikami, or anything named 'fish server' muted. (It's easy to accidentally mute!) If you're all clear, then you definitely hit one of our bugs, and it's one we're actively investigating. It seems to happen most during peak hours, so odds are... you guessed it... SL lag related.

UPDATE! The good news is that as of July 30th, we've found the source of 90% of all nondeliveries, and have fixed the problem! It's still possible to get an ND due to Mute List issues, or due to SL having momentary Asset/Transaction failures, but the vast majority of all NDs are now taken care of.

In any case, if you DO get a nondelivery of something you can't live without like a shiny new SUR fish or something you purchased, send an IM explaining the situation to 7Seas Sass, our support agent. (Don't contact anyone ELSE, do not IM Seven Shikami! This will only delay your request!) Now, she can't be online 24/7 because she does have to eat / sleep / career, but she'll get you your item as soon as possible! You don't need to re-purchase it.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE!

We love SL, and we love our fishers. We'll do our best to smooth out your fishing experience despite SL's innate stability issues. Working together, we can make 7Seas better, and the future brighter! Thanks for your time, and happy fishing!

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