Profilers make playing KittyCats more interesting!

[Theodore Nacht]

As a long-time auctioneer (since Summer 2011) who never used the Profiler, I'm aware our auction lost massive business due to not being listed on the profiler's site. I can only imagine there were others who opted out of investing in Profiler and were denied acknowledgment and listing on the website which became so integral to so many.

Perhaps I'm just old-fashioned, but I never liked the attitude or aggressive sales tactics levied at myself and Draco around purchase of this item, and I didn't see a need for it when margins for profit are so slim already. I can't be the only person who felt that way. Surely others would rather have spent their Ls on kitties or kibble than on a third-party tool that didn't exist when they began breeding kitties.

What I have always loved about the KittyCatS community is its inclusivity. Everyone has been welcomed here, regardless of language or other boundaries that sometimes divide us, both in SL and RL. As a nerdy queer guy, I've experienced my fair share of bullying and exclusion, but as someone who's been involved in KC since the beta, I can honestly say I've never experienced anything but open arms and wonderful camaraderie here. That's why, six years and countless boxes of kibble later, I'm still here.

It's worth considering that the attitude and pricing of the Profiler and its attendant website (which so many are emphasizing it's nearly impossible to live without) contributed to the exclusion from notice of those who didn't opt in, whether because of a difference of personality with the creator, being unable to financially access the tool, or being unable functionally to utilize it in accordance with the creator's rules. No third-party functionality will ever be worth excluding members of our community, in my opinion. I am simply unable to justify things selfishly and say "I don't care what price others pay; I want this for myself, and their hurts are irrelevant to me as long as I get mine." What hurts anyone in our community should be seen to hurt us all because we all benefit from this community being a loving, welcoming place full of generous, kind people who encourage each other to continually reinvest in KC both with their labor and their finances. This leads to retention of members--better for us all both economically and psychologically--and to the attraction of new members by word of mouth. There is no scenario I can see in which exclusionary practices and self-focused justifications benefit anyone in the long-term.

I look forward to a new era now, one in which we have a clear demand for this manner of functionality and a mandate for inclusivity and good customer service--for which KC Staff has always been a gold standard in SL. Kitten Longmeadow and crew have been the best customer support in SL since KC began, and it's my hope that KC will step in to fill this gap in the market as well. As it is their database being scraped for Profiler data, it seems wisest if they create an optimized script for assembling the data the community hungers for, ensuring smooth performance and a minimum of downtime on their end owing to inefficient technical interactions.

I don't think anyone is suggesting a wealth of easily accessible data with which to make informed decisions is a bad idea. More functionality for a beloved product is always a boon. However, imagining every steal on a new trait was listed on that marketplace is naive and misguided. Imagining you didn't miss out on a world of great cats, great prices, and great opportunities by using that as a primary interface for the secondary market is just mistaken. Many people--individual sellers, co-ops, auctions, and marketplaces--have over the years opted out of that third-party tool and carried on business as usual entirely off the radar of Profiler-focused community members. I hope perhaps now we can all see one another again and come together a little more.

Let's all see this as an opportunity. We've lost nothing irreplaceable. Perhaps instead of regretting the situation, let's make suggestions to KittyCatS (who are obviously listening, judging by their posts in this thread) about what features we most desire to see moving forward. Which functionality was most useful to you? And how can we achieve that again--possibly without putting it behind a paywall and while retaining KC's superlative customer service?