Comments on: SL Exchange’s auto-refreshed Featured Marketplace is useful + fun!

By: Torley

Torley — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:34:44 +0000

Thanks for clarifying that, thaumata.

By: thaumata

thaumata — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 01:44:40 +0000

It's not as random as it appears. People who want their items on that front page pay a premium for advertising. The front page listing costs about L$3000 per month to be included in the rotation.

But, I do agree that it's interesting to shop from there.

By: Patchouli Woollahra

Patchouli Woollahra — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:01:58 +0000

wonder why more online storefronts — including non-Second Life ones — don’t have something like this?

Well, to randomly grab a handful of items out of a very large database requires significant db querying legwork. To do that every half-minute is a pretty hefty load if you multiply by the number of unique users that SLExchange gets, even if a cache is involved and everyone gets served the same random shovelful.

Ajax is cruise control for creeping bandwidth overuse.