When I read a blog post by a PR firm asking users of a product to write stories about the wonderful experiences they’ve had using the product, I tend to think one of two things are going on. Either the company is being smart and cutting edge and is building community and buzz, or the company is in trouble and is doing damage control. Today, Linden Lab had a post like that and my first thought was damage control.

It may be because I am too close to the financial community in Second Life, and have been to too many sessions recently discussing Linden Lab’s decision to ban most in world banking. So, I did a search on Google News about Second Life. Half of the stories when I checked were about the banking crisis. “Even virtual economies are bearish: Second Life bans banking”, “Financial Crisis in Second Life”, “Banking meltdown infects the virtual world”, “Not even virtual worlds can escape cowboy banks” and so on.

So, it does look as if Linden Lab is trying to do a little damage control. So, let me offer my snarky suggestions on the damage control efforts. People that I would like to see listed include Nicholas Portocarrero, LukeConnell Vandeverre, Midas Commons, Jasper Tizzy, IntLibber Brautigan, Monkey Canning, Travis Ristow, Tryian Camilo, Lindsay Druart and others. Note: I do not want to imply that all of these folks are cut from the same cloth. Some have done great damage to the economy in Second Life. Some have do great jobs in repairing the damage. I’ll leave it up to you to decide who you think is doing what.