Prokofy Neva, who has been critical of Patch a number of times in the past,
would announce the news in the SL forums, commenting if Patch had to go, he deserved a better farewell, "The Lindens have provided a terse announcement about the departure of Patch Linden. I think they should have listed his many accomplishments and history starting from a creator and manager of a men's clothing store in the old days as a resident going up to his last position of VP of Product. The Lindens' absolute greatest product from the perspective of business is Bellisseria, and Patch Linden was responsible for much of this, guiding and shaping and troubleshooting it and inspiring the staff and retaining residents through many iterations of its development over the last decades. Patch was also crucial in Linden involvement in resident-organized activities such as Relay for Life including what was advertised as an upcoming Fantasy Faire Jail & Bail, Halloween contests and much more. I think the announcement should have listed some of these accomplishments. I hope the Lindens have an inworld goodbye party for Patch Linden as they did for Oz Linden. I think we will never know the half of all the jobs Patch had to deal with in Second Life and his virtual shoes will be hard to fill."
But there will be no inworld party for Patch Linden. Already, his account has been deleted.
In Bellisseria group chatter, there was some discussion about Patch leaving. Someone brought up the
Ageplay Allegations controversy of 2024, of which Patch was among those accused. But it was reminded that if there had been any evidence of wrongdoing found, Patch would have been gone a long time ago.
Further in the SL forums thread, many had other questions. How will the Lab's Department of Public Works be affected? Why was he given such a sudden exit without a chance to say goodbye? How come he didn't even get a chance to do his Jail and Bail for the Fantasy Faire this year, which as of the writing of this article
is still listed on the FF blog. Who will give the opening speech at the Second Life Birthday? Would this mean less interaction between the Lindens and the residents? A couple commented the way things looked, it appeared something happened and Patch was fired.
One commented even if he was, there should have been at least a chance to say goodbye, "The announcement seems a bit sudden and corpo speaky. I've always felt this corporate double speak approach to things doesn't really suit second life. I
know it's a business and all but still. Every time something like this
happens, LL feels like a less trust worthy steward of our world. We're
talking about people that we know. His bear has sat in my sim for many
years. I've seen him up close in all the LL Birthdays and events.
Laughed at his dumb jokes at that Casino. I get it. They're employees. They can do things that get them fired. Would be nice to get to say bye."
Another would say, "I think the announcement could have been done in a better way, as it
doesn't come off very well. For someone that's worked for the company so
long, been an important part of major projects, and been a big 'face'
of LL inside the SL world, whatever you think of Patch, it comes off as
very cold, and 'terse' as other's have said . Even though they 'thank'
him for his work. Or maybe it's just standard for LL ? I can't find any
other official announcements of depatures in the past to compare it to. I
think they had to announce it as otherwise there'd be a lot of
speculation where Patch was, not showing up at the Faire and SL Birthday
celebrations this year etc. But the announcement is just fuelling more
speculation."
There will almost certainly be more chatter and comments. And no shortage of people asking "why?"
Top picture from Diamond Marchant
Bixyl Shuftan
