It stands to reason that Linden Lab would simply turn off this report if it showed bad news. And it does. We know for a fact that you can only convert openspace sims to a full sim if you do it in clusters of four. We also know that a great many openspace sims were purchased after they dropped that four-at-a-time restriction. So I think we're seeing a combination of:

* Four-packs being converted to single full sims
* Four-packs being abandoned
* Singly purchases openspace sims being abandoned


Since Linden Lab is not releasing any information at all on what the ratios of these three types of loss are out of the total daily average loss of 55 sims per day, we can assume that if they did release the figures it wouldn't be a good thing for Linden Lab. Otherwise, they'd be forthcoming with the information and wouldn't have any problem with sharing it.

From this we can assume that a much smaller percentage of four-pack conversions are taking place than Linden Lab would prefer us to know about, and that the majority are simply being abandoned. However, we can also assume that because the conversions end up with Linden Lab receiving the same money within $5, that Linden Lab has probably not yet reached their threshold of pain with respect to the fiscal losses, and may not till the middle of spring.

The immediate fiscal impact is only one side of it, of course - whether they're actually losing money right now or not, the fact remains that SL is becoming a less fun place to be, simply because at this writing there are currently 16% fewer places to go than there were at the beginning of last November, with no end to the shrinkage in sight.

Kal