The Reality of Second Life Messaging
We believe in being completely honest about Second Life's technical limitations. Here's exactly how the system works and what we do to ensure
100% delivery of every message.
Second Life's Official Rate Limits:
- 2,500 instant messages per 30 minutes - This is Linden Lab's official throttle limit per avatar, per region
- Rolling window system - In practice, this behaves like 5,000 messages per hour due to rolling averages
- Shared throttle - All objects owned by the same avatar share this limit
- Inventory delivery counts too - Sending an attachment uses both an IM slot AND an inventory slot (2 slots per recipient)
- Throttled messages are dropped - If you exceed the limit, messages are lost forever (not queued)
Source: Official Second Life Wiki and Linden Lab engineer Kelly Linden's guidance
Our Solution: Smart Batching
ChirpList uses intelligent batch processing to work within these limits while guaranteeing 100% delivery:
How ChirpList Ensures Perfect Delivery:
- Small lists (under 2,500 subscribers) - Single batch, fast delivery in ~8 minutes. No waiting!
- Message-only sends - 2,000 recipients per batch with a 20% safety margin
- Messages with attachments - 1,000 recipients per batch (conservative approach since attachments use 2 slots)
- 31-minute wait between batches - Ensures throttle resets completely before next batch
- Automatic detection - System detects attachments and adjusts batch size automatically
- Real-time progress tracking - See exactly which batch is sending and countdown timers during waits
- Works while offline - Close Second Life during long sends - the system keeps working and will email you when it is finished.
What This Means for Delivery Times:
We show you the exact time estimate before you send, so there are no surprises:
- 500 subscribers - ~2-4 minutes (instant!)
- 2,500 subscribers - ~8 minutes (single batch)
- 5,000 subscribers - ~45-60 minutes (2-3 batches, message only)
- 10,000 subscribers - ~2.5 hours (5 batches, message only)
- 15,000 subscribers - ~4 hours (8 batches, message only)
- With attachments - Approximately 2x longer due to conservative batching
Bottom Line: We'd rather be upfront about the time limitations than try to send them faster and lose your messages.
Every message reaches every subscriber. Guaranteed.
Why This Matters
Other systems may claim faster speeds, but they don't tell you about the messages
that get silently dropped when they hit Second Life's limits. With ChirpList, you get:
- 100% delivery rate - Never lose a single message
- Complete transparency - Know exactly how long it will take before you send
- Real-time updates - Watch progress with batch tracking and countdowns
- Optional email notifications - Get notified when long sends complete
- Peace of mind - Your message reaches everyone, every time
