General Discussion Forum

[Rene Erlanger Member]

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Porky Gorky wrote:

As you know Rene,...."Back in the day" when this forum was at it's most active, it was a total bitchfest. We had resmods who constantly failed to maintain order and you could essentially say whatever you wanted as long is it wasn't too extreme, i.e. no racism or overly explicit language. I used to get quite involved. I like debating and arguing with people, especially the LL cheerleaders, it's entertainment to some extent and a good way to pass the time on slow work days. I'm tactless and blunt so generally there was no shortage of people to debate with, they were normally queuing up to pull my posts apart and to offer their opinions.

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lol...me too!

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Porky Gorky wrote:

I would be active for a few months on the forum, then would be inactive for a few months as my workload increased. I saw no difference at all to my profit levels or my bottom line in SL. There is no notable correlation between my forum activities and my sales of digital content. 

When debating with someone, quite often they assume that I am hurting my business through the comments I make and they are smug in the assurance that they are not hurting their own business as they are hiding behind an alt. This is just nonsense.

 

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Snap!   No difference at all!

That particularly occured on Merchant related forums, where others would warn me, that my views would hurt my business. Well, I'm still here and still standing.....and have not downsized at all. My next move will most likely be expansion! So their smugness is what it is......poppycock!

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Porky Gorky wrote:

As I said before though, it's all negligible at the end of the day. The active userbase here is really small and always has been when compared to the inworld population. If people are so desperate for business that they let it dictate how they present themselves on the forums, then they need to take good look at their marketing strategy and find more effective ways of reaching out to new and potential customers. I have lots of effective marketing tools at my disposal. This forum isn't one of them.

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100% correct imo!

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Porky Gorky wrote:

Compared to in the past,  my posts nowadays are tame and rarely confrontational because you can't get away with it any more. We have real moderators now who actually know how to do their jobs. I take my hat off too them, they have certainly cleaned up the streets as it were.  Unfortunately the forums are allot less interesting as a result but that is the price we have to pay for helping protect the teens and helping LL protect their reputation on a publicly accessible forum.

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Me too...then again the likes of Suspira have disappeared from here, so life on these Forums have become more peaceful!

[JeanneAnne Member]

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Porky Gorky wrote:

Compared to in the past,  my posts nowadays are tame and rarely confrontational because you can't get away with it any more. We have real moderators now who actually know how to do their jobs. I take my hat off too them, they have certainly cleaned up the streets as it were.  Unfortunately the forums are allot less interesting as a result but that is the price we have to pay for helping protect the teens and helping LL protect their reputation on a publicly accessible forum.

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So you condone censorship.

Censoring this forum does nothing to "protect the teens." Teens lie about their age & access A rated regions in SL with impunity. Few teens are even going to read the forum and I sure don't see how the censorious stifling of free debate is going to "protect" the few who may. "Protect" them from what? From seeing ideas & opinions being freely expressed?

Censoring this forum does nothing to protect LL's reputation either. What reputation? Their reputation for having a game catering to gamblers & perverts? Yeah, the gambling is gone, for the most part, but most people don't know that. So now its all about slex, to the minds of the public who're even vaguely familiar with SL. Those of us who actually play SL & like it hold LL in low regard - except for the few weasels suffering from Stockholm Syndrome who cohere unto their own oppressor. So LL has no reputation to protect. And even if it did, once again, I fail to see how censoring discussion in this forum would serve to protect it.

Jeanne

[Porky Gorky Member]

I couldn't care less about censorship in regards to this forum. This forum is run by a private company . They make the rules. I have a choice of either following their rules or not participate at all. It's as simple as that. If you care about your comments being censored then you should stop posting here.

With regards to censoring the forum from the teens. I never said the current level of moderation has succeeded in protecting the teens. Of course it hasn't, and that's because of the reasons you outlined. I was simply saying that one of the reasons we have increased moderation now is because LL is trying to protect the teens. Whether or not they succeed is irrelevant to the point I was making. I am saying LL's attempt to protect the teens is a factor in the current level of moderation.

With regards to protecting LL's reputation, you have taken a much wider view than I have. I don't for one second think that the moderation we are currently seeing will undo years of bad publicity. I was thinking on a much smaller scale. Despite the years of bad press we still have lots of new people signing up every day and some of them will eventually make it to the forum. Obviously LL would not want these new customers faced with a barrage of anti-LL threads when they arrive. It's not good for business or customer retention. So this is what they are trying to protect I believe. They are trying to protect their current standing as a service provider to new and potential customers. I want SL to succeed and grow again so this makes good business sense to me.

[JeanneAnne Member]

'K Porky.. Good post!

I'm just tryin to liven things back up a bit...

Jeanne

[Peggy Paperdoll Recognized Helper]

Me too...then again the likes of Suspira have disappeared from here, so life on these Forums have become more peaceful! **Only uploaded images may be used in postings**://secondlife.i.lithium.com/html/assets/emoticons/mattemotes/wink.png" border="0" alt="" title="" />

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Hey, I liked Suspiria.........she didn't like me though. 

[Peggy Paperdoll Recognized Helper]

Pretty fast and loose with the word "censorship". 

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"So you condone censorship.

Censoring this forum does nothing to "protect the teens." Teens lie about their age & access A rated regions in SL with impunity. Few teens are even going to read the forum and I sure don't see how the censorious stifling of free debate is going to "protect" the few who may. "Protect" them from what? From seeing ideas & opinions being freely expressed?

Censoring this forum does nothing to protect LL's reputation either. What reputation? Their reputation for having a game catering to gamblers & perverts? Yeah, the gambling is gone, for the most part, but most people don't know that. So now its all about slex, to the minds of the public who're even vaguely familiar with SL. Those of us who actually play SL & like it hold LL in low regard - except for the few weasels suffering from Stockholm Syndrome who cohere unto their own oppressor. So LL has no reputation to protect. And even if it did, once again, I fail to see how censoring discussion in this forum would serve to protect it." 

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You know, of course, that censorship in itself is perfectly okay in the United States as far as private companies and individuals are concerned.  You can't use violence to censor anyone but you certainly can censor someone on your property......this forum is Linden Lab's property, by the way.  LL's policy (what you call censorship) is control.......they have every right and every obligation to control what goes on in their forums.  If they don't want flame wars or vulgar words posted in their forum then they can stop it any way they choose to stop it short of violence.  You come on my property and use a word I don't like I can censor you by ejecting you from my property.......you have no right to your "free speech" on my property.  That's not censoring.........it's controlling what goes on in my world and you have no rights at all (except I can't smack you in the head with a pipe).

How does controlling what happens in the forums "protect" teens?  That's simple.  Linden Lab has chosen not to be party to exposing teens to what is universally considered in appropriate content (words and discriptions of violence or sexual are considered inappropriate for persons under the age of 18 in the United States.....that is a law that until changes must be observed by Linden Lab).  So they do "protect" the teens to the extent that they are able.  And the "reputation" they are protecting is closely related to what I just said. 

That's not censorship,  It's controlling their property and observing the US laws that they must observe.  Obviously you don't understand that part and showing your ignorance with posts like I quoted. 

I've yet to see LL "censor" anyone who remains inside the posted guidelines.  I have seen posts and threads disappear that serve no purpose other than to bash LL and SL......Linden Lab is under no obligation to  sit still while some jerk without a clue voices venom because they are unhappy about something.  The threads that remain calm and productive are not deleted.......even when the topic is not particularly flattering to SL or LL.  LL will delete vulgar or offensive posts as they should.  What you call censoring is not censoring at all.....no more than my example of someone coming on my property in my house and saying anything I don't like.  I can get rid of them and they have nothing to say about. 

[Rene Erlanger Member]

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Peggy Paperdoll wrote:

Hey, I liked Suspiria.........she didn't like me though. 

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Nope, I didn't like her one bit.......she should have been institutionalized!

[Canoro Philipp Member]

a neighborhood that has its amount of crime may make news, with gangs, rapists, kidnappers, mobsters, it may keep action going in that neighborhood, but with time, it drives away the decent residents and good people that live there, new visitors will be driven away by the criminals, at the end, the place stays as a home for the criminals.

what im saying is that negativity may be attractive for the people that like those things, and they may feel the place more "alive" the more negative events happen, but it drives away people who dont want to fight, that want to have a nice calm conversation with another resident from there.

i agree that the place needs moderation so that the good people have a chance to come here and stay as regulars if they want, feeling themselves protected from the people that want to bully them.

[Peggy Paperdoll Recognized Helper]

Well stated. 

But, I got to be honest.........I like a good fight once in a while.  I do, however, know the limits and try hard not to cross them.  I've mis-stepped a few times in my forum life here..........got scolded and took the slap on the wrist knowing that I deserved it.  There's a difference in a brawl and a good old fashioned fight..........I don't like the brawls (they get bloody and I hate the sight of blood). 

[Yohan Roux Member]

Life is not like that, when you get older you will see it is made up of both sides, if you can get though it just even then you will be lucky, to much of either side is bad.