I see the SecondLife Thought Police have arrived.

[Anna Nova]

Every forum got a new Guideline Post yesterday.  Sheesh!  Did we really need that?  Are we really that bad?

I've given up mainland because LL won't put in any rules, so maybe I'm going to give up the forums because they have too many!

[bigmoe Whitfield]

1 minute ago, Anna Nova said:

Every forum got a new Guideline Post yesterday.  Sheesh!  Did we really need that?  Are we really that bad?

I've given up mainland because LL won't  put in any rules, so maybe I'm going to give up the forums because they have too many!

The forums needed a bit of guidance, but that's to be expected on any public facing website.  

[belindacarson]

1 minute ago, Anna Nova said:

Every forum got a new Guideline Post yesterday.  Sheesh!  Did we really need that?  Are we really that bad?

I've given up mainland because LL won't put in any rules, so maybe I'm going to give up the forums because they have too many!

Yes we do

 

Same crowd are and ruin it for others.

[Gabriele Graves]

I think it would have been much better to have had those announcements preceded by a blog post outlining what was going to be done, why they were doing it now and what in practical terms residents could expect from the changes.

Edited July 30, 2022 by Gabriele Graves

[Scylla Rhiadra]

3 minutes ago, Gabriele Graves said:

I think it would have been much better to have had those announcements preceded by a blog post outlining what was going to be done, why they were doing it now and what in practical terms residents could expect from the changes.

Insofar as there appear to be people here who don't think it is actually going to change the way the forums are moderated -- yes. I think some clarity here would be good (although I'm pretty confident that they're quite serious about this). There was also no "notification" -- unless you happened to notice the new stickies at the top of each forum -- so there might well be some who post unaware that there are new guidelines.

And it would have been a good PR move as well. I think we deserved that.

[Gabriele Graves]

To me there's only two reasons you don't make a public announcement about this:

1.  The changes are too insignificant to make a blog post about.

2.  The changes are because you perceive you have a significant problem and you don't want to publicly admit your platform has a problem.

I note that blog.secondlife.com doesn't require being logged in to see them even after the forums do.

So, which one is it?  It doesn't feel like #1 to me.
 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

1 minute ago, Gabriele Graves said:

It doesn't feel like #1 to me.

Agreed.

And I'll go so far as to suggest that those at the top would be quite happy if the GD (and probably other parts of the forum) simply dwindled into insignificance. Which may, in fact, be exactly what happens.

[Harper Held]

Meh. Whatever.

[Arielle Popstar]

If there was to be a sale, I would have a hard time not believing that Meta would not be the number one contender.

[Persephone Emerald]

We're free to think wh@tever we like, as long @s we don't post it.  🤡🎈

[shireena1]

Does this mean no more Friday threads?

 

[shireena1]

27 minutes ago, Han Held said:

Meh. Whatever.

[Arielle Popstar]

27 minutes ago, Han Held said:

Meh. Whatever.

Yeah, with my shiny new Dreamgrid with its Smart start and endless regions option, I'm not overly worried either.

[Extrude Ragu]

Quote

please refrain from posting content discussing inflammatory content (Politics, Social Justice issues and Interpersonal disputes)

If Linden Labs considers Social Justice Issues inflammatory, why is it that they post about those topics on their blog every week?

This strikes me as a case of 'do as we say, not as we do' or perhaps 'rules for thee, not for me'

[Arielle Popstar]

5 minutes ago, Extrude Ragu said:

If Linden Labs considers Social Justice Issues inflammatory, why is it that they post about those topics on their blog every week?

This strikes me as a case of 'do as we say, not as we do' or perhaps 'rules for thee, not for me'

Well, this way they have a 100% consensus on it because no one can voice an alternative viewpoint.

[Harper Held]

19 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Yeah, with my shiny new Dreamgrid with its Smart start and endless regions option, I'm not overly worried either.

I just meant as far as controversies go, this is a bit of a nothingburger. DG is nice but I won't be shutting down my regular grid for it.

[Alwin Alcott]

2 hours ago, Anna Nova said:

Every forum got a new Guideline Post yesterday.  Sheesh!  Did we really need that?  Are we really that bad?

I've given up mainland because LL won't put in any rules, so maybe I'm going to give up the forums because they have too many!

a bit in a contradiction? you want rules for one product from LL but not for the other?

I see no harm to be free of the "how do you think" "what do you think" and "do you" absurdities.

[Rat Luv]

You could always look for existing threads about things you want to talk about...and necro them 🤫

[Chaser Zaks]

Personally I am kinda glad they brought down the hammer on political stuff. Political threads have always ended up heated with name calling, or just echo chambers because anyone with a disagreeing opinion would get dominated out of the thread(or too worried/scared to get engaged in the thread due to this). As a result, it presented a hostile environment to new combers who may have differing view points. My understanding is Second Life is for everyone, and political threads have kind of shown otherwise(at least, in the eyes of a new resident. Regulars would know that "that's how the forums have been").
Political threads have done nothing but cause drama and further a divide between residents on the forum. So I say good riddance to them.

However, I do agree that if this policy is to apply to residents, it should also apply to the featured/community news and picture of the day(which is technically picture of the week, sometimes month).
By not having the same policy for the higher ups brings a conflicting and potentially worse message than "politics allowed just don't fight".
Conflicting because: If the forums are not for politics, why is politics being posted on the front page?
Worse because: Stating political opinions while silencing those who may critique such opinions. This can read even worse than residents fighting, as it'll be seen as "Second Life is not for everyone".

Edited July 30, 2022 by Chaser Zaks

[bigmoe Whitfield]

2 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

If there was to be a sale, I would have a hard time not believing that Meta would not be the number one contender.

Not seeing it being sold, let's not talk about that.

[Sid Nagy]

I k now I have posted simular comments as below in the pet peeve thread already, but it seems more appropriate in this one.

Forums are there to build a community. Otherwise you don't need a forum.
Communities need a coffee machine area, where one can exchange gossip, talk about all kinds of everything, tv, news, politics, jokes, the bad haircut, cars, hollidays, show around the latest pictures of the toddlers or cats, you name it.  Just like every company and business has such a spot.
Totally normal.
Most of the time such a forum section is called General Discussion or Off Topic.

We need such an coffee machine area too, if we want to stay a forum community with regulars returning and contributing regularly.
Even if they don't have a question or matter that is SL related most of the time. It keeps them here, to help others when needed for instance.

And yes, moderation is needed for spam, overly toxic posts, personal vendettas, cursing, bullying, nudity, naming and shaming.
But if one doesn't believe in basically free speech or want that to control every content on ones website, don't have a forum.

Edited July 30, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[bigmoe Whitfield]

Just now, Sid Nagy said:

But if one doesn't believe in free speech or want that to control every content on ones website, don't have a forum.

Companies as you already possibly know do not fall under the free speech item since they are privately owned and can do as they wish on their own forums.

[Sid Nagy]

3 hours ago, bigmoe Whitfield said:

Companies as you already possibly know do not fall under the free speech item since they are privately owned and can do as they wish on their own forums.

Yes I know, but still, the company has to decide what they want, a forum or no forum.
If you want a forum, you have to grand the members of the forum as much free speech as possible otherwise you don't get a forum, but a fanboy and cheerleader section at best. Cool if you want that, but don't call it a forum.
Forum means discussion, different opinions, the possibility to speak freely as much as possible IMHO. Have a community.
Communities are never ever only on topic. No where. I bet if there is a G7 conference, the world leaders share a joke, a picture at times or talk about the weather, football or whatever as well in the sidelines of the conference. The Lindens themselves have casual conversations at their coffee machines.

"You may talk about football here as much as you like, but you have to worship FC Barcelona and nothing else."
That doesn't work on a forum, does it?

Edited July 30, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[bigmoe Whitfield]

4 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

Yes I know, but still, the company has to decide what they want, a forum or no forum.
If you want a forum, you have to grand the members of the forum as much free speech as possible otherwise you don't get a forum, but a fanboy and cheerleader section at best. Cool if you want that, but don't call it a forum.
Forum means discussion, different opinions, the possibility to speak freely as much as possible IMHO.

You may talk about football here as much as you like, but you have to worship FC Barcelona and nothing else.
That doesn't work on a forum, does it?

what lots of us have done is make a off-topic members section where people can go nuts within reason,  not sure why LL has not done this.  but it's their call not mine.

[Solar Legion]

Ah yes, more hyperbole/utter ridiculousness ...