The OMT - Operation Mainland Transit

[Feorie Frimon]

Hey everyone!

I’m working on a project called the OMT - Operation Mainland Transit. In short, it’s like an ‘in world Forever Tourist’ - a series of skyboxes on different mainland continents that are built to look like subway stations and all be connected with experience teleporters. 

Each Subway station is specific to its continent, showing locations in a directory teleporter that are located where that station is (Sansara, Heterocera, etc). 

I have combed through forum thread posts and the SL wiki, but wanted to ask you guys too - do you have any SURLs to mainland locations that are interesting AND the land is owned by LL? I’d like to list them in the directory for its continent on the OMT!  
 

(I am super excited about this project too, because it helps provide a similar ‘exploring experience’ that Forever Tourist provides, without leaving modern looking kiosks in weird spots all over the grid. I promise no ‘pretty spots’ will be harmed in the giving of your favorites

[diamond Marchant]

I respect the passion you have for OMT but am a little confused about it.

Are you trying to recreate the old telehubs? In skyboxes?

And we have a destination guide that seems to work?

So what's up?

[Hymn Celestia]

Do adult regions count?

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danim/20/12/60

Garden Mole's Flower Fountain in the middle of the Vulcyris Roundabout is unexpected and wonderful ❤️ It touches four different regions; Danim, Sheersmith, Thiefside, and Lierminster.

[Feorie Frimon]

@diamond Marchant  Similar! I have never been to a telehub.. But yeah maybe? 

How it works now is you go to the subway station (skybox) themed for Satori (or whatever) - you go in to the subway car and select a Location from the teleporter (that is all Satori locations) or go up the flights of stairs in the skybox to ‘go to another station’ themed for another continent. 
 

So yeah - similar to the destination guide? Or Forever Tourist without the stamps? But without interacting with a website or list? I get a fair amount of traffic from new residents who haven’t found the destination guide on the website yet. And… not all places are listed in the DG (Not a judgement - SL changes fast!) 

So yeah - I guess it is a continent themed subway telehub? 

Edited August 5, 2022 by Feorie Frimon
Clarification and tags :)

[Feorie Frimon]

2 minutes ago, Virtue Demina said:

Do adult regions count?

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danim/20/12/60

Garden Mole's Flower Fountain in the middle of the Vulcyris Roundabout is unexpected and wonderful ❤️ It touches four different regions; Danim, Sheersmith, Thiefside, and Lierminster.

I am actually trying to navigate that - because ‘Adult’ is a huge part of SecondLife for sure. Any suggestions?

I’m thinking a Zindra station… with all the Adult stuff?

[Hymn Celestia]

2 hours ago, Feorie Frimon said:

I am actually trying to navigate that - because ‘Adult’ is a huge part of SecondLife for sure. Any suggestions?

I’m thinking a Zindra station… with all the Adult stuff?

The benefit of that lovely Vulcyris Roundabout fountain is even though it happens to be on the adult continent it's not, in and of itself, pornographic and is something anybody can be proud to feature.  "Adult" means "Grownup" and "Refined" in this case, rather than "NSFW" or "Restricted to ages x and up"  which is -- in my opinion -- good advertising for Adulting in Second Life. 

I think your project is very exciting and I hope you have great fun manifesting it

[Hymn Celestia]

I also like what Crazy Mole and Mythic Mole did on Nautilus, specifically at the deGrasse pier.  Massive Poseidon-like figures upon pillars in the water, with an ancient lighthouse fire looking out into the sea.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/de Grasse/157/130/25

[Feorie Frimon]

36 minutes ago, Virtue Demina said:

I also like what Crazy Mole and Mythic Mole did on Nautilus, specifically at the deGrasse pier.  Massive Poseidon-like figures upon pillars in the water, with an ancient lighthouse fire looking out into the sea.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/de Grasse/157/130/25

This is exactly what I’m talking about. ❤️
Thank you for these! I can’t wait to see them 

[Persephone Emerald]

Why do these need to be Linden owned sites? So they won't disappear? or so they won't be said to be promoting favoritism of private sites?

Off the top of my head, there are several interesting Linden islands along the northern part of Satori. There's also one that almost touches the west coast of Fantasseria, and yet the Fantasy Homes subcontinent is magically invisible from it. There are many cool places within Bellisseria that anyone can visit, but you'd have to own a Linden Home there in order to set up a skybox over one.

[Feorie Frimon]

5 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Why do these need to be Linden owned sites? So they won't disappear? or so they won't be said to be promoting favoritism of private sites?

First - because they won't dissappear. I've been trying to figure out a way to direct more traffic to old Linden locations for years now - to somehow highlight the 'historic' vs the 'new' to show how cool the history of Secondlife is through it's two decades of extistence. I know that some people are about the 'walking and exploring'...but sometimes it's nice to just 'learn about an amazing place' and explore when you get there too. The LDPW locations are like that for me... I get there and poke around from there. It's like...'the start' of the adventure.

The other side bar to that is that there is always the debate between 'the old' and the 'new' as far as LDPW spaces. I want to make sure that if a new resident ends up at one of these stations, they'll be able to quickly identify 'old from new' when they are looking through locations. I like them both, and it's been fun setting up these teleporters because I've gotten to catagorize them for my own fun as 'Historic'.

Second, I'm testing a plan right now where the teleporters are maintained with very minimal effort on the part of a 'Conductor' for that station. If it works like it should, any private location can be added and the teleporters are just maintained accordingly. 

No real bias here as far as landmarks - I honestly want it to be a place where anyone can go and instantly find things to do and people to talk to. And whats even cooler, anyone you come across, you also know that they like exploring, too.  

I didn't put a skybox in Belli - I ended up using a Linden Home and some tier to make a station there and hooking it into the 'loop'. (It's shaping up to be the -most- full station, ironically! Tons of cool places and people love to share them, too!)

Edited August 6, 2022 by Feorie Frimon

[Aethelwine]

I have been thinking about this and there is a lot you could be potentially interested in for Sansara, for example (still working on it):

Linden Playground in DaBoom

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Da Boom/133/137/35

The Governor's mansion

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Clementina/187/125/62

The Man statue on Philip's Hill next to the Ivory Tower of Primitives:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Natoma/58/204/40

Kremer Airfield - access to Bay of Space Pigs which includes interesting locations' like Harry's Island in Morr

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kremer/155/140/62 

The Brenner dinosaurs:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Brenner/158/169/24

A destinctive Red Lighthouse in the L-Shaped Lake

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Harvey/72/147/22

Space ship Journey into space and rezz area to explore islands in Mare Secundus:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Okinu/34/238/38

Poseidon Island, and access to explore the Sea of Fables:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bohol/215/87/23

Char's Footsie Office:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Pooley/76/178/30

Linden Village and Office:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kirkby/175/207/44

Start of White Island's hunt:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bertrada/137/142/21

Violet Info Hub:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Violet/159/95/27

Bear Dream Lodge Info Hub:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bear/50/130/108

Rizal Games, note Lusk is just to the North:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rizal/128/128/23

Murray Info Hub and Beach:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Murray/124/70/25

Oak Grove Wild West Town:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Oak Grove/78/52/10

Ahern Welcome Area:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dore/0/20/40

Ambat Info Hub:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ambat/98/211/60

Shangri-La villiage:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dore/37/99/26

Juice Bar in Brownlee

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Brownlee/203/151/105

Monitoring station inside Mount G'al:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mahulu/113/114/116

The Asylum:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/North Channel/169/6/28

Falmouth Hotel:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Falmouth/167/164/31

Prim rig in ANWR Channel:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ANWR/102/168/40

Bridge leading to Chamonix City:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Off Sides/245/217/61

Alpine Trail in the Snowlands:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Zermatt/13/117/83

Rather than transcribing them all Bay City locations can be found here:

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Department_of_Public_Works_Bay_City

Also see list here:

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LDPW_Projects

Privately owned honourable mention:

GSLR terminus for railroad and the intercontinental ferry

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Purple/141/219/24

Prok's Ross Info Hub:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ross/17/247/60

Ivy Lane's Colossal replica of Philip Linden's pants:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hina/63/233/24

Edited August 6, 2022 by Aethelwine

[Qie Niangao]

Just to highlight one click into the LDPW Projects page that @Aethelwine cited above there's the LDPW Parks and Recreation Directory full of links to cool Mole builds.

Of course we trainspotters would want all the links to be to railroad stations, but probably any choice on the SLRR would lead the interested to all the others—sorta the point of a railroad, to get around, right?—but FWIW my favorites are the ones we maintain VRC content around, linked as place pages from https://virtualrailwayconsortium.wordpress.com/

[Aethelwine]

It takes time to make the lists, and I doubt I can make them properly complete but for what it is worth can continue,

For Heterocera:

Tuliptree Station:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tuliptree/148/143/31

Hyles Info Hub

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hyles/42/32/22

Iris Info Hub

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Iris/201/121/30

The Great Wall 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Minoa/40/248/116 

Engine House at Pavonia that marks transition between railway and the scenic bridleway that goes on to the other end of the Great Wall

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Pavonia/15/183/128

Mole Mart

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Leafminer/215/136/34

Greenhouse in Clearwing:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Clearwing/120/228/34

Coach and Carriage Company 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Muslin/165/58/122

Atoll Point Lighthouse:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rivulet/83/148/25

Marketplace in Satellite

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Satellite/162/14/31

Lighthouse with Scary hidden Cave and road tunnel. Not recommended for arachnophoes

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Moma/24/239/45

Editing to add:

The Mole Lido. It is an interesting little build but cut off from the road:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bhima/143/97/40

Columbia Crash Site, remains of a Magellan Linden expedition:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Columbia/171/110/30

Mole Playground

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rivula/200/53/34

Pit's Truck Stop

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ribeata/96/218/32

Edited August 7, 2022 by Aethelwine

[Adamburp Adamczyk]

Nice to see some fellow explorers still on the go Aethelwine!

 

I saw this thread last night, and I've passed Feorie the latest version of my "Easter Egg" notecard for cool places.  It took me 8 months to map SL mainland locating secret/hidden areas on Linden owned land, some pretty spectacular ones out there, Aethelwine if I recall correctly, it got featured heavily in similar threads to.

[Aethelwine]

Jeogeot

Miner Statue marking discovery of the first sculpty 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Stanlee/1/143/37

Barney's Bay

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Barneys Bay/140/214/29

Mos Ainsley Space base:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mos Ainsley/100/140/47

Hotel Adriano (I wouldn't explore inside if scared of spiders):

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shamon/71/94/29

Ichelus Village and Volcano

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ichelus/135/224/22

USS Reprisal

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Woodbine/114/114/36

Port Kyat Lun 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kyat Lun/155/68/24

Lord Shore Docks (with nice view of impressive multi region suspension bridge)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lordshore/117/238/24

Garden Moles Butterfly house (those spiders get everwhere)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dokkaebi/228/119/66

Dun Ringill Park, has a foot bridge and campfire to sit. Rezz area, quite small.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dokkaebi/234/70/65

Info Hub

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gukyeol/228/28/108/

Edited August 7, 2022 by Aethelwine

[Aethelwine]

If there is interest I will do some lists for the remaining continents tomorrow

[Feorie Frimon]

I am cross checking your list that you have now to LM and stuff tonight and tomorrow. No pressure at all to help, but these lists have been super helpful! 

The LDPW page in the Wiki has been helpful (and the Destination guide has some listed too!)

No pressure to make lists, but honestly - thanks so much for the help Aethelwine! This is exactly the type of stuff I was looking for  

[Aethelwine]

Satori

Nearly every island has something of interest on it, listing each one would have them dominate any list. I will list a few though.

Kingpost one of the islands along the West of Satori. Kingpost is divided in two by a waterway with a pirate themed dockside on each side. A favourite start for sailing. There are notable islands North and South all along the coast. Wardroom, Gunport, Tonar, Orlop, Tweendeck all worth a look.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kingpost/71/160/22

Also under the water near Kingpost there is the Undersea Botanical Garden:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ciuacoatl/205/223/1

The East Nautilus Islands are again very nicely done. With a "tiny" theme, many with a narrative quest linking them together, they each have rezz areas for your boats. Danu is the furthest SW of them. But do explore the ones going East too... redoubtable, Intrepide, Brilliant, Genereux, Glorieux. Also I would count Formidable as a part of this group because it has the same "Tiny" theme even though it is the other side of Meauxle Bureaux.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danu/200/38/23

The next Island in the chain deserves a special mention,  Meauxle Bureaux is the "home of the moles", exquisite fantasy build reminiscent of Garden of Dreams mesh work. No list of LDPW works would be complete with out it, plenty to explore.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fernandes/82/25/22

Satori has quite an extensive if broken road system, but I can't think of anything there that would really be somewhere for someone to portal too to admire the Mole works.

There is the Cooter Linden plaque:

 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fenric/164/7/10

and the Wagon Road:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sababurg/106/223/92

I am not so much of a driver so I may well have missed something here. I don't think there is even an info hub to mention.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Aethelwine

[Aethelwine]

Nautilus

Again lots of Islands, too many to list in full.

Nautilus is both a continent and a "City" The City being the large Atlantis themed island on the South of the continent and to the North of Satori. It has a Canal that runs from its east side to a Citadel in the middle. The Wiki gives a good introduction to the CIty, although there are secret passages to find and more to explore.

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LDPW_Nautilus

The Wiki doesn't really mention the Market there, where you can grab some freebie textures Amphora and stuff.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Nautilus - Shalim/231/109/25

To the East of Nautilus City is the Blake Sea.

Barbarosa the info hub there. But Half Hitch is probably the most notable island, a quaint fishing harbour. Some freebies in the slop chest next to where this link takes you (or would if it wasn't for the landing point)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Blake Sea - Half Hitch/119/135/22 

The Islands to North and South of there are also worth exploring in particular Windlass and Spyglass both have inner areas not obvious from the outside.

In the middle of the Blake Sea area is RJ Kikuchiyo's replica of the Fastnet lighthouse in Crow's nest. A touching memorial to influential sailor's in Secondlife's history rests there.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Blake Sea - Crows Nest/71/141/40

The Leviathan at Ahab's Haunt

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ahab's Haunt/116/143/23

The two styles of contrasting lighthouses and the moored and sunk galley at Nimitz worth mentioning:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Nimitz/149/174/23

Doorknock park and beach by the Grumphmunch channel:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dooknock/206/84/25

Along the East Edge of the Nautilus continent there are a chain of interesting islands Dizadare, Skradski, 

The mesh landscaping and treehouse in Cortona perhaps of particular interest. Beyond that Pieve has that Gytches game you see around some islands. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cortona/225/36/42

Further North past the Tuara Fiji Estate (Seychelles) there are more islands to look at (I am skipping mentioning about half of them as would be too much to list them all)

The Meltons modernist home done in prims:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Meltons/49/65/35 

The pyramid at Civdale

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cividale/93/136/23

The Sandcastle at Valenza

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Valenza/122/156/38

Underwater there is a "Fantasia" at Viterbo

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Viterbo/182/179/9 

North West Nautilus has the Castle Valaria Inforhub

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Castle Valeria/186/214/68

Between Kenosaki and Milo there are a string of nice little Islands and underwater features to explore.

Highlights for me are the little Harbour at Denny

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Denny/197/187/23

The Pirate radio station in Spello

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Spello/40/224/23

The Underwater area to explore around Peruglia

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Perugia/158/159/7

and Underwater world ruin in Macavity

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Macavity/75/208/1

Nautilus isn't really known for its roads, but route 14 is nice. The end of the line Inn in Speedstar a good place to start a journey.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Speedstar/241/99/54

Edited August 7, 2022 by Aethelwine

[Aethelwine]

Corsica has the Gulf of Moles in it that doesn't have much if any other sign of a mole presence, but it does have places to visit elsewhere!

Degrand Info hub is well placed to explore underwater in Corsica. The regions to its East labelled "Lost treasures of the Sunken City", but plenty to explore to the West too, 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Degrand/74/200/24

Frumatay has an underwater dome to explore.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Frumatay/21/245/2

For roads there is the Circuit-La-Corse to explore 

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Corsica_Network

And in the North the Linden Memorial Gardens

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Linden Memorial Park/146/90/8

The Temple of the Prim (Note there is a track down the hill to the scenic start of Route 11 along wooden footbridges)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kwaito/149/141/165

Edited August 7, 2022 by Aethelwine

[Aethelwine]

Gaeta V

Has the Helfell Info Hub

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Helfell/122/126/47

and next door the Squall Campsite and Beach. Magellan Linden must have left there in a rush he left his bear there.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Squall/200/143/22

There is another info hub at Hyannisport, that is kind of notable for not having any rezz zone

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hyannisport/121/89/29

I can't think of much else to mention on Gaeta V.

The roads are quite nice with some interesting features:

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Gaeta_V_Network

Frostar quite possibly the saddest LDPW build, the Lod on the trees makes the place look embarassing, I hope the moles get an opportunity to do something more with that area, it looks like it was built in 20 minutes. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Frostar/130/40/25

Gaeta I

has a nice Marina at Lastness, and you can follow the road from there

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lastness/213/60/22

to a sandy beach at 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kamalakara/26/25/24

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by Aethelwine

[Aethelwine]

There is nothing additional I can add about Zindra to the wiki article:

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Zindra

or https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Parks_and_Recreation_Directory#Zindra

As the second link indicates Pengallon Bridge and its internal tunnels is probably the most interesting area !

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Pengallen Bridge/200/240/39

Edited August 7, 2022 by Aethelwine

[Aethelwine]

Hmm I can't edit the Sansara post any more so I will have to add this as a separate post

Ouranos, a little harbour on the south end of the Vehicle sandboxes. From here you can go North to explore the vehicle sandboxes themselves. By taking a boat you can explore the charming waterways. To the East the island in Mnemosyne, further around the charming Easter Egg themed build in Kapor and Rosedale. Heading West is a journey around the 4 sandboxes down there through the Luna regions and on to Bay City. The water way holds a few secrets and nicely decorated for a pleasant journey.  

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ouranos/45/195/22

[Prokofy Neva]

On 8/5/2022 at 9:55 AM, Feorie Frimon said:

Hey everyone!

I’m working on a project called the OMT - Operation Mainland Transit. In short, it’s like an ‘in world Forever Tourist’ - a series of skyboxes on different mainland continents that are built to look like subway stations and all be connected with experience teleporters. 

Each Subway station is specific to its continent, showing locations in a directory teleporter that are located where that station is (Sansara, Heterocera, etc). 

I have combed through forum thread posts and the SL wiki, but wanted to ask you guys too - do you have any SURLs to mainland locations that are interesting AND the land is owned by LL? I’d like to list them in the directory for its continent on the OMT!  
 

(I am super excited about this project too, because it helps provide a similar ‘exploring experience’ that Forever Tourist provides, without leaving modern looking kiosks in weird spots all over the grid. I promise no ‘pretty spots’ will be harmed in the giving of your favorites

The problem with a skybox system, even if motivated by not putting "subway" builds on the ground, is that it puts people in the sky, and has them teleporting rather than flying or driving on the ground. And it keeps them exposed to only one grid-wide business/advertising/events/reputation system. So I think the stamp systems are better in that they have people on the ground throughout, where they see a variety of content from a variety of residents And I think it's important that there are two main stamp games (and some much smaller ones as well).

If the point is that travelers get to these "hubs" as with the old Linden telehub system (which was never so far up in the sky you couldn't readily see the ground) and choose other destinations, then the question is, why not take the existing stamp games of both the BBB and Operation Mainland, and any other such smaller or temporary exploration games, and make *those* systems have hubs in them on the ground, from which other destinations are selected? There could be a kiosk with signposts as in Corsica South Coast. Thus, the most popular or largest stamp sites in either the BBB or Operation Mainland visa games become that continent's hubs, with further signage to that continent's destinations.

In the past month I happened to have been making just a notecard of "Highlights of Linden Historical Sites" that has the sites just on a notecard that is automatically updated in the system, because I think a notecard is enough without putting other builds all over. After all, there is already a Linden build to go to. But it's divided into categories, i.e. "Magellan Sites," "Linden Offices," "Parks," "Municipal" (like the hydroelectric plant in Atlas), or "Recreation" (like the tubes ride in Tethys -- there aren't many of these, as the "Prim Attack" game at Waterhead has an "Out of Order" sign on it, presumably because it generates too many prims).

Aethelwine, since you went to all the trouble to research and compile these lists, maybe you should just make a kiosk that can be put around and updated centrally. I can send you the scripts for such a notecard giver system, yes, it works across sims. I have this at Memory Bazaar for RL Country Sims, Sacred Places, Charming Cafes, etc. in Ross, which is part of the resident-run infohubs (there are about a dozen), an old program to repurpose the former Linden telehubs.

As I have noted before, I think the old Linden historical sites should be preserved, and they don't even need special Linden attention to put updated information kiosks on them, as most of them have current ones, but the Lindens do occasionally change their own builds. So there I would like to see the Lindens themselves have a policy about this system-wide, rather than any resident group being designated to "repurpose" them or drive traffic to them (as the BBB was designated, regarding Bellisseria and Mainland exploration and the stamp game that includes Linden/Mole sites). 

I think proposals for reconstruction or even new construction of Linden sites should not be driven through the JIRA, which is technical and intended for software projects, but should simply be a separate "mailbox" like recommendations to Destinations. The community of Mainland afficionados, while growing, is small enough that the Lindens aren't going to be overwhelmed with proposals.

Historically, when the Lindens decided to remove the telehubs, they first had the "hippo" infohubs which were inactive (even after a "design a hippo" contest), so they then decided to open up a program open to any resident group for residents to develop more interesting builds at these telehub sites. It had rules and a process and certain terms, e.g. you could not have adult content and today, you can't even have "avsitter" installed as an "experience". In fact, as with a lot of Linden contests, they didn't have a lot of takers, as it is work to do and maintain, but they did have about a dozen, some of which are still maintained today, like ours in Ross or others which fell into "preserved" status (like the infohub at Ambat, created by Osprey Therein who died in RL in 2013.)

The reason for "preservation" is not just for historical purposes (keeping elegant old prim crafstmanship which may be high impact as a historical record). It's because any land around "Linden protected land" has traditionally had a higher real estate value, and the Lindens have consciously created this system by historically, and even today, setting auction prices higher for such land. Of course, the Lindens can "for any reason or no reason" change their own land, but since historically they themselves created this land value system, they should be consistent in applying it.

So it would be good for them to have a "preservation/update" policy that covers the old Linden home builds (like the Dragon and the quest there) and even little picnic tables in Heterocera that are outdated so you can't sit on them or which Linden library or planar plants (like Heterocera). Obviously their main energies are directed towards building out Bellisseria and making community areas there (like the new Fantasseria Phungus Amoungus location with a stamp). I don't know what the estimate now is for the percentage of strictly "Linden protected land" (now that abandoned is far less) but I think it's about 25%-30% of the Mainland, including roads and bridges. As I noted about the old Linden Homes area builds, some are on homesteads or small parcels 4096 or smaller and don't take up a lot of resources and land impact.

I also expect from historical experience that the Lindens will likely not develop such a policy and turn their attention from Bellisseria to their old builds in "Legacy Mainland," and that whatever resident group can persistently get their ear and blessing will prevail. So before that historical inevitability occurs, I think debate has to be vigorous, and the principles should be:

o On the Ground and Avatar-Driven  -- walking, flying, driving by conscious avatars should be encouraged as distinct from any automated teleport or riding systems; automated systems should be "on demand" at key locations, not constantly spamming every 15 minutes through sims;

o "We Live Here" -- the Mainland is not just for exploration, not just a fun safari you take from your Bellisserian home or your managed Mainland events community, but a place where people live -- and in some cases have lived for nearly 20 years -- and they should have a say in what is built by their land which they purchased with an expectation of "no change".

o Diversity and Inclusion - the Lindens should take care that any resident-created systems they bless remain open to all, encourage diversity away both RL and SL American centrism and which also are diverse in style and content.

 

Edited August 10, 2022 by Prokofy Neva

[diamond Marchant]

One must ask one's self, what is the real problem here? Will Second Life be "improved" by making more lists of "interesting places constructed by LDPW"? And these additional lists will be maintained... as long as SL endures?

No clue.

But isn't the real problem the current World Map? Not only does it fail to render useful things like mesh roads, it has no annotations other than region info and sky map graphics (which are only available on resident parcels and not allowed in Bellisseria).

Would not a World Map overlay feature be useful? Something like the way Google or Apple maps can show you stuff.

1 hour ago, Prokofy Neva said:

The problem with a skybox system, even if motivated by not putting "subway" builds on the ground, is that it puts people in the sky, and has them teleporting rather than flying or driving on the ground.

100% agree.

Personally, my goto guides for new places are Inara Pey's blog, the good ol' Destination Guide and for shopping, Seraphim .

Edited August 9, 2022 by diamond Marchant
usual typos