He who shall not be named will fix what shall not be mentioned

[Ishtara Rothschild]

Yesterday, I started a mesh-related thread here in this mesh-related forum, although I'm probably not supposed to do that (someone once told me that this forum is only for creative people who make SL a better place). The thread was about an irksome problem with mesh clothing that will be worked on by a nameless ex Linden who was hired to do so by a resident who shall also remain unnamed.

I wish I could say more, but I don't know which part of this exciting news caused my thread to be deleted. Anyway, consider yourselves informed :) You can read more about this on a website that I don't dare to link here.

[Rin Tae]

Those have been evil evil names to be mentioned! After all, there are no problems in this perfect little world of ours :smileywink:

[Dazler]

I have, of course, edited my reply and removed any comments that are connected to any other edited replies that have been posted - or shall be posted in the future.

 

[Coby Foden]

My guess is the only reason that the thread got deleted is because there was a link to other web page "offering product or service".

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Community_Participation_Guidelines states:
"Do not reference other websites offering any product or service." :smileyindifferent:

[Maxwell Graf]

It was deleted, if i understand the guidelines correctly (having gone over them a little too late, doh) because he who shall not be named that is possibly going to work on the fix that shall not be mentioned, was mentioned. I used his RL name. Ah well.

[Chosen Few]

My guess is that threads pertaining to the subject in question were deleted because they were technically a solicitation, which is strictly against the rules of the forum.  Even if the intent is to raise money for something that we all think is a good idea, it's still not what this forum is for.

Trust me, nobody has any issue if you mention that certain ex-Linden's name.  I do it all the time.  And no one has any reason not to want you to talk about that "irksome problem", or discuss ways in which it might be fixed.  It's been talked about many times on the forums, in fact.  But when someone posts a message saying "I'm raising money for ________, so please send cash to this website I set up for it..." that does cross a line, no matter what the blank happens to be.

One inherent danger with these kinds of solicitations is that there's no way for the average reader to verify that it's legit.  Today it might be about fixing a problem we'd all like to see fixed, but tomorrow it could very weill be the SL equivalent of helping Minister Umbuntibaba get his money out of Nigeria.  The only safe policy is to disallow all solicitations, altogether.

Think about the consequences if they were to allow this sort of thing here.  The board could very well end up chock full of threads advertising fund raisers of all kinds.  While some would undoubtedly be for good projects, others would be for really bad ideas or scams. Not only would that put the community at grave risk, it would also render the forum largely useless for its intended purpose, as the very presence of the solicitation threads would serve to dilute the actual on-topic threads.  I don't know about you, but I really don't want to have to sort through a hundred "Send your money here" posts, just to get to that one poor guy who asked a mesh question yesterday, and is patiently waiting for it to be answered.

Further could you imagine the monumental burden that would be thrust upon the moderators if they had to police the solicitations?  How could they possibly be equipped to determine which ones are legitimate and which ones aren't?  Say they decide to leave one in place, and it does turn out to be a scam; would Linden Lab then be liable?  It's certainly arguable.

The only way to prevent these kinds of nightmare scenarios is just to make sure that no solicitations at all are allowed, even ones that we might like.

So, before anyone jumps on that bitchfest bandwagon, take a breath, and think about the situation logically for a minute.  What makes more sense, from an operations perspective in running any forum? Would it really be a practical use of manpower to spend time hunting down threads pertaining to the alleged activities some guy who used to work here, only to delete them for no particular reason, or does it make more sense just to delete threads that actually break real rules?  The answer is pretty obvious, guys.

 

The person doing the fund raising is free to advertise it through legitimate channels.  He could post on his website, on his blog, on Facebook, in any number of SL-related and virtual-world-related online magazines, even on his land in SL, or literally anywhere else in the universe where such advertising is allowed.  He could even put the link to his site in his forum signature, so it shows up right at the bottom of all his posts.  It's just not allowed as a thread.

Again, the fact that many of us here would choose to support the project if it is indeed for real, is not the point.  The rules exist for good reason. The more shortsighted among us probably won't ever get that, and that's a shame.  But the wise and thoughtful members of our community should respect it.

 

For the record, I'm in full support of the project, if it does indeed exist.  Once I've spoken to the man himself, to verify that all is on the level, I'll gladly donate.  I do plan to ask why, if it is indeed legit, he hasn't yet said anything about it on his own blog.

There are also other questions that need asking.  For instance, what if the target amount is not hit?  Will he still do the work for whatever amount does happen to be collected?  And if not, do we all get refunds?  Or conversely, if too much money is raised, what happens to the excess?  Does he keep it as a tip?  Does it get put aside toward funding future projects that, like this one, would be for the benefit of the community?  Does it get proportionally refunded back to the donors?  Does it get given to charity?

There's no way to get verifiable answers to any of these questions here on the forums.  Solicitations just aren't practical here.

[Chosen Few]

---

Maxwell Graf wrote:

It was deleted, if i understand the guidelines correctly (having gone over them a little too late, doh) because he who shall not be named that is possibly going to work on the fix that shall not be mentioned, was mentioned. I used his RL name. Ah well.

---

Yeah, it definitely wasn't a good idea to use his RL name.  I doubt he would mind, since the whole world knows who he is anyway, but that's not for any of us to decide.  Rules is rules.

 

As for using his Linden avatar name, I'd like to reiterate that I've said it dozens of times since he was let go, and none of my threads have ever been deleted.  I even organized "Burn Your Sculpties Day", to honor him. That thread wasn't deleted either, and is still up, to this day.

The only reason I'm not mentioning his name here is because I haven't yet spoken with him to verify anything as I said in my last post.  Once he's told me himself that he's actually on board with this, I'll have no problem using his name in association with this topic.

 

So, once again, let's drop the consipiracy theories, guys.  Put away your Nike shoes.  Dump the Kool Aid in the sink.  Disengage those land mines underneath your front lawn.  No one's gonna steal your tin foil hat, nobody's coming to take your guns away, and nobody at LL cares if you mention the Linden avatar names of their former contractors.

If you don't want your threads deleted, just don't break the forum rules.  It's that simple.

 

ETA:  It occurs to me that this thread may not be long for this world, either.  It's also against the rules to post a new thread, just to talk about the deletion of another one.  As soon as the mods notice this one, it'll probably poof.

[Mikki Miles]

actually he said he's very interested in that project, and he said it in that particular, now deleted thread

[Lanas Criss]

Thanks for the slightly sinister and mysterious Picture Pose inspiration... good luck unraveling the riddles

Lanas

 

[Void Singer]

---

Chosen Few wrote:

[...] For the record, I'm in full support of the project, if it does indeed exist.  Once I've spoken to the man himself, to verify that all is on the level, I'll gladly donate.  I do plan to ask why, if it is indeed legit, he hasn't yet said anything about it on his own blog.

There are also other questions that need asking.  For instance, what if the target amount is not hit?  Will he still do the work for whatever amount does happen to be collected?  And if not, do we all get refunds?  Or conversely, if too much money is raised, what happens to the excess?  Does he keep it as a tip?  Does it get put aside toward funding future projects that, like this one, would be for the benefit of the community?  Does it get proportionally refunded back to the donors?  Does it get given to charity?

There's no way to get verifiable answers to any of these questions here on the forums.  Solicitations just aren't practical here.

---

 (just went back to look for any updates about it to find it gone so I'm posting to this one)

I brought up some of those same questions on one of the threads, which may be the exact reason they eventually got pulled (the questions, not my asking them)... without knowing those things it's hard for anyone to know (least of all forum mods) whether it's legitimate or not. the cautious approach for LL is not to have it here.

those interested in learning more can read about it for themselves on New World Notes (news blog site) and typing in "mesh" to find the blog post that talks about it.

[Raster Teazle]

Goal has been reach for work to be done by "He Who Shall Not Be Named".  This is gonna be interesting.