Skell Dagger

Conversely, from my point of view, it's Catwa heads all the way. Most of the male heads I've tried look either too square-jawed-n-butch or too perma-furious (or a mixture of both). I don't really want to walk around SL looking like I'm about to headbutt someone for nicking me pint or eyeing up me bird I own Catwa's Daniel and Shaheen heads and I love them both. Shaheen in particular is incredibly versatile, and the profile has a nose that's to die for.

The second thread in this 'series' has now been merged by the moderators into this first thread. Hopefully, OP, you will understand that this means - if you come back to post about 'anchor 3' - you should continue posting in this thread instead of starting another new one. Thank you, mods

*bows elaborately to Clover* Do you like my stylish rubber boots, m'dear? They keep out the rain, especially when I'm traipsing through muddy fields, looking for clues Honestly, I could do this kind of thing all day, with one arm stuffed into my shirt tied behind my back... ETA: Well, looks like #2 has vanished. Let's see if #1 follows it. ETA 2: Correction - They've been merged. Everything is now in #1.

Klytyna has asked me to let it go. Since it concerns her, I'm letting it go.

(Bolding mine.) (Again, bolding mine.) There is a difference between stating that the words someone says (or the way in which they say them) are worth nothing at all, and saying that the person saying them is worth nothing at all. That's the reason your post crossed the line.

Phil, I hardly ever agree with Klytyna and I often dislike and disagree with the words that she uses to get her viewpoint across, but that remark crosses a line. Sorry, mate, but saying that someone is "worth nothing at all" - those are not the words of a gentleman. I'm actually disappointed to see you use them.

I'm glad you brought this (coloured red by me) part to my attention. Let us consider the facts: OP makes a cryptic post (80 words) about living with 'value'. Responds a few times - mostly with bland "thank you for your thoughts" - but eventually mentions that god is a part of this living with purpose. OP also asserts that "As far as knowing if many in SL needing guidance one need only read the forums, or spend sometime at an infohub to see the need." This kick-starts some reactions. OP continues to respond with nothing of substance, except for "thank you for your thoughts". OP has created a group, asks people to join it, but has accidentally made sure they can't do so. When someone points out the group is un-joinable, the OP thanks them, says they'll fix that. OP then decides not to open the group after all, as they don't want to appear to be angling for new members. OP then creates another new post (159 words, god mentioned twice) telling everyone they are a child of god, and that "a violent explosion results normally in vitriol from the non- believer", then sits back. Thread goes as predictably as it would in most internet forums: different personalities of varying forcefulness debating with varying degrees of politeness and memes. OP responds just once, then 'closes' the thread with "Thank you all for these comments, thoughts and replies." OP then creates another new post (149 words, god mentioned six times) telling everyone that god does exist, mentions in passing that there will be at least six of these posts, then sits back. Thread goes as predictably as before. A total of 308 words, spread out over three separate posts. Eight mentions of god - insisting twice that god exists. OP's bland responses are indicative (as Klytyna mentioned in the section of her post that I've quoted, although her conclusion of motive is different from mine) of obvious "stepping back and observing" - something that is done in sociological studies: wind 'em up, watch 'em go, and record the results. Increase the stakes (mention god a lot more) and see if that changes the reaction from one post to the next. OP, you are either using us as guinea pigs for some school or college survey, or you are a very elaborate troll. It has not escaped my notice that you started posting the day after one other specific person stopped posting. That person had been extremely active in their short time on the forum (182 posts in 16 days) and their incessant, thread-derailing question posts and noncommital 'ok' replies after people had taken the time to give long and detailed replies to them were beginning to make me wonder if they were also an elaborate troll. They have now not posted for four days - the length of time that you've been active here (although I expect them to pop up predictably quickly after this). If 'anchor no. 3' appears at all in this forum then I will be reporting it as spam. Four posts in as many days on the same subject (one resident's personal 'theory') counts as "aggressive self-promotion", as per the community guidelines.

*sigh* I honestly hope you're not going to start a new thread for each of these 'anchors'. One overarching thread would be more than adequate for them all. You can edit the original post of that thread to link to the post containing each of them. (Copy the 'posted X minutes ago' link for that.) If you continue with a daily post for each new 'anchor' then this General Discussion forum is going to start feeling like answering the door every single day to someone doorstepping with a Bible in their hand. In Real Life we can choose not to answer the door, but here - although we could (if we felt extremely strongly about it) mute or block you so we can't see your posts - we can't mute or block threads. Thus, if you start a new thread every day for each 'anchor' you will soon fill up much of the front page of General Discussion with your own threads. In your initial thread promoting this idea, you stated the following: Great. Fantastic. Good luck to your group, because it would only comprise people who were interested in your 'anchors' theory. I wish them - and you - well with it. However, you then stated the following: But right here you're trying for far more 'member numbers' than your group would probably get. You have an audience who can't choose not to see your threads. And you're creating multiple threads for this idea - three thus far: your original thread, your 'anchor 1' thread and now this 'anchor 2' thread, and presumably more to come. I don't know how many of these anchors there are (at least 6, clearly), but what I don't want to see is the front page of this GD forum turning into one person's platform, no matter how worthy they feel their message is. In short: please, one thread is enough.

Ah, the bot wars of old. Many an hour of amusement did I have, watching you sparring for sport in those golden years, Phil

I know when to remove myself gracefully from the discussion, that's all.

Phil, I wasn't finding fault with the OP by saying that. I was stating my own belief, just as he was stating his own belief. That statement from me - about not needing another person or organisation to tell me I need to be a good person - is a sidenote to the main subject. Yes, it's a bit of a tangent, but it's something that I felt added to my side of the discussion. I'm not a professional disagreer. I don't do it for the sake of it. Likewise I don't hash out, over and over, what I meant by saying this or that, against what someone else thinks or assumes I meant. You have your own opinion of what I said, and that opinion is that I was wrongly finding fault with something the OP didn't even say. I have my own opinion of what I said, and that opinion is that I was offering a tangential side-thought on the subject of external influences on whether I should be a kind and compassionate person or not. And since we're both rational, intelligent human beings who probably have far more fun things to do than go back and forth over the same thing for post after post on an internet forum we can leave it there, with us both agreeing to disagree. Right?

The OP also said:

The OP said: I told him why I didn't believe I was a child of god, because god's teachings tell those that follow them I should be put to death.

Yep, @Nostoll - that's pretty much how I'm feeling!

Morning, thread I say 'morning' but it's just edged into afternoon here. Anyway, have a nice cuppa tea and a Full English: Today is the start of my last week with my current company, and lo and behold they've actually found someone for me to train to do my job! After all the years I've been asking for one single person to train so I have some cover other than "we'll muddle through it somehow" whenever I'm on holiday, they finally find me some backup. I guess at least this poor sod will have a week of training. That's more than I got when I started. I had 20 minutes and I even had to sort that out myself. At least my replacement will have the benefit of all the systems and record-keeping that I've put in place to help him keep track of all the multiple new things that my employer kept piling onto me. (Case in point: a short, five-hour shift yesterday - yes, a Sunday - turned into eight hours without even a break for a cup of tea.) I'm mentally scratching notches into the wall, my lovelies. Almost free!

Well, y'know, god kinda messed up when he made me and people like me. This is what he insists should be done to me: And in case the translation is disputed, here are all the other translations. They all read pretty much the same: "(practicing) gay (and bisexual) men should be killed". It's fine if we adore other men from afar and restrain ourselves into monk-like celibacy, but we're not allowed to do anything about it. And as for Love the sinner, hate the sin, I'm sorry but that's downright patronising. So forgive me if I don't feel like I'm a child of god when god's rules state that I should be killed. As to this: Now that I do agree with. But I don't need someone else - be it a religious figurehead or an organisation - to tell me that I should be kind and compassionate, and to treat others as I would have them treat me. My 'value' and my 'mattering' comes in the form of how others will remember me. If they can utter "That Skell Dagger, he was a decent bloke" when I'm gone, that's all I could ask for.

Don't be disheartened, and don't give up. It is a lot to take in in one go. (And this is just mesh bodies. Once you start looking at mesh heads that's a whole new level of confusing.) Just take it slowly and ask as many questions as you need to. Demo the hell out of everything and don't make any quick decisions that you might regret. I've been working on a mesh bodies and heads "for Dummies"-style post specifically for guys on my blog, but since the initial draft post came out at 4000 words and I hadn't even touched on half of what I wanted to cover, I'm having to re-draft it as a series. I want to get right back to basics so that even an absolute noob to SL can understand it, but it's going to take a lot of work for me to get it looking as I want it. In the meantime, I can paste a section from that discarded initial draft, to help you make a choice regarding a mesh body: Things to bear in mind when choosing a mesh body Ignore the included skins. They may look awful to you (or you might like them!) but you can change those at a later date if you want to. Does the HUD have a good selection of alpha cuts to mask sections of the body? The more ‘slices’ that you can see on the HUD, the better your chance of getting mesh clothing to fit. Is the body Omega-compatible? (We’ll get to that later in the post.) To find out, search the Omega Solutions Marketplace store and search for the vendor’s name (eg: for the Signature ‘Gianni’ body you would search for Signature). If it’s Omega-compatible, you’ll have a much wider choice of skins, clothing, and tattoos to choose from. Does the body respond to the shape adjustments you want to make? Right-click yourself and select ‘Edit Appearance’ and make a few adjustments (assuming your shape is modifiable) to see how far you can customise it. If you like the overall musculature of the Niramyth Aesthetic body, but not its broadness, can you slim it down enough to the shape you want while retaining the muscles? If you like the slimmer hips and waist on the SLink Physique body but the shoulders aren’t broad enough, can you widen them to your liking? Search SL Marketplace for the vendor and body name. Does there appear to be a reasonable amount of items created for it? The more, the merrier! Some bodies are kinda proprietory (a bit like Apple with its iStuff) and you can only use their own skins and clothing, which can lead to you looking like a clone of the other guys wearing that stuff. The more third party items you have to choose from, the more you can make your avatar look unique and individual. DEMO.DEMO.DEMO. I’m flogging a dead horse here by now, but really mean it. Demo the sh*t out of everything. Try as many bodies as you need to, check out every option they have, examine their HUDS, look at the pros and cons (do they include hands and feet or must those be purchased separately? Are hands Bento-enabled? Does the HUD have a lot of alpha cut options? etc) As to the folliowing: I gave just one single example of how an Omega version of a skin that was exclusively made for one body didn't work on another. That does not mean that "most stuff won't work" with that body. I've been wearing the Slink male body (with the additional hands and feet) almost exclusively since it came out in September 2015 and I absolutely love it. It's one of the two main bodies (Signature being the other) with the most compatibility for things, not the least! Take a gander at my Flickr (be warned: my style is pretty eclectic and I'm not afraid of heels and a bit of makeup sometimes; I'm not your average jeans-n-tee kind of guy, but there's plenty of that kind of stuff around, too, if my weirdo styling ain't up your street ) and you'll see that there's an abundance of great clothing and skins for it. (I don't use or own the Signature body, btw, because - for me - it's just a little too muscular). That's my own personal preference, but if you ask anyone else they will probably recommend their own favourite, so it's best to demo the bodies, get some demo skins, and see what you like the look of.

FYI: The skins that come with the Signature mesh body will only match to its default head skins. Slink's default mesh body skins don't match with any specific mesh head or system head skin. Belleza's Jake body comes complete with Belleza skins, plus a head applier for Catwa mesh heads. @ChrisDiamond865, I strongly suggest that you demo at least the following three bodies: Signature 'Gianni' (creator: Raph Dirval) - Mesh Body Addicts review link - Strawberry Singh review link with video, and Bento hands update review link with video - Demo only available in the Signature store inworld Slink Physique (creator: Siddean Munro) - Mesh Body Addicts review link (NOTE: This is an old review and the body and HUD have been updated since) - Strawberry Singh review link, and update review link, plus Bento hands update review link - Demo only available in the Slink store inworld Belleza 'Jake' (creator: Tricky Boucher) - Mesh Body Addicts review link - Demo only available in the Belleza store inworld Both the Signature and Belleza bodies come with hands and feet included, whereas Slink has hands and feet sold separately. To find the inworld store locations, search for the creators' names and check their 'picks' section. ETA: Looks like we're cross-posting, as you've replied while I'm typing Each body is not the same - they all have different builds and will respond differently to your shape edits. Adding 5% of muscle to the Slink body will give you a vastly different result than adding 5% muscle to the Signature body. So it matters very much which body you choose! Adam is the slimmest, 'softest' body. Next is Slink, which tends toward lean with a swimmer's torso, and finally Signature has a more 'built' musculature (not overtly so, but more than Adam or Slink). Omega isn't a skin, as such. It's a cross-brand type of applier. Skin designers create for specific bodies (eg: Signature, Slink, etc) but they will often also create an Omega applier, which can be used - with the appropriate Omega relay for your body - on any body. However, they don't always work perfectly, so you must demo, even with Omega appliers. Example: Stray Dog released a body applier skin specifically for Signature, but included an Omega applier. I tried the Omega applier on my Slink body, but because Slink has separate hands and feet, I had visible seams at my ankles and wrists. However, when I tried the same Omega applier on my Belleza Jake body (which has hands and feet included) there were no seams. ETA 2: On the point of Belleza's Jake being a new body on the market: designers are already creating specifically for it, but I've found that most Signature-fit clothing will also work on the Jake body.

It won't look like the advert unless your friend is also wearing the same skin applier that the shape designer was wearing when they took the photo for it. Look in the shape's folder for a styling card, and if the creator hasn't included one then try contacting them to ask which skin they were wearing. The reverse of this is why makers of skin appliers usually include a premade shape with their applier: so that people can look exactly like the ad image. It's best business practice for shape creators to include styling cards (or at least mention the skin they're wearing in their ads) as a courtesy or simply to prevent unhappy customers who wonder why they don't look exactly like the ad image, but sadly some of them don't do this. Incidentally, it's always best to try a demo of anything, including shapes. If one was available, then your friend would have been wise to have tried that before making his purchase.

I love Alan Watts. That yoga of his about going to sleep and never waking up (dying) compared to waking up after having never gone to sleep (being born) is something I think about often.

This sounds suspiciously like one of those 'Christian D/s' lifestyle things where the woman lives to obey her husband, who gets to chastise her if she steps out of line... ETA: By the way, it will be a bit difficult for anyone to join your group when its settings look like this:

Fellow Brit here (filthy southerner, though ) and I hear you on the internet connection. I have 8MB down, and - unless I fork out silly money every month - FTTC ain't happening in the small market town where I live. Pings are bloody horrendous at the best of times, and I rarely drive or pilot anything faster than my own feet around SL for the exact reasons you're having problems with. I sometimes drag out a motorbike and have a laugh as I end up buried in someone's prize prim petunias after a dodgy region crossing, but it's really off-putting sometimes. The only thing I've found that alleviates region crossings even the tiniest bit (and even then I'm not sure it's relevant) is taking them at an angle rather than hitting them head-on, which is easier to achieve in a wide expanse of ocean or sky than it is on a road. Might be worth a try?

@LittleMe Jewell There are some really interesting bits of packaging out there. I even started a Flickr set for my favourites. I should add to it soon, because my folder for that stuff is getting a few more items in it lately. On another note, here's something that caught my eye on Atlas Obscura's FB feed this morning: an article on slate.com entitled This Photographer Turned His Back on the World’s Most Photographed Places. It seemed like a really interesting and unusual idea for a photography project.

I don't know who told you that skins have prims, because they don't. I think you may be getting confused between system skins that you wear on your system avatar, and applier skins that you apply to a purchased mesh body? Regardless, there's no need to start all over with a new avatar. You can change anything you want about your current avatar without having to create a new one.

Well, I never thought I'd be able to say that my nipples were on YouTube, but... there ya go.