Ashtyn Ninetails

Bringing this topic back from the dead! Are classifieds still a thing in SL? I mean, I'm still paying for mine, but are they worth it? Do they still work? Most sales seem to happen on the Marketplace these days, and while I still maintain my store and sell in-world, I can't tell how many of those are from people coming in to check something out from the Marketplace link or if they found the store thanks to in-world classifieds.

The short version: Please LL, provide us with an easy-to-access changelog of what gets modified in the Terms of Service whenever you guys change something in it! I'm posting this request here in hopes that a Linden might actually see it and put it into their 'suggestions box', because I was told by the LiveChat that no such changelogs exist, and that I should put in a request in the JIRA, but not only there is such request there already, but it's been closed, said that's not the place for it, and the JIRA doesn't seem to allow me to request new features or re-open issues these days! The original JIRA issue requesting this feature was posted at https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-657

Elle Crescendo wrote: Hi Ashtyn, firstly I’m really sorry for your troubles and I hope you sort it out very soon. Out of curiosity how did you get the name of the person who filed against you? I’ve had a similar experience and the notification did not name the filer, it said “ Linden Lab has received notification from a copyright owner, or its authorized agent” So I’m wondering how you knew who filed? Even when I successfully counterfiled I still didn't get any documentation with the name of who filed, so I'm very curious The name of the object that LL said was the one complained about contained the name of the legitimate creator of it. Like "Bob Resident's Animated Husky Pets" (that's a made up name of course), so finding out the person who would be complaining was really easy. To their credit, while I do criticize them for filing the DMCA without IMing me first (I disapprove of the heavy-handed faceless "let the law handle it" attitude, I personally would try to resolve it in person before bringing down the legal hammer on someone), they have been extremely friendly and cooperative in helping sort out the situation once they realized it was a mistake. And an update on the situation: LL responded to my e-mail with good news, even if they were painfully brief in their response: The original filer of the DMCA complaint just had to e-mail them and ask them to drop the complaint. So, they did. We both requested that any of such "Bob Resident's Animated Husky Pets" that have me as their creator be removed from the grid, since these are stolen content, however..... the Lindens responded that they can't do that, claiming they can only access the specific object upon which the DMCA is filed, where it's filed. This comes to me as a major WTF?!?!! I know for a fact that they can reach into your inventory and into rezzed in-world prims to remove content! A while back there was a major scandal with stolen animations, that the original creator requested they be removed from the grid, and LL did meticulously remove them from everywhere! I know because I happened to have some of the stolen animations (which I had no idea were stolen content) and they were all removed. So yeah. Things have worked out, kinda. I'm glad not to be tagged as "copyright infringer", but I'm as outraged as those who accused me originally, because LL isn't really going to fix the theft issue.

Darrius Gothly wrote: Just keep counting to ten and reminding yourself "It takes ALL kinds in this world .. and 'All' is a very big word" *smiles* I'll try that!

See, this is a big deal to me because it's my first time going through it. I'm one of those boring types who's never got a ticket, or a fine of any kind, who's ever done everything 'the right way' to avoid getting in trouble. And a copyright violation accusation is a serious thing, no matter how much people try to brush it off with "it happens all the time"! And I still believe in things such as "honor" and "integrity". It's a deep insult to me, and probably if I hadn't had to deal with RL disaster (hurricane Sandy and all that) I would be less sensitive about it, but right now, it really got my dander up! The "draconian ways" I refer to is basically the entire process of this: Someone files a complaint against you. LL sends you a notification of accusation of violation of copyright - basically, you're a criminal, the offending content will be removed. Now prove yourself innocent. It's an accusation of a crime based on entirely unreliable evidence: The "Creator" tag on an object. This is the same as someone robbing your store in RL, and then you sue "Winchester Repeating Arms" because the gun the thief used had that name stamped on it. Or an even closer analogy, someone robs your house and stores the stolen content in an Amazon.com box, and you accuse Amazon.com of theft because they made the damned box your stuff was found in! My whole point is I'm personally insulted and scared because I've never been through this before (I wasn't approached in a friendly way, either by the person whose stuff got stolen or LL, and told "Hey we think there's a problem, can you explain?", no, I was told "you have violated copyright, we are removing the offending content, submit to this procedure if you wish to claim you are innocent"), and foremost, the "Creator" tag on a prim is not a reliable attribute to accuse someone of wrong-doing!

Pamela Galli wrote: I would contact the filer of the DMCA directly and explain what happened. Yes, I have contacted them, and clarified things with them and they understand now what happened. I've been in business since 2008, there must be thousands, if not millions of my prims out there! Now I'm waiting to hear from LL - if they respond to their Intellectual Property e-mail address, that is. The LiveChat person I talked with told me to reply to the e-mail I got, but on LL's page about DMCA it says they don't acknowledge e-mail, so, who knows what's going to happen! Like I had nothing else to worry about! So I might get an e-mail sometime in the coming days, with further instructions regarding a situation such as this (which I suspect will sound a lot like "sorry to hear about this but the only way to reverse this is to submit a counter-notification via fax or snail-mail"), or maybe in a week or so I'll just get a "we didn't get a fax or letter from you so we're now banning you".

What a week we had here! Hurricane, flood, power-outtages, and... Notification of Copyright Infringement Received from Linden Lab??!!? That's right, I was surprised (and outraged!) to find out someone filed a DMCA against me! I, who have a pre-written speech about how "you should not give out stuff you didn't make and have no rights to distribute" for whenever someone offers to give out something that's not theirs to distribute! I, who have always followed the usage agreements of other content-creators whenever I outsourced and used things that I didn't make myself! I, who always contact content-creators to make sure I can include their items in builds I intend to re-distribute, when their re-distribution terms aren't very clear! Turns out some low-life scoundrel has been using full perms prims that have me as their creator to distribute stolen content! And the rightful owner of the content, not knowing better (and not bothering to contact me about it), filed the DMCA against me. Now I have to deal with LL's draconian way of handling things! There's no simple "Oh just start a LiveChat and clear things out with them!", no, now we're back in 1990, where you have to FAX them counter-notifications, provide them with personal information they are by no means entitled to (and that they will forward to people who have no business having it!), and hope they don't make a mistake when they take action and end up banning my account or deleting my whole 40000+ inventory! Throughout the years, I've heard horror stories about LL handling copyright infringement, so, I'm terrified! Everything from "they never bothered doing a thing!", to "they blocked access to my region and suspended my account because someone else's stolen items were rezzed there!", so I can only pray I get someone who's not in a foul mood to handle my case! :P Don't get me wrong, I don't want someone out there using my prims to distribute stolen content! I'm all for the Lindens removing from the grid every single one of those prims that have been used improperly, and banning every one of those filthy thieves from entering the grid ever again! But there's got to be a better way to handle it! There's got to be a more humane way of handling it, that makes legitimate content creators feel secure, like the system is on their side! I personally am an honest person and I take it very hard and very personally to be accused of stealing someone else's stuff, and the way it's handled, you are a criminal until you can prove otherwise! So, for all you content-creators out there, who knows how your full perms items are being used! Maybe you will be next to be called a thief! Food for thought! -Ash

SinfulPrince wrote: [...] the facial structure of the building (if buildings can be ascribed facial structure... ) Yes, it's called the facade.

iCade wrote: Personally I would love more environment changing houses, that gives you the option of the normal house and 1 covered in snow. Also, and this niche is lacking so ridiculously much it makes me sad because I'd buy it, is windows with environment. I found a skybox or two where you could touch the windows and select between normal, rain, frost and snow. It's perfect if you don't want particles all over the place or accidently raining into the house. Only found this with a few skyboxes so far, and no house. Just thought I'd throw that out there. That is a fascinating idea, and it's not the first time I hear it. Maybe you're up to something! A variation of that idea that I heard before was not only a house that changes the enviromentals with the seasons (snow, fallen leaves, etc), but that actually shows signs of wear and tear after a while. We never got into how the owner would then repair the house, to bring it back to its pristine condition, but I guess it could be like those virtual pets that people have, that you have to buy virtual food for them and all that - just in this case you'd buy virtual cans of paint or something. ...if someone starts making buildings like that, I call dibs on the idea and demand a percentage of their profits!

Hermione Lefevre wrote: Can you put a link here for your store, I love shopping :-) Sure. In-world you can find it at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lismore/72/107/3507 and on the Marketplace at https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/28236 (or you can click my signature banner )

Weeeeelll, I don't make Mesh homes, but I do make low-prim houses that fit smaller parcels and that aren't gigantic or modern. So I'll take this opportunity to self-promote and invite you to take a look at what I have at my store in-world SculptyWorks (or check out the marketplace clicking on my signature banner)

This can be very frustrating, but as it's been pointed out in this thread, there's no easy way around it. But yeah, specially now with the introduction of Mesh into SL, I see it all the time when people take models from other games and sources they obviously don't have permission from, and upload it into SL and sell as their creations. Very irritating for those of us who put time and effort into making original content!

That's a question I ask myself every time I build a house that I will later put for sale: What do people look for in these things? SL has obviously different requirements than RL as far as houses go - it's perfectly Ok to build a house in SL without a bathroom, but you wouldn't want one like that in RL. ;) So I was wondering, what do you folks think are "must have"s for a home in SL, and what is completely unecessary/optional? Is it prefereable to have a mansion with 20 rooms or just 2 or 3 huge open spaces? RL-like realism as far as rooms go (living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, closets and all), or functional SL spaces? ...that kind of stuff. Share your thoughts! :)

...as long as it asks for number of prims, I will put the number of prims. Once it starts asking for Land Impact, then I will use that.

Porky Gorky wrote: At the very least they could offer instant cashouts to those of us that have premium accounts. I think at this time and age there's no excuse to take as long as it takes for them to send you your money, so instant cashouts should be the norm no matter what, but if LL must have conditions for it, I think the Premium thing is a great idea! Someone set up a JIRA or something for it (I don't know how!) and post a link here and it will get my vote!

Flea Yatsenko wrote: SL needs merchants, because they create the content. The way LL treats merchants is appalling. I don't understand why they don't treat us better. If it weren't for us, the grid would be ruth, basic avatar hair, and library clothing items. All with Linden Trees and library housing. The impression I get is that LL regards SecondLife as a "final product", not as a tool or resource other people might use and develop to do their own thing.

Oh within 30 days so far I've been charged 7 times for my enhancements and got 5 refunds. Got all kinds of stuck listings too. Nevermind having to make sure there's enough L$ in the account so it doesn't go negative all of sudden if they decide to charge me again at random, this will make bookkeeping for the past couple of months really inaccurate. What are the Lindens doing that's so important that they haven't fixed this yet?

You guys can see a "Top Selling Products Report"? For months now all I get is a blank screen.

(I don't know if there's already a version of this subject out there, so if there is, I apologize for the repeat. If there isn't, here it is then! :smileytongue: ) Am I the only one to think the current Product Review system is complicated and inefficient? I often get IMs like these: [17:57] Customer: Hi! I just bought some sculpties of yours in the marketplace and wanted to say thank you, they are awesome! [17:58] Ashtyn Ninetails: Thank you, that's very kind of you! [17:58] Customer: Nice houses too! I'm gonna tell my friend to check out your store! [17:59] Ashtyn Ninetails: Cool, thank you! Would you be so kind to leave a simple review on the item in the Marketplace? [17:59] Customer: I don't know how to do that. It used to be that you bought something at the then SLX / XStreetSL, now Marketplace, and you had options to review the product right away. You could also very easily access the list of what you had recently purchased, with pictures, and very simply organized, and either leave a review in the form of stars, from 1 to 5, or you could write a full product review if you felt like something needed to be said about a product. Currently, when you buy an item in the Marketplace, you don't get any of those options right away. You have to dig for your order history, find the items in a crude non-pictured list, then you get the option to review the product, but you can't just do a quick "yeah I like this, I'll give it 5 stars", you have to write something to go along with the stars. You can also go back to the item's page, click on the Reviews tab, and click the 'write a review' button, but still, you can't just give it stars, which is a quick and simple way to give a product the thumbs up without taking the time to write about it! I think that's too many steps for something that the customers do out of kindess for a seller, and let's face it, reviews, even if they are just stars, help with sales! My suggestion/request to LL is to make accessing your order history and leaving reviews in the Marketplace at least more intuitive than it is now, and if nothing else, let us leave simple star reviews to items we buy! Thanks! -Ashtyn Ninetails SculptyWorks http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lismore/72/107/3507