Lysistrata Szapira

Yes, and we all judge each other, in both SL and RL. I get judged for my looks every time I leave my house because I am a middle-aged plump woman, and I get judged if I go to the grocery in my gym wear because I'm not going home to change before I go pick up milk, toilet paper & bread for the next snowmageddon. And sometimes it's said OUT LOUD. If people didn't judge, People of Walmart dot com wouldn't exist. The difference here is that I don't vocalize my judgments of tacky SL avatars, I don't name & shame, and I don't post photos or videos of them like some people do. My judgment remains in my head (and in my generalized comments here on this board). I'm sure others in SL would probably find my avatar too mainstream while I find theirs tacky. As long as we don't go around saying, "Hey (name), your avatar is boring" or "Hey (name), your avatar looks like a tramp" there's no problem. I'm ceasing comments on this particular derail of the discussion before the powers that be lock it.

I guess I'm a contrarian. I really don't much care for the S&H gift card or credit gifts. 9 times out of 10 they'll barely pay for one item (and in many cases they don't even do that). Most stores at S&H don't let us use those credits at their S&H displays either. Then there's the matter of me having already purchased everything I like at whatever store. If the credits expire, then I can't wait until the store releases something new that I'll like. I've lost track of credits at stores because I can't find anything. Gifts have been the way I find the stores I like, so I'd rather just have a clothing or jewelry item gift. If I don't like the item, I just toss it.

I do have the right to express my opinion of fashion in SL, so no. I will not be "tending to my own knitting."

I Thanks! I chose the name specifically when I joined back in 2008 specifically because SL is such a hypersexualized environment. It's kind of a test to see how many people get the reference (not many do). I don't have any objection to SL sex workers. Get your money however you can. At least in this world, coercion and human trafficking isn't occurring. I don't have any moral objections about what people do in SL for the most part. I've got my own kinks, some of which are definitely not vanilla. I just object to the deluge of this style. I have the money to spend, and I'd love to see new designers pop up, but most of the more recent original mesh stores cater to this aesthetic. I see some really cute things at a certain feline-themed clothing store, for example, but then the crotch or boobs are on full display. I love cute things, but not things that would get me arrested if I wore them in public in real life. I just kind of rue the day that someone thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be a good idea if we never zipped up our pants/shorts again?". It would be interesting to see some numbers on how many people in SL engage in sex work vs how many just wear that type of clothing for shiz & giggles. Stores/events wouldn't offer these items if they didn't sell.

And lo and behold, yet another event is born per Seraphim this morning: Dollholic. Again, not an aesthetic for me. More exposed pubic hair, labia floss, and bbygrl/hooker chic. *sighs* Sex must sell in SL, but it seems like this aesthetic is going to reach oversaturation at some point. Judging by the amount of items for this population, does a majority of SL female residents work in the sex trade?

For me, more Coco, less Hustler. Some of the worst stuff would never be sold at Walmart, especially pubic-hair exposing jeans and shorts.

I don't put my avi in bed before I log out. I usually TP to my platform (quicker rendering time when I log back in) before logging out. As far as I'm concerned, my avi doesn't exist when I'm offline. I will admit that when I played World of Warcraft, I often put my avatar in a bed in an inn before logging off. I could get the resting bonus at any spot in an inn, but for some reason I DID like putting her in a bed before logging off. I'm not sure why.

I prefer events that only allow new, original mesh items. Call me a snob. There is so much template crap in SL now, and so many events allow it. The only reason I would pay lindens for a template item would be if they offer an extensive color HUD/excellent texturing. I just can't praise things that came straight out of the template box using the same original files, and I laugh when these stores call themselves "couture" or "So & So Designs" when they used such minimal effort that they shouldn't even be called designs. It would be ok if people started with templates to learn the texturing process, but sooner or later they should learn to mesh or pay someone to mesh. FLF and C88 are two I almost always check on because they usually have some of my favorite stores. FLF has slipped a little bit in recent months with who/what they allow in, but C88 seems to be holding on (although getting some stores to stay on theme seems to be an ongoing issue). I can occasionally find things on the Saturday Sale and Happy Weekend. Kustom9 is still pretty good. I have a pretty set-in-stone list of stores from these events that I look at while I ignore the template stores. I bought several things at CozyFest over the weekend (yay for quality 50L things). I guess it's best not to name and shame stores here, but certain events keyed into certain looks ("thicc" or teeny bodies or caricatures especially) are not my jam. I am not into that aesthetic, but maybe it helps those who wear those bodies find stores that do cater to them? I do find it a shame that stores in the aforementioned "thicc" event seem to think that female avatars with those bodies only want to walk around with boobs hanging out and in labia floss or unzipped bottoms. If I wanted a plump look, I wouldn't want the streetwalker chic look that is popular right now. I also didn't like the invisible pony rider look from back in the day. I still look at Seraphim because I don't have time to monitor Flickr for new releases and sales, but I ignore about 75% of Seraphim's postings for events because I know which ones are basically all templates all the time now.

A lot of issues with shiny skins could be attributed to the lighting setting people use in SL juxtaposed with the level of gloss people choose on their HUDs. A lot of people seem to prefer the youthful, dewy look too. For comparison purposes, the first photo is my avatar with Lelutka's Avalon EvoX head and Amara Beauty's Kat skin with NO make-up (ignore the lashes since I have them rather bushy). Caveat: Amara Beauty tends to lean heavy into cheek contouring, so I do have Izzie's Blush/Contour remover on in this photo. Third photo is without the Blush/Contour remover. I do not have Advanced Lighting Model turned on. AB skins do not seem to be prone to shininess (I am not a fan of the shiny look). I have my head HUD settings at zero for glossiness and intensity. Second photo is my avi with the same settings with the Session EvoX skin Candy. You are correct that the shine is baked in. It's definitely a make-up free skin, but I'm with you about it looking too shiny for my taste. Izzie's has a BOM nose highlight corrector to get rid of the shiny nose, but it's not for EvoX unfortunately. It will work on Evo BOM heads though as I used it with the Nova head before EvoX was released. Izzie's correctors are pretty affordable at 100L each, and I buy as many of them as I can, especially when she has them out for Fifty Linden Friday. Last photo is Glam Affair's Enni skin (fair tone) as it comes out of the box (no Blush/Contour remover). I'm using the shortest lashes in the Lelutka HUD. There's a tiny bit of shine on the bottom lip, but the rest of the face seems pretty matte to me. I would consider this a young beach face (albeit maybe a little too perfect?), but your mileage may vary. I hope these comparisons help you somewhat.

So I've got a problem with one of my favorite designer's clothes (not going to name names, but is typically a high quality product). No matter what I buy, the mesh breaks when my avatar moves. I have a pretty relaxed AO. It's not hyper. It doesn't stretch or bend over, but without fail their clothes break right in one or both of my armpits/sideboob (Maitreya Regular Body). This latest dress is off the shoulder, and the built-in alpha cut would crop right through the shoulder too. Sending a NC asking for a fix usually doesn't help. They don't appear to want to re-rig to fix AO related issues, but I'd swear they never run their clothes through a couple different AOs before releasing. Yes, I demo, but I usually like things enough to tolerate tiny breaks, but this new one is NOT tiny. Could someone point me to custom alpha mask for this armpit/boob area or a tutorial on how to make my own? I'd rather purchase as I'm not sure if I have the skills to do it (I can't draw to save my life), but I'll do whatever I need to do. Maitreya really needs to whack that alpha cut in half so it doesn't alpha the shoulder when it alphas the armpit/sideboob.

SL frequently has login issues wherein people already logged in are fine, but new logins are blocked/disabled/malfunctioning. If the people already logged in logout, they will find themselves unable to login.

I seriously despite gesture-spam, especially the kind that contains sound. If I'm jamming to a tune and a 30 second+ gesture blocks the sound, I'm going to be throwing daggers at the gesturbator and probably throwing a few choice insults at them too. I despise it when clubs consider constant gestures to be "participating" and even encourage it. I participate by actually typing my conversational input, not by tossing out the same repetitive, boring gestures that have been around the entire 13 years I've been in world. I've never hosted, but I try my best to help hosts with keeping actual chat going when I have the energy. I can't always afford to tip, so I save requests for when I actually have the money, and I try to tip both the host and DJ when I do that. When I have spare lindens to blow, I will tip to make up for the times I don't.

I'll toss in a random one: Boba/bubble tea is an elixir of the gods. I only wish it had come to America sooner.

Only if it doesn't increase one's complexity to astronomical levels. Every time I put something flexi on, I cringe at the numbers and take it off immediately.

Fwiw, Facebook is building more data centers, including one north of Nashville TN and another just outside Chicago. The Nashville site will be over 1 million square feet and 100 employees, so it's basically going to be a server farm with a skeleton crew of hoomans. Zuck is aiming big (aka "All restaurants are Taco Bell"). I have no interest in Meta. I have little interest in Facebook either, but it's the only way I can keep in touch with some friends, and at least it allows me to engage in my meteorology hobby (by warning friends in different parts of the country) during severe weather outbreaks.

This was the pop-up I kept getting during Trick or Treating. You wouldn't believe how many Belli residents had media playing that triggered this, (and it was the same url every dang time) even though I wasn't even on their parcels.

Speaking of restricting sounds to parcels, I couldn't believe the number of people in Belli who don't do that. It was so freaking annoying being forced to listen to multiple streams at once, including audio from someone's porn videos playing in their homes (that one video was playing in at least 5 houses and triggered a phishing alarm from my anti-virus software). There was practically a cacophony of noise on some regions. Eventually I had to just turn off almost everything except the ambient sounds (water, birds). Parcels should automatically be set to restrict sounds. Nobody needs to listen to your "You wanna (bleep) me, huh? You wanna (bleep) that (bleep) good, dontcha, Stud" when they're strolling through the neighborhood. I had to move houses once because some numbnut had a piano playing 24/7/365, so I couldn't even go out and enjoy the park next to my Belli home. I tried for months to source that sound and finally gave up.

Cubic Cherry at Shop & Hop gave away a pair of these as a gift. That event ended 11/1 though. I don't know if they're going to have them at the store now.

FWIW, I had 885 clicks according to my HUD. I have no clue how many that turned out to be on the server end. I wound up in the Top 35, which was my goal. Zombie Bear kind of creeps me out a bit.

Considering that house in Fantasseria had grass, trees, and flowers inside, I don't see how this would be a problem.

And I just grabbed 6GG's Vic in Dashwood. Yay! River, bridge, and sea nearby. I think I'll stay here a while.

I just put a Vic back: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lissome/65/218/32 I'm aiming for a waterfront Vic now.

"no lists" Nope. LL cannot stop people from passing around notecards. "no tp" Nope. If you want to see an uproar, start telling people in Belli they can't TP on the continent while a hunt is ongoing. LL isn't going to disable all TPs on Belli. "no fly or other vehicles" Nope. LL isn't going to ban flying or driving/biking. "no indoor placement but at the front door" This I theoretically can get behind, but there is no way to force this. Thousands of parcels with thousands of layouts ensure there's no way for LL to determine the front door coordinates of every house in Belli. So NOPE again. "WALK and use your eyes/cam" Some people are already doing it. In order to win the top 10/35/100 bears, that will require hours and hours a day that most working people don't have. In short, your ideas overlook the fact that more people living in Belli are NOT playing Game of Pumpkins than ARE playing it (assuming currently the most clicked pumpkins are showing numbers in the low-mid 200s). Your suggestions would be a massive inconvenience to all the people that have no interest in playing. I lean more toward a specific bear for a specific amount of clicks or higher. Make the bears better as the number of clicks go higher. I know after all the work I've done, if I come up short of the top 35 or 100 by 1 or 2 clicks (I don't want the zombie bear), I'm going to be big mad (and then go talk to a doctor about my carpal tunnel syndrome).

Aside from my favorite brands which get their own folder no matter what year I purchased their items, all of my clothing is sorted by year and then by type of item: subfolders for formal wear, jewelry, costumes, short dresses, tops, etc. I have subfolders under some of these as well, especially for types of jewelry (necklaces/bracelets/sets) or shoes (boots/heels/flats). If I have a lot of one type of item from a particular store (but that store has not made it to favorite status) in a folder, I will usually create a folder for that store (example: Short Dresses>Pixi Cat). I periodically sort through those folders and put into store brand folders if I have more than 1 or 2 items from the store. I also have a folder strictly for Luxe Box items that have passed the purge test over the years. I purge about once or twice a year, and move items older than a certain age into a folder called "Older Clothes (not to trash)" because I simply want to keep some older items. For example, I recently moved everything from prior to 2016 into that Older Clothes folder (still sorted into sub-types). That folder really came in handy with BOM because I had held on to the higher quality system layer items I had from the pre-mesh days. Let me tell you it was a beeyutch trying on every layer though to judge it. Ugh. I tossed a lot, but surprisingly I have some really old system layers that do look good on mesh bodies. I use exclamation points in my folder names to keep my top brands at, well, the top, but inside each top brand folder, I have again separated out items by type (pants, etc.). Under each year, I also have a folder for Halloween wearables, and I always set up a folder for wearable things collected during Christmas advent calendar marathons (non-wearable holiday items go into furnishings and outdoor decorating folders). The next year I go through the prior year and purge anything that no longer fits my aesthetic. I tried sorting by color in my short dresses/tops folders, but with so many things coming with color HUDs now, I quit because it was rather pointless. I also don't classify by season beyond things that are obviously holiday-oriented. I must confess that every year I have a sub-folder labeled "Snarky Shirts" because I love snarky shirts. For my collections of gacha clothing items from The Time Before (tm), I keep them in folders labeled by the store & gacha names for easy locating. I find using the yearly method most efficient as that makes it easy for me to find where to start purging. By now, items from 2016 and back have been sorted/purged multiple times so I don't need to sort them again. I've already started working on purging 2020's items.

Also make sure your Maitreya HUD is not conflicting with any other HUDs you might be wearing (AO, etc). If HUDs share some of the same real state on the viewer, they won't work.