[Making SL more welcoming to males]

Our world, our imagination. SL is what its residents create. That men do not spend as much money on clothing factors into what people create to sell. That is not unfriendly to men, that is maximizing sales. 

[EPIC OOAK Linden Home Auction @ 2019 SL Christmas Expo]

As someone whose professional career was in social and economic justice organizing, I am always frustrated by the nonsense promulgated by folks who judge nonprofits by how they spend rather than what they accomplish. People say nonprofits need to be run like a business, but nonprofits could never be so profligate. For-profits are praised for spending on marketing while nonprofits are castigated, but without marketing, they cannot grow and they will fail. Dan Pallotta has a tremendous Ted Talk on Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship.

Here's the thing. People are taught shame about money. No one talks about money. Asking for money is embarrassing and covered in shame. No one wants to be a beggar, right? But what is an IPO, it's asking for money. Politicians and wealthy corporate leaders have no problems asking for money. They are not taught shame about asking for money, so that's where the money goes. The same works for marketing. Businesses market, but nonprofits that market are attacked for misspending money. This means that nonprofits can never challenge real power. These ideas about what nonprofits can do are all designed to make sure that nonprofits never challenge real power. 

 

[Proposal for a Charity Avatar Program]

Absolutely, and a few charities already do that and they could continue to do that. For example, Relay for Life and Doctors Without Borders have charity avatars and include information on the Second Life fundraiser on their organizational web site. 

However, some charities don't understand the potential of SL or how easy it would be for them to have a charity avatar. That's the more common occurence and one that I think would be addressed by having a LL Charity Avatar Program. As to the fees for LL, since they are the Lab, they don't need to pay themselves Lindex fees. However, they wlll have some bookkeeping and IRS reporting compliance costs - which the 3% would cover since they would not get Lindex fees. 

[Proposal for a Charity Avatar Program]

Charities in Second Life do so much good, raising thousands for cancer research, relief work, animal protection and dozens if not hundreds of worthy causes. In spite of all the good work that is done by many successful fundraising events, a few unworthy people have exploited the charitable impulse to raise money under false pretenses and pocket the funds, even going so far as to forge false receipts  When this happens, even the legitimate efforts are damaged as people become suspicious and ware of participating. 

Linden Lab could easily address this ongoing problem with a Charity Avatar Program admistered by them. Although there may be details that need ironing out, I see the process working something like this. 

 

1. Fundraising committee identifies a charitable organization they wish to support. The gather contact info for the charity, including name, address, phone number and national charity registration number or national business number. For example, in the United States, the Federal Employer Identification Number.  
2. Fundraising Committee identifies any anticipated expenses they will request be compensated after the event. 
3. Linden Lab reviews the organization to ensure it is a charitable organization that they are allowed to fund (not a prohibited organization). Linden Lab also reviews the organization to ensure it does not violate their own standards as defined in TOS (promoting hate, racism, homophobia, violence, etc) 
4. If the charity is one meets their criteria, Linden Lab creates a charitable avatar that has a Linden or Charity last name to set them apart and make the easily recognizable to all residents. Names could be as generic as Charity001.Linden or more specific with names like HumanSociety.Charity. 
5. Vendors and donation boxes pay all or portion of all funds sto the charity avatar directly. There is no need for charity avatar to be active in the world, but merely function as a bank. 
6. When the event is over, the Fundraising Committee informs Linden Lab and provides receipts from transaction history of any event-related expenses that were included in the event application. If the event does not raise enough to cover expenses, the Fundraising Committee will not be fully reimbursed. 
7. Linden Lab deducts a sponsorship fee that defrays the cost of the Charity Avatar Program - about 3% or so. 
8. Linden Lab writes a check directly to the charity and posts a notice to the fundraising committee chair. 
9. For ongoing fundraising via donation box, the Lab could simply write a quarterly or annual check. 

There are special reporting requirements for LL when it donates to charities outside the United States, but so long as they do not donate to any organization on the list of prohibited organizations, the reporting is not onerous. The information needed to fill out their reports would all be provided in the initial application by the Fundraising Committee. 

This seems a fairly simple way for Linden Lab to support the charitable work in Second Life. It will help foster community aand charitable giving by removing any suspiciion about its legitimacy. With a program for approval that is simple and automatic so long as requirements are met, there will be no implicationt hat LL endorses one particular charity over another. 

Are there other steps that should be part of the process? Any anticipated difficulties? Would this solve the problem? 

I am hoping a bit of community consideration and debate could massage this into a solid proposal for the Lab's cosideration. I think it would work and could make charity fundraising so much easier. 

[Thinking about photography.]

Please do not adopt face lights. They are annoying and unnecessary if you use windlight properly. There are several tutorials that cna help you. 

 

Strawberry Singh has a tutorial linking you to several WL settings you can download and install.

Here's a directory of tutorials that can help. When windlight came in 2008, that was the end of the need for face lights. Few people use them anymore and they are generally perceived as rude and impolite to wear in public. 

[How do you feel about content creators using templates?]

I am no purist. I think that there are good things made with templates and good designers who learned the ropes with templates. The only thing I am not enthused about is the unimaginative and boring use of templates to simply add a recolor or a flat texture without bringing some inspiration and imagination to it. But you know, they don't hurt me because they look flat and uninteresting and don't tempt away my lindens. 

[Is the SL you similar to the RL you in looks?]

I am sure I saw you at the public library last Friday. Was that you?

[Design the Perfect Profile for a Fashion Designer]

My pet peeve is when designers do not have their store landmark in their picks. I want to be able to teleport from there. What are other things that store owners should put in their profiles? 

[Unsung, unnoticed and under-appreciated.]

I always think that there are stores out there in the vast regions of Second Life where great imagination and incredible talent are married and producing little darlings what we would all love, if we only knew where they were. Do you know of any new and/or small stores that you think would get more attention, if only people knew they existed? Do you have some favorites that you seldom, if ever, see blogged or highlighted?   Why not share them and help them get some of the attention you think they should have. 

[Which designers do you really miss?]

I miss Digit Darkes. Our mutual love of DD was part of the glue that helped form our early friendship for Gidge and me. 

[How Brand Loyal ARE You?]

I am both very brand loyal and still always searching for the new. What I mean by that is that when I find a store that has excellent clothing, good quality prims and textures and a unique, recognizable viewpoint, I am going to continue to shop there for new releases and for staple investment dressing. 

At the same time, I am going to try new stores that have exciting releases and new shapes and designs and if they please me, they may end up on my list of stores I love. But the new store doesn't get many chances. Two or three bad experiences and they fall off my radar screen. I think sometimes people rush into marking and selling their creations too quickly - and might benefit from making a few more practice pieces to hone their skills so that their first impression is not only a lasting one, but a good, lasting impression. 

[How to find places for shooting fashion photos]

I don't ask permission. I give the name of the sim and a slurl at the end of my post along with the other credits: hair, skin, clothes, location. 

I try to remember to leave a small tip - 20-100 Lindens - when I enjoy a sim. It's nothing toward their tier, of course, but it is a small thank you and possibly encouragement to keep the sim going. Besides if everyone who went to a sim made a small contribution, they would add up and perhaps we would still have some of the sims we miss so much. 

[Good places to make fashion pics]

Yes, it is. 

[How to find places for shooting fashion photos]

I have a list of bookmarks that I browse around in when looking for a new place to shoot. Sure, I often map jump, open the map and size the sims so that they are very small thumbnails and then look for ones that stand out - that are not standard green and sand colors - and just go. I find amazing places that way. I found a fabulous spot last night by jumping to a red square and look what I found. The sim is called Locus.

But sim jumping is not the fastest way to find a new place. Instead, I seek out the expertise of the sim travelers who blog and the folks who share the travel photos on Flickr and Koin-up. Here are my favorite places to look for ideas. And please, if you have more - share, because the more places we have to look, the more we can find.

 

• Avatars In Motion
• Caminante de Sueños
• Honour McMillan
• Flickr Group: Creative Landscapes of Imagination
• Flickr Group: SL Tourist Board
• Flickr Group: SL Travels Pool
• Flickr Group: Xploring Second Life
• Flickr Group: Beautiful Places in Second Life
• Flickr Group: Second Life – Beautiful Sims
• Flickr Group: SL – Rain & Snow
• Koin-Up Second Life Places
• Roaming With Ranger
• SL Discovery
• SL Travel Channel
• Translucent Journey
• Turistas de SL
• Yse Sliffeuse et Gloodeuse

I also keep a handy list of landmarks that I share with anyone who wants, this post on my blog from May tells you about it and how to get it.

[Good places to make fashion pics]

I really like Ebony Coast for a spooky, swamping setting

 

Old Italy

 

[Poptart Lilliehook poised like a coiled spring]

Do you have advice for people interested in forging a career in the fashion auxiliary fields like photography, modeling, pubic relations, events? 

[An Expert in Scare Quotes]

One of the things that made it easy for me to accept the invitation to spend a day as a Fashion "Expert" is that the invitation from Linden Labs  came with that word in scare quotes - a bit of truth-telling in titling. Fashion, of all passions, is highly indiosyncratic and whatever storehouse of knowledge anyone may have, the ultimate judge and personal style advisor can only be you. Does what you wear make you happy? Is it true to you? You're the expert on you. 

Still, I am an "expert" for a day and as such, would love to hear your questions, comments and insights. Take it away, fellow experts. And by expert, I mean everyone. 

[Sorting Inventory]

I used to always have my clothing inventory under control, but decided to reorganize it (a mistake!) and now am in between two different inventory blueprints and can tell it's not  working. So it's time to go back to the the drawing board. 

Dresses

• Casual
• _By Color (several folders)
• Cocktail
• _By Color
• Formal
• _By Color

Tops

• Tees and Tanks
• _By Color (several folders)
• Short Sleeve
• _By Color
• Long Sleeve
• _By Color

Pants

• Shorts
• _By Color (several folders)
• Jeans
• _By Color
• Dressy
• _By Color

That gives you an idea. I got the wild idea to sort by designer and need to turn that back around, but since I am strarting over, perhaps you have inventory architectures that work really well for you and would like to share.

[Race--does it matter?]

I am not comfortable presenting myself as a different ethnicity other than in a skin review, and even then just to show the tone. I am not going to go out and about as a different ethnicity than my own, but then I also avoid wearing religious and cultural symbology that are not my own as well. I will wear ethnic clothing, but only in my own skin, so to speak. I am white and am aware that we have cultural and social privileges that allow us to dabble in cultural appropriation in ways that people of other races cannot. 

That said, I think that if someone else wishes to adopt an ethnicity other than their own, if they do so with respect, that shoudl be ok. I mean, if you can be a fairy, an elf, a vampire or an animal, it does seem silly to say you cannot be a different skin tone in your own species. But I do think it should be done with care and that if you present yourself as someone from a different ethnic background than you have an obligation not to act out the stereotypes associated with that background. Presenting oneself as an ethnic stereotype is just wrong. 

[How has your look changed over the years?]

What a great meme! I hope everyone does one.  As you can see, I lived in LAQ Amy skin for my first 12 to 18 months in SL before even thinking about changing.

 

[What is your favorite group in SL for getting fashion tips?]

The groups sound sound fabulous. I am not a group person.  I join interim event groups, land management groups, a couple store groups,  groups I am required to join for feed purposes and then the one and only group that I allow group chat and mesages, and that's your Fashion Bloggers group with Callie Cline. 

 

[Get noticed!?]

Get a store blog up and running and sign up for What's New SL. Join Plurk and the SLUniverse forums and get to know people and post your new releases photos. Give hugs and make friends and share a little so that you are not just posting ads so you are not seen as a spammer. Have your vendor ads up on flickr (leave the prices off for two reasons - easier to change and they will suspend your account if the prices are on) and post them into appropriate groups - like Red into the Red clothes group, etc. Don't add to groups where the don't belong - again, that is seen as Spam, but adding to groups where it does belong is liked and welcomed. 

Follow the feeds and find a few bloggers that wear the styles you make and shoot good pictures and send them some promotional copies with a NC asking them to check out your stuff. Truly, make sure you look at their blogs before you send so that you can be fairly sure they will like your style of clothing. 

[What matters most to you in SL Fashion: Quality or Creativity?]

A bit of both. For staples like tanks, skirts, pants, I want quality because I will want to wear them again and again and after all, who needs ten white tank tops?   For something wildly outrageous and fun, the "it" dress, I might be more forgiving if there's an underarm seam that does not match. Stockings, pants, skirts, the seams have to match. 

[Favorite shoes!]

I have such a hard time with "favorite" questions because I have different favorites every hour of the day, I think. 

For praciticality, I like Lelutka, Maitreya and Shiny Thinsg shoes which come in more classic colors that go with everything and can be worn a lot. For edgy, fashion-forward looks, I like House of Fox and Mea Culpa. For vintage and princesslike formal wear, Donna Flora has some wonderful shoes. For funky fashion I like Baiastice and Maitreya again. Oh, but then there's, well, you know exactly what I mean.  

[Second Life Fashion Expert Days]

Hi, I am looking forward to this and to seeing your posts and discussion. You are the brave ones starting out on Sunday while I get to wait until Tuesday and see what you all do.