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Compassion and care are the root of empathy though. empathy is about beign able to put ourselves in other people's shoes, to try to see their point of view, and to understand it. You don't have to agree with them, or enable them on something you don't want to.. That is empathy. And it's based on having compassion for others and care for others.

Before I respond, I would point out that you take out 3 words out of an entire post that provides context and just respond to that instead? How is describing a personality type of someone I and others would have encountered in our lives who are 'predatory, manipulative weirdo types" a stigmatization of mental illness? Where did I equate my experience with an individual(s) to people with mental illness ?

This is a bit iffy position, as we all go through our lives trying to convince others to our point of view. Sometimes it's successful. Hell some of us made a living out of it through sales - Sales is literally trying to change other people's mind, by making a convincing argument. What you are referring to (which I'm guilty of as well at times) of trying to change people's minds who are not open to changing their minds, or engaging in honest conversation or debate - they will not change their minds because they won't. Sometimes we get suckered in because it's a 'well if I rephrase it this way or maybe say it differently", but I don't know if that's a bad trait. Being able to convince others towards something that you believe will benefit them isn't 'crazy'. It would just be crazy to engage with an individual that has no interest in learning or changing anything. Also as I may guess that you've had experience with some NPD types, not everyone is like that and to keep your head up and DONT lose your argumentative spirit. Hey I'm taking my own advice here and say we just gotta know when it's no point with some people in our lives is all. There can be some very good benefits from debating things with your friends and even if it can be frustrating at times, sometimes you get a few win points in and maybe even concede a few yourself with new information, and the interaction feels great. Staying away from predatory, manipulative weirdo types is a pretty good idea though. I've had a few in my personal life that had to go, because they were stuck in some ideal or even a year haha and weren't going to 'grow' or leave it and I had to let it go.

No, she is correct. If we get defensive or angry or uncomfortable about what someone else says about us, self-assessing our reaction to it is a valuable skill to have. Psychiatrists will say If we are bothered by other people's words (Not physical damage), that there may be some truth to it, and if we look within, it is strong to admit that maybe they are right - and to make the relevant changes. If not, then we just discard their words and move on. This is all part of maturing and gaining self-confidence.

I liked some of the old designs. I'd like to see a high ceiling type warehouse, open floor plan style house as that is my preference. Then I can build to taste. Call it a studio home or whatever. I don't prefer newer home styles or the Boston Colonial type (which i think the currents seem based on) that IMO have to many walls, to many small rooms, not my style. Need an artist's studio, warehouse style open floor plan please. Even in my older SL home that I just abandoned, I only used one large room and ignored the rest. I think most people are like me in the sense they have limited things in those, as they were actually quite large, but the texture scale was way out of whack. If you recycled those designs with some modern texture changes (the new houses have good scale now) I'd be interested.

I thought they referred to gesture sounds and object sounds made from objects on your property... In any case the solution would be to separate region/parcel/LL sounds from ACTUAL gesture (created from avatars) and objects (placed by the owner/renter) of the parcel. Solutions not abuse reports I would like any platform to gravitate to, first.

Nooooooooooo! But seriously, I would just give up any 3d artistic goals if it mean I was locked into Facebook - I just wont do it.

How has mental health been weaponized? How would we see this in practice? Some examples? What perspectives would be considered 'different' from those of the norms of our culture and how are they dismissed? What kinds of misinformation would be employed and relating to which mental health issues, and how do they silence those that struggle with said mental issues? Who throws accusations of "mentally unfit" or "unwell" and which transgressive views are we speaking of exactly? There is a 'normal' range of any issue. It is referred to as a 'bell curve' or 'median' or 'average' or 'general' trend, state or character of a thing, things or persons or groups. When people fall outside of this spectrum, the majority will recognize them as the 'exception, not the rule', and scientifically it makes sense to treat such minority percentages as they are. Hence the 'exception to the rule' should not be argued as a general rule, nor should be an exception used to apply a method, limit, law or rule on the majority. Who is calling people on the end of the bell curve 'crazy' or 'warped'? All perspectives can be found in SL, both in world and on these forums. It doesn't mean it's wrong or right, it's just a perspective, which is just another word for saying "someone's opinion". Education is fine, but most people are quite educated on a number of issues, yet still hold their opinion - mainly because they HAVE actually educated themselves, looked at both sides of the equation, and came to their own conclusion over it. Which ways would you suggest that would help combat a difference of opinion, perception or worldview? Yes, empathy is an important trait to have - the ability to put oneself into another person's shoes, to understand their perspective, to recognize their perspective, to respect their perspective... and yet still disagree with it. A bit more empathy for everyone and by everyone in this world (on all issues) is certainly needed.

LL should have "Restrict gestures and object sounds to this parcel" checked by default. Or even as a non-optional choice. I don't see too many use cases where this would be unchecked. If it came as a default for sounds on parcel, then UNCHECKING it and then having annoying generator sounds on your parcel would warrant an Abuse Report.

Yes, this can be very true and a point I make to some VR advocates. Of course I would never say VR is less immersive than a desktop - it's just that I've gamed for years and know when I am immersed versus not. In some scary games, it could be as simple as turning off all the lights in the room and the only viewport being the screen - yikes. Or just becoming focused on a FPS game and being 'dialed in' and no one's stopping you. The advantage of no VR of course is that you can immediately get up and go make a cup of coffee, or respond to an email without all the extra work of removing the equipment. I'm not in a hurry for VR simply because I guess the immersive benefit doesn't outweigh the cons for ME personally as a multitasker, getting up and down from workstation working in different software and engines etc.. would only be for 100% leisure time (which is rare for a creative because there is ALWAYS something to make, learn, improve hard for us to actually enjoy something as leisure)

Mark is a scumbag. Never signed up for a Facebook account because I took the time to read their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and said 'no thanks'. I then suffered social loss by my own friends who 'punished' me by going to events they organized on Facebook and didn't inform me, then said "Well you don't have Facebook". Only a year in to Facebook, though I can't find a quote, I remember Zuck saying he was amazed that people submitted their info to Facebook, that what suckers they were... it's only later in the following link we could verify an actual statement testified.. Shortly after Mark Zuckerberg Called People Who Handed Over Their Data "Dumb F****", and accounts compromised, and people not able to delete their info when deleting accounts, and Facebook being used by stalkers and even potential employers - judging people by what they had on their profiles.. No regrets. Now scumbag wants to REALLY lure us in with the promise of Utopia and 3D happiness - his evil offer definitely appealing to people like me - creators and artists - who want to create worlds and cool stuff - but will come at the cost of our privacy and dignity - and he will RULE us. Just the fact right now that I cannot participate in Meta or use an Oculus without submitting to a disgusting Facebook account right now underscores the problem. he's hoping to lure people like me in who haven't otherwised, with the promise of creative opportunities (and backed with $$$) Zuckerberg is also an advocate of 'you will own nothing and be happy' and may support aims that will literally DRIVE people to his 'metaverse' by means of pandemic fears. As tempting as his offer is, I will sadly have to leave it behind and give up some dreams on the matter - even if Oculus and Meta are the biggest VR sales right now. If they gain the market in that department there will be no stopping them, and (hopefully not) in their "Utopian" future - you will be on a dirty mattress sharing a house with 8 other people, but you have an Oculus on your head and your clout, status and social credit and 'immaterial' goods will be hosted by Zucks' Meta - and you will be under their control. Much like other platforms have already demonstrated, one that was headed up by LL itself - that they are more than willing to control behaviour by threatening forfeiture of your hard work and world creations, and loss of your account. Don't give scumbag Zuck that power, we already know what he thinks of us, he said so, and we should not forget it.

For those of us who may have 1-2 materials per object >:-D it isn't really a draw.Good for those who put 8 x textures on 8 linked objects though

I'm surprised no one has mentioned or said they want an increase in Li . That is my main beef with SL. Not enough Li in relation to the land size. I don't need a bigger land size. I can do alot on a 1024 sqm plot, whether it be a club, or a starter store area. Part of the attraction of coming to a land would be the immersion and detail, and right now one runs out of Li long before they can do that. I was recently visiting a friend on their Belissaria plot and they effectively have a 271 land impact house AND 351 prims on a 1024 lot = 622 Li? Is this true or did I miss something. In any case I could really use 512-650 Li on 1024 plot land and it would be more than enough for what I want to do. When things are used and built to real world scale (x 1.1 or 1.2 multiplier scaling) you have lots of room to do all sorts of things. For me, it is the singlemost restricting thing to building things for the last 10 years, and buying/renting a bigger plot of land at 2k just has the same problems = low LI per sqm. I would have thought Premium Plus, and for that price would give an Li boost, whatever they decided relating to land size, etc - which would cause me to build MORE and then require free texture uploads, etc. But at the current levels I don't need it I use SL to build, create, learn and explore: Social not so much anymore due to reasons, so it's even hard to value the Premium account at this point. Where's the builder/creators package..?

Most won't even take so-called 'disputes' to PMs even when they are invited. The few that do engage clearly have no real beef with you, but rather enjoy performing in the public arena instead - seeing how far they can push it before moderators have to step in. Seemingly their aim is to not understand another person but to antagonize them into getting angry enough to have their own posts go outside the rules. Very manipulative, and becoming more common - hopefully a discerning eye to this fact by moderators already exists. In some forum categories and especially General, it is the experience and observation that this behaviour is pretty common and there is nothing to be done but to ignore the people who post and reply like that. To stop posting how you like though, is not the answer either - as then those people win and silence you - so that they can always have center stage in their own eyes. It's just the way it is around here. It's much better to stick to the technical channels (which IMO SL should limit conversations to anyway to avoid drama and probably would amount to less moderation) where the topic is clear and defined.

Dad's are awesome! Who's with me?

I love you.

You'll be alright.

Indeed, because a sort of tattle-tale culture has been growing over the last few years, where many normal and non-offensive people have been affected - because someone else took offense and when they make a report - the details are commonly severely exaggerated or the altercation was actually continued and allowed it to escalate - which means the dispute becomes almost a consensual act and there are no more victims, only participants. Some people will actually head right back into the dispute after calling for authorities, or trying to incite or escalate the situation to embolden their position. So in general it's best that people are not victimized by others by encouraging blocking and other empowering means - and to even extend it to the person who may have not even wanted to offend - but now need to block the person in return as an act of self-defense. I'm glad LL doesn't come rushing to every report - as on other platforms that this happens on it has a devastating effect and can actually deter new users, rather than the existing ones leaving because they didn't get satisfaction in seeing someone else be 'disciplined'. Griefers and trolls are not born, they are made. And seemingly the biggest targets for them are those who react the most, who 'feed' them, or even have wronged them in the past and are now back for revenge. The only way to stop the cycle is for one or both parties to have nothing to do with the other.

Quit playing a victim as a way of harnessing powers over others.

Sure but eliminating everyone that made you feel offended is also not the solution. People need to grow up around here.

LL does not tolerate ill behaviour of any sort, but in order to not have to respond to each and every report of an alleged offense, they give you the tools and ability to manage your own experience with others in SL. The tools provided are more than sufficient to handle 99.9% of the issues for people. The problem I see, over and over and over and over and over again in virtual worlds is people NOT using these tools, and PURPOSEFULLY not using these tools - and every time the situation escalates. LL also does not get involved in the personal disputes of users - as they are numerous and petty in my experience, and if they 'punished' everyone that everyone wanted to be 'punished' in SL - there would be no one left. Then don't worry about it. Block the user and be on with your Second Life. You already let it get too far that you even considered having to file an abuse report. If there are so many in SL and other platforms that find it so easy to do it to me, for literally nothing - what is stopping you from empowering yourself with the tools LL has provided you? Wrong, it's the internet, and misunderstandings are made, feelings are hurt, conflicts, disputes and disagreements will happen. You are going to have to accept this not only as a fact of participating in Second Life - but accepting it in your real life. Both existences have tools in place for you to manage such encounters. Use them. IMs are harmless, words are harmless, and on the first offense - whether any of us would feel if it is warranted or not - you could have instantly BLOCKED them. But you didn't, and on further provocation, you still didn't. Why not? Instead of being a tattletale, or fighting some war - use BLOCK Instead, and it's over. Will you use your BLOCK function or will you not? If not, then we are dealing with a whole other issue here.

There's no need for LL to get involved in disputes that you can solve yourself by using the block user function. Fun Fact: 99.9% of Second Life 'problems' can be solved with minimal effort using the block user function.