[How to remove the Music URL from your parcel]

Yes, Whirly's solution works in Firestorm, no question.  I've been doing that for years on my regions & rental parcels.  The minus sign will remove that particular URL from the list of stations in the drop down, the enter key is how you remove it from the window shown after you've highlighted it or entered another one.

[Cannot TP to the destination]

Pulls out waistband looking and sees that something is missing.  Not a guy, but you are welcome anyway.  hahaha.  Glad it helped you find the problem.  It was just a similar experience that sounded familiar.  The important thing is you're back! Wooo Hooo!     

[If people who didn't know about SL heard us talk...]

Just the other day I was looking at an object in RL & wanted to view it from the other side but couldn't find my cam arrow keys * sighs.

[What do you use your alts for?]

1 alt.  I build motor vehicles (primarily motorcycles) & for the 1st year it seemed a silly notion for me to maintain another account of any kind. However as business grew the advantages become obvious & now she's my:

* crash test dummy

* permission tester

* animation tester

* back-up warehouse storage for original creations

* land group co-owner

* banker

* pose creation (she also has an extra male outfit for sizing larger vehicles for guys & the girls with really large avatars).

 She's basically an unpaid employee that never complains.  Poor thing has hardly any clothes to wear, is usually barefoot & hasn't let the sim in years. I finally gave in and converted her to mesh because I really couldn't stand to look at her.  Now she pretty much looks like me in RL which only I know. In her male sized outfit, 'he' is still a classic avatar with layer clothes & while he's really hard to look at for any length of time, he gets the job done with vehicle sizing & pose creations. My best male friend in SL finds it rather disturbing to see him working & gives me good natured grief all the time about him, which is pretty humorous to say the least.

[Cannot TP to the destination]

I saw a similar situation earlier this year & had not seen it before.  In my instance it was not a message regarding voice, but it was regarding media.  The same thing would happen with an odd looking message much like that one, then an immediate crash.  After several attempts with crashes to find the issue I remembered that my computer had recently received several updates through Windows & one of them was that Java had updated.  It took some searching and sorting out, but eventually I was able to find that something about the Java update had caused changes to the firewall. After sorting through that & making some changes to the firewall, the problem ended.  For some reason it had started to block some features of SL  I can't say that it's the same problem you are experiencing, but it's worth looking into.  Good luck.

[Advertising vs Branding in SL]

A commercial brand is a business name, design, marque or logo (to name a few examples) used for sales & marketing.  Advertising is the use of a brand to promote, sell, draw attention or differentiate from other commercial enterprises (businesses).  SL16B has application forms for Exhibitors & Merchants with specific rules for each intended use & Exhibitors are not permitted to advertise at the event.  S2 (by Seba Serpente) is a business selling products in-world, in a store & on Marketplace. Regardless of size, amount of profit/loss or other lofty ideals, selling products with a logo, storefront & marketplace presence is a business, pure & simple.  Lots of creators are making buildings, signs, chairs, lights, tools & airport décor. Making unique ones separates each business from the others. Policing the SL16B event or residential areas against other alleged violations of the advertising rules is best left to the administrators running the event.  As a business, the Merchant application (not Exhibitor) would have been the appropriate form to submit as the intent was clear & the function clearly defined.

As another stated, Leeward CC is a boating group gathering like-minded people together for the purpose of enjoying boating across the grid; not a business.  Their use of yellow flags is nothing more than marking their locations with areas for SL residents to rez their boats.  The fact that some people mark their rez areas & others don't is of no consequence.  While Seba might find it offensive, many people (particularly sailors) welcome it.

Making broad generalizations about parties, events, tips & donations is over reaching & is not profit by definition.  Profit is derived from the sale of goods/services.  Drawing attention to a group that does not sell anything is a moot point.  Displaying a name, brand, logo or marque to sell, promote or draw attention to products being sold is advertising.  It really is that simple.

[Jumping Impact?]

I don't know if this is the issue, but I have seen a similar situation after a restart that is caused by objects that rez things in temp mode.  For example vendors that rez temp demos, moving waves, butterfly rezzers, fog machines, zombies or anything that will rez any type of temp object or group of objects.  In my situation I keep 1000 spare prims on-hand at any given time on my regions and after a restart that number will sometimes drop as low as 50, then vary up and down anywhere between 50 - 1000 until things settle down.  It's not occurring all the time, but I have seen this over the years on my regions and ones owned by other people when temp objects are being automatically rezzed.  Sometimes it never happens after a restart and other times it happens rather frequently.  If you have the ability to shut down the scripts for a few minutes and let things calm down, then start them back up, that often works (either on the region itself or the object itself).  Just an observation. 

[Teraforming tool improvement suggestion]

Oh, I agree with you Morena, 100%.  In cases like you mentioned, I use the method I previously described and then go back with the bulldozer set to a small size and vary the strength according to how I envision it.  Sometimes it's a very small size setting with a strong setting for strength and little touches on the mouse to 'dig' that hole or whatever.  Not an easy feat at all and rarely exactly how I want it, but sometimes, just sometimes I get lucky.  That way I get the smooth broad based parts where desired and some smaller more defined areas where also desired.  Yes, it is very difficult, no question.  With some practice and several retries sometimes I can actually get very small, well defined holes, nooks and crannies where desired to give it that natural feel.  Usually I spend way more time doing what you describe that it takes to do all the rest of the terraforming.  What you are describing is one of the more difficult things to do in terraforming, for me at least.  That's where I place my stones, rocks and plants to hide that ugliness that I wasn't able to accomplish.  As previously stated, most people never even notice and they think it looks brilliant, but we know. hahaha

 

[Teraforming tool improvement suggestion]

Here's a possible suggestion that I use that might be of benefit to you.  I am by no means an expert on this but it does work for me, although 'your mileage may vary" as they say.  When terraforming I use the raise or lower option depending on preferred end result and I 'overbuild it' initially.  In other words, lower or raise it more than the preferred end result, maybe even making it larger and wider for the first pass.  Then, go back using the smooth and/or flatten option to sculpt the land in the shape I'm shooting for.  I use the smooth option a lot, sort of like painting with an airbrush to get an overall shape to gradually slope.  Sometimes it might take a couple passes at raising and lowering and often it's initially much larger than preferred, but by working it I get a feel for how the land wants to move and I coax, nudge, prod it along in the desired shape.  When I do large terraforming over an entire region once I get the shape and slopes as close as possible, I set the bulldozer to a larger broader size and at a much lower, more gentle strength setting, then lightly and very quickly make passes over the broader area, all the while closely watching the intended area.  This, for me at least, works to ensure a smooth, gentle transition.  I, like you, try to be a perfectionist and little sharp edges are just wrong in my opinion.  I like a natural look and feel to it.  It takes a little practice and fiddling sometimes, but the end result is rather pleasing to the eye and a joy to walk upon.  Another little tip/trick, which you might already know, works nicely for terraforming underwater.  Using the keyboards SHIFT CTRL ALT 7 keys at the same time will toggle the water on or off so you can see and work under the water more quickly and efficiently.  This is an old tip from a Mole that surprisingly a lot of terraformers still don't know.  I can't count the endless hours I spent underwater and lowering the water then adding it back trying to get the shapes I wanted over many years, before I finally learned this age old trick.  Good luck.  :))     

[Land Tier Pricing Changes]

I think people misread posts quite frequently and tend to misunderstand the intent.  This thread is not a complaint nor a half-baked indictment, but rather an observation of economic and financial behavior meant to spark insightful thought, constructive consideration and further discussion among users who all happen to be consumers and contributors to the Second Life economy.

Nowhere does Linden Labs state that the land price reduction is for the sole benefit of the owner of any region.  They do however, clearly indicate that this move is their commitment to the overall health of the Second Life community which does include landowners, business owners, consumers, everyone; not a select few.  Overall being the key word; overall includes everyone.  Landowners are only a part of the economic structure and financial well being of the economy here.  Without consumers the landowners would cease to exist.  All consumers play a vital role in the health of any economy, not just a select few people. I never claimed that this was intended nor required to be passed along to everyone, but rather indicated that any benefit afforded by lower costs that is passed along to the consumer and end user is a step in the right direction for the economy as a whole and benefits everyone.  Building, designing, creating our own homes, businesses and experiences is what we all do, not solely landowners.  We built Second Life in our own ways and we support it as well.

My desire to upgrade from homesteads to a full region is a personal choice that will further benefit the economy in it's own small way.  Economies are made and maintained by small changes of the collective whole and not solely the purvey of a handful of people. If savings are passed along to the end users, others will consider renting, purchasing, buying more products and/or upgrading as well.  Lowering expenses allows others to spend more and invest more on land, rentals, consumer goods, essentially everything, again helping the economy as a whole. We've all seen people complain about the high cost of land and as indicated I believe this is a step in the right direction and am totally in favor of this change.  There was no statement to indicate that there was any reduction intended nor expected towards homesteads and that in my own example I would reconsider my expenses as well.  Reconsidering my business expenses and lowering my costs includes shopping around for lower prices on land, be it rental of another region from an estate owner or outright ownership through my own purchase, further passing along the same savings to other consumers and end users and again, keeping all of this within the in-world economy.  

In my personal case, renting from an estate owner provides the opportunity to pay tier with Lindens acquired in-world and not by paying directly through the use of credit cards and in real life cash.  If I were to purchase a full region outright (to which I am not opposed), that would increase my costs through additional credit card fees, paying in real dollars instead of Lindens earned in-world and those same expenses would in-turn have to be passed along to the consumer, thereby increasing their expenses.  Earning money in-world as I do, spending those same Lindens to purchase, rent, and consume others products further allows more money to be spent in this economy while reducing real expenses and fees by not using credit cards and real cash for those same purchases and rentals.  I can appreciate that not everyone has this ability, but this is another way of my giving back to this economy to keep it healthy in my own small way.  All monies I make in-world are spent here, nothing is ever transferred to real cash which fuels the economy and keeps expenses and fees lower.  Please don't misunderstand my intentions.  I turn 100% of my profits right back to the Second Life economy through rentals and purchases that stay within our economy and community.

This is all tied together and integrated in the entire economy which is not the sole domain of landowners.   I am totally in favor of the land price reductions and continuing the growth of the economy to ensure the future of Second Life.  I would welcome, but do not expect, any input from any of the Lindens regarding this matter. I'm here to keep Second Life alive with my own small contributions.  We're all small pieces to a much larger picture.

[Land Tier Pricing Changes]

The landowner has 260 regions total (107 full regions & 153 homesteads) with all tier rental boxes in a central location.  All the boxes are set-up to only accept Linden dollars in-world with no provisions for any credit card payments.  The renter/end user/customer is paying the credit card processing fees when they purchase their Linden dollars They charge tier based on the maintenance fee as it is simply passed along to the renter/end user/customer.  Therefore, there is no increase in fees to offset due to any credit card processing.  As stated by Linden Labs, grandfathered and buy down prices on regions are being reduced,  pricing changes are reflecting their commitment to improving the overall health of the Second Life economy and they hope to ensure a prosperous future for the entire community.  This is not just a small change for the landowners but rather it is a substantial reduction for the benefit of everyone in Second Life.  Yes, the landowner is looking at their business model and I understand that.  And yes, I will reconsider my expenses accordingly.  Lowering prices and passing the savings along to the entire community is a step in the right direction for the health of the economy across the grid and everyone benefits.  Taking a benefit intended for everyone and failing to pass it along is not in the best interest of the economy or the end user.  I applaud the efforts of Linden Labs in this regard as they understand what is needed here. 

[Land Tier Pricing Changes]

The other post contained an error which was corrected. 

[Land Tier Pricing Changes]

Regarding the new land pricing/monthly tier changes.  I applaud these new changes.  I have 2 homesteads from the same well known landowner and I've been very happy with the service so far.  One I've had for 7 years and the other for almost 2 years now.  With the announcement of the new tier pricing for full regions I contacted the realtor/land owner and they were not even aware of the changes.  I discussed it at length and provided the link to the page explaining the new changes.  Today I contacted her again because I'd like to move to a full region now for my home and business.  The response from this rather large, well known realtor/landowner was a bit disheartening: 

"Hello! here is a message from one of our higher ups "During the past 24 months we reduced a lot of rental rates on a lot of sims/parcels. Now Linden Lab lowered some of their rates while raising other fees. As always we will observe how that impacts the market and adjust accordingly so that supply and demand gets properly balanced and expenses covered.'  "  "we do not have tier price adjustments yet as we still have to study the impact so we can adjust without losses."  

If they are going to continue charging the old tier pricing with the new changes in-place, this new pricing is of no benefit to the end user that's willing to pay tiers to maintain businesses, homes and provide regions for others to use.  Charging the old tier to the end-user/customer while getting a reduction directly from Linden Labs effectively overcharges the end-user on the monthly tier while creating higher profits for the landowner.  I seriously doubt that was the intent of Linden Labs and in so doing will defeat the purpose of the land tier reduction, in my humble opinion. 

 

[A brief note on pricing changes, which ran long.]

I think the new tier pricing changes made by Linden Labs is a good idea and would hopefully stimulate more growth in SL for those wanting to get into a full region.