ThorinII

I don't get it. All this complaining about this detail and that little thing - gosh, don't take Second Life so damn seriously! It IS a place to have fun, a leisure place, a hobby! Some people react as if their main focus, their highest priority were Second Life, although their Real Life should have the highest priority. Yes, @Linden Lab raised some fees about some pennies, and yes they introduced the middleman Tilia, so what? Does that take the fun out of SL? No. Not at all -- unless you (generic "you") allow it.

LL stopped supporting Linux quite some years ago - but there's talk about a new Linux client being developed soon™. But that doesn't bother me, because there's the TPV's Firestorm, Cool VL Viewer, RLV, and Kokua which all are regularly updated to be on par with the most current official SL Viewer. And which I use because of RLV(a) that is not in the official viewer. Alchemy hasn't been updated since Nov 15, 2017; Singularity and other TPV's are only available for Windows (and some also Mac) - so there's not that plenty of choice anymore.

*shrugs* Does anyone remember the time when you had to verify your age? When the Teen Grid still existed, and the Main Grid was supposed to be age 18+ only? I do. And my former account indeed was "officially age-verified". Given that Tilia is a 100% subsidiary of Linden Research, I have no qualms giving them the info required. Just like I had no qualms giving @Linden Lab the info required back then.

One of my newer peeves is when someone submits to me -- and leaves the day after the next, running away and taking off their locked stuff, without even so much as a "bye" let alone an explanation as to why they left. I do know and agree that everyone is free to go or stay wherever and whenever they want -- SL is a pastime virtual world after all, and supposed to be mostly fun -- but I do tell every "trainee" (those who get probation time with me, to get to know each other better) that I want to be told beforehand if they feel the need to leave, that we could talk about things, that I could unlock their stuff, etc. And I must admit, this deliberate lack of communication really annoys me.

In all the years since 3/'08 when I created my first account until now, I've used the mic only a few times. And when I used Voice then only in order to hear people during events like Meet The Lindens or some such. But I never used voice at other occasions. However: On my Linux system, voice was unreliable most of the times anyway, so I always had a good excuse to not use voice at all. 😈

I don't know. In pre-Mesh times, there were a lot lot more people in sandbox regions, experimenting with prims or sculpts, and actually creating stuff inworld. Building was more often than not a "social" thing: You could meet others who would rez and work on prototypes of their builds, or created them from scratch; and you could show off what you just created, and some would even come and comment on your work or vice versa, or you could get into discussions during breaks. Sandboxes were both a social place and a creative outlet. After the introduction of Mesh, people would mainly come to sandboxes to unpack their bought stuff. And even this is happening less and less. Now, the sandboxes I used to frequent with my former account -- as well as with my current one -- either have become just places where the same handful people meet to simply chat, or are gone completely because nobody was using them anymore to create things. And why? Because those who create stuff simply log out nowadays, in order to do their thing in Blender or some other program. So, in my opinion, based on what I've experienced, Mesh indeed has stifled at least the kind of creativity you used to see in sandboxes.

Not by me, but I think it speaks for itself: https://www.deviantart.com/jokimon/art/Art-is-a-Creation-76767423

I call myself - at best - a hobbyist general artist. At least sometimes, whenever I look on my own stuff: a dozen or more drawings (some of them colored), some photo manipulations, a stone bust I once created in a local "art project" group. Yes people liked what I've done so far - that's enough appreciation for *me*. I do what I do just for fun, whenever I feel like doing it. However, when I look at websites like deviantArt for example, there are people whose so-called "doodles" and "sketches" are way better already than my own best finished drawings. Compared to these folks, I am just someone attempting to master the craftsmanship of drawing and stuff somehow. They are the real artists in my eyes: What they create with just pencils or pens, or (water-)colors etc., or even using Wacom tablets is way beyond my own meek abilities. They have talent, and lots of it. And yes, if I had enough money, I would buy art made by them.

So much text and yet so much nonsense... 🙄

Definitively yes.

This. ↑ Maybe it's because I had my share of bullying and aggression towards me as well but I'm strictly against all kinds of (real or perceived) violence in schools or elsewhere - except for supervised stuff like rugby, boxing or even Martial Arts during school time or in clubs.

I'd rather say that unpaid mentors are more reliable, because they do it for fun, for the joy to be of help. Paid mentors on the other hand do it because it's a *job*, a duty. And duties never are fun. And I don't know what you have against store clerks. They are just there to help the customers - but a customer is under no obligation to ask them for help. This live help is an option to choose, not a must. But regarding store clerks in Real Life: Whenever I buy a new pair of jeans for example, I'm happy when a store clerk is helping me, because they know better than I which size of which brand would fit me (simply because the sizes aren't really standardized, all the different brands have slightly different sizes. To exaggerate a bit: a size L of one brand would fit as a size XL of another brand or a size M of yet another one), they are able to suggest a style based on what I'm wearing, and so on.

The video is titled "Why play-fighting can be good for children?". In my opinion, there's a big difference between play-fighting (where everyone involved knows it's supposed to be all play and fun - and which is stopped when one party has enough), and actual fights or other physical attacks without that mutual consent. They're not even remotely in the same ballpark.

My avatar represents some aspects of my personality, even has the same moral compass. When I'm online, I don't play Thorine, I am her. She's an alternate 'me' so to speak.

Prok, for you to understand: I for one am not in SL to see any ads whatsoever, no matter what they're advertizing. So far, I've muted and derendered all ad posters I came across. In my not-so-humble opinion, you and others can stick all current and proposed ads where the sun don't shine. I am against them, at all. Nothing against costumer information - but ads, they're as needful as a hole in the head. Also in RL, 99.9% of all ads I get in my mailbox land in the waste bin without me even skimming through them. Same with the ads I get in my Thunderbird inbox: all of them land in the spam folder - and after 3 days at latest, they're getting deleted. It's enough that I get bombarded by ads in the media (TV, radio, newpapers, magazines) and everywhere where you can place a poster on. Even here, on the regular internet, I use an adblocker wherever possible. I know some media have that pay-wall or an anti-adblocker wall preventing you from reading their articles, but I don't mind. I rather have no access to certain media than being forced to see their ads.

I think everyone who makes their Real Life livelihood dependent on their Second Life business is to blame themselves by 100%. Not Linden Lab and their changes in fees and Premium Perks, not the other residents who might not buy stuff as often as they used to, only these creators or sellers themselves. If they considered their Second Life income as some side-money coming from a hobby, not as their main income, then there wouldn't be a problem at all with those fee changes. 🙄

Why is that wrong, @Orwar? Okay, I think I need some elaboration to my question. Where I grew up (in the GDR), FKK was a thing. So when my brother and I were minors, my parents and us kids used to travel to the Baltic Sea each summer - or went to a lake in about 20mi distance in the rare cases that my parents didn't get vacation during the season - and headed to one of the FKK beaches there. So we got used to seeing naked strangers, learned that there is nothing explicitly sexual to simply seeing someone naked, and learned that being naked is not something unnatural or unacceptable. And you could often see naked people (or wearing just bikini or swim pants) walking around in the town near the beaches, going to the bakery, to a café, or to the local grocery market. And nobody except some elderly people even batted an eye. During the summer season, it was normal to see naked folks around there. And to be honest: Although I don't go to FKK beaches anymore, I don't see anything wrong in walking around naked or in "indecent" clothes, and I think that indeed "no man should be allowed to touch" or ogle any person who walks around like that.

Maybe that's because Second Life is not a game. Comparing SL to games is like comparing apples and tomatoes. Games aren't even remotely in the same ballpark as Second Life. That's Linden Lab. Singular.

I don't know. When I was a Newbie Helper under my first account (back then, it was on FFH Land, at the Deutscher Info-Dienst - both were closed down in July '09), there usually were volunteer helpers available all the time between 5am and 3am Central European Time, sometimes even 24/7. Yes I agree, most volunteers there were around during the usual day times (between 6am and 10pm our time) but a few regularly did the night shift too. And there was a schedule which all did (or, at least tried their best to) comply to. Yes I did see some Helpers and even Mentors abuse their position - but those were the "odd apple" among those who really wanted to help.

Ditto.

I rather think it would be a very GOOD thing to bring the Mentors back. Simply because the "Learning Island" where newbies rez at first doesn't cover all the abilities necessary to interact with the world, and because most newbies are simply too willfully ignorant to stop and read the info available at newbie places. In my opinion, Newbie Helpers (like the ones at Caledon Oxbridge or NCI) do important work for improving user retention -- and in my opinion, there should be official (Linden-supported) Mentors overseeing and helping them in this task.

@Blush Bravin, I think I quite covered it 3 pages ago 😋

I'm quite the opposite. Whenever something piques my interest, I read about it (from different sources, even) and try to learn as much as I can about it. Heck, I even read the ToS thoroughly before I created my first account