Nikolai Warden

I think a good many people who use SL do not see notices from LL as they do not read the LL blogs or venture to the forums. I think this issue may prove to be something of a tempest in a tea pot for that reason, and also because people who try to get into events the first day (or week, for month long events) expect to have difficulty getting in. I notice that capacity for regions on which events take place is usually set by the sim owner to between 40 and 60. It seems to me that a sim owner could increase that number a wee bit and no one attempting to get into an event would even notice. I doubt there are many who, when attempting to tp to an event, upon receiving the notice that the region is full, will go to the map and see how many people there are on the sim, and then upon finally getting into an event, will go to WORLD and region to see what the capacity is. They are too busy shopping and being happy to have finally gotten in to brood about such matters. As for premium perks ... I know some who have had premium accounts for years. I have never found it necessary. The sims on which I have lived have always provided sandboxes to tenants, I have no need of a free LL home ... though visiting them and camming about the neighborhoods is always rather a blast from the SL past, so to speak ... and the weekly stipend is a drop in the bucket in relation to what I ordinarily spend in SL. Extra group slots can be handy for some, but without them, I rarely reach the limit of groups and usually have at least a half dozen group slots available.

I agree with Alwin, nude is nude. Women's genitals are not ordinarily visible but they are still naked when not wearing clothing. If one has a male avatar, the only reason to walk about sans pants in a place that does not allow nudity, with or without genitals, is to attract attention and be contentious.

In my opinion, having specified discussion topics could garner more interest. Otherwise it is more akin to "so and so wants us to come over and hang out, would you like to go" than an actual discussion group. The problem with the latter, I have found, is that there is little by way of genuine conversation. Not that there is anything wrong with nice, albeit vacuous people sitting about gesturbating at one another per se .. but some common topics of interest and different viewpoints on those topics seem a requirement for a good discussion.

I agree that the only people who tend to create backstories for their avatars are role players. I have met some very nice role players who do not feel compelled to foist their game characters onto others when off the RP sims, but many do not have that level of consideration for others. I would suggest that those who create elaborate backstories for their avatars might have more meaningful interactions with others when out and about in SL were they to put aside the characters and communicate as one cartoon representation of a real person to another.

Most standard rigged and fitted mesh will work with almost any mesh body, with proper application of the alpha slices. One reason not to get a mesh head, in my opinion, is that it is harder to wear standard sized mesh clothing with them ... I recall some fellows in the Deadwool group complaining that they could not wear those clothes due to their mesh heads. Also, Niramyth is coming out with a less muscle bound body this year.

Hmmm why worry if Second Life is popular or not? As long as it is bringing in an acceptable profit for Linden Labs, it is not going anywhere. That spike in use back around 2007 was when SL was being featured on then popular TV shows. Now, SL has been round long enough that it is not deemed newsworthy except when someone does something very odd or deplorable in RL due to their involvement in SL ... like the couple in Texas who neglected their RL children because they were busy in SL, or the woman who stalked and planned to kidnap her SL ex boyfriend. That chart, for what it is worth, shows SL activity on the rise a wee bit.

Hahaha I too thought addiction issues and then birth control.

Yes.

Though not a woman, I can say that sexualizing women is not the same as sex with women. There are far more clothes available for women that are very provocative or that objectify women than there are demure or modest or dowdy ... take your pick regarding the stereotypes of women " cheap", "femme fatale" "baby girl" ... hmmm any others I can think of would likely not make it past the filter here. I do not know that SL sexualizes women or whether it is that women in SL want to look sexy in SL. Intentionally drawing the "male gaze" will sexualize a women, not that that is a bad or wrong. A good many female avatars I have seen prefer a very busty figure, oftentimes with a large derriere. Now, is it content creators who have turned them into sex objects or the women wearing such bodies that want to be seen that way? As for it being sexist ... hmmm I can see D/s rp being interpreted as sexist, as well as heterosexual Gorean sims. However, in general, I do not perceive SL as sexist. Women have equal opportunities to own sims, start businesses, and if they are land owners or premium members, receive the same level of support from LL as men. Some of the best scripters and content creators and SL artists are women.

I have heard of no such new griefing tools, which is not to say they do not exist. However, the only time I have ever encountered griefing was when someone had their parcel wide open for scripts, object entry, and object creation turned on for everyone. If people "own" their parcels, have you suggested they create a group for them and their friends and set the land to the group? Not necessarily deeding it, but setting it so that only members of that group can do any of those things? I know some sailing sims require that object entry and scripts be turned on for water craft. If that is the case, what about a buffer zone round the waterways so that tenants can set their land as they wish? A couple of thoughts ... if the parcels are "owned" by renters and any are deeded to groups, is this person in any of those groups, and if so, what powers has she been given in the groups? Do the tenants know their way around the "options" in About Land? Also, how many estate managers do you have? Is it possible someone added her as an estate manager? You might try blocking terraforming at the estate level and just turn it on by request.

I have a Niramyth body as well as a TMP body. I rarely wear the latter as it is for photos and in general and I do not like to take photos of me that actually look like me. It is very difficult, I find, to mod the TMP body so that it is tall enough without much distortion. Yes, I am one of those seven and a half foot tall fellows. Friends of mine have the Signature and it seems there are more alpha slices for the HUD than with some mesh bodies so more clothes can be worn. That being said, there are fewer clothes, it seems, specifically for that body. The head blender that comes with the Signature seems to be the best around, with no seam at all. The Niramyth CAN be made to look less goonish if one plays about with the underlying shape, and if one tends to go about more clothed than unclothed, seems to be the least expensive option. However, color matching one's head to that body takes quite some time, and most end up looking too grey or orange. The mesh head that comes standard with the Niramyth is very simian in appearance and while there are appliers to change the face, the simian or angry frowning quality to them remains. Regardless of which brand of mesh head one wears or which skin, there is a sameness to mesh heads. When one can tell what brand of head a person is wearing, that says lack of variety to me. It reminds me of how, a few years ago before the advent of mesh bodies, the Tyler skin by Redgrave was so popular with fellows. I would go someplace where my partner was DJing and half the fellows would be wearing that same skin and the hair that goes with it.

When mesh clothing first came out before mesh avatars, I recall thinking wow, it is perfect for those who always fit their body to prim clothing because they could not edit prims. I would often see people with no rumps at all, completely flat, walking about because they were not apt with resizing flexi skirts or kilts. I also remember seeing women wearing system skirts and dresses that distorted their hips and butts, making them huge. Of course, now with mesh bodies, I see the giant behinds more often than not, but back then, before mesh bodies, people still would edit their shapes to fit clothes, system or prim. In regard to mesh bodies ... the alpha slices on the huds are often are inadequate, taking away too much or not enough of the body underneath. So not all standard sized mesh will fit. Sometimes mesh clothing specifically made for a particular mesh body will not look right either, because the look of it can be modded somewhat, based on the underlying system shape. My Niramyth Aesthetic body is far smaller than most, and clothing designed for it tend to be very large round my waist while my bum will poke out the back. When wearing a suit that covers the entire body, I notice many fellows are quite hung up on getting one for their particular body. however, assuming one does not have a mesh head as well, just taking off the body and putting a mesh suit on takes care of any such fit issues. Who cares what one's body looks like underneath if it is covered from neck to ankles? I have seen fellows with giant Niramyth bodies intent on wearing a suit and they look rather goonish. My preference is for a system body with Ispachi feet and Slink hands, though I have become accustomed to the mesh body. However, I do not think I shall ever get a mesh head. I worked some years on getting my face just so, that cannot be replicated with a mesh head, even a Bento head, to which there are limitations. One friend of mine raved to another about how wonderful her bento head is, and how she can finally look like she did with her system head. On her strong recommendation another friend purchased a bento head and could not mod it anywhere close to her original face and was extremely disappointed. Other friends have gotten bento heads and no, they look nothing like what they used to ... and they say well, it takes some adjusting and one must settle and adjust and compromise. Actually, no. One does not, one makes a choice to do so in order to be au courant. However, despite all the brands and modifications and choices, there is a sameness to mesh heads, bento or not. I have a very good skin I have worn for over five years, and my face is unique to me. On the occasions I go out and about, people comment on how different I look from everyone around them ... different in a good way. If someone wants help with a makeover, say someone who has had the same newbie skin and hair and eyes and shape for ten years, I suggest a better system shape, IKON system eyes, more contemporary, non flexi hair, and skin before ever suggesting a mesh body. Mesh hands and feet would be next. It also depends on whether the person is going to spend much time naked or engaging in naughty activities. For people much into that sort of thing, I think a mesh body is better suited. One issue with male mesh bodies is that, other than the Aesthetic, which I find to be far too gym rat muscle bound to be genuinely attractive, the other male mesh bodies all have a feminine shape to them, with narrower shoulders and wider hips than is usually the case with male bodies. To my eye, they have an either "dad bod" or "twink" look to them. There are Bento heads, hands, ears, private parts (do not ask, they are rather hideous), but a Bento body that allowed more adjustments would be an improvement to the mesh bodies available now. I take photos in SL, I build clocks and occasional silly items. I am far from expert regarding whether such is possible.

You see, I had always assumed that HUDs do not contribute to render weight, but then that message kept popping up regarding all the textures in my HUD contributing to lag. As my render weight is usually low enough and I do not wear the HUD all the time, I was never curious enough to look into the matter.

One practice quite common among male avatars with the Niramyth Aesthetic body is to wear two or three of the bodies at the same time, to get all layers to show. If a fellow wants more than one tattoo as well as body hair, there are often not enough layers built into the body to accommodate that. So they will make a copy of the body with one tattoo on it, then put another tattoo on another copy of the body and wear both at the same time. I have been astounded to see naked fellows at the beach with render weights in excess of 300,000, though I think a lot of that may be the HUD they never take off for the avatar. Complex, braided hair, mesh eyes, body hair, tattoos, jewelry ... it is amazing to see the weight of these fellows. When there is a party and a place is lagging, they all complain as if the sim is being mismanaged when it is 20 people with render weights enough for 60. As for the jellies, I do not see the point in them, as they look so odd. I always have my avatar complexity to the maximum, but if someone is over the top in regard to weight, or well, just plain unsightly (with mesh body hair all over and say, pixel private parts flopping about or worse), I derender him. My render weight averages slightly less than 47K most of the time. I do not go to many parties or events, and rarely put on more than a plain white mesh tank or tshirt and a pair of shorts.

Thank you, Lindal. I shall keep your advice in mind and word things more carefully in the future.

yes, Lindal, sometimes it is the headless person's issue. However, I have noticed that when someone is headless, eventually they tend to show up properly. Also, many people have not updated to a Bento enabled viewer, so Bento heads will never show up. My aversion to telling people they are in some way distorted to my view goes back to the days when I would go some place and half the people there would IM me and say OMG OMG YOU ARE RUTHED!!!! RELOG RELOG. The ones who did not IM me, I would ask if I looked ruthed and they said no, you look fine to me, so I chose not to worry about it. I found it rather intrusive actually, people taking photos and sending them to me and the like. I have seen people in a a virtual panic because someone has told them they look this way or that way and they relog over and over again hoping to fix it, when others see them as they are meant to be, body parts and clothing intact.

Have you recently started using a VPN or proxy server? If not set up properly, that can prevent one from logging in.

If you had a good connection to SL previously and now do not, that can likely be remedied. If you could clarify what exactly you mean by griefing, that would be helpful. Griefing and stalking are two different matters. If this stalker does such things as pushing and orbiting you, there are relatively easy remedies for that. If he or his friends IM you, you can mute and derender them. if you rent a parcel (having purchased it, so to speak, from another), or own a mainland parcel, see if you can set it to access list only or get security orbs, set the land to disallow pushing, object entry, scripts, object creation. here is a good discussion on how to prevent someone from pushing and orbiting you ...

If you are using Firestorm viewer, under AVATAR HEALTH there is an option to refresh attachments. That will usually fix this. However, on the rare occasions when people appear headless or torsoless on my screen, I chalk it up to a slow connection on my end. If I wait long enough, the missing parts eventually appear. I would never tell someone they are headless, as it would be my problem not the headless person's.

I do not have a mesh head and my mouth moves when I talk. It is some preference setting, I do not recall which. In general, people wear mesh bodies atop their system bodies because good quality mesh bodies with good quality skin appliers look far superior to system bodies, if one is going for a realistic look. That includes fantasy avatars ... mesh is far superior to most (not all) sculpted fantasy avatars. There are no jagged arm pits or lumpy bumpy shoulders with mesh avatars and the feet do not look like paddles with toes painted on them. Fingers do not have odd, jagged edges to them. Before the advent of mesh avatars, I was having to do a lot of clean up editing when I did portraits for people. I charge less for portraits now because there is far less post process clean up of jagged, twisty bits or painted on clothing that distorts with the shape of the body. Mesh clothes, when done well, drape and flow better and look more real than the painted on system clothes with flexi parts.

If you do a general search for Sunday church services, you will see that there are a good many Christians in SL. A friend of mine is a RL pastor and has church services here during the week as well as on Sundays. You will likely be pleasantly surprised. There are also a good many Christian groups which you will find if you use search.

Lately, given the advent of mesh avatars and clothing, post processing is minimal for me, and more often is limited to cropping, resizing and adding a bit of a frame. If someone wants a fantasy or heavily edited effect to a portrait, I use GIMP and for more gimmicks with fancy frames and the like, I will occasionally use picmonkey. Photokey8Pro is good if I am photographing a subject in front of a green screen and wish to effortlessly remove the subject and add to a background. I have two graphics settings I use when taking photos in SL, one for landscapes and one for portraits, and I find using the appropriate settings and choosing a good windlight is all that is necesssary. Before fussing about with post processing, explore poses and camera angles and take your time to set up a shot, and you will find very little, if any editing is necessary after the fact.

Thank you ... Goatswood is truly a stunning sim well worth a visit and with so many lovely photo opportunities. It is rather difficult to take a bad photograph there.

Tonight the Summerlands Henge opens once again for a night of revelry in celebration of the Wheel turning. Whether you call it MidSummer, the Summer Solstice, Litha, Alban Hefin, Whitsuntide, Feill-Sheathain ... MidSummer marks the period between the beginning and end of Summer and is a time to celebrate fertility, fecundity, and the beginning of the harvest season. Beltaine rites have assured a bountiful season, now is the time to celebrate that success. At the solstice, the veil between the worlds is thin, and fae folk can often be seen dancing on rays of light in lush gardens. Fruit and vegetables ripen, flowers abound, honey flows ... come celebrate at the Summerlands Henge, Where Magick Happens... Cabria Shores (90,162,2201)

Jackson Redstar wrote: i think that is the key.. we all are imperfect. Poses will introduce joint flaws, what should be rounded is angular etc.. clothing can do all sorts of weird things, hair buries in body part... so even without doing elaborate post post process work there are certain flaws that just need to be fixed I have done portraits that have required editing, whether minimal or extensive. My preference for portraits is to do a painted appearance with strong outlining here and there for emphasis. I also do not like the DOF in the graphics setting so I generally will do that the old fashioned way, and create the effect myself. However, I have also done portraits with no post processing at all. If one advises a client on attire (or the client is nude), takes time to find the right pose and angle for a shot and uses a good windlight, those certain flaws are not present in the finished work and no post processing is required. It takes quite a bit more time to take the initial photograph in SL, sometimes an hour or more, whereas a similar shot, with the above mentioned flaws to be edited out later can take a third of the time. The total amount of time either way, for me, tends to be the same. For the client posing for me, it tends to be a lengthier process. I find it takes a good deal of practice to do professional looking unedited photos.