Rolig Loon

The "~" operator is a bitwise NOT. In the case of a list operation, it's commonly used to mean that the operation has a value greater than or equal to zero. So, for example if ( ~llListFindList ( my_list, [this_value] ) { // Do something } means "if this_value is anywhere in my_list -- that is, if it is in position zero or any position greater than zero -- then Do Something." It means the same as if ( llListFindList( my_list, [this_value] ) != -1 ) { //Do something } If we want the reverse, we negate that operation with "!~". So if ( !~llListFindList( my_list, [ this_value ] ) { //Do Something } means "if this_value cannot be found anywhere in my_list (not even in position zero) , then Do something." It means the same as if ( llListFindList( my_list, [ this_value ] ) == -1 ) {//Do something }

I think it sounds like you made a small verbal faux pas and she took it the wrong way. You meant to ask for a demo. Her proper response would have been "No," and then your proper reaction would have been to walk away and shop somewhere else. A "test" might mean the same thing to you, but it clearly didn't to her. So, live and learn. You both lost on that one.

No. I quoted the section of the Community Standards that applies here. In case you missed it: "Except for the purpose of reporting abuse or any violation of policies to Linden Lab, the remote monitoring, posting or sharing of conversations without a participant’s consent are prohibited." It doesn't say that you are required to ask for consent. It says that the person has to have given you consent. Asking isn't enough. And simply sending you an IM is not giving consent. You don't get to define consent. The person giving it does.

Wulfie is quite right. The TOS protects you from having private conversations rebroadcast. Specifically, the Community Standards state, under the heading Disclosure: "Except for the purpose of reporting abuse or any violation of policies to Linden Lab, the remote monitoring, posting or sharing of conversations without a participant’s consent are prohibited." Nobody can require you to give your right to non-disclosure away. Don't expect a Linden to respond here. Lindens monitor the forums but rarely post here themselves. The TOS and its related documents speak for themselves.

I have been told several times in my life that I am "brusque," which is probably true at times. My mother's comment at those times was something like, "It's not what you say. It's how you say it." The information an OP may need is probably in the KB, but simply dropping a URL on him with no context can feel as if you are saying, "Go away and read this, dummy." Quite true. I get annoyed with some "Me too" responses as well. In mild defense -- having written a few of the "Me too" posts myself -- I would only say: 1. Asynchronous communications can be to blame for some of this. It takes time to type out a response. If it's a lengthy one, I can complete it and hit the button and then discover that some faster typist already said the same thing. 2. No two people explain things exactly the same way. I have sometimes rephrased an answer that I think is correct but written in a confusing way. Even if I am saying the same thing as the previous person, I hope my way of saying it is easier to understand. And if not ... 3. It never hurts an OP to get a second opinion, even if it amounts to, "Yup, that last answer is correct. Do what he said." 😊

Agreed. Each learner is different. Some need more hand holding than others. When we can identify the ones who really shouldn't need much extra help, we need to give them a friendly shove in the right direction. The trick is in knowing which ones to shove and how firmly. I taught freshmen for a couple of decades, so I've seen some great successes and more than a handful of washouts. I feel just as bad about the washouts that I didn't challenge enough as I do about the ones I could have spoonfed a little longer. This forum is a very different situation, but the people who bring questions aren't all that different from college freshmen -- a little confused, sometimes frustrated, and looking for someone to trust for a way to Square Two.

Radio Flyer

Yes and in this case, Cindy is correct. She's being sarcastic totally because of all the questions that come in to the forums where a very simple search would often have given the person the answer far quicker than waiting on someone to provide an answer. Frustrating, at best. Indeed. Pam has answered her own fair share of questions in the forums and elsewhere, so she's yanking on our collective leg. We all know how frustrating it can be to answer the same simple questions over and over again for people who could find the same information themselves by diving into the Knowledge Base. However, Pam also knows -- because she spent years in the classroom -- that laziness isn't always the problem. Pam's venting, humorously, but she knows that people have many good, logical reasons for coming here before the Knowledge Base. Some people are genuinely poor readers. And some of them avoid winnowing pertinent information out of a lengthy article because it's paralyzingly frustrating. Some of the Knowledge Base articles are not as clear as they could be, or contain out of date information. Not many, but enough. They also address the resident as a user of the standard LL viewer, although a great number of residents use a TPV instead. More to the point, though, the Knowledge Base is necessarily providing general information, not answers to every resident's specific, personal question. A generic answer can come close to solving the resident's question, but not quite hit the mark. The KB article wasn't written with the resident's particular computer setup, or banking history, or cultural experience, or whatever in mind. The KB is a company product, so it provides information about the way SL is supposed to work. We can all easily point to ways in which we know that SL doesn't work quite as designed. There's a better than even chance that an OP is stumbling over one of those oddities. Finally, the Knowledge Base is difficult to use in the same way that dictionaries are. When you are trying to figure out how a word is spelled, it's not always easy to find the correct word in the dictionary. After all, the word you know is the wrong one. When you don't know the difference between selling L$ and transferring your USD balance to your RL pocketbook, where do you start? The bottom line is that Answers serves a purpose that the Knowledge Base cannot. It's "staffed" by SL residents, many of whom have more in-world experience than the average Linden and can afford to give off the wall advice when a Linden would have to bite her tongue. We can read between the lines of the KB articles and talk from personal experience. We have read the articles, so we can point to the specific line that answers the resident's question. And, most of all, we're responding as real people (people who get frustrated and give oddball answers at times, but still more real than a generic paragraph in the KB). Some people just need that.

Yes, I agree that I find it hard to suspend disbelief when I am in SL, although I'm not sure that says as much about SL as it does about me. I have never been one to find myself falling down Alice's rabbit hole when I read a book, even as I identify with a character or get excited about a plot. In SL, I can be enthralled by the visual experience and by the effects we can create with scripts, but I am always aware of the fourth wall. I'm sure a good chunk of it is that I spend much of my in-world time as a creator, so I see the "magic" from the inside. It's hard to fool a magician with more magic tricks. It's also true that I am fascinated by puzzles, so a part of my mind is always analyzing my environment, doing reality checks to see what's around the next corner, whether I am in SL or RL. That's probably why I spent such a long career as a scientist. I truly love being in SL.- I've been here since 2007 and I'm not bored yet. I joke with my many friends that I want to retire here. Still, even on my most engaged days I know that I am sitting on a chair and manipulating a world with my mouse --- attached and involved, but not quite immersed.

So now you're encouraging her to go over to the dark side?

Toi. 😉

If you have mod perms for that mailbox, you should be able to put your own contents (script, objects, whatever) in it. Nobody but the creator is likely to have something customized specifically for it, though, and I would be surprised if you had mod perms.

If the group owns land, it won't want to close. Sell group-owned land or deed it to yourself .

Sounds fine to me, Pam. We're a happy crew, and reasonably good at answers. And we read the Knowledge Base when we don't have them. 😎

The KB is your primary source for basic articles on common topics. Access it directly from the tab at the top of any forum page, like this one. The articles are all written by Linden Lab, so they "official." If you still have questions or want to know how to interpret the info for your specific situation, ask the extremely talented SL residents who hang out in Answers. 😏