Ellyn Elan

Scylla Rhiadra wrote: This issue, of course, has come up before. The last time we kicked up a fuss, Rodvik did pop in. More to the point, we saw a sudden increase in participation within the threads here of Linden staff generally. Dear Rodvik. Please Phone Home. The rules have changed here somewhat since then, but maybe it's time that LL started to reassert a more visible and transparent presence here again? ETA. I think Rodvik is responsive, even if he sometimes needs a bit of goading. I expect him to reply, if not here (where it might be seen as undercutting his own staff), then in his profile feed. Ugh. I just looked at the link to the thread you provided. It was dated April 2011, so apparently these are not new problems with this Forum. That was educational -- and depressing. /me gathers up the urls for the 3rd party forums

Scylla Rhiadra wrote: This issue, of course, has come up before. The last time we kicked up a fuss, Rodvik did pop in. More to the point, we saw a sudden increase in participation within the threads here of Linden staff generally. Dear Rodvik. Please Phone Home. The rules have changed here somewhat since then, but maybe it's time that LL started to reassert a more visible and transparent presence here again? ETA. I think Rodvik is responsive, even if he sometimes needs a bit of goading. I expect him to reply, if not here (where it might be seen as undercutting his own staff), then in his profile feed. Perhaps the undercutting gentle guidance of his staff should be done at a meeting and then a beneficent posting made here?

Charly Muggins wrote: It's funny, when I have tpd places stripped to my gstring the hostesses seem less than enamoured with my contribution to lag reduction. Were you TPing to a formal dress requirement sim? If so, then the fault is yours. You should have put on a black bow tie, black socks and patent leather shoes with the g-string.

You can also use the suggestions here for the reverse -- to see when a sim is full to bursting which generally means lag. In those cases before you attempt the TP you can check your avatar for extraneous bits to remove -- like lots of scripts, and so on -- to reduce YOUR contribution to the lag and increase your chance of being able to TP into the sim. This is useful for music events, sales at popular stores, party places, etc.

Charly Muggins wrote: Being silver-tongued is a really fun way to kill female vampires . . . . . . and they usually die with a smile on their face, or even a rictus of ecstasy.. Good thing I'm not a female vampire . . . yet. /me contemplates the possibilities for the non-death scenarios!

@ Peggy and Venus: I'm not usually a fence-sitter and I have no problem voicing an opinion. In this case I think both of you ladies have valid points. Sometimes the answer is that there is no, one, single answer. Don't punish the innocent is a good point. Honor those who give of their time and knowledge is another. The answer doesn't come from anyone here unless their last name is Linden and even then it is obvious the answer isn't always the correct one -- just the final one.

Pussycat Catnap wrote: [Edited] Just be mindful when on 'another skin' in SL that its not real... you -will- find some odd biases and different treatment, but it'll be minor - and you always have the luxury of hitting the logout button. So you can gain empathy, but true understanding is something beyond the reach of SL. Nonetheless, its a good exploration to make. Thanks for the considered reply. My job puts me in close contact with people of all races, sexual orientations, ethnicities and economic levels. In RL I don't have a problem interacting person-to-person. I've met angels and jerks pretty evenly across the board! I don't consider myself to be a racist but we are ALL most comfortable in our own skins (ha! so to speak and SL pun intended). On one level, I just enjoy creating different looks for my avatar and this is one I haven't explored. It is no more and no less than that. On another level it is just as you say, seeing how different people react to my avatar when I look like something else, an exploration, and a challenge to my own sense of self. I admit, and I think I've been conveying, that I was uneasy with putting on a black skin in that I didn't know how that would come across to someone once the inevitable happened and they learned "not black". I knew/know that is kind of a weird thought since it is so common to change sex and even species! Thanks again and I'm so looking forward to the shopping spree in my future!

Venus Petrov wrote: As one who has spent quite a bit of time in the Answers Forum responding to resident questions, I wonder how much Linden Lab (not the 'name' of the poster in the Vampire subforum, but the company) values the contributions other residents make each and every day, in multiple languages, in multiple subject areas, even tirelessly responding to some of the same questions over and over? I mean, how much is it worth to LL? [Edited] Venus your comment reminded me of a comment elsewhere that I agreed with. I tried to respond to that comment but found the thread locked. I responded to it elsewhere but the thread was removed. Scylla R. said in another thread: Frankly, companies shell out big bucks to nurture the kind of thing that SL residents have created gratis here. LL is nuts not to recognize the value of this kind of place: it represents the sort of social media environment that they are so desperately attempting to foster using the newish online profiles. Killing it through [edited to avoid whacking] is just dumb. Exactly. I'm glad I was "promoted" to Member from Honored Resident as the former more accurately reminds me of being a tool and the latter was too ironic for comfort. And I haven't even been here that long; it must be tough for those who have.:smileysad:

Suella Ember wrote: SecondLife Second Life Official @SuellaEmber I hear ya (& love a good pun) We've focused on other topics in the past, will do others in future too. So much going on in SL! ____________________________________________________________________________________________ I read through this. I noted there was a lot of sentences by you, Suella, and two from "Official", the last one quoted above. I read Official's remark as something like, "Get over it, we'll do what we want." (We've done it before we'll do it again!) /me shrugs

@Treasure: I always appreciate LM's, for shopping or places to vist or hang out.

@Pussycat I'm reading your posts with great interest. I totally understand what you are saying and what you are saying is blatantly obvious to anyone walking around SL. I can't speak to the gaming community at large but have no doubt you are correct about that as well. I'm very curious as to your opinion about a RL white with an avatar of a different ethnicity. Let's stipulate no gross overly simplified stereotypes. Would you, personally find it offensive? Just curious. I'm finding this discussion one of the more mentally stimulating ones in the forums at the moment.

Treasure Ballinger wrote: He's sayin that an ugly brotha that is still intelligent isn't getting any action inworld, because he's ugly, even though he's educated and eloquent. That the SL women he's come across are looking for 'pretty' black men. That must have come after the part about his fancy tongue. That's where I stopped reading, going into mental-image land instead. :matte-motes-big-grin-wink:

@Charly: I found I could not read past the mental image of "silver tongued" . . . /me shivers with delight So, "Wut????" :matte-motes-grin: :matte-motes-bored:

Pamela Galli wrote: Ellyn, I think it is important, for those of us who enjoy discussion, to have a well-moderated place to do that. Many of us here came from very lively forums -- Xstreet or the old LL Forums -- and LL closed those down, to our very great regret. A lot of people went to third party forums at that point, but the lack of moderation there makes them often a pretty unpleasant place. So -- this is it*, esp if you want to discuss SL. The moderation keeps brawling in check -- but as you have observed, it has swerved into the ditch on the other side now. I know it must be difficult to hit the moderation mark every time, but this is not even close. I know I am not alone in being glad you are posting here -- you do contribute positively to to this forum. Too bad the Lindens don't seem able to recognize that. *There is also a new small, well moderated forum, but it is not open membership. Thank you for your response, Pamela. In the spirit of full disclosure I'm a fan of your store but we've never spoken! :matte-motes-big-grin-wink: I agree about the need for moderation. I think that is a given to anyone who has participated in any kind of Internet posting for long. In many places the brawling you mention would be the least of it and in my recent wanderings into other third party forums and blogs, I know exactly the kind of unpleasant places to which you are referring. I have no interest in that. Lively discussions, yes. Constructive criticizing yes. Unrestrained, ugly flame fests just because you can--no thanks. If this is it* for a place to discuss SL then I'm back to my question: Would being prevented from doing so here be a bad thing? At this point my answer to this is getting to be a rather bored shrug of the shoulders. Eh.

@Orefeu: Yes, I've already run into the skin tone problem. My favorite designers of the lighter tones fall into what you describe--just darkening the light tones. That doesn't work. I've tried some of their demos and they look muddy--beautifully rendered and falling short of "right". Oh well, I guess one can't be good at everything! One that is in the "possible" bin is from The Body Co. I will add your suggestions and THANK YOU for those! I prefer quality in skins and am quite particular. I have a couple of clients from work that I'm loosely wanting to base my look upon.

@Orfeu: Your comments also brought up some points that have me re-thinking this whole creating a terrific black avatar. I love shopping for skins and new looks so this is going to be quite fun. @Treasure: In whatever avatar style I am in, I'm going to check out the sites you mentioned. They sound interesting. @ Cato: LoL! Heh. I may check out those groups myself! I love your sense of humor. I still don't get the original intent of this thread but I found it to be an interesting and useful discussion. [if I haven't been prohibited from posting here, I think I'll share my new look in the Vanity section in the future.]

Dresden Ceriano wrote:... but why give the impression that they want to engage their users in the discussion? Wouldn't transparency be crucial to that discussion? Is it not hypocritical to say you want to communicate with your user base, then, not only keep important information from them, but ostracize them for telling you want they think as well? Inquiring minds would certainly like to know, would they not? ...Dres Dres, my response is On Topic and goes specifically to your phrase "want to engage their users in the discussion" and "but ostracize them for telling you what they think." I also make a nodding reference, as opposed to a cut-paste quote, to Venus in her remarks that follow yours. I went back and re-read the community guidelines and yes, I mean re-read. I'm relatively new to THIS forum but have been a participant in various forums over the years and have never once ran afoul of a community guideline, TOS infringement or anything remotely like that. So I have been quite puzzled by some recent events because I have been making statements either for pure entertainment in the General Discussion Forum or have been making comments that I consider to be productive, constructive and fostering a caring attitude about Second Life and the operations of this Forum. The remarks purely for entertainment in the GDF would appear to be acceptable according to the Guidelines. Have I read this section incorrectly? Inquiring minds want to know, especially to provide a more productive environment for conversations about Second Life. I received the following in my mail today, for obvious reasons. Abuse of Moderation or Moderators: Please honor our moderation process and the decisions that come out of it; they are being made in order to provide you with a productive environment for conversations about Second Life. The emphasis added is mine because I am puzzled. I find it difficult to honor a process that I do not understand and it is very hard to understand when it is not transparent. I am not criticizing the process, I'm sure the fault is purely mine and my lack of understanding is due to my woeful inability to read things that are not there. My puny little mind is unable to understand how some of these unnamed processes made by unnamed people are providing a productive environment for conversations about SL or anything else. I need some clarification! Along with the quote from the guidelines was a mention of possibly being unable to post here and again I'm puzzled. Would that be a BAD thing? I don't know. I've been a participant in SL for years and have only just started posting here, mainly due to an unexpected RL situation and so would being unable to post here be a hardship? Would it diminish the environment for a productive conversation about Second Life if I, and people like me, were not allowed to post here? I've not posted here for years but as a (hopefully) constructive member of the SL community with a (hopefully) useful perspective, I'm just all around puzzled as to my place in the equation. From what I've read in other sources, the SL resident referred to in your sig line is also a constructive member of the SL community with a useful perspective, so again, I'm puzzled as to the seemingly at odds desire for "providing a productive environment for conversations about SL" and the apparent desire to remove productive community members from the conversations. I know it is just me. I'm daft. I hope that inquiring minds are part of the productive environment but I did not see that phrase in the guidelines so I'm concerned.

Rolig Loon wrote: And someone should have warned you ..... before you rez a coalesced object, be sure to open your Edit tool (CTRL + 3). If you do that, the coalesced object will be rezzed as a single unit. You will be able to move the entire thing with the red-green-blue arrows if you need to. Once you close the Edit window, each of the individual items is back to being a separate object. If you made the mistake of rezzing the coalesced object on the ground or too close to someone else's stuff, you can have a nasty time trying to find all of the parts. Ah ha! And all my years in SL I never knew THAT! Thanks Rolig. I did the auto return thing, got a coalesced object and had to retrieve pices scarttered to the 4 winds and never did it again!

Yep, and while you are rezzing it in the sandbox be sure to look all around, especially up in the air. When those coalesced objects open up it is like ... well, you'll see. After you mess with this PITA once you'll remember to never, ever return things to owner in one big batch unless the owner is not you and you don't like them very much.

/me fights it! grrrrrr /me struggles /me spies candy canes !!! /me spies Christmas cookies !!! "OooOoooh, Lookie! Lights! Pretty!" But I will refrain until December. But go ahead and pass the sugar cookies decorated like reindeer! nom nom, mmmmmmmm

Dresden Ceriano wrote: Ellyn Elan wrote: Ummmmm... I just checked my email and I had a message from an inworld person that I don't know telling me it was BS... No fair... I never got one of those... I miss out on all the fun stuff. Next time I'm inworld I will IM you Dres with all sorts of silly rants. Will that help? I'm happy to do it! :matte-motes-evil-invert:

@Derek Thanks to the link to the blog. Interesting spot. I look forward to reading more of it. I see others making comments that are mirroring my own thoughts on the things I know about. I've been looking at various SL related blogs lately. other than my regular fashion feeds. I'll add this to my list.

Ummmmm... I just checked my email and I had a message from an inworld person that I don't know telling me it was BS that I didn't know who Celestial is and accusing me of being some person I've never heard of. It is the stranger's mention of the banned poster Celestial in the inworld rant that brings me to post an exclamatory post in this thread. Yeah yeah, I muted the idiot but gee whiz. Welcome to the Forum, I guess.

@Venus: Thank you for providing that link. This is all news to me. I hope you get an answer to your transparency question. I find the lack of it here, even in the short amount of time I've been posting, to be less than amusing.

Never heard of the game until now. Like others have said, I don't hear about much that LL/SL is doing unless it is through the grapevine. For a company that is into digital media, located right next door to Silicon Valley, they sure do a lousy job of using digital media. Here's a dumb idea: When I have played things like The Sims -- and isn't there one or two people kinda highly placed in LL who used to work for EA? (sarcastic and rhetorical) -- you could sign up to receive what amounted to newsletters. They were not daily. They arrived in your email. They were volunatary to receive. Assuming that newsletters from LL/SL wouldn't be about spamy vampire forums but instead carried news about things like this Project LR, creating 64 m prims, new Lindens on staff, where to go for meetings, and so forth, then I would sign up for such a thing. I usually don't go to my dashboard. The past couple of weeks because I've been hanging out at the Forum I have seen my dashboard more than usual. I don't think I'm alone in SL users that once the software is installed you just go to SL, you don't come "here."