Phil Deakins

You're absolutely right but I can't imagine how you arrived at that.

No they are not

Sometimes being pedantic brings out the truth

Another little tale, though not not as dramatic as Qie's. Over the years I abandoned most of the sim I'm in, but in chunks as I moved down the tier levels level by level. The last reduction was when I finally closed my store, and went tier-free, leaving me the premium 512 + 10% bonus. To do that I cut my plot near the corner of the sim so that what was left between my plot and the sim edges were too narrow to cut a normally dimensioned 512. And I expected those parts to remain unsold because I didn't expect them to go into the auction. I chose that corner because most of the sim is rock but that corner has grass. They've been sold now - and it's me who bought them lol. With the increase in the premium allowance, I upgraded my main alt and moved up to 2048 + 10%, and I bought enough land in that corner to make that figure.

Yes they can. That's a sanction.

That's different, Callum. A country can't make foreign companies comply with their laws, but they can impose sanctions against foreign companies that don't. That's pretty much what you said, as I understood it. It's the same with European VAT. LL collects it from we europeans on behalf of the EU, but they don't have to if they no longer have any offices in the EU. No country, and no company, is subject to the laws of other countries. LL is not subject to foreign laws, unless their own law says that they are. However, there is a tendancy to comply with certain laws of other countries, because it make the whole thing work quite smoothly in both directions. So getting back to what I wrote, EU law in not 'international law' in the way that that phrase is usually meant

But EU law isn't 'international law' in the normal understanding of that phrase. It's only international aspect is within the nations that constitute the EU. Other nations may have their own laws that say that their people must comply with this or that, but, unless they do, EU laws don't apply to them.

I'm always interested to know what country a person is in, and I sometimes ask. But I've no interest in where in the country they are.

I've been in the sim where I am now for many years, and I've encountered no such shenanigans. Mainland was unattractive in the past, and there are no doubt still patches of the same, but with the amount of abandoned land around, much of it is quiet and peaceful.

There are no "mainland shenanigans" that I'm aware of, and I've been on mailand throughout my 11 years in SL, but you could test it. Between you, you have 1024 tier-free left. You could try a 1024 peice of mainland just to see how it might suit you.

Tried to? How can you try to bequeath something in your will? You either put it in the will or you don't. I put my account in my will, but that was back when the account was worth a lot of money. The account is worthless now, but it's still in my will because I haven't got round to removing it. Anyone who's account makes decent money, and would continue making the money regardless of who was behind the account, ought to put it in their will, perhaps with some detailed written instructions on how to continue it.

I also prefer it, but not for the same reason. The only time I ever use the classic search is when an account isn't showing in the websearch, and that's a rare occurence.

Ah, but you are not most people But sorry. I thought you meant that people use the in-viewer search rather than the website.

That's what is meant by the 'websearch', Fionalein.

Sorry, Solar, but I'm done with this thread. We agree on its topic (in the first post), so I'll settle for that

I don't know, Kristen. I can't imagine that it's only been BJ and me though, and it did happen to BJ several times. The most recent time, was what sparked this thread, although I don't know what she'd written in the past that caused the most recent suspension from SL. Oddly, she wasn't even suspended from the forum for it, so it can't have been much. Anyway, I think this thread has been done to death now. I don't like keeping on about these things, especially since the topic is critical of the moderation, and I do like most of the moderators. I do have some firm views, but I've said my piece(s) enough now. So I'm done with it.

I don't think anyone would disagree with what you said, Kristen, but there are two things you forgot. One is what happens when the line isn't crossed, and the main one is being suspended not just from the forum, but also from SL, for both forum misdemeanours and when no lines are crossed. The thread was about that main one, but the first one came into it along the way. It's not about holding back from crossing the line. You can't do that when you don't where the line is drawn today.

Nope. Or at least I hope the answer is a resounding no - for 2 reasons. The only way that such a group would "interact constructively" is to be biased to their own point of view, which isn't the point of view of almost all SL users. E.g. "But we would end up paying more and not getting anything extra for it." Another reason is that, if any such group were to be appointed, why not also a creators' group?, or a tenants' group?, and so on.

Perhaps a good example of what I mean is my TV, broadband, and phone services. I pay Virgin Media for those. Virgin Media has a forum that I've sometimes used. If I break that forum's rules in a big way, they would probably ban me from it, but they would not cut any of my services off, not even for a few hours or a few days, because I pay them for those. SL and this forum are no different, and yet this forum has cut people off from the service they pay for, when they haven't done anything wrong, let alone done anything wrong in a big way. I am a paying customer of both companies. I pay LL a lot less than I pay Virgin Media, but that doesn't make any difference. By all means, cut people off from the forum when they break the forum rules, but don't cut people off from the service they pay for, even when they break the forum rules, and especially when they don't. I'm hoping that we've seen the last of that practise.

It's very good advice, Callum, but advice that I would sometimes find it very difficult to follow when there is no anger, flaming, insulting, etc. going on. In those circumstances, the only line that ever comes into view is the line that says, "Oh we don't want that. It's not against the rules, but out you go. And for good measure, you can stay out of SL for a while as well." An interesting thing about this is that, technically, my op in this thread crossed the line by criticising some of the moderation, but I felt I had to do that because of the wrongness of some of it, even though the person whose suspension from SL sparked it, is someone who I prefer to be out of the forum, anyway. Another way that I see it is that this isn't just another forum. It's a forum that I, as a paying customer, use, and paying customers should not be treated as though we were in just another forum. I expect some comeback if I do something wrong, but I don't expect to be treated that way by the company I pay money to for their services unless I do do something wrong. I pay the company for my Premium use of SL (2 Premiums), and, unless I do something wrong, I don't expect to be willfully denied what I pay for., just on somebody's whim. I have a huge respect for Tommy. He, and some others here, are very likeable people. But his reply didn't satisfy some people, including me. It appeared to change nothing except concerning historical posts, but I realise that he probably feels that he can't share everything with us, even though many of us are paying customers. My hope is that things have changed behind the scenes, but time will tell.

It's the exceptions that have been the problem. They can take anyone by surprise at any time. We do know how to keep on the right side of the line but we can do nothing to prevent the line from being moved sometimes, just on a whim.

I disagree, Pam. We know where the line should be, because the forum rules state it, but the line hasn't been there some of the time. It moved. Or it moved as far as one or more moderators are concerned. That's the problem. People have been suspended from the forum, and from SL itself, when they were nowhere near the forum line.

I love that

Sorry. I misread your post.