Scylla Rhiadra

This. That was my thought too.

Omg I could have just called out everyone on the picture threads! Well? Let's hear it!! 🙃

And we're all very glad you took it, Go. ❤️

Well, I'm glad you found them classy, anyway! I don't actually bother that much with matching photos to Flickr groups. I only belong to about 20 groups, and many of those are for particular sims. And that's the one type of group I do specifically post particular pics to. So a lot of my recent pics have been taken at Cravone City, and they get posted to the Cravone City Flickr group. I don't actually follow a group that is specifically for nudes; the few nudes I've done tend not to make it into a lot of groups because most of my groups are restricted to "safe" pics. I have the sense that groups actually don't increase your visibility (or "faves") as much as one might think. I'm not suggesting that they don't have any effect, but I think most of my faves come from people seeing the pics in their stream, or because I've liked something of theirs. I actually haven't noticed a huge difference in the response to pics that were in a lot of groups, and those that were in only a handful.

I really want to like this. First, because I like Siddean and think that Slink is one of the more reliable and progressive mesh body makers (she spent literally an hour once helping me with a problem!). And secondly because I think it's time that mesh bodies caught up to the advances being made in mesh heads (and, I think, hair too, recently). But I have to admit I'm not wowed by the video. I will definitely demo it, though, and if it seems to offer a level of detail and realism not available now on my existing bodies, AND is sufficiently responsive to sliders that I can get the slightly smaller-boobed and non-waif like look that I want, I'll buy it. I think that this is a rather brave attempt to do for mesh bodies what the new LeLutka's have been doing for mesh heads. It remains to be seen if it will be greeted as enthusiastically: the lack of clothing and skins currently is certainly going to be an issue. I also am a little dismayed by the introduction of yet another purely proprietary standard for avatar mesh parts and accessories. I wish to god that mesh and head body makers would get to together and produce a uniform standard for these things -- mapping, weighting, LOD, etc. But this, after all, is the Free Market at work, and to hell with how utterly wasteful and inefficient it all is, so long as it generates more sales, right? Vive la competition?

Many of the people who've answered here take great pictures -- Jordan, Rowan, Claireschen, and Janet, for instance. But we have a lot of other people who see photography as, if not their main activity in SL, certainly as one of the primary attractions of the place. And they have developed systems and routines for what they do. Not all of them use platforms or backdrops, but it would be worth maybe attracting their attention here and getting their input. @Nalates Urriah @Eddy Vortex @Ayeleeon @Dementia Obviate @Nick0678 @Orwar @Maitimo @Zeta Vandyke @taisiyakarpenko @VictoriaGrwd @Charalyne Blackwood @Marianne Little @Chic Aeon @Eva Knoller @Saskia Rieko @BelindaN @Laurel Aurelia @TatianaNikolay There are a ton of others, but that's a good selection, and I don't want to crowd out the thread!

Great shot, Misha! - I love the colours and the rain and the double-exposure! It's been a long time since I went to Kowloon. I should drop by again!

This assumes that everyone possesses an equal amount of power. In practice, inequities in our culture are such that many vulnerable and/or relatively powerless communities will hesitate to speak out for fear of being targeted. I'm not going to argue that SL consumers are particularly vulnerable, as a group (although the caveat emptor philosophy that is the foundation for SL economics means that we have few protections). But I can tell you that I would hesitate to put a negative, or even a middling review on the MP of a store that I know I am going to continue to need access to.

@Truestar Mokeev and @Charalyne Blackwood -- Awww, thank you both! Truestar, I love hearing about how people "read" pics (and not just mine), so thank you especially for that! I learn stuff! So cool! @Marigold Devin -- Thanks Marigold! The pic was actually part of a series on the subject of "time" that I put together for an exhibition, so this one is entitled "Chronology." But I'm just one reader of my own pic; I don't get the final say (or want it). I like your reading of it! I do try to leave enough ambiguity in many of my pics that viewers can actively engage with them to produce their own narratives and stories from them. It seems to me that a good work of art should be more like a Socratic dialogue than a learn-by-rote lecture, so I really enjoy it when I hear other interpretations and readings of the things I produce. I've ended up with some terrifically good insights as a result -- things in my pics that I didn't even realize were there, in some cases!

And let this be an important lesson, kids. If you say her name three times, she appears in a flash of fire and a puff of smoke. Be prepared! Have a fire extinguisher handy! Only YOU can prevent Madelaine McMasters!

Many Scylla. Much me. (If this doesn't give you nightmares, then you're probably pretty impervious to fear.)

Yeah. Or maybe the merchant now gets to leave an anonymous positive review about how wonderful said bed is (and how much naughty Marianne would really enjoy it). Um, as you've literally done nothing but repeat verbatim the language that I found ambiguous in the first place (in fact, twice! for good measure!), this hardly clarifies things. But thank you? I'm going to assume that my first read on this was accurate: consumers can't see who posted, but merchants will have names that will allow them to retaliate if they wish. Meanwhile, anyone -- including the merchants themselves -- can leave anonymous comments, and there will no longer be any way for shoppers to judge their validity on the basis of the identity of the poster. If so, this is not merely pointless: it's stupid, and makes the system even more vulnerable to gaming than it already was.

I'm confused. So the merchant does find out who made the review? But consumers on MP don't? If so, that seems to me the worst of both worlds: a vindictive merchant can still retaliate for a review they don't like, but the reviews lose public credibility by not being attached to a name.

This is a lovely idea, Katherine. Good for you! This kind of initiative really does make SL a much nicer place to be!

Really lovely lighting. I know it has lots of detractors, but I really like EEP.

Gorgeous portrait, Jerilyn! And really pretty avi! I love the colours and the lighting, but also the facial expression. My friend @Madelaine McMasters convinced me some time ago that expressions are most "realistic" and interesting if they are a bit asymmetrical -- a slightly lopsided smile, for instance. I'm not sure if it was an AO, or a pose, or even just an accident of the angle and shot, but you've got that happening here, and it makes your face come alive. Really beautiful!

There's a familiar friendly face. 🙂

What others have said . . . there is an endless variety of reasons why someone might or might not choose to "like" a pic. Sometimes it's personal, and a lot of the time it isn't. It's a bit like Flickr too, where people sort of game faves, but where a lot of the time the success of a pic is almost accidental. Meh, who cares? What does matter is that we, as a sort of informal community, love that you are posting here, and value your pics (which, btw, are really beautiful). More please! Which means, of course, that you've been assimilated. Bwahahahah! Welcome to the Dark Side.

Really beautiful and expressive Imogenya. You very much look like someone you'd want to have a coffee with. Really lovely! (What kind of coffee?)

What Marianne and Rowan (and others?) have said: your pics have definitely improved. So, I might add, has your avi! Everyone makes errors by not noticing something when taking a pic. Something in the background didn't rez properly, or your butt is poking out of your jeans, or . . . all sorts of stuff. Sometimes it's fixable in Photoshop, and sometimes not. In any case, not something to be ashamed of!

Which is to say . . . adorable? 🙂

Yes indeed. Which is why I said the rating system mostly seems to work pretty well.

This has been my experience -- I don't pay a lot of attention to the regions I TP to, tbh, but I don't seek out adult content or activities, and the result is that, despite frequently ending up in adult areas, I very rarely these days run across anything "inappropriate" or even very adult. (The exception, very occasionally, is in sandboxes.) I take that as proof that the rating system actually works pretty well, generally. And I like that system because it empowers individuals to choose the sorts of content and behaviors they are exposed to. I don't think anything is really gained by accidentally (or purposefully) forcing someone who is squeamish about sex or violence to see it, and I do think it's not merely important, but also democratizing to ensure that people have the tools to control their own lives here. In fact, although this doesn't seem to me as much of a problem as it once was, I'd like to see a further refinement on the rating system, and a distinction made between adult content that is sexual, and that which is violent. I don't really care much about tripping over a couple (or threesome, for that matter) going at it in the middle of a park somewhere, but I don't particularly want to find myself inadvertently in the middle of a BDSM scene. And I don't think I'm alone in that. There's a distinction to be made between a sort of laissez-faire or liberal approach to activities and content, and enabling an uncontrollable environment where one is compelled, even if only by accident, to experience things one doesn't want to. The former is great (mostly). But the exercise of individual choice is at least as important.

I actually, personally, don't think the issue of content is going to be what sinks FB's entry into the metaverse. I think that the problem, the same problem that prevented SL from really becoming huge in 2009 and thereabouts, is that most people don't want to interact with each other and with their environment as cartoons. For games, sure, this works, because you are generally plugging into a narrative. But most people don't play MMOs or FPSs. They play Candy Crush Saga or puzzle games on their phone. What I think would actually sell is a sort of blend of AR and VWs -- where you can easily engage as prettied-up but very recognizable version of yourself (think Instagram filters) in realistically "real world" virtual environments. People don't really want anonymity, most of them, as the continued existence of FB proves: they want to shine in ways that reinforce their sense of self: that's much the appeal of accumulating friends and likes on FB. And most people lack the ambition, desire, or imagination to create a "new self," as one is essentially doing in SL. Where I think FB has gone wrong is not recognizing what SL has already demonstrated: this elaborately fictional version of the metaverse is a niche thing. And while 40,000-50,000 concurrency numbers is enough to keep SL chugging along, 20 times those numbers would be a massive failure in FB's eyes.

Yes. And doesn't the Microsoft promotional video for their entry also show bottomless avatars? I meant it when I said that sex is important here -- including BDSM. Part of what makes SL so powerful is that sex, art, community, music, and so on, are all seamlessly integrated: this world really does offer God's plenty in terms of the human virtual experience. So, yes, market that. But target that marketing. Otherwise you really are just reinforcing the ignorant common perception that sex and kink is all that SL really offers.