Scylla Rhiadra

Oh, it's a TIMELESS topic, surely!!! ?

I certainly agree with the instance that you've given. But in my case, I wasn't merely saying "So-and-so the Furry is a jerk." The whole premise and "humour" of my attack was founded on the fact that he was a furry. If he hadn't been a furry, the whole "must be kept on a leash" thing wouldn't have made sense. So, a closer analogy to your instance might be making a joke about Tom Tooley that is built around the stereotypical drunkeness of the Irish, and then pretending that, in using that as the basis for my joke, I wasn't also insulting everyone who was Irish by employing that stereotype.

Hah, yeah. Right. It's a bit like saying "I'm not racist! Some of my best friends are furries . . ."

Well, yes. My lesson in tolerance came a bit later, when I hung out for a very brief time with a community of people who used to sit around a dancing pole, chatting and complimenting each other on their dancing and "sexy" avatars. What was cool was that the group included only a few furries -- and clearly, few of the others were very "into" that -- but everyone went out of their way to be complimentary with them (the furries) when they took their turn on the pole. It was pretty adorable, really, and it demonstrated to me how important acceptance is.

I haven't seen too much hostility against furries; in fact, maybe the opposite. Probably the worst case of sheer bigotry I've seen directed against them came from . . . well, me. When I was very new in SL -- maybe two or three months -- the parcel next to the one which was my main hangout at that time was bought by a furry couple who placed a home there. Being something of an idiot, I decided to do the "good neighbour" thing and drop by to meet them. I walked onto their parcel and shouted some sort of greeting at them -- and found myself rocketed something like 1000 metres into the sky. This was not just an ejection -- I was blasted by something. No warning, no indication that visitors with a plate of freshly backed prim cookies weren't welcome . . . just BANG followed by WOOOSH, succeeded by AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGHHHHHHHH! Anyway, I was furious; when I finally hit the ground I spent the next half hour yelling expletives over the hedge separating the parcels. THEN I came up with a more effective means of revenge. The owner of my "home" parcel was a sweetheart (a foul-mouthed 6 year old with a predilection for setting off nuclear weapons) who had given me permissions to rez and build there, so I whipped up a sign in Photoshop, mounted it on a couple of prims, and set it up right on the border between the two parcels -- where there was nothing that the offending furry could do about it. Weirdly, I have a picture of it still (that's very early "me" next to the pic). To be clear, the furry who had orbited me was, as became clearer in subsequent discussions with him, a major *****: he gave me no warning that he was going to "smite me" with his vorpal blade or whatever it was that sent me flying, and he was unpleasant throughout. That said, my response, because it targeted him as a furry rather than as an obnoxious individual, (which he was) was unpleasant, inappropriate, and, in SL terms anyway, "racist." It was inexcusable, and I am still embarrassed by it. My only real excuse is that I was new to SL, and didn't understand the degree to which the platform featured very distinct cultures that had little direct analogue to my own experience in RL. And that, I guess, is my main point. it feels a bit wrong to refer to furry hatred as "racism," because the stakes in SL are so different: as we've been reminded, again, within the past week, RL racism is an infinitely scarier thing than banning furries from night clubs or putting up mocking signs about them. But being respectful to other cultures and perspectives is always an important thing. Furries (and Tinies, and Nekos, and vampires, and even *ugh* Goreans) are deserving of an acknowledgment of the fact that they do see themselves as distinct cultures. (My story has a sort of a happy ending, btw. The furry next door demanded I take down the sign. I insisted upon an apology before I did. Eventually, after a long negotiation, I got one, and the sign went down. I never spoke to him again, and all of my subsequent interactions with furries demonstrated to me that they were, pretty much always, delightful, sweet, and accepting residents.)

Thank you!!! (And no need to apologize!) Will definitely be checking them out!!!

I'm going to quickly and briefly intrude to say that, while I don't necessarily agree with Jules' perception that residents are less involved or engaged with SL from a creative side anymore (I don't know the answer to that), she's right in suggesting (as Kittyn noted above) that there are a great many ways to be a creator in SL other than making and selling items. It's a rather limited definition of what "creation" entails to limit it to a cycle of production/consumerism. I owned a bookstore in SL: I "made" the books. It made a minimal amount of money and contribution to the SL economy -- it earned me enough to keep me in new boots -- but it became a hub of a kind of community. The store closed some 5 years ago: I still get asked about it, and people still have it in their picks. That's not because they loved the objects I made: it was because it gave people a kind of handle to engage with each other in all sorts of ways. Similarly, I ran or helped run a number of activist groups in SL (the largest of which peaked at about 1200 members?).* No prims were tortured, but these groups gave people an outlet through which to build their own communities. And, for me, that's what's most important about "creativity" in SL. We need content creators, god knows, and I'm no less a consumer than anyone else. But the mesh and prim content is nothing without the communities that we build through a different, but equally valid, form of "creation." SL would be a lonely and depressing place without that kind of creative engagement. * Lest someone think that this is a sort of humblebrag, I want to make it clear that I didn't create this group, but rather helped run it, and eventually inherited it. The group was created by a brilliant woman doctor from Mexico whose vitality and engagement and creativity I admired enormously. She transformed this from a mere "group" into a community.

OMG, Skell. Yes, you most certainly may! THANK YOU. This is amazing!!! I've actually got a three point lighting and projector system that works pretty well, and is not difficult to use: I think I just need to learn how to use it properly, and effectively. I am beyond admiration for the way that you've analyzed the composition and worked out the lighting. It took me maybe a half an hour to set up and take this shot: that will get faster as I become more practiced, but I'm actually pretty excited by the process that you've outlined here! And I'll check out the Weekend Ruiner group (great name!). Thank you (and Angelina, again!) for taking so much time and thought over this! (This is waaaaaay too much fun. I'm in serious trouble.)

Meh. Not so much. I have some good Photoshop skills, but not for photos, and certainly for nothing like this. But I take direction well. ? /me looks over her shoulder to see what Angelina is looking dreamily at . . .

Thanks, and particularly for taking the time to show the adjustment!!! Yeah, I'm using Photoshop Elements, which can do that with highlights, mid-tones, and shadows. I tend to wield some of those tools like they were blunt instruments, so I'll learn to take more time over them. I love what the adjustment does to the shadows in my jacket. (One mistake I made in this was not making sure the light source was clearly coming from the barrel -- and probably tinting it a bit too. There are so many variable in playing with the Phototools in FS that I get sort of flustered and forget things? So, I'm making a checklist of steps to go through. Yes, I AM that kind of person . . .)

Well, it's all about learning to play the system calling upon the assistance of your very good friends!

Playing again with stuff. I need to work on smoothing, and be smarter with light. SL photos are hard! (Also, I might try take a daylight shot one day? And stop looking winsomely over my shoulder? Oh well, small steps, small steps.) Thanks to everyone who has had advice, especially Angelina and Sagadin! And please feel free to offer suggestions and critique!

Amateurs.

/me facepalms Yep, one month before I even started posting on RA, I think. But I still get the award for Most Entirely Self-Preoccupied Thread!

BOO!

Like everyone, dancing at the Hangout! With Lexxi, Iva, Rhonda, Clover, Nat, and Creamy. ETA: Oops, Lexxi somehow got cropped out of this! She's just off-screen, to the left. She looked, of course, FABULOUS.

This is too often what my experience of the mainland has been like. I am an admin for a parcel in the southern part of Heterocera. (It's currently up for sale, actually.) It's generally been a good location: I think we've been there since about 2007, or maybe earlier; in any case, since before my time. We're a bit off the beaten track, but one does occasionally get visitors, which is fine. However, one also gets . . . well, provocateurs? I was there last night, doing some messing about with costumes for the Forum Cartel party, and for a pic I wanted to take, when I received a visit from these two. Both were generally fine (although I had my cursor hovering over the ban list), but one of them, possessed as he was of an enormous and very prominently excited male member, decided to interrogate me on the degree to which I, as a feminist, felt "oppressed" by their male genitalia. I was harangued at for about 15 mins, and then they (at my invitation) moved along, seeking more excitable prey I suppose. Mostly, they were just boring, fortunately. Is it my imagination -- perhaps it is? -- or does this sort of thing happen more often on the mainland?

Thank you, LittleMe! There is so much wrong with it, and I have sooooo much to learn still! But (speaking of addiction) practice makes perfect, right?

Slow train to Berlin? A first attempt at applying lighting, poses, Windlight, and a bit of PS. This could become scary addictive . . .

Thank you, Par. You are a scholar and a gentleman, and clearly also a Forum God. DILLON!!!!!!!

The really BIG questions generally require Divine Intervention. @Lindal Kidd?

Like, seriously. I want the absolute answer to this. Anyone?

Thank you!! I'll explore these!

Your post prompted me to play a bit last night in FS with the phototools and Windlight settings. A bit complicated at first, but fun! And lots of things to try. Where is your blog? (I can't figure out how to display forum signatures here!)