Scylla Rhiadra

Well, I can confirm the authority. I'm not here very much anymore, of course, but my very strong sense is that you have an immense amount of authority. Sort of a beloved aunt or den mother. But SEXY. A sexy aunt or den mother. With authority. And sexiness. I think you have one of the most distinctive voices here. (And your avi matches PERFECTLY with that, btw.) It is a beautifully modulated voice, and pretty consistent . . . but maybe also for that reason a little scary? Because, although I've never seen you really cut loose (and I've seen you in situations where you had enough provocation to justify it), I imagine your tongue would lacerate. Really, all the more, because you've established such a reasonable and authoritative voice. God knows, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end. I have absolutely no problem believing that you have been considered "high maintenance": people think they have to work to earn your approbation. What they may not realize is that your generosity will preserve them from the lashing they probably deserve. (I can affirm this because there have been instances where I know that *I* deserved at the least a scolding from you. And you managed instead to reassure me.) Yeah, this is mostly me. Although sometimes I pay attention to myself. Today was one of those days. Again, this is me too. Which is why I never tried RP in SL, and why I failed so miserably at adopting a credible male voice as Richard Parkes, and had to resort to parody. In that context it sort of has to be calculated, for me anyway. It's a form of creative writing, in some ways. I actually prefer that to the sort of semi-conscious ways I can slip in and out of different voices, precisely because I have control when it's calculated and deliberate. I am mildly disturbed when I find that I am "adapting" to a context without being aware of it. I want to KNOW who I am being. And I want conscious control over it. Every time, Scylla. Every damn time. *sigh* Yeah . . .

Ya know? . . . good question. Hmmm.

Zzzzzzzzzzz (JOKING!!!!)

Yeah, she can be like that, can't she? Next time, go over her head and message Snugs.

I used to get them, and ones much worse, a LOT, back in my rabble-rousing days. Although back then, it was mostly via in-world IMs. I treasure them all, and have a wall with framed copies of the very best ones! (I really knew Laskya had "arrived" when I started getting a few for her!)

I think this actually describes pretty well the way that I modulate my voice on the forum (although not in-world: I have more variations there, I think). I can get pretty silly here, too . . . although, when I do, it is most often very deliberate and somewhat akin to roleplay. PS. What's Atomic Palace? PPS. I'm sorry you didn't join Maddy today, and come by to say hi!

Wow. This is a really detailed, and (for me, anyway) pretty accurate account of both using and hearing different voices. (Except for the dom voice: I don't have one of those. I just get screechy.) I'd love to know how often I misread people's moods from their words. I know I occasionally have. And occasionally, people misread ME, although I don't think generally I'm very subtle. For instance, when I get sulky (VERY VERY RARE), you'll know it.

I thought I was uninteresting . . . BUT I'M NOT!! Checked my feed for the first time in, like, a year today, and I got fan mail!!! Someone thinks I'm "interesting"! In a way . . .

Hmmm! Most people here seem to be suggesting that they use a uniform voice with only sort of marginal changes, like caps or length of sentence. I have no reason to doubt them, but your experience is closer to mine. How conscious are you of shifting voice? I think I'm sort of conscious-unconscious. I'm aware I'm doing it but don't really think about why or how. Also interesting is that you distinguish your Dom voice from RP. But that's probably a whole other thing!

Lol Poor Phil. I'm sure his mesh ears are incandescent right now, they're burning so brightly.

Yes, it's a compliment! I get very clear mental images of people here on the basis of their writing. Sometimes it's influenced by their avatars, and sometimes not. Phil Deakins (whom I've known from the forums forever) to me projects a personality that is totally at odds with his avatar!

I actually think you have a very distinctive voice here. Although part of that is probably a function of the content you post?

As a sort of passive-aggressive way of warning them off? Not being judgy: I probably do the same thing. I think it likely works.

Weirdly, I am ridiculously careful about caps and punctuation, pretty much always. That probably DOES say a lot about me.

It's a little odd that LL has never introduced features like emoji or gifs, stickers, and embedded video into in-world IMs. That could make for wild conversation. But maybe they want it to replicate real world conversations? Mind you, there is chat spam. Do you "sound" the same in RL?

Or am I? Conversations I had today in-world (after a multi-year absence) with two old and very dear friends in Second Life left me thinking about how we use "voice" -- or more accurately, for most of us, text -- to establish "who we are" here. There are a few ways that we can self-fashion here: through clothes, obviously, and profile, and AO, but surely the most important is the distinctive "voice" that we project through text. And these vary, sometimes enormously, from context to context. On the forum, for instance, I tend, most often, to use measured prose, that is, I hope, relatively lucid and "casual," but not colloquial. It's somewhat like the voice that I use, for instance, for emails in RL. (There are, of course, exceptions to that rule.) But in-world, the way that I self-present can, I think, vary widely. It's obviously different from how I "speak" here, if only because it's produced in shorter spurts, and is most often in response to an ongoing, dynamic conversation. But I've noticed that, while I will often "speak" in relatively long and complicated statements, the context of close friends, or at least certain kinds of close friends, tends to have me speaking in shorter, more breathless messages. I'll use more single word messages. I'll be sharper or more sarcastic. I'll use all caps (a LOT, apparently). I'll "banter." Around men (I'm boringly hetero), I'll be a bit . . . manic. Not giggly (I don't giggle) but . . . without the kind of authoritative and calm voice I use elsewhere. (And that's not because I am looking for a hook-up, because I'm not.) That last phenomenon is for me to figure out. As a feminist, I find it interesting, if not troubling. But the questions I want to ask people here are: How do you use text to establish your personality and/or authority? How many different "voices" do you have? What are the contexts in which you use them? Are you consciously using a voice that projects a different version of yourself than you think represents your RL self? Obviously, if you're doing RP, you're employing a different voice. But do you think there is a relationship between how you speak OC, and the way in which you formulate speech in RP? Or, ignore the above, and just tell us something about who you "are" here!

I'm tempted to suggest that you or someone else report the thread. It may be that that is the only way to get a response from a mod. (And no, I haven't reported it.)

Ok, so I should stop doing that then? Ok.

Not even sure that I qualify as a "person" in SL, yet alone an "interesting" one.

(It occurs to me that, at least by the standards of the forums as I remember them, we've achieved two no-nos here: questioning moderation, and essentially continuing the discussion (in some measure, anyway) that was in the locked-down thread. I apologize to Pamela if that's the case, and it leads to this being shut down without the clarification that she seeks.)

I understand where this view comes from, and I have a lot of sympathy with it. Like LittleMe Jewels' observation that religion and politics "just always seem to devolve into nasty spats rather than any sort of actual discussion or debate," it's sensible, based on observation, and founded on a wholly laudable principle of trying to maintain civility and peace. That said . . . I can't say that I like the idea of preemptively banning certain kinds of discourse under the assumption, however well-tested, that it will necessarily devolve into nastiness. I didn't, for instance, think that the locked thread under discussion here was particularly nasty. The openly partisan bits of it were, for sure, predictable, dull, and unedifying. But nasty? Perhaps i have a thick skin, or have been inured to belligerent political discussions by other venues I'm on (and the old forums, which were much, MUCH harsher), but I didn't see anything there that warranted a shut down. I absolutely agree that bullying and outright trolling need to be controlled, but I saw neither of those, nor do I think they are necessary components of such discussions. Are posts that bellow one mindless political screed or another boring and even unpleasant? Sure, but I'm reminded of the oft-repeated refrain I've heard from people here and in-world about the offensive and objectionable parts of SL: if you don't like it, don't go there. Or don't read it: the same principle surely applies? I think it's dangerous to merely assume that discussions about religion and politics are going to be sh*tstorms. And I worry that a "ban" can be applied so broadly that all we will have left here WILL be threads about how awful (or wonderful) mesh is, or how to use Omega appliers. (Not that there is anything wrong with those.)

Perhaps. I do like to associate with people who have strong convictions. ?

I'm not bad. I'm just rezzed that way.

With a score like mine, I'll be leading them!!!

Yeeeeeesh. Might just as well permanently exile me to the cornfield now, and save time. ?