[How are you feeling today?]

Since I'm not the one who hurt you, dear stranger on the internet, taking your anger and your pain out on me can only ever be a temporary reprieve, and a way of staying locked in the anger and the pain you hold so dear. Could it be that this is your goal?

vent over, because i'm far too ill and exhausted to deal with the backlash of saying this to her

[Finding your "style" on SL..]

Does going barefoot because you're too uncoordinated to find shoes count as a style?

[Do you do it for the likes?]

like moirakathleen and Pamela said so well on the first page, I'm here for the community. Poor health means I spend most of my time alone so just seeing familiar faces and reading what they have to say means a lot to me. It's also good for my mental health to be able to say things too.

A bit of feedback helps with that sense of community, like the wee nods in face to face conversation. But it can take different forms and I couldn't care less about the counts. The only time I pay attention to anyone's is when I wonder if a poster is trolling.

This whole thing about people posting for likes or to boost post counts, it's never felt like that to me at all. I don't know where it's coming from, though apparently it's mostly in the games and vanity threads. I don't read either regularly so something happening there could easily pass me by. I do try to keep up with the mainland home thread because mainland is such an important part of our curious world and something to be celebrated and encouraged.

[(Help) Creating Basement without Terraforming]

15 hours ago, JosieRotten said:

Unfortunately I am the landlord. The whole sim (mainland) doesn't allow terraforming.  No way to get around that, I guess. 

I didn't know there was mainland which doesn't allow terraforming. (Aside from the Linden Homes regions of course.)

Are you in a prime location somewhere (by water perhaps) that you don't want to move from? Because moving to a different bit of mainland is a way to get around the problem.

Also, could it be that you're at the minimum limit already? Land can only be raised or lowered a certain amount from its baseline, so if you're at the minimum you can only go up. In that case, a work around is to raise a hillock for the house and then make your indentation for the basement.

Just throwing out some ideas in case any help. Good luck.

[(Rant?) I just want a dance.]

Tolya wouldn't be trying to wind people up again with that post, would he?

[(Rant?) I just want a dance.]

2 hours ago, Rhonda Huntress said:

OK, so let's say I do IM a guy and ask him to dance with me.  For some reason that means we are going out exclusively and I should put him in my profile immediately. Friend request comes before the 3rd song and him leaving in a huff calling me a tease, *****, ***** or ***** for good measure follows shorty after.

Some thoughts and questions: Names do matter (says the main with a mischievous name). Height is relative to other avs - you have your avs posed in a way to highlight differences, but those might not be as obvious when they're on dance balls. How tall is Rhonda compared to most of the men at the places you frequent? Are the poses and facial expressions you picked for the photo typical of what they'll be using when standing around talking at a dance venue? Rhonda's is very much don't mess with me and Maybie's is far more vulnerable, playing up to someone else's strength.

About the quoted bit, one thing I've noticed is that some (perhaps many) of those who log in looking for slex just assume that if you're logged in, you're also looking for slex. They don't seem to fully grasp that this is far more than an interactive porn site. If you're here, you want it. If you IM them, you want it now. And if you refuse them, you're their default sexist degrading insults. But it's just their assumptions and lack of understanding of how diverse SL is.

Most entertaining was the guy who tried to pick me up while I was... shopping for a sword. In full pirate gear, Victorian-era captain frock coat and all. But he was inworld for sex so I must be too. 🤷‍♀️

[Let's talk accounts!]

My building alt took on more of a slife of her own than I would have guessed beforehand. In part because of the fresh new start feeling. That was fun for a while. The longer I run both though, the more similar they are. They favour different time periods for clothes, but that's largely to simplify shopping and I only buy FP things with my main. The friends I talk with regularly know both of them. Would never think of getting rid of either. Why?

Sometimes I think about changing Bitsy's when that arrives, but then one friend or another talks me out of it. We'll see.

[Fairly odd...]

That thing about tearing someone apart while convincing her it's what she wants? Are you trying to edge lord or are you really hoping to psychologically abuse someone?

[(Help) Creating Basement without Terraforming]

Your landlord might be willing to terraform an indentation for your basement if you ask politely.

[Vampire bonds are plummeting]

On 2/15/2020 at 5:22 AM, Rolig Loon said:

I learn something new every day. It never occurred to me that you could put a vampire in bonds.  I always thought it took stakes and garlic to get them where you wanted them. It does sound as if vampire bonds fall easily, but if they slow vampires down even a little I suppose that's a good thing.

 

On 2/15/2020 at 7:53 AM, Amina Sopwith said:

I'm killing myself here thinking of a crowd of wrathful undead vampires, driven by this outrage to start shaking fists and taking names. Do you have pics? 

These two in sequence and my momentary mental image was vampiric Gorean uberdoms all nicely caged up. Well, not nicely. They're pretty mad about it. They've probably all rage-quit by now. Anyone want to check?

[Do cisgender women like to admire other womens' looks?]

On 2/14/2020 at 6:58 PM, Gopi Passiflora said:

I'm just asking here because I need a female perspective on this and there are a lot of women here. And I just wanted a conversation.

As a cisgender man it's obvious that I would admire women, although I occasionally think a man could be attractive.

Your question makes more sense if you mean straight rather than cis. Please tell me you haven't forgotten that lesbians and bisexual women exist. 'Cause yeah, there are cis women who do more than admire other women.

[Question regarding Selling Original Art]

On 2/6/2020 at 2:35 PM, foxfirestorm said:

What I was wondering is, what is the best way to sell these drawings. Should I make them on an object and sell that? Or should I save it as a texture file?

You have to upload it as a texture to get it inworld. There is no way around it.

The convention is to put your art texture on a prim and offer that for sale. Or framed, which is just a fancier way of doing it. But conventions are just conventions and sometimes it might suit your art, your self or your customers to do it differently.

[Is "Mass blocking" a strategy? Also a rant]

1 hour ago, xTornTwilightx said:

I'm definitely trying new locations and I've even swapped up my avatar a good deal. The profile thing is left out on purpose. I'm trying to avoid personality or chat "coaching."  I have a profile, I have a semi-unique avatar. Its not too advanced to say one thing applicable to either. I'm not blaming anyone mind you. To each their own. But if I need to tweak my profile to perfection for someone to say literally one thing to me then odds are I'd be carrying that conversation on my back the whole time and that's not worth the bother.

Torn, you've really quite thoroughly missed every point I had hoped to make.

[Sometimes I Despair of the Mainland]

On 1/15/2020 at 8:44 PM, Beth Macbain said:

Why do people want to change what the mainland is? It's like knowingly moving into a poor neighborhood and wanting to gentrify it, then getting mad when the "undesirables" who were there first refuse to move out. 

Depends on your time frame/frame of reference. Some still remember when mainland was a place of sharing and serendipity, when people you'd happen into on your travels (or theirs) would be open to conversation about whatever project they (or you) were working on, and those conversations would lead into other subjects, or building tips, or friendships and collaborations. It was often crowded and chaotic, but always an intriguing and diverse world.

I came in when it was changing and becoming more cut off and isolated, that was the gentrification. Back then I so wished I'd gotten a new computer earlier so I could have been part of the earlier days. Now I feel fortunate to have experienced a bit of it at least.

Some wanting to open it back up are older than me. They know even better that we've lost something so incredibly unique and precious. It's not gentrification to yearn for a bit of it again.

[Is "Mass blocking" a strategy? Also a rant]

8 hours ago, xTornTwilightx said:

For you detectives out there who brought up my profile... maybe this is an alternate account I only played for an hour =P

We can only work with what we see. Sometimes profiles give useful information and we can feedback how we'd react to them inworld. It's your choice to not give us this information (did you catch that I acknowledged it as a possibility in my post or did you speed on by?) but it will affect how some of us relate to you. An example, I understand your initial post was made in frustration and that's carrying over into your replies and all the more so because we aren't telling you what you seem to want to hear. Without any further information, as in a profile, this frustrated sarcastic and seemingly demanding side is all we know of your temperament.

I can fill in with some details you've given, six weeks inworld, 20s in real life, impressed with your distant very famous relation, seemingly prone (as most in their 20s are) to think of your experience as all there is, inexperienced enough to realise that there are thousands of "actual players" who are elsewhere doing whatever it is we do like seeing to our shops, exploring our anything-you-want-it-to-be world alone or with friends, all sorts - if you can imagine it, there's probably a version of it somewhere inworld. You don't seem to want to get out in the virtual world to join us, but instead want people where you are to do it your way. Or maybe that's just coming from the inexperience and frustration. This is why information from a profile would be useful here. It gives us an idea of what you've tried and what you're interested in.

I find myself hesitating to offer advice because my impression is that it will be tossed aside. So I'll keep it brief - if what you're doing isn't working, try a different approach. This might mean leaving the venues you've found where people aren't talking to you and look for other places (you haven't been everywhere with people in six weeks, SL is too big for that) and ways of talking (like groups). We are in no way limited to who's in a room with us in SL and many of the most interesting and interested people are out doing interesting things.

[UDIM ---> SL]

(this is what i could find on UDIM, including this: "UDIMs are useful for working on objects that need really high resolution textures. It’s standard to see them in VFX and animation productions, but unusual to see them in a game pipeline."

would those in the know please briefly explain UDIM in an SL context for an IDIM like me  . is this something i should try to learn?)

https://cgcookie.com/articles/first-look-at-udim-textures-in-blender-2-82-alpha?utm_source=blendernation

[Is "Mass blocking" a strategy? Also a rant]

8 hours ago, Alwin Alcott said:

i am too... why would anybody reply to you about their likes while your profile is blank, totally empty?..
no pic
no groups

There seems a strange imbalance here with the OP clearly understanding the importance of a profile in introducing yourself but not filling out their own (or have they posted the question on an unused alt for some reason?) If I encountered this inworld, part of my mind would be wondering what's going on here. Depending on my mood, health and whether I'm busy with something else or not, I might try to find out. Or I might not.

No pic doesn't bother me. I'm not a big one for photographing my av so my building alt went without a profile pic for over a year, mostly because I'd forgotten about it.

But no groups? How do you have a slife and not get into any groups? Every noob I've known has had groups, including some random ones because they ended up at a place with an auto-inviter and accepted. I suppose the groups could all be hidden, for whatever reason.

Groups are one of the things I look at when I'm trying to get a sense of a new person. The rest of the profile can be carefully curated to promote a certain image but groups give indications of how they actually use SL and what their interests are.

And to the OP - if you're not in any groups, you're missing out on an important vector for socialising and meeting new people.

[Sharing Home]

2 hours ago, Oeasiz said:

I've never made a group before, but you've still been super helpful! I was wondering what this group thing was about because it's an option within the settings of my house.

VERY IMPORTANT bit about groups - two accounts are required otherwise the group disappears. You have 48 hours to get the 2nd account in, so it's not difficult.

Second very important bit - things can happen to even the most wonderful of relationships so it's always a good idea to have an alt account of your own in the group.

The official page:

Edit: Don't worry about deeding, just know that it's something that doesn't apply to Linden Homes. Info on setting up a group on the page above.

[Wish list: Top 4 themes]

The idea of hobbit holes is intriguing. They could be tucked away underneath the Moles' landscaping, with a bit of front garden for your own. Done well, it could feel like a cozy and private retreat.

Then when the majority choose the same style and make it all shabby chic, the overall view would still have a lot of variety.

 

[Possible to block reactions from a forums user?]

The way I figure it, the sarcastic smiles crowd derives some enjoyment from placing their reactions so in the end it's like a positive smile

All depends on how you look at it 🙃

[Keyword spam ... will they ever learn ....]

8 hours ago, Pamela Galli said:

Hmm this is the first I have heard that using the correct pronoun is snooty.

It's a terribly posh upper class thing in the UK so it carries very different associations than in the US. Two countries, separated by a common language.

[How did you started in SL?]

The Bitsy is fae and a time lord. It has always been this way.

[The 1 LI Prim Challenge]

Have you posted these to Builders Brewery and other groups? Just to broaden out the pool of talent.

[The Maitreya v5 Hype(?) Thread]

1 hour ago, steeljane42 said:

You either overestimate the impact of it adding up or underestimate the impact of what people wear. Clothing, shoes and hairstyles with 500k+ triangles each do exist and are very common, people wear those "pets" and other fancy things all the time, they have their bits on, but hidden; the effect of making it inconvenient for many people and in some cases making it a pain to make clothing made in 5+ years work, is simple nothing compared to possible benefits.

Even onion layers, which have more impact I believe, are nothing compared to the rest.

I don't like to repeat myself and I already said same thing in similar thread, but think of it as percentages, instead of just "it adds up". Because, yeah, it might add up, but the drop in the ocean, if your scene with mid sized party already has 20m triangles in avis alone (and that's without anyone wearing heavy bodies, like belleza's or legacy). and, then you add the rezzed things, particles, etc. Do you really think you'll get any visible gains performance wise? Assuming you get 60fps and get whole 5% increase by magically removing alpha cuts, which is already unrealistic(I'd bet on 1-2% at most), that's 3 frames. If you're close to having a slideshow with 20fps, then 5% would get you 1 extra frame per second. Do you think you'd actually notice it in SL?

How about a third possibility? That I'm aware of the different impacts - I've been reading the mesh creation section regularly since I started making my own mesh years ago and this topic is well covered - and advocate for reducing data bloat in all aspects of the grid, especially when there's an alternative means of achieving what you want.

Alpha cuts are a cumbersome system invented as a work around to a specific problem. That work around comes at the cost of increased data bloat. With BOM we have a better solution to the problem and one which will reduce that data bloat. And it's not insignificant. A bit of mesh for SL can have at most 8 separate faces (the parts you can texture differently). EVERY single one of those alpha cuts is a face. And every single vertex along the joins between the faces is duplicated in the data. If you eliminate the need for all of those faces, then you need far fewer seams and duplicated vertices. Less data bloat.

Trying to educate creators and customers in this is an uphill battle and there will always be those who don't care or don't want change or will argue that it's such a mess there's no point in doing anything. Because mesh bodies are some of the most widely used items and there are relatively few creators, the better those are optimised the greater impact they'll have over all.

The costs of a return to alpha layers will be contained and short-lived. The benefits will endure.

[The Maitreya v5 Hype(?) Thread]

3 hours ago, Kweopi said:

is not about skills , more about time and money involved.  following your steps ,a medium skilled user will need 1hour work at least for an alpha and 10L upload.And now, let's pretend i have only 100 items in desperately need for alphas ( i have more, but i'll choose only the favs). What am i looking at is a prospect of future month working only for sl. 100 hours work and at least 1000 L spent ( if i get it right). Or i can use alpha cuts and wear them in no time.And all that for a benefit of a smaller, most of the time unnoticeable,  lag. All my appearance impact is never bigger than 40- 50k, so i don't think my alpha cuts will crash the sim.

Not everyone will need to reinvent the alpha layer for every outfit. Besides the free packages available, they can often be reused. I do it all the time when creators don't bother. I can make my own easily but haven't needed to since the early years of mesh. It's also so much simpler when trying out demos (much appreciation for the creators who still include alphas). Click, alphas sorted, done.

You're right about the impact of the extra geometry on a single av. If you slive as a hermit, maybe there's no need. For those of us who are out and about though, every small bit of extra data to download (which happens even with low jelly settings) adds up. Then add in all of the inefficient mesh and texture use that's so common. Multiply it by everyone and everything.

Taken individually, no big deal. But it all adds up to something which matters.

A return to alpha layers as the norm instead of alpha cuts would help with that problem.