Mags Indigo

Storm Clarence wrote: If I understand correctly, the "hangout" on the sim Allana is hosting a Paddy's Day bash. Yes it is and I'm the 'DJ' (loosely put) for the event. So if anyone wants to hear a genuine Irish accent (meaning no one will understand a word I say) and some of the best Irish music both trad and more up to date - it might be worth checking out. 6pm SLT is the start time - it ends when I fall asleep (as 6pm = 1am my time who knows when that might be). :smileytongue:

Matty Luminos wrote: That's actually... really disturbing, and discriminatory. Especially since that word was bleeped and "gay" isn't... so, what, gay girls are more offensive than gay men? :smileymad: I wonder if Californian anti-discrimination laws would cover that? To be really honest I don't take it that personally, and I'm sure SL or LL have no agendas at all against gay people - either male or female - it is about 'Political Correctness for the kids' gone into overdrive. As Cabbage mentions below LL is trying to be all things to all people - and that's virtually impossible in any area, especially impossible in a virtual world set up to allow people to explore their fantasies. So back to my original question - the kids have had no real effect at all - but the 'protective layers' put in place to protect LL from any trouble is (imo) having quite an effect in ways that are still subtle and almost invisible (in reality very few as a % of residents use the forums), but I fear over time this will impact more and more on everyday life in SL. I guess all those who argued that the place needed 'cleaning up' are getting their wish. It will be interesting to see if SL will be a viable virtual experience once all the 'filth' is cleaned out though!

Penny Patton wrote:<snip> I'm planning to start selling a line of properly scaled and proportioned shapes in the near future, since I've only seen one or two people selling shapes like that. That's terrific Penny - let us all know when you do please. :smileyhappy:

Cabbage Acanthus wrote: I think the changes in the forums are a pretty clear example of some of the changes of late. I headed to the moderate and adult lands so things really haven't changed for me inworld, yet. There have been some small changes. Some areas have changed their ratings to properly adhere to the rather restrictive ratings system for example. <snip> So, to answer your question. No, the teens have not caused a big impact on my SL experience...yet. I do think that long term, all of SL will wind up exactly like this forum has. Whether that is a good or bad thing depends entirely on one's point of view. I agree pretty much with all of this - for me the biggest 'thing' about bringing kids onto the main grid was not so much the impact they themselves would have (despite some of the horror scenarios being put forward) but rather that it denoted a trend by LL - a trend that was distinctly not in favour of adult content. Now I have very little interest in adult content but the thing that really inspired me about SL from my first day was the fact that it was a truly grown up place where anything could happen. Strip clubs sat next to shops and bars and none ever seemed to mind too much as long as people kept to their own space. Now I see a trend towards 'nice' places up for public show, shops that sell 'appearance' but in a nice 'clean' way and adult being marginalized more and more. That will undoubtedly make some people very happy but I'm not sure in the long run if it will help SL to grow. This week I decided I would move to Zindra - not because I want to do anything X Rated, but I just want to see if I can regain that gritty, grown up feeling that SL had before all of this clean up began. It also struck me as quite funny that when in another thread I referred to myself as a... female gay person ... the word got bleeped out by auto bleeper. It appears that 'kids' are to be sheltered from normal language too - if it even hits as something someone might find offensive. I can't help but wonder does that mean that I am offensive simply by my existance on the forums.

*Waves hi to Cabbage - good to see you about. I do agree with your comments - I don't think it's possible to get rid of spam entirely but the hours and hours of it in UK/Euro time can really be annoying. I'm not really advocating that 'we' should actually have to give up anything to get rid of them - but it has generated a rather useful discussion I think :smileyhappy:

This is interesting - recently I has cause to buy quite a lot of L$ inworld (through the system on the viewer -so all legal). My ability to buy any more L$ was put on hold and I presume LL had a quick look to make sure I wasn't doing anything dubious. After a few hours my account was reactivated and all I had lost was some shopping hours while I couldn't access money. A bit inconvenient but I'd rather LL were alert than otherwise. Now if I had contacted LL and perhaps allowed my frustration to show by becoming somewhat over-excited or a bit abusive I might have found the situation took longer than a few hours to be resolved. Sometimes approach is everything I find, and I'm always hesitant to make too many comments about other people's issues - because you never have the full story - even when they insist you have! Good luck though.

Seicher Rae wrote:<snip> Sigh. What was the topic about? Giving up freedoms or something? Yes I must admit that the fact that my description (perfectly accurate) of myself getting bleeped out is in a way a perfect example of the ironiy I intended when starting this thread.

I was thinking the exact same thing Tolya. However I do think the grid is getting blander somehow. I've moved to Zindra to see if I can get that'grown up' feeling back.

Finora Kuncoro wrote: I'm not sure if AVs are actually getting any shorter... But watching Alice in Wonderland last night I was struck by how many AVs in SL resemble Ilosovic Stayne the Knave of Hearts All funny looking like they were stretched on a rack Lol you are so right there... now is that just a coincidence???

Seicher Rae wrote: Well many people have voiced "why give up anything?" to get rid of the spam because it is just ... odd ... (being kind) that the spam isn't being dealt with anyway! So I'll "ditto" those comments. As for giving up freedoms, well like in Animal Farm everyone here is equal just some more equal than others and some people have more free speech here than others. /me grins and is enjoying the irony & is thinking up blog posts Hiya Mags. The crush still continues, fyi. <3 (LoL) Will hoist a pint to you on St. Paddy's... I do tend to agree you know - I was merely sparking 'conversation' - which did work. On the crush thing - nah you're far too straight for an old **bleep** like me - but carry on.... :smileywink: Edit - I used a naughty word apparantly, who would have thought that being female and gay was a bleep thing!!!

Hi Canoro - muting the spammers would be wonderful - maybe eventually it will happen - one way or the other :smileyhappy:

Carole Franizzi wrote:<snip> To answer your initial question, Mags. I'd rather wade through any amount of spam than be treated like a five-year old by the short-sighted, ungrateful company to which I've given hundreds and hundreds of quid over the last couple of years. There seem to be many who feel the same way Carole - unfortunately because disenchanted people either rant too much (and can be ignored as a consequence) or say nothing - or very little - that voice gets lost in all the shouting - if you get my drift. It's easy to ignore a ranting fool or a silently fuming individual. :smileyindifferent:

@Carole - Nope you've not got it wrong - that about sums it up. LL are fairly tolerant of grumbles and negative comments - but it all HAS to be related directly to SL.

I don't think there's a limit to how many Kudos you can give - as long as they are given to different posts of course. You can also revoke a Kudo if you wish. I don't think rank has anything got to do with it at this stage either. But as these forums are still a 'work in progress' I hesitate to say anything for definite just now. :smileyhappy:

Carole Franizzi wrote:<snip> What's missing, I think, is an adult-only, visible-to-SLers only congregation space where your contributions don't have to fit neatly into a labeled box (art, animations, commerce...bla bla). I rather thought that un-fettered thought processes and creativity were what brought this place into being in the first place. Or maybe such a place already exists but it's tucked away in some dark corner I haven't stumbled upon yet. Lurve, C. We have been asking for this and it seems LL do have plans for an Adult only private thingy (not sure what form) but it will only be open to adult content creators and adult business owners etc. It seems it will be by invite though one can contact Blondin if one wishes. I think LL see it as a way of adult business being able to discuss that business without offence to the 'general public' though - rather than an area where free discussion will be allowed. Time will tell. Carole Franizzi wrote: PS Thanks - my silks are hawt, aren't they? Tie-dyed 'em myself. That explains a lot... :smileyindifferent:

Kidd Krasner wrote: I've read through this thread, but probably haven't caught up on all the related threads since the switch. But it occurs to me that thread titles are a major annoyance with spam, even if you never read the contents of a spam thread. Therefore, with respect to titles of new threads only: Prohibit special characters other than hyphen (the minus sign), period, comma, colon, apostrophe, double quotes, and question mark. This would allow accented characters and others needed for foreign languages, but prohibit wing dings, stars, other fancy glyphs, and most especially, the dollar sign and other currency symbols. Prohibit more than one special character in a row, other than ... (ellipses) or -- (double hyphen to represent a dash).. Prohibit more than three consecutive capital letters (ignoring spaces and punctuation), and more than one capital letter within a word (to allow names such as McDougal). Prohibit more than three letters in a row that are separated only by spaces or punctuation. This boils down to not allowing the titles to be used as visual attention-getters. The forums aren't intended for advertising (other than some of the commerce-related ones), and with those, the attention-getting titles quickly drown each other out. All of your ideas make perfect sense to me - and I'm sure with a bit of 'tweaking' LL could probably come up with even more ideas for limiting spammers by just putting limits on how they can name their threads. And I really can't understand why it's not being done - though saying that... things are very very quiet here today!!!

Carole Franizzi wrote: Hiya Mags. I've been absent for several months but over the last few days I've been checking out the forums again (haven't quite made it in-world yet and may not for a while yet...initially didn't have time...now can't really be bothered...funny how you can lose the SL habit so totally...) and, looking around, I'm wondering if the spam problem wasn't the very least of the threats to the "freedom" of the forumites. The SL forums always were (and appear even more so now) a corporate voice-box and serve only one master. The little spammy issue was actually a visible but very minor nuisance. PS Isn't it odd that there seem to be so many more topics, categories and threads and yet not that much you feel the urge to contribute to? Carole - 'tis lovely to see you out and about in the forums again and I hope to run into you inworld sometime as well (as we've never actually met). I think there's a few things that have changed in the forums... We at last have the moderation we were always asking for but as you so rightly put it - that doesn't necc. mean greater freedom of expression but rather that the forums are now being 'guided' down a 'corporate voice-box' to promote the image of SL that LL want to promote - as it's their business that's what they are entitled to do whether we like it or not. There are so very many headings and 'sub forums' that there is actually a lack of a 'community chat space' - it's all very sectioned out and in my opinion that takes some of the spontaneity away. There are too many hidden choices and unless you dig through all the various sections you can easily miss out on the best and most informative discussions. Off Topic was hoped to be the replacement for the old GD - but with less nastiness and less AR abuse. Unfortunately it's become just another 'room' to discuss SL. Also as posts in Off Topic don't get any points people naturally tend to take their posts to somewhere they will be counted. As for inworld - it is funny how a break can put the whole thing into perspective and you find you need/enjoy the SL experience less and less. That's something LL need to be aware of too - it's actually quite easy to lose the 'old reliables' if you make SL seem less tuned in to their needs and wants - and that includes on the forums and all the other 'public presentations' of SL. Anyway - I've ramaished on long enough - nice silks btw :smileytongue:

This is the official line... 'The Kudos option is available in Second Life Answers, the Knowledge Base and the Creation Forums. For any content that you like, just click on the Kudos button to show your agreement with an answer or comment. Kudos let you vote for the messages that you think are the most useful or important. Kudos boost the value of a message, which may turn it into a hot topic. This extra visibility may encourage others to read the message.' Hope that helps :smileyhappy:

Thanks Penny - I will check both of them out very soon :smileyhappy:

Ciaran Laval wrote: I'll tread on eggshells and respond, what do you mean by on the ground? There are loads of problems due to the kids, events, search, word filters, marketplace listings, none of these are directly due to the kids, I haven't seen any issues from them, it's LL being scared to death of the kids finding inappropriate content and not planning properly that are causing the problems. On the ground = actually in SL itself :smileyhappy:I do agree - the kids themselves don't seem to be a bother at all - indeed as so many have said throughout the 'great kid debate' they have always been in SL anyway albeit 'illegally'. It does seem like LL doesn't quite know 'exactly' what they want sometimes - and they sort of move the pieces about hoping to get a better fit without actually thinking it through. But then - we are but customers and they are the business people! :smileyindifferent:

@Penny - really good points - all of them. I do think that as 'short' avis become more and more common more people will adapt - now the clothing and attachment isse is something else entirely. I do think the introduction of Mesh might offer an opportunity to look at things differently. Thanks for the detailed reply :smileyhappy:

Celestiall Nightfire wrote: I hope so! I'm 5'1" in RL and have always had a somewhat shorter SL avatar as that just feels like "me". But, even though I've made my SL avatar a ginoramus 5'5"....I'm still shorter than most other avatars. <snipped> I hope so too celestiall - smaller avis just look more 'natural' - though I do think somewhere between 5'6" and 6' is the 'average short' still. :smileyhappy:

Caitlyn Gothly wrote: Wouldnt say i was lucky....it can be handy to get served in a packed bar lol I would like to be shorter sometimes....so i could blend in the background a bit Cait I guess each of us 'envies' something about others - I'd like to be a wee bit taller - and I understand your 'blend in' wish. Aren't we a funny old lot - people I mean! :smileyindifferent:

Cato Badger wrote: The average reading age of forum participants has gone down to about 15 years. I've had a tiring week - I'll improve next week, maybe.

Holocluck Henly wrote: I'll be honest with you. In some of the sims I frequent, they've had kids faking their ages to get in for some time. The fakers are very conspicuous and immature. I think the few times I've conversed with a "legit" teen resident, they've been far more mature and articulate. When Teen Bay City merged with ours, most of the teens promptly sold, so they don't seem to be evident there For as long as I've been in SL there have been teens there - they just 'lied' about their age on registration. To be honest if I were 16 or 17 now and thinking of joining SL I'd be tempted to do that too rather than go down the legit route. In fact I'd not be surprised if most of our legit teens don't have alt accounts for accessing mature areas anyway. It's all smoke and mirrors as far as I'm concerned. I feel a wee bit 'jaded' this week I think.