Prokofy Neva

Where can you see that dancing bear?

I think the system is quite frankly designed to drive you to Premium Plus, if only for a month, because you get to keep the house you've picked with a PP account, even if you go back to regular premium a month later. I've done this once and may do it again.

That may be the reason. They may also have the logic that abandoned lots were chosen, after all, so could in theory be chosen again, unlike those not chosen, so why not put them back in the pool? They are more likely to be taken.

Oh, so you're saying ANOTHER strategy to play the Game of Homes is to use the alt NOT to hold the not-so-bad one so that you have at least *something* after 3 days, but to hold the dogs, so that they don't keep recurring. I'll try that next time!

I can't understand why it is so hard to have the system just not let you repeat what you alreay tried. You only get 5 tries. So that they aren't wasted, it shouldn't do repeats. OR if it *does* do repeats, it should generate another chance. Maybe that's easier to do? If I take 3 alts and work one themed house area for 3 days, that's 45 chances, correct? So why the same list over and over, and dupes on each one? I see not just desirable houses, but actually empty houses that just never appear in the list. Instead, it's the same limited stock, as if it is not drawing from the entire stock of non-taken Linden homes. I don't see how it could possibly be doing that, given the number of repeats over time, and sometimes in a row. If it were truly drawing from the entire stock of all vacant or abandoned Linden homes in a theme, there would be far fewer repeats. This is what I don't get.

Mendeleyev, call your office.

a pony

My first and only ranch home was styled as a venue on the steppes in Kazakhstan because I couldn't really see them as "Nebraska" or even "Upstate New York," i.e. any kind of "ranch" or "farm" that I'd ever seen in RL. They didn't make them perfectly flat as this would make them feel crowded, and that's fine, but the easements seemed to have either odd ponds or windmills on them that didn't really say "ranch". I agree that a field with a crop circle would have been really cool. Maybe it's the house styles as well that don't include "barn" from what I recall. I ended up changing to a Med for this reason. I think like all tech things, the Linden Bellisseria phenomenon is about white tech males who grew up largely in American suburbia having a vision, and then tasking to fulfill it a huge crew of people from all over the world who never lived in, let alone saw these styles. Also, even if you disagree that cultural norms and executions are not the issue, there's the hard reality that trying to convert RL buildings into SL is always a challenge because "math" or "isometric" or something something.

I've had this happen every time, and I've had to put in a ticket to solve it, and wait several days for it to be solved, so maybe it is a damper on Fantasseria uptake.

Yes, surely it's possible to do that? But maybe they have created a "stock list" and don't really give you "the entire list of what is really available". The thought occurred to me as I went through these same frustrations the other night. I kept finding that the really desirable one could never be captured, even while empty -- the system kept giving me the dogs around it. Days went by, and nobody else seemed to get that gem, either. Is this because the Lindens have a reserve of "really nice" ones that they leave for the Premium Plus people to choose, i.e. all-sides protected, waterfronts, etc.? This would be reasonable for them to do -- we don't know if they do this and they won't tell us. But...How hard would it be to ensure that you never get the same one again??? So the reason they won't change this must be due to the fact that they are keeping a set list -- not ALL the choices, not the prime lots, but just a set list that they hope to unload. Therefore, you are forced to play with several alts, at least to hang on to one more or less tolerable lot with one of the alts while you try with the others. I've had times when I've settled on the first try because what I was doing with the house didn't require actual "living" and a "feel" for a neighbourhood, but the stamp venue inside or a story I was making with the house as a prop. But most of the time I want it to be tolerable to hang out in, at least a few hours a week. Which is about all I can tolerate of Belli houses by contrast with my more spacious and in the end more diverse Mainland lots. See my thread elsewhere here about Sakurasseria for additional thoughts. Also I'd be curious to know what you mean as a good house. For me, a good house these days has to have at least two sides "protection" -- a Linden road, park, or waterway. Ideally, three or even a lucky four. Any less, and I feel I'm in the Pete Seeger "Little Boxes" song.

I wonder why that is. I thought that generally, Asian themes were popular in SL, judging from merchant events and so on. So I wonder why this is. Do real Asian people find that it is a Disney-like notion of what is "Asian" and dislike it? I would love to hear from them. Conversely, do non-Asian find it uncomfortable as not "familiar" enough from the themes they are used to? I will venture a more mundane guess: while the overall look of this suburban village look is nice, a fair number of the lots are dogs. In my first several times with a house in Sakurasseria, either a private home or one I made a venue for the SL Public Land Preserve, I thought "you can't go wrong in Sakurasseria". It seemed like it was very, very easy to get a waterfront house -- if you accepted that "waterfront" meant a canal. The canals had enough little parks in the middle of the waterways, and sweeping, majestic steps leading down to them in open areas, that they didn't seem cramped but interesting. I never felt my neighbours were on top of me if one part faced to a waterway, and the side was maybe a Linden road and a park, with maybe two sides "unprotected". To be sure, at my last waterfront house, I saw other green dots close by, and I wondered if they'd be annoyed by visitors using the chatGPT characters, if the chat went off my lot 96 meters. I never had any complates. You can now click an option to keep MOAP on your own parcel -- thank God, and I wish more people would click it. But chatting objects like a chatGPT character? No, it does not seem so from tests. Still, the place seemed empty. I went on some "walkabouts" and didn't encounter anyone for miles, even with the houses rather close together. And I think that's a problem -- the houses are very close together, and a lot of the styles are flat and one story, and that may make people feel more crowded than in a Victorian or a stilt. Then this time, I tried a bit of "Game of Homes". With one account, you only get five tries -- and using another browser brand doesn't work any more to add to the 5. But you can get 2-3 alts going trying -- if you have the stamina and time, and I don't. But I tried a few evenings working the GoH front -- and I was surprised how awful most of the choices were -- AND how I kept getting those awful choices *again* on the alts, as if there was a short list of dogs that the Lindens were trying to unload. Everyone has their own definition of what constitutes a good Belli home, and I think the Moles try to make as many "good" ones as possible with waterfronts, parks adjacent, easements, interesting geographical features. But the problem in Sakura is the urban features -- heavy roads, bridges, short stone walls -- kind of overwhelm the delicate Japanese feel when the lots have neighbours or even a corner street lot (which I usually accept). I think the biggest determinant for what makes a "good" Belli home is whether or not you feel your neighbours are on top of you. When people talk about "commuuuuunity" in Belli, they have to realize that it comes from affinity groups or general citizens' groups with activities like ferry rides -- NOT going over to immediate your neighbour's house to borrow a cup of sugar. You never see them or if you do, they scuttle away behind their ban lines to their skyboxes. In playing GoH, it was especially frustrating because some gorgeous 3 sides or even 4 sides protected lots kept getting a miss. That led me to wonder if the Lindens code some of the gems to be available essentially only to the Premium Plus account where you can put in a ticket with a specific request. I avoided that temptation -- I have only one Premium Plus account I'm happy with mainly for the huge savings on texture uploads but also the 2048 Linden home with a Med -- but more than one would really be an unnecessary expense. And...I wonder if the Moles feel they have the flexibility, if an area isn't selling, to simply tear up an entire sim, even if it means having to move some people out (but some appear entirely empty), and starting over with more ponds, waterways, parks or something to make them more desirable. After many log cabins and campers with glacial ponds or other types of ponds nearby, I thought I didn't care, but the Mole pond in Sakurasseria is so beautiful, that a lot even with neighbours chock full around me, the pond in the back was a real selling point. It has bamboo shoots and delicate flowers and a nice benh.

I am making a 1950s style tourist pamphlet giver "Area Attractions" and I want to put some locations to visit. I am reopening "Blogging Outpost" where you can pick it up (and freebies) although it is still under construction. I could not find a single resident or Mole stamp in Sakurasseria EXCEPT at the Shibu community center -- which is absolutely gorgeous, go visit if you have not yet. Did I miss any?? Also looking for any kind of clubs/galleries/bars or just a "house beautiful" open to the public. Too many ban lines in these areas! Gorgeous Mole pond here to enjoy. This one has a bench to sit on (unlike others).

There are many things I didn't like about that entire enterprise in that thread, but I'm puzzled why, if the goal is to avoid a "teleport home" -- wasn't that the goal? -- that you couldn't just select "eject" rather than "teleport home" as the optioni. The security system called LazyGuy has that option and no doubt others do (the Linden-created one offered in Bellisseria to comply with their regulations that it *not* teleport home.) "Teleport home" is a throwback to gaming mechanics where, if you fail to beat the boss, you "die" and have to go back home or back to some spawn point or something. It's super annoying. But are you saying that merely being bounced a bit under an "eject" is the issue, so that they want not even ejecting (which can force you on to another parcel, sometimes farther away than just a mere bounce). I fail to see why this "good" would override the senselessness of banning everyone who came on a parcel. The chief problem with this is that it bans a lot of your fellow tenants in a rental system -- where they, too, have ban powers and can merely reach into the parcel menu and unban themselves then. I do find some tenants come on a rental and sit and ban everyone they see on the sim because they fear all of them are bent on invading their privacy. "Avatars can see me" UNCHECKED never seems to be good enough for them, in combination with a normal white-listed ban system. I think "avatars can't see me" was a brilliant invention of the Lindens but there isn't the social trust in it that there should be.

I thought some of these were great in time for Fantasy Faire. It's just an expense I can't bear now. I wouldn't take "Ravenwood" because I like to be able to go on saying that none of my accounts/alts use anything resembling my business name, so that when griefers do this and harass groups on day-old accounts, it is easy to disavow them.

I can't for the life of me imagine any possible scenario where a script would have a bug of some kind, and it would then ban a specific avatar by name accidentally. Your scenario would make sense if, say, all the group land owners or members or some known quantity like that accidentally all got banned by some mechanism from their own land. But an outsider? Coming for the first time? That is simply not possible UNLESS you are using that script that bans everyone as they come on the sim. I will find the link to that discussion and return. UPDATE: This operates by first banning everyone who comes on a sim, then deleting them as there isn't a space to hold them all.

There's a certain person who claims he banned me "by accident due to a scripting error". Let us look at this generically. I'm not a scripter, but I know enough about scripts and their uses and misuses, and how to do a bit of editing on them, to know that this story does not hold up. First, there's the issue that if you are running a public venue, open to the public, i.e. not your private skybox, in my view, you shouldn't have a banning system in place of this nature in the first place. That's my default. I don't use them; I don't allow ban lines or orbs of any kind on the ground in my rentals, full stop. They can be used in skyboxes only. So, there are only certain ways that someone can end up in a ban list: 1. The land owner manually enters you into the ban list. 2. The land owner has a ban system that uses a stock list of shared names to ban which are used communally. This was long ago proposed by the operator of the Shelter, and I vehemently opposed it back then, because I thought it would be misused, and of course it was. I don't know if shared ban lists as an automated feature still exists, but of course some owners do share ban lists anyway, manually, and possibly automatically. 3. The land owner used an open source list being touted here on the forums that functions by first banning everyone on the sim, then letting them out of the list after X amount of time. This might make sense if you are trying to keep your private home, especially a skybox, free of bots or intruders, although I think it sounds like a riotous public nuisance. 4. You use a certain product that has me in the ban list as a "sample griefer". 5. You turn on a ban system that automatically closes your lot and keeps everyone out who isn't whitelisted. So, no. 5 does not seem to be the case, as other people would come and go from this venue. I tested an alt who was also banned, so I had to conclude that either I was unlawfully banned by IP address using systems still available on the MP, or again, manually banned, and someone who knew my alts added them. No. 3 is a possibility, but it doesn't make sense to me to use this kind of overkill for -- again -- a public venue on the mainland that isn't a club. What's most likely is the shared banning system or a manual ban. It's not the case that this "scripting error" banned everybody because not only did other people go there when I was there -- no one else complained that they couldn't get into the site, i.e. the land wasn't put with ban *lines* -- that would be different like "group only". This was a ban with *my name in the ban list*. So my attitude towards this phenomenon is: 1. Anyone who uses any ban system of any kind on an open mainland vanue expecting high public traffic is a control freak and doesn't understand what "open to the public means". Again this isn't a club, where trouble can happen, drama, griefing, fights, etc.; it's just a sight-seeing transportation hub sort of deal where no one stays for long. 2. It's possible to put in bans manually when griefing occurs, and not use automated shared lists or anything automated. This is not a griefable area (like a club). So again, the "scripting error" alibi is nonsense, the sort of thing people say when they imagine you will be baffled by some tech reference. What I see here is not a scripting error, but an error in judgement, using an automated banning system of any kind (especially the "shared list" type or the "ban on entry to sim temporarily" type) or using a product that has a "sample list of griefers" with actual residents' names in it, without recourse. So, my attitude towards this incident is that this person should be manually banned from my venues and should admit they are prevaricating. Technical assessment welcome.

I would love to see a community like this as I am interested in Korean culture and architecture. I would say off the bat that it sounds like you are renting a homestead rather than getting one yourself, which I would urge you to do, because then you can have complete control over it. I have one homestead (grandfathered) with only three tenants on it -- I would never attempt 8, it is just too few prims and too much lag. In fact 3 works because I'm one of them who is never there, with a venue with only a few visitors a day, and only one other tenant regularly builds -- if all three of us were there every night building and having visitors, we would feel it. I used to have six -- that was trouble enough, which is why I cut it into thirds, with the middle third a public area with the Belarus installation. Half region would be better -- and there I should you should buy mainland -- find an abandoned area which you can purchase from the Lindens for $1/m. You can find mature, flat pretty land and even waterfront (look on the auctions as well although I personally avoid them because land barons bid up the prices). To re-rent from someone means you are paying more most likely. I think it's important especially if you are going to try to put that many people even on a half region that you have a commons area for a landing which is open and spacious which helps make the whole area feel less crowded. You could decide whether or not to allow pets and animesh like toddlers that collide, as collisions will really lag out a homestead.

? Well, at least this is good exercise for the Fantasy Faire hunt coming up which is always nearly impossible... Still looking for no. 1...

So...thanks for this tip but it didn't work for me yet. I first accidentally stumbled on *one* of the Swaginators -- I think it was no. 2 -- but couldn't find it again. I then went looking in search of the first one using the HUD clue, first using the map where I thought it would be, trying different things, then abandoning that and using your bus stop clue. First of all, not all bus stops even have pictures. Some do, some don't. Those that do may have Swaginators, but after spending about 45 minutes going to maybe 6 of them, I got nothing. Maybe I'm not seeing them, I'm on a lousy computer, but they are pretty gigantic and I think I'd see them. So at this point I'm giving up until I hear another relevant clue.

An article about the SWAGINATOR in SL Newser https://slnewser.blogspot.com/2024/04/announcement-bellisseria-swagginator.html

Alazarin still has her show three times a week in Crescent and also streams to YouTube and Facebook. There's been a bunch of new songs since then! WTF at 4 pm SLT http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Crescent/90/91/52

Are you going to any venue like a live music performance that has a Shoutcast server? These can be used to pick up your IP address. But it would have to be him with access to that Shoutcast AFAIK. Is there any situation that is like this? I think it's good you are determined to have a Second Life and be rid of this creep. I have a really creepy former tenant who was evicted for putting multiple alts into a one-per-person rental who has stalked me for 4 years and said the craziest, insane stuff, and no amount of abuse reporting cures this so basically I just keep blocking and banning as the alts turn up and go on my way. The best thing to do with griefers is log off, don't engage with them, even 10 minutes will help break the vicious circle.

Except the *relief corps* of a state's military including the US *are* allowed to use the symbol for the narrow purpose of relief. Read up on it. Red Cross Emblem Symbolizes Neutrality, Impartiality Those entities using it have to be neutral and deliver aid only. That's all. It's not that they can't be part of the military. Russia uses the red cross to move armaments into Ukraine, and not only their dead soldiers *out*, but entire factories they are stealing.

The official name of the "Red Cross" is the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which I saw in action in my many years at the UN in various NGOs. In addition to the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, there is the Magen David Adom, the Israeli branch which uses the Jewish symbol of the Star of David -- this took a certain fight to get approved years ago. You're right that the symbol cannot be used unless authorized by the bearers of the Geneva Convention which is the ICRC (which themselves tilt towards the anti-Israel faction prevalent in the world with their public denunciations of Israel and their silence on abuses by countries such as Russia, Uzbekistan, Iran, etc.) This is the way of the UN. The Russians constantly misuses this symbol by letting combatants use it for all kinds of illegitimate purposes unrelated to first aid. So technically you are correct. Except this is a virtual world run by a private company with no outlet in the real world involved in real crisis zones where something might be misconstrued. The ICRC has not come chasing down some little RP group in SL with 117 members who wants to do play-cop and play-nurse. The point about international law is that it is not enforceable, the ICRC obviously doesn't have an army. It has publicity and moral persuasion only as its "armaments". So while you are part of the "moral majority" here doing what the "moral majority" does best -- denounce other people -- you should spend your efforts on things like the suffering of the people of Gaza and the trouble relief workers have reaching them -- Red Cross, Red Crescent, Red Star of David, notwithstanding.