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Prokofy Neva

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Posts posted by Prokofy Neva

  1. I'm not getting all the Victorian couch-fainting here.

    For 40 years, I've had to send invoices over open email systems with my Social Security Number on them for the purpose of getting payment for services for my self and for  tax purposes of my clients. Most people are not going to go to the inconvenience of an encrypted email system to receive and pay your invoice. I have never suffered an identity theft attack although of course these are common. They can be very annoying but if it happens you work with SSA and police and get it solved. I think it's excessive worry from a non-American here about the SS# which is handed over everywhere these days for credit cards, medical care, etc. No, you don't want to give it out over the phone to strangers, but your employer, bank, doctor, credit cards etc. all have it and THEY communicate with you over non-encrypted emails. I understand this is a cultural reaction and there's nothing to be done about it but Tilia is hardly likely to start a demand for encrypted email because it is cumbersome to use. Systems that force 2fa on you lose customers.

    Yes indeed it is cumbersome, as I know from using it daily and have done so for years. Why? The single most annoying thing about encrypted email systems is that if you lose your password, or you are demanded a password again and can't recall it because you cleared cache or you're away from home on your phone or at another terminal, to get it again, you have to sacrifice all your previous saved email to start a new one -- it won't keep them.

    And I'll go you one better -- Europeans think nothing of handing around their bank account number endlessly, and put it on open fund-raising appeals, etc. with the expectation that you will do a bank-to-bank funds transfer. Checks are not used as commonly as they are in the US. Sending a bank transfer, even allowing for recent advances where you can do this online (usually), is an annoyance that most Americans will not bother with, and you then have lost a sale or donation. Americans also think it odd that you are handing a stranger your very bank account number. That's their psychology.

    Keep in mind that every European country is different, even being in the EU -- and every state in the US is different despite being also in a federal system. And if you personally don't feel this is your psychology, there will be another country or state for whom it *is*. 

    On my own computer, I keep my invoice Word documents or copies of PayPal invoices in an encrypted file so that if my computer itself is hacked, I'm not making it easier for any hacker. But if I want to satisfy IRS requirements (and even at my little level I've been audited twice in my lifetime) and want to have customers, I am going to have to suffer this "ghastly encroachment on my privacy" with open emails.

    As I've noted before, for the tax year of 2023, the 1099K demand has been delayed yet again because of coordination problems. So PayPal is not sending them out. I don't know why Tilia is, but I didn't receive one and should have as I am registered with Tilia, with my SS#, and cash out regularly.

    You'll have to talk to your accountant about whether you as a non-American citizen are required to pay any taxes. I report my income from Europe and pay taxes on it even though I never get any paperwork from people in these countries. 

    Also many in the US get confused about the $600/mo requirement. That's the limit for the EMPLOYER to report or not report you -- and it's in their interest so they can write you off as an expense on their own return to the IRS. But you must report any income, even if under $600/month. Perhaps you can get away with it if you did not receive a 1099 or 1099K but you are required to report income; $599/mo is $7188 per year.

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  2. 7 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

    Yes! It's pretty ancient, and with a storied history. I have pics of myself there going back at least 15 years, and there are others here who have been members a fair bit longer than that. It used to have pretty regular parties and stuff, but those have been tapering off, I guess as people get busy. And a fair number of FC members haven't actually been active on the forums for years and years. There was a time when it was pretty representative, certainly, of a lot of the more active posters here, but that hasn't been the case in a long time.

    It's a nice place, though. You should visit -- although it's generally fairly quiet these days.

    I'm sure Maddy would be more than delighted to deploy her torch again. She's always up for a bit of arson (especially if it involves immolating one of my pics).

    I love not belonging to groups that would not have me as a member, it's great : )

    • Haha 1
  3. 15 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

    I think curated examples of Adult communities should be part of Welcome island, but I'd like to see it done in a way that conforms to Linden Lab's own rules about not advertising Adult venues on G-rated land. How about one separate Moderate region with a dance club, a roleplay hub, and links to Adult sims and and venues? Maybe call it "SL After Dark"?  😎

    If the sponsors of Motown pull the plug on their region, maybe?

    I think "SL After Dark" is a brilliant title and that's a great idea and they simply must do it if they REEEAAAALY want to retain customers. I personally think the adult side of SL is really only like 25% of the activity because really, most of the activity is shopping and dressing up in hopes for that adult activity that never comes lol. Or else there are people who have adult activity in RL and use SL simply for other reasons, a business, an art gallery, a hangout with friends, etc. It's not THAT large that it should overwhelm the whole "look" of SL. But it shouldn't be hidden or ignored.

    Surely the Motown people wouldn't object to having their brand next to "adult" would they? What songs do they think people play while they are bumping the pixels?

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  4. 19 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

    But I take it with me, and so do many others.

    I personally can't take my most beloved friend in SL, 3461 miles away, with me into my RL here because of distances, passports, visas, the cost of plane tickets and hotels, and COVID -- for the immunocompromised. Plus who knows, sometimes SL relationships that can overlook a lot of RL realities evaporate on contact with real life.

    So maybe you have magic teleportation powers; I don't. The bonds of friendship in SL are real and I have had some for the entire 20 years I've been in SL. But at the end of the day, they can't take me to the hospital and pick me up, they are across the country or across the globe. It's just the reality of virtuality.

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  5. On 1/29/2024 at 7:19 PM, Luna Bliss said:

    I'm always amazed at what can be learned in a virtual world.  I think I've told the story before about one of my Second Life store customers who sent an email to me, using so much profanity that I had to look up some of the words I'd never heard before.  He was pissed!

    Upon opening the email I kind of went into shock just reading the major fit he was having.

    I imagine most would shoot something angry back at him, and maybe I would have in the past, or at the very least be a little snarky. And then he would have responded back with hate and angry words and nothing good would have come from the interaction.  But I tried something different -- I responded in love. I simply asked him to describe the problem in a clearer manner and explained he was the first to have such trouble with this particular product.

    The next day I got an email from him apologizing profusely, explaining that he was drunk and incompetent but that now all was well with his item.

    This is when I learned how love/acceptance can change hate/anger into love.  It's very easy to diffuse the feelings of angry/upset people -- don't reflect it back to them.  Instead send back love. It can change everything!

    I've tried this numerous times and it's amazing.

    So have you learned or experienced anything about love in Second Life?   Please share your experience -- kindness showed to others, romantic love, friendship...whatever. All worlds are ripe for learning.

    Answer to your question: "A second-hand emotion." It's all virtual, even if the people are real and do experience real feelings. But at the end, you can't take it with you.

    The number of people driving-SL-while-drunk is always high as some people think that they can cover up their alcoholism and drinking alone by talking to others in SL -- and generally being annoying and abusive and not even remembering it the next day. It's awful, and they should have AA chapters in SL.

     

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  6. I have never, ever found the skyboxes with bolted-in furniture to be very popular with tenants and that matters. All tenants want to remove or move things and while the Varonis skyboxes are a great start for some, and serve some niches, they are too dark and BDSM-y for most tastes. I agree with the other commenters that you should buy the skybox, then look for the furniture to fill it. And having bought 100s of adult beds in 20 years, I can tell you that none of them really work that well, that most people want their own special thing they get used to, and choosing them by how they look and not how the anims actually play out is a big mistake.

    So the new Miyabi skybox by dust bunny is my latest big enthusiasm, $1400, only 125 prims, two storey, and fabulous Japanese sensibility without the wasabi patterns in your face -- just simple wood beams and floors more like a Finnish or Quaker sort of experience.

    I would go to Black Sand for furniture. Also Bricolage which has nice sets and Naturi.

    People like myself put rentals together completely furnished but I find that the first thing tenants want to do is throw out all that painstakingly placed stuff you put out and have their own things around them, even if chairs from the Library. 

  7. 7 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

    Stamina, nothing - I seriously doubt I have the stomach for it.

    They can speak for themselves and explicate their own story but I think it's not the worst thing for the first round. BTW they got their start with one of the early Linden "contests" which involved giving away an entire sim to a group which could justify a use for it. They hardly got any applicants because people weren't dummies -- they realized the set-up cost of the sims -- which then were much higher, like around $1000 -- were the least of the expenses as the *ongoing tier* -- which was higher then as well -- would be what would kill them. How could they sustain a payment every month of $300+? Few people had that to shell out on an early virtual world.

    The contest was handled by Haney Linden who then went on to be Pierre Omidyaar's program officer in his foundation. The community called Neufriestadt won the contest and put up an Alpine village with a socialist ideology behind it articulated extensively on the forums. At that time there were a few other similar groups, some around Caledon -- hence the name "Confederation" although by this time I think it's basically not so much a confederation of distinctly separate thriving groups but more a coalition of those who remain, on a few sims with stores and sailing. Again, such groups never think you understand them enough so let them explain themselves. I wouldn't have led that card if I were doing what is essentially a MEDIA CAMPAIGN to drive membership. Many users are Americans, like it or not, and they don't get socialism although they have it in some forms.

    I suppose we should be grateful that the Lindens didn't go Gorean on this round.

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  8. 1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

    I went and checked it out.

    I was surprised how "few" groups were there.

    I was confused by the concept of "CDS - Confederation of Democratic Simulators" ("Owned and operated by its elected citizens"..)

    I liked the ambient sounds.

    All I saw were: Black Rock, Caledon, Second Norway, a DJ booth, Virtual Ability (disability support group), NPC - Non Profit Commons, Boystown, Drivers of Second Life

    7 things / groups total (not counting the DJ booth).

    Not very "diverse"..

     

    The CDS was founded by socialists who wound up in fact having to move to a more medieval smallholders/craftsmen kind of society which I think is more like the ancient veche system of Novgorod, let's say, than say, UK Labour Party type socialism.

    That's because they have to have merchants to rent parts of the land and then pay for it with selling content or activities or merely out of their own pocket. They don't really have the ability to "tax and spend" (although they can simulate this with having people donate to collective kitties). They don't "own their own simulators" -- they rent them the way all of us do our islands. They just mean that they agree *collectively* on what the community will do -- this or that building or activity or priority.  Everyone who has been in SL for any length of time knows how hard it is to get groups of people to do things -- and pay equally for them -- in SL. Most projects are run by one very strong male persona with a subservient female or male helping him and then wider circles around them. They are run like fiefdoms or principalities or large Catholic families or whatever meme you want to use, but it's "Father Knows Best" and Mom is baking cookies and saying "Ward, speak to the boys..." That's because it's very hard to get things done in general in RL, let alone in virtuality, without a strong, determined personality to actually dig the soil and pay the tier and push the prims.

    Very few communities are collective in any way at all. They don't stand around collectively building and removing each other's prim as Soft Linden would dream of (and Philip back in the day). They commission builds. Or a sole builder makes something to spec. They don't have meetings and decide things democratically at all -- usually one person decides and the rest go along or don't.

    So in that sense the CDS is an interesting experiment if you have the stamina for such things. I have RL boards I am on or groups I support with RL functions that give me plenty of that "democratic centralism" and DSA experience without having to go into SL.

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  9. When I saw this video, I felt sorry for the Lindens -- they are stepping on the same rake again -- and yes, they tried this years ago, only in that age, while they had Desmond's Caledon, they had Cubey Terra's airport, where people could take airplane rides and collect some free flying vehicles, and several other oldbie venues (I believe "Riverwalk" with its art shows and fireworks) which are long dead now, after their managers first became Lindens (like Cubey), then sometimes died in RL or went on to other worlds beyond SL.

    The good news is that sensing what a conflict generator this caper is, the Lindens started off acknowledging that in principle "anyone" could apply to get a scarce, high profile exhibit spot on this newbie landing island and therefore potentially get traffic windfalls and sales, I might add -- that's why there can be a stampede to these things. I won't be applying because I no longer have a team at the venue I used to run (Memory Bazaar in Ross) -- with a builder, volunteers, interested store owners, etc. -- to greet and help newbies. I and a few store owners still do it occasionally now but since the Lindens turned off "set home to here" at many of the infohubs (a mysterious and destructive action), often they are AFK or just want to get the hell out of any sort of orientation trap and get to the clubs and shopping. And God bless 'em, that's what SL is for.

    I winced when I saw "Boystown," a venerable LGBT group which is decidedly NOT about taking boy children in RL or SL and "turning them gay," although I always thought it was unfortunate they chose for their name a vintage classic of old American movies feature Bing Crosby as a Catholic priest -- the RL Boystown was a place for runaway boys to go to for refuge during the Depression. The SL Boystown is indeed on adult sims but so what? The Lindens need to embrace the reality of their product since they readily sell these adult sims for adult activities. They could easily make G-M-A designations even for that welcome island but even that isn't necessary. People are grownups who come into SL, or should be, and they'll figure it out soon enough.

    I winced when I saw another child avatar avatar representing Bay City -- because when the media sees this without preparation, and feeding the usual prejudices and insanities -- they will come away and say "OMG child predators in virtual worlds my God hide the wife, hide the children, call the MAGA senators". I really wish the Lindens had put some more thought into the optics of a thing like this in THIS country at THIS time with THESE primaries going on. Of course, they live in California, which is a different country even than New York, let alone Texas.

    As for the Confederation of Democratic Simulators, or Confederation of Simulated Democracy ("democracy in one sim," as Trotsky might say) this needs the adjective "socialist" in front of it but in principle, sure, it's like an old European social democracy with some nice buildings and venues and maybe will appeal to aged members of the UK Labour Party or German SD, I don't know, you tell me. I go there for the stamps in the BBB game , and muse upon the days when Ulrika Zugzwang emulated the Russian Social Democrats and blew up her own created buildings rather than leave them to the community. You know, I'm too old. I remember too much. Amnesia would be a blessing in some ways.

    Then there's the no-show booths with the very hazy missions like "Non Profit Commons" which is supposed to bring together "all" NGOs but honestly, it's a specific type of NGO with lefty politics -- NGOs I myself would respect in RL -- but really aren't positioned to "serve the virtual masses" seeking info on how to turn their system bodies mesh. That was never their mission.

    I have to wonder why Corsica South Coast wasn't there at the very get-go as they represent a very sturdy set of people and activities, art shows, live music, clubs, interesting hang-outs and sights to see, etc. Hopefully they will come in to the next round.

    Why Club Furzona and not Luskwood is also a mystery but who knows, people are on different time zones, I don't know how much time went into this and maybe they weren't reached. Furries are a big part of SL -- some people from the outer world are already in furry conventions, that is legitimate.

    Mieville is another obvious group that should be included -- the Lindens have taken over their reduced number of sims now since the death of Perryn Peterson (in one of their rarely-bestowed "preservation" largesses, which has its pluses and minuses). They have more activities than any other group I know -- dances, readings, discussions, informal chats, libraries, merchants' events, themed occasions, etc. etc. It's very furry/tiny/LGBT friendly and Steampunk themed but loose enough so that norms like me are welcome. 

    Of course most of the exhibits included here actually sell rentals or content and the Linden positioning helps that. Bay City is fantastically expensive, so I'm not sure why including that in the newbie pitch makes sense, not because newbies are poor -- they are six-figure computer professionals in some cases -- but because they don't readily drop their cash in the first few days and weeks. The Bay City activities themselves aren't frequent enough to allow for heavy newbie greeting but good luck, perhaps they'll retain some people. That is the goal.

    There is a large, vibrant Black museum/club/art gallery scene in SL (Motown is more of an outside corporate thing) which the Lindens should have included in the first round, they have a huge presence on YouTube which is enormously important in selling SL. LL might have better started with the top YouTubers around SL like Isabelle Charen and involved them to get visitors -- and that is still possible.

    I'll also speak a word in defense of Strawberry here, a person I didn't know personally when she was a resident and with whom I don't recall ever having any interaction with in SL. She is a solid character and a valid media presence who brings to her job the authenticity of having been on the ground in SL and who can establish rapport with the guests on the show which is very important -- for some people, Lindens are scary. She can also put at ease her own Lindens, which isn't trivial. Maybe she isn't Dick Cavett but then we aren't prime-time TV here in SL. It's fine for what it is. I don't get at all the claim that she is "dry" -- if anything, her sole fault is to be occasionally self-deprecating but she talks normally. I only have one big wish on her shows: for her to take that !@#@#$ annoying bobbing kittycat out of the view in front of her chairs -- it's not moving naturally like a KittyCat but wiggles only, old school. She needs to remove ALL distractions of that nature from the set, pronto.

    In fact if I were a Linden media manager right now, I'd delete or somehow bury the video produced from this gambit, get the cycle of the first round over as soon as possible so the eye does not linger on any bad optics around children or dull Alpine socialism or clunkety Steampunk (a niche topic for the world at large) and move as swiftly as possible to the broader selection with actual popular clubs and galleries and venues.  Especially in time for Valentine's Day.

    Meanwhile, let us note the passing of the Great and the Good, the Nature Con, blessed with Linden Loving last year, which is completely MIA and whose main founder abandoned her entire land holdings and disappeared (I hope she's ok). Linden blessing doesn't pay the tier even with traffic windfalls; newbies don't spend money and are quick to move on to the next thing.

     

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  10. On 1/19/2024 at 6:53 PM, Sasun Steinbeck said:

    Policy reference: https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Policy_Regarding_Wagering_in_Second_Life

    I would like to bring to market a raffle board, primarily for people doing fundraisers. I see a zillion raffle boards for sale in the marketplace, they are clearly not banned there, at least. But I'd like to provide some guidance to customers on what might get them into trouble with the raffle board. These are not promotional (free) raffle boards - you pay money, random chance determines one or more winners of the prize. The prize is determined by the raffle board owner and could be anything.

    Seems obvious that offering $L as the prize puts the raffle board squarely into "gambling" category and should never be done.

    The policy says that if the object in question "in any way risks Linden dollars based on whether an event may or may not occur" then it is considered gambling.

    One could argue that with a charitable fundraiser, there is no "risk" of losing $L, since it should be common sense that your donation is 100% guaranteed to be gone from your account and not coming back and you know there is no cash prize. Where's the "risk" here?
     
    They also say "If the 'payout' involves objects that are more akin to novelty objects that cannot readily be converted into Linden dollars, real-world currency or value, then that activity will likely be permitted."
     
    So... if you are not giving out cash, you could argue that selling your prize (if if it's even worth anything and is Xfer OK) in a store/marketplace somewhere (and hoping that someone even buys it) is FAR from being "readily converted". It's not like you can just go cash in your random prize object anywhere.
     
    I realize that in the end it would require someone to abuse report your raffle board and a Linden would have to say yes or no in specific cases. So anything I would say would be in the form of opinions and guidelines, or better yet as my own policy on allowed use of the raffle board.
     
    What do you think?

    I think if it is just a non-paid raffle it won't be a problem, if there are such things. But the raffle boards I have and have seen on the MP have a payment mechanism. And what's the point if you don't have a payment, if you are trying to raise money for charity?

    I used to have land raffles and gatcha raffles as "something to do" and charged like $1 or $5 for the tickets merely as a slight offset. I think it will still be seen as gambling by the Lindens.

    And here's another point of information from my years of doing this: this is not how you raise money. It's just not. A direct donation mechanism for an explicit cause simply raises more cash in my view. For example for relief in Ukraine, Palestine, Haiti, etc. I have both a sign with a script containing a URL that leads people to a RL Internet site to donate in their currency directly -- really the most cost-effective way -- AND I also take Lindens in a donation jar and display how close I am to the goal where I can then myself donate US $25, let's say, to Doctors Without Borders, made up of dozens of small Lindens contributions. I just think that works better. But there's the cost of cashing out those Lindens and the accountability question in general and I just don't think it's efficient to use SL for fund-raising. I do anyway as a long and slow proposition -- it can take months to reach each US $25 check that I'd be sending in RL.

    The ACS Relay for Life has been honed for 15+ years at events like Fantasy Faire, which is managed by skilled people with RL non-profit management experience, who have worked for years to refine the vendors, the donation kiosks, auctions, accountability etc. needed for this effort. But many other casual things in SL are dubious. 

    Is it fair that I get to write off the donation on my taxes, and all those people who donated 100L don't? OF COURSE it is because I absorbed the cost of tiering the view of the donation kiosks, the cashout fees, and the maintenance of the venues and records. They could always give directly to RL institutions.

  11. 21 hours ago, Raspberry Crystal said:

    It totally sucks the fun out of leisure time if the costs are stressful. We take home made cake in plastic boxes and find free stuff to do, though to be fair our museums tend not to charge for entry so it makes things easier.

    flasks.jpg

    Well, of course. We have thermoses and home-made stuff, too. Plus you don't HAVE to eat out, you can go for a walk and then eat at home. Some of the museums have times when you can come for free. Some have a suggested donation that everyone pays because it's expensive running museums, we don't have state socialism here as in Europe and that has its pluses and minuses, we have less taxation. The movies (especially if you add the popcorn) are ridiculous, and you have to put up with rats again now as well. Obviously you stay home and stream from Amazon Prime for $2.99 with those prices, and movie theaters are going to become extinct soon enough and they should turn them into homeless shelters.

    For young people, especially teenagers living in HUD housing with no resources, there is absolutely nothing to do here in my immediate neighbourhood of a 20-odd block radius except Italian ices in the summer and Father Jim's movie night at the church -- where he has strayed from the "holy" themes just to provide some civic service to the hordes of people wandering around with nothing to do, adding coffee and donuts as well, to keep them out of trouble. I mean, yes, if you walk out of our "food desert" of government housing where I live, where every little business has been destroyed by first Hurricane Sandy, then the other hurricanes, then COVID, then in some cases Black Lives Matters and anti-war demonstrations (where miscreants have broken windows and stolen stuff), it's bleak. You can support those causes as I do without taking away the livelihood of new immigrants.

    Second Life is drug- and disease-free and you don't have to worry about the unvaccinated and mask up as I do with an immune disease. Yes, there's something rather forlorn about having only virtual experiences and relationships but I have real ones too and frankly, they tend to cost so much what with travel and meals that I do less of them and I'm grateful for SL.

    Guess how our lovely town fathers wish to solve these problems -- they want to put in a tech center (that doesn't serve any youth, just big business) and a casino (!). There has never been a casino in midtown like that. The closest one is out in Queens. Casinos are mixed bags, of course. They bring in revenue but they drain poor people's pockets. Yep, a casino right smack in the middle of HUD housing, just the trick. Local elected are strenuously resisting with some civic groups.

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  12. On 1/20/2024 at 10:53 PM, Gopi Passiflora said:

    I have a feeling I'll be blasted for asking this question, but bear with me.

    Just like how there's upscale or luxury restaurants and shops in real life (e.g. Louis Vuitton or whatever) do you think Second Life is "upscale" compared to other forms of entertainment?

    I think it can be, especially if you purchase Linden currency and buy Premium and stuff off the marketplace - you end up spending quite a bit. And it's all in the name of making your avatars and land look fashionable.

    Recently, a friend and I went to the cheapest diner in my RL neighbourhood and each paid US $30 plus for a simple breakfast and coffee. And that's before we even got to the movie ($17.50 each as seniors) or museum or anything, with $2.90 each way bus fare. Very easily a simple day with a friend in NYC turns into a splash-out of US $100. I don't have that in RL to spend. So SL for me, where I might spend that much in a month, but more likely half that, or US $50, is perfectly great entertainment and artistic outlet, and I have a business inworld to generate that income.

    People contrast Second Life with other online things, like MMORPGs or even an online news subscription. But the thing to contrast it with is real life.

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  13. 21 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

    Those who appreciate order and predictability, expect things to work as planned, and strive for wardrobes and living spaces that reflect attention to details. They have (or wish they had) tidy inventories.  They are easily upset when systems do not behave as expected and when other people or events upset their schedules or use of space. They respect boundaries and clear rules and they look for ways to mark and protect their own boundaries and rules, but they quietly admire the fact that some people don't have to work as much at keeping SL from becoming a chaotic mess. They would hire a good lawyer if SL had any.

    Those who enjoy unpredictability and finding quirks, expect things to fail occasionally, and are blithely unaware that they scatter things in odd places and ignore other people's schedules. They don't care to spend time organizing inventories. They take bugs and system failures in stride and change plans spontaneously when they happen. They take a relaxed view of boundaries and almost enjoy ambiguous rules, but they begrudgingly appreciate the fact that more organized people keep SL from falling apart. They would be good lawyers if there was a role for them in SL.

    There's an odd symbiosis between the two groups, and a bit of crossover. Each group would be upset if the other disappeared, and just as upset if they dominated SL.  They do depend on each other, after all. The groups fill the gaps in each other's world views, even as they accuse each other of sending SL to hell in a handbasket.

    duplicate

  14. 21 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

    Those who appreciate order and predictability, expect things to work as planned, and strive for wardrobes and living spaces that reflect attention to details. They have (or wish they had) tidy inventories.  They are easily upset when systems do not behave as expected and when other people or events upset their schedules or use of space. They respect boundaries and clear rules and they look for ways to mark and protect their own boundaries and rules, but they quietly admire the fact that some people don't have to work as much at keeping SL from becoming a chaotic mess. They would hire a good lawyer if SL had any.

    Those who enjoy unpredictability and finding quirks, expect things to fail occasionally, and are blithely unaware that they scatter things in odd places and ignore other people's schedules. They don't care to spend time organizing inventories. They take bugs and system failures in stride and change plans spontaneously when they happen. They take a relaxed view of boundaries and almost enjoy ambiguous rules, but they begrudgingly appreciate the fact that more organized people keep SL from falling apart. They would be good lawyers if there was a role for them in SL.

    There's an odd symbiosis between the two groups, and a bit of crossover. Each group would be upset if the other disappeared, and just as upset if they dominated SL.  They do depend on each other, after all. The groups fill the gaps in each other's world views, even as they accuse each other of sending SL to hell in a handbasket.

    Interesting take. One thing I don't understand about SL these days (I'm old) is this insistence on dress codes. I go to some events where the invitations have elaborate dress codes either as to theme or as to degree of formality. I'm sorry, but if you want me at your ball, I may come in my 75L sweats because at least they're mesh; my tuxedo is old-school system paint-on.

    People are deadly serious about this stuff and while I have not witnessed anyone actually ejected for not being in a suit, there is this social ostracism involved.

  15. I'd rather divide the forums into those who use their main avatar name on the forums, which is tied to their business and all their inworld activity, and those who use alts on the forums, and have hidden, mysterious mains engaged in who-knows-what.

    That's what I'd like to do.

    Happy to debate people when I know what their inworld business is and their public profile. For example I have many disagreements with Diablo Lioncourt, but he's a known quantity, with a public business engaged in public activity, so his remarks are tied to his business without fear or favour. I think everyone should be doing that on the forums. The Lindens aren't in a position to end this alt-o-rama; a keener sense of civic duty promoted by all could achieve this.

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  16. 3 hours ago, Lysistrata Szapira said:

    I'll put in a vote for Girl You Hated In High School, but that's a display name. 

    I know someone named Obviouslee Ordinary. She snagged the last name before they discontinued last names. 

    I have left groups she is in so I don't have to keep seeing that long name on the screen.

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  17. Once at an event releasing Cory Doctorow's book inworld, I got into conversation with Philip Linden himself, and I said something about the limitations of the book device of that era.

    "Someone will make everything," said Philip confidently. Someone will make a better mousetrap.

    That's the mantra of the virtual world.

    Another time, I went to report on TechCrunch in NYC and I managed to catch up with Marissa Meyer, who was at Google back then. I noted that one of the popular apps at the fair had the ability to search inside the app for music *and it wasn't in Google*.

    I could see her brain whirring.

    "Someone will make something for it," she said, and of course today, no one remembers that app and Spotify is in Google. You can hum a tune to Google Assistant and she will find it for you.

    So if SL dies tomorrow, or if Amazon strangely forbids all adult content (how could they possibly do that, given all the web sites that run on their servers???), someone else will make a thing.

    "Someone will make everything."

     

     

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  18. 43 minutes ago, CossetteAlarie said:

    I have two parcels where neighbors have trees (branches/leaves) coming in like 5 to 6 meters into the parcel. branches come through the building. There is no way to return those it seems? I wrote both of the "encroachers" and one wrote and said they don't do SL anymore and I can just return it, and no reply from the other. It mean literally you could have a 64 meter tree coming across 1 meter up from the ground and as long at the trunk isn't on somebody else's property the leaves branches are no problem.

    I don't see why you can't return them if you actually see branches on your land, but maybe they are rooted in such a way that you can't, in which case you will have to file a ticket and wait...six months...nine months...until you finally go to a Concierge meeting and complain directly to a Linden.

     

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  19. Generally, I stay away from New Year's resolutions and I'm awfully late getting started (although if you go by the Russian Old New Year on the Gregorian calendar, I'm still fresh).

    But I thought of a great one and I simply must do this. With my inventory at 251,000, even if I spent every day on this, I'd have to go through 687 items a day for a year to make any progress.

    To be sure, there is low-hanging fruit like unpack and give scripts, those ridiculous doubled up names (why does that even still happen?!) and of course "object".

    I fear "object" because what if it's one of these ancient builds I commissioned from various builders now long gone from SL and I can't ever get that beam or door back?

    I suddenly realized the way to combat that problem is to do a search with "creator" on their names and pick out their "objects" and put them in a folder. After doing a few of those, I need to bite the bullet and delete everything named "objects". It's time. SL is almost 21 years old.

    But here's my idea: for every single thing I buy, whether at a store, event or a 50L Friday type of thing, I have to delete ten other items. That's harsh, but fair! Makes you stop buying stuff you don't really want, or, lets you buy that thing but forces you then to delete 10 other items. And honestly, sculpty trees and Christmas decor from 2006 can go unless it has some actual meaning or talent behind it.

    I don't promise I'm going to have the determination to hit "delete" on the "objects"....

     

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  20. 2 hours ago, Luna Bliss said:

    What do they charge for that?   All these 10 dollar or so a month charges for this and that are getting to be too much!

    It's true that everything seems to cost $10 now but you can't blame these services, they have to pay their bills. But I have to pay mine as well, so Flickr cancellation was low-hanging fruit for me -- I'm just a tourist snapping and posting unedited and unretouched photos and I'm never going to fuss with them, so it's not worth it. Yes, it would be nice to have better photos of my rentals but I do what I can and with the Premium Plus account the uploads are free, which is the main reason I get PP.

    OpenAI costs me something like US $2.00 a month to run 6 characters in SL at various venues who use chatGPT and talk to people in character. MidJourney is $10 per month and that's much more valuable to me than Flickr. I've debated whether to get the premium Twitter but it doesn't seem warranted for many reasons. My blog costs me like US $125 a year and even though I blog a lot less, I want to keep it and its archive and it's worth it to me. Etc. But more and more I have let things like Substack subscriptions or magazine subscriptions go. 

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  21. There are so many I don't know where to start.

    Some five years ago, a new neighbour put up a giant photo-real wall that really blighted the view on two-three sims all around. He didn't have a build on the ground -- his main build was up in the sky. So it really didn't seem necessary to put up the ugly photo-wall, which always looks jarring in-world -- you can uncheck "avatars can see me" and be invisible on your land -- and in his case, this would be the rare times he would be on the ground. It was nuts.

    The owner of another rentals company, another long-time neighbour, and I all IM'd this character and asked him at least to make the photo-walls clear on our sides -- we would be looking at nothing then. Some people want the "sense of privacy" or enclosure such idiocies ensure, but of course if we were really keen to spy on this fellow, we could cam in through his wall lol. He was never there. 

    Instead, he doubled down -- as such people often do -- and put up a giant, ugly picture of a disabled Black man leering into the camera. We AR'd it as racist and targeted behaviour such as to harass. Multiple times. The Lindens ignored us. The other company eventually abandoned their land and left, not only because they couldn't rent land near that idiot, of course.

    I put up one of Felix's giant stone/tree walls as a backdrop and put a skybox for rent there which hardly ever rented. The down side of that photo real monstrosity is that it rezes first when you came on the sim, leering up at you 

    And there it will stay, ensuring that no one buys or rents any land around it for years, because spiteful little men like this never tire of the sense of power over other people they gain in a virtual world, clearly lacking in their real lives.

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