Hymn Celestia

Probably as you'd expect, yeah.

" If a viewer is not MFA Capable yet, then those accounts will no longer be able to log into Second Life using that viewer. " It sounds like this is a compliance requirement for 3rd party viewers, rather than a requirement for the user to activate MFA. Is that still "oh crap"?

The "I Survived the Cornfield" support group. The first rule of ISC is we never ask "What cornfield?" whenever Patch is around.

The thing I like about attending a virtual support group is that it is always an "opt-in" experience. The opt-in philosophy is something I believe in strongly; it means you can participate or not, and it is always your choice to do so, never forced upon you or required. Sharing as much or as little as one wishes to is part of recovering one's feeling of personal power. Without yucking anybody else's yum, there are some good support groups in SL; of course there are also shady places -- just like there are shady places in First Life and shady practitioners with fake certificates and who knows what else. But the idea is for a person to opt-in to where they feel comfortable and get the support they need, whatever that looks like -- even if it's just sitting quietly in the corner and listening for an hour while other people farther along the path share their experiences with such-and-such and reveal "hey this didn't kill me, after all, and I'm better for it; maybe also you'll be fine." Sharing an experience of gallbladder operation recovery or grief over a pet dying or PTSD after a plane crash or whatever else... doesn't have to involve names and social security numbers. It just has to be about people talking to people about something they know a little something about. Making the world a less-scary place for another human being. It's a nice thing to do to contribute to a support group and make the world a little less scary for someone else. Especially if nobody's ever done it for you in the past. Lighting the way for others is something to feel good about, at the end of the day.

Exactly. I'm surprised -- but actually relieved and delighted too -- that nobody thinks of chemotherapy and cancer patients immediately when the idea of "support groups" comes up, especially given the prevalence of RFL in Second Life. When a person takes chemo, or radiation, or is treated for the sundry cancers generally, in my country one of the first things a doctor will recommend is to join a support group of other people going through it too. It doesn't (necessarily) require psychotherapy; but it does require support. "We're going through it too, you can come talk with us." And the support groups I have found most helpful have been in fact the ones that were virtual; the ones that were type-chat, or message-board chat, or Second Life chat. It seems like a no-brainer for me to cheer for virtual support groups but perhaps (and I really hope) that's indicative of the general good health of the rest of this thread, which is fantastic

Support groups, and supportive groups, aren't supposed to replace professional licensed therapy They are supplements only. For example, in real life, one can participate in a support group of people who take a particular medicine for a particular chronic thing. The medicine needs a bit of support-group input sometimes, with unexpected side effects or weird reactions or "has this ever happened to you? is this an emergency?" kind of questions and answers that people with real experience can offer. The doctors who prescribe the medicine can't always tell a person what to expect from taking it; but people who take the medicine can offer first hand experience with it. The meds are prescribed and dispensed by professionals, and the experience of taking the meds is supported by other people in the same boat who have been through it. Therapy on the other hand is a whole different experience and I would agree with you, Love, that I should trust it more if it were done professionally, personally, and face to face. (or video face to face even, given where we are in the world lately) And, speaking generally to the topic, I have taken part in both of the above and benefited greatly from them in First and Second Life. Additionally, I would put D/s "munches" in the category of support group where a group of subs or a group of doms would get together and help each other navigate tricky subjects like "boundaries" or such things; they would be discussion groups technically but they offer great support. I have participated in some of those in my time also. It is my opinion that Second Life is a choice venue for offering or receiving support especially for things that one may not be able to discuss in the First Life -- whether for social constraints or perhaps it's 3 in the morning and nobody but the SL homies are awake and able to offer input.

After a good sleep and a good shower and a good meal, it would be interesting to ask oneself if the problem is still the problem one thought it was at the time. In other words, is the problem as hot the next day as it is at the moment. Some problems really keep their heat into the next day and you realize you need to mobilize and do things to stop it. But thankfully some problems really do lose their heat the next day, and you might find (hopefully) that you're not that bothered by this one. Because honestly no, two names on a ban list is not a disclosure of anything other than both avatars being banned.

I liked Second Life so much when I arrived in 2007 that I found myself, over the course of subsequent years, removing bit by bit everything that I didn't like about my RL experience and replacing those things with what I liked best about my SL experience. Better living; better contributions to the world; better amenities; more meaningful relationships; health; properly directed attention; properly re-directed attention. Weirdly, through the inauthenticity of avatar-relations I slowly learned how to live authentically. Crap brought in: inauthenticity, insecurity, wounds. Gold taken out: authenticity, security, playfulness. Gold brought back in: still working on it.

LOVE!!!!! I'm now super excited about this.

A few ways! Your home has neighbourhood sound effects already if you uncheck the "sound" box in the "sound" tab of the About Land box. Alternatively there are a few different soundscape designers that make good sound effects-in-a-prim that you can rez onto your property to hear different things (birds or garden or ocean or whatever it is that's relevant to your parcel.) I like Botanical's FX series to enhance the already lovely soundscape in Bellisseria.

Holy wooooooooooooow

A group of friends of mine and I all outgrew Gor; nevertheless, we log in every day and have for over a decade, doing other things in SL and occupying other regions and contributing to The Second Life Population in other ways. I very much doubt that the vacancy rate in Gorean regions (either by timezone or by traffic) is a sound metric to determine when to sound the alarm about red tape and costs of living and new user experiences. Sometimes people just move on and do other things; and sometimes they have different times to do them in than when they first began. First and Second Life both are like that. I remember vividly -- for years -- how quickly regions would emerge and vanish in Gor; it was annoying especially for those of us who contributed cash to the regions by renting market stalls. We'd pay our money, set up a stall in a new Gorean place, and then see in a few weeks the whole place was gone. Regions would come and regions would go; "there's nobody here when I'm here" the familiar refrain. But, the world map is covered in green dots; there are people logging in every day doing things. The world map is enormous; there is a lot of combat to be had, perhaps not immediately where you are, but it's out there.

Thank you! ❤️

Maybe an achievement system like this (with all the crazy achievements as well as all the functional achievements combined) would be a good way to build a portfolio with the aim of being a mentor. Someone who has visited 1000 regions. Someone who has built a house from scratch. Someone who has worn an entire folder of trees. All of these "achievements" represent problems that needed solving and therefore can be useful to others who are going to have to solve these problems. Therefore, an achievement system like this would of course be "opt in" for those who wanted to develop that kind of personal record of having done all the things; it's an instant Curriculum Vitae for such stuff as Mentorship.

I know what I did as a brand new avatar in 2007 and that is to search "Groups" and find out if there were groups already formed about stuff I already liked, filled with people who liked what I liked. Searching for niche things like certain Sci-Fi fanbases (Star Wars, Star Trek, Dr Who etc...) and popular books at the time (Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Twilight etc...) or lifelong interests (Ancient Rome, Classical Mythologies, Flying) led me to regions to explore and people to meet who were like-minded and already shared at least one interest to talk about. And in conversing with those people about things we have in common, I learned everything I needed to learn about how the world worked, how the viewer(s) worked, how to get better things done better, and how to really maximize the SL experience. Second Life to me has always been about a "seek-and-ye-shall-find" curiosity that is always gratified whenever I go looking. Searching groups always leads me to new and interesting experiences -- one-offs or long-term.

I decorated a Creek Stone for my friend and found that I wouldn't want a house to be any larger than that, personally. I walled-off a bedroom just off the kitchen, and I added a powder room accessible from outdoors with full plumbing (no need to rough it in the world of fantasy). So no I didn't find it difficult at all to decorate the Creek Stone; I haven't tried the others though. (And I certainly have no trouble landscaping the larger area; I could lay out trees for days...................................)

I agree and actually ANY of the already-released themes on 2048 would be really really good. All the themes are so well done and well landscaped and well presented, just having that extra land-or-water / prim allowance on what we already have would be SUUUUUUUUPER.

In the great rush to get Ranches, this beautiful houseboat was abandoned and just sitting there all pretty. When I saw it I had to claim it, and the good-luck claiming-angels were kind to me ❤️ I love this West End houseboat and will be here a good while!

This chalet is a recently abandoned beauty; the land and water around it are so lovely. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Maurea/10/173/23

I never considered myself a houseboat person, however I rolled around one day and saw boat after boat in terrific locations and kept a real beauty, then special-requested a second real beauty. I highly recommend spending at least one day of your rolling privileges focused on houseboats to see what's there. This one here in Shark Bait especially, it's a beautiful abandon. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shark Bait/115/13/22

D'oh

Well with that kind of literal revelation in mind, if they present us with the literal Thousand Islands, New York situation? I AM SO IN!!!!! ❤️

Yeah wow. Not for me thanks lol

The image that I included above in my South Haven post comes from a screen-cap of the world map which, when I single-click on a home, gives me the name of that home or reveals the "Linden Home" signal of availability. (On the Firestorm viewer anyway.) That "Linden Home" signal of availability is not always accurate of course, because sometimes a Resident will name their house "Linden Home" for reasons only they understand. But in any case, the map-clicking hunting technique is another passive way of doing it certainly while you already occupy a home and don't feel like abandoning it just yet until you're sure you're onto something. Edit to add: keep in mind that if you do find something that you would rather have somewhere, you will have to abandon your current Linden Home before another will be assigned to you. It's a leap of faith....................... sometimes an anxious one lol