Lyric Demina

People want wanted emojis I was referring only to the unwanted emojis from the OP.

THIS made me swap to a Fantasy Home ❤️

Whether or not there is any merit to the idea, the argument has been invalidated by so much gross generalization. Chapter 1, inaccurate presentation of the product -- I disagree, because my experience of the product is actually exactly as advertised, and if there's me there will be others. Chapter 2, again, I disagree, because my experience has nothing in common with "grady vukovic" or whoever else complains "there are no people, it's boring, there's nothing to do, everything is fake." My experience is there are a great many people in a great many places wanting a great variety of different experiences in a great variety of different languages, and because I know that, I think "it's not us, it's you who can't find the party." In Chapter 3, an idea for a different colour on the map makes me think this entire post can be reduced to a one sentence suggestion with a one sentence proposed benefit up for debate. That would be a good debate, imho. Because when you generalize, otherwise, about the experience of Second Life users in the way you did in chapters 1 and 2, you lose a lot of support and gain a lot of unwanted emojis.

I really miss Slink and being able to wear my Physique body as effortlessly as other newers.

oh jeepers yes please.

for me it's by creator, then by area, then by little bits. i spend 60% of my online time sorting inventory, 30% decorating or landscaping, and 10% taking pictures of it all to feel all warm and happy about the new "virtual happy place"

To add to your peeve without augmenting the peeve: Kurt Vonnegut Jr. used "Wrang Wrang" as the terminology for those who steered one in the opposite direction of the bad example presented to one, in the book "Cat's Cradle." I'd have been peeved if I'd have let the opportunity to invoke "Cat's Cradle" pass me by, so now I don't have to be peeved, and for that (hopefully small) indulgence I thank you.

Definitely contact the creator directly explaining that you've been in touch with the CSR for over a month with no satisfaction. There are creators in SL that are super friendly and eager to help, even the really big famous ones, when things go wrong. Sometimes that's why they're so big and famous; they do things right and make good on their promises. Whenever I have been in this situation (and it is very common; things go wrong in the world) I've received more than I bargained for in thanks for my patience. Also if the brand has a group-chat you can ask if anybody else has had this problem in the group chat to see just how big the problem really is; and if the owner of the group chat is paying attention then that might help things move along a little faster. Respectfully of course, always.

It would be too much realism -- and I hope hair creators never get to a point where they do this -- to offer hair that grows.

Area search by creator-name or by objects a certain distance from you would be the way I'd go, but only after I'd tried to edit-drag the cursor all around me to capture as many rezzed objects as possible for me to zoom in and examine properly. I would also go to a sandbox quite likely, if it were me, because I'm curious this way, and do the same thing all over again; rez the full object and then unlink it, and then capture it all in a click-drag edit screen to see exactly how many discrete objects there are to the thing in total and if they all have the same creator name. It would give me a better indication of what to look for in the Area Search back home.

My Second Life today, birdwatching over the water

Intellectually I find the idea irritating; and emotionally I find the idea confusing. Ultimately I don't like the idea. That said, I probably wouldn't give it more than a moment's thought, and then I'd forget about it entirely.

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.