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Harper Held

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Posts posted by Harper Held

    SL21B Applications Now Open For Exhibitors

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

    I hope Forumites that plan on having exhibitions, will tell us so we know!

    I plan on applying. I wiped out my flickr so I'll have to upload photos of my past SLB builds onto a new flickr account...that might mean I won't get approved. Still, I'm going to roll the dice.🎲🎲

    • Like 1

    SL21B Applications Now Open For Exhibitors

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted

    I'm at a loss for safe words but I will say that I'm happy they have the adult category (even if I won't build for it), and that I'm a mix of pleased and amused by the choice of themes. IMO the choice theme is a clever mix of safe (vital given [redacted]) and interesting (meaning with plenty potential to make builds that fit without being totally incoherent mishmash like some past themes.

    I approve -and hopefully I'll be approved!

     

    • Like 1

    Official Statement from Oberwolf Linden

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted

    Just now, Harper Held said:

    The topic of this thread has always been about the announcement made by LL. Re-read Quartz's last post if you're unsure of the topic, thanks.

    FYP:

      

    15 minutes ago, Quartz Mole said:

    The topic of the thread is Brad's announcement, not the article that prompted it.

     

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    • Confused 1

    Official Statement from Oberwolf Linden

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted

    46 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

    Valid point as it is my own justification of late for stepping back from SL. I can just retire to my own grid while this plays itself out but I can see how others may easily use this as an excuse to take a permanent vacation from the platform.

    I'm doing much the same, myself but less because of anything having to do with LL and more simply needing to tighten my pursestrings and manage my budget.

    Retrocomputing/emulation's a cheaper hobby and I'm spending more and more of my time on that instead.

    • Like 3

    What year is considered oldbie?

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted · Edited by Harper Held

    If you remember when gorrillas closed the grid to bang on things -you might be an oldbie.

    ...or versed in obscure SL memes, I'm not sure which.

    [edit]Oh! What year? Jeez, I originally joined in 2005 and this account is from 2008 ...but I still find myself fumbling about like I just got off of orientation island. There are 5 year old accounts that are much more oldbie than I am...

    • Like 5

    Official Statement from Oberwolf Linden

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted · Edited by Harper Held

    6 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

    And the workplace stuff. People get to CHOOSE where they work (yep money is involved but so are principles). I have left a job or two over unhealthy work place and disreputable owners. Happily I spent 90 of my time self employed so that fixed that LOL.  

    That may not be an option for everyone, especially those with financial or visa pressures. That said, I'm more worried about any favoritism (to the detriment of residents and resident creators) and/or harrasment (blackmail of residents was mentioned) of the kind that was mentioned in the blog post than I am internal LL workplace problems.

    But you're right; none of this is new.

    • Like 1

    Official Statement from Oberwolf Linden

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted

    1 minute ago, Persephone Emerald said:

    The credulity of people to believe whatever they hear or read is one of the reasons Democracy is in peril in this world.

    Yep; people's inclination to believe whatever is flattering and fits their world view is the 2nd biggest threat to civilisation -right behind AI

    • Like 2

    Official Statement from Oberwolf Linden

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted

    1 minute ago, Arielle Popstar said:

    Well we will see I guess. I personally think it is a bit of a pessimistic view and Scylla's opinion that SL went further then usual makes me hope that Brad is motivated to dig deep this time. I certainly would if I owned SL. A 1% retention rate for new people is pretty dismal and would certainly make me wonder what is up with that.

    Pessimistic, but is it unwarranted?

    71c7iw.jpg

     

    Official Statement from Oberwolf Linden

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted

    Just now, Innula Zenovka said:

    it would be catastrophic for LL not have a very good answer to the question "All these allegations were made in early 2024.   What did you then do about them?"

    "We got rid of the material that brought about the bad PR and enacted policies to ensure we would not be embarassed that way again"

    Official Statement from Oberwolf Linden

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted

    Just now, Arielle Popstar said:

    Not necessarily as both issues seemed to hinge on one fulcrum. If they deal with that, it would theoretically pull away the support of most of the institutional dysfunction being experienced.

    Not really, it was the institutional dysfunction which enabled the excesses. Even if heads were to roll (they won't), all that would mean is that it would be someone else taking advantage of their privileges to enact their whims and viewpoints.

    Getting rid of [redacted] in SL by itself would do nothing to curb the abuse of power -that requires deeper institutional change.

    The hystrionics give The Lab the opportunity to avoid addressing the deeper issues by giving them something else to talk about.

    Official Statement from Oberwolf Linden

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted · Edited by Harper Held

    6 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

    Definitely.

    LL, to be fair, is between a rock and a hard place on this one. They clearly have decided it's best to go "public" with this in a way that they hadn't before. (Previously, word of an internal investigation, and some later details about that, had been "leaked" to a few individuals and spread indirectly on social media.) I think that some pretty intense pressure from within the creator community has compelled this.

    But they can't go full-on public without actually publishing allegations that, if false, could be libelous and that, at the very least, are damaging to personal and professional reputations.

    So, I sympathize with their position. 

    That said, this is a pretty remarkable post: I don't recall ever having seen anything quite like it in my nearly 16 years in SL. It goes far beyond anything I was expecting from them in terms of transparency. Despite the problems that you've noted, it actually gives me some confidence in this organization. This is not how they've handled previous crises.

    There are things they could specifically address:

    how the marketplace is handled

    Dynamics between Lindens and Residents

    Resident-facing LL workplace policies

    and much, much more!

    ...all without making a single libelous charge or referring to a single allegation.

    "We are now aware that we can perform better in the following fields and will make the following specific changes to our policies and their enforcement"

     

    But that's not what they're doing -is it?

    • Like 7

    Official Statement from Oberwolf Linden

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted

    1 minute ago, Chic Aeon said:

    If it takes almost a month to reply (and possibly longer after an early heads up),  why weren't there some specifics WHEN finally replying rather than the vague PR stuff?  

    Have there been any changes? Has anyone said "I did not DO this"?  Have the places in SL been visited during investigation?   

    There have been plenty of public mentions of bad workplace environment's over the years so I am taking that as a "fact".  

    Some LL employees have been "gone" for close to a month now.  No names. Anyone can sleuth. All public.   

     

    I am glad they said SOMETHING; it didn't appease me however.

    :SwingingFriends: 

     

     

    I'm sure the inworld places are gone, or not long for this world.

    But the institutional workplace dynamics ...? the favoritism...?

    yeah; as I'm saying -they've been handed the perfect cover to distract from changing any of that, haven't they?

     

    Official Statement from Oberwolf Linden

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted

    1 minute ago, Arielle Popstar said:

    Unfortunately it took the one thing to prompt them to maybe, just maybe, take some notice of the other. 

    Naw, 'notice' implies noone knew about that dysfunction. People were aware.

    But the sensational issues will serve as a distraction from any nepotism, intimidation, etc rot in the institution.

    Official Statement from Oberwolf Linden

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted

    1 minute ago, Arielle Popstar said:

    Yes that is my concern too as well as what was mentioned about how some of the SL development progresses between departments. In some ways it was like a confirmation of things i've wondered about in past.

    Yeah, by choosing the most inflammatory material possible the original writer effectively made sure it would be noticed.

    But at the same time, by chosing that material, they also gave The Lab the perfect cover and handwave to avoid making any kind of institutional changes.

    Dynamics between Lindens/The Lab and Residents will continue as they have ...unchanged. Because their will be a great show of getting rid of the grossest of of the charges, which will take the heat off of any deeper problems.

     

    • Like 1

    Official Statement from Oberwolf Linden

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, Henri Beauchamp said:

    If I can't see the original allegations, how could I understand Brad's own post and what is is really about ?

    IMHO Brad's statement is more confusing to 99% of the SL residents than anything.

    I, and everyone else badgering poor Henri in-game are missing the point he's making;

    It isn't that Henri doesn't know Whiskey Tango Foxtrot what's up; it's that the people who are reading the statement...98% of SL's userbase...will have no idea WTF this statement is in reference to.

     

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    • Haha 1

    Official Statement from Oberwolf Linden

    in General Discussion Forum

    Posted

    The original blog was written to inflict maximum damage, using the most inflammatory means possible.

    Anything it says that you can't verify for yourself (eg marketplace) probably should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

    At the end of the day, I'm a lot more concerned with the allegations of favoritism and residents being treated badly (putting it as vague as possible here) than I am anything else in the article.

    I'll bet a dollar that the toxic behavoir towards residents and general institutional dysfunction will remain untouched -regardless of what they do about child avatars.

    • Like 5
    • Thanks 2
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