Polenth Yue

I avoid entering my shop if someone's visiting, so they don't feel crowded. But I run into people elsewhere, particularly at events like Fantasy Faire where people tend to walk around. Generally they mention things like favourite items, the colours they like, items from past hunts that aren't for sale yet, the stories in the story hunts, and stuff like that. Sometimes they ask me how the fungal invasion is going.

It's here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/WelcomeHub/71/177/25

Second Pride runs a few events through the year. They might be a bit more dance party than you'd like, though you can wander the regions and find info on other groups in some of the stalls/shops. * * Fantasy Faire Fans * * is for the event starting on 18th April (2024). Fantasy Faire has a whole bunch of stuff, but it specifically has a literary festival. This page will have more info closer to the time, but you can see some of the stuff they've done before. https://fantasyfairesl.wordpress.com/literary-festival-2024/ SL Sci-Fi Con is a group for a science fiction event (that starts on 24th May this year). Also has an associated Discord, which posts a lot of events for other scifi-related communities through the year. The booths usually include some gaming and tech stuff, as well as the more classic scifi things. Bellisseria Citizens wins for the most random chit-chat of the groups I'm in. Even if you don't have a Linden Home, it's a fairly casual place to get used to talking to people in groups. Also not connected to an event, so people chat most days, rather than mainly around event time. I'm not part of any comedy or debate groups, so I don't have any suggestions for those.

The biggest use of the community area isn't people who started today, because most people don't focus on that in the first five minutes. The point where it's useful is later, when they're set up, and they post in the make friends forum saying they want to find places. In the past, the main browsable community thing was the birthday, but it only runs for a short time each year. This will always be there. However, it won't really live up to that until it's finished. Right now, it's basically a placeholder with only a few spaces filled. To clarify for people who didn't realise how it was set up, there's a whole region and a connecting bridge with empty spaces ready for community exhibits. The bit you can currently see is a tiny starting part, where the bridge joins the main hub.

Buoy Quay and friends switched to "Linden Home" before today and a few were claimed. I think mostly people didn't notice because houseboats usually have some free now. Does make me wonder if we're getting close to the old houses closing though, as they'll need some excess to cover that.

Some of the SSP houseboat regions now have their final name. Buoy Quay is an example in the area.

No bunnies?! How could you! Add them right away! Anyway, most shady rentals don't last long, so there's that.

Mine turned up. Boopheart comes in red and pink and is #12. Still no sightings of #5.

If by "ventured into" you mean clicking the link, don't do that. They keep creating new accounts, so you'll keep getting messages, but never click the links. Even if it's named after a real thing, it is not that thing. Just a way to get you to open suspect links.

Well, that does make more sense. You don't want to approach people, so you rely on them contacting you. Which they only seem to do if you look like you're new. I'm not the life of the party either, but sometimes you do need to be the one to talk first. Join some groups if you're shy about talking to people directly. Or just put on a tiny avatar and they will all start talking to you.

Most people don't bother to look at account age unless it comes up in conversation. People looking to prey on newbies do, as you noted in your original post, but I don't understand why you want to experience that. You're not missing out by not having a bunch of creepy people contacting you. The idea that forum people are out to get you is overblown. The only times that people have turned up at my house is when I told them to go visit my house. Most people don't take forum arguments to inworld (and if they did, they'd just get shut down and that'd be the end of that). All round, I suspect the reason you have trouble finding people who want to talk to you is not about your account age. It's because you're approaching them as you are in this thread.

Not long left to order the Valentines 2024 boopie! Visit the link! Put your name/your friend's names into the kiosk!

The bar is a lot lower for the love train. If you survive until the end of the journey, success!

New boopie alert! There's a boopie you can send to your true love from the Isle of View! Or yourself, which is what I did. There's a special little kiosk and the boopie looks like a heart. The instructions say they'll be shutting it down before Valentines, which means most likely sometime on the 13th at the latest. The boopies will be sent on the 14th. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Isle of View 2/87/81/107

Some steampunk people are going to be happy that Lovelace is on the list. Does seem a little oddly not-a-joke compared to the usual seasonal ones.

They've changed things before based on feedback, but there's no point giving feedback to say that the areas they haven't finished aren't finished yet. They know the region doesn't have any trees, the rez zones aren't set up yet, the house parcels still have the work borders around them, and the whole area ends in a void instead of a nice coast. That's because those areas are under construction, so they're just not finished yet.

The new community showcase is a step in that direction. It'll get more communities on display as it gets established. But the general principle was there before that: don't look for friends, look for stuff you like doing. Join groups. Go to events. The friends part will happen when it does as you start meeting people. If you're not sure where to find groups or events related to your interests, you can give details here and people might have suggestions. Here's the community place I mentioned: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/WelcomeHub/71/177/25

If you can see it in area search, you haven't lost it. If you're unsure where it is, use the "Zoom" option from area search. If that isn't available, you need to be closer to it. "Teleport to" will usually work here or you can simply walk in the direction that makes the distance go down. Then zoom in. Then use "Edit" as this will highlight it. Now right click the highlighted object to bring up the menu. This will either be a radial menu or a plain drop down menu, depending on your viewer and options. From that menu, you can select "Take" and you will pick it up. If you don't see that menu, you probably left clicked by mistake.

The pickle (no other words on it, just the plain pickle) is that island. The squishy pickle was named because it looked like pickle island, only squished. They're two different places. But noting here that they're not official names. That's just what people started using. Use them for fun. Don't use them. It's a free choice.

For the big theme areas, the only official names I've heard are the actual theme names. The pickle (traditional island in the old area) and squishy pickle (houseboat area above it) aren't official, though were common enough to result in pickles on sticks being on offer in the beach bars. Patch was calling the pickle Three Mile Island because of the radiation incident. That doesn't have the issue of being a difficult name, but calling it the pickle was already established. It's harder to get a name used when there's another already in use.

Raglan Shire is where the tinies and dinkies hang out. There's no restriction on avatar type, so you'll also see humans and larger avatars there. Fantasy Faire is an event that starts in April (on the 18th in 2024). The regulars include a wide variety of avatar types. It's also a good place for checking out people's groups and finding where they hang out.

Nope. I'm dyslexic. I already have to copy/paste the B word. The theme names are much easier to spell and people know what I mean, so I mainly use those. I do use squishy pickle and things like the direction/location of smaller areas. Randomly adding vowels really doesn't work. Not if you want people to use the words to talk to each other. A lot of the names people invent will never catch on, because they're not really usable. They're just to look nice on a map.

I have some KittyCats and PlantPets now. Selling kitten boxes can cover the food costs, though it does take some understanding of what cats are likely to sell. The plants have no ongoing costs (watering them is free), so making back the cost of buying them doesn't take much. It's not get rich quick, but it's a hobby that can pay for itself. I'm dubious about the systems where babies are born live, because it seems like everyone's frantically trying to sell to keep the food costs down and before they age out of breeding. I didn't keep the chickens, because I wouldn't consider a game where the breedables can die. My only encounter was someone trying to run a farm on the same mainland region. The chickens had all died, but they were non-phantom and still twitching constantly, creating constant physics collisions. Fun times for the region performance.

I've never been emailed directly about the shop and hops. The acceptances are sent by IM along with a group invite. So make sure you log in to clear messages to avoid capping and that offline messages are set to go to email. If you hear nothing, that's a no. I would not contact to ask for a personal rejection. Most times, it's not personal. It's just balancing the whole thing, like having a range of product types, mixing new and returning people, and stuff like that. It's not like a smaller community event where acceptance is pretty much guaranteed for people who've done it before. It's spread around more, so you never really know. I've been accepted for some and rejected for some. The birthday round is the biggest, so do try for that.

I'm always a mushroom. Though I do switch colours and stuff if it's a themed event. I also wear hats.