Alyona Su

/me approves. Very nice!

Bahaha, Autocurrupt strikes again! LOL (Wider=wiser) ~snorts~

No need to panic. You premium will remain in effect until the next renewal date. As Chic said, you could just put in a support ticket, though if you look at the left side of your web dashboard (login to your account) you should see PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP link. On that page, it may have BASIC MEMBERSHIP selected (because you canceled) - simply select the version of Premium you want (monthly, quarterly, annually) then at the bottom of the page click the CHANGE MEMBERSHIP button. This will effectively "cancel" your downgrade. You will not be charged anything because you already are Premium member. Whichever version you chose is how they will bill you at renewal time ($72 if you chose annually, etc.)

Look, it's okay to be p*ssed off at what happened in your situation. When I started shopping for mesh body the first time I went through what you did, except: I don't make any actual purchases - I pretend purchase first, then look to see what else will be required, etc. In short, I found that TMP was "nickel-and-diming, meaning they are lying by omission: Yes, only XXL$ for head and body! (but don't mention how you also need their skin at more cost, etc.) The truth is that I was going to buy TMP but the requirement of a HUD and the *way* to go about it was both confusing and infuriating to me, which translated into bright red flags and so I moved on. I'm sorry you got burned (and yes: everyone who owns a TMP got burned in the long run). Fortunately, 2000L$ isn't as much as it feels like it is. I just dropped 25K on a makeover that included nothing but the body, head, skin, and effects HUD (dirty face, etc.). If THIS scenario happened to me I'd be a lot more than pissed. Fortunately, I'm familiar with the creators and know their work. Look at it this way: experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. You are now wider and smarter. Take what you've learned and apply it to all future shopping.

Well, this thread has turned into a debate about looks. So my one and only contribution will be this: this picture is beautiful and accurate. because according the the science I've read, seen and even studied over the years there is a reason why dark skin is dark (has to do with heat and moisture evaporation) and that the major majority (obviously not all) people with dark skin will usually have a flat, wide nose for the same reasons: the flat to prevent as much sun onto it as possible and the wide to allow larger nostrals in order to breathe the hot, arid air. I paraphrase. I presume many will reply to plonk me. I say: go ahead, research it. Now - with the "Caucasian" look: absolutely "genetic diversity" A.K.A. "MIXED". Now with ALL of this nonsense about whether a particular creator's head is capable or not, Why does it even matter? This isn;t about being "right" or "winning". Most of these looks, nay - practically all are beautiful in their own right. The first and foremost rule is: do what YOU like, screw the rest of the universe. Hahahaha

Now you've done it. Letting that cat out of the bag. You are not allowed to be so cognizant and intellectually smart as to use wise deductive reasoning in this way. They will be watching you. The good news is that too many are not that bright and either will not believe you and poo-poo it or find an alternative opposite to attempt to debate you with. //JUST //KIDDING You've nailed it: to keep the economy going required lotsa shopping. Right now LL's revenue is too heavily reliant on land use/sim fees. They need to diversify that, spread that butter over more bread without thinning it too much. So the trick is to spread all those sinks: increase land sales, then-then take any revenue lost from that and add it to other sinks, like MP commisions and cash-out fees, then add new sinks, for example: it will cost L$ to change your name and enough to prevent abuses (I dunno: L$500? L%1000? I can see that and I would even think that's fair). So to do all this without these new and increase fees crushing the economy, they need to prop-up the economy to get us to spend more. The above is just my own hypothesis to fill-in the blank mechanical part of what you said. hahaha

KC Couture is not the best shoe store ever. It is, in absolute FACT, the *ONLY* shoe store ever. Everything is is an also-ran wannabe copycat replica in terms of quality and features and value. Bahahahaha I seriously don't even bother looking at others, KC *IS* the Sunshine Band. hahahaha

How did you "lose" 2000L? You cannot "lose" L$. You have to spend it. When you spend it you are making a choice to spend it. So how about more details about why you're ranting. If it's because TMP is currently a flaming fireball in the sky headed toward a crash then perhaps you haven't done the research you should have (as this has been known for a few weeks by now) and thus did not know this before buying? Though, as I understand it: TMP is still functional as of this writing, so how is it you were able to "lose" 2000L again? I am genuinely curious. If you mean you spent that money on TMP and now it's all free, then ask all the people who purchased SMB bodies over the last couple years how they feel about it. Caveat emptor, friend.

There are more than you can shake a stick at. Start with Market Place. Search for "Eating" - go to animations category. In the permissions box down the left side, turn on Copy and turn on Transfer (leave modify off) then click refine the search. Everything you now see, well 99% of it will be full perms. The two best to start with are [RNP] (c/m/t) and Kamala Animations (c/t). The rest are hit or miss in terms of quality. Makes list then VISIT THEIR STORE AND TRY THE DEMOS. Again: Start with [RNP] and Kamala - 75%, or easily at least 50% of all the best quality furniture use these creator's animations. THEN, search for "Dining" rinse and repeat. For convenience: [RNP] )where I go to FIRST): https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/26426 Kamala just in case RNP doesn;t have something I need: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/37647

YES! Angel Rock (I said Tuty's before) - but I was thinking Angel Rock. If I remember Tuty's also makes some good African skins, but it's Angel Rock who does the heads I was seeing before. I'm just a little paler to be the target customer of those, so I apologize for misremembering.

REAL FLOWER. Bahahahaha Here, you're welcome: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Soedara-Cute-Hairflowers12-colors/5532105 I go to places. People stand around like a zombie. It's all quiet. But when I wear them I always get IM about them. Usually an expression of surprise, how nice they look, and curious why they don't see it more often. (Hey, my Alma mater is Maui High School, so what can I say, flowers are in my DNA)

I know a lot of people who hadn't realized when they created their account, that capitalization mattered. They've always hated it. So I can imagine some would like to simply convert their name to proper capitalization, even if it's only the first name they'd want to "change".

An awesome segue from what was turning negative back to on-topic, you deserve bonus stars! As for body and head - grab demos of all of them and don't limit yourself to only Belleza, Maitreya - grab as many as you can find. The same with heads. Most, if not all the demos come with sample skins, including many ethnic shades. The point is this: First work on your look by shapes. Get the body looking the way you want. Then go for the face. By the way Tuty's has some *very* "efr0-ethnic-looking" heads and you may want to look at those. Most other heads, including Catwa can do those faces, but usually end-up looking more like mixed race (and nothing wrong with that!). Once you have decided on your body and head, then go skin-shopping. And you never know: the skin included with the body may be just what you're looking for. There are a bazillion Skin creators in SL, many are really good and others not so much. I like Pink Fuel skins myself and DeeTalez is also very good - just to throw a couple skin store names out as a starting point. I have seen some utter beautiful ethnic looks in SL. Though to get it right start with the basics first: shape and look, then color it in with skin. Then add the rest to top it off with accessories, hair, clothing style and the rest.

If you want any smexy butt-sway when walking then you'll have to go with Belleza or Tonic, there may be more, but as I know so far these are the only two that support more than booby-sway. Note: i said *sway*, not *bounce* LOL You forgot one of the most important things@ Hair flower. This is the cherry on top for total cuteness. I try to go on a sliding scale from top to bottom: cuteness then turns into pretty, then turns into beautiful, then turns into sexy then ... well, then it depends which shoes I'm wearing. ~Snickers~

The issue is that people are so twitchy-finger on the AR button over "*****" that parcel and sim owners are paranoid about falling into the bullseye zone of the LL ban-hammer, etc. So they (rightly or wrongly) err on the *extreme* safe side. Okay, I get it. My look matches SkirtsDown very well. Yet I have heard boneheaded perverted sickos mumbling "Jailbait" when I arrive. I put it into my picks: Hey: I'm just shy of 6 ft tall and refuse to wear ten-gallon boobs. If your sim rules say I'm to young-looking or too short them tell me politely and I'll leave politely. The truth is no single sim is THAT attractive that I'm willing to change my look just to see it. So I'll leave if that's what you want.

This. Belleza VENUS is the best body you can get if you're going for an *athletic* look: good muscle tone in legs and arms without ten-gallon-sized, helium-filled boobs and watermelon-sized booty. I have (personally-speaking) never been impressed by Maitreaya WITH REGARD to getting the look I want. So I wore a Venus for years. But now that more and more creators are dropping Venus and sticking only with Isis and Freya in their Belleza versions I decided to go shopping. Grabbed all the demos I could - even the Maitreya again. On a technical side: of al of them I like the HUD and abilities best on the Tonic and the Tonic comes closest to matching that look I loved with my Venus. NOT saying Tonic is any better or worse than any other. All the bodies are great if they fit the look you are going for. Well, except for TMP which is apparently on the final countdown to retirement (according to the rumors and signs, anyway).

I'm going to play it safe and presume "Resident Last name" - if it turns out to be everyone then that's just icing on the cake. And I doubt they'll tell us this soon because: They could be *planning" everyone, then run into some technical snag and have to drop it down to "Resident" only. So that's not something I would expect them to announce at this time because people take announcements as "commitments" even when they aren't.

The way it used to be done was that you had a blank first name and a very long drop-down list of last names (at least a hundred or so) - you wrote in any first name you wanted and picked a last name from the list. If that name (first+last) was taken you could try a different last name. The list of last names used to change every three months. Then it changed ever six months. Then they said awe-heck - everyone will just be Resident LOL. THANK YOU for this little bit of helpful information. And setting expectations for it still being a long way off is good, too. But at least now we know it will be "full names". And - to everyone else: "Later this year" *could mean" delayed until early next year. Let's be fair and understand LL priorities, technical hurdles, and just plain workload. However, they did announce it so we *know* it will be coming. *Does a giddy dance* (I have an alt who has a full name, but hopefully a change to rename her to my very first ever that had since been deleted. Wow, resurrected, how awesome that would be!)

Best way: Open world map. Turn on Land Sales. All land for sale will turn yellow. Inside each yellow section is a small icon that looks like a price tag. Click the price tag to see the size of the parcel and how much it is being sold for. If both of those look promising then TP there to have a look.

Tier is actually very simple. The issue is that people are reading too much into it and making a mountain out of a molehill. There are only TWO things you need to pay attention to regarding land-use fees and which tier applies. And for now: ignore any mention of deeding land to groups and any bonuses, they are useless until you start owning 1/8 sim or more. RULE ONE: You pay land use fees at the tier of the most land you have owned at any single time, even if only for 1 second. This means: If I own 512m2 and see a parcel I want to buy that 520m2 and I buy it, then as soon as I buy it I get rid of the extra 8m2 (bringing me back to 1024m2) - I will have to pay the 2048 ($7) tier 3 - because I owned more than 1024m2 at a single time, if for only a few minutes. RULE TWO: Tier is always rounded UP. This means each tier is a "POOL" of virtual space. If I own 1024 m2 then I am in tier 2 and pay $7/month. If I own 1025m2 - that one last square meter is in tier 3 - which is a pool and rounded up, so now I owe tier 3 at $13/month. One single square meter into the next higher tier means you must pay that tier. So a premium account holder who has an LL home (512m2) still has 512m2 of free land. If you buy a plot that is 513m2: you will be bumped to tier 2 (because the first 1024 is free, but ONE m2 is in the next tier level) and so the $7/month fee. TL;DR: The only TWO things to remember are: 1. Each tier of land use fees is a POOL. If you own even ONE square meter in that tier, you pay that tier rate (it is rounded-up). 2. Even if you are bumped to a higher tier for one second then put yourself back to the lower tier: you must pay the higher tier for this time period.

Have you any idea how many alts would be ruined by that idea? They all use the same email address. (A hypothesis on my part) Hahahaha! You are eeevviiiillll!

The way I remember the Openspace/Homestead sim thing was like so: You had to own a full sim to get an openspace sim. The maximum number of OS sims were four. So you could add on between one and up to four openspace sims around (and connected to) your full sim. Then LL created the Homestead sim. I forget how many prims, but it was limited to 20 avatars tops. It was specifically marketed as just that: homestead: designed to be a "residential" type sim for those people who wanted the space but didn't want to run a business; basically a private island for yourself and your friends. It was asked whether clubs or stores could be put on these and LL's reply was basically: yes, you can, but know they are specifically designed to be homesteads with low prim/low avies count and low performance. If I recall correctly: there was *no requirement* to already own a full sim before you could buy a homestead sim. You get three guesses as to what happened and the first two don't count. LOL Holy-smackers, Batman what HAVE we done!? People were buying up homestead sims and throwing up pretty much anything you can thing of: shopping malls? CHeck., dance clubs? CHeck, BDSM sex-parks? Check, Role-Play cities? Check. Needless to say the sale of full sims took a nosedive, and so did opensapce sim, at least a little. So within a couple months or so they added the same requirements: you must own a full sim before you can buy a homestead sim. At least, that's how I remember it all going down, though I could be misremembering some of it. I had a couple openspace and homestead sims connected to my main full sim when I owned a popular role-play sim. And here's the other thing: Adding the Homestead sim was also a mistake: creating an additional space to put the "rental homes" created a space for all the role-players to go and camp and not be around in the role-play main sim. Go figure.

My first impression is that it will be this. Or... The one easiest way to do it will be to allow all residents to be able to change your entire (first and last) name. The real trick here will be the requirement to check for existing names: If you want to change your entire name to John Doe - the system has to verify someone else hasn't already set their name to that. Of course, the last name will be selected from a list, then the first name checked against it. Certainly doable, but the question is will they go through the effort to make it work that way OR will they just allow all people with "Resident" last names to choose a new one from a list?

Generally-speaking: yes. And there are other things about it, too: no one can ever take it away from you (eject you or ban you from it) and you can do anything you want within TOS - landscape, terraform and all the rest. BUT< Those freedoms go for your neighbors as well and as you can see in the OP description: some neighbors can be uncouth rude jerks. The good news is that 90% of the mainland is just fine. Scenarios like these are the exception. It sounds like the OP has a destination attraction set up. Though if it were just her home she could easily set the land for sale and go buy another elsewhere - there are a lot of options, all are context-sensitive, of course.

What LittleMe says. Most cost-effective way to do it is to subscribe to Premium annually ($72 U.S>/year). Along with all the other perks (and more have been announced as coming) - you also get "Tier 1" (512m2) and "Tier 2" (1024m2 with 350 prims/LI) for free. This means you purchase the land and that's it. No more daily, weekly, monthly, whatever fees or rent. It also means if you double that (2048m2 with 700 prims/LI) - the only "rent" you pay is $7 U.S. per *month* (= about 1750L @250:1) or 438L/week - and that's paid to Linden Lab - you still "own" the land outright: no one can kick you off or anything else. There's nothing wrong with renting, and certainly, some rental places are beautiful. It just comes down to whatever your own priorities are. Though a lot of newcomers in SL only see the "Rental" aspect, they may not even be aware of the "purchase your own" aspect.