Ian Undercroft

I agree that reserving expressly in your profile the right dislose is pointless and worthless. However, you're kidding yourselves if you think that dislosures in apparent breach of the ToS are not routinely made. I imagine that the overwhelming majority of those who make such dislosures do not reserve the right to do in their profiles. I think the ToS to which reference has been made are themsleves pretty much unenforceable.

I've never understood the justification for what appears to be a blanket prohibition on posting or sharing conversation logs without consent. I agree that confidences should not be breached, but do not understand why somebody who repeatedly IMs strangers and harrasses them by making lewd and offensive comments is entitled to have any expectation that the conversation log will not be posted and shared by the victim for others (and, in particular, those responsible for managing good conduct at a particular sim) to see. Furthermore, conversing with friends and associates often, and quite naturally, results in you telling friends and associates what other friends and associates have told you in IMs. It seems to me odd that it appears permissible to paraphrase (possibly inaccurately) the substance of an IM conversation (providing, of course, that privacy is not invaded and no confidence is breached) and yet not share what exactly was said and the precise words used.

There really ought to be a clear warning during the sign up process against choosing a gibberish username. The importance of usernames cannot be understated and should be emphasised cleary during registration; they are the only readily identifiable constant in a world where everything else can be changed with a few clicks of the mouse. Display names are in many respects useless and irritating. As they can only be changed weekly, they're of no use to someone who wishes to switch into and out of roleplay. They add unnecessary clutter to the screen. Few are suddenly going to start addressing you as "Tom", if that is your whim of the moment, when they have known you as "Theresa" for several months or years. Others have little or no interest that your partner for this week has the surname "Jones" or that your partner of last week had the surname "Smith". And to all Janes out there. Whilst you may think yourself sufficiently well-known to call yourself just "Jane", trust me when I say most of us know at least half a dozen Janes who hold a similar view!

I think the ability for female avatars to create boob bounce is great. In particular, I think it's good that the boob owner, rather than the observer, now controls the settings. So far as some may choose ridiculous settings, then I will add them (along with those who have gibberish usernames and stupid display names) to my list of people to ignore.

Surely not walking around naked in SL in locations where it's not expected is simply showing respect to the sensibilities of others. I've seen many occasions where male avatars strip off in an attempt to shock, intimidate and sexually harrass female avatars. Pathetic though it may be (especially when the avatar in question is one of the starter avatars and has no more display in terms of tackle than a mangina), some people do find this distressing and I can understand why. There's plenty of places to go in SL if nudity is your thing. Speaking for myself, I find SL nudity (at an appropriate location) strangely liberating and the behaviour and quality of conversation is, generally, very good at the well run nude beach I regularly attend. Nudity loses its ability to shock at such places.

/me hopes not to bump into Fayt down a dark alley!

I switched to the Firestorm Beta last weekend, having been using Kirstens S21 for several months. I switched because Kirstens in its latest 2 versions seems to have taken a dislike to my video card. I'm happy with Firestorm Beta. It's a nice viewer to use. However, I think some people are a little too ready to lavish praise. I notice the inbuilt AO and that the radar/nearby people function provides ages and payment info. Otherwise any differences which may exist between Firestorm and Kirstens S21 are so minor as to be lost on me. For example, Kirstens S21 had solved the troublesome sidebar issue in similar manner to Firestorm months ago.

In order to make any real sense of this thread, I think I further details are required. What was the nature of the Wayne's "conversation" with the "abusive" avatar? Is the "abusive" avatar correct in asserting that Wayne has an alt?

Uh?! Willow, I do NOT wander around SL with my jumper up around my chest! The key I think is to have a look for any given occasion or event and to wear clothes that compliment the proportions of your avatar. I note the references to Marlborough Man. That, together perhaps with "american preppie boy", is the easiest look to recreate in SL. Great for merging into the background. I don't actually think Davier's look was at all Marlborough Man! What self-respecting modern day cowboy wouldn't have his shirt tucked in his pants or be wearing a leather belt?! Tristan's look is the very antithesis of Marlborough Man; metrosexual I would say. It's success is dependant on the avatar having narrow shoulders and being scrawny. Wearing those clothes on a larger, more well-built male avatar just looks plain odd, and doesn't work. I know. I've tried it!

This discussion serves to show that women have many and varied tastes as to what looks good. All I'll say is that when it comes to smart clothing, I've only in the last few weeks "discovered" Utopia and I think their outfits are great. Witness this example: But as I said earlier, it's important to have some variation in clothing styles. This pic below is an old one that I've posted before, but a personal favourite and one which seems to find favour with women:

I only came looking at this thread for the first time after reading that Celstiall had posted a link to a recent post and pic of mine in another thread. There is a certain irony in that I was only dressed smartly yesterday after noticing Davier (who I don't know) in his new gear whilst I was hanging around in the Blarney Stone pub in SL Dublin. I was dressed in a scruffy jumper and ripped jeans at the time and Davier's look prompted me to go home and change into something a little smarter! So I think, based upon seeing and, more importantly, noticing Davier inworld, that he has found himself a good look; one that makes him stand out from the crowd. My only advice to Davier would be that SL women seem to like men to change their outfits regularly. It's best to have a range of clothing styles. My own look ranges from nakie at the beach, through scruffy to very smart. Much depends on my mood of the moment. .

Thank you for your comments, Celestiall. For anyone that may be interested - the outfit is from Utopia and called Frederic. It's worn without the waistcoat. The shoes are Cowboy Loafers from Redgrave.

It's Saturday evening and I'm out on the prowl!

As seems the experience of lots of you here, many of the new usernames I now see are ghastly and do not create a favourable first impression. I've never understood why the introduction of the display name option had to be accompanied by the abolition of the legacy naming system. I'm still not convinced what real use display names serve. Changing your second name to match that of your partner? That seems a little demeaning to me. Aren't you a person in your own right rather than someone else's "property"? It's embarrassing too when, as is often the case in SL, the relationship breaks up a week or so later. If you change your display name regularly or choose to adopt a common display name such as "Jane", you leave others with no option than to turn to your username to see which "Jane" of the many you are. And if the avatar I have known for the last 3 years as "Colin Whoever" suddenly activates his display name, he'd better think again if he believes that I will start to address him as "Curvaceous Collette"!

I only use voice occasionally. In particular, to my own way of thinking, it doesn't seem to be "playing fair" and I feel I'm being a little creepy, if I refuse to join in when others in others in the conversation are using voice. When I hear someone voice for the first time, it's interesting to discover whether the voice matches the image that I might have formed of that person. However, using voice has a number of downsides: (1) I've noticed that some people (I'll pass no comment on their RL sex!) seem to have the ability to talk incessantly without drawing breath and therefore tend to dominate the conversation to the detriment of the conversation as a whole. (2) Hearing someone's voice can alter considerably your image of that person. I'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing. For example, an avatar may display a sophisticated image and yet the voice is unsophisticated and rough. An illusion is thereby shattered. In my own case, I tend to type in chat as I would speak. However, without the intonation of voice, this can on occasions appear terse and makes me seem distant and aloof. I rather like people having that impression of me. But with voice intonation, my comments are altogther more "gentle" and I lose my aloof image. (3) At times the chat can come to be dominated by the topic of people's accents and dialects. I know that this can result in you becoming the object of the conversation rather than part of the conversation. It makes me feel self-conscious and a little embarrassed if I become the object of the conversation in this way. In particular, I've noticed an odd phenomenen whereby American women seem behave very strangely when they hear English spoken with a British accent.

I'd find it pretty confusing at popular locations I attend regularly if I was not able to see both display and user names. How else would I ever know that "Curvaceous Cath" that I see today bouncing on the dance floor is the same resident that has spent the last 3 years sitting at the bar and is known to me as "Colin"?

I find myself frequently SL weary. On occasions when I'm very busy with RL work I find it difficult to switch into SL. On other occasions "demands" within SL to chat or to attend events, etc., can leave me exhausted. On these occasions I reduce the time I spend inworld until the RL work demands subside or the SL "demands" reduce as people move on in my absence. After a few weeks of reduced SL activity my enthusiasm usually returns.

Poor naming decisions seems a poor reason for inflicting this awful new system on us all. I would expect anyone to have realised within a matter of days that their naming decision was a mistake. The simple solution was to create a new account.

I've found I can't help myself being judgmental, Peewee. I've also come to realise that I now also routinely leave immediately if I TP to a favourite location only to see my radar fill up with a large number of unattractive names. I think it a shame that the only effect the new naming conventions have had on me is to cause me ignore or avoid people.

Mmmm - very strange. I responded to this thread saying that the Forum Cartel Hangout is one of the few places in SL that I'd be nervous to visit and my post has now disappeared. It seems a little much that a comment like that is regarded as inappropriate. Surely members of the Forum Cartel are not that precious.

The passage of time since the new naming scheme was introduced has not changed my view that the change has been the single worst decision made by LL in my 3 1/2 years as a resident. If people change their display names regularly I still call them by the name I've always known. Don't people realise that their name is the only constant by which people will remember them? When I see someone with a gibberish username I tend to ignore them on the assumption they're an idiot.

A rat/rabbit like creature. The latest SL breedable. Heaven knows how I got suckered in!

Sadly so far as my L$ balance is concerned I seem to be on the slippery slope of buying out the shop! Hell - with that at the Meeroos I'll be destitute soon!

The shoes are cowboy loafers from Redgrave. They come in a variety of colours. I have a pack comprising black, brown and, somewhat questionably, gold!

After putting this suit on I felt suitably vain to make my first post in this thread.