Well the profiles are ok and all but not really private enough.

[Alaura Silverfall]

Redlight social center really has the best profiles. For one you can hide your friends list.  Facebook sucks about that and these are modeled after facebook. I am sure many don't want others knowing who thier friends are. Also you can decorate the redlight ones so nicely and add music or imbed code.  Love them and never found any like them. Not even MY Space.

[PeterCanessa Oh]

You are SO right!  What 3D, virtual-world, create-anything-you-want, SL needs is a profile page, because profiles are what it's ALL about.  We used to have profiles but LL removed them to suck up to the twit-face crowd that don't understand anything except social media.  Now it's a pain to see someone's "profile", as in information about them, but dead easy to swap inanities all day.

Your list of friends is not visible to other people, by the way.  Then again, once you're in-world profiles of any type pretty much lose their significance.

[Marigold Devin]

Facebook friends might have friends you want to be friends with, ie ex-workmates.  I am not a fan of Facebook; it's a killer of time, because I have a tendency to delve into the friends list of friends and look at their collections of photographs, which is bad (a drainer of time), and good (I love looking at photographs) in equal measure :matte-motes-angry::matte-motes-smile:  It's all too much information though, and time is very limited.

Second Life profiles don't show who you are friends with, and I can imagine it causing a heck of a lot of trouble if that did become a feature.  "How do you know him/her?", "Why are you friends with HER of all people", and the child in some people might come out. Maybe Second Life breeds too many secrets, and encourages deviousness (or deviance :matte-motes-evil-invert: in some cases). 

Thinking too much. Going for a RL bath. Catch up with you/the thread later.



[Marigold Devin]

I forgot to say, Welcome to Second Life Forums, Alaura. You might have started a very interesting topic here. Certainly got me (over)thinking.

[Charolotte Caxton]

Um... isn't this spam for a website? I don't think she is talking about second life profiles at all.

[Alaura Silverfall]

Actually i was Char. I was talking about the profiles you can access from your dashboard. They stink. Made to be like facebook or twitter.  Now this is only my opinion but I think "Utherverse" has it going on with their profiles.  They are the "Redlight Social Center". I got tired of the "Utherverse"  world because it became boring and of course more about porn and sex than anything else but you can not beat the profiles. The software is simple but decorating them is limitless and you can totally hide the freinds list.  I guess i just have not figured that one out on these yet  since i spend a short amount of time on them. I find them rather boring really. This is only my opinion however. I like to decorate and put good music on my profiles. You can't do nothing with these except get updates and comments from people. Thank you very much for the warm welcome Marigold. I hope to hear more from you.

You really just can not lock down or hide enough here.

[Marigold Devin]

I think LL attempt to cram a heck of a lot on our dashboard, but to be honest with you, it's not the first thing I look at when I boot up the computer. Usually it's emails, and log straight into Second Life with some kind of purpose/project, and not being that sociable, checking my friend list, either on the website, or inworld, doesn't come high on my list of priorities. For others, obviously, the dashboard friend list is where they start from, as it's useful to see who's potentially available to chat with/bug* (*delete where applicable). 

Facebook is very open. Too open. In my opinion. Of course, Facebook isn't so much about getting the whole world to be friends, but more about how much of a product we can flog to people.

I would hate to see the ability to customise our dashboard. It is what it is; Second Life is not Facebook, it's much more than a social networking site, and the dashboard is just there to give us information, to dip and out of, not to sit on.  my.secondlife.com, however, is like Twitter, but again, not really customisable (although you can upload photos directly from Second Life to your my.secondlife feed).

[UncommonTruth]

I don't think you can see other people's friends lists here. And it is possible to hide yours on facebook. It's in your privacy settings.

[Ceka Cianci]

i don't even remember what my profile says or what pictures are on it or anything..thats how much i don't mess with it anymore since they went to these CRAP ones..

before it was like it was in your back pocket and you could add things here and there when you were bored  or do this or that to it..now it's like a big deal to do anything to it anymore..

they suck for me..not sure how much easier they are for others..but they just made me get lazy about even using it as a part of my second life anymore..

Hey LL..the money ? it's being spent on the inside of the grid..not on the outside.................................

 

[iCade]

I won't ever understand why people feel the need to add music to their profiles.
I don't want to hear your crappy music, I got my own playing thank you very much!

Harsh, but the truth. What are the chances out of the millions of songs out there that you will put one that I actually like?
Very very slim, so you pretty much got a foolproof way to turn people right off before they even got the chance to read anything.

[Charolotte Caxton]

Oh, sorry, I thought you were trying to get people to check out a different website. No wonder you didn't include a link!

[Alaura Silverfall]

lol 

 

[Dilbert Dilweg]

Lol why does this post feel more like a promotional post than a curiosity post

[Eileen Fellstein]

Web profiles to me were not a good move whatsoever. I know it's handy in some situations but It's not that awful to have to log in to see someone's info IMO. You can actually have a web browser and SL open at the same time.

Privacy is my big thing and I don't believe it's being safeguarded enough with things like web profiles and dashboard information.

 

I said this before in other topics. When it comes to privacy issues, SL works in backwards fashion. It gives every advantage to people who want to snoop on others and zero to people to protect themselves from that.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

---

Eileen Fellstein wrote:

Web profiles to me were not a good move whatsoever. I know it's handy in some situations but It's not that awful to have to log in to see someone's info IMO. You can actually have a web browser and SL open at the same time.

Privacy is my big thing and I don't believe it's being safeguarded enough with things like web profiles and dashboard information.

 

I said this before in other topics. When it comes to privacy issues, SL works in backwards fashion. It gives every advantage to people who want to snoop on others and zero to people to protect themselves from that.

---

I totally agree.  If i want to use social media there are plenty of other places to go for that.

I couldn't care less about the SL web profiles.  To me they were a step backward when introduced as it takes them a lot longer to load than the original inworld only profiles. I also didn't like the fact my profile was out there for everyone on the web  to see by default, when they introduced them and i had to opt out after the fact.  To me they add nothing to the SL experience as most of the feeds are boring at best and inane, shallow, and egotistical at worst.

I have everything in mine set at the maximum privacy i can set it to.  I also elect to use the older profile format in my viewer (firestorm) which are much faster loading and give enough information for me to see if I may want to know the person better.  If i'm interested in someone or they are interested in me, then we can talk which is much more rewarding from a social point of view.

There was an article in my local paper recently that said that there is a rapidly expanding worldwide trend of employersnot only googling you and looking at public information on social media sites but demanding as a condition of employment to have the password to all you social media accounts so they can see everything about you when ever they choose  This is outrageous not only because it is an extreme violation of your private life outside of work but this also gives them access to information about your friends and family without their consent.  Anyone that uses social media under these circumstances is crazy.  George Orwell was right.  Big brother is alive and well and watching you and most people are cooperating like mindless sheep.

[PeterCanessa Oh]

---

Ceka Cianci wrote:

i don't even remember what my profile says or what pictures are on it or anything..thats how much i don't mess with it anymore since they went to these CRAP ones..

before it was like it was in your back pocket and you could add things here and there when you were bored  or do this or that to it..now it's like a big deal to do anything to it anymore..

they suck for me..not sure how much easier they are for others..but they just made me get lazy about even using it as a part of my second life anymore..

Hey LL..the money ? it's being spent on the inside of the grid..not on the outside.................................

 

---

This.

And @ OP - I don't understand what you mean by "You really just can not lock down or hide enough here."  People can't see anything at all on your profile if you don't allow them to.  Have you looked at the privacy settings?

But I also don't understand why you'd want to decorate your profile page.  If you want personalisation do it in-world in lots more amazing ways than any crappy social-network is going to give you.  SL's profiles are pointless now they're all about feeds and friends, they had a point when they were about providing a brief profile of yourself.

[Eileen Fellstein]

OO, I'd love to see that article Amethyst. I noticed you said local paper. I wouldn't ask you to pinpoint yourself by linking it though. I can oogle my own google and see what I find on it.

You said 'worldwide' so I guess it would depend on country how far they are overstepping bounds if they are requiring that info from people. I'm sure law enforcement/gov would have little trouble accessing that type of stuff anyhow where someone is a suspect in a crime. Amazing that so many people would make a hobby of stacking up evidence against themself. The law doing it is uncomfortable enough but employers? 'I'm sorry buddy. you can shove your job' lol

Closer to home..here in SL, I dialed down those privacy settings the minute it went live. But there are still elements that leave uncomfortable doors open. What people can see from the dashboard mainly and the fact they can access it and even the grid from a mobile device with the right app. This door was always open somewhat as long as I have been here. Simply searching a profile gives an online indicator as long as the avatar is searchable. People can also check any mutual groups usually unless group owner sets the general membership to invisible. Most of this stuff works independantly of the little checkbox blocking a person from seeing you. And...since there's a limit to how many you can check at once, that renders that privacy feature practically worthless.

[Eileen Fellstein]

It wasn't hard to google and since The article is LA times, it's likely been published in many major US papers I would guess. Anyway here. Scary schtuff...

 

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/28/opinion/la-ed-facebook-passwords-legislation-20120328

[PeterCanessa Oh]

Non-issue - first thoughts are backed-up by what the article says and what legislators are doing.  Basically, some employers are complete arses with no respect for their employees (I worked for IBM for a short time but could never finally agree terms & condiftions with them, so left).  Being arses does not make these companies right nor their actions legal.  I would think, in the USA (since this article applies to there) this would be unconstitutional, given the right to 'family life' and all that.

Now it's a separate question as to whether people are prepared to put up with illegal/unethical behaviour from their employers in order to get or keep a job.  If so, there's no-one else to blame.

[Eileen Fellstein]

I don't know about blaming per se' but if the person has an unemployment insurance payment on the line, turning down work could disqualify them and they could really have to pay hell to get it back. Either way, it would put them in the very uncomfortable possition of having to decide to turn down a job or comprimise themself morrally.

[Perrie Juran]

Little did I know, or any of us for that matter, the direction Linden Lab was heading with Web based profiles when I started this thread:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussions/Arthur-Miller-s-The-Death-Of-A-Profile/m-p/511327#M252167

Additionally there was Torley's thread where I commented further and you can read his response:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Your-Avatar/INTERESTS-In-MY-Web-Profiles-Tab-Early-questions-amp-answers/m-p/769411/highlight/true#M2899

Still, none of us really know what LL's intentions, long term goals, etc, are for the future of SL.  What we do is make educated guesses based on what we are seeing.  I do think some of those guesses are very educated.

How you may feel about the way the Web based profiles reveals your SL to the world will of course vary according to your usage of SL and your individual privacy concerns.  For instance, people in the 'non-profit' sector like those who use SL for educational purposes may be totally content to have everything about them exposed to both SL and the World,  Others who for instance who are exploring the dark side of BDSM may not want anything exposed outside of SL.

As far as my RL and my SL, my starting point is to keep them private and separate.  From that point forward I am cautious about who in SL I open up my RL to and also who in RL I open up my SL to.

I for one find little use for the feeds.  I do glance at them and pick up tid bits of information from them.  But for the people I want to communicate with 'out world' I have other means of doing this.

Bottom line for me is that I prefer the profiles the way that they were and how we used them to communicate a little bit about ourselves and our desires, likes and dislikes, etc, in SL.   I don't like the way they are now.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Sorry but I can't agree to it being a non-issue.

The article I read had this information and more.  It cited a number of examples of local employers doing this.  Granted a few states are considering laws to prohibit it, but there is no guarantee that they will be passed.  The article addressed this too and gave examples under consideration and the bottom line was that there were a lot of 'exceptions' that will allow companies to continue to do this,  so many that even if passed, the legislation will only curb the practice for some jobs.  As to whether it is constitutional, this will be up to courts to decide and then only if someone sues over it.  It could be years before any ruling is made and years more before the appeals process is exhausted an it is firmly established as unconstitutional.

With unemployment so high and the current job market being so competitive, people feel compelled into agreeing to this to avoid horrendous consequences if they refuse.  It may very well mean that unemployment payments will cease, leaving them with zero income and ineligibility for even welfare in states where welfare is temporary and is tied to the ability an willingness to work, such as the state I live in.  It is all very well to say that you would never agree and wouldn't put up with it, but when your are facing homelessness and the inability to feed your children, you may not have the choice.

[Eileen Fellstein]

---

Amethyst Jetaime wrote:

Sorry but I can't agree to it being a non-issue.

The article I read had this information and more.  It cited a number of examples of local employers doing this.  Granted a few states are considering laws to prohibit it, but there is no guarantee that they will be passed.  The article addressed this too and gave examples under consideration and the bottom line was that there were a lot of 'exceptions' that will allow companies to continue to do this,  so many that even if passed, the legislation will only curb the practice for some jobs.  As to whether it is constitutional, this will be up to courts to decide and then only if someone sues over it.  It could be years before any ruling is made and years more before the appeals process is exhausted an it is firmly established as unconstitutional.

With unemployment so high and the current job market being so competitive, people feel compelled into agreeing to this to avoid horrendous consequences if they refuse.  It may very well mean that unemployment payments will cease, leaving them with zero income and ineligibility for even welfare in states where welfare is temporary and is tied to the ability an willingness to work, such as the state I live in.  It is all very well to say that you would never agree and wouldn't put up with it, but when your are facing homelessness and the inability to feed your children, you may not have the choice.

---

Applause

what are doing in say 2016 dear? lol

[PeterCanessa Oh]

& @ Amethyst, obviously.

I simply mean it is a non-issue for discussion here purely because "As to whether it is constitutional, this will be up to courts to decide" (my underlining).  It may or may not interest you to know that I have been unemployed and homeless almost ever since I refused to work for IBM.  I do not receive any benefits (welfate in the USA).

My point here is that we shouldn't derail the thread talking about evil employers when the subject is SL's profiles, whether they are any good and, I suspect (see http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/my-secondlife-com-and-Second-Life/m-p/1469663/message-uid/1469663#U1469663) whether an increasing number of people think the web profiles 'are' SL.

[Eileen Fellstein]

---

PeterCanessa Oh wrote:

& @ Amethyst, obviously.

I simply mean it is a non-issue for discussion here purely because "

As to whether it is constitutional, this will be

up to courts to decide

" (my underlining).  

It may or may not interest you to know that I have been unemployed and homeless almost ever since I refused to work for IBM.  I do not receive any benefits (welfate in the USA).

My point here is that we shouldn't derail the thread talking about evil employers when the subject is SL's profiles, whether they are any good and, I suspect (see

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/my-secondlife-com-and-Second-Life/m-p/1469663/message-uid/1469663#U1469663

) whether an increasing number of people think the web profiles 'are' SL.

---

I'm sorry about your career situation. I empathise with that a lot. I'm also a person who never hesitates to take a walk in the face of malarky by some employer, regardless of consequences. And that has applied to SL as well as RL. Hell not just employers, lol. I've walked out of hospitals 3 times over 'terms and conditions' issues as you put it.

If anyone derailed the thread it was likely me,lol, but to me it's not so much a derail as a 'lets ride this train and see what kind of dark tunnels it's taking us down'. And yea, pretty dark stuff ahead I'm afraid friends if we keep chuggin' along the direction this is headed.

If we're just talking about the web based profile specifically, yes you were correct in your post a page back or so. Just lock down all the privacy settings and no one sees the info..hopefully.

But yea, the left turn was when I pointed out the lack of privacy with what people see on their dashboard. Really if someone has me as a contact, they could be somewhere in the peruvian alps with a mobile pager and see that I am in world and send messages. That can be nice occasionally but even from someone that's a friend it fast goes beyond the point of being moderately annoying.