Socially|Mundane

If you go through the history of Common Sensible, you'll see I was rather vicious toward the 'idiots' and whiners and detractors of practically all things "Linden" (and likewise toward Linden regarding the alphabet letters "S" and "L" and 'copyright'.) What fond memories of how ridiculous those idiots really did sound as I went backward a year, digging into the old Second Life blog to find the original announcement for the "Showcase" search function, posted by Jeska Linden (for the purpose of linking to it from here.)

A quick scan through the talk-backs made me laugh as hard now as I did back then. Well, I've 'chilled' a bit since then. However, there still are a lot of people that let nonsense or paranoid "it might happen" scenarios get the better of them. They become spastic and shrill over nothing. The Ursula continent and "Adult Rating" thing comes to mind.

As for all you detractors of the idea of a "Showcase" replacing the "Popular Places" in SL search: have you tried it, yet? I know, I know, it's about all those other wonderful destinations that won't make the Showcase. But in truth, must I have to sift through mountains of free sex playgrounds and horrible slow-rez builds to have to find one awesome place? That was the case in the "popular places" listing.

Thank goodness for Luc Aubret's new Te.leport.me HUD! That thing is a Godsend - if it's used by the wearers appropriately and when it gains good population, it also can act as a good way to find the best of Second life.



Tip to Te.leport.me HUD users: use the filtering to find worthwhile places to sim-hop with. This thing should be standard issue to every SL resident!

I remember when Windlight was first announced (woo-hoo, Torley, my man!) Then when it first was made available through a beta version of the SL Viewer. I didn't bite. However, when it made 'Release Candidate' phase, I jumped on it. "Release Candidate" is a version of software the developer believes is stable and as bug-free as to be the possible final edition of that version. The purpose of making it available publicly is to allow wide use to see if any unexpected no-nos pop-up.

With all the talk about Windlight, I was stunned. As a professional photographer in first life, I started snapping away. Hard disk full of shots, I finally opened my own Flickr account and even stepped-up to pro (for the additional features. After all, I already am a pro.) :P

Then I became busy in SL. Just haven't really been snapping a lot. Well, now that I've slowed down a bit, I wanted to do some sim-hopping to find some interesting scenes to shoot. The problem, and let's face it, is that the majority of builds in SL are either sloppy or sloppy is too visible all around the good ones, or the theme is not quite what I'm after ("Collar Capture Slave Auction Sex Mansion", anyone?)

I remember many nice places previously, but either they have changed drastically (for the worse, photographically-speaking,) disappeared or I can't remember their names. Then there are those places I've already been like the awesome Chechen Itza Pyramid in Visit Mexico. The problem there is they have built-out... ruining the place. Now there are additional sims and the place has so much lag and distracting visuals it's almost impossible to get a decent picture there.

Then there is The Far Away by AM Radio. Yes, been there, done that. In fact, so has everyone else. I do believe it is probably (for the time being) the most 'photographed' place in Second Life.

Oh, if only there was another simple, wild, serene, quiet, beautiful place like The Far Away somewhere else in Second Life. It's so popular with picture takers because of it's technical simplicity and there just isn't really any other place like it in SL. Or so I thought.

With the Popular Places listing in SL Search, The Far Away wouldn't have made the list because traffic is low. It's a destination, not a hang-out. Besides, it's the kind of place you don't want to be a hang-out. It should be "empty" and devoid of people. That's what adds to it's charm!

Of course, when announced that "Popular Places" (which was 90% 'Free Linden Dollars! " and "Free Sex!") was going away to be replaced by Showcase the shrill screaming about how terrible an idea it was went rampant. By the way, all you screamers of doom and gloom, if I remember correctly the "Showcase" used to be featured in the monthly Linden Lab newsletter (that I am very sad to say, is no longer produced. Things were so good back in 2006!)

Jeska Linden reported:
The Second Life Showcase is all about quality over quantity. Our internal editorial team periodically selects new and/or popular venues to rotate into the various featured spots within the Arts & Culture, Fashion, Hot Spots, and Music categories. This new feature complements, but does not replace the more comprehensive Search tools within Second Life. However, it will be replacing the old Popular Places tab.

[From [UPDATED] Second Life Showcase, Popular Places and the Future of Traffic « Official Second Life Blog]

Okay, so here it is almost a full year later that I went in to look at the Showcase in search for the first time. It was broken! None of the links worked - not the teleport links - I mean the links to actually view the details of any title! So all I had were titles and nothing else. Bummer.

No worries, I'll wait a day or two. I'm sure Linden Lab has a handle on it. You see, I actually have faith in the Lindens. Always have. I don't feel a need to deride and insult them as they want the grid and all things Second Life to work perfectly the same way you and I do.

So this morning I decided to try again.

It worked!

The first thing to pop-up was some dumb Hotel replica in New York. Okay, dumb to me. Why would I want to see a hotel replica in SL? In fairness I have no interest in that because i am scheduled to go to New York (for the first time in my life) later this summer - I'll go peek at the real thing.

Then I saw something about "...Lakes"... Hey, Lakes are good, right? Then I see it is created by AM Radio . I don't know AM Radio. However, I know of AM Radio. Who doesn't? His is one of the most recognized names on the Grid. So I hit the teleport button. It turns out the name of the place is completely fitting. After that I check out another place called "Unintended". And the sights continue to awe.

I land.



I rez.



I look around.



I smile big.




Thank you, AM Radio. For all your creations and sharing with the users of Second Life.

And thank you Lindens, because sim-hopping can get old and wily. The Showcase where you specifically state that it's about quality, not quantity rings true.