Socially|Mundane

Sheesh. Okay, Linden lab throws out a couple blog posts that as expected cause the Second Life Universe to either quake in it's boots or cause panic among the system-gamers. What else is new? Surely you've heard or read by now that Linden Lab will be reviewing their 'after market' viewer "policies' soon and, according to many bloggers (and wrongly so) you will be banned if caught using one that is not "approved"!

ZOMG! WTF!

Please people, get an effing grip, will you? Hell, even the Rezzable folks are soiling their pants:

We have been working away to get perms implemented in the release version of BuilderBot. It seems to work ok, but there are some session issues that are a bit tweaky. In fact we sent a copy of the pre-release application over to Jack at LL last night. We would like to be among the first to have registered status for SL. There have been a lot of tech issues getting this to run smoothly -- makes us wonder if LL isn't messing around with something somewhere to block 3rd party applications completely. [emphasis mine. —Ari]

Good for you, Rezzable for actually getting a clue that you need to implement permissions checks. How, oh how did you ever figure-out that it is the only way to placate the shrill, vocal masses at large? As for the rest of this quote from Rezzable, note this part of the statement: "...makes us wonder if LL isn't messing around with something somewhere to block 3rd party applications completely."

Are you serious? First, Linden Lab will have to figure a way of authenticating viewers and that includes finding a way to identify spoofed viewers. The Neil Life viewer is a variation of the Emerald source code and reports itself as Emerald. So if the Emerald viewer becomes "approved" what's to keep Neil Life from "ambulance-chasing"?

I just don;t see it happening. The following statement is what causes me to serious roll on the floor laughing out loud like I were watching a classic Mel Brooks movie for the first time:

LL's latest threat to kill accounts that use "unapproved" viewers has also stopped our testing on the SL grid for BuilderBot. No one, rightly so, wants to give LL a reason to delete their account (especially if they can copy their own stuff off the grid)

[From Update on BuilderBot Release | Rezzable]

What is it with people taking so much of what Linden Lab says out of context? I am absolutely convinced that most bloggers (no matter what they blog about) and all complete imbeciles when it comes to reporting things like this. Linden Lab will not be killing any accounts over this stuff. Get a grin and while you're at it: a clue.

In the official blog post, Cyn Linden states:

When our revised policy goes into effect, any viewer containing functionality that can be used to impede our efforts to manage Second Life will not be tolerated.

Not tolerating something is a state of mind, not an activity. So, Linden Lab, if you won't "tolerate it", what ever shall you do?

We will create new guidelines and policies outlining the standards that third party viewers must meet in order to connect to our platform, as well as tools and programs to help the developers of third party viewers and the wider community learn about and comply with those guideline.

Okay, a "guideline" is not law. it is not a rule. it is a...well, guide line. As in 'try to stay within the lines as you scribble your crayon." In other words, Linden lab is setting policies that they are asking viewer developers to follow and these developers will know they are following the policies if they follow and to not go astray of the guidelines.
Policies are good. They are effective and tell everyone what they must do. Or else... I know for a fact that policies work because Linden lab has, back in April set the No-Gaming-Traffic policy! It means that if you use Bots or "camping" devices to game traffic scores, then... then... well.. OH! Yes, of course! Then you will be: removed from search results!

How drastic!

Of course, even though the policy has been in effect for half a year, perceivable results are non-existent. Thus, Linden lab "policies", as you can see, carry a lot of weight with the population of the virtual world and the grid proper.

Oh! As for all these bloggers being complete imbeciles with regard to what Linden Lab is saying and what they are reporting:

Residents who use third party viewers with the functionality described above to violate our Terms of Service or Community Standards, will be warned and then suspended from the service. [Emphasis mine. —Ari]

All of you who report on this Linden lab blog post and even once use the term "ban" or "kill" in the same sentence as "account" all need to sue your school. They may have taught you to read, but you failed at comprehension. A suspension is not a ban.

And this goes for the third-party viewers and the accounts of people using them. Because too many people with simple educations and lazy minds who can't comprehend to save their own lives shout-out the wrong message proclaiming it to be Linden lab's words, Linden lab must then issue an update to the original post:

***10/21/09 UPDATE***
Hey all, as stated in the original post, we support an open platform. We've been receiving feedback from many in the development community that have interpreted yesterday's post as an attempt to ban all 3rd Party Viewers from Second Life, but this is not the case. We wish to take proactive steps...

Translation: "All you dip-shits who can't read what is written and insist on reading between the lines when there is nothing there, don't know the definitions of the simplest of words we use in order to actually be clear and concise, were all wrong and need to stop your shrill rhetoric by putting words into our mouths, and you wonder why we don;t like to communicate with all you idiots at all."

Now, as for the new "set your account to report as a Scripted Agent" blog post is another hilarious concept that I'll write about at another time. But, suffice it to say, these announcements from Linden Lab are intended to placate the whiners and crybabies with the loudest mouths across the grid.

art: Paul Gentile; Lee Howel