Socially|Mundane

"Important notice about the group! Read attached!"

I used to have to cross into the Blake Sea and Nautilus through Kshumay. On one end, the owner erect this giant tree right into the corner and the other side had this hideous grass textured block (as well as having banlines on his parcel).

Who and what the hell is "Kiva"? Who cares? Linden Lab is using their captive audience to push their irrelevant agenda. And I'm not so sure I agree with it. Well, in fact I know I don't agree with it. From what I can tell, Kiva appears to be a match-making service that allows you to subsidize some entrepreneur or something. 3 I'm an entrepreneur, so I beseech all readers to subsidize me. Contact me directly for the address to send your money to.

Audience: by way of having every (legitimate) SL user's email address. Captive: because we must keep a genuine email address on-file as important communications come through there (notices that actually affect your account standing, etcetera.)

However, when Linden Lab (LL) started sending advertisements for XStreet SL - it irked me. But hey, they own it and I can see the point of the effort. However, when they start spamming me with bullshit about some charity they support that I'm not familiar with and don't remember ever having heard-of it's time to draw the line. Kiva is not affiliated in any way whatsoever with Linden Lab or vice-versa. I know this because there was no announcement of such and the SL knowledge-base (wiki) has no mention of Kiva other than to buy stuff to support them.1

Linden Lab has given a head's up that they recognize how screwed-up XStreet SL really is. How it's 'gamed' and a complete mess, with some merchants taking advantage of unsuspecting shoppers (such as selling stolen content or bundling freebies and calling it a "business in a box" and so on,) and how it is full of absolute junk.

So the roadmap mentions that all listings will incur a L$10 per month charge each. Good. "Freebie" items will end-up in their own category. Good. L$0-based items will be removed from search. Good. Commissions will be a minimum if L$3 per sale. Good. The forces all the freebies and into some other corner of the showroom floor so they will no longer be a distraction from my own listings. L$10 per listing is good so that people who sell shoes won;t list the same shoe 50-times, once for each color of the rainbow.

So the surname Lindens say you will now have to "pay-to-stay' and that's a good thing because it will help remove the junks at least through attrition and only the serious merchants will end-up remaining. But of course there are the usual suspects who will overreact with knee-jerk whining and crybaby shrill screaming about it. There are many emotionally unstable who are "pulling out everything" in sheer hysterical panic mode and others who are pulling out those items that aren't selling.

Why? nothing of the policies mentioned in the roadmap are anywhere near implementation
It does nothing but make you look the emotional clown and you only hurt yourself the same way the "merchant boycott" only hurt those creators who participated. I am quite often amused and amazed how simple-minded so many of these 'mature adults' can be. Well, more power to me (and the rest of you) because of it.

If you are a creator and are reacting negatively to this new roadmap of the XStreet SL, then you are making your own bed. Your business flounders because you are not really qualified to be a good business person for business' sake. You don't know how to adapt as all good business people do. The sky is not falling and the earth will remain solid under your feet.

Those who react in a knee-jerk way at the announcement of plans for XSL are in a hysterical fantasy doom-and-gloom world that doesn't really exist except inside their own heads.

The roadmap as defined is a good thing for everyone who continues to participate in XStreet SL (XSL).

The primary goal, as mentioned, in part, by the announcement:

"Our goals are as follows:

1)  Enable shoppers to quickly find the type of item they want, at the quality they want, and at the price that makes sense to them.

2)  Enable merchants to find these customers and put their products in front of them."

I say hurray!

Those merchants bailing now are losing out. No fees or anything else mentioned in the roadmap are in effect yet. It's the same as the Openspace fiasco earlier this year. The instant it was announced tier prices were being raised (twice), people started abandoning their Openspace sims immediately. Their loss. The wise thing would have been to hold-on to it while rates remained status-quo and only abandon at the last minute if no further news or information came through. Which some did: all those who remained are now grandfathered at the second tier level and will not have to pay the third. They were the smart ones.

The same thing here with regard to SXL - if you bail now, good for me. it means my products will now be even easier to find as your clutter won't bog-down my ability to be seen. Your leaving is really a good riddance for me.

The issue comes down to the entitlement attitude: too many merchants and creators, who spend no money to create and sell their creations (read: 100% pure unadulterated platinum profit) expect to continue doing that without any of the normal costs of doing business. They want everything for nothing.

No, don't bother bringing-up the commissions on sales, don't bother bringing-up how you have 50 private sims in your estate and pay Linden Lab $500,000,000 United States Legal tender Dollars every three days and all that crap.

You doing "business" in SL:

Costs.
You.
NOTHING.

You have business expenses in SL only because you choose to do so. The fact of the matter is you can attach a sign over your avatar's head and sell person to person (in which case you'd probably make a lot more sales.) Renting virtual land or mall space or owning private sims are all elective options you are choosing to take.

It's about time Linden Lab cleans-up XSL and charges money just to list there. 

It's a wretched mess, a junkyard with a few ounces of gold-dust mixed-in with tons of mucky-muddy-clay garbage. It used to be relatively easy to search for products in-world and find what you were looking for. Then it became all mucked-up as the gamers started ruining the experience and mucking-up classified adverts and the like with crap keyword spam and irrelevant information.

That's when XSL became the preferred way to shop: easier to search for what you are looking for. Then XSL became a refuse tip as people started gaming it the same way as they do in-world. It is actually easier to search in-world to find what you want than it is on XSL - except XSL is faster to browse and compare products.

The Linden Lab roadmap is a good thing.

You simply need to change your perspective on what XSL really is and should be: a newspaper. Except there isn't any news - it is really more of a "Sears Wishbook Catalog" than a newspaper, come to think of it. Except that like a newspaper, it is full of advertising my 'third-parties'.

To place an advertisement in any real world newspaper or magazine or catalog costs money, per advertisement, per issue. XSL is simply moving to the same model - as it should. This will cause a lot of the garbage chaff to fall away and leave only the serious merchants who, hopefully, actually produce quality.

Don't bother bringing-up the nonsense about "double-charging" by Linden lab. In the real world, can you flip through your favorite catalog and push a button and magically your purchase ends-up at your front door? Obviously not. Don't bother bringing-up web site catalogs by saying "oh, but you can do that at Amazon.com and other web-stores".

True - and you pay a shipping and handling fee.

On XSL, you will pay a listing fee. it's an advertisement, so this is fair and right. When you make a sale, you pay a commission on that sale - Linden's "handling" fee. That's fair, too. So what are you whiners and crybabies whining and crying about? If you are a serious merchant then take the costs of business seriously and stop expecting everything for nothing. You and your damned entitlement attitudes.

If you'd only stop panicking in a hysterical fashion and actually think logically, there are many work-arounds to the changes that are coming - and these will actually increase potential sales by making it easier for me the shopper.

All you whiners and crybabies: stop whining and crying and try being a little creative in how you do business the same way in how you dream-up your creations: be creative. In the long-run, as a shopper, this XSL roadmap will make it better for me. As a merchant, it will make it better for me.

So, if you actually put real logic into what is going on, you will see how this roadmap and these changes will actually give you better visibility and possibly help improve sales (on XSL or In-world or both) - what exactly is there to cry about?

My next post: How to sell multiple items on XStreet SL with only one, single listing.

Sheesh.

Source announcement by Colossus Linden:

Second Life Blogs: Commerce Forums: Roadmap - Managing Freebies on Xstreet SL

art: BadJonni

Are you hysterically paranoid about the new “copybot” grid viewers?

And - isn't it radically ironic that Second Life residents will blast Linden Lab for acting to enforce their own Intellectual Property Rights (made to be BAD GUYS), but yet blast Linden Lab and shout shrill diatribe when their own (Residents) Intellectual Property Rights are offended - i.e. "copybot" (GOOD GUYS)? Cake + Eat = Sour-taste.

[Update: and I just read this at Not Possible In RL blog: "Animators in Second Life strive so hard to emulate the graceful movements of real professional dancers through precision motion capture, but the animation I adore and would miss the most is my trans/copy SkybornFly. I know I've had it since January 2008 because I remember handing out copies of it like there was no tomorrow at Komuso Tokugawa and MoShang Zhao's fabulous realtime jam and prototype event..." - uh... WTF? (emphasis mine) - and she didn't even know who the creator was until now. Complain about copybot or "theft"in general lately? I mean - if you didn't know who the creator was, how could you know if the license allowed you to throw it around so willy-nilly? (If it's a custom animation made for you - then clarify - but you say you've never heard of him... things that make you go 'hmmm'.)  (Source)] [Edit: I want to clarify that I am not accusing Ms. Tizzy of anything. Comments below explain why I am using this.]

(Back to regularly-scheduled diatribe):
If you’ve read Hamlet”s post about Linden Lab Incident Reports at New World Notes and all the comments to it, you don’t need to read any further here. I read all those comments and it seems everything relating to “breaking the rules” on the Second Life grid always causes the ‘copybot’ theme to rear it’s head.

The current shrill paranoia is with regard to the new open source free viewers in the wild that allow the user to copy prims (rezzed and worn by others) and textures (layered and baked) with only a few clicks. The panic seems to be reaching a fever-pitch…if you follow blogs about Second Life that is… and as I’ve spoken about in the last couple posts I made here.

My comment there at NWN was more directed to all those other commenters rather than the original article, and I got a bit verbose as I often do. After posting I looked at it and felt it was a bit long and decided I’d just repeat it here because I make a few more points that speak to what I was trying to say on my last post and I want to have my comments “archived” here at Common Sensible.

In my reply I directly answer a couple other commenters, but also largely toward one particular comment, so I will quote them in truncated form here before I dump my own rhetoric onto the page for your ridicule.

Ann’s [Otool] cryolife detector is a great tool, but increasingly, I am seeing people who are undoubtedly using “that” viewer to hide their client version. This typically shows itself by coming up with a “?” in the radar on Emerald (unless they have decided to clone a different viewer).

I stood next to a friend’s store last night changing the texture on a statue to stop someone from copying it, this person had hair on that they had created themselves the previous day - was named “hair - Liz” in their own language. In the end they either managed to copy the statue while I was changing the texture on it every time they changed it back (it’s like two clicks to copy a linkset), and they went, or I stopped them and they gave up.

My friend AR’ed, but what will be done? We have no proof apart from the hair and what they were doing.

- snip-

Ann is right .. I believe the vast majority of theft is personal use - you cannot file a DMCA for that.

So what happens when you know something is being copied, or you are 99.9% certain? You have no proof. There is nothing physical to be seen, unless you manage to find it inworld [sic] after the event - and that’s not really likely is it?

There’s no safeguard, no comeback, and soon no point in making content.

- snip -

Posted by: Toxic Menges | Thursday, October 01, 2009 at 04:48 AM
[at New World Notes]

In my reply, I speak directly to the claim that viewers that appear with a question mark in the Emerald (or Kirstens, et al) radar. This commenter proclaims any viewer that cannot be identified in the built-in Emerald radar is one of “those” viewers (that allow “ripping” of prims and textures.) And by the way “99.9% sure” is not “sure” - there is still doubt. This is why the Abuse Report will go nowhere, as it should go nowhere.

Guess what, even the Linden Lab official viewer and Snowglobe appear as a question mark (?) in the Emerald viewer. So I suppose if I use Snowglobe and create and wear hair that I happen to call “Hair - Torley” that I am evil because I’m a copybot-ripper? Sheesh. Why would I call my hair that? How about “Hair” so the name is easy to search for in inventory and how about “Torley” to name the “style”?

[UPDATE: Cryolife is easily detectable. However, I have discovered one way to detect at least one of the others, possibly more - details in my next post to this blog. —Ari]

Copybot has been around since 2006. And now, there are grid viewers with the same capability built-in and there are those who are going absolutely nuts with paranoia. At large are Cryolife, Thuglyfe, Streetlife, Neillife, please Get-a-life.

Sure, I could easily link to each and every one of those I've just listed. But then I'd get flamed for "accessibility to the masses" and all that nonsense. In truth they are quite easy to find and all are free (so if you pay for any of these, you are a lot more gullible than you should be.) As for the "copybot capability" of these grid viewers, why is no one screaming in shrill tones about Meerkat viewer - actually highlighted on New World Notes - among the most-read blogs about Second Life?

The fact of the matter is this stuff (ripping textures and prims) is not stoppable and there is nothing Linden Lab or you can do about it because it happens after the scene is downloaded to the local computer. Think of the technology as a "cache sifter and extractor" because that's basically what it's doing (for descriptive purposes anyway.) If you can see it or hear it, you can steal it. So why is everyone so paranoid about this stuff?

The answer is simple: people are taking Second Life and their "work" in it far too seriously.

I have a real and genuine proposition for you...

I want you to work for me.

No, really. Work for me - here, in real life. No worries about grid stability or your internet connection dying out on you or any of those other things. I want to hire you to landscape my home in first life (a.k.a. "real" life) and I will pay you to do it. In fact, the best part is that you have full reign, you can be as creative as you want. Do anything and everything. Whatever your heart desires, there is absolutely no limits whatsoever.

You also can sell anything and everything you create for my garden. I won't interfere in any way, shape or form. I want you to have as much fun as you can with it and maybe even make additional money on-top of what I pay you! I swear to you it's a dream-come-true!

Set your own hours, be your own boss and do anything and everything you want.

However, there are a couple of caveats:

First, you must agree to the contract between us. Well, it's really more of an agreement that you will obey my rules while on my property. You must be nice to everyone who comes by, specifically, other guests to my property.

Oh, and though you can do anything your heart desires with no limits whatsoever, you must pay me rent to use the land in my property - you choose the section and size and I'll adjust the rent appropriately. Whatever you do in that space is all you - go for it and have a ball!

Oh, and if you do make some amazing statues or grow stunning flowers and sell them to other people, I want a cut. And by the way, you must provide your own tools, whether you buy them from someone else or create them yourself, all you get is an empty, plain chunk of ground.

I forgot to mention that because of decency laws in my neighborhood, if you intend to allow nudity or any 'naughty-naughty-wink-wink' kind of stuff, you'll have to choose a chunk of my land that's in the back-yard. You know, behind the house so people on the street won't be offended.

Oh, and did I mention that all transactions will be handled with Monopoly money? This is better because I can easily print my own whenever I need it and they are easy to trade. You know, like a token. And because it kind of resembles money it makes for a good enumeration to account for your earnings. Oh, and I do mean all transactions. So if you sell your hard work, the buyer must obtain Monopoly money from me so they can buy from you.

Oh, but have no fear! You can make a real life living working for me! I swear it! If you make really really pretty flowers and garden decorations a lot of people will want to buy them! You'll make more Monopoly money than you can imagine. really! No shit! Unfortunately some folks might steal some of your flowers, but don;t worry about that. I'll let you advertise your stuff in my searchable newsletter. Those thieves wouldn't have purchased your stuff anyway.

But back to what I was saying... Whenever you want, I'll actually trade you your Monopoly money for real life legal tender money. Seriously, it's a great deal! You can make your living by working for me.

All you have to do to get started is agree to my rules and then come to my house.

I know, I know, the rules are all there to protect me and all of them more or less work against you, but hey - it's my house, right? You are the guest who comes to visit and work.

Oh, and I know that I exchange the Monopoly money for real money, but I should point out that part in my rules about that... just ignore it. It doesn't mean anything, really. I mean, I'm exchanging Monopoly money for real money right now, aren't I?

Remove that part of my rules? Why, whatever do you mean?

Oh, I'll do it eventually. You know, when ever I get around to it. It's kinda low on the priority list right now. But it's okay, just ignore it because I'm not enforcing it at all for the time being. Which part of my rules am I talking about? Haven't you read and understood my rules before you started working for me?

Why parts 1.4 and 1.5 of course:

1.4 ARI BLACKTHORNE REAL LIFE "currency" is a limited license right available for purchase or free distribution at ARI BLACKTHORNE's discretion, and is not redeemable for monetary value from ARI BLACKTHORNE.

You acknowledge that the Service presently includes a component of in-world fictional currency ("Currency" or "BLACKTHORNE Dollars" or "B$" or "BS" or "BULLSHIT" or "BULLSHIT SYSTEM"), which constitutes a limited license right to use a feature of HIS product when, as, and if allowed by ARI BLACKTHORNE. ARI BLACKTHORNE may charge fees for the right to use BULLSHIT Dollars, or may distribute BULLSHIT Dollars without charge, in HIS sole discretion. Regardless of terminology used, BULLSHIT Dollars represent a limited license right governed solely under the terms of this Agreement, and are not redeemable for any sum of money or monetary value from ARI BLACKTHORNE at any time. You agree that ARI BLACKTHORNE has the absolute right to manage, regulate, control, modify and/or eliminate such Currency as HE sees fit in HIS sole discretion, in any general or specific case, and that ARI BLACKTHORNE will have no liability to you based on HIS exercise of such right.

1.5 ARI BLACKTHORNE offers an exchange, called F-YOU-X, for the trading of BULLSHIT Dollars, which uses the terms "buy" and "sell" to indicate the transfer of license rights to use BULLSHIT Dollars. Use and regulation of F-YOU-X is at ARI BLACKTHORNE's sole discretion.

We'll skip the details here for brevity. But suffice it to say that you are allowed to trade my Monopoly money from one person to another, but there is no guarantee whatsoever that I will give you any real life legal tender in exchange for it.

Oh, here's another important part of chapter 1.5:

You agree and acknowledge that ARI BLACKTHORNE may deny any sell order or buy order individually or with respect to general volume or price limitations set by ARI BLACKTHORNE for any reason. ARI BLACKTHORNE may limit sellers or buyers to any group of users at any time. ARI BLACKTHORNE may halt, suspend, discontinue, or reverse any Currency Exchange transaction (whether proposed, pending or past) in cases of actual or suspected fraud, violations of other laws or regulations, or deliberate disruptions to or interference with the Service.

There. Understand it now? Oh, I won't bother to pay your taxes for you either. So you'd better stay on top of that or the bad guys might slap you with some serious shi...er... stuff.

But please, don't let this stop you!

I mean, even though you have absolutely zero rights at all whatsoever morally, contractually or even legally and are at my complete mercy in all things, don't you think this is a great opportunity to make a lot of money - and even stake your very livlihood and living on it?!!

C'mon! It's a perfect business plan! Why, any bank in the world would be fools not to back you up!

I mean sheesh... if you don't think it's such a great deal you could always go off and look at the competition.

I hear Linden Lab has a damned similar offer , you know. But their rules are worse, because it's a computer game, not real life like the offer I'm making to you. And besides, you are at the mercy of your ISP and your very computer not crashing and dying on you and your electrical power going out and a whole host of other stuff completely out of your control.

No one in their right effing mind would dare think to actually try to make a living in that Second Life place with that Linden Lab terms of service. That person would well do better having a gaping hole drilled into their head.

I mean, Second Life is just for fun, right? I mean, because people do actually know better than to feel entitled there, right?

art: Rose (Dinarzad); JCLPAT; Bob (Break.Things)

Via email 30-minutes ago:

**********

Dear Second Life Resident,

You have a parcel or classified ad listing that appears to contain adult content, but is not located on an Adult region. On September 15th, the Adult Content Policy transition period will end. After the 15th, adult content may only be advertised if it is located on Adult regions.

On September 17th, we will be turning off auto-renew for any classified or parcel listings that are advertising adult content on PG or Mature regions. This means that these listings will expire from Search. To avoid having auto-renew turned off, please make sure your listings are in accord with the Adult Content Policy. Here's how:

1. If you would like to advertise adult-themed content, then please relocate to an Adult region.


2. If you would like to remain on a PG or Mature region, you must remove adult-themed content from your parcel, parcel description and classified ads.

Below you'll find detailed instructions as well as the full text and SLurl of your current listing(s). Please note that, if you choose to advertise adult content on non-adult regions in the future, your listings will not show up in all searches but will still incur full listing fees.

Making my usual SLogosphere rounds this week I took great interest in Tateru's (Massively) take on some of the information she grinds into meaningful data - as best she can, anyway. Her post this week highlight the decline of concurrent Second Life (SL) "residents" for the first time ever (emphasis is mine):

While running some routine analyses of the user concurrency figures for Second Life from 2006 to the present, we noticed some interesting things. Median concurrency, one of the indicators we've traditionally eyeballed to indicate the health and growth of Second Life took a recent dive after many years of steady increase.

[From Second Life median concurrency declines as bots/campers progressively purged]

I started my reply to the comments on that article post, then decided no, I'll just post my reply here as it is really a bit more than a reply.

I have genuinely believed at least since the last quarter of 2008, perhaps before that, two out of every three "dots" (indicating a logged-in account onto the grid) on the in-world map are "zombie" bots. Avatar accounts remotely controlled via a "light" grid client application. Inactive for all intents and purposes. [and edited to add: 'or drooling bonehead campers spending 10-times as much first life money compared to what they earn.]

The statement from Tateru that kind of caught me off-guard is:

"Far more bots, it seems, than even we had imagined."

(Tateru is part of an editorial team.)

I know the title of this post might seem insulting and abrasive - it's not my intent. It is simply stated matter-of-factly in a shotgun burst to everyone about everyone in general terms. No, I am not trying to project a 'greater-than-thou' attitude or that 'I am always right, regardless of whether you are or not.'

However, it never fails to humor me in a ridiculous way when I see what appears to me to be common-sense being questioned over and over again, even though the answer to that question is right in front of the questioner's nose in plain view.

The problem is in how lazy and gullible people are. Lazy in that they simply refuse to do their own research on things and actually make a good-faith effort to understand anything (as in actually comprehend things.) Gullible in that they will believe anything people say to them without citing or referencing anything - hence the other half of the lack of research.

Been busy, so I haven't been posting as often as I'd like here. The first requirement is a subject matter that actually interests me (either to debunk falsehoods with facts or sheer curiosities) - and I must say that in my life-experience there simply isn't a whole lot I could see or know of that would offend or shock me.

Important notice: part of the subject of this article may be offensive or even repugnant to some as I use the subject of vorarephilia as my main example.

Image: "Hannibal Lecter" character of "Silence of the Lambs" - a vorarephile (Anthony Hopkins,) which is the fetish of cooking and eating human flesh, often while still alive.

I've seen it all. No, really, I have. If not 'all' then enough that anything new I run across will be just that: 'new', but rarely ever surprising or shocking. And that's just through my adventures in First Life.

Second Life, however, is an entirely different beast. Not different in what goes on in-world, but rather how freely and transparently it happens. Even today Second Life could be thought-of as a wild wilderness or 'rough country' like the 1800's of the western United Sates where there was little law and practically anything goes, often without consequence.

I have been saying here for a long time: rue the day when Linden Lab drops the hammer on 'acceptable' public display and access of 'deviant' (my word) activities and, in some cases, mere display. Thus the new continent of Zindra (a.k.a. Ursula) and the requirement that all "adult-rated" content be allowed only there and the redefinition of the 'official' terms "Mature-rated" and "PG-rated" as they relate to the Second Life Grid.

Many have shouted out in shrill form, angry that Linden Lab is doing this. Others angry not at what is happening, but how it is being implemented. Most simply don't care. I think it's a good idea and probably one that is very late in coming. "Zoning" of the grid is perhaps something that should have been implemented long ago, but Linden Lab tried to remain as hands-off as much as possible. But now, their hand is forced as the 'world' evolves and more conservative users join the grid.

Why is sex and violence (especially sex of a deviant nature) so prevalent across the Second Life grid to begin with? Because we can.

Allow me to elaborate...

I did some looking at alternate Grid Viewers when Linden Lab released the current (as of this writing) Official Viewer (1.23.4) - and I plopped it onto my machine and discovered how riddled with bugs it is. After that harrowing experience (hey, you try installing seven viewers on one system then trying to compare them,) though I only spoke of five of the seven I played with, I settled on the GreenLife Emerald viewer.

Ironically, the day after I had completed all that and posted my thoughts on those, Linden Lab announces Snowglobe. The only 'feature' spoken of is how fast the map art appears and how ridiculously tight you can zoom-in on the mini map. Features I personally figured as being useless to me.

Then, Gwyneth Llewelyn posted an article on her blog with a video hyping-up the performance benefit of Snowglobe. This intrigued me as even though I truly enjoy all the wonderful whiz-bang features of Emerald and Gemini viewers, I'm really in preference of performance and Gwyneth's discussion convinced me I should look at Snowglobe.

I did. And I repeated Gwyneth's performance test, but with control rules to make comparison far easier. Hamlet Au posted my findings at New World Notes, so I won't bother repeating them here.

Of course I didn't expect everyone's result to be the same as mine, but I do suspect the majority will experience something similar.

I get so tired of people who proclaim they have "invested real life money" in Second Life. These people are seriously misguided or delusional or both. I don't mean this as a slight. What I do mean is that people really need to get their bearings straight.

Linden Lab does not promise anything to you other than access, and even that is revokable at any time for any reason. So anyone who puts real money into the system and expects anything other than that should perhaps take a finance 101 lesson from someone. Anyone. because anyone and everyone whose feet and mind are planted in reality knows full well that anything you put into the virtual world is a black hole by all expectation.

The fact that you can actually make a return on any of it is more or less an exploitation of tools and services provided, which could disappear without warning or explanation at any time and for no reason.

Simply because it is not promised.

Linden Lab's new "official SL Viewer" is a wreck.

Hosed. Screwed. Whacked. Fuc... okay, you get the idea. The "official" 1.23 viewer was rushed-out long before it's time. Something is going on behind the scenes at Linden Lab - something that is more important and imperative than they are letting on about.

Linden Lab is working frantically to get the grid segregated in a big way. The segregation of 'adult' content from 'mature' content from 'PG' (parental guidance) content. The adult content being it's own walled garden locked away in it's own corner of the grid and secured tighter than a drum.

There is a cut-off date. The difference of 'cut-off' from 'deadline' is that a deadline is usually a bit flexible where a cut-off is hard and fast, no matter how ready the project is. It is the "cut-off" paradigm Linden Lab is following. This is evident by the official release of the version 1.23 viewer, which introduces (again!) new and old bugs. When I say "old" bugs, I mean ones that have been fixed in the past but are returned.

Re the title of this post...

Huh.

Your call.

With regard to the whole Zindra Adult Continent and all "adult-rated, sexually-oriented" objects and violence and hoopla, the entire search engine in-world will be overhauled to match these restrictions.

Either way, I understand the search system was scheduled to be overhauled since at least a year ago anyway, long before the segregation fences were ever (publicly) mentioned. The idea to be fine-tuning results to return more accurate and relevant listings.

Think about it: have you ever searched for oh, say a "Magick Healing Staff" that works on the "Spellfire" meter system. Good effing luck. Even on X-treet SL (XSL for short) - the web-based shopping mall - the results are a nightmare to sift through.

Ironically, Linden Lab is sending emails to users asking them to take a survey on the very subject of search and how it relates to shopping - and your experience with XSL. The most efficient way to shop for myself is to search XSL, sift through the results, copy the creator name, search for them in-world, check picks, go to their shop and then buy. Yes, I know I am missing some damned good products where the creator is too lazy to set-up on XSL, but it's their loss, not mine.

That's how messed-up the search system is in SL.

WTF?

Headline:

"Virtual Sex: Cheating or Not?".

Story:

uhhh, forget that question, let us just write something else entirely and make you forget the real reason you're even reading this story to begin with.

Might as well be:

Meteor to strike earth in 10-seconds, all life obliterated!
Tune-in for details at 11.

What is up with the so-called media these days? Okay, all the days since the mid 1980's onward? No such thing as objective reporting anymore (look how goo-goo-gah-gah and in the tank they all are for the Anointed One: Obama.Look at how sensationalist they always tend to be over simple-simon BS.

We always hear about how Second Life is a giant sexpit with nothing to do but run around acting out all our deviant fantasies. If it's not all the naughty behavior that SL is a hive for, then it's all the 'edumacationalistic wonders of the virtuamal new world".

The thread on the Second Life "Land" blog is growing daily. There's enough there to print-up a novel and it make an interesting read as long as you have an entire day to kill.

However, if you have subscribed to the topic and received the digests in email, it's relatively easy to keep-up with the discussion as it moves along (not so sure I want to say "moves foreword.)

The big debate started out with the issue of bot accounts: remote-controlled, inert avatars that serve no purpose otther than to boost traffic for the parcel they are "camping" on. Seriously, no other use, save "modeling" and "group control".

As for group control, only a single bot is needed unless you need to auto-manage more than 25 groups as each can manage that many. The premise is simple: using a bot, which is really just an alternate avatar account, some scripted objects and the like, the bot can manage groups.

John Henry Holliday is my hero.

I am an information junkie and I feed off history. All kinds of history. My favorite historical period is the United Sates, circa 1880's. It's the time of the silver-mining town of Tombstone and the infamous "shoot-out" at the O.K. Corral. Well, in reality it happened in an empty lot behind the O.K. Corral, but you get the idea.

Wyatt and brothers Earp always were fascinating to me, but not as much so as Doctor of Dental Surgery John Henry "Doc" Holliday. I have studied him wherever I could, read his biography and all that stuff.

The man was cordial and overflowing in charismatic karma, but he also didn't take any shit from anyone. He was a southern man who went west into the dry air to help alleviate tuberculosis symptoms and because of this infliction, he may have had a death-wish. Because of of this, people were scared of him. Yet, his compelling charm caused everyone who's ever met him to report liking the man enormously.

I said all that to say all this, and there is no segue: