Buy Nothing Day

As the slogan goes... "Every day is buy nothing day."

I'm with Zapoteth.

p-E-t-a

I think we should have two "no buy" days and two "no make" days each week, on Saturday and Sunday. We can call it the weekend.

THAT hasn't happened in a while..




Lol Eggy, thats why I voted YES..

U seriously need to learn to relax. If I got so rabid about every topic under the sun I'd have a freaking migraine. Goosefrabaaaaa.......

In RL, I may support such a day, in SL... I don't care enough ROFL

- Sam

This is obviously meant to show those evil content creators a thing or two.

I still have yet to understand what we've done wrong. Because that's who this is going to hurt. Nothing like a boycott without a cause just for the sake of having a cause to boycott.

Seriously, I want to know. If people who make content in SL are "hit" by this, what is it exactly that you're going to be showing them?

A lot of people love this "EVERYTHING SHOULD BE FREEEEE!@$#%$" mantra. But you know what - that isn't possible in SL where we have to *pay tier* for land. And Linden has to pay their developers so that the "evil capitalists" who *brought* you this world can have housing and food.

Even in RL, "buy nothing days" hurt little mom and pop shops a hell of a lot more than it hurts Wal-Mart and McDonalds. (Who barely notice it.)

And yes, the point of "buy nothing day" was originally to focus on wasteful consumption, not the fact that you're able to "stick it to the man" by making damn sure that anyone in this entire world who runs a business gets burnt.

Really, I'd like someone who's behind this to -really describe- what message you're trying to send to the content sellers in-world. (That they aren't needed, I suppose.) If that's the case, do you guys really believe that Linden Lab should be maintaining and developing a 1000+ server system for free?

Because that's the only way it'd work. For this "everything should be free! people who charge for things are evil!" idea to work, someone along the line has to foot the bill - whether its the concept that land owners in SL should simply cough up tier gratis, or further on down the line, Linden should pay for their hardware out of the kindness of their hearts, and every developer at LL should work for free.

It just seems kind of backwards. I'm usually on the liberal side of things, I hate unethical corporations like Wal-Mart, but I'm not zealous enough to extend that to the dry-cleaners down the street run by a grandma and grandpa. This really just sounds like a bunch of people with blank signs and magic markers ready, looking for a cause.

If you *have never* bought anything in SL, and also *have never* paid LL anything, and believe that LL should be providing SecondLife completely for free, and that there should be*NO* content developers who charge L$ at all in game, then go for it.

Otherwise, you're being a hypocrite.

I don't think this is true, I'm a content creator, ok not on the same scale or league as you are.. But I have to pay my rent, not quite as considerable as your tier.. But I wouldn't see a problem with this..

Dispite the fact less than 10% of the population read the forums.. And I doubt even if everyone who read the forums didn't buy anything for 1 day, it would make a considerable dent in anyones sales..

Isn't the *point* to make a dent in people's sales, so that they "get the message", Zapoteth?

If it's not going to impact anyone's sales, and nobody's going to be hurt by it, then isn't it a failure?

If you aren't trying to "Send a message" to those who its going to hit (and I dont know what that message is...) - then why are you doing it?

The intention of boycotts are to harm or send a message to companies whose practices you disagree with. I have yet to see the "cause" here, the "evils" that content creators in SL "perpetrate". To me this seems like it's just a "porting" of the RL protest into SL, where the RL evils (environmental, poor wages, extortion) perpetrated by megacorporations simlply do not exist.

Not every business transaction is "rampant consumerism". I like some of what Adbusters says, but I believe that they are a bit hypocritical, (after all, their glossy 4-color magazine is not free, nor is it printed for free.) and in that they don't take a nuanced view of this. Was bartering beads for corn 'rampant consumerism' 1000 years ago? Are sole-proprietors such as plumbers, construction workers, etc, - who are trying to support their families - somehow evil capitalists?

These people water down their causes by taking an all-or-nothing, you're with-us-or-against-us stance, often similar to the 'side' they're trying to protest. It's critical theory in action: don't solve a problem, just invert it so *you're* the bad guy being bad to the *former* bad guy. Victimize perpetrators, while the victims become perpetrators themselves. Also known as vigilantism.

If the term "rebel without a cause" ever applied, it'd be now. There are some aspects of BND that are *personal*, and I'm OK with that. But, honestly, four or five days out of seven for me are usually "BNDs". It seems that Adbusters believes, rather insultingly, that most Americans just CANNOT GO ONE DAY without purchasing something.

Bull. I guess these guys have never been poor college students. (Which I currently am, thanks. There have been plenty of days this week where I couldn't afford to *buy* anything for lunch, so I had to do with the free ramen offered at work. Great benefit that, but... what message are you sending by protesting my SL business? Who do you really think actually makes money hand over fist in SL? Besides a few people?)

Our intentions for Luskwood: The income supports the tier, the tier supports the land, the land is a place where people can go to socialize - we're 90% noncommercial space, self supporting, self sustaining, but yeah we have to pay tier just like anyone else. None of us are rich. None of us will probably ever *BE* rich. Yet stll, the cannon has to be aimed (broadly) at us (and others).

Again, what is it that you're protesting? What message are the businesses in SL supposed to be receiving?

(And yes, as per the cause, actually, a valid answer -is- 'because I think it'd be fun to have a cause to rally for, even if it isn't completely valid' -- but I doubt anyone here is going to make that admission.)

No.



No.




Try actually reading the page for the real life BND instead of making reactionary replies.



BND is not a boycott.




No, they believe that too many people (its a worldwide thing, not just Americans, seriously, know what you're talking about before you decide you're against it) don't realize they could go one day without purchasing something. If they believed that people COULDNT do it, they wouldnt be asking them to.



Not everything is about you.

awww come on i love to have a day that meanes we buying nothing for a day!

I don't think BND is supposed to be a boycott. Most folks just wait and buy the stuff the next day, which doesn't have much effect on anyone, especially on SL where goods are mostly permanent (ie, there aren't things like restaurants that must get hurt because once a day's mealtimes have passed they can never sell those meals).

And yes, it's a sign that we do need to think about capitalism on SL, the effect it's been having, and if anything can be improved without destroying anyone else's reward for their work. You can't deny that having a "metaverse" where large numbers of people just spend time idling in chairs indicates some kind of problem. Although, that's not directly the fault of content creators, of course.

Indeed, Buy Nothing Day is not a boycott insofar as 1) it lasts only one day and 2) it targets no specific business or product. It's intended as a very small act of sabotage upon a consumer culture run amok. Some of the consequences of that culture are environmental, but that impact falls more broadly under the category of reducing global quality of life while claiming to enhance it, or basically, giving people bad information about how to live.

Me too...What's of more concern to me personally, is I havn't been giving anything away of late either.......

I did read about what BND is. And it is about 'rampant consumerism', corporatism, exploitation of workers via capitalism - that's what Adbusters is about as a whole, and I don't fully disagree with them.



No, just inclusive in the target, that's all. And being compared to, and grouped in with the likes of Wal-Mart, because people can't be bothered to think in anything but black and white.

Right. Sabotage. And it doesn't target -one- business or product, it targets them *all*.

Again, what have people who run businesses in SL done to make you feel they need to be sabotaged? One minute you guys say it isn't about punishing people, and then it is. Which is it?

If you really believe in this - I encourage you to run with your convictions, and do the following.

Go into a small business, perhaps one run by a husband and wife.

Please, by all means, tomorrow, go up to them, and spit in their face and walk out. Because, after all, they're contributing to the evils of capitalism. Flip them off. Perhaps break a few things in their shop. That'd show em.

If you were really strong in your convictions, you could also shoot them in the face. That would be a very effective bit of sabotage against those evil purveyors of purchasehood.

Right. As soon as I get my tier for free, I'll stop charging for stuff. Everything should be free, but somehow, Linden should still get paid, (or maybe they shouldn't?) and the people who develop SL, well, they should get paid, right?

Everything else though, should be free. And anyone who doesn't agree with that is evil.




No, it's just indirectly all their fault, and they deserve to take the brunt of the punishment.

Ok.. I saw it as support for the RL event, which, one of the main gains of that I see being waste, packaging etc.. Altho I know nothing about this event myself (obviously not as widely publicised in the UK), I thought it sounded fun..

I know we don't actually HAVE waste in SL, but it might make people think about the RL equivilent of the day..

As far as I can tell from the post, it isn't to stop people selling, selling as much, its to stop people buying as much.. And there is a different.. There not directly targeting the seller, as you implied in your earlier posts..

But.. Lighten up dude

www.zapoteth.com?

... If you believe so much in this: How about this. Tomorrow, give away *all* of your stuff. And don't just give it away. but give it away with open permissions. That means, full mod, copy, transfer.

Anything less, and you are a hypocrite.



Would you be "lightening up" if I was posting a call to protest and boycott all SL furniture designers? After all. This is a virtual world. We don't need furniture here, and you're selling things we don't need. Therefore, you're exploiting our consumerist nature for your own selfish gain.

Michi

First of all, I appreciate you posting, helps let me know to never buy anything you have created.

Second, please let us know which college you go to so I can be sure never to attend it, as clearly it is not doing a great job educating its students. That, or you're just not paying attention, which given your nonsensical, completely off base replies to this thread is also entirely possible.


Third, if you're literally starving you're so poor... WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING SPENDING TIME ON SECOND LIFE? If you're so desperate that you can't afford to eat, use the hours you're spending playing internet games and bickering on forums to GET ANOTHER JOB.

Like you've ever bought anything in SL your life. Your real intention behind "buy nothing day" is just that you want more shit for free. You probably break permissions and clone things just to "liberate" them to show those "Evil content creators" a thing or two.



Why the FUCK should I get another JOB that would just be PROTESTED AS EVIL by a pie-in-the-sky idealist such as you?

I wish we still had negative ratings, and I hope I get the chance to abuse report you at some point.

Course I reported your post as a personal attack. Hopefully you'll get suspended from SL for it for a time. I'd love that. Consider it "protesting" Linden Labs' capitalism.

And so long as this is getting personal: Does rap and hip-hop somehow make you feel "tough" and all fucking "dogskin" instead of the (probably priviliged and guilty) white boy that you are?

Go ahead. Rage against the machine. The best way to do this is by listening to "Rage Against The Machine".

In other words, you don't have an answer.


And it doesn't do much for your "I don't deserve this" whining to demostrate that you are the type of person to neg rate and abuse report anyone who disagrees with your view.

Is that better than your personal attack? Oh, right. You're a big tuff guy, so you can do that. I forgot. Why don't you go loot a family business or something. They're mostly closed today, you probably wouldn't get caught.

Same here Merwan,
and havnt had anyone come up asking in awhile ether, well last 4 weeks of hell play but have lots of free stuff out not to many takers

-waves

Actually, we have been. But there's been a devaluing in the inherent perception of value in 'free stuff' because, I think, of camping chairs and the fact that anyone can sit and get money.

But there's still a need, for newbies, but no directory of sorts to locate where free things are.

its amusing cause i go for food shopping once a week and thats about it lol