Are you guys for real?

I never read the forums before today, and I wont be again.
All I know is some people have some serious time on their hands if, in addition to playing SL, you have the time to come here to argue or preach.

I am now offically embarrassed that I play SL..........................

I feel ashamed I suggested anything I did. And that I'm the #1 poster.

One vote to kill the SL forums except for the bug reporting and feature suggestions.

Cinda,

We share your embarrassment.

I suggest not reading ANY oft used forums then. This kind of thing is not secular to SL.

Public forums are good to keep a feeling of community among those who feel the need for it (especially important in a "game" like SL). Er, if there isn't flames involved. It's not always like this here--honest!

Anyway I don't see anything wrong with having intelligent discussions when they don't degenerate into flame wars. Some people spend their time watching a few hours of TV a day, others prefer different activities.

But I do agree that the at-each-other's-throat flame threads are quite worthless. I like discussions on controversial topics so I can test and improve my own viewpoints but I back out when they degenerate into subtle or obvious insults. What pisses me off the most about hot topics is that people get so emotional about opposing opinions. I don't understand why it's so hard to have a level headed conversation with someone on the other side of a topic without a condescending attitude appearing.

I think *everyone* should spend some time once in awhile looking at opposing opinions on important topics, and I have no shame in doing so. Should I?

Right on Garoad! That's a great point of view.

While I too am guilty of becomeing to obsessed or emotional in some of these conversations I too think Garoad is on the mark.

Just wondering, what DID you expect find in a discussion forum? A stack of loyalty oaths? Love notes? Kittens? Bunnies? Spongemonkeys? Recipes? Buddy spam?

Or just a bunch of people who couldn't care less about Second Life?

Well, I'm not surprised to hear that YOU can't be bothered.

Hey! What about scripting!

roflmao

Not really sure why you started the thread, Cinda, but if you read this thread again comeon back. We'll try to behave.

Nobody here bites...well, except maybe a few people. We have a few forum monkeys, a few forum martians, and some others I can't exactly categorize. But they only bite the gnomes. Still it's fun...

(Normal humans needed.)

HEY! I want a spongemonkey!!! And I want one NOW!

Is a spongemonkey like a sock monkey only...sponge?

They're those ... uh ... cute little singing things on the Quizno commercials. They got their start at the Rathergood site. Here's their debute video:

http://www.rathergood.com/moon_song/

Spongemonkeys? Spongemonkies?

Spongemonkies stole my soul.

Uh, no, I dint expect kittens. I also didnt expact to see a bunch of crap being slung, and not very well at a that. Does anyone have the nerve to talk to someone in person? Or do you only speak your mind here, where theres no chance of a face to face meeting? Just a bunch of lame juvenile comments. Awww, Grow some balls.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh kittens, I love kittens

hmmmm, I'm not sure what threads you've been reading Cinda. They do get nasty now and then, but more often than not you'll find some of the most intelligent and articulate discussions anywhere. We discuss rather controversial topics and amazingly most people here can hear an opposing viewpoint without taking it as a personal attack. I'm sorry the forums have made you feel embarassed to play SL. On the contrary, they're part of what make me proud to be here.

Me too! Especially when they're fried just right Mmm Mmm MMMmmmmmmm

Well, instead of replying to the private message you sent, which referenced the OTHER type of genitals, I figure I'll reply here - since you've changed your mind about reading the forums.

I did not seek you out and try to offend you. You posted inflammatory trash here and apparently thought we'd simply take your chiding and shut up. ESPECIALLY when you slam us for arguing with each other - by posting a argumentative slam against the rest of us.

I don't usually sit still and let the truth be mangled in the name of someone else’s emotions.

And, contrary to your accusation in IM, I did NOT make personal remarks. I made public remarks in reply to your claim that we embarrass you. I don't have any personal remarks to say to you. Frankly, I have no personal feelings about you at all. You talked to me in public, and I talked to you in public. Don’t be confused just because your emotions are private.

Now, if you don't like replies in the public forum, then don't post there. If you don't like being contradicted, then don't be controversial. If you can't deal with the fallout, then don't toss bombs.

Above all, try not to compare people to various genitalia and then expect them to be nice to you.

Thank you. Drive through.

Since I can’t trust you to avoid sending me nasty remarks in IM, you will now be the ONLY person I have on MUTE.

I have recipes... lots of recipes... say the word and I'll flood this forum with so many recipes, there will be no more room for hate speech and sniping!

(How could anybody possibly feel angry when they are contemplating the ingredients for my fabulous Mini-cheesecakes or Thai Coconut Curried Chicken with Potatoes?)

(Sorry, though, no recipes for kittens...)

Yes Beryl, I would be in a seething rage at you for teasing me so! I can't even get eggs right!

*licks monitor*

And somehow it just doesn't taste the same on the forums.

" What Chip said.

SecondLife is a diverse place. If you stick the Pope in a room with Marilyn Manson, a stripper, Richard Stallman, a post-modern artist, Donald Rumsfeld and a flaming "alternative lifestyle" transexual, you'd get a similar effect to what we have happening on the forums; some friction here and there. Add a few personal grudges and frustrations, and one or two people waking up on the wrong side of the bed, and that's more or less a typical day on the SecondLife forums.

Occasionally, yes, we will see a post that really goes a little too far-- where people make comments with first life implications relating to SecondLife happenings. Although the expression of these feelings isn't always constructive, the feelings themselves are often the well-founded product of a failure to communicate in or out of world. I'd submit that sometimes the failure to communicate is not the fault of the person whose frustration finally bubbles over in the forums, at least on the issues I've seen come here-- Federal, griefing of certain raffle events, and builds that are so bad they are effectively denial-of-service attacks on other users' client software.

Ideally, some of these problems will work themselves out-- perhaps the residents of Federal will realize that in the long run it is easier to give in and move away. If you lived in a neighborhood where the police ignored your calls for them to enforce the laws, on the books what would you do? Turn the other cheek? Civil protest? Take the law into your own hands? Move away? Vent your frustrations in a public forum? We see it all on SecondLife.

I don't think playing the blame game is useful-- I've seen a lot of fingers being pointed, but this tends to place people on the defensive. It's difficult, though, to take what is an intolerable situation and bootstrap yourself out of it using only positive, constructive, steps. Getting vindictive can seem soooooo appealing, even to a total saint, if they feel they've been wronged enough.

There are some difficult questions, though. If not via revenge nor verbal forum abuse, nor through any sort of benevolent enforcement/regulation of behavior, how does one lead people whose actions appear to be sociopathic and bring them into line? What sort of censure will reach them? Calling them names certainly won't solve problems, but neither will tolerating their mal-behaviors...

This is part of the fascination of SecondLife for me-- so many people who just want to carve out a piece of their dream, enjoy themselves-- and yet stick them in a room and fights break out. It's like a bunch of preschoolers stuck in a finite-sized room with a finite number of toys who inevitably argue over the "rules" and over who gets to "own" the toys.

I will say that linking in real-world finances continues to be, in my opinion, dangerous, because it gives a sense of entitlement to those who have paid for resources, and an appeal for exploitation for those who like to game the value system and check out via 3rd-party money changers, while the rest of us, trying to build worlds, are hindered.

Is second life a collaborative social framework, a place to build worlds, or a way to separate people from their money? These are questions we, as users, need to answer. Linden's hosting the party, but the tone of that party is really up to the people who come.

Okay. Well, anyway. That should be enough to generate a few comments...

Ack! That's horribly unpleasant image. Donald Rumsfeld and friction... **shudder**