S-L voting

As the recent changes in SL inolving the introduction of non-verifiable accounts have caused so much concern in the community I wonder if anyone has considered whether pre-change residents should have been allowed to vote on the matter. I can't imagine that a SL wide vote would be hard to engineer, so it seems a referendum could be conducted on the subject.

If we are indeed citizens of this world at some point voting rights should be on the agenda.

I wonder if this solution has been previously considered?

we are not citizens, we are customers of linden labs, and even in a monarchy you can be a citizen.
And it is not in LL's best interest to ask our advice or they would do it already

I do not believe that we should dictate to Linden Lab what to do. However I strongly believe that we should discuss with LL about future changes.

That is, Linden Lab needs to hear our opinions but we must leave the final decisions to them.

Even monarchs need to consult their subjects ohterwise they face a variety of revolts whether they be from the peasantry (no payment info on file) or the nobility (payment into on file)! Simple referenda could prevent dissent from building up. If people think they have influence on their society they are more likely to remain engaged with it. In Linden commercial terms this means they are more likely to remain in the world.

but they don't have to, and in LL's case , as they have all power on your little account , a revolt is useless, you just can't win it

History is full of examples of revolts succeeding. I agree all power is with Linden but seemingly all powerful empires crumble, especially in the age of asymetrical warfare - the little man has an advantage.

you just can't win a revolt agains LL ^^, not in their own servers at least

Well if memory serves me correctly American revolutionaries were able to win against British owned North America. Obvioulsy there are differences but there are also striking similarities. British Imperial expansion began as commercial operations and shifted to political entiites once the communities developed their own identities. Just food for thought.

uhm, that is a silly analogy. England couldn't just 'unplug' North America and close it down. LL CAN if they so desire, commit Armageddon on the grid rather than give in. We have ZERO power here, other than the power to walk away from SL with our money.

Clearly drawinging a direct line from pre-independence British north America to Second Life would be relatively fruitless but in terms of a debating point I think looking at the history of revolt against seemingly overwhelming odds is useful.

Just to go back to the American Revolution, the British government did actually have the option to pull the plug on the colonists - an armegedon option would have been possible. Scorthed earth policy on the land combined with an effective economic blockade would have probably done the trick. However, Britain was unable to due this due to public opinion in its nascent representitve insitutions at home. Also some would argue most governing Britons realised that even limited trade with an independent America was better than none - the British Empire was after all a trading entity first and foremost.

Moving away from colonial history other small liberation movements have survived attempts to wipe the out - Vietnam being a recent good example but Cyprus, Kenya and Israel provide other older models.

LL is clearly a commercial entity and if one were to engage in economic rebellion against it, my sense is that, as history shows, peace and trade would be preferable to all rather than protracted conflict, which could undermine SL's encomic growth.

Maybe its more like the Hudson Bay Company, or the East India Company?
Or maybe not.


Maybe its like being a customer of say, a phone company.
gee, it would be nice it they asked for votes on tariff changes, or new services and their implementation.



But


It ain't going to happen.

There is a voting system in which we can voice our opinion, Vent and just come up with silly ideas to take up voting space.. the lindens decide of the features from some of those votes... but seem to ignore the amount of votes a proposal gets...

WELCOME ALL TO THE DEMOCRATIC MONARCHY

I'm a brand new member, but already one of the charms of this community is the absence of politics and politicians. In SL I'm willing to adhere to the rules of a benevolent dictatorship as I do when I visit a health club, an ocean cruise, and similar amusements. Democracy is not the answer to everything.

I say throw all the LL tea in the [email=ocean!@#%#%]ocean!@#%#%[/email]
that will teach em