What do we know about Destination Guide and Showcase?

There's a Destination Guide that seems kinda like Showcase, although Showcase also still exists and may have data disjoint from what's in the Destination Guide.

At some point the idea was to replace Showcase with Destination Guide, where the latter is this thing populated by "experts for pay" using the livework Mechanical Turk-like thingy.

Which Linden is leading up the actual conversion, assuming a conversion is underway?

Are Adult destinations (or even Mature ones) getting populated in the Guide?

Is there any API for querying the Guide? Are the listed destinations somehow searchable on search.secondlife.com (sadly underwhelming as that would be as an API, especially inasmuch as it's blocked from in-world script access)?

Certainly the number of places listed in Showcase has increased, and many of them are indeed worth showcasing. There does seem to be considerable cross-pollination between the blurbs in both.
First up on my list when I looked was "Lesbian Paradise".

*sigh*

I was curious what the maturity rating was for that parcel, so I tried to visit. Guess what? Arrived--immediately banned, presumably for the offense of being a male avatar. I'm still getting banned over and over, bouncing to the corner of the sim and down to about -700m. Great way to introduce new residents to what SL has to offer.

Goddammit.

(The parcel is Mature, by the way, so included in the list of virulently avatar-hostile destinations are Mature rated parcels.)

[ETA: I just AR'd Courtney Linden for this one. Whichever Mechanical Turk vetted this destination needs a spot of re-education.]

Dunno, Qie, but right now Showcase is my new favorite thing. I've visited lots of places I never knew existed, thanks to Showcase. And now you're saying that LL is getting rid of/merging it?

How did they know you were a male avatar?

I'd assume they have a bot. The ban was so instantaneous that I can't imagine any human was involved.

I'm not sure a bot could actually tell the difference..

Either way, LL needs to stop pimping that place if they're behaving like that.

That's very interesting. I wonder how the distinction is made.

I wonder if they are automatically ejecting the heterosexual women as well. And I assume they are successfully identifying the butch women. Are the transsexuals allowed to stay, but only for ten minutes?

Maybe they are ejecting everyone, the policy being that if you belonged there, you'd be in the group.

As far as I know, LSL can't tell anyone's gender.

In their defense, it does say "a community for women only" on the destination guide page.

I dropped by there and asked one of the security guards, and she told me they eject male avatars manually. It's not automated.

That was part two of my question. If it was done manually....how do they know?

No offense to Qie.

Apparently, nobody's told them that a gender (or even species) change is just a few inventory clicks away.. With a name like Qie (also no offense) I'm not sure I'd be that quick to pull the ban trigger on somebody. Fred? Maybe. Qie? No..

I guess they can be as militant as they want but I still think it's not the kind of place LL should be advertising.

That's what I'm trying to get at. That is just Unacceptable. Certainly not to be promoted. I wonder if I put on some puffy guy clothes that disguised my curves....and a short haircut....if they would assume "Mickey" was a guy.

I would assume this rules out anyone who goes as an animal avatar.

This is not something I know a great deal about, but I am pretty sure that there are a few communities for RL lesbians in SL. Lesbian Paradise is not one of them. (I got to know a little about the group because they had a display across from mine at SL6B. Lots of big pics of very very very "happy" looking women )

I think a policy of ejecting on the basis of gender is dangerous at the best of times; this one just sounds dumb, dumb, dumb. And yeah, it shouldn't be featured by LL.

I presume they get a lot of practice. In the few minutes I was there one male avatar teleported in. He was ejected pretty quickly, but not instantly or faster than I could have done it.

I don't know how they handle butch looking female avatars. I'm not sure sure how often that issue even comes up.

And there's no warning issued first to males? No polite "Excuse me sir, but we are all RPing people without penises here. We'll have to ask you to leave"?

What this place is essentially is an RP sim; in one sense, it's not much different, although clearly more militant, than a sim like Berlin 1920, which wants visitors in "appropriate attire."

On the other hand, they sound as though they are being rude about it. And I still have some serious issues with any sim that bans on the basis of gender -- or race and sexuality for that matter.

(ETA: I might make an except for a refuge or safe area. And perhaps certain sorts of community services, as for example a rape counselling centre.)

I heard they let you in... but only if you are a bitch.

If they're paying for the land, they can do pretty much anything they want - I don't care. It's just the bit about LL advertising for them that makes me grumble.

Yeah. This is a debate we've had here before, in other forms. I still maintain that there is a difference between exclusion and discrimination based on RL ethnicities, genders, and sexualities, and one that discriminates against, for instance, Nekos, furries, elves, etc. . . .

PS. This place is crazy busy. Obviously being in the Destinations has had good effect. No one has yet approached me to show proof of a vagina: I can only assume that I look girly enough?

ETA: And the place is crawling with "security." No wonder they can respond so quickly. And there's a huge sign near the landing zone advertising jobs for security staff.

ETA (again): And at least one female Neko, so apparently THAT's acceptable.

lol. Well then, I guess they'll let me in - puffy clothes or not.

If Qie's welcome was typical they certainly could be more polite. There's really no excuse to be rude to people in that situation whether one agrees with their policy or not.

Yeah, I agree of course.

I'm really unimpressed by the place in any case. A big tacky outdoor dance floor so packed you couldn't swing a ferret there, TONS of newbie "women" (surprise surprise), and one of those big overwrought builds all around that looks like it's been lifted from the centre of a particularly large suburban mall. Also some full nudity on the dance floor, although I suppose the "context" makes that acceptable in a Mature sim.

Did see one newbie guy, with a woman's hairstyle (that blonde blunt cut one you see around) rather hilariously set over top of system hair. Don't think he was fooling anyone, although it took security a bit of time to poof him.

I have to give a little credit to Linden Lab for at least attempting to include gay and lesbian places in its Showcase.

It is just quite a shame that the lesbian community at the top of the list is one that seems to portray lesbian identity in the same way that woman-on-woman porn targeted to heterosexual men portrays lesbian identity.

I have been assuming that it is a gesture towards seeming "liberal" that explains why this otherwise utterly unremarkable dance club/sim is being showcased. And while I don't know an awful lot about "real" lesbianism in SL (other than having some close lesbian friends here), what I saw on the dance floor certainly reinforced the impression that this was a male fantasy of "woman on woman" action that was being played out.

Interesting, though, that it remains "Mature," and not "Adult." That does seem to suggest that maybe there IS more to the place than just Vivid Video versions of lesbian porn, as presumably you can't have actual animated sex here. Maybe there is an actual community of some sort here?

I'm sort of intrigued by this now, and I'm going to ask around a bit more.