In defense of furries, myths, wierdos - even griefers?

I do find furries quite fun and mostly blameless whatever they get up to - don't you? I must say I don't like the thought of real bestiality at all, BUT the point of furries is that there is not a single real animal in SL, and therefore absolutely no need for species identification to check if a wicked pony or sex-obsessed rabbit has somehow got access to a computer and is slinking onto the grid. ALL of them are people. So if they want to wear unusual skin or horns or strange shaped sexual parts why should anybody else care at all? The same applies whether they invent an elaborate code of behaviour and way of life like the original Neko, or just like prancing around as a hedgehog. No animals get harmed.

I mention this because I guess that after next week's 'fix' on age verification and its associated set of bans and permitted behaviours, we are going to see another round of worries and cares about who is for the chop, and for what.

There was a song by a punk rock band (who can remind me who it was?) (and was it based on the earlier poem by Niemoeller?):

First they put away the dealers,
keep our kids safe and off the streets.
Then they put away the prostitutes,
keep married men cloistered at home.
Then they shooed away the bums,
then they beat and bashed the queers,
turned away asylum-seekers,
fed us suspicions and fears.

We didn't raise our voice,
we didn't make a fuss.

It's funny there was no one left to notice
when they came for us.

Let's all be very very cautious about bans, I would say. Even the cheaters and griefers? Let's hear some words of support for those you don't like!

NOFX?



Yus.

I can't honestly see LL wanting to ban furries! For all I know, there are probably some furry Lindens. I have to say that most furries I've seen appear to be humans in animal outfits but that's no matter - each to his/her own, I say!

If I put on my green plastic teddy bear outfit, as I do occasionally, I always make it clear that it's just a costume with the normal me inside. I usually end up taking the head off and kicking it around like a football, just so people can see its meeee inside!

Species Identification Check? That's a new one on me. What "Fix" are you talking about? Or is this another round of unfounded hysteria we've become famous for here?

And good job on the stealth Godwin-ing of your own thread.

GOT to find that song, sounds cool.

And I agree, lookin the other way on things too often, can lead to a sucker punch to the back of your head.

Takes all kinds to build a world,

Though less griefing would be better for all IMO

It's "you" inside?.

So why do you consider a 3D human to be you and not the teddy?.

You don't really think that others may consider you to be a teddy in 1st life?.

Something to say in defense of griefers? That's a toughie...

...I know: It gives the rest of us a common enemy to combine against. At last - something to agree on!

(And yes, some Lindens are indeed furries. They even offer a furry initial (default) avatar to new Residents these days.)

In defense of griefers:

I actually prefer no bannings from SL to the alternative of banning people from SL (or large swaths of it) based on he-said, she-said "evidence"

----------------

I think the only perma-ban offense should be for investigated by the Lindens, confirmed by the Lindens proof of Grid-Attacks.

Honestly, the notion that there is some "true" avatar "inside" a furry bothers me a little, and it raises the question, "At what point are you "normal" enough that you don’t need to have something you can unmask?"

Fundamentally, it misses the point that all avatars by nature are what people choose to express themselves; what they feel comfortable in, and find best represent them, either as a mirror of what they are (or feel they are), or as a projection of the aspects they would like to possess or stress; be that 2.3 meter tall muscle man with triangular body, or nimble, agile person with feline features.

Perhaps SL keeps them off the RL streets?

Ruth.

Brenda (if I may) - Species verification was a sort of joke, sorry if it wasn't funny. The 'fix' was the one referred to for Wednesday: "To push out server-side fixes related to age verification... we will be performing a rolling restart of the Second Life servers on Wednesday, January 2nd 2008". I guess it means something but you may be right and any concerns are unfounded hysteria.

But what on earth is 'stealth Godwin-ing'? Might it mean that you think I answered my own thread with another identity? That would be a sort of accusation of cheating, I think, so please accept that I did no such thing. I seem to remember that there is a prolific poster called something Godwin, but he or she is nothing to do with me at all.

My point is not that Lindens are trying to ban lots of people, which wouldn't make sense, but that an atmosphere of excessive reporting for odd activity might catch a lot of people besides the children and their exploiters, and it would be good to avoid that sort of hysteria, witch-hinting, blaming.

I have nothing but contempt for griefers.

As for furries, myths and weirdos....I didn't realize they needed defending.

Some people think I am a myth, but I am really more of a legend.

LOL, sorry. No, Godwinning refers to the song you quoted , and the original poem it's based on, which evokes the Nazis. Godwin's Law is an axiom that says someone who references Nazis in threads where it is inappropriate , loses his credibility, it's become almost an in joke arounfd here.

...as long as people don't try to gut them to see who's "really" inside them.

Here's more on Godwin's Law:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

Hmph. That's a bit far-fetched, wouldn't you say? I refer to a rock song, which doesn't refer to but was probably inspired by a poem, which in turn originally referred to (but didn't, I think, name) the Nazis, and that calls my credibility in question? Wow. The dangers of culture!

Perhaps there ought to be a Meta-Godwin's Law, which refers to using Godwin's Law as a put down in threads where it is inappropriate?

Godwin-ing Godwin! Oh, the irony!
: D

Godwining a thread is a longtime running joke in these forums.

The more obscure the better.

Your reference is only moderately obscure being only 2 steps removed from an actual Nazi reference.

Additionally the poem, not the song has been trotted out every time something gets Linden Banned around here, so thats an additional common trend.

Still I give it 4 out of 5 stars due to it being in the Original post.

what is next weeks fix on age verification?

LL vastly improved their age verification system. They got rid of Aristotle/Integrity and replaced it with this guy in his mother's basement who got sued for copying Sexgen beds (because he was judicially determined to be over 18 himself). The guy consults a paperback copy of the I Ching and then rolls these dice from his Yahtzee game. Gets much better results, I'm told.

It is called Quirk's Exception..... apparently.

Your credibility wasn't being questioned. As said, it's a bit of ironic humor, that's all. I am the last person to be questioning credibility in this place, having very little myself.
*Makes note to remember to use the proper emotion thingies from now on.*