Hooking SL into social networking?

Yes, good idea. Have 2nd life, Picks, and 1st life tabs, and then allow, say, 7 more, all blank but customizable. Or offer 20 or so standard tab choices but let people choose which 7 they want to use.

I set up a webcam once, but nobody ever came back to look at it a second time.

You should reduce your fees.

I tried paying people less already. Duh.

I like that. A simple SL window with the usual buttons would do me just fine and dandy.

So disappointed at the type of 'hooking' topic this is.

Good for you.

Are you a guy in RL? Because many guys do not care who knows what about them since they can't be pulled into a van while going to their car in a grocery store parking lot. It sounds to me like you have never been internet stalked or had someone in SL get so close to you that they could find you in RL if they wanted to and threatened to do so.

I for one do not want people in SL referring to me by my RL first name. If i wanted that, I would have given my avatar my RL first name. In fact it pisses me off when people -especially people i just met- ask for my first name. WTF, my avatar has a name, it is "Briana", use it.

There are exactly 4 people who know my RL full name. 2 People who know my RL name + my home address, and 3 people that have seen me on Cam - in nearly 6 years. And sometimes i have doubts that i did the right thing with even them and these people have known me a LONG time!



That is so freaking presumptuous of you. Its GREAT (and also foolish) that you give out such information freely if that makes you feel good. But it has to be one of the dumbest things you can do in SL.

I dated a guy in SL in 03 who lives in Chicago, about 3 hours away. And very soon into the relationship and my giving him TOO MUCH INFORMATION ABOUT MY RL, he was dropping hints about coming down to my city to find me so we could be together - ever though I am married in RL. That is not exactly comfortable - and i dumped him for that. It is no fun looking over your shoulder expecting someone to show up in your life and wreck it because they are lonely.

And no, 50% of SL does not use voice. I have an adult hangout with voice activated there and the number of people whoa actually ask to use voice at my place or any number of other similar like places is maybe 2 out of 10 people.



It is not about "having nothing to hide". It is about being prudent and cautious and protecting your RL from people you most likely do not really know because after all, they are telling you what they want you to know or what they think you want to hear, and you have no idea whether it is true or not, but yet you give them true information about yourself.

Not too smart. Especially if you are a female.

QFT 1 person agrees

Good morning, Grumpy!

There's people everywhere. That guy that works at your local grocery store might have a crush on you. and he might have a white van too!



I think if half of the women in SL were a little more open about who they were then they'd probably be disappointed in how little interest stalkers shown them.

Make that two - and I'm sure many more who won't post but are applauding right now. So well said, Briana.

I haaaate being target of attempts to manipulate me into crossing boundaries I set. And I could care LESS if some stranger approves of those boundaries or not. They can hurl snide presumptions all they want. In fact that type is the last sort of person I'd want to confide in anyway! Do they not think of that. Or do they not care.

The only people such social pressure will work on are those who are too frail emotionally to resist it - which makes its use even more egregious in my opinion.

@ 3D Scientist - way to glibly dismiss what many RL and SL women have experienced first hand. People have boundaries for a reason and I'm sorry - but most men will not fathom what it is like to have those crossed.

Oh and by the way, stalkers do not choose people based upon how "open" they have been. People get harassed in SL without having talked about themselves much or even talked TO someone, at all. (Same with RL)



Quoted because stalking, abduction, and rape jokes are sooo hi-larious.

Hey there ALT person.

You are about 1 more post away from being the first person on my ignore list.

You are an alt. You are simply posting here for your own comedic relief.

As wimpy as it is now, OpenSocial is something they need to watch, at least; someday it will likely grow up and support exchange of "social graphs" (among other things) at which point the gap would be pretty conspicuous for some uses of SL.

Of course, they may already be coding to some such target, behind the scenes. (Until it recently kind of leaked out, who'd have guessed they're using OpenID underneath all the cruft?)

I haven't read much of this thread - I'm short on time today, but I wanted to comment anyway ...

Some social networking tools could be useful, like the ability to communicate easily from outside SL and the ability to log in without showing as online.

My big fear is that, like voice, this could reinforce the divide between those who like no separation between RL and SL and those who like to keep the two entirely separate. Instead of "I won't believe you're a girl unless you do voice", we'll get "I won't believe you're a girl unless you post a load of RL pics on TwitFace".

Oh, and I would HATE our friends lists to be public. One of the things I dislike most about social networking sites is how people feel they must amass thousands of pseudo-friends to feel popular. If they build in just the optional ability to show your friends list then there will be pressure to do so and suspicion of those who choose not to.

If I understood this statement correctly, then you can already.

Check preferences so that only friends list can see you online. Then if you want to be hidden as online from them too, uncheck next to their name in the friends list so your online status is hidden. (A major flaw in this is that if they happen to IM you and you are online, it will be obvious because they will not get that stupid "user is not online" message.)

Your online status is always visible in your groups, even if you have everything turned off. Anyone in any of your groups can see whether you are online or not at all times.

Ah, forgot about that one! Thanks.

This is a good point.

Oh I could care less who thinks I am 'popular' or not - but I'd feel a violation of privacy if my friends list were made public. I mean...for what purpose? Who really cares? But I still would find it icky.

I also don't like 'cold IMs' especially as the person could be a friend of a friend of a friend or no one at all and perhaps had never met or even seen in SL. So, nah on that notion.

Maybe it's because I'm not much of an online person besides SL, but I never understood the whole idea of putting so much personal information out in public for all to see. to me it's like walking down the street and handing out a flyer with all your statistics to everyone we meet. In that vein, a publicly viewable friends list is like handing everyone your address book. I don't get it. it's not about hiding anything, everyone in SL that sees me knows my RL first name, it's just about exercising caution and prudence. With social networking comes social engineering.

Another name added to the list of people I don't need to bother to get to know.

If you can't respect other people's boundaries to share whatever THEY want to share with you, then I don't think I would want to work for you, become friends with you, buy product from you or anything of that nature.

Thanks for letting us know! Hate to find out after the fact.

I don't mislead people at all, but I don't share RL info with them either. Everyone who gets to know me knows that there is no Kalderi Tomsen in RL and that there is no outward connection between this avatar and any person in RL. I don't pretend that I am anything other than I am in SL. People who are "interested in me" are told firmly that the boundary is SL and the reasons for that are not their business. If they can accept that, then fine. If not, then "NEXT!"

Put me down as another who doesn't use it. I don't WANT to hear the real life voice of the person behind the SL avatar - I have a mental image of how people sound based on their appearance and interactions with me. I don't need to hear a real voice to make them "real".

I've said this before - there are two schools (and many shades between) of people that use SL - those that create fictional "characters" (and I don't just mean RolePlay) and those that treat it as another MyFace - it's an online extension of themselves. Hopefully there will continue to be room for both.

Oh, SL uses open standards and open APIs all over the place, they just don't expose them to the end users nearly as much as they really oughta.

Hey, I got all kinds of real life pictures on my blog, check the link in my sig.

Oh, SL uses open standards and open APIs all over the place, they just don't expose them to the end users nearly as much as they really oughta.Hey, I got all kinds of real life pictures on my blog, check the link in my sig.The major flaw is that it takes me about an hour and a half sitting there clicking ten names at a time and then waiting for SL to acknowledge that it's changed the status of all the names for me to change the status of everyone in my friends list.

"Log in online" means "Just log into SL, don't log into the presence server or whatever it's called, so IMs still go to email and I don't show up as being online unless you're, like, actually in the sim with me". That's what a lot of us were asking for back before LL decided to add a whole bunch of extra complexity to the friends list instead.

Yes and 'sharing' is a slippery slope also. "Why wont you tell me if your kids go to private or public school? I already know your name and town! What do you think I'm gonna do, drop in?"

Personally - I don't chit chat in RL about SL and it feels just as weird to chit chat about RL to someone in SL. Can the "sharing" proponents tell me that they chit chat in the checkout line about what they did in SL that day?

Respecting someone's boundaries shouldn't have to be begged for. Their reasons could be any, including just simple comfort level. Anyone who ignores a "no" isn't a good friend to have anyway in my opinion. If it is someone's instinct or comfort level they *should* listen to it.

Also, the person who "shares all of their own RL info" could be sharing their dentist's, their cousin's, or their imaginary friend's. Caveat emptor.

(ETA: Argent that idea sounds good to me. I'd also like a reliable client to send/read IMs from off SL too.)