How would you be different?

Well that person who was banned but not banned that requested to be banned (are you following still?) has moderator powers, though claims to never use them and they are for "emergency" purposes or some such nonsense. All i know is that moderator powers over there (at least for 1 person) means you can run amok harassing people that the owner looks at unfavorably without worry of being reprimanded by the powers that be.

This is so true, Isablan. Although every forum I've looked at is usually like that. Most are worse than this one. And it's hard for a moderator to censor people simply for being domineering. It's best to try to let the integrity of your ideas speak for themselves, even if you don't scream them as loudly or rudely as others. I try to hate the nincompoopery but love the nincompoop; remembering that they probably think I'm one too. And when it's too thick to deal with, I just bail, and spend time in-world instead.

Desmond asked about celebrity. I very much agree with Weston that people don't become celebrities in the forums, no matter how hard they try. Too few people even read them. It's pretty much impossible to intentionally make yourself a celebrity in SL at all, which is a great thing. Cheap publicity falls flat and doesn't even get noticed, whereas good ideas catch on, and endure. In my opinion, SL beats RL in that respect.

--Avion

(Edited: I agree with Isablan below, and don't want to start anything).

Come on, gang. Let's not turn this into an "us vs. them" thread. It always turns out badly and no one walks away looking good.

Yes, it wasn't him who PM'd me about the issue. It was a famous neko.

I don't actually know what GOMing is.. I guess I'm not cool.

Yesh, we can all get along.

So strong is my aversion to strife and tension that I seldom post - or read very much - in this forum as it is. I don't care if this may be among the most gentle polite BBSs on the entire internet, it is often not kind enough to suit my tastes, and even less so all those other forums out there. Isablan suggested that we "not turn this into an "us vs. them" thread", but in one way or another it seems like most of them are - or else banally, mind-numbingly sexual on an almost Beavis & Butthead level... or both. I've seen threads go completely to hell with verbal abuse by post #3.

Caledon society and the Caledon forums are much more in my comfort zone. Yes, Guv'nah, I am a regular presence there in another personna.

So, then, to address what I percieve to be the question:

If this place got more .... free-form, less .. 'placid' (?), I would run to the exits and delete all applicable bookmarks hastily and without fanfare.

I wouldnt change - I 'd just buy more art when it was cheaper.
I think Lindens should play Franz Ferdinand "Take Me Out" every morning in sl whether we want to hear it or not. And play it REALLY REALLY LOUDLY.

and here i always thot you named yourself after Desmond Tutu. i'm surprised to read this confession. from what i've ever seen of yoru postings, i NEVER would have put you in the snarky category.

They're not debates. I am ashamed of them. Truly.

There is no them.

Only the one.

But, i agree with your sentiment...partially.

It seems forums are now becoming insulated/shielded from criticism for fear of 'drama', unless of course it is this forum, in which case, bash away.

Couldn't agree more.

Inc

Something to do with Linden Lab closing down a currency exchange and opening their own, gaming open market or something the old exchange was called, before my time! It seems to be used to suggest that LL see a good idea and then produce their own version at the expense of the original idea.

Wow - lot's of acitivity on this thread in just a few hours.

Regarding my hasty offer to host a new forum:
Certainly you would be welcomed. But now it looks as though I may not have to quickly learn how to go about hosting one. [whew!] I'll keep the idea on the back burner though.


I went ! But then I "heard" you talk about it in Cartel chat. I've been to everyone's gallery that I know about.


I'm glad someone asked!

wanting to understand. but i am embarrassed to admit that i have no idea what you mean. please explain.

No change, here doing what I have always done and that is answer questions in Scripting Tips. Forays outside of that forum are strictly for when there are no new pleas for help. I am hoping (actually I am praying) that LL doesn't totally botch the job. If they do a decent job then I hope that the Forums will finally be advertised as they deserve. IF that happens then I would imagine we will all be busy as heck answering a flood of questions.

I'm actually looking forward to that.

The only reason I mentioned the other forum is because I felt freer there until relatively recently. Directly on topic.

There are things that I do not post here because of fear of being banned from SL. I do not have that fear elsewhere because they do not have that power (though I understand XStreetSL forums can have some issues, but I've never posted there). Nor do I really have a problem with "over there" telling me, for legal reasons, to not post certtain things. It just means I have to worry over here about being banned, and am less free over there than I thought.

Nothing more or less. Not a them or us issue.

Glad you checked it out. I've also been to yours. And Ghosty's. Liked both of them, though Ghosty apparently has a second one I didn't know about. A park one.

Jig was questioning Desmond's use of the word 'debates' to describe the shenanigans between Pep and herself, which you previously quoted as:


Thank heavens someone is paying attention.

Still working on the eye candy, by the way. Is Mr. Butler a boxer shorts or briefs kind of fella?

Thanks for explaining it for those who needed further illumination, Ephraim. I would concur with 'shenanigans' as a closer description than 'debate', which implies rational argument on both sides . . .

Pep ( . . . but I am not sure that the interaction should be dignified by such a fun word!)

PS Wonders how many levels of quote nesting are possible in the forums

There is still change planned for the Forums, so this question is not moot. I just don't think they've yet tipped their hand about what's planned, other than that mention of a "Yahoo Answers"-style thing for some part of something.

I can envision a change that would pretty much push me off the Forums, but it's not a change of format or content. Rather, it's a matter of casting: if S/he Who Must Not Be Named is allowed back--and arguably, s/he should be--I know I'd respond as someone I really don't want to be. I'd like to think I would have enough restraint to remain civil and productive, but I know from experience that I'd get sucked right into the fray.
You surfed to the Blog, didn't ya? I swear that Clearspace blog software is doing something unnatural to browser cookies: more often than not I have to clear cookies or I get a "connection interupted" error.

It is an act of faith to post anywhere on the internet since our opinions are equally subject to ignorance and misunderstanding as they are to the happy pleasures of discussion. Perhaps an etiquette of give and take will eventually develop that is naturally understood by even the greenest newcomer to the medium. Until such time, however, I don't believe any amount of format rejigging will make much difference to what and how we post.

Outside of the most rigidly policed forums, it is in the nature of internet communications that we show as much of our weaknesses as our strengths. In this respect the SL forums are not much different to any other reasonably 'open' forums I visit - apart from the fact that elsewhere I post under my real name and the concerns under discussion are of broader relevance to RL.

Nevertheless, the behavioural flaws the OP questions can be found easily enough anywhere one cares to look on the internet and in this respect the medium itself is as much the cause of our sins as John Gabriel's famous formula demonstrates:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/

But the benefits of sharing ideas, humour and knowledge on public forums far outweigh the persistent flashes of trollish behaviour, whining complaints, outright animosity, cliquishness and pewer speleng - aspects of internet life that are unlikely to go away since all but the most near-perfect among us is guilty of one or more of them on occasion.

So it would be business as usual as far as I am concerned: reasonable individuals eventually learn to balance their opinions and temper their flaws with more consideration for the potential effect on others.

And of course f@ck them that don't.

GOM saved us in SL. The SL economy had opened, we were being charged USD for tier, Linden was accepted as payment for tier but the exchange rate was horrifically unfair, and we had no way of buying Lindens. Then came GOM. GOM became THE place to buy Lindens. Sure another place popped up called IGE, but GOM was the standard and GOM tracked the rise and fall of the value of the Linden daily.

GOM was doing phenomenal and basically LL wanted their business and offered to buy them but GOM declined, so LL opened the LindeX and GOM packed up shop. GOM could have stayed in the market and priced their trading fee's competitively with LL but instead they threw in the towel and closed up shop.

So now when LL enters a market that is already occupied by resident business - it is called being GOM'd.

It was the ultimate greedy move for LL and should never be forgotten.

They did the same thing prior to GOM with the Luna Galleria, which thankfully failed.

i believe they actually met with gom and discussed how gom worked, tech stuff, how such and such was worked out, then basically backed out of the deal and stole that info and created the lindex with the knowledge they gained from gom.