SL closing down??

But SL emulates RL in many respects, as it does the Internet. Corporations don't cease a 'net presence because half the sites on the Internet are dedicated to Porn and the other half to Cats (the latter being a benign issue for the most part... I can has pr0ns, anyone?).

The Internet wasn't taken seriously in the beginning either. It was a long time before Corporations quietly bought up domains and eventually showcased themselves. But it did happen and the 'net is now way more convenient than the Yellow Pages.

Granted, in SL, you can have a Corporate Island and visitors can stray off the Island into a den of iniquity whereas a Corporation is not about to have links on their site to porn -- BUT, there are those who play the typo game and drive traffic to their porn sites with domain names that are very similar (one wrong keying error can sent you to Candy's Slut Palace). Yes, I'm stretching it a bit, but give it enough time, if SL DOES survive the next 5 years and expands at the rate it could, Corporations could very well be here.

But it's all speculation, isn't it? All we can do is extrapolate based on history.

These truly ARE interesting times.

No, Stephen, your posts were valid!

I'm not sure why there was so much bickering on this thread anyway. In a roundabout way we all want the same things even the OP shares similar concerns. Not sure why "glory holes" were ever introduced......but hey ho! . We don't want LL being pressurised into making more unnecessary policy changes (e.g banning child AV's) due to TV sensationalism....you merely pointed out the views held in the UK and the pressures coming from these child abuse organisations.

As responsible adults here....we all don't condone child abuse or paedophilia.

Bad Kitty!

Gad, I've missed Ann's lolcats through not visiting SLU so much.

FWIW, this is the same sort of "fear of the unknown" script that gets played out over and over. It's like the burly blackfaced character in D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" attacking the helpless young white female to build sympathy for the KKK. It's like "Reefer Madness" and any number such "educational" films that sold movie tickets while scaring the public without rubber-masked monsters. It's like Dr. Fredric Wertham's "Seduction of the Innocent" that led to the dragonian Comic Code. It's like the Tipper Gore-led PMRC fighting against backmasking and 2 Live Crew. It's like the Briggs Amendent from California in the late 1970s, to presumably protect 'the children' from having a gay or lesbian -- or even gay and lesbian sympathetic -- teacher.

Now it's "them intertubes" under attack for corrupting our youth and, by extension, Second Life. To be, the same thing that changed or defeated much of the above applies: educating people about what is out there, coupled with time and experience, will eventually prevail.

Mari
(way, way out of character to make a point)

Mmmmm. well no.. I think the fact that I am a pompous ass makes me a pompous ass..

although in the UK that would make me a pompous arse..

Awww, poor kitty can't look at his pr0ns in peace! ha ha. That's great. I knew there was a correlation to porn and cats!

Hey, shoes can sometimes be as exciting as porn........

Because he was simply stating the reality that social forces are opposed to it and that kind of pressure from a society is very real, whether right or wrong, exaggerated or minimalized and can and will snowball very quickly. This is just common sense.

The many debates about pixel sex itself, or the ramifications of minority sexual behavior is a separate issue and his posts made it clear he was not making those judgments and that governments, agencies and society itself, will make those judgements, whether those judgements are debatable or not.

One can debate about all the arguments about social repression vs. social or psychological concern till you are blue in the face, but a single spark can burn an entire city or forest and in this time, the majoriity of society despises and labels, what is considered abberant behaviors.

In my time in SL I have met a number of people with severe mental issues that as I got to know them I saw and they admitted, were having a severe effect on them personally. I also have seen that SL is a haven for minority sexual activity, more then any online place I have ever seen, so it stands to reason that SL will be under a great deal of public scrutiny as the media learns about it further and this is a very real issue, that can destroy SL for everyone else who is not involved in ageplay, bestiality etc.

they were good shoes for 1L ...

But I wouldn't go that far ..

But websites are discreate places. As a business, Dell Computer, for instance, does not have to worry that suddenly a bunch of naked avatars are going to march across there webpage with erect, squiting penises or find ageplay or bestiality taking place in their website showroom.

Personally, in the past, with my avatar just sitting in my own remote, SL home alone, creating objects, I had a horse and a group of naked avatars come down through my celing locked in coital bliss more then once, and a few time Tp'ed home to find ageplay going on in my home by strangers. I've been stalked by peepers at least 10 times and been propositioned by strangers for ageplay numerous times.

One placed I lived, as I remained there a while, in my own little world, I gradually discovered that most all the occupants on the sim were doing beastility or ageplay in skyboxes or in their houses. I don't want to see that. This is not just anecdotal evidence. My solution was to move....but move where?

Some guys think red stilletos are. Remember that thread.

LOL, that is true. But they can have their site hijacked. As I said, it's a bit of a stretch, and I suspect open source will allow Corporations and various organizations to create isolated havens in time.

Agreed. I'm not sure why everyone is jumping on Stephen's case here. It IS true that there has been RL child porn in SL. It IS possible that the UK and other nations's fear-mongerers may investigate SL. Can't you guys see all the "may" words in his statement? I didn't see any hard and fast statements here...

No. The pieces of his post that I quoted along with yours were merely his perception. He was staying his opinion, not anything which necessarily has to do with 'reality' or 'common sense.' You may agree with him, and so might others, but that doesn't make it fact.

they are not going to find anything in their investigations. it would be a needle in a haystack finding any rl child porn in sl. and im god damn tired of adult babies being persecuted for something they are not participating in. pick a new minority group to harass and slander. this is getting realllyyyyyyyyy old. im not going to apologize today or any other day for calling these people on their bullshit.

Then why are we still discussing it? Drop it already.

In time yes...but they aren't going to come to SL while it is the way it is. LL would have to solve it first and by that time...well....by that time there will be new virtual worlds done right that business is going to like.

I must live in a really quiet neighborhood

Okay you quoted Stephan saying:

"you all come off sounding like the conflicted and slightly delusional minority that is the rest of the worlds stereotypical view of an SL citizen.

You're all right .. the world is nasty and vile and horrible and doesn't understand you at all."

Yes, here he is being defensive now after being flamed and his posts spun......

and yes I have to agree, that those flames and spins, do sound "like the conflicted and slightly delusional minority that is the rest of the worlds stereotypical view of an SL citizen."

In my mind, it was right to correct incorrect speculation like this:



...because it didn't suggest CEOP had identified a specific problem at all. In actual fact, both Sky News and Five.tv broke the SL/Wonderland story at the end of October, and when their journalist approached CEOP CEO Jim Gamble for his response, that was his statement.

Likewise, the "substantial volume of legal and psychological case history suggesting a link between immersive fantasy and subsequent RL action" doesn't exist. There was no vague language used there... so I can understand why that would be a point of contention.

To be accused of "playing silly games" and being "ill informed" after correcting that kind of speculation surprised me, but admittedly, I could have handled those unprovoked slurs a little better afterwards, and I do apologise to Stephen for responding in kind.

are you really this ugly inside?

News Media is a vulture, they will take anything and twist it into a story, I would imagine that the reporter himself shoul dbe implicated in something before anyone else, sounds like to me he was soliciting simulated child sex, just be cause your a journalist doesnt mean you can do things in the name of journalism

I've found it less bizarre on the mainland then on the private island sims.