If you're so frustrated and annoyed by every little detail.....why do you bother???

When I love something, I always want the best for it. If you hear me complain about SL it's because I'm frustrated that it hasn't hit its full potential.

I, like many, get very irritated by the Lindens and the actions they take, however I get tired of all the whining as if those with LL are evil. I hear so much compllaining in advance of actions they'll be taking and then after the changes take effect, everyone seems they have forgotten the issue.

Some people will confuse your love and passion for an issue, and wanting to address it or resolve it, as a complaint or drama....happens to me all the time.....just have to consider the source........

Some will say that wanting to ward off, avoid, and ignore the consistent complainers.....is, well, in itself, "complaining".....no, it isn't.....but that suggestion will come from those who are consistently annoyed and consistently complaining.....

For a while, I had a blurb running in my picks as a challenge.... "Bring the drama on.....as most drama is just passion mistaken for drama"......got some really good feedback from that....none of which came from anyone with "real" drama.

When you run (or help run) a business in SL you are going to find those that seem to love the SLdrama (tm). It really amazes me how utterly miserable some people are in SL.

I do SL because it is fun, it's an escape from my routine life, it allows me to do some things that I can't do in RL. The day it stops being fun for me on balance, I leave.

Linden Labs don't owe me anything, as far as I am concerned - they build what they want to build as a virtual world and I use it or contribute to it (or not) as much or as little as I want to.

They make some good decisions, they make some bad decisions. I am not going to let their decisions ruin my life, and I will always tailor my SL involvement such that I am NOT dependent on them.

Forum participants are a "self-selecting" sample, therefore "biased" statistically . . . and highly probably are NOT representative of the SL population at large.

If I were LL, I'd take their input into consideration; but would not assume that everyone else in SL feels the way they do. In fact, I'd want determine the underlying demographics of this sample from the overall population . . . so that I'd know which segment of the population I'm dealing with. Perhaps they've done this.

That's not the ONLY problem; but, I suspect, it's a very real one. Flamers and cyberbullies can be a handful to cope with . . .and these forums, like so many others . . . have their share of these.

Passion? Maybe. Love? Bizarre. Methinks true love manifests itself in more productive, caring ways than railing and ranting and doomsaying and whining.

Consistent whiners sap people's energy and enthusiasm . . . they put a damper on everything. They wear on people. They are tiresome.

Avoiding whiners . . . preserves one's mental health and conserves one's energy and enthusiasm.

And whether you're a whiner or not usually is correlated with the frequency of your complaining. One or two complaints do not constitute whining.

From my perspective, what constitutes "Drama" here is actually melodrama--drama carried to the extreme ("over the top". There may be passion; but such "drama" includes rancor, anger, frustration, and all too many other negative aspects. Glorifying such behavior as "passion" seems way off the mark to me.

i LOL'ed.

Seems perfectly rational to me. There's no point bemoaning past wrongs, nor making decisions based on sunk cost.

It's a lot more effective to complain about the track *before* the train wreck.

I agree with you entirely.

I'm a builder. I love to create things--that's my fun in SL. I'm not here for the drama--although I suspect others here thrive on it . . . some at the expense of the rest of us.

Aren't metaphors wonderful? What if we're not talking tracks and trains?

No, I come to SL to get away from RL annoyances.



Absolutely; and many other reasons, too.



I'm not annoyed by drama; I'm only annoyed when someone (or someones) else drags me flapping, biting, and screaming into THEIR drama. Well, sometimes. I tend to eat drama (and those who perpetuate it), too.



"Worrying" about competitors is part and parcel of having a business in the first place. Though my "worrying" isn't so much about "ZOMG! They have more customers!" but rather "Hmm.. am I pricing and advertising my stuff competitively enough?" and "Hmm.. are my products good enough to be competitive?". I do get annoyed by scammers, cheaters, extortionists, etc, because, in RL, many of them do things that they need to go to JAIL over. I am quite happy to file the necessary complaints to see it happens, too.

Simple example: Government job bidding. Everyone submits a "blind bid", and the government chooses the lowest bidder who meets the requirements. Well, just before the bid submission deadline, a competitor gets a little "insider" information about the other bids, and submits a "last minute" "correction", bringing their bid just under the lowest bidder. They win the bid and get the contract. It is unfair, unethical, not to mention illegal, but it happens EVERY DAY. So, yeah, when someone cheats, I am happy to see them ganked for it. I play fair, I play by the rules, and the thought of doing something underhanded like that never crosses my mind. However, I know that businesses do it; I know that people are capable of sinking to become the lowest levels of scum imaginable, just to chase a dollar. As such, I have to "worry" about what other people are capable of doing and plan accordingly, just so I can keep my business going. I shouldn't HAVE to, of course; I should just be able to focus on doing and being the best at what I do. Usually, as it turns out, I *AM* the best at what I do, because the nut-cutters can't do the job at the price they bid, and I have to come in behind them and clean up their messes. The real losers in that case are the taxpayers. You know, you, me, and everyone else. There is ALWAYS a social cost to cheating; unfortunately, it is often not apparent enough to the casual observer (presuming that said observer cares to look in the first place) until it is far too late to do anything but grouse about it. That's why we should be vigilant against it from the start, so that it doesn't come to that. Ounce of Prevention >>> Pound(Ton?) of Cure.



You're describing obsession. Yeah, obsession is bad. However, if a cheater outs himself and scoffs about it, I'm more than happy to run his ass up the flagpole and wave him around in front of the authorities, or maybe just to shame him. It certainly won't change the way I do business, but people form communities and cliques, and reputations can be decimated quickly once the word gets around. With a good rep, you're lucky if you get one new customer. With a bad rep, you're lucky if you keep one old customer. It may take a while but, in the end, it will catch up to ya.

It certainly doesn't affect the way I run my business, from an ethical standpoint. I am not tempted to go against my ethics just because "everyone else does it". I am not a lemming. My success is not measured by "traffic" or how much L$ I cash out per month. I measure my success by the simple "thank you" I receive after I have spent hours helping someone with a product that is not even my own. However, I won't suffer a poisoner(/scammer/cheater/etc) to "live", because I have a sense of community which is very strong, and allowing such abuse to continue without mitigation poisons the well for us all. As such, I am not afraid to speak up about it.



The problem is that it is never as simple as clicking a "few" blue boxes and reading "an extra line" of chat, or sorting through a half-dozen spam messages. It is fast becoming dealing with dozens, then hundreds, then thousands. For every person who does it today, two more will do it tomorrow, thinking that it is "the best way", justifying it in their minds, because they can't (or won't) see the long term end result of their aggregate actions. Most people just don't care, which I think is the greatest tragedy of all. Ignorance is bliss, until bliss turns into hell.



Absolutely; if SL was there just for me and no one else was around, I'm sure I could just live like I was in heaven here. No RL CRAP to keep me from enjoying myself. Likewise, SL is best when people are around, because it would be a rather barren and lonely landscape otherwise. Thus, I WANT people to be here; I WANT to interact with them in fun and novel ways. However, people don't come from RL into SL alone.

You see, that is really what the ultimate problem is about. People bring their RL selfishness, sloth, callousness, hatred, idiocy, greed, laziness, etc into SL. I come to SL to ESCAPE all that stupidity, but I can't seem to get away from it, because people just bring it right here with them. People can't play by the rules, they have to cheat. People can't be happy with just being and doing for themselves, they have to involve you in their problems. People can't treat others with kindness and respect, they have to beat them down at every opportunity. People can't just thrive on the attention of their friends and loved ones, they have to demand tribute from everyone in view.

It is OK, though. I deal with it just fine in RL, and I can apply those same principles I have learned to deal with it here in SL. However, asking me why *I* have to deal with it is asking the wrong question of the wrong person.



If it remains a rare and infrequent "little detail", sure. The problem is that it isn't rare, infrequent, OR little.

PS-If anyone feels that they shouldn't be included in the category of "people" in this context, then I am not including you in it to begin with. Quoth K: "A person is smart; people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it." The concept is a generalization; every one of you reading this has come across an exemplar of that generalization, even if you aren't one yourself.

I feel the same way. That's why, I suspect, I have more fun than most in SL.

I like your "seed" planting.

If this was the neverending thread, you'd so be quoted.

I think that SL is is ultimately a microcosm of RL. No matter how much we try to make our avs, our sl life, home or biz what we want it to be....our real selves and feeling are always there influences and then reacting to what is happening in SL. For the most part i love being in sl and have a great time. there are some minor annoyances along the way, but i look at sl as a beta version of the next internet and im happy to be participating in it.

The times that upset me or really get me going always have to do with someone else being upset. Since i deal with things as a manager, store owner, etc, there will always be someone who is not happy about something, would like something to change etc. For the most part, those interactions go very well. But every once in awhile someone else's drama comes into my space, consciousness or world and my RL feelings get engaged. At those times i make an effort to step back, look for the positive, try to understand where someone else is coming from etc. i am not always successful with this and my interactions more than once have brought me to tears. but i manage to have wonderful sl life for the most part. when it gets to be a drag or posting in the forums gets to be a drag i generally try to change it up and do something that will make the positive come to the surface.

i also wish those who love to rant, create drama and issues would just take a step back and realize that everyone in SL has feelings, is a real person, makes mistakes, has hopes and dreams, etc. that another av is not a fictional character just there for them to go off on. just like in rl, the world is a better place if we treat each other as we would like to be treated. sometimes thinking before we type is a worthwhile goal.

this is me avoiding drama..
Ceka Cianci shows online..

*IM DING*
Ceka you are not gonan believe this .omg he said this and that and nowi have this IM you have to see and omg what am i gonna do

*Clock ticks* Tick tock tick tock tick tock

Ceka are you there?

*Clock ticks* Tick tock tick tock tick tock

Oh you must be busy..Ok IM me when you have time..

*hours go by*

Ceka has just logged off

Damn, I thought this was a necropost.

My answer is the same as last time.

I thought I was the only one who did that. ^.^

Drama is such an overused word, much like griefer. To some a newbie asking for sex is a griefer causing drama, where I see it as an entertainment opportunity.

One woman's entertainment is another woman's wedding proposal.

/looks to see if Lil is within earshot, then dives behind the couch

I think you hit the nail on the head there: so much of what goes down in SL is charged with the potential for a laugh but, for one reason or another, we just let it get up our noses.

Usually due to one or more of the participants taking themselves a bit too seriously.

I think it comes from the media's horrid overuse of "outraged". Every little offense is a cause for outrage. "Dairy Queen runs out of rainbow sprinkles, community outraged".

Yes, that is what I mean by "eating drama".

I usually end up having more fun with griefers than they get out of trying to grief me.

Dairy Queen is out of rainbow sprinkles??? Say it aint so!

See, he's outraged! Next thing you know, there will be rioting in the streets of West Hollywood, Los Feliz and Silver Lake......

What if that is NOT a part of doing business here, for some people?

Let's say you live in a sleepy, backward town in RL, and always wanted to have a swanky high-end restaurant in the heart of New York City. So you come to SL to play that out. So you find a perfect location, you've got it all decorated very trendy....perfect place settings...amazing food.....you open for business...you have 4 customers come in each night....that's perfect for you...just enough to handle...you get to live your dream for a couple hours.

It's just you in your restaurant for a few hours every day...playing the whole scene out.....you don't even know if any other restaurants exist in SL....it's irrelevant, because that's not part of your fantasy. You don't even realize that there is one around the corner. It doesn't matter....that's someone else's dream, and doesn't fit into yours.

It's your fantasy to have the highest priced, most exclusive restaurant in NYC....outrageously pricey....so you do just that. It's your fantasy to have a snooty waiter....so you do just that. It's your fantasy to have a scene one night, where you toss your sous chef right out the door in front of your customers, shouting profanities....so you do just that.

Nothing else in SL matters....no one's opinions matter....not even the four customers who come in the first night....there will be four different ones tomorrow, that you can play out your fantasy with....no one is going to write a bad review for you tomorrow....if there were a place for them to do so, you would never go there....that's NOT part of the equation that is going to work for you....in your fantasy...you are the absolute best....untouchable.

The scammers, cheaters, extortionists were not part of your fantasy.....(the drama with the sous chef was)...but not the others....they do not exist in your world. You get an IM in your email next day complaining to you, that you are only open 2 hours a day. That means nothing to you. Simply not part of the equation.

Someone from forum happened to be one of your customers last night....they started a thread about you the next day complaining about your snooty waiter...they were so insulted....your prices were outrageous....your food was the most poorly made food in SL...they were horrified, and will never go back. You'll never know.
It won't matter....not part of your fantasy.

Wouldn't that be perfectly acceptable? I mean...if I go back over the SL marketing....some hype on the web site...some magazine articles.....seems like that is exactly what you are offered and encouraged to do.

You never answered my question.