New TOS/CS pages are up...

... and they seem to be even more vague than ever. (O.o)

http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php

http://secondlife.com/corporate/cs.php

If you ever doubted that COPA is dead ... "Linden Lab cannot absolutely control whether minors or adults gain unauthorized access to the Service. " ... Heh. (=_=)

So... Does it make more sense? Less? I'm still seeing TONS of missing information and, noting the links in the CS page, you still have to peel back layers of pages to eventually reach what you need to know. Or, simply not find an answer at all. (T_T)

On a side note... You can tell what LL is tired of enforcing in Waterhead! =^-^=



That sign is all hacked up and "Adult sounds" is crossed out.... Laziness on top of laziness. (^_^)y

That went well.

So..they've officially made Mature mainland absolutely worthless to a lot of people, and .seemingly have bactracked on the "It's Ok to do it in the privacy of your home" in Mature regions.

"Second Life is an adult community, but 'Adult' content, activity and communication are not permitted on the Second Life 'mainland.'"

Well that's a nice welcoming statement to the adult community.

Well, saying "Fuck You" straight away is even too much for LL I guess.

Well the community standards certainly have yes, everything they've officially said has been undermined by this.

I do wish they'd grasp the concept of consistency.

If they are still defining adult content as excessive or 'advertised and public' wouldn't Mature mainland be unaffected by this wording?

Well, this is pretty much a nonevent, isn't it? One thing that is sort of interesting from a procedural standpoint is that the CS now refers directly to two external policy documents, the definitions for Mature and Adult. The old one was more self-contained, was it not?

I went to the office hours for the Documents Group yesterday, and asked why LL policies on permitted and prohibited content weren't rationalized and integrated into a more comprehensive and clear ToS and CS, and (to my surprise, to be honest) got a very positive response from Jon Linden, who has promised to "ping" the question on to LL's lawyers. Which means, I suppose, that it will die. But STILL!!! A real answer!

What disturbs me most about all of this is, frankly, the lack of clarity. Regardless of whether restrictions on content are tightened or loosened, it seems to me that the current ambiguity, which may be worse now than before, is putting residents at risk.

I made an alt and was at one of the info hubs and on voice there was a girl entertaining a couple men with dramatic descriptions of an adult action... everyone heard it.. Swearing and moaning and well you can imagine...

I saw a few true new people there and a few commented on is this what SL is like...I doubt the ones who were offended will return. Not everyone is here for that and not everyone enjoys hearing it public voie, and or chat.

It is a shame many peoples first impression of SL is that and griefers boxes spewing out their garbage...


Which reminds me..... Remembering a certian forum post and me looking at their profile... they sure are not enforcing Adult content in profiles are they?

A big IF

Well...

That pretty much blows out of the water all the promises that adult activity "in the privacy of your own residence" was going to remain allowed on Mature sims, doesn't it?

Congratulations, LL. the entire Mainland is now PG-Rated, and is not usable by Adults for residential purposes, unless they live a chaste and non-sexual second life.

No mention of it being "Advertised" or a "Business".

No exceptions for "Residential Use".

Get yer adult pose-balls off LL's yard, you smutty, evil Residents!

I am SO glad I live on a Private Island!

A MAJOR change to the TOS and CS, and yet NO login requirement to read and agree to these changes?

The assurance that adult activities are permitted in private in Mature regions was not written into the definitions. KB6010 does refer to publicaly promoted adult activity, but this seems to explicitly prohibit all adult activity in Mature regions.

That's part of the problem though. You need to peel back the onion skin to get to any real information. And, after peeling back, a LOT of information is still missing. (>_<

They still seem unable to communicate internally let alone coherently with their customers, sigh

If I were a new user I would not expect to find any adult activity going on in a place other than Zindra or private islands.

That's a nice predictable experience ahead.

Perhaps they could provide a more predictable experience by turning off voice in the infohubs.

This looks bad.

I was hoping that there'd be some reference to public Vs private in the KB maturity ratings definitions, which the new CS links to. There is nothing that I can see. The adult rating says that a place is Adult "if it advertises or publicly promotes" adult content, but there is nothing, anywhere, about private content being OK on mature land.

Also, weren't we told that a store selling a range of stuff can carry a small amount of adult content as long as that content is not the main "theme" and is not advertised? That seems to have been quietly dropped.

Are they still trying to pretend that this will only affect the most extreme 2-4%?

Perhaps we should all be putting in "I have a question about the changes" tickets.

Does this not cover the 'publicly promoted or advertised' question re Mature? (From the explanation of 'Mature' on the CS:

" For instance, social and dance clubs (unless those clubs promote sexual conduct or use adult search tags), bars, stores and malls, galleries, music venues, beaches, parks (and other spaces for socializing, creating, and learning) all support a Mature designation so long as they don't host publicly promoted adult activities or content."

I don't think so, because the CS refers to the maturity definitions, which still use the "advertised" language. That said, I agree with Ciaran - if I were a new user reading the CS, I would not expect to see ANY sexually-oriented content on mainland.

Fortunately for LL, only a pitifully small number of users read the CS. I think anyone who teleports and flies around on mainland will see lots of adult content for private use, and that's what people will use to guide their own conduct.

Let's test this when Zindra is open. Just poseball up a completely private residence and garden, and have an alt AR it. Until we make several such trials, there is no knowing how LL will really enforce, since the "definitions" are so vague.

Btw, is anyone other than me amused by the fact that if you search the KB for "Maturity Definitions" or "Adult Definitions" or "Adult Maturity Definition", you don't find the docs the CS links to?
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The Maturity Definitions (Either KB6010 or KB4417, both of which appear to have the same wording now) do not make ANY exceptions for "private residential use".

They say :
Yet absolutely NO content of that sort is in the FAQ's they reference. None.

So, the Maturity Definitions (Either KB6010 or KB4417) DO define a range of activities, which, if advertized or publicly accessible, are considered "Adult, and that explicitly states "we will broadly define what is "sexually themed" to include any sexually oriented activities and conduct .".

Now refer back to the new CS, which states clearly:
That CS rule DOES NOT SAY IT HAS TO BE ADVERTIZED. It just says "If the Maturity Definition categorizes it as "Adult' activity".

I would absolutely NOT be willing to risk an AR under these new rules, by involving myself with any "'Adult' content, activity and communication ... on the Second Life 'mainland".

I'm getting the feeling we have been sucker punched

^L^

So basically- our homes are now worthless if you have anything beyond a hug or a kiss -oh yeah- this will work real well.. Where is that whole line of businesses and education type places lined up?
Not to do a Sky is Falling... but uhm... maybe it's time to start packing - if not to Zindra then to other places altogether- I would hate to lose my land and homes and places i have come to love over such a length of time- but dammit - when r these damn fools going to get it, it's us the residents that keep LL alive- not some companies that proly won't even be able to put the platform to full use-
Argh- just argh -

I get the feeling there is more than one Linden working on this, and neither is aware of what the other is doing.

Fuck, eh. Makes typical sense. The only hope is it is just a big whoo haa that they won't police. People can't keep up with the confusion and conflicting messages from LL. Most SL still don't know about Zindra yet, lol.

Doubt it. The rules are vague now, giving LL a lot of latitude in enforcement. My bet is that they will let the residents guide them on what the populace is willing to tolerate on Mature mainland. Meanwhile, LL is covered legally.

They are more clear on PG, and I bet they will start enforcing strongly there. It sounds like family dwellings on PG land with anything more than a hold hands cuddle pose should be cleaned up, or moved to a mature parcel.

They've made it fairly clear that island owners can set Mature standards for themselves. Even there, though, advertised explicit, particularly photoreal, sexual or violent content will necessitate Adult rating.
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