Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Main Forum Thread

Vampirism. Especially the kind that solicits blood from non-vampires with PERMISSION_TRIGGER_ANIMATION dialog boxes.

Intent and Effect. Interesting. I can wrap my head around the idea of intent but with SL being both an individual and social activity, how can 'effect' be measured? Intent to illicit a desired effect would make sense to me. Thoughts?

Intent to illicit a desired effect would make sense to me. Thoughts?

I know plenty of people in my home town, in the heart of Texas in the good ol' USA, who choose to wear a dog collar on their necks. Smack in the middle of the Bible Belt. Some think it's a cute Goth fashion accessory. Some wear it because they are Furries. Some wear it because they really are a submissive in a D/s relationship. Haven't seen any of them arrested, cited, or even negatively commented on for "wearing a slave collar" in public.

In San Francisco, home base of Linden Lab, it's not at all uncommon in some neighborhods to see people wearing slave collars, cufs, and even chain leashes being held by someone else, as they shop or relax in the nightlife scene. Check out the Castro District, or even Fisherman's Wharf! Hardly anyone bats an eye at it.

And what about plays, movies, and other performances that depict slavery in its historical context? "Gone with the Wind", perhaps? Lots of slavery depicted there. How about Disney's classic movie "Song of the South", which depicted the classic Uncle Remus folktales, as told by a well-treated negro slave? I haven't seen any call to burn down the theatre or boycott the corner grocery store that is showing or selling such "vile depictions of slavery" in the USA.

Maybe, for some sheltered individuals, the sight of any human voluntarily wearing a collar or cuffs is a shocking and vile thing. But in a lot of this fair nation, Freedom of Expression trumps such narrow views. That sort of individual does NOT speak for all of America when they so loudly decry _any_ public depiction of "slavery" in the USA. No more so than the fire and brimstone street-corner preacher speaks for all Christians when he rants his extremist hate speech against Gays, Pagans, Muslums and anyone else who doesn't believe in just the exact same interpretation of Christianity that he does.

I don't find it offensive at all to see someone peacefully shopping while dressed as a pleasure slave, or walking happily behind their Master or Mistress at the end of a chain leash. I would not encourage that same D/S couple actively engaging in graphic sex in the open, but the mere fact that they have on the clothing and attachments that show their D/S relationship does not bother me at all. Don't want to see it? Stay in PG-rated sims. Most D/s people won't go there, and if they do, very few of them will engage in anything more actively "displaying slavery" than the wearing of their collar and leash while they shop.

What do I find offensive and intolerable?

Hate speech. Intolerant bigotry against those who are "different" than the speaker. Ignorant intolerance, aimed at a group that the speaker knows nothing at all about.

I also find graphic violence against others _without their consent_ to be very disturbing. Especially people attacking each other with weapions. If two people in SL want to go to a combat sim and blow each other to bits, with messy graphics, be my guest. That is what combat sims are for. But I really wish I had a setting on my client that could prevent me from EVER accidentallysetting foot in a damage-enabled parcel, or teleporting into one without fair warning. Because I want no part of it. If strangers that same gunfight in a mall where I am forced to observe their bloody combat, in a place where no one else consented to participate in their bloodbath, or worse yet they start shooting their weapons at me and other shoppers, without our consent, they will get an AR. Public combat, to me, is as offensive and inappropriate as someone starting an orgy around the altar of a Catholic Church. And I'm not even Catholic.

I don't do ad hominem. Don't need to. Thanks.

Do you see anybody wearing that stuff at work on a job that pays more than minimum wage?

This is the whole problem! Do you think why we are all here talking about this? Because everyone knows that we here on forum are going to respect the new policy but people who dont even bother to read the blog and who are not here on this forum would not even care to change anything. And who will loose money? We will.

Do you see anybody wearing that stuff at work on a job that pays more than minimum wage?

My girlfriend always seemed to enjoy seeing how much she could get away with doing some form of bondage stuff in public. She does this partly because she finds it fun, mostly because she knows it drives me out of my tree. Usually, I's able to fast-talk my way out of potentially embarrassing situations with Mundanes, but yesterday she very nearly got me fired.

Yesterday afternoon we had lunch together. Afterward, she accompanied me back to work. I thought this slightly unusual, since she had never before expressed in interest in my work (electronic engineering), but it didn't occur to me that she had something planned.

We arrived at my workbench, where I currently trying to figure why the $&#%@^$ board on which I am working is not performing the way it is designed.

"Is this where you work?" she asked.

"At the moment," I replied.

I reached over to turn on the scope, thereby completely failing to notice the huge black studded collar she had produced from her purse. Before I could blink (it's amazing the speed at which she can do this), she had locked the collar snugly around my neck, and locked the end of the 6 foot jack chain to the center of the bench (where there just happened to be a mounting hole, dammit). I turned to her in utter disbelief, mouth agape.

"I'll be back for you at five," she said.

"HAVE YOU GONE COMPLETELY WACKO!??!?!" I yelled in a hushed voice. "How the hell am I going to explain this!?!?!"

"You'll think of something", she said, dropping the keys into her cleavage, "you always do".

"But suppose I have to go to the bathroom," I countered.

"Don't give me that," she hissed, "I've seen you go a whole day without visiting the bathroom."

"But...." I tried to say.

"SHHH! The subject is closed. I'll be back at five. Bye."

She turned around and left, against my hushed protests. I sat in panic and tried to think out my situation. I tried to think of who might visit. Most of my co-workers were friends who knew that my girlfriend and I were a bit odd, so this shouldn't surprise them. But I had *no* idea what I was going to do if one of my bosses came in. I checked my watch to see how long I would have to endure this ignominy. 13:30 (I'm a military time weenie). "Three and a half hours," I thought. I heaved a heavy sigh, and got to work, such as I could.

As it happened, three of my co-workers visited for what-not. All of them immediately noticed the collar (it would be hard not to) and asked if it was my girlfriend's idea. I said yes. They asked what I would do if my supervisor saw it. I told them I hadn't the faintest idea.

One of the aforementioned colleagues took the bench next to me, and after a few remarks (and a question as to where he could get such a collar), settled down to work in silence.

After some time, I checked my watch. 16:40. "Gee, I just might make it through this after all," I thought. I was even beginning to get a handle on the problem with the $#%&&$# board on which I was working. Murphy must have been standing right behind me, reading my thoughts, for not two minutes later one of my bosses entered the room. And not just any boss. Noooooooo. This was Mr. Narrowminded himself. This was the guy who took Lifespring *and* became a born-again fundamentalist. How he came to have the power of hire- and-fire over us is one of the Great Mysteries of The Universe. We avoided this guy at all costs.

His eyes fell upon me immediately. A few picoseconds later, he saw the collar around my neck in all its splendor. "My life is over," I thought. I still hadn't thought of a plausible explanation for this. Mr Solderbrain (the name we called him behind his back; a corruption of his real name) started to walk slowly and deliberately over to me, his eyes fixed on the collar. Fifteen agonizing seconds later, he was standing next to me. I thought the guy sitting next to me was going to have seizures stifling all his giggles. I continued to work, acting as though there were nothing the least bit unusual about my predicament.

Finally, he spoke.

"What. the. HELL! is. THAT!?!?!" he said.

I don't know how I thought of what I said. In fact, I'm pretty sure I didn't know what I was going to say until I was saying it. I'm even more amazed that Solderbrain actually bought it and didn't fire me on the spot.

I turned to face him calmly, with total nonchalance, exuding complete confidence in what I was about to say, even though I didn't know what it was yet. I didn't even miss a beat.

"Grounding strap," I said, and returned to work.

The guy next to me fell off his chair and nearly died laughing.

Yes, but people can upload textures with real life images.

The term police has such negative connotations and no, there won't be a secret team of Lindens lurking in the shadows, wandering around looking for people who are misbehaving. I can't really answer this question b/c I don't know the answer. The first step would be defining the line between Mature and Adult. Having these will allow us more insight on how to proceed.

Bloodlines is quite popular isn't it?

I'd like YOUR thoughts on intent, actually.

Getting back to the difference between a home or a house and a public place.

Isn't the difference the intent of the landowner. If they intend that a place be personal (I won't say private, since SL doesn't provide privacy) then does it have to look like a house?

My thoughts? I would be inclined to look at content and make a judgment in terms of how the creator/owner intended it to be used. If you walk into a brothel, the intent is quite clear. A sex bed in a residence is intended for personal/private use. Does this residence have to look like a house? Not necessarily if we are defining Adult in terms of intent.

If you walk into a brothel, the intent is quite clear.

My thoughts? I would be inclined to look at content and make a judgment in terms of how the creator/owner intended it to be used. If you walk into a brothel, the intent is quite clear. A sex bed in a residence is intended for personal/private use. Does this residence have to look like a house? Not necessarily if we are defining Adult in terms of intent.

So who is going to be the final call on "intent"? The G-Team?

Yes, frequently. Some of them pull down six figure salaries.

But we are not talking about "wearing it at work". We are talking about wearing it in Second Life, a recreational entertainment environment. I wouldn't choose to wear a miniskirt and 6 inch heels in the business office, but that doesn't make it a sin for me to wear that outfit at a convenience store, on my way to an evening party.

You are not my moral conscience. Thank Goddess!

It annoys me that this stuff has usurped the term "adult". Adults do a lot of things besides masterbate in public.

My thoughts? I would be inclined to look at content and make a judgment in terms of how the creator/owner intended it to be used. If you walk into a brothel, the intent is quite clear. A sex bed in a residence is intended for personal/private use. Does this residence have to look like a house? Not necessarily if we are defining Adult in terms of intent.

The G Team would be an obvious choice as they've had the most experience doing it.