RC Questions

True but I look at it from the perspective that it's yet another intake point for people who haven't heard about the changes to go, 'Wait, what??"

Marks & Spencer caves in over £2 DD bra charge

M&S publishes apology for bra mark up

by James Quilter, Brand Republic 08-May-09, 09:30

LONDON - The Sun, the Daily Mail and online campaigners are claiming victory after Marks & Spencer scrapped its £2 surcharge on larger bras and apologised with a print ad admitting "We boobed".

M&S has decided to abandon the charge it had introduced for bras sized DD and above, which it argued was due to the extra handiwork needed to make them.

It has taken out national press ads to publicise its decision and is also offering 25% off all bras for the next two weeks from tomorrow.

The retailer, which is one of the biggest sellers of underwear in the UK, had originally said the charge was justified because larger bras need more work to provide the extra lift.

However the decision, which was described by some as a "tax on big boobs", was not supported by consumers.

Today both The Sun and the Daily Mail are claiming credit for the u-turn. The Daily Mail also credited the online campaign Busts 4 Justice, whose Facebook group has attracted 8,000 members.

M&S chief executive Sir Stuart Rose was clear that The Sun had helped swing it.

Speaking exclusivley to the tabloid, Rose said: "We always try to do the right thing by our customers and we thought we had. But as The Sun has shown it's clear we've got it wrong this time."

This is not the first time M&S and Rose have come under fire for their underwear policy. Last year Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman fired off an angry email to the retailer stating the quality and longevity of its smalls had declined.

Paxman later said about the leaked email: "Nothing I have ever done -- interviewing Michael Howard, asking Tony Blair whether he prays with George Bush, nothing -- has elicited such a response.

"I have been deluged with emails; strangers have accosted me in the street saying, 'Good on you'. There is a real issue here."

In response, Rose defended the store's underwear, which is worn by one in five UK men, and invited the presenter to have his pants tested by M&S technical experts.

http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/904227/Marks---Spencer-caves-2-DD-bra-charge/

If only Linden Labs would listen to their customers, like the English do!!!

I have never worn Marks and Sparks undies, I'm not convinced by this statistic at all!

Linden Lab do not listen.

neither did M&S until that person bought one share and announced to the media they were going to front Rose at the next AGM.

It wasn't the thought of the woman doing it that made them back down, it was the thought of the media coverage of her doing it.

Very well! So I did. I like the developers style and art of these posters. The card giver in it spits out all necessary infos and links. That is why I chosed them.

i don't know if it has been said before, but has anyone noticed that the amount of users logged in after this thing was announced has dropped almost 400k?

from about 1,700,000

to about 1,200,000

i don't know if this has anything to do with the adult content thing but it may be tied in some way.

I got invited to a definitions meeting on monday by Blondin. I have been working on a questions and issues summary page to prepare:



You are welcome to add items there. Right now things are scattered in too many thousands of forum posts and other places. One section I wanted to highlight is this:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REGION RATINGS:

Zoning in and of itself is not a problem. Bookstores, video stores, movies and television have sections intended for different audiences. What is a problem is when the Playboy channel starts only showing children's shows. In Second Life terms, when the existing landowners have the definitions changed out from under them, naturally they will be upset.

The issue is not so much the details of the various rating levels. It is the fact that you are forcing change on people who mostly don't want change.

The partial remedies offered are discriminatory and unfair. Private island owners may change their region maturity, but mainland may not. Some mainland owners will be offered a move to a differently rated land, while others will not. The terms of the move offer do not come close to compensating for the losses in time, customer base, special features, and community from the old location.

Fairness to *all* your customers requires offering *everyone* who needs to move due to your changes the same terms, and offer to re-rate existing land as needed. It would be sensible to re-rate regions so as to create large blocks or continents of uniform ratings, rather than the mix of PG and Mature as the mainland has now. This can be done by posting a "zoning plan". When sufficient landowners request a change, or land is returned to Maintenance, then re-rate to the plan. Residual/minority landowners would then be offered a move/exchange on liberal terms.

just reading some of the posts on the Jiras related to misc-2727, and this caught me as the biggest problem going forward with my business:



Change "PG and Mature" to "Mature and Adult" and everyone is fine with it... but not the other way around.
This is exactly what is happening to me, except my products are PG/Mature builds (would you like a cellar or dungeon with that castle?) and adult BDSM tools and toys.
I find it simply amazing that the shoe on the other foot doesn't seem to fit everyone.

I think it is a mix. Much people were in holidays around easter-bunny time Spring started = more people seeing some sun and fresh air (healthy after a long winter on the grid, hehehe) and some people are frustrated about the adult content thing and lost motivation to log in. Additional LL started to move some bots out.

We are all here to have good and creative times in SL. Stress-injections and discrimation-infections brought by the managment of LL are not welcome. At the moment, a 6-7 weeks long moment meanwhile, we are paying for being stressed and nerved 24/7 and for being treated like idiots 24/7. And we think for LL like we would be payed for...

SL was grown, organic, kind of self-regulated by all members, integrative and a pulsating life.

I think it reached a status, were only all customers and the technicians are needed to drive that thing.

People like Kingdon and gang can go home.

Any management can maybe drink some cups of coffee all day long and doing some brown bag lunchs but nothing more and all would be ok.

The worst case is, if this third-class management starts to "think". Unfortunately that happened.

The result is, that the thrill is gone and the motivation for being creative is shrinked.

These are maybe the actual reasons for falling numbers.

===================================
previous post:

Would like an opinion on the following:

Region/Estate: a private island sim

Zoned: mature residential, public access, no restrictions
No parcel adds, classifieds or posted events allowed
Residents can hold private parties, by personal TP in only

Parcel: beach front, with public access, no restrictions, and Skybox

Details:

1) Beach, has a prim sign, allowing nude sunbathing or swimming, no voyeurism allowed

2) Beach, has a picnic blanket, with poseballs for cuddles, foreplay and more

3) Skybox, above 700 meters, with Adult furniture, sexgen bed, various rugs,
shower, massage etc. (no pictures)

4) Skybox, protected by a security system with a radius of 96 meters,
one warning, and 6 seconds to leave or be teleported to another sim.
(only a committed peeping tom, could get a look at or see into this skybox)

So, can this region/estate/parcel with public access and no restrictions be classified as Mature?

Please address points 1 through 4 individually, and as a whole!

==============================
Issue is AR's on land left defined as mature.
Will the Lindens nail down their AR criteria, or leave all in fear of random discrimination?

Well, VL, I'd agree with you for the most part- LL seems to suck a *lot* at enforcing rules. But the only thing they suck *worse* at is making sense and providing a stable environment.

These are the people who brought you the "broadly offensive/rat out your neighbors" fiasco, remember? And they have stated that they will be "depending on the community" to help them enforce this.

Does anyone else think that "depending on the community" will wind up meaning " save time and effort by simply assuming that the person who reported it knows what they are talking about, and thrash about with the suspension stick. After all, if it's a mistake, they can file a support ticket" A ticket which will probably tell them to "please submit hard copies of three kinds of identification..."

I mean, this is LL we;re talking about- the company with more Travesty-making karma than Walter Sobchek.

^V^

I'd cash it out instead... After this is all ov3er, you'll be able to buy LL stock are about L$1 a share

^V^

didn't think about the holidays, yur right! i'm usually one of those "looks at the numbers and panics" people so i guess i wasn't seeing the whole story

Like 2%-4%?

Sorry, but I've seen some of the stuff that gets posted over at the xstreet SL forums. Some of those folks are just judgmental ninnies who are convinced (by no evidence that I can see) that LL is doing exactly what the ninnies *want* them to do, which is put the smackdown on everyone they don't approve of. No amount of reason will convince them of anything- they are convinced that all of this is about LL catering to their particular hobby horse.

I even saw a pair of comments on the SL6B content definitions in which someone said "What's sad about this is that a bunch of supposed adults can't find a way to have a good time without sex, drugs, and alcohol" and another chirped in with "Or dressing like a tramp!"

Mind you, her profile pic showed her AV dressed in skintight latex pants and and an equally tight latex top with a number of slashes across the chest area. Like something you'd see on a backup dancer in a rap video- Or a hooker in a porn movie You get the idea.

Now, Her opinion wasn't what bothered me, and neither was her outfit. It was the combination of the two that gave me a brain-warping pause, and the fact that she was evidently in favor of a dress code that wouldn't have allowed her to the party in the outfit that she chose to represent her to the rest of Second Life in her Profile that is *supposed* to be "PG"!

It's the lack of self-reflection, really. the total lack of the ability to rationally compare beliefs with actions and statements. We have people running around *supporting* a policy that is going to bite them in the ass, and under the assumption that LL has the same definition of "adult" as *they* do. Or that cracking down on Adult content includes things like making goreans stop advertising their goods as "native american".

They think that the Lindens are riding the same hobbyhorse *they* are, and they won't be told any differently, by anyone.

The only thing to do with folks like that is tell them the truth, and then tell them you told 'em so.

^V^

You mean, after the policy is firmly entrenched, and the residents have all sighed and decided that they have no alternative to "go along, get along"?

The problem here is that sitting back and waiting until LL Steps on their collective Linden isn't really an option here. If we kick back and wait for the screams of pain, it'll be too late to actually *do* anything about it. The move will be over, the words will be filtered, the definitions will be finalized-

If you think that LL is hard to budge *now*, wait until they're dug in!


I know that there is a *vanishingly* small chance of getting them to change anything at this point, but compared with the mind-set *after* the changes go through, it's the best chance we have.

We have to make this as difficult for them as we can *now* , even if it's a *really* pathetic attempt, because later *really* isn't an option.

^V^

Hey Tcko, is this a genuine offer? Count me in.

Would it really work though? Or would they likely say, hey hang on u just porned up your land at the last minute to get round the rules?

K

Yayyyy! I second that!

K

PS i want to be one of the residents and variety

Llew, We're not commenting on the *food*- we're commenting on the smell coming out of the kitchen, and remembering what sort of food that smell heralded in days past.

Believe it or not, it *is* possible to predict future behavior from previous behavior, and so far, LL is following their usual playbook to the *letter*.

*saying* so doesn't make me a pessimist. it makes me *experienced*.

And I'm castigating the lindens because their plan is *flawed*. The plan and its consequences are perfectly clear. What is unclear is whether or not it will be corporate suicide, or merely corporate Bulemia.

^V^

Well, that all depends on what the alternative is, doesn't it? I imagine that if your choices are one of a limited number of spots on the life raft, or swimming with the sharks, you'd be awfully anxious to find out if you qualified for a seat on the raft, yes?

We're talking about people who are *either* going to be forced to move, or forced to substantially change their businesses and lifestyles.

That sort of choice isn't really a choice at all is it? and so it's not really inconsistant that they're hoping that they can score a plot of Ursula so they can merely have to deal with losing up to 60% of their friends and customers, rather than their entire business and lifestyle.



Yes, *if* they qualify for the swap- which LL throws into more doubt every time they say something about it. Otherwise, they'll wind up paying premium prices for Ursula.
Maybe not even because "it's the place to be", but because the same schmucks who want to sell you that 16sqm parcel in the middle of your land for a million lindens(and slap a giant spinning dick with a swastika tattoo on it just to help you make up your mind) have gotten to Ursula before you, and they know that you *have* to have a plot there if you want to do business.

LL has put every adult content seller and user over a barrel with this one, but *especially* the merchants.

^V^

Worked that way on nautilus, or bay city did it? Especially without the who "captive audience" factor-

No, the prices won't be *low*, they will be high- at the very least, they will be *much* higher than people will be able to sell their mature mainland for.

^V^

Just how big are DD?....0-0 scary

We already know ursula is 250+ regions. That and only 2% of the mainland is 100 regions..

Can we drop the talk of 70? It's not going to be 70. It's going to be a whole bunch more than 70. People who have to move will get the swap and they said 2-4% will have to move.

They said only 2%-4% *would be affected by the changes*. They said that only "The most extreme" will have to move, and those would be offered a free swap.

They also then said that Strip clubs we extreme, and then bases the"have to move" on whether one was advertised in Search, and a business.

They've *said* a lot of things.

Personally, I don't thin that they mean that "only the most extreme will have to move", but "only the most extreme will be able to move for free- everyone else will just have to suck it up"

It was LL that used the 50-70 regions figure, and they used it as recently as last week. So far, everyone concerned has been at great pains to say something about how *few* people were going to be affected, and have pooh-poohed the idea that any significant number will have to move off mature land.


Well, I think that they are wrong about that. and even if they aren't, they *ought* to be offering a *lot* more people than that a free swap, for reasons I have given repeatedly.

They are wrong about the 2%-4% figure for those who will have to move by *their* criteria at the moment, or when they made the announcement.

but then, they are wrong about so many things...


^V^

I will see you there and i will take one hot issue to press them on Thanks for the extra page as well great idea

Has there been any new statements from LL about this proposal? I took a couple of weeks off to recover from NK overload.

I chatted with a friend who has some ties to the academic community, she said she had heard that LL presented the plan to relocate Adults to a group of their academic clients and the response was not what they expected. She said the response was "if you do this, do not do it in the name of fostering academics in SL, we don't want to be the ones blamed for censoring." Had anyone else heard that or seen anything documenting a dialogue between LL and some 'colleges'?

Patasha