RC Questions

/me sends Hawk a whole big box of punctuation!

I don't think a ton of people are objecting to actually being age verified. The point is that the tech doesn't really exist to do it properly.

You say you're age verified? How do I know you didn't enter Elvis' info? People are using that (and other made up info) and the age 'verification' stuff is happily accepting it.


You need to take that up with Bishopess Lindal.

There are a hell of a lot of lindens leaving SL...me thinks someone is taking over
Indications are that Prospero has left Linden Labs, and possibly Second Life. His wiki page says he is no longer working for Linden, his island in Linden Village has been cleared out, and http://world.secondlife.com/place/0a68f013-ab09-3b6d-7b6f-718a98a8ddb5 is empty and the land is for sale to Veritas Raymaker.

Not only that, but some countries regulate their citizens' access to the internet. Yech.

You want to misbehave with...seabirds? Well, OK, I guess we can always have another schism.

I thought he wanted a man with big boobies!!!!

you never can tell what stirs people I suppose.. O.O

Oh...the nice and smart Grid Monkey left without a word and without placing a last free bear on his former land for us?

The conter-revolution inside of Linden Lab is still rolling, it seems...

And what is Torley doing since months? Cleaning office floors?

Things becoming more bizarre every day. If *bizarre* is not a filtered word meanwhile...

I noticed this too. I can't really say that I have any confidence that MK is pulling in qualified people so much as he is returning favors to friends in some aspect. My guess is that you might start seeing some of these Lindens who are leaving working in other VR Environments.

Who else is leaving/has left?

Robin is gone
Cory is gone
She who must not be named is gone. But every cloud has a silver lining.
Zee is gone.
The CFO is gone, traditionally a sign that the ship is sinking.

These aren't low level rank and file people, either. These people created SL (with one exception) and if they got together, could instantly build a competing system. That they are gone now, either fired or of their own wishes, speaks volumes about the corporatist rot overtaking LL.

What a thought...maybe Thirdlife is coming

When M took over he said he wanted to replace all senior management.. I remember an interview a few months ago where he was saying he'd almost completed that task.

As for the others, LL has always had a take it or leave it culture so it's no surprise that those who don't fit the new landscape are being turfed. As long as M keeps delivering profits to those venture capitalists, they don't care what happens on the ground.

Such is life.

I thought we were talking about recently.. Cory left.. er.. 18 months ago?

I've seen 3 leave in the last two months but dont remember the others names
Someone mentioned earlier in the blog that sl may be selling out...maybe they are bringing their own people in and the reason eveything is changing might be conditions of the sale....who knows

Maybe Apple would buy them. ... for an announcement at the WWDC in June together with an SL capable tablet. That'd stir someone up!

I don't think that LL was bashed for dropping prices per se, I think that LL was bashed for dropping prices so unrealistically that it was bound to cause trouble.

Something along the lines of "You can't do what you want to do for that little money- you're only goiong to have to jack prices up again, or take these things away again." ALso, "Why didn't you say something about the price drop before you went and sold a crapload of sims at the full price?" or "Why didn't you announce a coming price drop on the MOTD so *everyone* could see it, rather than just the few on the forums?"

It was the *plan* and the execution, not the Price alone that stirred up resistance. who doesn't like a low price? Someone who paid full price the day before the sale started.

^V^

Heh, just make sure that the holodeck safety protocols are engaged! Or, for a more seamless, non-invasive experience, wait until they perfect the MRI-induced mental imagery technique. Would you rather have a holodeck, or simply an externally directed *dream*?

There's some strange tech being worked on out there.

^V^

Nothing that happens in SL, at least visual and audio, would get more than an "x", because it is a *cartoon*. An non-real, non-photographic environment.

I suppose that you could make a case for the screening of *actual* porn, but since no matter *what* degree of porn is presented, the only requirement to see it, even IRL is for the viewer to be over the age of 18, it doesn't really apply.



This is exactly why I believe that leaving the *private* (i.e. non-commercial) adult parcels on "mature" land is a mistake. Because porn, prostitution, booze and other drugs- all kinds of "sin businesses" *always* find a way to operate. *always*. the only successful way to deal with them that I have ever seen has been to bring them out of the shadows, into the mainstream, and regulate them, tax them, what have you.

SL *has* been doing this. nobody has *needed* to hide their business. but SL is creating an environment where such things must go underground. If they go underground, then all consumer protection disappears, all IP protection (such as it is) disappears, and content creators will be able to do whatever they like to the customer with no recourse.

Of course, the majority will not. they'll play fair. But there will be those who don't.

And that's not counting the stigma that will arise from equating activity between consenting adults with "forbidden" activities like age-play- they'll both have the same penalties after all- that makes them the same in a lot of people's eyes. the AR's will be flying fast and furious in the mature regions, and one group will be driven out- either the PG-ers or the grownups.

Another reason why LL should re-examine their whole policy.

^V^

^V^

It is immaterial. NC-17 ratings do not apply to SL. It is for people *over the age of 18 only*. Thus, All SL users should be considered old enough to decide whether to participate in adult activities, or to look away, go somewhere else, move, etc.

SL does not promise that you will never have an obnoxious neighbor. they are not a neighborhood association. If you buy land in a mature sim, or on the edge of a PG sim, then you know what you are getting into. complaining after the fact is like sitting in the smoking section, even the booth *next* to the smoking section, and then demanding that everyone else put out their cigarettes because they are bothering you.

You have a choice of where to buy land. you are a grownup. you pays your money and you takes your chances, just like everyone else.




Exactly. LL would still be liable under the terms of the TOS in force when the land was purchased, unless they made some broad and *individual* announcement of changes (which they rarely do, at least, no so far as I have ever seen).

I understand that you are openly critical of parts of this plan- but your insistence on treating SL like a neighborhood with an elementary school in it is maddening.

Sl is an *all adult venue*. by the TOS and the terms and conditions of the sign-up sites, one *must* be 18 or older to play. If someone lies and signs up anyway, it is not the responsibility of LL or the other residents to behave as if all other residents are driven by 13-year-old boys (as much as it might seem like it sometimes! ).
It is the responsibility of those children's parents to supervise them. LL *HAs a responsibility to make a reasonable effort to keep out children. Past that, its efforts become *unreasonable* to the adults who participate lawfully and by the rules.

SL is not a residential neighborhood with three churches and a day care center, and we are not covering that neighborhood with crack houses.

SL is a *free-for-all* where anyone can buy land for any purpose, and which is divided into two content categories. If LL wishes to change this arrangement, then there are reasonable ways to do it. LL is not using any of those ways.

Most of us here are complaining about the *way* LL is doing this, and shooting holes in their logic, which is atrocious.

Defending atrocious logic is going to get you responses telling you that the logic is atrocious, because you are making the same argument that LL is making- That the "grid must be safe for children", rather that "children must be kept off the grid".

^V^

Can we change the title of this thread, as a complete aside, I read the title as:

"Arsey questions", which doesn't sound good!

Thursday's happy hour with Jack:

http://www.slapt.me/wiki/index.php/Office_Hours_Transcript_-_Jack_Linden:_05-21-2009

http://www.slapt.me/wiki/index.php/Office_Hours_Transcript_-_Jack_Linden:_05-21-2009

Discussion split primarily between 'bots' and 'adult content'.

Except for the fact that the "are you 18?" question is the *standard* for all adult websites. *THE STANDARD*.

Some sites will ask for your credit information to access their site for a "free trial period", and then bill your card a monthly rate until you finally manage to force them to stop, or sell your credit info to criminals. That does not mean that they are *required* to ask for more than an avowal. it means that they are *saying* so- so that they may fleece you.

"verification" is trying to get ahead of what the most extreme anti-"adult" campaigners want to get made into laws. It is an attempt to get on their *good side* so that they will pass over SL and LL in their pogrom. That is a fool's errand.

There is noting LL can do to make SL acceptable to such people except to provide them with their own bullet-proof environment. BIAB solutions would be the best solution for business, and an ironclad PG entry portal would be best for the "content objectors"

The vast majority of SL users would be left alone to do their own thing, and keep paying their tier fees and making money for LL by providing content that attracts new users.

Everyone wins, with the possible exception of those people who seem to think that they have a right to regulate everyone *else's* virtual fun. And do we *really* want to hand those folks a win? I don't think we do.



They should really be going back the the drawing board. this is a *choice* on their part, and there is nothing stopping them from reconsidering their actions and adopting a smarter, more effective strategy.

Nothing except *ego* and *inertia*.

A business that runs itself by ego and inertia will *fail*. Sooner or later, *anything* run by ego and inertia fails. I mean, everything fails sooner or later, but ego and inertia speed up the process immensely[/QUOTE]



No, No, No! *any* content ratings guide should begin with the fact that it is an all "over 18" environment.
It should proceed from the assumption that the content rating denote a *preference*, not a *right*, or a measurement of *value*.

The only content ratings guides should be to help residents *find* the kind of content they *want* to see. help them better decide where and how they want to spend their time and money.
Anything other than a voluntary system, preferably using terms that *don't* resemble those of the MPAA or ESRB, because it isn't the same animal.

We are not trying to tell parents whether or not content is safe for their children. We "live" in SL under the assumption, the *enforced* assumption that SL is *not* safe for children.

We should only be trying to tell adults what their choices are. Anything else is simply a blanket admission that some parts of SL are safe for kids. And while some parts of SL are, no doubt, "kid safe"; *most* of SL is not, and once the children are here, the task of keeping them from accessing the unsafe stuff is an impossible one.

The only way to do this is to keep the kids out in the first place- any argument about what to do with them once they are here is an admission of defeat, and an invitation to extreme solutions like censorship and relocation.

^V^

Eh, cordless is no good for the long haul- batteries keep running out. Gotta have a plug-in version If it draws power from the USB cable, so much the better

^V^

Taken from Jack Linden's Office Hour (snipped extract).



Pertinent?

"...if you're eligible for a free relocation"

"...commercialised adult content or services are the key ones that need to move"

'Key' ones that need to move? I was under the impression that it was likely that unadvertised, non-public content was still to be allowed on Mature Mainland.

http://www.slapt.me/wiki/index.php/Office_Hours_Transcript_-_Jack_Linden:_05-21-2009

This is a bit OT for this thread, but it would be interesting to hear some of you guys weigh in n this thread, it is part of the overall scope of Ursula I think.

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