Content Creator Union

i believe that simply because LL is making a mistake giving reparations here, we don't need to hammer them to repeat the mistake over and over for some (arguably) misguided notion of fairness.

unions always serve a noble cause up front, and almost universally spiral into problematic, political nightmares fighting for entitlements and often acting as a huge drag on business, creativity and progress. They are still needed but i wish the inevitable decay wasn't so inevitable.

and the folks who claim back-room content creatorati influence over LL will still spout their paranoid fantasies even if the union makes public their goals

so as a content creator i like the notion of reminding LL that the squeaky wheel shouldn't always get the grease in situations like this, but the last year has shown over and over many squeaky wheels that got no grease at all.

i guess i'm in favor of the concept of unions but often against the reality of them... the inevitable poisoning by human politics

ROAM and the taxi services provided a feature that LL *had* then replaced, then brought back.

Hell walk down that path and I wouldn't see LL improving SL at all - if watching what people wanted and trying to give it to them meant having the threat of payoffs over the head like a sword of Damoclese... Folks who develop things based on (what I call) 'the cracks' in Second Life - and are doing so for the sole purpose of making money off it (as opposed to 'wow wouldn't that be cool' and the bucks are icing) should be taking that risk willingly on its own shoulders that at some point they could be obsolete. Thats the 'risk'.

I don't agree with the hub buyback either - every business has risks - seen and unforseen - thats the way it is.

Gone from 'lets see where this leads' to 'totally not interested'

If there is good cause, noble purpose, and proper approach, I would lend my voice.

Yet, the devil is in the details, so until such time there is a specific issue, I'll remain a private entity.



I tend to think that positive moves speak far more clearly than threats.



Besides, once a massive, grid-wide content strike begins, the general population will wake up to a new dawn.

Into a time when $L means a lot less on the grid than it does now.

They may not ever want us back




ps: I suspect Bergman's might remain open...

Hmmm, I wonder if maybe "collective bargaining unit" would be a better term than union for an organization like this. The word union sounds more powerful, but it has a lot of negative connotations tied to it; just a thought.

I'd be up for getting involved, but I'd definitely not want to take on a leadership role (i just don't have the time nor the inclination). I think that acting as a group for what was determined to be the common good would be an admirable thing. LL needs what content creators bring to SL in order to continue to operate and grow.

Having said that, I also believe it would be very hard to pull in significant numbers of content creators to an organization like this such that it would have the level of impact that would be truly effective. And, it would be very hard to agree on common goals. Still, it never hurts to try, and I think the publicity that SL would receive from any action taken by a group like this would be an element that LL would find intriguing and not all together unwelcome.

Well to Siggy and Desmond, I honestly, HONESTLY wish this wasn't necessary. I think the Lindens could conduct business in such a way that general interest in Unions would fade. We just aren't there right now.

I agree. I also am not sure that "union" is the proper term for what is being proposed here. This is more of a lobby no?

A union makes and enforces a contract (to a point) between workers and management. That just doesn't seem to describe this notion, not that I am against the idea at all, I just worry that the term "union" will lead to confusion, and may very well put some people off, who might otherwise like to join.

I voted "I am a content creator, and I am for a union" because there is no other word, really, for my role in SL. As an instructor, mentor, writer, events organizer--I feel as if I am adding content, but I am not a "content creator" in the purest sense. I do not intend to offend others by claiming the "content creator" designation--if I have done this in error, it is fine to recind my vote.

Due to RL circumstances (some very fortunate and wonderful, some not so) I have been away from the grid (except for isolated visits) for about two months. I am hoping that, soon, I can return and continue to do what I had been doing before my RL changed.

Edited to add: Wait. Hold the phone. I never even so much as considered Brazilian men in assless pants. Denkyouberrymush.

I'm not a joiner. But good luck with it. If nothing else, maybe LL will sit up and take note that people are getting tired of the double standards.

I'm much closer to the point of packing up the whole thing and saying my farewells than I am to inconveniencing myself by having to reset everything in my store on a strike, when LL won't give 2 shits anyway. If they've shown us anything, it's that money talks, and it's the only thing they care to listen to.

When I think something like that... I write a script to make it happen.

Last time I dealt with a union, I was on the inside of an SUV while they were trying to tip the vehicle. Unions are little more than mob mentality with an official-sounding name.


Count me out.


- Newfie

While the idea certainly has merit and sounds good on paper, I'm afraid I will have to vote no. My reasoning behind this is that it would start out just as anticipated with many good benifits, but it would eventually fall into decay and corruption, much like most of the RW Unions I've seen.

Unless or until a system of checks and balances to p revent the corruption of the higher echelon of this Union can be put into place, I feel it is bad news. While the idea is great, it's biggest enemy is human nature.

For example:

"Union Officer" finds that "New Union Member" is making items that would end up in copetition with his or her own. "Union Officer" bullies "New Union Member" with threats of expulsion, or some other unsavory things until they are forced to quit or remove their items.

How could the Union prevent upper level members from trying to coerce lower level members? Who dictates what a member can and cannot create as content? How would corruption of high level members be handled?

Don't even get me started on what could be accomplished with a stiff bribe.

I'm not trying to derail the idea, but these are issues that would need to be addressed early in order to make sure that the Union would form and remain strong.

Depends on the flavor.

The consumers might have to march in "a picket line" , holding placards for so long their arms start to fall off. The "picket line" would ideally be a picket circle but owing to the space constraints of fitting all the picketers on a sidewalk, the picket path tends to be more of a picket elongated rectangle. Picketers left to their own devices do not actually march at all, because it is more work for zero pay, so why bother? But there will be an organizer, with a bullhorn to cut through the urban noise, directing people to march in the elongated rectangular path. He will be doing this because he is not concerned with the immediate physical environment but will instead be trying to do something to generate airtime on local TV stations. TV requires movement, a group of people standing still is very boring, plus a static shot that shows, say 20 or 30 people for thirty seconds or less shows clearly how small the number of union activists were present, but if they move around and the spot doesn't go on for too long, people in the audience might not recognize the people who had already passed the camera and thus might think they they were watching an actual mass movement march with a destination instead of just a few disgruntled unemployed people walking around in a deformed circle on command.


The other flavor of consumers union would conduct studies of the merits of various high ticket items, many too expensive for low and low to middle income people to rationally purchase. It would publish an expensive slick paper publication with a subscription price that drives many people who could benefit from it to the public library in order to use it.
It would start out with relatively inexpensive items under review, helping the readers to stay within a very tight budget, but after a while it would realize that the people who want the advice on how to get low priced items aren't subscribing, but are using the library to read it at, and then it would focus mainly on how to get the best high end stereo equipment and home theater systems and which SUV gives the most bang for the buck.

But I digress.

Anyway, no, show me an action that needs to be taken, show me why it'll help, and I'll see.

I would if I could!

coco

Have I ever told you how much I enjoy your posts?

Did someone ask to hear from Norma Rae?

Forming a union... nope don't care for what unions tend to represent.

Become more orgainized with the majority having a voice? Yup always been for majority rule.

Some of Cyrstal Lee Sutton's life and times were dramatized in "Norma Rae," but after the victorious election that ends the movie, the real-life scene was that she had to find a job. The first one she got after she was fired from J.P. Stevens in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., was at a fast-food fried chicken stand in another town. It was the worst job she ever had. This was after she'd been fired from J.P. Stevens for "insubordination," and after her story had been written up and was about to be dramatized on celluloid as "Normal Rae."

Mar/Cat

New union. Tier Paying Dillweeds. Who is with me?

Wow. That sure isn't your father's Chevrolet, I mean, sit in.

Are you serious, or are you being crafty about opposing the telehub buyout?

LOL your probably closer to the truth than you realize.



Mar/Cat

Deja vu!

Very glad to see you taking the initiative on this Aimee.

You got my support.

The kitty is cute, but I'm not going to join a thing that really is just against landholders.

coco

As a new content creator who has virtually no money, I'm curious about how you would square this idea with union dues. A sliding scale, maybe? I'm a newbie on a basic account, with one whole sale to my name at this time, and I know that I'd be very reluctant to pay into a union (or other trade organization) that wanted more than L$10 a week. Uploads aren't free, and I can't make content if I can't upload textures.

I kind of doubt that I would join such an organization anyway, since the idea of being told to strike rubs me the wrong way, but the money's certainly another potential barrier.

There's certainly a lot to work through.

However, we should get together and figure out how to start discussing, if people like the concept of content creators working together for:
- health care negotiated for self-employed or small businesses
- shared legal support
- creation of pay standards
- creation of business ethics - especially scripting - that could bear the seal of the union
- copyright / DMCA support
- combined action against exploitation / rip-off artists / etc
- maintaining a developer directory to best get customers to developers
- discuss tools and features we would like
- discuss the future of SL and how to prepare and adapt to changes
- boycott / embargo / strike at last resort