SLU/Snapzilla closed in protest

The entire SLuniverse.com site, including Snapzilla, will be closed on June 23rd to coincide with the third anniversary of SL, in protest of the new changes to the registration process. For more info, see www.slpics.com, which has a detailed explanation of the reason for the temporary closure.

No images sent to Snapzilla during the closure will be lost - they will be processed as normal, the site will just be unavailable for viewing. This is not to punish the users of the site, simply to protest on a day of high visibility for the site and SL in general.

*gives a spontaneous hug*

I really hope this will have influence. So far Lindens have done nothing but evading the core request.

But for now, you're my hero.

*mews*
Sheila!

Interesting, but do you think Linden Lab will actually give a hoot? The only people who are going to notice are all the people who can't see their third anniversary snapshots and be pissed off.

Was it Brent who said 'Y'all look so cute with your pitchforks and torches.'?

Anyway, best of luck.

Ben hoots all the time.

Yes, Karsten. They won't see the screenshots, and be pissed. And, most likely, not at Christiano, but at Linden Labs. And that's good.

Huh? I dunno, I suspect most will just be pissed at Cristiano because, after all, I doubt many people in-world actually give a monkeys about this registration change. The ones who do care have come to the forums. People often seem to forget that the forums are used by a very small minority of the population and what storms happen here generally aren't felt at all in-world.

I'm also of the opinion that the majority of people in-world haven't experienced a change in the amount of griefing they're exposed to, which would further suggest that they're not going to be pissed at Linden Lab.

Having said all that, it's always good to see people have the courage of their convictions, so I applaud Cristiano doing what he can to make a stand against something he thinks is wrong. Talk is so often cheap, and it's always much easier to do nothing.

Whether I agree or disagree with what he's doing, the fact that he's doing it shows that he feels strongly about it and that's something I have respect for.

*nods*
Maybe.. I am just enraged because I spend quite a lot of time calming down and helping people who are on one side important to me, and on the other side stressed out about the whole thing. I feel the pain.. and , in the case of the verification removal, I find it's an unneccesary thing to, an unneccesary pain they added, really. And as long as no Linden dares to explain in detail why they had to do it before they got the capacity to do it (Good in-world tools, scalable architecture.. I mean, come on, not so long ago the grid crashed every weekend. Multiple times. user induced. And now everyone can do that anonymously? Not sure the grey goo fence is _the_ protection against it. Instead of one person creating a million objects, make 100 people create 10000 each. Change from one person with many tasks to.. parrallel computing, so to say.) people will not be satisfied in this case, shiny new tools planned or not.

*meow*
Sheila!

Yep. See my sig.

But I disagree: Snapzilla is high profile enough that it will at least get the word out to people who stay away from the forums. That's something.

I agree that there are many who don't know about certain things, because they don't frequent the forums.

In this particular case however, I have noticed a lot of discussion and ranting at my usual haunts, by folks who never or rarely participate on the forums.

A good deal of that discussion basically boils down to "Great, what the hell are they thinking?"

Word about this has spread, and the vast majority of the response I am hearing is not positive.

Moopf, that was as balanced a post as I've ever seen! I think you made a very good point about the relation of the forums to the general opinion-base out in SL as well.

Having said that, I think the registration isssue is one which is only going to keep growing as the Griefing-index continues to climb.

I also applaud C.M. for taking a stand ! I appreciate an Avatar of Action

I should add that I think this was the right move on Cristiano's part.

If for nothing else than to spread the word about the decision to open up registration. I definately agree with Elle on that.

On griefing - I can't speak for anyone else but...

Last weekend I was chatting with a friend in Rua sim, when a big, lumpy, naked, brand spanking new character arrived, got down on all fours, and started wiggling his crack at us while spamming obscenities. Then, last night, I was minding my own business in Idyllwilde, when two brand new accounts showed up, bitching about what a "lame" sim it was, and then unleashed spinning, chopping blades which knocked me around, causing my client to crash.

I don't have incidents with other players very often, and prior to these, it had been a long time, months in fact.

I don't think they were true newbies. More likely, they are returning griefers or otherwise rule abiding players taking advantage of the free accounts to act the fool.

Good idea Cristiano!
My hat is off to you

As for those of you who think it's a minority voice here on the forums - I've been asking everyone I could about what they think of what's happening. And believe me, that's a LOT of people (thousands most probably)
I have heard ONE person who said that it's a cool idea to open up the floodgates, all the others said - WHAT THE...?!? Are Lindens mad?!?
Some of them already vocalized on the forums to show support. No, forums aren't any minority, we represent general trend among all SL residents

Terrorist!

Thank you

Even thou I didn't say I'll do such things myself. What for? I know a bunch of griefers who will be happy to join us

Well, you'd actually find more than one on the forums who's said it's a cool idea, just so you're aware

The forums are a minority, which ever way you look at it - always have been, always will be. It's not a particularly accurate cross-section of the population either, which carries with it certain mindsets or dispositions.

And, despite what you've said, I believe there are many people in-world who haven't noticed a blind bit of difference - you're getting places with increased griefer activity, some sporadic griefer activity elsewhere but, for the most part, it's not something you encounter any more or less than has always been the case in Second Life.

Also, I've seen some really tenuous descriptions of 'griefing'. From taking pictures, to some terse talk to less than "normal" avatars. I think some people jump towards the term griefing far too easily, and much is labelled as griefing by some that others wouldn't think was anything more than somebody being a bit rude. Sure some of it has been griefing, without doubt, but I'm seeing people lump all sorts of stuff in there that really, when it comes down to it, is laughable to call griefing. But once the bandwagon starts rolling, some people will lump anything slightly off from their viewpoint as griefing. It's difficult to quantify subjectively with so much anger and superlative going around.

I would guess that the reality is somewhere in the middle - an increase in griefing, but not the apocalypse you'd be forgiven for thinking we were in the midst of.

Of course, should the 3 horsemen be spotted, I may be forced to change my stance

I can be one of the 3 horsemen seeing as I'm wearing a horse AV most of the time

But really... There is one place on SL I've been "tied" to so to speak. A ranch where all furry hoofers can feel safe and secure, or at least could. Until the flood of alts I didn't spot a SINGLE problem there, things were peaceful, quiet and the people there focused on socializing and creating really beautiful things.
Well, not anymore. Just yesterday I had two "newbies" come there and start whipping out their hatred of furs. And what could we do? The ban list is almost full...

I hate to say it but furry spots are traditionally those that seem to attract the most griefers. Your experiences in a furry place I'd have to say are not indicative of the normal level of griefing elsewhere on the grid. I don't think it's right that furry spots tend to be targeted at all, but there is something about the kind of griefers that come into Second Life that makes them fixate on furry spots more than others. That's been going on for a long time.

Ask Luskwood. They've always had a griefer problem from what I've seen posted by some of the owners.

Is today the official third anniversary celebration? Maybe they'll spring open all those new mainland sims as a wonderful SURPRISE! for the people who live along the southern and eastern edges. Oh and what a wonderful shock it will be for people who've spent hundreds-of-thousands of lindens over the past couple of months trying to accumulate mainland areas because they were blissfully sheilded from these exciting expansion plans.

CLAP everyone, it's a feature! Why are we protesting? Oh yeah registration, how do you chant that? we want verification, too many syllables, we want adults, no that cuts out too large of swath of the older population, give us peace, that always works

GIVE US PEACE

GIVE US PEACE

dunno, not quite cutting it hmmm

Yup, Furries have always been griefed, so nothing new. Forget about it

Not.

Aside from that: great idea, Christiano! You get my full support!

People on the grid might not have noticed a change, but maybe this is just because they are not *aware* of what has happened. An intelligence agency might place cameras all around and inside my house, without me being *aware* of it. But is this a reason to ignore it? I think not.

Seriously though if you think about it

First of all, I don't believe I said forget about it. I'm saying that furry places have always seemed to have a well above average griefing ratio and that these places are being hit more by the new griefers than elsewhere and you cannot extrapolate those experiences to the rest of the grid because of the high history of griefing. I'm not excusing that and I'm certainly not saying forget about it.

If people on the grid have not noticed a change then it really makes no difference whether they're aware of the change or not - it's not impinging on their experience. You've pretty much said right there what I've been saying. Make them aware by all means, but don't expect them to get up in arms about it if their experience has been so little affected as to not have noticed already.

Your final analogy is not applicable btw. Either the griefers are there or they are not. They are obvious, bugging equipment is not.

applauds this move
it will also enlighten people of what is going on I have talked to many people in world and they were completely unaware of the new registration changes. and very outraged when i explain it to them.

Only 3? I guess the fouth quit due to all the griefing...

Call me stoopid, but why would people get outraged at a change already made that hadn't affected them enough for them to even notice that something was different?

I mean, looking at the forums, you'd think everybody was talking about the change and/or the "meteoric" rise in griefing. So I guess what you're saying is that...well...they're not. You'll forgive me if I find such outrage (no doubt produced after the situation has been explained in a completely unbiased way by yourself) just a little bit silly.

Take it to the masses! I hear they have plenty of pitchforks and torches - they just need an excuse to break 'em out the shed and dust 'em off.

Doh! I'm a little rusty on the whole fire and brimstone, end of the world thing