Today's Registration Protests

Harle, you at least make an effort here to express your disagreement with our stance without personal insults (unlike Tren) so I'm going to make an effort to reason with you.

Point one: When else do residents have a chance to visit directly with Philip and bring our concerns to him? Weekly town meetings are fine, but in my experience they're usually NOT well attended due to their timing and it's a grab bag on which Lindens you end up seeing. Yesterday's appearance by Philip was the next best opportunity.


I appreciate the work other residents did on the celebration, but let's not conflate the two separate episodes: many people (well over 100 at one point) wore T-shirts and held signs. We had a very calm, reasonable talk with the Lindens who heard our concerns. And (get this) when Philip began speaking, our demonstration group even put our signs away so that everyone could see better. We sat quietly (well, except for Prokovy, but that's Prok, I don't even know if he was part of our group) and respectfully, listening.

Someone else NOT one of our group decided to bomb the celebration. I was disappointed that I didn't get to hear Philip out, and I had been looking forward to Robin's comments as well. But the bombing didn't just knock the Lindens offline, it knocked all of us offline, protestors and non-protestors. Do NOT confuse the two groups, please. What we did was not disruptive at all. The bombers were the ones who disrupted.

Last, the celebration runs from June 21 through 25. We protested at ONE event, planning to be there for about 2 hours. Not even the whole evening. And certainly not the entire celebration. So I'm going to categorically reject your assertion that we "ruined everyone else's celebration". We ruined nothing. We aren't planning more protests this weekend. We behaved ourselves just like we said we would.


See above. You're bordering on hysterical, now. None of that happened at all. If sitting in a chair wearing a t-shirt is "bullying" I suggest you revise your Thesaurus.


So I'm supposed to allow someone else's bad humor to deter me from doing what I think is the right thing to do? I still think the Lindens have made a horrible mistake and are going to be facing a Myspace situation before long, but our point has been made and I'm satisfied that at least Philip and Robin acknowledged our concerns. I'd do it again no matter what the forum boo-birds said. It's called 'courage of my convictions'.


We impacted no one. Our protest was biodegradable and ergonomically sound.


You don't remember the Tax Revolt I take it? This is hardly the first group demonstration at a Linden event. Nor the last.


Actually, the people in our group were very decent and respectful. We don't want kids accessing the adult content on the Mature Grid. And for the record, nobody's fun was ruined by our actions. Don't confuse us with the real griefers who bombed Philip's chair.


Define "a lot". I've seen a few here disagree with our position. I've seen a few disagree with the protest. That's fine, they're entitled to their opinions as surely as I am mine. I've also seen a couple of trolls call us names. (Obviously that stopped us). But I also saw over 100 people sitting in an amphitheater wearing our protest tags and t-shirts, quietly listening as Philip began his talk. He wanted to speak about where SL has been and where it's going, and he expressed his appreciation for the fact that we had made the effort to show up and voice our opinion. In the end, that's the one opinion that counts more than the boo-birds, even if he doesn't agree with us either.

I can only assume, judging by your rhetoric, that you weren't there to see the thing go on. Otherwise you wouldn't be claiming that we "bullied" or "ruined people's fun". That's not what happened at all, and it strikes me as yet another mischaracterization -- Rule One of Propoganda: demonize the opposition and exaggerate their actions so you feel justified in attacking them.

*blinks*

I think it's clear that some of the people here who like to keep calling us the griefers and saying we disrupted things and ruined people's fun, weren't even there and are making judgements based on what they EXPECTED us to do.

I've said this over and over already, but the majority of us would have been there doing the same thing (sitting and chatting and laughing and enjoying each other's company) regardless of what we decided to wear. The clothing we wore and the signs we carried (and put away to keep from being bothersome) were the only thing we did differently.

The only disruptions during the entire day, came from actual griefers bombing the place with prims and a couple of name calling trolls who unsuccessfully attempted to goad us into bad behavior and must have been sorely disapointed when we didn't comply.

People who were actually there and witnessed our behavior can verify, all we did was sit and talk and joke. All we did was be there in a place we would have been anyway.

I agree. If there are any future protests, I would like to be included. Send me an email at [email]Ulrika.Zugzwang@gmail.com[/email] to let me know, as I'm not in the forums as much as I used to be.

~Ulrika~

Holy crap. Once again, and hopefully for the last time, it had nothing to with your behavoir. You could of been saints there. The point was that the TIME and PLACE you chose to hold your protest DISPITE YOUR BEHAVOIR was not a polite thing to do. If you are going to disagree what me and others said, then disagree about what we fucking said, not you're own little take on it. If you think it was fine a dandy, then fine. But don't keep posting over and over how you were good kids turning the party, because that had nothing to do at all with what we were saying.

If you need me to, IM me in game. I'll make a diagram with prims and textures. Hell, maybe even some flow charts.

We were a group of people attending a public event and not disrupting anything once events started. That's the long and short of it.



To be honest I'm not sure what you're saying, considering all we did was sit there quietly showing group titles and wearing t-shirts that were just as legitimate to be there as any other.



Please do make some diagrams. Maybe it'll stop you attacking innocent people for a bit.

Lewis

Tren, a day later I think I have a clearer understanding of why you're so intent on mislabelling us. Let me address that:

The people who worked hard to set up the celebration are to be commended. They did a wonderful job -- the amphitheatre alone was impressive the way the seating slowly rotated. I'm sure it will be used extensively throughout the 4 days of the celebration.

But just because someone builds something like that doesn't mean they get to control who uses it or what they use it for. Anything erected for the celebration, I assume was placed there for public use - meaning all of us residents. The moment the construction was complete, the builder lost control of who got to use it or for what.

So I see this as an issue of control -- as in some people wanted to control who used their build. That's too bad, because it isn't about control. It's about a large number of residents peacefully and respectfully expressing our opinions, even if we were using a build someone else put together. It was either built for ALL residents or you should have put signs up specifying who could use it.

Apparently the issue wasn't so much how we behaved, but that some of the event builders wanted to control who used their build for what purposes. That paints this in a completely different light, I think.

It was either for all SL residents or for just a select few -- if it was built for just a few, next time put up some signs letting people know who's allowed to use them.

If you don't agree with it, fine. But it's not that hard of a concept to understand, even for you. If you can't even begin to grasp it, then we have nothing to discuss. It should of been "What you did was morally wrong, and here's why", where the reply would of been "I see, but here is why I disagree" or something along those lines, and not "Let me use this point that had nothing to do with what you just said. I win. I like talking."

I don't agree with you, no. Why? Because the party was an event open to ALL residents, and as such nobody can dictate what is and isn't appropriate to do there as long as the community standards are kept intact.

They are all PG sims, one resident there was swearing profusely and I mentioned in passing that these were PG sims - he hadn't realised, and modified his behaviour appropriately in case someone decided to report him.

Whilst you of course have the right to disagree with us, and think what you like about any part of our action - if attending, wearing titles and t-shirts can even be called action - the simple fact is that there is nothing you can do to stop us being there. The simple fact that THREE different Lindens arrived during the couple of hours previous to the even when we were there to talk to us to see what we were up to - and asked for copies of our t-shirts and signs for fun - and even Philip acknowledge us and began his talk by addressing us and our thoughts before the griefers attacked - says to me that Linden Labs had no problem with us being there as we were.

If you have issues with our presence, then that's your problem to deal with, not us.

The blingtards with 500 twisted torii prim hair caused more disruption than we did by sitting there quietly.

Lewis

You know what's hilarious Cindy?

I caught the name of the person dropping the giant tori on Philip which crashed us out.

Guess what? They are a member of the anniversary volunteer group.

Can you elaborate on this a bit, Cindy, I am really curious about it.

Oh! I should also take this opportunity to shamelessly plug my animated protest signs. You can get them at Ulrika's Werkstatt in Funadama in the Port of Neualtenburg. Simply drop in your own texture and you're ready to go.

~Ulrika~

Maybe you could make up some ribbons, flags and magnets for your cause too. What color for the ribbon do you think you might use?

As Philip and Robin chose to ignore the issue and ignore us "Valued Residents" in the forum we assumed that they were not aware of our displeasure. Tried to call conciage to no avail. Tried sending Emails no no answer. Tried every where humanly possible to find out what was going on and to let them know our disagreement.

I am the one you want to blame for thinking ah. A talk by Philip and Robin Linden. Now that is an opertunity to let them know. Not a party, not a celebration. But a talk. Robin all but asked us there when hers, the only reply to any postings in her blog stated that she would elaborate on what was being done in her talk.

The rudest people were the suposed high and mighty. One called us names for being there an hour before the event. Could not control their rage at "Valued Residents" trying to do as Robin said find Trust again in Linden Labs and hear their openness.

But as many state you are open to your opinions. I would ask that you refrain from profanity and explain camly why participating is rude? Do democrats and republicans protest each others conventions? Do students not protest at Homecomming week?

Where would you like us to protest and make our voice heard? The Welcome sim?

To all that were there yesterday. I bow and thank you for your participation. If I was Philip I would have been proud that people cared enough about SL to take the time to show thier feelings in a calm respectable way with out name calling and profanity.

As this is now an open system I believe that the language in the Forums should reflect as such.

Thank you to all who made the effort.

PS does anyone have the log?

And if the name you caught was the same name that I heard, you might be able to figure out he was probably a troublemaker all by himself. (What's the hint? That he'd take on the first name of a particularly infamous resident for one thing.) As I recal, both the protest group and the anniversery volunteer group were open enrollment.

I'm not Cindy and I didn't join the protest group but I was sitting around while we were waiting for Philip to arive (a coupple hours early). The main person I saw who was rasing a stink about it was the person who had built the stage and objected to the protestors being there at the "party" for reasons I can't clearly remember. Those who were actualy doing the protesting were indeed on very good behavior.

While that person was raising the stink (which pretty much just amounted to repeatedly calling us jerks until most of us muted him/her) I IMed a Linden and asked him if where we were sitting was a problem and did they really need to move elsewhere and told him we gladly would if they needed us to.
I won't use his name or quote him here without his consent, but he said that person was not acting in any official capacity and that where we were was just fine as long as we stayed in the bleachers and didnt take over the stage when it was being used. We stayed sitting in the bleachers.

Maybe you all have seen this;

http://www.aspendailynews.com/article_14571

"To measure Second Life's level of complexity, I listened in on an online Town Hall meeting where a resident discussed zoning restrictions with Linden Lab CEO Philip Linden. It sounded identical to many City Council meetings I've covered as a journalist - at least until the user's mother told him to hang up and finish his algebra homework. "

Hmmm, any registration issues here?

I don't think that is the person who was listed. (I clicked on the object myself)

It was a she, and a name I'd never seen before. It was an account created last November.

Having the anniversary group open enrollment wasn't a very good idea. I didn't know that it was. Thanks for the info Elle.

Edit - I did a find on the group, doesn't appear to be open invite.

That said, I am thinking that being that the name I saw is still in the group, and an officer, that possibly what I saw was the creator tag. Which of course means I must retract the claim that it was that person who did it. My apologies. Things happened fast, and it could very well be that someone was using one of her objects and she had nothing to do with it.

I thought it was generally a peaceful protest, everyone was behaving (the protesters with signs etc).

The only people distrupting it were the ones who kept rezzing tori and all those chicks with huge wigs. Seriously, don't wear such big hair to a crowd.

The other thing that was disrupting everything was the frigging platform that kept moving around. Whoever came up with that idea need to be sent to a Gorean sim and impaled.

Okay. I had resolved to let this thread simply fade away eventually, as I do with most threads I almost want to post in, but don't. However, as you all have ventured into a land of raw speculation and incorrect facts, I'll break my almost complete vow of silence on the forums to make a correction or two, and a statement.

First, the easy one. The SL Anniversary Event Volunteers is not, and has never been, open enrollment. It is possible the user dropping items on the stage was a member of the group, there was nearly one hundred members of the group contributing, the vast majority of them well respected artists, builders, and community members. It is a group I was and am honored to be a part of. It is entirely more likely that it was simply an ordinary user intent on further disrupting the speech. While the autoreturn for the area was set to 1 minute, building and scripting remained enabled for the four sim corner at which the speech took place. I believe that now to be an oversight, and I take full responsibility for what happened. Case closed.

Second, I'd like to remind people that the Second Life 3rd Birthday event was for the most part entirely resident planned, created, and run. While I can't thank Torley and Pathfinder enough for allowing us to use that land, helping us to advertise, and arranging for Hamlet, Robin, and Phillip to speak, this was a resident event, created for residents by residents. And speaking of the parts that I didn't contribute, it is wonderful and amazing what was created, and we have a resident named Tateru Nino to thank for it. Even if you don't agree with the rest of what I've posted, please send her an IM thanking her for the wonderful job planning and managing this event.

Third, the accusations that I was disruptive at the protest and tried to remove the protesters from the center stage. I was upset to see people exploiting an event that I worked hard to help create, and I overreacted. While it remains my belief that I was no more disruptive than the protest itself, I will say this. I called people jerks, something that isn't against any rules, something that I stand by. I also threatened to have the group removed from the plot. I feel that I owe the people involved an explanation, even though I recognize the futility of such an act on these forums. This is a comment I made on Hamlet's blog post about the protest. I think y'all should read it.

The protest was one of the saddest days I've seen in Second Life, taking a celebration I spent many hours helping to prepare and others spent many more hours helping to prepare, and twisting it into something for their own personal agenda. Instead of simply asking politely if a time could be made for them to make their demonstration (as demonstrations are in the finest tradition of SL, I agree) There would have been many ways to effectively spread their message, more effective in fact than protesting at an already busy event, taking seats and places in the sim for people who simply wanted to celebrate what SL has achieved over the past three years. They instead chose to disrupt, as surely as if they had spammed particle effects, sound, or giant plywood wangs. And in doing so simply demonstrated that they have no respect for people in SL who don't share their opinion. Jerks, the lot of you. Seriously, as much as I might agree with the statement that something needs to be done concerning registration and griefing, the methods employed for this holy cause sicken me and make me depressed for the future of the Second Life community as a whole. What kind of example are you, the self-proclaimed community leaders, setting?

To that end, I have a feature proposal of my own.
http://secondlife.com/vote/index.php?get_id=1522


Finally, I speak only for me, as per usual. And for the record, I'm a she.

Involvement, information, and as our beloved Robin says trust and openness amongst the residents.

First off allow me to apologize for having in a couple of places referred to you as he/she.... I did this because at the celebration event I hadn't been able to actually find and see your avatar and I hadn't checked for a profile. My apologies if that offended you, it was meant to do the opposite.

Now as to your other points....



We chose a spot far away from any of the festivities ensuring we would not be at all in the way or intrusive. In fact most people who were in the sim participating in those facilities likely never saw us.
When a question was raised as to whether the seats we were sitting in were a problem or not, we got verification from a Linden, that in fact they were not.
No one was getting up and running or flying around, no one was shouting or heckling.
We were sitting, talking.
In fact until you arrived we were having fun.
When the speech was set to start, we remained in our seats (those of us who weren't crashing) and put down our signs to avoid causing a problem for others finding seats.
We made it clear to the Lindens in IM that if at any time they needed us to move or to clear some seats we would be glad to. I personally expressed that to the Linden I cleared our location with.

We never disrupted anything with innapropriate conversation even as others were calling us names.
We never brought in any particles, sounds or giant plywood anythings that could be lag inducing, though others did.
We showed the utmost respect for everyone, even those calling us jerks. At no point was anyone nearly as disrespectful as you were. There were in fact several people who came and sat and talked, who didn't agree with our position, but no one could say we spent the time arguing with them or trying to force them to agree. We respected their right to their opinion as we have a right to ours.

Frankly Lethe, as I recall, the only one involved in any conflict during the time I was there (from 10:30 to nearly 3:00) was you.

And *blinks* where and when did any of us claim that? Quotes please? I don't lead anyone and I sure don't want to be anyone's example.