its really sad :(

Have you wondered how many of these noobies you see are alts for older characters? It's not uncommon for people to want a change, so they roll an alt.

I'm a noob, and I came here to build and design. I'm just thankful the vast majority of people I've met aren't as glaringly intolerant as you are.

My bags remain unpacked.

Your opinions on sex are one thing - its the judgement of others and the attempt to impose your own version of morality that bothers me.

I dont care who is "weird". I do care about someone wanting to take others freedoms.

Sex and SL:

Sex is a natural function of the human body. SL vs FL huge difference. I am of the opinion; "What ever rocks your boat baby" as long as your not decieving anyone in SL or FL with your actions.

We all have a funky, quirky, odd, hidden, strange side, ok all us interesting folks do

Cat

I am having visions of Anthony Burgess's 'A Clockwork Orange'--Alex being reconditioned. Eeep.

I am truly saddened to hear that one resident's insensitivity might have caused the loss of a potentially cherished SL community member. Is it possible that the individual making the remarks was simply unaware of the possible impact of his/her words? Could frustration at some perceived technical 'inconvenience' have caused the angry tirade? I ask these questions because (not having been there, but imagining the situation) the motivation for what is said, especially in SL, is just as important as what is actually said.
I am not defending the individual who spoke the highly prejudicial words; I am just searching for context.

The 'freedom of speech' v. 'protection of individual rights' issue has arisen on several different fronts. As far as the Welcome Area goes, the TOS seems to cover most of the egregious violations of others' rights--enforcement, as has been said many, many times, becomes terribly difficult.

Understanding that SL is a business venture at its heart, I feel compelled to ask: At what point does the muting, banning, silencing end? What is beautiful about SL, to me anyway, is that it is a multiplicity of voices. Ostensively, those voices are equal. To a new community member, all voices in SL are equal--positive and negative. Just how damaging is it to hear a negative voice?

When I first started, I spent a great deal of time in the Welcome Area. The drama was, at that point, just getting ratcheted up. I listened intently. I learned as much about SL culture, history, and economics from the Welcome Area as I did from the forums. Then, I chose my own path. Given half a chance, I am sure that the majority of new members will/would do the same.

Well..if AVs didn't have sex, where would new AVs come from? I mean really, folks are just helping to populate SL...

See..it's like the birds and the bees. The bee goes from flower to flower gethering the pollen..and then...umm..wait..not sure what happens after that...

I know i'm jumping in about 4 pages late, as usual, but if a person is unable to make up his or her own mind because someone else tells him that "SL sucks" then that person is retarded, and probably won't add a whole lot to SL anyway.

It is true, SL is not for everyone. It takes creativity and self motivation to get the most out of SL.

I remember a long time ago a very talented builder and positive influence on SL was considering quitting. They felt there was nothing left for them to do and it was pointless to continue on. I actually begged this person to reconsider and possibly convinced them to stay. Maybe I give myself too much credit there, but there was a lot of begging and pleading to reconsider.

In hindsight, I wonder why I bothered. If the same circumstances arose today, I would be honest with this person and concede that if they found no reward or joy in SL that they should probably find another way to spend their time. But, that conversation would not happen down at the welcome area.

Nah AVs are like Topsy they 'just growed'.

Personal thoughts on this:

1. People can give whatever review they want of SL to anyone else. Just because our experience is positive doesn't mean everyone else is so lucky.

2. You can't censor the way people speak on a particular issue. Otherwise, you open the door up for censorship on all issues. How far would be far enough?

3. Reviews are all like buttholes. Everyone's got (at least) one and most of them smell funny, but don't be ashamed to let yours spew either. If someone is giving an opinion of something and you disagree, feel free to stand up and let your voice be heard. Otherwise, who's to blame someone who only has a one-sided picture?

4. There was a Linden there, and if she tried and still couldn't convince the person, then the person agreed more with the arguments made against SL and the Linden didn't make a convincing enough argument.

5. If people don't join, that's fine with me. SL will always attract a certain breed of people to its ranks and that will always be the case. If the person really enjoys the concept, there is enough good word of mouth and good press to probably make them take a second look. If the person stays away, then it was probably for the best, both theirs and SL's.


The goal of this game shouldn't be "Get as many n00b consumers as we can OMG need more shopper ca$h," when itcomes to new members. I would much prefer quality of members than quantity, and in the end, it's their choice whether to stay or not and I can't fault any person involved.

It's ok. You don't have to win everyone over every time. *pat pat*

/me waits for LL to restrict WA access.

Coco for President!!!



*goes back to diddlin*

You people are correct, LL should not go into the busniess of censorship. With that said, I was taught as a child there is a time and a place for everything. Standing in the welcome area for the only purpose of turning off newbies is tacky and not the time or place. It is called "The Welcome Area" for a reason.

This crap about not caring if SL population grows is nonsense. Without new players LL can not grow and this wrold we love will eventualy go bankrupt. If you really enjoy this world and care about, do not encourage such behavior.

If you do not like Second Life, THEN LEAVE. Why would you waste time standing around a virtual world you hate? Go take a jog or something in RL and burn some of that anger.

I'm not talking about people who "relate opinions to newbies", and I don't think that's what is the main focus here, either. I'm talking about people who give new users a hard time just for kicks as soon as they rez in.

That has nothing to do with saying that SL is too expensive; it's being a jackass, and there's no great cause or purpose behind it.

Your hat is showing, and it's old and tattered.

Try stepping -out- of the SomethingAwful 'group mind' for a minute there Ewan, and try a new cliche that doesn't have to do with pusher robots. Your meme is crusty.

I bet the 'internet' would suddenly be 'serious business' to you if you were getting hit by the ban stick.

How is it that people who think a game not worth paying for can remain in the game to tell other people so ?

Obviously - it's because, after that once off-payment, they never have to pay again.

If I loathed SL, or even was just an idle troublemaker, I could come back every now and again when I was bored, just to kick up a bit of trouble, and throw a few insults around. To do so could cost me nothing.

Unfortunately, this is the price SL pays for getting the marketing plus of being able to say "one payment then free for ever".

This must be a help with recruiting, but there is an alternate strategy which says "charge $5 a month minimum, and spend the cash on normal marketing and advertising for recruits".

Don't know which would be more successful, but I can't imagine anyone established in game begrudging that, and it would hopefully get rid of those who are just here for the fun of making trouble.

Its hard to know how many there are, or the actual scale of the problem.

Except self-repect, dignity, honor, compassion, or any moral fortitude. But I guess the types of folks that would come back "just to kick up a bit of trouble" probably don't worry overly muchy about being decent folks.

a crusty meme? Is that like crusty underwear?

Ewwwwww....

lol Just wondered

You've totally lost me! Not that it's hard to do ...

This is a total guess, but could the situation we're discussing be one of the influencing factors in a certain watermelon colored friend of mine no longer being around?

I hope not, and I admit I'm not sure... but it seems feasible to me.

-Flip

Too personal. Off-topic. Caused effective mini-hijack.
Just my opinion. This is how flames/hijacks begin. Please don't - aren't we all trying to behave better now ?

Judging by the amount of threads and posts about certain activities going on in the Welcome Area I hope the Lindens are noticing. Whether it be restricting the Welcome Area, having a Linden there 24/7, making different rules for the Welcome Area or any combination of the above something must be done to turn it back into the area it was intended to be instead of a platform for "entertainers" who only manage to entertain themselves and repulse everyone else.

I do not wear my Mentor title there anymore because I really don't like to get negative ratings and hearing the snide little comments it seems to inspire.

I noticed it had been pretty quiet there the past few days, it was so nice to see normal conversation...then last night it started up again so my partner and I left before it got really bad. Being in a bad environment like that can make you want to make statements that will only get you in trouble...which is exactly what they want. I have had to stop myself on several occasions because I just felt like telling them off. But that is what they want, they report people who stick up for themselves. I used to get mad, now I just pity them, for they dislike themselves so much that the only fun they can have is being mean. I find it funny as well that they talk smack about SL...but are on ALL THE TIME. Their stereotypes of people are nothing but poorly muted racism. I feel bad for the new people that have to see this.

I think this is all because they made the new WA look like the food-court at a shopping mall.