I have an opinion, so sue me

Welcome to the club.

Morality is overrated and frankly you are better off without it.

*swoons*

Everyone here has opinions, and everyone catches shit for them eventually.
There are 3 ways you can go from here.

1. Continue posting to the forums and mention in every post how you were attacked and ridiculed and play the victim card every chance you get.
2. Leave the forums and maybe SL completely because it's all just too traumatic.
3. Chalk it up to someone being a total jackass and move along as you were.

I highly recommend option 3.

There is a fourth option, one which I highly recommend. Follow the Forum Guidelines. Which state:

Discipline
Be respectful. Please challenge opinions, state your own and enjoy the discussion, but do not cross the line into personal attacks and insults because you will risk having your Second Life account suspended or banned.

Surely this isn't too much to ask.

coco

A lot of people are gonna be asshats - thats the way forums are really.. People are gonna try and say nasty personal things about you, some will even try and tell you what you think... but in the end - they don't know you.. chances are the most they know are few bits of this and that from in world or what you type here...

Bottom line : they don't know you - or what you think - or what you are.

So 90% of personal attacks fall the same as a 'yo mamma' line - doesn't mean squat unless you make it so..

So laugh it off - so long as you can still draw breath, everything else in life is more or less a joke.

Siggy.

Has there ever been such a thing? Anywhere?

the first lesson to learn on SL forums is the fasted way to end up in a flame war is to have an opinion on anything to do with the land economy. any opinion! even if you opinion is "i like land."

I don't disagree with anything or everything you didn't say, Buster, or anything or everything everybody else didn't say, or will never say.

As for what Chip said, my problem is that I've never been able to successfully parse through the plots and subplots here, nor identify the warring camps, etc. Can someone post a semi-sticky roadmap for a simple traveler such as myself? Or are the punji-stake pits, daisy-chained grenades, and "bouncing bettys" part of the appeal of spending time in SL?

Or to agree with anything Jauani says

that's lesson #2

I'm not sure anyone can fully parse it, Seth. I just think it's safe to say that any debate on these forums is influenced by its context, and that context always extends beyond the confines of that single thread and whatever issue is being debated. It's a soap opera with a long story arc being made up as we go along. I think things in the forum (issues, personalities, etc.) tend to be exaggerated... in fact everything in SL tends to be exaggerated... because SL has no narrative story. We're the narrative. Some people are just over-actors

Third lesson, never, but never ever even dare whisper....

Forth Lesson, from someone infinitely wiser than I could ever dream to be:

They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.

ok.. all together now.....
Ladies get them toys out.... Men pick your favorite hand.... It's time to...

~~~~~~ DIDDLE~~~~~~ )

Hand to gland combat?

I like land.....

*slinks away into the corner, looking furtively over her shoulder*

I've been warned and/or banned from forums nastier AND nicer than these. I learned long ago never to speak my mind on certain topics (morality and religion being one of them), but I will still say things others think I should not.

Also I too bought first land in Menophra (as actual first land, mind you; I'm not an alt). I even saw some unscrupulous deals going on there, but I won't name names and I won't place places because the community there has had to endure enough slurs without adding to the turdpile.

Sorry to hear you were attacked Emma, you don't deserve it. I hope you continue to speak your mind.

Yep!! thats what I'm talking about .... woo hooo

Ms. Soyinka, kindly submit to me the name and address of your barrister so that I may file formal suit against you for possesion of an opinion.

kthxbye.

as usual, Chip and Jonquille cut to the core of matters and present clear and concise messages. Thank you. And Coco, you don't get it. A forum participant should always be striving for your number 4, but you can't control them, and when they act the jerk, you have a few choices in how you handle the situation. Your 4th choice is no help at that point. Jonquille's 3 points stand.

emma, all i can say is CFoo's image link is dead on. This is text and it is anonymity. Expect that you won't be able to understand people's tone and intention 75% of the time. Expect that anonymity will sometimes bring out the worst in people. Don't take it personally.

Ever driven down the road and seen people go ballistic in their cars? -- largely because they feel anonymous and "protected" by 500 pounds of steel (ha, now there's a fallacy). Well, you don't ante up and road rage with them do you? Or at least you try not to. You just say, now there's someone that needs to get a grip, give them a wide berth, and move on.

It is a shame you had to deal with that. I tend to be very vocal on issues at times in these forums and never has someone contacted me and acted like that. I spoke my oppinion in the same thread you are refering to and I didnt get that same treatment.

Sorry you had to get harrassed.

I agree, with most of what was said here, with certain exceptions. Just ignore the asshats, they'll get bored and go find someone else to bother. In world, the mute button is a wonderful tool, I've had to use it myself to stay out of a situation that could very well have ended with one of us banned.

I'm sorry for any frustration you may have experienced. I have thought of leaving SL completely myself, but have found that the best revenge, is living well.

Dang it, stop ignoring my arm waving and single finger salute! grrrr

Just for clarification, I am fully aware there will be asshattery on the forum, and I am fully capable of doing the "what starts on the forums stays on the forums" or even the "what starts in a thread stays in the thread" game. I've done it before.

The problem for me is when I start getting contacted by people in-world over what I said on here. Who knows, maybe it was because the post was locked then, I still think that's a rather flimsy excuse. When I come on to the forums I don't expect to simply "hang out" and be left alone, since the debates get pretty heated here. When I log into SL, yes, I intend to simply "hang out" with my friends and otherwise be left alone and unharassed, especially over forum debates.

Maybe this whole thread is a knee-jerk reaction because I've had a bad experience with that before in another game (or virtual world, whatever term you prefer) where a forum thread became a longstanding fued in game and in the end it got so bad I could go to neither without being harassed.


Anyway, thanks for all the supportive replies. And Malachi: you're supposed to be on my side, you dope. Go sue the people who have an opinion that conflicts with mine.


I haven't heard too much about this, beyond my own experiences. Maybe we could talk about this in-world sometime? I like knowing what's going on with Menophra, considering I live there.