Satyr (R.I.P) Gallery

With the eradication of Satyr and many members of the Voted 5 group yesterday I wanted to share some of the images I've collected over the last year.

Be warned it has mature/explicit content, so if you're offended by subversive humour then probably best not to look! >>>

http://www.crabcult.com/v5index

A short video can be seen here >>>

http://arahan-claveau.blip.tv/file/62533

Thanks.

Satyr shall be missed.

Voted 5, however, shall not. Since they're not really gone.

I'm not going to comment on the fairness of the mass banning, or whether or not LL is using V5 as scapegoats, or the rumor that they were still gonna charge Satyr's owner if she hadn't cancelled payment on her credit card...

But I am going to mention the fact that this doesn't... appear to be handled fairly, in some people's views, is more likely to turn the tide of opinion against LL in the long run. And if V5 truly were the biggest griefers as LL seems to think, they might have just opened a pandora's box of griefing, as with the theoretical 'central orginization' disrupted, the theoretical 'hardcore griefers' there will instead split up into smaller, more mobile 'griefing units. This is all theoretical, mind.

If not that, then V5 might just reassemble in secret. Since LL monitors chat channels, according to rumor, they'll just communicate in alternate methods like IRC, and instead of spending their idle time in Satyr, who knows where they'll hang out each day. Can you say randomly plummeting property values?

In any case, congratulations, LL. You've banned 60 of your customers, and likely driven away many more.

I should make it clear that I mourn the termination of the Satyr sim because I appreciated the artistic merit often on show there and I am opposed to censorship of any kind.

I am not a member of Voted 5, simply just a fan of the creativity of some of the members, whose work I found challenging, stimulating and amusing.

I applaud any afforts by individuals that question mediocrity and we should all be concerned that this incredible, vibrant virtual world is in danger of becoming a sterile and deeply uninteresting place.

I disagree. I don't believe what LL does when it comes to banning people sends others away because of it. I do believe that LL does that regularly by not bringing SL up to the standards people expect.

Awesome collection to view, I enjoy your captures, thanks for sharing Arahan.

hi foehn!
nice to hear from you x
and thanks a lot
speak soon ....

The point is that the V5 group were not banned for the Satyr sim contents, or for anything to do with censorship of potentially offensive content. They were banned for the attacks of self-replicating objects that were being dropped all over SL. These are effectively viral Denial-of-Service attacks that can potentially bring down the server. To permit that sort of construction on SL without taking action, well you might as well wave goodbye to SL because the grid wouldn't last a week if no action was taken about this sort of thing. I personally applaud the Lindens for their action in this matter.

I never mentioned why over 60 members were banned, that is still a mystery as no official explanation has been given so far as I'm aware. I'm well informed of all the accusations thrown at the group, some of them may be true, some of them are undoubedtly false propaganda.

I appreciated their creative work regardless of any alleged crimes they perpetrated. Even if, and I stress IF, a member, or some members of Voted 5 were guilty of griefing and/or grid attacks that does not detract from the talent they are clearly capable of.

You can't just condemn an entire group without providing evidence. Only last night someone said to me that Satyr being closed was a good thing to protect the citizens of Second Life, she reached this conclusion without ever having gone to the sim! Outrageous and irresponsible.

I provided the photo gallery as my personal evidence of their talent, nothing more, nothing less. It seems that simply daring to say I enjoyed their work is a crime in itself, I do not appreciate being told what I can look at and that choice has now been taken away.

My indignation at all this is because, for me and many others, one of the more exciting and challenging places in Second Life has been erased from existence.

Here are various links that present different points of view.
I'll add more as I find them and encourage anyone else to to the same >

http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2006/09/skywriting_some.html
http://w-hat.com/faq
http://www.babasucks.com
http://www.dragonscoveherald.com/blog/index.php?p=798
http://moomoney.wordpress.com/
http://feem.net/%7Elogan5/article.txt
http://forums.secondcitizen.com/showthread.php?t=2959
http://voted5.blogspot.com/
http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/
http://www.3pointd.com/20060920/privacy-vs-transparency-in-valley-of-the-w-hats/
http://www.sluniverse.com/forums/Topic9194-18-1.aspx

Banned because of grid attacks? Okay, fine, I'll accept that if Linden Labs actually comes out and says it.

Otherwise, you're just talking BS.

Philip Linden said at the Town Hall last week that 60 persons were banned in connection with the grid crashings.

I could add that these groups were deliberately and consciously formed, as they stated numerous times inworld and on their third-party forums, with an aim to grief and cause disruption of SL service. So as groups they had ill intent. The members are also amply documented in hundreds of griefing incidents ranging from petty to very serious and disturbing harassment.

You can read more at http://secondthoughts.typepad.com

Here's an example of this group's "art": making a giant replica of the World Trade Center and putting cynical parody slogans on it like "I'm falling for you" on them with hearts. Not "art" to everyone's liking, but not a violation of the TOS or CS. If it's on your own sim, it shouldn't be removed just because someone doesn't think it isn't art.

Here's an example of this group's griefing with its "art": putting the World Trade Center building on as an avatar, stalking someone outside their sim to another sim, who has criticized this "art" in a forums, pushing them, knocking them, griefing their event, orbiting them, etc. Now, "art" or not, that's a TOS violation.

Regrettably, Arahan's little panegyric here is blurring these distinctions.

Prokofy,

I already included a link to that page, which I understand is solely your own biased opinion? The links I mentioned all put forth a wide variety of viewpoints, including your own! The idea is to help people inform themselves on the history of this issue, seems reasonable to me.

I had no clue who you were until a few days ago and in that time it has become glaringly obvious you are uninterested in having a fair or intelligent debate and therefore it is completely pointless in communicating with you on any level.

Kudos to LL for banning people whose sole purpose is to crash the grid and grief others' pleasure in SL .

My working definition of griefers: They play their own game, and insist you play it, too.

I think LL got tired of playing their game. I know I did.

coco

The person responsible for the grid crashes has already come out and taken credit for it and said V5 wasn't responsible.

http://forums.secondcitizen.com/showthread.php?t=3007

Whether you choose to take his word for it or not is one thing, but considering there's just as much evidence that V5 wasn't the ones causing the grid attacks stands to reason this ass hat could be telling the truth.

I don't think you can call someone a griefer when they were banned from SL and hadn't accessed their account in three months; how's that fair?

Nice pics. Thanks for sharing.

qft

What Josh said.

Thanks a lot Gabe
I added some pics earlier of Butterflysmasher Dana's brilliant Avatars that were on sale at the Voted 5 mall in Satyr.

You did not begin with this stance; here, on the Linden official blog; in forums all over, you've made it seem as if inexplicably, for no good reason, unjustly, these 60 people were banned "for art". You explained no circumstances; you tendentiously misrepresented a story that we all have a great deal of information about, including official Linden statemens. You then put a link to their pictures of their art; what, that isn't YOUR own biased opinion?

Putting links to a variety of other news sources belatedly can't sanitize what you're doing here: misrepresenting the nature of this group and the nature of the Lindens' proper action against them.

I have a few other pictures of their *griefing* that I think probably even you wouldn't find to be "art" even in your own biased opinion. They're too gross to show on a family website though.

Some very, very talented creators of original content were lassoed into the group ban, related to grid crashes by nothing but a group title shared by hundreds. Years of artistic intellectual property have been wiped off the grid, not to mention very cool potential future contributions to Your World. I earnestly hope that most of the related bans will be withdrawn.

Regardless, many thanks to Arahan for creating this gallery and highlighting a region whose time has passed. Future visitors will likely only find the current empty wasteland or Yet Another Mall. Such is Second Life. *clap clap*

This remains to be demonstrated. We're not seeing it. There's no list of names or artworks demonstrated that have ostensibly been lost unfairly -- just a claim of such, without substantiation, to try to make an emotional appeal. Seeing that the works shown here involve mainly giant phalluses and mutilated and bloody furries, it's hard to understand why this is "art"; and easier to understand that the Lindens may have found it grossly obscene, under the TOS.

It's unfortunate that you don't show the same degree of angst about all the content that these griefers destroyed of other people's -- some of it also art, buildings, virtual lives, communities. Your approach is extremely one-sided.

I'd reply to your points, Prok, but considering your post history, I won't take the trouble.

I don't think we know this. I am assuming there were prior TOS violations for these people, or if not that, then they were sharing credit cards.

Far be it from me to assert that every Linden disciplinary action is well-researched and justly deserved; we've seen plenty of examples, on the forums alone, that that isn't always the case.

Just don't expect any sympathy from me for people whose "performance art" consists of griefing, whose groups exist for that very purpose, and who are, the Lindens believe, involved in grid crashing.

It's fine you have this gallery to remember. But lots of people in SL are talented and creative and can put together prims for some purpose other than to make others unhappy.

coco

I certainly wouldn't begrudge you a lack of sympathy. I definitely agree with you that Linden disciplinary action is not always deserved. I hope you are able to see past your preconceptions, and understand that the latter might apply in this case. It is a precedent-setting example of a blanket ban, applied this time to so many for the actions of so few.

Regardless, following some of the threads in the SC forums: some of the best are gone, never to return, while the most incorrigible (if banned at all) probably weren't held out of world for more than a few minutes.

Glad you enjoyed the gallery Snark, much thanks.

Here is a direct link to my coverage of Gene Replacement's Living Funeral because I know you don't want to accidentally read the lamerbashing post .