lindens latest blog: dob a neighbour

Exactly. A cartoon scene where Jerry drops an anvil on Tom's head is clearly a depiction of extreme and graphic violence, but it's a cartoon. People let their children grow up with that stuff and then complain about violence in a cartoon world? It's laughable.

I find what LL proposes as being broadly offensive to its residents. Are we allowed to AR Linden Labs themselves?

I agree that kids need to be kept safe and OFF the Adult Grid. But why, in God's name, are Adults now being accused, stripped of assets and banned for engaging in CONSENTUAL activities with other Adults?

As a member of the homosexual D/s community, I am concerned as to what is considered "broadly offensive"? Who decides this? Will there be a trial? Will the accused be allowed to defend themselves?

/me waits for all the male noobs with giant penises to be banned.

Welcome to SL - "Their World, No Imagination"

Yes. My now non existent relatives would agree.

No, LL's scrutiny. I would think it would be a horrible waste of their time to do anything about private pixel bopping.

Do you really think that people will be that interested in spying on their neighbors? And it will be the majority of residents? I don't get why you think that. Usually on the forums, the majority are definitely those in the anything goes camp. I think the 16m plot rotating RL porno pic sign will get ARd but do you think there will be a huge movement to snoop and snitch?

It just seems stupid for people to do, but I've been wrong before about how dumb people can be so I'll wait and see.

You are aware that most BDSM activities fall under "other depictions of sexual violence", aren't you? Not only things that everyone outside this depraved, filthy "segment" might find not excusable.

I don't think they are targeting edgy or even offensive. I think it was stuff that was way over the line. You do think that there is some stuff over the line don't you?

There was stuff that was way over for me and I live a pretty wild RL life.

I'm sure I'll be repeating here but it only serves to show that the "community is making it clear" is nothing but marketing-speak vomit ejected from the mouths of those who think the community is vastly unintelligent and will actually believe a majority of the "community" actually supports these actions.

Boiling it down:
LL has moved beyond making it "Our World, Our Imaginations". That may have been the original goal set by idealistic people. But, as is typical, once "idealistic people" suddenly find themselves out of the realm of being the "underdog start up battling against great odds", their goals begin to change. No longer the "underdog" SL has suddenly become "commercially viable" so now they want to hide, strip and destroy that which made this "Our World and Our Imagination" because it doesnt comfortably fit with the new goals of "Corporate Profit, Corporate Mentality".

LL began pissing their pants when a little article comes out critisizing "amoral" behavior. The new age verification promptly appeared and now suddenly the Morality Gestapo are handed a liscence to report "offensive" materials. Jews were offensive in one country, blacks in another. It's a good thing this isn't 1920, all us women showing our ankles might be banned for obsenity.

I'm an atheist, personally I find the Bible to be offensive, lets read Leviticus and find out how many grotesquely violent acts and sexually amoral things are in that one book let alone the entirety of the Bible. Guess we'll have to ban the Christian groups now for promoting such things (don't believe me, go read it! You'll need to ban the Bible in SL under these guidlines). Now, do I really believe Christians should be banned form SL... Not at all. I find the Bible offensive, yes, but as a person who believes in FREEDOM realizes that my neighbor may believe in something different from me and this does not give ME the right to have them banned. It gives me the right to LEAVE the area they are in.

ONCE AGAIN:
The points are simple...
1. LL: don't insult us by telling us this is the "community". The blog and this forum clearly shows the vast majority is against these actions so just shut the HELL up about that and be honest.

2. LL no longer sees SL as "Our World, Our Imaginations" because corporate entities are becoming a potential and growing income for LL. We... the individual subscribers are no longer important to them, they just hope to keep as many of us around and placate us as best they can so the corporate entities will see us as a large customer base thus ensuring greater profit margins for LL.

3. No one in SL is forced to do anything, therefore, nothing in SL is nonconsentual. Acts of sex and violence are already handled by the "Mature" rating so your little game with "offensive" material holds no water. Once again, the "community" you care about are those corporate and media entities that may shine a bad light on LL and thus reduce potential profits from said corporate entities not the true community, the actual residents.

4. Roleplay is roleplay, what one person finds offensive others will not. Those same offended people are probably doing something someone else will find offensive. Thats why people have the freedom to LEAVE those offensive situations of their own free will.

5. One point about LL and freedom. I see those holding LL up to the standards of "American Freedoms". Well, forget about that, for one thing they are a private company so they can do whatever the hell they want and they can and do that. You people talking of "discrimination lawsuits" might just as well forget about that. LL is a dictatorship just like any company. What "freedoms" (I prefer the word "priviledges" because that's what they really are) are given or taken away at a whim as we can see. The only true way to make them listen is for a vast loss or potential loss in sales at this point. Since their mentality seems to be a "corporate" one now, the threat of losing customers (not you and I, business entities silly, ones with big pockets) is the only way to get their attention. I liked the post where they said in the past people put on colonial outfits and had their own "tea party", possibly effective in this situation, though less so in this new "corporate" second life.


On a closing note... I'm not a programmer so someone help me w/this, but since they made SL open code could someone potentially create another SL with that code? If so, that would be great! I'd love to see a new platform that adheres to "Our World, Our Imaginations", I'd enjoy seeing the mass exodus of Gorian, BDSM, D/s, Furry, Combatants, Biblical Scholars, etc.. etc... to another platform and leave SL a silent dead husk, populated with a hundred or so "morally acceptable" residents and empty corporate sims (well, there isn't a customer base at that point then so why stick around) standing around scratching their heads wondering just what the hell went wrong. It would be a wonderful irony if SL released its lovely code to create its eventual downfall. Releasing the code just prior to enforcing moral (even if ambiguous) laws, not only ensuring it's own demise but creating it's greatest rival and eventual predecessor.

They aren't fixing what was obviously wrong. Now they open it up to citizen interpretation?

Well Dnali, I find you offensive.

"Many people oppose sexual depictions of minors." That's exactly how it starts, and what we have now is an inevitable follow-up. I've always said, they're not going to stop once they begin to go down this road. It never stops after burning a single book.

and you know, on top of everything, what evidence is there that there are all these children suddenly swarming around SL? and how do you people who are so worried about these children being traumitized even know what is IN the adult areas?

you do have to realize that this is role playing for adults too. maybe it's fun for them to mess with you, maybe they just like to lie, etc., etc. kids are going to come here and play, but i don't think they are going to get so obsessed with the sex here as the are going to find it much funnier to just walk around wearing a big penis.

and if it's a sixteen or seventeen year old, they probably know more about the adult areas then you allegedly do. and they did NOT learn about it in second life.

Remember a few months ago when I said that there was a slippery slope developing and so many people derided me for it? I'm so glad I was proved wrong.

Way over whose line? As much as I am not a fan of Gor or Mafia rp or Star Wars rp or any of the crappy (IMO) rp that goes on in SL...I respect their right to engage in it with others who are like-minded.

They are consenting Adults, and I am sure you were always free to TP away if you were offended or did they keep you tied to a chair and force you to watch?

How old are you?

I, for one, welcome our new Xian Evangelist *is*ey overlords.

But seriously, some offends me in my region, I ban them. Something offends me in other areas, I leave. Something affects sim or grid stability, I report it to LL. Something looks criminal, I report it to the police.

LL aren't the police.

And if so, why did you sit on the poseball in the first place?

Actually the only thing I've seen as been during searches for PG stuff which ends up with porn in the search window.

I haven't actually been that offended by anything. I have been mostly concerned that SL would end up dying because the world at large would see it as porn or criminal based.

And I have no problem with consenting adults being one myself. And I'm fine with Gor, BDSM and the rest frankly. They have clear rules and are very well organized. I do have a problem with child porn or violence against women or children and using SL to propagandize or profit from that. There is a difference to me..that's the line I mean.

Being homosexual is normal and in no way offensive. I'm so glad I'm Canadian. Not being able to marry your partner is offensive.

Because it was there?

Completely aware, yes. But there are many other passtimes that fall in there as well. Poof goes the various Gladiatorial Tournaments for example.
The whole weapons testing Sandbox, as well as every Arms dealer
(For above, See violence)

As well, the whole problem is one of Who is watching the Watchers?

A reproduction of Botacelli's "Birth of venus" for example could be ARed as a Graphic depiction of Nudity. (Could also be hit inder child Porno, those little anatomicly correct naked Cherubs are pretty telling, aren't they?)

Go ahead and laugh but there is a Broad segment of the population who see NO difference what-so-ever between that, and a Hustler centrefold.

Now, with these suitably nebulous descriptions, and an open and active "Rat Out your friends and neighbors" program, coupled with SL's "Ban them now, sort them out Later, Much later, or never" Policies, Just how well is this whole thing going to work?

You are aware of course, that the television show "The L Word" sponsors a very large number of Sims. Well there is a Very large segment of the Population that still views any promotion or open display of homosexuality to be Immoral, and Obscene (and before you climb up my legs for pointing that out, i AM a lesbian, and i Know whereof i speak). LL is going to be Met with a large number of people seriously, or frivolously ARing the "L Word" Sims Is LL going to shut down $60,000 USD worth of Sims? (For that matter, How many Gorean Sims are there, and How much revenue do they bring into LL's accounts? Add to that the furries,,The amounts of money you are speaking of is Huge)

If LL is going to go down that road, it had better have a pretty Well defined set of parameters for Judging the validity of the ARs and an extremely Fast, Equitable, and Accurate method of Investigating them.

I see this idea Fizzling fast.

Angel.

Wow, do you really want to draw that parallel? Pixels are pixels, images are images, what your relatives experienced was a very different order.

Would you use the line "freedom of expression" to support a griefing attack involving Nazi symbols on a jewish themed sim, such as it actually happened once? I guess not. I hope not.

If you did follow me so far, there are many other things general populace finds questionable in taste and morality, more often than not in legality as well. And as you said yourself, the depiction of minors in sexual situation falls under the same category.

I wouldn't like to live in a virtual Disney-sanitized world, so much I can say, but there are some limits I wouldn't cross and things I wouldn't silently tolerate.

A couple things to ban...

The afore mentioned Bible which contains many things including rape, incest and ultraviolence (yes... all performed by the "chosen ones". Ooooh... don't forget genocide (or is that not considered "excessive violence"?) Lets look at the story of Lot as an example.... the very first book of the Bible shows that Lot offered his daughters to be raped by a gang (Genesis 19:. And lets not forget he later commited incestuous acts with his daughters and impregnated them (Genesis 19: 30-36). That is just one example of what I'm sure we'd all agree is offensive (rape, incest). I look forward to the purging of the Bible from our newly purified SL.

The Christian Cross... who can deny this device of torture and death. Nailing someone into a position until they can no longer hold themselves up and ultimate death by suffocation (collapsed lungs due to posture). Who can deny this representation of human attrocity is offensive.

Oh... and a question regarding Halloween...
Will "excessive violence" be tolerated on this one day of 365? I mean, children in my neighborhood have come up asking for candy with fake (some would call it "virtual" axes sticking out of their heads. Surely we'd want to ban this indulgence of immorality as well, wouldn't we?

We are living in interesting times. After reading this....
http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/files/robreno_order.pdf

I believe we will be seeing a complete rewrite of the ToS. Perhaps this is the first hint of it.

Ack, just realized my sig could be AR'd hehehehe

(Applauds Auryn)

I would really like to see the residents challenge this. Is there any way to make our feelings known?

I detest religious fundamentalists in RL. People who think we all should abide by the same moral standards, no matter the cost to personal freedom. I would remind everyone that it was not gays nor furries nor people who liked to be spanked who destroyed the World Trade Center, it was people who adhere to the belief that we all must be "moral" - or else.

I'm saddened to see that this war, which America is fighting at this very moment at home and abroad, has come to Second Life. I don't WANT to adhere to a norm...I want to be whipped (or do the whipping) with a consensual adult partner and be true to who I am, not what the "moral majority" thinks I ought to be.

That is what freedom is, is it not?