aspire to survive this fight in spite of liars and travesty

Between having my head partially cave in with the definition of gothic I came across earlier, and a discussion today in the charmingly lovely Marzipan TeaHouse in Kinvara, I may well be picking up sword and shield again and bravely going, yada yada yada, back where I said I would not go.

I specifically went to the last forum entry, the one concerning the upcoming geographical separation of adult content to its own "mainland" space.

Shockwave Yareach set things off on a blistering start:

You are going about this the hard way. Why should WE have to move because you want to combine grids? Why should WE eat the loss trying to sell land that nobody will want now? Why turn our worlds into Disneyland, when it is far far easier for you to create the same land mass, make all new unverified members go there and force it to be PG? You are moving the mountain when it's much simpler to instead move the molehill. Forcing your dedicated hardcore userbase to abandon builds they've put much time and effort into because of your desire to bring little Betty Teenyboop into the main grid... I cannot come up with description that accurately portrays how shortsighted this is!!!

If you force us to move, we'll move all right - straight to the exits.

And keep on going, whether there's another similar world in existence or not.

Alisha Matova had an odd comment:

Ah that's what the new Ursula continent is all about.

Ursula? They named it Ursula? Pervistan is named for...what, exactly? The writer of speculative fiction? Who once said, rather famously, "I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant." Perhaps they mean to reference the bear goddess transmuted into saint, Ursel, from Artemis, known for fertility and abundance, fierce protection and stronger love?

Or perhaps we're talking Disney's Sea Witch? What the hell message are we supposed to be taking from this?

Again, Rosie Barthelmess' entire comment should be read, if you can, but here's the part I had to pull out:

I'm not against keeping up with adult content and making sure it doesn't infringe on others' rights to a pleasant SL experience. As a matter of fact, I'm all for it. I think ad farms and billboards with naked ladies on them and sex clubs who build next to people's private residences are inconsiderate, but I also think they could be dealt with in an ongoing manner on a case by case basis.

I just think since in SL, technically EVERYTHING is publicly accessible, that means someone's sex bed is accessible, someone's music stream with sexually explicit lyrics is accessible, someone's profile that includes links to any adult content themed locations they frequent can become a tool for an AR, and this shouldn't be a matter where some people are forced to wear the scarlet letter because of how they choose to enjoy their 18+ SL experience.

She's right.

Temporal Mitra said, in a much longer post:

More important questions...WHY merge the teen grid at all...why force people that joined SL strictly BECAUSE it was an adult platform..where we could be assured we would be interacting with other adults...to now interact with children? The entire appeal of SL is that you can get AWAY from the kids for a while.

IMVU. Shinobi Legends. Gaia. Most of Club Penguin, Habbo Hotel, the Doll Palace melding of servers and webpages. The endless variations on Legend of the Red Dragon that pop up fortnightly, nearly. Almost everything listed on this page. All designed to appeal to kids.

Most of us didn't want to hang out with kids. We wanted adults. We wanted conversation that wasn't about how miserable having to learn things is. We wanted to converse with people who read books, not mispelled things on cell phones as their only example of literacy. We wanted to know that those we interacted with, on the presumed adult grid, were at least eighteen or older.

Why are we suddenly the essence of evil for wanting something beyond "lulz r u a girl" and "o i c whatev"?

Why aren't the Lindens going about this in about the most cackhanded way possible?

I'm hoping Ewan Mureaux was kidding:

I think we should ban attached prims, because people make guns and penises and if we just banned that then people would be less tempted toward sex and violence.

Shockwave thought so too:

This would eliminate hair, prim clothing like belts and swords, every tool and HUD in existance, and all furry avatars. This will not work.

Cory Edo says in his comment (well, "Cory" with a Y, I'm assuming male):

There seems to be this idea that SL is going to turn into a kindergarten while everyone of adult age is getting shoehorned into their own continent. I'm reading this more as SL will stay the same except for Rapy McRaperton's Sex Play Club on the mainland heads to a continent where people are looking for that sort of thing (and sorry, even if you love that stuff, you probably don't love that stuff 24/7 to the exclusion of everything else).

And see, this is the problem that we're having, here, in this discussion.

I don't think anyone has any doubts that, f'rinstance, a Dolcett Girls Revue ("ten dancers enter...ten entrees leave") has any business next to a church where child avatars are frequently seen. Just to make an extraordinarily polarized example.

I'm also pretty sure that sims like Jessie, Toxia, Midian, and Lumindor in its former "glory" would be shotput en masse into Pervistan, did they not own their own private estate sims. But that's not the point, people.

This is the point: Listen carefully. The Lindens are not giving us enforceable, quantified definitions for what they consider "adult", "mature" and "PG". They say it's "obvious", they say "of course we don't mean", they say "you won't have to move"...they say a lot of things.

But according to their own current definitions, anyone at this point could be reported for abuse if:

* they own a skin that has skin details instead of modesty layers covering nipples and genitalia
* they have a Titian or Rubens painting hanging in their home
* they curse
* they listen to, or worse, broadcast, music with implied sexual content
* they read, or worse, broadcast, poetry with adult content
* they own any bed that can be used for adult play, or has names on the poseballs or drop-down menus indicating sexual descriptions, positions, or parts

and they are on a MATURE-rated sim.

How are we supposed to be reacting? On the one hand we're being told that we'll only have to move if we have publically-available rape machines and shoot people afterwards. On the other hand, we're being told that if we show nude paintings on the walls of our homes, especially if that content features naked children and adults together, we can't be seen in polite company and must move.

Who's right? Who's telling us the truth? I think there's a lot more thinking along the lines of "I know it when I see it", and less along the precise legal and logical definitions of words. Things that would be insanely helpful right about now:

* A formal Linden statement: If you own a sex bed (or other personal items intended for adult use), and it is rezzed out in your home, you do not need to move. If you own a sex bed, and it is rezzed out on the street in front of your home, you will have to move, or remove the offending adult content.

* A revising of their current definitions for Adult, Mature and PG, and who's going to fall into which category across the grid.

* A confirmation (hells, even an initial outline!) of how people will be compensated and/or aided if they do have to relocate--or are the Lindens again expecting folks just to swallow the costs (as they did when banks and casinos were declared illegal) and move anyway?

Any one of these would cause tears of relief to stream down the faces of some residents. That the Lindens seem consistently "oh, you just don't understand yet" chipper about these things, and/or continue to constantly and consistently vague things up for us is driving many of us stark raving mad.

Still sick and tired of this whole thing, but now tired overweighs the sick, and I'll be off to bed. More rants, maybe; more music, definitely, once I warp back into an okay space for it. (As the roommate mentioned is still bringing up the argument with points on why she's right....it may be a few more days yet.)

Lastly, a bit of news: We finally finished the Magic of Oz hunt, I never got a SLUrl for it, my apologies; but the offerings are again stellar, and remember, it ends today, so if you want in on it, go get those gold coins NOW!