I'm feeling something taking over me, fading everything to black and blue (part II)

So, before I got derailed on corset history, what was I talking about? Oh, right. Ongoing fashion feuds.

This from the SL Freebie Hunters' blog's latest entry:

I had intended to leave this topic in the dust, as I felt there was nothing more of value to say on the subject nor any need to keep attention focused on it anymore. However, I was linked last night to a post made by Rob1977 Moonites, one of the co-owners of the MENStuff group regarding statements made by the MHOII owner that bloggers were being *paid* to badmouth the MHOII hunts.

Okay, point by point.

First, if you're going to leave a topic in the dust, and not talk about it anymore, the way to do that is not to talk about it anymore. I can say this with a reasonable degree of certitude because I am beyond bad at letting things go. One might even say I have a strong inability to let things go. Right now, you're facing my life motto: Don't be me.

Second, that post. To wit, this passage from that post:

It was brought to my attention by a number of designers who had been contacted by Zuzu that Vic is making claims that the MENStuff team are paying bloggers to slander his hunt. Honestly, we don’t have the time for this.

Again, I have a few questions in regard to this one:

1. Does anyone have verifiable, official logs that show Vic Zuzu directly asking these designers to make claims that anyone from MENStuff is saying they're paying bloggers to slander the Make Him Over II group?
2. Alternatively, do we know which designers Zuzu supposedly contacted?
3. Alternatively to that, is the MENStuff group trying to slander Zuzu's group directly--you know, beyond being honest that Zuzu stole the group in the first place, I mean?

I think these are good questions. Do we have any answers?

Intriguingly enough, I may be able to answer part of those questions, if in a slightly sidewise manner. Remember I mentioned not being about to find Rob Moonite's Tumblr post on Zuzu? Well, it turns out Vic kept it and reposted it on his blog:

Another issue that has been rearing its head in Vic’s latest blogs is a pretty serious issue for any content creator in Second Life, Intellectual Property or IP. It would appear that IP is a mythical concept to Mr. Zuzu. He does not believe in DMCAs, copybotting, Intellectual Property or fraud. A few notable comments direct from Vic’s blog:

"Now, about the stealing of the intellectual property which scared my designers a lot. Fisrt of all lets face it, there is NO intellectual property in SL."

"When somebody talking about copyrights, intellectual property, DMCA, copybotting and other blah blah for serious, its just hysterical."

"I had quite few messages for instance like: 'IMMEDIATELY remove my link from your site blah blah'. They really believe I should do it since they asked me to do it? I can link everything I want and nobody can stop or order me to do it or not do it. Retard people always contact me and want me to do what they want."

Vic also seems to have difficulty understanding what a trademark is.

[...]

He also took to using Adam Linden, a Linden Labs employee [whose] name was retired more than a year ago, on his promotional materials. He then went on to brag about how he could use whoever he wished to promote his hunt, whether they existed or not. Unfortunately, LL seems to have done nothing about this as of yet. All in all, Vic's major downfall has really been himself.

Now, that's a long quote, but if I'm understanding this correctly--and I think I am--Zuzu isn't putting words in Rob's mouth. Those are Rob's words--or, at least, they're Rob's words before and after the bolded segments, wherein they become Zuzu's. Which is fairly obvious from my perspective: Zuzu can't spell, Rob can.

So we're still playing he said/he said, but now we have the name of Adam Linden. And if it's true that Adam had left the Labs by the time his name started showing up on Zuzu's press releases, well, that would qualify for direct confirmation, wouldn't it?

There's more than a little bothering me about this whole situation, but the bulk of the things making me twitch currently is the fractured grammar. I am trying, really trying, to keep in mind that English is not his first language, and that English is aggressively idiomatic, but...it's getting harder the more of his blog I read. Also, the irony is getting progressively thicker as I go on.

Yes boys and girls, Vic Zuzu like every boy have a dick, and its just fine you know!

As I promised I saved the group and he dont like it along with KMADD and other "family" of boys and their masters.

The original Make Him Over doesnt exist anymore. But Make Him Over II is exist.

Personally I am VERY sceptical about all that cheap associations and clubs that were created to tell everyone their interpretation of what is good and what is bad.

I was expect everything, but this?

At first I thought she is transvestite who likes to wear female clothes for her bf but now I am sure she is one of two, either transsexual or shemale. Depends on if she did a cut. (This is from the second part of the attack on Gabe Bookmite, which also contained this gem: And it doesnt matter if she is gay because when people make a surgery they remain as gay for instance. I mean there is no direct connection between sex and sexual orientation. Yeah, um...no. You're just wrong there, both ethically and scientifically. But let's go back to the random stunners.)

If you didnt know I have a right to talk about anything or anyone I want and to make my own conclusions based on proofs or just like that, especially if I talk about public person. I guess you call it democrasy.

Anyway, if somebody dont know, especially retard "slipster" and "real Adam" I can use any name as pseudonim, especially if it is deleted one, not at search.

Personally I dont like such unprofessional attitude, like I dont care, I can do whatever I want blah blah.

Please. Original crew are Samara Penell and Eros Fenutzinni - both are not exist anymore. Not only because what they have done but also in real.

Fisrt of all lets face it, there is NO intellectual property in SL. When somebody talking about copyrights, intellectual property, DMCA, copybotting and other blah blah for serious, its just hysterical.

Plus nobody will register anything if its not original or too nominal. Is "Make Him Over" very original name? Is Mars symbol is very original symbol? Who created it 20.000 years ago? Only insane people, like city madman Nave by name, can believe in this. If you want to have rights in the internet you must to prove everything.

This news is really shock me!

Yeah, it really shocks me, too.

I honestly don't know what's going on. Is there unethical behavior? Yeah, likely. Is there then solid, legal reason to stop Zuzu? Well, maybe, but the hitch of the Labs' current application of DMCA takedowns is that, at some point, real names and real addresses get involved, and...maybe this sounds silly, but I wouldn't want whomever it is behind Zuzu to have my real name and real address, half a world of separation or not. And that in itself, I'm sure, is enough to stop folks in their tracks.

But he's wrong on several of his points here--namely, his understanding of where DMCA provisions come from, his concept that because a pseudonym is used, it invalidates all claims of intellectual property.

He's also right in a couple places, namely here:

Besides the main critics of the intellectual property is about the IDEA. The same idea can appear in a few heads.

And that's true. No one can prevent someone from using a modified check mark, f'rinstance, just the specific stylized Nike swoosh. No one can prevent someone making a font with very round angles and painting them in bright primary colors--you just can't use the McDonald's "M" and expect to get away with it.

The problem is--as with so many of his posts--he immediately prefaced that actually astute point with this:

For instance, Samara. Maybe she is SHE, or HE, or a kid near 17 y.o. Even very smart dog or a dolphin! Why not? Or a ghost!

What?

Okay, fine, we have Susii1091 Resident, f'rinstance (no, I don't know if there is one, dear gods, don't tell me if there is). We see Susii on the screen. We do not know many different things about her, just at a glance:

• her age
• her gender
• her sexual preference
• her physical appearance
• her race
• her religion
• her employment status
• her medical history
• her marital status

And that's partially because we have a long-standing tradition of keeping SL separate from RL, and most of us are really, really okay with that. If we want to be closer to people, we can talk to them. If we form a connection, we can ask questions. We can begin to share information. We can learn more about the Susiis we see, for instance, and it doesn't require handing out a 300-notecard document complete with an address for the player beyond the screen to send in a genetic sample for lab analysis--just so we can go out for virtual coffee with her, or so we can sell her that dress or that prefab.

But the one thing I think we can state positively is her species. I'm going to go out on that limb and say, beyond most doubt, that Susii, upon first glance, is human. Not a dolphin. Not a dog. Not a goddamn ghost.

See, those kinds of statements, plus the grammar and spelling errors (which are rampant on his blog) really make me headtilt in bad ways. I'm going back and forth on whether he's just earnest, and that bad at English, or whether he's actually some college kid in Chicago living in Stiv's dorm and high on whatever's cheapest at the moment, giggling at the screen. Because some of this is so perfectly designed, it could be carved, whole and dripping, from the twitching hide of 4chan.

Ultimately, these are the only things I'm sure of:

• Rob Moonites really doesn't like Vic Zuzu. This is verified through several blog entries.
• The people behind the SL Freebie Hunters' blog really don't like him either. Also verified through several blog entries.
• There are implications of copyright infringement, currently unproven by direct logs.
• There are implications of group-stealing, and that, I think, is fairly well verified.
• There are implications that he kept the basic name, the basic blog layout, the basic symbol for the hunt, and in fact that Zuzu himself has admitted, including the rather startling addition that he's completely (somehow) revolutionized the look of the male symbol for the hunt by changing it from shining orange to...gold. Oh, yeah, wau, SWEEPING change there.
• Vic Zuzu can't spell. Just read his blog, that one's proven out too.

Beyond that is a whole lot of other things I am not sure of, at all. All I have are questions without answers (to date).

But it's causing a great deal of controversy, and the ripples are spreading wider each day. Will it eventually end up impacting the Menstuff hunt, or the Make Him Over II (pt. 6) hunt directly? That, I don't know either.