while the merry bells keep ringing

The best prosthetics on the planet are made by Sophie de Oliveira Barata. If you want to know why, read the article. It has pretty, pretty pictures.

So why are the volunteer Reddit moderators banning actual news sources, but keeping blogs that quote their work? That seems...inconsistent, at best and disingenuous at worst.

[Zone] Evangalyne@kayteeann: where do you go for companions?
[Zone] Jermama Zafati@jasonf247: a nice bar, or perhaps a coffee shop
[Zone] Evangalyne@kayteeann: Thanks Jermama

Perhaps not the answer Evangalyne was seeking, but amusing nonetheless.

And there's a new "men only" game:



I'm fairly sure this is the same company behind the others, and to add insult to injury, they've appropriated Clyde Caldwell's art to do it. In specific, a very well-known piece called "The Sea Fox".

In researching more about the topic, too, I found this. It's a short enough article, and relevant, but what really interested me is in the comments. R2 Games is not only gleefully defying the ESRB (and really, who's surprised?), but is pulling from an insanely vast image pool of images for other games--including other Chinese MMORPGs, which has got to be a potential nightmare for them.

Or maybe Chinese gaming companies really don't care, figuring "if it's on the net, it's free"...like a lot of other netizens.

And, while I normally try to avoid politics on this blog, if you live in the US, this is a necessary article to read.

So I gave up on major aesthetic changes for the blog, and just went back to brown. But it's brown with a slight holiday theme! And it's more readable now! That counts, right? ...Right?

Bah. And likely humbug. In the meantime, more Advents!

FallnAngel Designs has their Advent Countdown Tree up! They also have a Lucky Advent board (click the board, it'll give you the day's letter; if it's not yours, check back the next day or find someone whose name starts with that letter and test your luck) and a Lucky Santa (it's like any lucky chair, only you sit on Santa's lap), as well as (and this is my personal favorite) a Lucky Holiday Gift Tree. Now, the only downside to standing next to a tree with six different presents to watch is that they're all set on sixty minutes per box. But with friends helping, or even asking (politely) in the Falln group, you might end up with all six quicker than you think!

The Cookie Jar store--or Aileen's Shabby Chic, I keep forgetting which it is, but it's the same place nonetheless--has an Advent out this year. No hunting or finding the right day--just touch the calendar, get that day's gift. Simple!

The "Artistry by 'E'" store also has an Advent tree; click the front present if you're not in the group, click the front present and the Advent calendar board if you are.

And more when I find them!

the curtains ran between my legs as we began to sink

The last couple of things for the Cassiopeia eyes from Rue: her luminous eye effects.

In short, each eye set comes with a set of pre-made "highlights", in two sets of three strengths each. There's an iris low-light, an iris mid-light, and an iris highlight. This is the iris highlight with the Scarlet eyes:

(from the Avatars album; the iris highlights)

It's very subtle. I snapped this photo on default Midnight, so trust me, while it is visible, it's more in the nature of a gentle glow.

There's also a set of socket lights, in low-light, mid-light, and highlight. This is the socket highlight with the Scarlet eyes:

(from the Avatars album; the socket highlights)

These are far from subtle, but keep in mind I'm also showing the effects on the eyes at full strength, with the default Midnight setting. There are two other included socket light levels.

And...that's about it. Anyone who's actually read through each one of these deserves a medal, or something.

(Dress is from FallnAngel Designs, the "Rhy" dress in Purple, acquired in the Halloween hunt [now over]. Hair's from Sugarsmack, Kai hair in Ginger-Berri [Hair Fair 2012]. Horns are Rue's "Shaman" horns in TrickOrTreat, part of the Eclectic Desires L$10 skull hunt [no longer available]. DV8 made the Danse Macabre boots in Black [no way to acquire them, DV8's off the grid]. Skin's still from MoMo. The forehead jewels are from the Arachnos skin set at Fallen Gods [it comes with spider back-arms and the Arachnos skin as well, and it's no longer available].)

now hush, love, hush. here's your gown. there's the bed; lanterns down.

[21:30] Cxxxx Nxxxxxxx: Someone is *breaking* a spanker at Doomed Ship.
[21:30] Cxxxx Nxxxxxxx: gotta love people. :D
[21:30] Emilly Orr: How...does one break a spanker?
[21:30] Cxxxx Nxxxxxxx: By setting it to spank -way- too many times.
[21:30] Emilly Orr facepalms
[21:31] Cxxxx Nxxxxxxx: I can't honestly bring myself to believe that they're using it as part of some perverse RP.
[21:32] Emilly Orr: Honestly, is there just a higher percentage of idiots on the Doomed ship than anywhere else? Because I swear, I know some of the people who hang out there, and they all SEEM to have functional brains.
[21:32] Cxxxx Nxxxxxxx: XD
[21:33] Cxxxx Nxxxxxxx: I think the sex tentacles help bring'em out.
[21:33] Cxxxx Nxxxxxxx: Even though they removed that whole portion of the ship with the most of them.
[21:33] Emilly Orr: Yeah, exactly. You'd think that would DROP the percentage of dumb, not increase it.

Questions for the ages. Perhaps we lowly mortals are not truly meant to know.

And it's official, people--Oskar Linden has left the Lab.

And if you need ideas for next Hallows--or your next costume party--you could always go greyscale for an evening. (Amusingly, I've been collecting greyscale skins in SL, so I could conceivably do this in-world, too.)

And news of the latest invasion force infiltrating the grid: GIANT MEN IN LEDERHOSEN. Run! Hide the children!

And now for the last bit of eye-centricity: the last set of the Cassiopeia eyes from Rue.

(from the Avatars album; the Woodland set from the Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

The "Dryad" eyes remind me of ivy shadows in dim and mossy groves, as the harvest moon (in this case, in triplicate) rises overhead.

(from the Avatars album; the Woodland set from the Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

The "Forest" eyes continue this conceit, replacing the ivy with multilimbed, multibarked trees by a green rill.

(from the Avatars album; the Woodland set from the Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

The "Hunter" eyes are a strong and sure Loden green, with just a hint of lantern gold.

(from the Avatars album; the Woodland set from the Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

The "Meadow" eyes fascinate me. If I'm looking to my left, they're rose, silver and gold will-o-the-wisps, drifting through a green meadow just lightly touched with autumn frost. But if I'm looking to the right, it's all thick moss on green stones dappled by moonlight and wine.

(from the Avatars album; the Woodland set from the Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

The "Pear" eyes don't so much remind me of pears, per se, as they do of traditional French pear brandy.

(from the Avatars album; the Woodland set from the Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

And finally, the "Swamp eyes", which are perfectly reminiscent of peat bogs, deep swamps, with little glowing traceries of swamp gas and eldritch glow. All of these are from the Woodland set.

(And the final style notations: The hair you don't see is from Ploom. Outfit's multilayered, but the fishnets are from Insolence, the boots are from Show Me On the Doll (back when they existed), the high-waist shorts are from 1-800-Bettie's, and the cropped jacket is from Somnia and was acquired during one of Hellbop's cart sales. And the forehead jewels are from the Arachnos skin set at Fallen Gods [it came with spider back-arms and the Arachnos skin as well, and it's no longer available].)

the captain howled heave ho, heave ho, and tied me up with sheets

Now we're up to the Vicious set of Cassiopeia eyes, designed by Rue.

(from the Avatars album; the Vicious Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

We start off with "Blood", a swirling, slowly clotting mass of arterial spray in eye form.

(from the Avatars album; the Vicious Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

Next up: "Burgundy", which reminds me strangely of Amsterdam's Red Light district. Maybe it's the tilt-shift towards pink-reds over orange-reds.

(from the Avatars album; the Vicious Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

"Crimson" is a strangely gleeful shade, bright and effervescent as cherry soda. (Though on my way towards finding a good, clear image, I found something I might have to make this Thanksgiving: sour cream cranberry pie.)

(from the Avatars album; the Vicious Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

The "Malice" eyes, I think because of Discord Designs' hair, I thought would be lividly red, glowing like hellish embers in the darkness. Instead, Miss Ruina took a different tack--concentric rings of dark ash, blackened wood, and smoke, surrounding triple pupils invoking heated filaments, banked fires, and cherry quartz.

I really, really like how these eyes turned out.

(from the Avatars album; the Vicious Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

The "Scarlet" eyes take the slightly pinked nature of "Burgundy" or "Crimson", and alters its path--it's closer to a deep, rich merlot or pinot noir, or mayhap just water strained from a cranberry bog.

(from the Avatars album; the Vicious Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

And we end with the "Violent" eyes, which reminds me of nothing more than the Cheshire cat with his throat slit.

More to come!

(And the dress you still can't see is from FallnAngel Designs, the "Rhy" dress in Purple, acquired in the Halloween hunt [now over]. Hair's from Sugarsmack, Kai hair in Ginger-Berri [Hair Fair 2012]. Horns are Rue's "Shaman" horns in TrickOrTreat, part of the Eclectic Desires L$10 skull hunt [no longer available]. DV8 made the Danse Macabre boots in Black [no way to acquire them, DV8's off the grid]. Skin's still from MoMo. The forehead jewels are from the Arachnos skin set at Fallen Gods [it comes with spider back-arms and the Arachnos skin as well, and it's no longer available].)

like Jonah, will be swallowed whole, and spat back teeth and bones

The next set of Cassiopeia eyes, designed by Rue.

(from the Avatars album; the Twilight set of Cassiopeia eyes by Rue)

So, more things I had to look up..."Cichlid" is a fish! A small Nigerian fish, they come in several brightly-colored variations, of which one is, apparently, purple. (Being living things, they're also highly variable even in specified shades--I offer this video as proof, because of them is purple and silver, more or less, and the other is mostly silver and vibrant pink, with a thin blued purple stripe.

(from the Avatars album; the Twilight set of Cassiopeia eyes by Rue)

"Cobalt" takes the triple-pupil color from "Cichlid", then darkens and flattens the shade. They're still gorgeous, with the interwoven blue and purple strands, but they're not as glossy.

(from the Avatars album; the Twilight set of Cassiopeia eyes by Rue)

The actual cornflower is one of the few true blue flowers; how'ver, even knowing that, some variations have been grown that are closer to purple and pink. Midway between these two shades lies the "Cornflower" eyes.

(from the Avatars album; the Twilight set of Cassiopeia eyes by Rue)

On the other hand, I had heard of "Damselfish" before, but the trick with these eyes is that, as eyes, they are drenched in color, vibrant and dark, glistening and alive.

(from the Avatars album; the Twilight set of Cassiopeia eyes by Rue)

"Delusion" remains--at least on the surface, and the outer ring--blued like the rest of the Twilight set, but inside the rings, it's utter chaos. Black, gold, pink, blue, aqua, teal, brown, rust, salmon, white, yellow, grey, mixing and unmatching on whimsy and whim alone.

(from the Avatars album; the Twilight set of Cassiopeia eyes by Rue)

And we're brought to the end in "Indigo", a rich, nearly murex purple tone, even though indigo dye tends to favor blue tones over purple ones.

Still more on the way!

(Dress is from FallnAngel Designs, the "Rhy" dress in Purple, acquired in the Halloween hunt [now over]. Hair's from Sugarsmack, Kai hair in Ginger-Berri [Hair Fair 2012]. Horns are Rue's "Shaman" horns in TrickOrTreat, part of the Eclectic Desires L$10 skull hunt [no longer available]. DV8 made the Danse Macabre boots in Black [no way to acquire them, DV8's off the grid]. Skin's still from MoMo. The forehead jewels are from the Arachnos skin set at Fallen Gods [it comes with spider back-arms and the Arachnos skin as well, and it's no longer available].)

you make me fear, make me fall, make me run for cover

The next set of Cassiopeia eyes, designed by Rue.

(from the Avatars album; part of the Tides set of Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

"Caribbean" starts off the Tides set, with a rich, brilliant melding of blue and aqua, teal and green. It's easy to see the ocean in these eyes.

(from the Avatars album; part of the Tides set of Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

For "Deep", don't think deep seas, but Deep Ones, and you'll better understand the shade.

(from the Avatars album; part of the Tides set of Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

"Lagoon", on the other hand, is the early "Caribbean", but seen during a summer heatwave, when the sun is bright and the sand is warm.

(from the Avatars album; part of the Tides set of Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

"Pale Emerald" reminds me less of emeralds--pale or not--and more of chrysoprase. Either way, it's a richly shaded set of eyes.

(from the Avatars album; part of the Tides set of Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

When your beach is made of white sand, and the water just meets the shore, "Reef" is the color you'll get. Clear, glimmering shades of blue, aqua, cyan, teal, with three pupil circles of seafoam white.

(from the Avatars album; part of the Tides set of Cassiopeia eyes from Rue)

And the last one in the Tides set, "Turquoise", is reminiscent of the best shifting shades of blue-green stone. Shaded concentric circles of aquamarine embracing that pure streaked turquoise tone, surrounding pale and dark green coloration.

More to come!

(The dress you don't see is from FallnAngel Designs, the "Rhy" dress in Purple, acquired in the Halloween hunt [now over]. Hair--which you only barely see--is from Sugarsmack, Kai hair in Ginger-Berri [Hair Fair 2012]. Horns are Rue's "Shaman" horns in TrickOrTreat, part of the Eclectic Desires L$10 skull hunt [no longer available]. DV8 made the Danse Macabre boots in Black [no way to acquire them, DV8's off the grid]. Skin's still from MoMo. The forehead jewels are from the Arachnos skin set at Fallen Gods [it comes with spider back-arms and the Arachnos skin as well, and it's no longer available].)

la da da da da

I've learned today that Washtown was destroyed a few weeks back in a massive reactor explosion. While one serious injury occurred, everyone else was loaded into evacuation shuttles and airlifted to safety away from Burnet.

I'm sorry to see Washtown go. It was a lovely little sim.

In other closure news, Tol Narwe Vire is no more. That link won't lead you to the elven land in question--it's back in the Lab's hands, now--but it does lead you to someone who wandered it just before it closed, and tried to snap images to sustain the grieving hearts. It will also be missed.

(from the shopping album)

The EYE! (The Eye retails for L$500 from L+N Signature Designs. Honestly, I don't know what it does other than look impressive, but it looks VERY impressive.)

I've been hanging out on Scriptfrenzy. not because I'm direly yearning to write scripts, but because they have this little gadget called the Plot Machine. And that thing is seriously bent. Let me toss out some of the "plot ideas" I've seen today:

"At the behest of a dying relative / a horde of drunk Musketeers / plans a campout in a haunted bayou"
"While looking for a lost sock / the Emperor's second assistant / discovers a shocking use for spray cheese"
"During a civil war / a hopped-up zebra / finds a toaster that changes the world"
"At a sci-fi convention / an over-caffeinated kangaroo / invents the cure for a broken heart"
"After getting voted off American Idol / a robot with ADD / shuts down power to Disney World"
"After a sex change / a duck with a death wish / decides to rid the world of bad pop music"
"While on a shopping spree / a narcoleptic bear / must avenge the murder of an old flame"
"After a disastrous safari / a team of Olympic cloggers / releases Keith Richards into the water supply"
"After being the sole witness to a murder / a hawk with a broken wing / swims across the Pacific Ocean"

This. Thing. Is. AMAZING.

Okay, one more note before plunging back into the JIRA call-and-response. I can't remember which maker originally posted this, but I had to toss it up for more public view, because that is one impressive rack on the...horse stall, there.

[Insert in passing from the Editrix: That was a picture taken from Dance Clip's store.]

So anyway, back to the JIRA stuph. It seems the merchants found the bad sector (14xxxx on the server), and found both the upper and lower limits of the bad sector. Simpler to fix, yes? Well, maybe. According to the Lindens here:

Update (March 31, 2012): While we work to address current Marketplace issues, we will not require any Merchants to migrate listings away from Magic Boxes to Direct Delivery before June 1, 2012.


[UPDATE: April 5, 2012]
We’ve identified two issues contributing to WEB-4587.


The first issue concerns mismatched data appearing on Marketplace listings. This impacts a very limited number of Merchants and has been occurring since the original migration from Xstreet to the Second Life Marketplace in September 2010. We continue to actively work on a resolution.


The second issue concerns incorrect listings appearing in search results. We have identified the issue and are actively working on a fix.


The information provided by Merchants on the forum and directly to the Marketplace development team helped greatly in identifying the root cause of these issues. Thanks to those who provided information.


We will continue to provide updates as we work through the issues.

Now, I continue to dispute their use of "very limited number of Merchants" (an "upgrade" from "limited number of Merchants" seen earlier), but maybe they're thinking of everyone who's using Marketplace for any reason to sell things. It still seems like a million+ items going astray effects more than a "very limited" number, but hey, that's me. I don't actually know how many items are on the Marketplace (though when I revamped my store and re-uploaded my item--singular, for now, until I get the rest untangled), it uploaded in the 33xxxx cluster. So that's at least three million items.

Still, one-third of all Marketplace items? That's a "very limited" bug?

But to the comments. From ab Vanmoer:

Once again, it appears that the ecommerce team are still continuing the extremely poor practice of foisting untested changes on a live system. I know of no other ecommerce company that treats its customers so cavalierly. This has been an ongoing problem ever since the inception of the Marketplace.


WHAT EXACTLY are the ecommerce team doing to correct this debacle?

I'm still agreeing with this statement, but I have a friend who was watching the Direct Delivery testing on the beta server. He tells me that Direct Delivery was tested, exhaustively, by multiple accounts, for over a year on the beta server. I have no reason to believe he's wrong, but this does leave me with a few things to consider. Namely:

• Mayhap a year wasn't long enough to test it; maybe it needed more time.
• Mayhap they needed to fix the existing Marketplace bugs before trotting out new code.
• Mayhap they needed more community involvement on the project. And
• Maybe, just maybe, they needed to listen to the feedback given by community members in the first place.

From Xoph Adamczyk:

For these mutant listings: which item will be delivered, what price will be charged, and who will be payed?

A very good question indeed, worthy of itemizing on its own:

• Will merchants paid the wrong amount for an item be repaid the item's amount in full?
• Will merchants who received payment for items not theirs have those funds retrieved from their accounts?
• Will merchants who did not receive payments for items which were theirs be refunded for Lindens lost?
• And what's going to happen about no-copy, no-transfer items which were sent out by the Direct Delivery system with full permissions?

From jouet Jestyr:

Are they just in denial? Have their heads buried in the sand? Avoiding the conclusion that everyone (except LL) has come to, that the Marketplace is seriously screwed up and needs to be fixed now.


It was a kind of middle finger (IMO) to tell us to fix them ourselves. Meanwhile the problems spreads, I know a couple who had no issues a couple days ago, and now they too have messed up listings.


Come on LL, dont just sit back and hope this goes away. And please communicate with the merchants as to what is going on and whats being done. This is being handled extremely poorly.

Indeed so.

Argus Collingwood again:

Looks like the problem area has been located however I wonder if doing the DD update introduces new errors in the data range that is affected? Has anyone noticed that their store was fine, updated and then had broken items in it?

That was sent out yesterday. And I wonder the same thing.

Finally, from Jisper Darkfold:

I'm another of the "limited Merchants" with this issue - lots of items from Jisper's Jaunting Whimsy are either showing up in other people's stores or I have their items in mine with my images. Many now are broken links I cannot remove.

And she tagged on a VERY long list with broken links, missing links, changed images, changed descriptions, you name it.

I hit some items at random. This one was listed under "Halloween Decorations", and claimed to be a pumpkin with bats and a carved Mickey Mouse. The image: a set of patterned Middle Eastern (or Gorean) cushions. Price: L$100. Creator name: Timmy Inventor. Listed as: ADULT.

This one was listed as hair, the so-well-named "*barberyumyum*24/brown". Price: L$300 (for hair??) Maker: toraji Voom. Picture: a blonde woman in nadu kneeling on a dark cushion. Listed as: ADULT.

Or how about this one, which claims to be a faithful reproduction of the inner sanctuary of the Tokugawa shrine (done in the Momoyama style). Listing price: L:$15,000. Maker: ryusho Ort. Picture: a set of scattered pink Middle Eastern (or Gorean) cushions. Listed as: ADULT.

Most of the rest of the listings on her full comment now lead to that smirking, malicious bear on the front page, which means people not familiar with the issue are going to roll their eyes, figuring the merchant is a flake with broken items, and go off searching for something equivalently suited to their needs. Which damages that merchant's reputation; damages the Marketplace's reputation; and can also have the side effect of making some people unwilling to shop at all, which damages the entire Second Life economy.

But, you know, the Lindens are on it. So there's no worries...right?

you're on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset

I get in moods.

This, from the FallnAngels store group:

[06:24 PM] Eden Pyrithea peeeerrrrrssssss at the horses that Az is auctioning off! :OOO
[06:24 PM] Eden Pyrithea kicks the chat
[06:24 PM] Tomoyuki Batra-Demain [Tomoyuki Batra]: o0
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: ..
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Eden Pyrithea: actually, lol
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: ...
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: ..
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: ..
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: ...
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: ...
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: .
[06:25 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: waering clothswaering cloths
[06:26 PM] Eden Pyrithea kills the non-Az spam
[06:26 PM] Seymour Greymoon: stop
[06:26 PM] Eden Pyrithea: okay, and there's a reason to spam this chat with periods?

I didn't get it either. Then came this:

[06:26 PM] Azriel Demain: Everyone that just saw his spam, please report him to LL immediately, thank you Angels!
[06:26 PM] Tomoyuki Batra-Demain [Tomoyuki Batra]: Rocco, you've been text muted
[06:27 PM] Seymour Greymoon: what an ass
[06:27 PM] Tomoyuki Batra-Demain [Tomoyuki Batra]: ejected
[06:28 PM] Azriel Demain: banned
[06:29 PM] Tomoyuki Batra-Demain [Tomoyuki Batra]: AR sent

And that struck me as some kind of new record, on the grid. Five minutes, round trip, from access to doors closed.

So I felt some sort of commemoration was in order:

[06:32 PM] Emilly Orr: I'm impressed despite myself. Five minutes to be muted, kicked from the group, and abuse-reported by several group members. Way to go.
[06:33 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: what??
[06:33 PM] Emilly Orr: Yep.
[06:33 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: who r u?

Yeah, I ask who I am all the time. It's more existential when I do it, though. And properly spelled.

[06:34 PM] Emilly Orr: You hit the FallnAngel store group with that series of punctuation marks? Followed by respamming misspelled words.
[06:34 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: yes

Good, I'm talking to the right idiot, then.

[06:34 PM] Emilly Orr: I'm in the group. I think five minutes is actually the shortest time from announcement to eviction I've seen in a store group.
[06:35 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: get in to the point
[06:35 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: what do u want

To get you to spell "you" properly as a three-letter word. But that's not likely to happen.

[06:36 PM] Emilly Orr: Simply to congratulate you. Also, five ARs announced as sent to the Lindens, which means there were others sent who didn't mention it in the group.
[06:36 PM] Emilly Orr: Enjoy the rest of your day!
[06:36 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: but y do u think i bother?
[06:37 PM] Emilly Orr: I'm sorry, you'll have to translate that into English for me. Do you mean, 'why do you think I care?' or 'do you want to know why I spammed a store group with punctuation symbols for two minutes?'
[06:38 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: i'm not english as u see
[06:39 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: i'm nt a spammer either,.
[06:39 PM] Emilly Orr: Wasn't aware of that, your profile is in English.

What's even weirder? His profile is in nearly perfectly spelled English. Check out what's on his bio page:

Kiss slowly, Love deeply, Forgive quickly.
Life is too short for you to be disappointed any longer,..

And on his real life page is this:

Count your life by smiles, not tears.
Count your age by friends, not years.

Yeah. Of course, how could I have been so blind? Of course you're...whatever it is those would indicate to the casual viewer that you're not English. (From later conversation, he's Italian. Surprised the hell out of me.)

*coughs* But I digress:

[06:39 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: i did that coz i saw the group chat in my screen
[06:39 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: as i closed it for severel times
[06:39 PM] Emilly Orr: It's a bug. It happens.
[06:40 PM] Rocco [alenfdo]: so i was angry and did that
[06:41 PM] Emilly Orr: Ah.

Whereupon he got out of world. Wouldn't necessarily blame him, but still. That deserves some kind of award or something.

(I was even toying with the concept of making him one, but then he offered to friend me on the grid, and...no. Just not encouraging that level of idiocy in any way.)

but the fire is so delightful

Granted, this is more holiday-themed, but this is exactly what I hate about SL hosting:

Have ya got those CANDY CANES for those stockings yet ? What kind of CANDY CANES will you get for those stockins ? Will they be the traditional ones of RED & WHITE, or will they be GREEN & WHITE, or will it be some other color. While ya is thinking about what CANDY CANES you will get for those Christmas stocking, might as well wear the colors of the CANDY CANE possibilities for those Christmas stockings.
SYN spins.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS !

I hate so much about this kind of blurb. The repetition. The inane capitalization of the theme, like we're being beaten with a megaphone in festive holiday colors. The fact that--with the removal of the holiday references--you could substitute any other theme for this one.

I don't mind the notices kept in theme; that's part of the point of theme nights. Naughty nurses, ponytails, lingerie nights, all-one-color parties, favorite animals, or foods, or drinks, demo dances--whatever. It happens, it's a feature, we all accept and understand this.

It's just...this style of announcing. With the random shouted things. And the emphasis on theme. Like this one from earlier this month:

Let's get into our BAGGIES and get rockin the place.
What kind of BAGGIES will ya be wearing RAVE ONES, SOLID COLORED ONES or some other type of BAGGIES ?
VICKY spins the tunage for our event tonight.
Can't wait ta se y'all in ya BAGGIES..

That's an exact quote, word for word, from the notice, by the way. I always want to IM the sender and say THANK YOU, I THINK WE ALL GET IT NOW. With maybe the second line saying simple AND PLEASE STOP SHOUTING.

Amazon is having a bit of an ethics crisis; they're taking down any novel that had previously been sold on the Kindle that mentions incest, on 'pedophilia' grounds. Now, I doubt what they're suffering is a porn problem; first, they have an established erotica line, and that's not going away, as far as I know. I also think most of the books being targeted so far do, in fact, mention incest as a bad thing, or at least are clearly in the incest-fantasy business (which generally features 'incest' between a not-so-parental-type and a sixteen-to-eighteen year old participant), not the incest-reality game. But it doesn't seem to matter, Amazon's removing them anyway.

There's no positive word yet on whether those user accounts will be credited, or if they're just out of luck...again. Though there is report on that site that at least one user who asked for a refund was publically chastized by the Amazon representative--for buying the book at all.

Seen those little sub-whirlwinds of trash blowing around in urban sims? Well, now there's a holiday version. (That amuses me so much, I can't even tell you why. Maybe the sheer over-the-top ludicrous nature of it.)

Just overheard in the FallnAngels store group:

[04:29 PM] DjayMike Jewell: do not care stfu
[04:29 PM] Lysana McMillan: o.O
[04:29 PM] Azriel Demain: Djay, I will not be addressed like that in my own group. You are gone

In brief: Azriel posted the blurb for day five of the Falln holiday hunt. And that was DjayMike's response.

I was so expecting him to be three days old, with that kind of backlash reaction, but he was born in 2007. In March of 2007, even, so he's older than I am on the grid. I'm so disappointed now.

I guess stupid comes in all ages.

Ever wonder what the ratings on the video game boxes really mean? Josué Pereira explains it all. You're welcome.

Finally, there are things in this strange grid I cannot even begin to explain. This is one of them. You're welcome.

a disease of the mind, it can control you

Frogster, the owner/partial distributor of Runes of Magic, has been acquired by Gameforge, which is causing a few negative ripples through the gaming community. They maintain they're letting Frogster continue to innovate and control Runes, so...we'll see what happens.

I admit, this is the link I've been sending to all my friends of late, because, in and amongst all the other brief mentions of Comic-Con 2010 hype, there was mention of the Avengers movie. Why is this cool? Because leading up to the Avengers movie, there will be other films, including a redoing of Thor. Why is that cool?

Because Marvel, to support their talk, brought a glass case with props made for the movie (one surmises). There were four. Odin's helmet; Thor's helmet; Loki's helm, complete with the dorky curving horns; and...the Infinity Gauntlet. And that, friends and neighbors, has "summer blockbuster/geekgasm" written allll over it.

In further comics news, sometimes comic storylines make your brain cringe. Case in point: the history of Rachel Summers. (And yes, for anyone who doesn't know--that's an accurate recounting of the storyline through several years--and several comic lines. If you really enjoy brain cramps, try on the history of Hawkman for size. Though I would recommend Xorn's comic timeline only for the foolhardy, or for those who hate their brains and want them to die.)

At 2:49 pm, on Wednesday, 4 August, Azriel Demain announced this in a group notice to the FallnAngels:

I'm Back!!!!!
Finally LL has let me back on!
I want to thank each one of you for your support with all of this. For your kind words, gracious thoughts, positive energies, and continued shopping.
A very special thank you goes out to my Tomoyuki Batra for handling everything for me.
I am a very lucky man to have such beautiful Angels backing me.
Thank you all!

So, it's not as bad as it could have been--since he was being told the eighth--but likely he's still scrambling to reallocate funds, unless Des' recommended trick of being put on 'administrative hold' worked. And then there's this:

[17:55] Azriel Demain: whether things are straightened out or not i have no idea.. no linden has ever replied to me yet

So...does that mean he could be banned again? For no perceptible reason? Or does that mean the ban is over? Did the Lindens just forget and lift the ban on a whim? Did they react to pressure from patrons or in-world sources? Was this a reasoned, responsible, reaction to the situation, or was it completely random?

Talk about bad customer service, this is now How to Terrify Customers, parts I through XIV.

However it went, welcome back, Az! Let's hope this is the first and last time you'll be banned.

Thinking from the other side of things for a moment, though, this has confirmed two things, inescapably, in my mind:

• no one is safe, no matter how many sims they own; if there is content deemed infringing by the Labs, they will, sooner or later, act on that information and ban.
• we now have no clue and no good 'warning' system in place for when this happens. If our content, as creators of content, is deemed infringing, we're gone--with no appeals process, and no good inroads to Customer Service. Oh, wait, this is the Labs--there is no Customer Service.

I am a small-time creator even for small-time creators, but I am now going to go through everything I've ever had up for sale to ensure that nothing can be seen by anyone to be actionable. This whole thing scared the hell out of me, and I wasn't the one banned.

At one point during all of this--because we were concerned, we asked Tomo how Azriel was doing--Tomo told us that Az had taken every doll in the house and drowned it in the tub.

I related this tale to Neome, who wasn't online for it, and she first shook her head, the gravity of such an act singing in. Then she pouted.

"I want a drowned doll dress," she said. I honestly think I'll suggest that to Az.

Technology takes odd turns sometimes. Found by William Gibson's wife, and posted on @GreatDismal's Twitter feed (@GreatDismal happens to be William Gibson, for anyone not following along), the Eco-Hime is a sound mask. Which makes the sound of falling water.

Not that odd--I can genuinely see applications for this in spy-to-spy conversations, because turning on the tap or shower acts as a great low-tech way to distort the human voice--but this one's designed to mask the sound of...well...peeing. With falling water.

Isn't there going to be a watery sound either way?

(Also from the Lovelyish blog: four ways to be less clingy. I'd say this works equally well for either gender, and in truth, may well apply more to SL than RL.)

And, getting back to SL matters:

"The simple fact is that, outside of niche activities, as stated, Second Life simply isn't ready for big business to pay anything more than a cursory interest in it; there is simply nothing here that is compelling for big business to invest time, effort and money in SL on an ongoing basis."

She's not wrong.

Finally, one of the staffers over at MMORPG is pondering the concept of detective MMOs. Now, me, I read those words and immediately I started thinking about all the tropes in noir and pulp circulars, powerful hook-nosed men who skulked in the shadows in trenchcoats and felt hats, devastatingly sexy femme fatales with poisoned lipstick and coded messages.

Instead? I got Police Quest, which always made me think of Leslie Nielson. Errrgh.

Still, it is an intriguing question, noir influences or not--would a mystery premise sustain for a full MMO? That's half the fun of BioShock after all; and a lot of simpler games have used finding clues as a way to push story elements along. Even Octoberville works on a mystery motif--and finding those clues is the challenge each year!

It might not work, in the large sense that MMOs seem to function on. But it's worth a try. I'm hoping someone considers the idea, and guns for funding.

So to speak.

faded pictures on the wall (it's like they're talkin to me)

Ah, Sarah Jane...and that ridiculous, yet beautifully charming haircut...Dr. Who girls are something special, aren't they?

The news was both good and dire from Echo Bazaar:

Congratulations! You've reached the end of Book 2, Part 1!

Content is currently capped at level 83. But we'll be adding more very soon. See blog.failbettergames.com for details. Or you could try one of the Shadowy, Dangerous and Watchful tracks instead. The Bazaar applauds your progress! We have given you a very small present for reaching this point.

You now have 7 x Ragged Clothing.

Well, they weren't kidding about small...but wau. And I would happily jaunt over to the Shadowy, Dangerous or Watchful tracks instead, seeing as how I'm capped on Persuasive, save...my Watchful is 82 and my Shadowy is 81. Aheh.

MMORPG put out a list of why gamers should embrace free-to-play games over more traditional subscription-based versions. The list itself is fairly standard, but the first comment from SnarlingWolf caught my attention:

Two of your items in the list are the same and they basically say that it will be cheaper. Most people that currently have no issue paying a sub will likely pay MORE a month with f2p because they can. There will be more people who try the game, never spend a cent but also don't stick around. There will be more people who play it every now and then when they're bored, don't make much progress but don't spend any more. There will be far more people spending over $15 a month. So I find those two points to be dead wrong. Games like DDO have shown they make more money with F2P, which in turn shows that the average money brought in when factored by number of players is higher. This in turn means that more people pay a lot less and more people pay a lot more but the average in the middle pays more then it used to. So not cheaper.

Those are very good points, and true, overall. I know in my case, I can't afford that much, so carry no active subscriptions to any games, and even those games I do play, I try to work to earn currency (in Runes, they offer surveys in exchange for diamonds, though when finances allow, I will buy $5 or $10 diamond cards when I'm out and about; and in Second Life, though it's hardly MMO territory, I have bought Lindens for the game) rather than simply pay a set monthly fee. How'ver, I am largely in the minority here--most people, even in, or perhaps especially in, so-called "free-to-play" games, end up paying on average at least $15 to $25 per month--if not more.

At that point, are those games really "free" to play?

"Convergence is real, it is happening…but it will never make everything possible in a single device in my lifetime."

Which, honestly, is both good and bad--I still yearn for the culture that exists in Robert Heinlein's novel, Friday, wherein the screen in every room is computer, television, live music broadcast, research station, programming center, games center, and interplanetary/international telephone service...but he's right, it's not going to happen in my lifetime, nor in the lifetime of the children I don't have.

And is it really something we need, right now, anyway? I mean, I can make my computer play music, and my netbook play music, and my .mp3 player play music; I can play games on two out of three of those; I can read on all three; but it's what's suited to the task at hand. My .mp3 player is easiest to carry, my desktop can't be as easily carted around. What do I want my devices to do?

I promise you, I will never want a single handheld device that can get me up in the morning, start my coffee going, warm up the car I don't own to take me to the job I don't work at, tell jokes to me on the way home from work, and hand me my mail as I leave the garage. (And if you're the kind of person who really wants that? We aren't on the same page. Unless you're currently inventing that kind of device, and if you are, hey, toss me a line, I'm open to suggestions.)

What I want is pretty much in line with the article--I want my tech to do a few things, but not every thing; I want to be able to take what I want with me, be that programming, music, books or games. But I'm not looking for the One True Gadget.

It doesn't exist.

Is SL group chat still broken? Yes, but they promise it will be fun, fast and easy....soon. You just wait.

Any day now.

Yep.

"The ship of Linden state is listing pretty heavily to starboard."

I'd actually agree with nearly all the points made in this article, especially this one:

"First off, Linden Lab doesn’t appear to know what its core business is. Hint: it’s server hosting."

I'd pair with that the nigh-perpetual complaint that the Lindens do not spend any, or hardly any, time on the servers they're hosting. They have no idea how people actually play the game they've developed.

This is a hard-core blindness issue that doesn't seem to be going away regardless of how many Linden changeovers/layoffs/outright firings they have.

Which brings us to the next inescapable point: the utter and complete lack of any vestige of customer service or, dare I say it, customer support. This is verging on criminal, at this point, and we've long since passed the verging on stupid. As Mr. Jennings puts it:

"Second, after the server hosting is there and done, the second neglected feature that is killing Second Life – customer service. Or rather, the lack thereof. I’m sure it will surprise few MMO watchers that much of Linden Lab’s recent bloodletting was in customer service."

I doubt this comes as a surprise to anyone. I doubt it will further surprise anyone that now, post-bloodletting, there's virtually zero way for the end user--the customer actually paying the Lindens money--to get anything even resembling abysmal customer service.

For all the sarcasm of that essay's end, and for all the perpetual emphasis on overweight men wanting to be hot fashionistas...The market Linden Labs has found for their product seems to want, in large doses, to be:

• attractive, young, "fun"
• sexually capable, with an emphasis on sexual poses
• almost exclusively devoted to high heels or cleavage-enhancing tops/gowns/minis
• interested in programmable collars, viewers and toys to enhance said sexual experience
• wanting really great, highly detailed prim hair

What, in any of this, said Let's move all the icky adult stuph to Zindra so we don't have to think about it, cripple search so no one can find anything, introduce a viewer no one wants to work with, and neglect to fix group chat, group notices, and grid stability? Because I don't see that on the list.

A bit more on the Ikaru Aichi ban...Still no clue on when, if, or ever Miss Aichi will be unbanned; considering she just launched a new sim, the timing is especially morbid. But Aura Falta's throwing a 50% off sale at Tacky Star, and has introduced a new skin specifically for the sale. I still don't know precisely how it works on paying tier when your account has been banned, thus erasing that access to your Lindens...but hey, if you spend it in the stores dotting the Bad Blood sim, they'll at least have money to move if it comes to that.

Are we finally in the era that contains the death of the phone call? Maybe. Or maybe we're just evolving, using better systems to inform us when people can talk, and when they don't want to, and working from there. This is not the worst place to be.

Finally, if you're in one of the countries directly affected by ACTA legislation--or even if you're not--you should consider learning about ACTA and how best to fight it. Because if legislators have their way, it's coming. And it does not have our best interests in mind.

And one last mention of oddity: "I know more than one superstitious critic who will not say anything bad about Gallo in print. And no, I’m not kidding." Wau. I had no idea.

disconnecting, no one calls, the phone don't even ring

Sometimes, playing Echo Bazaar ends up a uniquely trippy experience:

A dream about a corridor lined with brass mirrors

In the dream, the mirrors on the left-hand side reflect you walking through a desert of ash, spiked here and there with the blackened stumps of trees. When you turn to your right, you fall out of bed. You open your eyes. Moonish light filters into the room: for a moment the floor beneath you seems to ripple, reflecting it like a pool of mercury. No, hang on, you're awake. This definitely just happened.

I've had nights like this.

At the turn of the century, a Danish painter named Vilhelm Hammershøi predated the Second Life effect of viewing the world over your avatar's shoulder. Notwithstanding the fact that he's apparently the go-to artist for 'serious literature' book covers, I find myself very comfortable with the view of the back of his wife's head. It seems natural to me, at this point.

And, following up on the current bans from yesterday and on Monday, this is by report the exact letter Hybrid Ansar got from Linden Labs as to why she was banned.

I guess that answers that.

[15:28] Tomoyuki Batra: The update is that they have changed Azriel's password so he can't get into the site or xstreet. He is getting ready to call them.
[15:28] Sakura Rajal: O>O what?

For those who don't remember yesterday's mention, Azriel Demain has been banned from Second Life. The thinking was this would only be for seven days. An additional email made it clear that the ban could be for seven days, or "indefinitely".

"Indefinitely" is a bad, bad word at this point.

[15:29] Tomoyuki Batra: They suspended Azriel for a week starting yesterday
[15:29] ZombieToy Fretwerk: wtf
[15:29] Tomoyuki Batra: because he had the words 'inspired by dracula' on one of his xstreet listings

Here's how we think it goes--Azriel has the listing up. Doesn't think to change it, because it's been that description for at least two years. Someone happens across it--who knows who? For all we know, it could have been a wandering Linden. This soul then reports it as a violation.

And Linden Labs freaks out completely and bans Az from the grid.

[15:30] Vylna Daviau: when Second life ADVERTISES - come on second life and be a vampire?

I should point your attention towards the current ad in the sidebar--it's been replaced with text-only, but the ad I had before for SL, if anyone remembers, was the one Vylna's referring to. Apparently it's okay as long as they don't say "Twilight" or "Dracula"...

(Though to that end, just as a side note...why haven't KayKay Stine, Xtasy Veil, Acekala Porthos, AngelinaJolie Laville, Azriel Watanabe, Caroline Tairov, Madonna Ohare, Sherry Moleno, MK Magic, TrishaNicole GossipGirl, TheCureAndTheCause Ghost, snoe Halostar, or Tristan Careless, just to mention a few who are quite blatantly ripping off the "Twilight" film series, been banned, then? There's no equality in the ban process? Or maybe it's that "Twilight" and "Avatar" are so much bigger than SL, and nobody will mind or notice, but Universal might sue Second Life for the "inspired by" line? Help me understand the thinking, here.)

[15:31] Tomoyuki Batra: yesterday he was able to access xstreet and secondlife.com
[15:31] Tomoyuki Batra: now he can't.
[15:32] Tomoyuki Batra: that means no transferring of moneys from xstreet into second life for tier, sim, anything else
[15:32] Rayven Zelmanov: How can they do that to him???

Well, pretty much because they're Linden Labs, at this point. But what Azriel is most worried about is that tier, which is due on 2 August. And he doesn't get in at the earliest until 8 August. What happens on the second when tier isn't paid?

[15:32] Tomoyuki Batra: that means he can't pay his vendor spaces
[15:32] Tomoyuki Batra: that means no creating, no new releases, nothing
[15:32] Rayven Zelmanov: totally unfair
[15:32] Tomoyuki Batra: this basically screws him completely because this is his rl livelihood.

I've been saying for most of eighteen months now, that the end goal of Linden Labs' new management is to finish user-created content, once and for all. Because they seem to want a safe world, a sanitized world, a world that's flirty enough for adults and bland enough for the tweenybops and hot and cold running events for everyone else. Where money comes in and doesn't go out and everyone on the planet has a Second Life account.

This isn't a bad dream...well, actually, yeah, it's kind of an absurd and ridiculous dream that's completely delusional, but compared to, say, placing a private ad for a young man to slaughter and consume, well, it's a small fluffy happy dream. More power to them.

But the Lindens--old or new--still don't live in their world. They keep failing to understand the basic premise--if people are banned from creating; if people are turned solely and wholly into consumers of existing content; who's making that content? And if it's turning into that kind of game, where everyone has a choice between the jeans and the green t-shirt or the magenta disco dress, then we might as well be playing the Sims.

[15:33] Tomoyuki Batra: this could mean the end of falln if they keep going.

If Azriel Demain is permanently banned for something that was easily correctable, and it turns out to be entirely Linden-contrived, no one else noticing at all--that means this entire thing could have been avoided with a phone call, a personal note, hells--a notecard or IM sent in world.

This may well be the worst PR disaster the Labs have ever suffered, because--and especially so soon after the mass lay-offs--it will mean pretty much anyone is fair game. That no one is sacred anymore. That it doesn't matter how many sims we might own, we can go down on a whim.

This is not what the Labs want us all to be thinking.

When we were having this discussion this morning, there was at least one fellow who didn't get it, and kept making inappropriate comments in the group.

[15:34] VIKTOR Faerye: chill out ppl , just get the stick right out of ur asses

Tomo finally bounced him. Me being me, I couldn't leave it there:

[15:50] Emilly Orr: We did try to warn you. Apparently you don't listen.
[15:50] VIKTOR Faerye: cmon i have things to do here and that window keep coming
[15:51] Emilly Orr: So close it. That stops the window from popping up. Instead, you've now irritated the highly stressed partner of Azriel, who has banned you from the group and from the store. Consider it your lesson in being polite on SL.
[15:53] VIKTOR Faerye: lol i dont even know why i was a member,so how can i tell u i dont care

Yeah, I should've dropped it there. But I am stubborn when frustrated, and I am frustrated in so many ways at present.

[16:02] VIKTOR Faerye: why ppl is so hostile these days, i just was trying to have fun
[16:02] VIKTOR Faerye: i dont even know wat the problem is
[16:03] Emilly Orr: Azriel Demain, the owner of FallnAngel Designs--the group you got kicked from--got banned by Linden Labs for using what they consider to be a copyrighted word in a description on an XStreet listing.
[16:03] VIKTOR Faerye: wats the word_

(As it turns out, actually, it was the "inspired by", not so much the "Dracula", near as we understand things now.)

[16:03] Emilly Orr: It is now July 29th. He was told he was banned yesterday. This gives him seven days before he will be able to log back in--IF the Labs don't make it a permanent ban.
[16:04] VIKTOR Faerye: but wat was the word he used
[16:05] Emilly Orr: On the 2nd of August, tier is due for his sims. If he doesn't pay it in in-world currency, there are two ways that Linden Labs can deal with this. One is to pull funds from his personal checking account, which means certain longer-term RL plans will be scotched; the other is to declare the sims defaulted, return everything, and reclaim the land.
[16:05] Emilly Orr: Which word?
[16:06] VIKTOR Faerye: damn he is in some trouble then
[16:06] Emilly Orr: Yes. And you came in with your sense of humor and pretty much stomped on Tomo's last remaining nerve.
[16:07] Emilly Orr: Do you understand why this is a little big bigger than 'damn, people, chill, pull that stick outta yer asses' territory?
[16:07] VIKTOR Faerye: lol poor tomo im sorry bout him too * no kidding *

Go figure. He's sorry now that he's been bounced from the group and estate-banned. Some people.

[17:21] Emilly Orr: Did they tell him anything about payment on his sims?
[17:21] Tomoyuki Batra: they just kinda said 'oh well'
[17:22] MichaelE Eiren: don't they WANT their tier??
[17:22] Emilly Orr: This is a PR nightmare, but I'm not entirely convinced the Labs care.

This is the exact listing from XStreet's current "Report Item" policy:

Report Item

Before you continue to file a report, please review the following:

Are you having delivery problems with an item? Is this a general complaint better handled by Customer Support? Please DO NOT use this tool. Instead contact the Customer Support team directly.

Contact the Customer Support Team

Do you want to report an intellectual property violation? If you are an intellectual property owner with a complaint about a marketplace listing, contact the Intellectual Property team directly.

Contact the Intellectual Property Team

If the above situations do not apply to your complaint, then use this tool to report basic listing issues. Examples include: miscategorized listings, adult content, wrong language, listings for real-world goods or services, non-item listings, item or keyword spam, re-listed items, references to other e-commerce websites, anti-competitive or abusive behavior, or other Second Life Community Standards violation

It sounds like "inspired by" anything isn't even an issue, by what they're looking for. What they're looking for according to this would be:

• adult content in non-adult listings
• item or keyword spam in the listing
• re-listing the same items with new names
• referencing websites not XStreet/SL Marketplace
• abusive language or "gaming" tactics used in the listing
• assigning listings to the wrong category
• using the wrong descriptive language in the listing

Maybe the Labs are just that nervy, but if they're telling him he can't re-enter SL, or use any SL-related services, until August 8th...he's going to lose all four sims.

FallnAngel Designs at that point will be a dead fashion house. Does Linden Labs really want this?

One last thing: on this YouTube video (don't ask, Fawkes is dragging me through Phineas & Ferb), they list the allowable use section of the Copyright Act of 1976:

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for 'fair use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Does that matter a whit in terms of DMCA provisions, or Linden Labs' own internal Terms of Service? Not a lot, no, per this section:

2.6

Linden Lab may suspend or terminate your account at any time, without refund or obligation to you. Linden Lab has the right at any time for any reason or no reason to suspend or terminate your Account, terminate this Agreement, and/or refuse any and all current or future use of the Service without notice or liability to you. In the event that Linden Lab suspends or terminates your Account or this Agreement, you understand and agree that you shall receive no refund or exchange for any unused time on a subscription, any license or subscription fees, any content or data associated with your Account, or for anything else.

Yeah. Like that. So according to that passage, it may not matter why Azriel was banned, just if the Lindens will let him get back on. But this is making a great many of us nervous about many things--creating in world; living in world; and staying in world.

It is becoming a very, very hostile Second Life.

In other news, there's news on MyWorld--is it the next Second Life? Or the next Facebook? From here, it's hard to tell. All we know so far is it's an international social game--there are no avatars, but there are vehicles--be they cars, trucks, planes or trains--that one can use to compete in mini-games.

[23:59] Poppet McGimsie: this really happened: a friend of mine was teaching a logic class, and explaining how two negatives can make a positive, but two postiviers can never make a negative, and someone in the class said (very sarcastically) "yeah yeah"

Showed them, huh? And that's all from the cheap seats for tonight. Ta!

we're one breath away from our judgment day

Back we go to the Ikaru Aichi ban.

As previously covered (here and here if you haven't read the previous ponderings), now she is saying that it wasn't her ex-boyfriend (who was not, as was reported in a hearsay fashion, responsible for going in under her account and doing anything), but the avatar--who may no longer even exist on the grid--who also lifted items from Hybrid Ansar (as well as other people, most recently mentioned, Roslin Petion, whose hand-painted and hand-detailed corset was ganked), the unfortunately-named poo Blackheart (btw, on that link? Half an hour ago there were items there. Now? They're all gone. That's very interesting, don't you think?).

Recover from that run-on sentence for a bit, it's okay. My head is not in the most grammatically correct space today. I'll wait.

Hybrid Ansar, btw? Has also been banned. What in the hell is going on?

[18:20] Aura Falta: what we have seen her do is as soon as she is contacted by iki or another creator, she seems to close shop immediiately and deletes that SL account
[18:20] Aura Falta: but then she pops up a few days to weeks later with a new name, avatar and store, and start putting the same shit out
[18:22] Aura Falta: the lesson we have all learned from this is to never ever contact the copybotter directly, as it gives them time to close up shop
[18:22] Aura Falta: and time to get your ass banned

Honestly? Everyone who reads this, listen to this one passage, if nothing else.

1. DO NOT contact the person in violation directly.
2. Contact Linden Labs, giving them full information in the AR on exactly where each prim containing the copyright infringing goods are found, in world, or exactly where the listings are on XStreet or SL Marketplace.
3. Two things are ESSENTIAL: Be POLITE, and be SPECIFIC. Attach examples if allowed. If contacted later, be POLITE, and be SPECIFIC. Send examples to the Linden who contacts you, if allowed, and you can still find them in world, or on XStreet.

I'm going to give Aichi some leeway on on this one, for the story-changing. For a) being forced to communicate through other people, which distorts things; b) being in an emotional and overwrought headspace, which distorts everything; and c) learning things day by day and announcing them too soon. Does that mean this is the end of the tale? Not likely, not until at least Ikaru herself knows who helped to ban her...and she may never find that out.

(Though I will add, that in light of how easy it seems to be to ban someone from the game, for petty personal reasons...the fact that Aichi banned Serenity Semple for doing nothing other than being a good hunter from her sims seems morbidly relevant. I'm so not saying Serenity had anything to do with this--she didn't. But there is that spark of kinship, here--Linden Labs doesn't seem to care, either, if they ban paying customers...)

Along those same lines, Azriel Demain has been banned from Second Life--by Linden Labs--for the next week. Why? Well, it's apparently due to the Julius suit--and not the one sold in-world, but the one sold on XStreet (as I recall, there was a black or silver version which seems to have been removed from listing; the original red, and the white, remain).

Why? Because of this line in the listing:

A stunning suit with a gothic flare. This was inspired by the 'grey suit' Gary Oldman wears in the 1992 movie Dracula.

Apparently "someone"--again, he doesn't know who, because one of the many peculiarities of DMCA filing is that anyone can just tell the Labs they're in violation; it is then up to the accused to prove their case (which includes putting down your real name and accurate contact information), not the other way around.

Here's what's getting me about all these cases. In a nutshell:

* Ikaru Aichi owns a sim.

* Hybrid Ansar owns a sim.

* Azriel Demain owns FOUR sims.

Lindens? Are you listening? If that doesn't make it plain, let me state it outright: at what point is the dividing line between "investigation of allegation" and "corporate profit"? Because it doesn't seem like you investigated any of these bans like you should have, and, beyond that, you already have a situation where your userbase is shocky and unsteady from their perception (perhaps in error, but emotions are not known for being rational) that Second Life as a whole is starting to fall apart.

And, just to hammer this point into the ground:

Why isn't Lunk Portal banned for copyright infringement? What about Butkins Sugarplum? How about Santana Zeplin? Or Webby Merlin? Or Magicka Moonites? Or brunhild Uriza? And then there's Guinevere Dagostino and Scooty Gearbox and SugarFree Delicioso and Dely Breen; why aren't they banned too?

I'm not even TRYING HARD, here. What about:

Amdir Exonar's "Return of the Jedi" outfit? Or Sorelli Productions' Sith armor? Or Lunk Portal's Stormtrooper voice HUD? Or Rogue Harsley's complete Ahsoka Tano avatar?

You can't be that stupid and run a company this long. But Lindens, you just might be that blind. What all of these people should work on finding out is, exactly who in Linden-land is responsible (currently, because the position likely, and recently, shifted hands) for bans and DMCA filings. My thinking is, either they don't know the limits of their job, or they don't have the manpower to do their job effectively.

So which is it, LL? Because something needs to be done.

[14:08] bigbossmoney Artful: you cant just keep my money
[14:08] bigbossmoney Artful: have you not read the sl

It's a point. You know, I try to keep up with the new periodicals, but some of them, they just slip my notice....My gods, that might need to be a new catchphrase.

Have you read the sl? You may want to! It could tell you things!