live alone, eat your cake

Seen in passing on a profile:

The Online Axioms

1. People will be – Exactly where they wish to be.
2. No one comes online to be alone.
3. Online offers a billion ways to lie. And ways to be more than one place at once.
4. Very few people know their own motivations totally. And therefore, can't be trusted to be able to state them.
5. Online friends can last years, lovers--maybe months.
6. SL can also be the begining of a nightmare, the destruction of the real things...Use with extreme caution

Overall, it's good advice.

[01:24] Ⓓⓡⓐⓖⓞⓝⓘⓐ [Dxxxxxxx Dxxxxx]: lol

*facepalms* I give up. There's no hope for the future.

Speaking of hope for the future, on the one hand, I'm happy the books--and especially the music--are inspiring people, but on the other, there are a lot better things than to name your children after teens who died violently in a death match. I'm not sure Suzanne Collins would be in favor or not.

Over in Minecraft lands, things are getting very odd. That's not a glitch, per se--that's a flipped skin someone came up with so it looks upside-down.

Apparently it's very disturbing to watch when it walks--because yes, the "head" splits in half.

For this next bit, I'm deliberately stepping away from my usual obscure-the-names policy. Here goes:

[16:39] Aleia [AleiaSerenity Sapphire]: WARNING!!!!!!! GIFT CARD SCAM!!
Sun, Apr 15 2012 4:38:55 PM PDT

We don't know for sure all the specifics but fellow member Pixie Sparrowtree had her Lindens cleaned out by a gift card she wore. She said she said no to the take lindens request. The card says Win bonus Lindens L$1.000 to L$ 5.000 on it. Be on the lookout. It drained her money before she could even detach it.

So that's Aleia reporting, about her friend Pixie, who was harmed by an unknown someone. I had plans to IM Pixie and see if this was legit, but when I pulled her profile, this was part of her bio:

I onwy 2 years old n its a biiiig werld owt der. And one day i finded dis wady and now hers mines mummy and a sissy and i habs a me a fowebber familwy.. dat wubs me fowebber no matter wuts and also dems da bestest in awl sl .We awl builders n makers n wots of busy come see our us

Got it. Don't want to talk to YOU, then.

So we move on to the next group:

[16:39] Talaitha: [16:24] Vivian Firethorn (vivian.shadowcry): warning to all people ... there is a woman out there who is handing out GIFT CARDS DO NOT WEAR IT DO NOT ACCEPT IT if you do your accounts wil be cleaned out like mine just was PLZ PLZ PLZ dont accept her stuff the name is Jɛռɨʄʄɛʀ (mary19.nansen) this was from a store owner!

So this is Talitha reporting what Vivian said about Mary19, relayed by an unnamed store owner. Just for reference, Mary19 is Portuguese, if that matters. No real way to IM her and ask without pulling out a translation program, and I'm just not up for that this afternoon.

On to the next group:

[16:47] katlin18k Michigan: warning!!!!!!
Sun, Apr 15 2012 4:41:59 PM PDT

Solarayne Exonar (solarayne): : warning to all people ... there is a woman out there who is handing out GIFT CARDS DO NOT WEAR IT DO NOT ACCEPT IT if you do your accounts wil be cleaned out like mine just was PLZ PLZ PLZ dont accept her stuff the name is Jɛռɨʄʄɛʀ (mary19.nansen)
EVERYONE PLEASE BE CAREFUL

This is katlin18k reporting what Solarayne said in her report against Mary19.

From the last group:

[16:48] Emilly Orr is getting SO damned tired of seeing this.
[16:48] Jo Querrien: I've heard that warning in 3 different groups in the last ten minutes......but it was a different person each time, and a different card handed out...
[16:48] ™ šÃקקђ ™ [Sapphire Hotaling]: Well, this is the third time with the same person handing out the gift card that i've heard of
[16:48] Jo Querrien: in fact, in one of them, the Jeniffer written that way was the reputed person whose account was cleared out
[16:48] ™ šÃקקђ ™ [Sapphire Hotaling]: And, it's really happening. My guess is, this person is using several alts

So, whether it's "really happening" or not, as usual, the fear of the scam goes wider than the original scam--IF there was one--did.

[16:50] Jo Querrien: It bothers me that in one report "Jeniffer" with weird writing was the victim, and in another, that same text is the perpetrator...
[16:50] Lorac Farella: yes..she was at my sim.and was ared by the person she gave to...twice

Yeah. That bugs me too.

Essentially, this bit of "urgent info" is hitting a ton of different groups, to the point that the original warning is being diluted in all the hash. I'd give the usual caveats to be careful, and so forth, but seriously, it sounds like a chain letter at this point--IM five groups about this or you will LOSE ALL YOUR SILKS, or something. It's bizarre.

[Later insert from the Editrix, with this variant:

[18:00] Siss Criss: ok... don't know how this would work, but it's better to be safe than sorry. From another group chat: "warning to all people ... there is a woman out there who is handing out GIFT CARDS DO NOT WEAR IT DO NOT ACCEPT IT if you do your accounts wil be cleaned out like mine just was PLZ PLZ PLZ dont accept her stuff the name is Jɛռɨʄʄɛʀ (mary19.nansen) PASS IT ON PHISHING SHOULD BE A CRIME\"
[18:00] Antoinette Lioncourt: i was just abot to paste same message
[18:00] Raynea Andel: ...

[So it's STILL going around, two hours later. At this point, worry less about being careful around gift cards, and worry more over whether or not you're passing on bad information.]

And remember, with some things, there is no end to the possibilities.