opropi: 2008

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Hurricane Carter Speaks Out !!!

Interview Carter and JamesT
JamesT Juno : Firstly welcome to our home. You have asked us for this interview can I ask why?Carter G : Well, there have been some pretty ridiculous rumors and flat out lies by the people that I had the misfortune of doing business with. After the whole mess with Fire Island, I figured I would just give the magazine I had started to the graphics guy and be done with it. But, for a reason unknown to me, the graphics guy (who I thought was also a friend) got just as ugly as the new owners of Fire Island. So, after being crapped on twice, I figured enough was enough. There have been a lot of true friends that have been defending me while I've been silent. So... Now I'm not silent. :-)

JamesT Juno : I think a lot of people have been reading things in blogs and hearing rumours and gossip, it seems that the shit has been hitting the fan. Can you tell us what has happened? and why you have twice been called a 'hurricane'?

Carter G : First, you have to know that there are two legs to this story. There's Fire Island and then there's the magazine. These are two completely seperate transactions with completely seperate parties. That being said, let me start with the sale of Fire Island.

In the earlier part of 2008, I had sold 40% of my 100% ownership of Fire Island Complex to a private investor in order to add an island, pay off debt and have money for marketing. I closed Ir Shalom, renamed it, and moved it over to Fire Island under the name of Cherry Grove. Cherry Grove was parcelled out and sold. The new island (Fire Island Pines) was to be where all of the rental properties were concentrated in order to free up the main island of any remaining rental homes and to expand our rental opportunities.

Cherry Grove took off almost immediately. Homes were being built even before it was moved over to Fire Island. Fire Island Pines, on the other hand, was not doing so well. But, with the added income from Cherry Grove and some initial interest, I decided that the best course of action would be to do some aggressive marketing to help F.I.P. reach it's full capacity. With a large portion of the money I got from the sale of shares, I hired a marketing firm inworld that presented me with a great plan of how they were going to help us reach our goals. They were far more expensive than I had originally wanted to spend for the marketing, but they had RL experience and seemed to have their act together. And, because of the large scope of the marketing plan, they had brought in a contractor to do some of the viral marketing, etc. However, the contractor that they had brought in didn't deliver on anything. My own time constraints had pushed back some of the deliverables that I was responsible for and it all fell apart. This was over the course of about 6 weeks from the date of hire.

Also, shortly after Fire Island Pines was born, the first change to open sims went into effect - drastically changing the real estate and rental markets in SL. I had initially resisted doing a bunch of small private islands because I didn't want Fire Island to turn into an Anshe Chung styled mess of tiny and unconnected islands. But, 3 parties came to me and said that they would be insterested in doing them - one of those parties was Beau and Micha (who later bought Fire Island).

In order to make up for the failed marketing, I had begun doing what had always worked in the past - I started to do some aggressive advertising and drastically increase the amount of DJ's at the dance floor. This pushed my expenditures way over the top, but I figured that it would pay off in the end and I would then be able to start paying out dividends, once again, to the shareholders. Fire Island Pines had started to see a little bit of growth, but it was not moving like I needed it to in order to keep my head above water.

There was another party that had come to me and said that they wanted me to start another island connected with Fire Island. I was hesitant because I was already dealing with a losing proposition with Fire Island, but I had thought that if I just hang in there a little while longer, it will start to pay off. So, me and the new investor had begun brainstorming about what would be a good compliment to Fire Island, yet still have it's own identity. Gatsby Heights was born. I had talked to other people about our ideas for Gatsby and got nothing but fantastic feedback, so I figured it would be a good move. I could use my share of the profits from Gatsby to offset the losses of Fire Island and it would be fine.

Well, Gatsby Heights was an utter disaster. All of the people that had shown interest in Gatsby before it was rezzed had all disappeared. So, now I had two seperate projects losing money hand over fist. And, not wanting to let either of the investors lose all of their money, I had started Venture Magazine in order to, once again, supplement the other losing projects. (It's always been a little ironic that I had started a business magazine in order to supplement my two losing businesses, but we can talk about that later.) But, my experience had always been that initial growth on Fire Island was a little slow, but that it would eventually pick up. So, all I had to do was hang in there. I also talked to the main investor on Fire Island and we decided that selling Fire Island Pines was the best way to go, and we would take another look sometime down the road about buying another island when the real estate market in SL started to even out a bit. So, I had sold Fire Island Pines to someone, so that albatross was off of Fire Island's neck.

Venture was an immediate success. I had more advertising than I had ever thought I would get out of the gate and it seemed like I had really struck a cord with the business community in SL. Things were starting to look okay. I was finally starting to be able to breathe a little bit. And, with the events for the magazine taking place on Gatsby and Fire Island, I was generating interest in them, as well. I really thought that I had turned the corner.

Then, my computer took a dive and I had no way of continuing things with ANYTHING. My personal savings had depleted and I was unable to buy another one. So, that's when I knew I finally had to let go. My boyfriend (at the time) let Beau and Micha know that I was interested in selling my shares of Fire Island. We (the investors, B&M and myself) had all worked out a deal to allow B&M to have full ownership of Fire Island Complex. Part of the deal was that I was going to keep my parcel on Fire Island and I was going to let them keep all of the builds and landscaping on the islands.

B&M paid me the money for my shares, I got a new computer and it was all good to go. They had talked one of my estate managers into not only clearing out the ban list, but also sending out invitations to people on the ban list to come back to Fire Island. Well, when they cleared out the ban list for Fire Island, they also cleared out the ban list for Gatsby, as well. So, I had contacted Micha and expressed my unhappiness with the situation. Things got heated, and the next thing I know, I'm booted from the Fire Island group and banned from Fire Island. So, I went there under an alt and saw that Micha had taken back my parcel. A little while later, Beau had paid me what he though was appropriate for my parcel.

If you're going to go back on a deal midstream, you have to count on the fact that the other party is going to go back on their end of the deal, as well. So, since my alt had mod rights on my things, I decided that I would take back some stuff from the islands. It's that simple.

JamesT Juno :We need to point out that we are not doing this interview about FACTS but about YOUR point of view, others of course will have their own opinions and will, or have already, shared them. Is it true that you gave the magazine 'Venture' away to others? Can you elaborate on this?

Carter G : Since I was growing more and more disgusted by the constant barrage of IM's regarding Fire Island, I had decided that I would just develop a new avie and call it quits. It honestly wasn't worth all of the negativity and SL had ceased being fun for me. So, I talked to the investor of Gatsby and told this person that I would start to repay the initial investment overtime as soon as my finances permitted. This was ok w/ them and so I stopped logging on as Carter. Solan (who was the graphic designer of the magazine) had asked (my assistant) Dar to ask me if he could take over the magazine. Why he didn't contact me directly via email is beyond me, but that's fine. So, I told Dar to tell Solan that it was fine. He had put a lot of time into arranging the pages of the magazine and (at the time) he was a friend, so I gave him the magazine for free.

During my absence, I had begun getting emails that Solan had begun bad mouthing me. Now, to be perfectly honest, I have absolutely no idea why this was happening. Solan and I had never even had a harsh word with each other. The only thing that I could figure out was that he needed the drama as free publicity. And, since I was retiring Carter, it didn't matter that much to me. Of course, it hurt - but, whatever. He's just a kid and that's the way kids will act sometimes.

I let Gatsby fall into arrears and "Carter Giacobini" got suspended. So, I wasn't able to log on and pass the group over to him. But, once Gatsby sold, it re-enabled "Carter" and with that, all of the rights that I had before - including ownership of the Venture Magazine group.

The night before I came back inworld, I had talked to concierge to make sure that the transfer of Gatsby was done ok and to see if they could just take back the parcel of land that I had on the mainland. The guy that I spoke to signed in as "Carter" and took back the parcel. That's when Solan noticed that I was now owner of the group, again. He had accused Dar of being in some sort of plot with me to "steal back" the magazine. Dar called me up on the phone and was VERY upset. So, when I came back in world the following day, I cleared out the group.

JamesT Juno : There are rumours that the Lindens also had a part to play in this story. Can you tell us of their involvement?

Carter G : The only involvement that I know of is that they had moved Fire Island away from Gatsby so that I couldn't take things back with using my camera view from Gatsby. I've never gotten an email or a request to answer any questions to the Lindens.

JamesT Juno : Its been said that you have been stealing money from people and have deliberately tried to push 'Venture' off a cliff, how do you respond to that accusation?

Carter G : I wish that I was making money to steal. During the last months of me being inworld, I was losing money hand over fist. It wasn't my intention to sabotage Venture. In fact, I gave the magazine to Solan so that it would keep going because I did believe that it was a worthwhile magazine. It's now nothing more than another gossip rag, but when I started it, it was a great business tool for people.

JamesT Juno : I can remember the day when you came to us with your ideas about a new business magazine full of enthusiasm, all guns blazing, what made you pull away from your brain child?

Carter G : I was just fed up with all of the negativity and the stress. SL had ceased being enjoyable for me. I dreaded turning on my computer and logging in because I knew it was just going to be one shit storm after another.

JamesT Juno : Why did you eject everyone from the group after you had already given up all rights to 'Venture'? Surely it no longer mattered what anyone else did with it if you were leaving anyway?

Carter G : The reason I ejected everyone was because Solan had not only hurt me, but also hurt Dar. Also, in all of the blogs that I read since he took over, he made himself out to be the queen of the universe. So, I figured if Venture was all his doing, he could start his own group with his own connections. All of the shit came from solan.

JamesT Juno : Rumours are rife that your finances are a mess and you have increasing debts and no accurate financial records. Would you like to address these rumours?

Carter G : Well, I did have accurate financial records. And, I did have increasing debts. The only problem was that there were no profits to report.

JamesT Juno : Is there anything you would like to add? or is there anything we did not ask, that you would like people to know?

Carter G : Well, I think that there in one thing I would like to say. That is that I am not the evil person that the sleazy rumor mongers have made me out to be.

JamesT Juno : Thank you for your answers. Again I would point out to readers this is one persons point of view and everyone has a right to their own.

Carter G : Yes yes! And, there are always two sides to every piece of gossip you hear. :-)Remark by JamesT Juno : Comments are turned on in this newspaper article so feel free to comment, BUT if you start shouting or swearing or using "not-nice-language" I will delete your comment.

Cartoon of the day

[RESOLVED] Logins slow or failing

'Ruination' on sale NOW!

A Few Thoughts…… from Gemma Cleanslate

Another Christmas Delight!!!!

By Gemma CleanslateMerry Christmas!!After the wonderful time I had looking at the lovely sims ready for the winter and Christmas season I decided to continue the travels around SL sims to see more. A friend sent me the LM for St George Orthodox Christian Church which was included in the hotspots on the sl Showcase page.What a magnificent sight! The whole sim was clothed in white snow. The church structure stood out with it’s blue dome above the glistening hillside.I entered and was greeted by the builder, who with a team fashioned the church and the sim. As he explained, most of the build was done in sl with authentic icons from all around the world collected into the church in the manner they would be placed accurately in a rl church. It will take a while to examine the whole place and you must use mouse look to look up above your head to see the dome in all its glory.I quote from the note card: “ Another aspect of this church is that it has been a group project. Various members of the "parish" community have contributed at different times, each giving something according to their ability; things, ideas, Linden$ and labor. The process has been very "real' in the sense that we have all learned to "live" and work with each other.....and in the end value each other; it is a community composed of Serbians, British, Americans, Germans, Russians, Australians, Greeks and Dutch .”It is truly inspiring.There is a place north of the church where you will find the St. George Library. It contains books, pages, and other artifacts to examine. Outside there is a skating place with three penguins guarding the area. Animals roam around the sim. I met several wolves and deer, living in harmony. As you move around the sim you will find icons of saints with note cards of information. You wil find places to sit and have a cup of tea and perhaps meditate in the solitude.Be sure you visit the magnificent sim during the season of Christmas while it is decorated for your enjoyment.If you do not make it there during the season put it on the list for a future visit.It is well worth it! Larsson 161,30, 112 will bring you to the entry.

Happy Christmas

Eye on the Blog - new FLASH website

Redesigned Second Life Homepage for new visitors going Live:

As you may have read on the blog last week, we’ve been testing a redesigned home page for new visitors, those who have never logged in to Second Life. The goal of the new homepage is to show off the breadth and richness of the Second Life experience. Test results show the new page performed well, so we’re going live this week. For Second Life Residents, the current homepage will remain the same for now.

Over the past week we’ve been comparing the core metrics (traffic, registrations, logins, economic and inworld activity) of the new page with our existing new user home page. The data is encouraging: the new design performed better in almost all aspects, so we are moving full steam ahead with launching the redesigned page.

Redesigned Homepage for Non-Registered, New Visitors

We’ve been paying attention to the conversations on this topic in the forums, and we’d like to address some of the great questions Residents have posed:

Ongoing improvements and considerations include:

Flash – a very small number of people who come through the new user home page either have flash disabled or not installed, so we have provided an alternate, non-Flash experience for them.

Accessibility – the header and footer are CSS/HTML, so the global navigation will quickly get folks with screen readers to the content they need.

Business friendliness – this iteration of the new user home page has two pods dedicated to education and virtual meetings, but our next task will be to make sure that people who are focused on the business uses of Second Life can find the information they need rapidly.

In the next two weeks, we will keep a close eye on the metrics to make sure that the page is performing as we expect. As we noted in the last post, this is just the first of several changes that we will be rolling out to improve the new user experience and to increase registrations.

Thank you to all the Residents who have contributed great feedback and ideas. When the page is live, let us know your thoughts in the forums.

Please stay tuned for future developments!

Source: blog.secondlife.com

Opinion: Apart from taking longer to load (and of course having flash enabled) initial thoughts are it looks good and is easy on the eyes, but I will definately have to look further. Certain images do not match up with the text, in my opinion, for instance the DESIGN box my first opinion when I saw the image was it was something to do with weapons, so I will look forward to the tweaks and as I said look into it a bit further before giving a full write up, for now log out of your SL account on the website and have a look for yourselves. Feel free to leave your comments here.

Dana

Cartoon of the day

YellowLanes.net relaunched

Official Playboy Demise in SL

I have been an observer of the Playboy brand in sl for more that a year now. I have been fascinated with how and why companies choose to have a SL component for exposure, sales and increased visibility throughout the SL world. The contract (which btw) was the only official island of Playboy. Many others paid a license fee to use the name within SL. There is much written on the rise of the brand within SL and now like many brands, the license was pulled from MSgiro Grosso and we see another brand disappear from SL sight. The Playboy island enjoyed success with broken records for their parties and events. My impression when I first attended was just another strip club feeding off the Playboy brand. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was not a strip club. The bunnies were professional and brought great fun to the events and boosted the numbers by sheer entertainment. It became a place people wanted to be and be seen.This run is due in my opinion to the managers and bunnies that worked tirelessly to promote the island and the brand in a way that was not only classy and upbeat but by continuing to find new ways to entertain the Playboy VIP's.Watching the group grow leaps and bounds was evidence that they were doing something right. It was also my impression that there was little or no exposure to the man who claimed to have brought Playboy to SL, Mr. Grosso. I personally have never seen him on the island or heard of him until I investigated in the record of owner.I returned one day to find that the managers had turned over .. two quit and one was fired. The subsequent team that took over began to model the brand after other clubs in SL. Nudity was allowed and encouraged. It began to resemble a strip club in most aspects of operations. The classic bunny uniform was now transformed to resemble those seen in adult entertainment venues.The numbers dropped and it appeared that many stimulus pushes were tried in an effort to bolster the numbers to the island. It would appear that at some point , staff was advised that they would not be paid as they had been. They were expected to work for tips, which in sl can still be lucrative if the numbers are maintained. New content failed to rouse the crowds they had enjoyed under the previous management. Mr. Grosso lost the contract and now we see a spiral to the end. I have just received notice from another VIP that states ...Playboy Island will be closing on December 31st.. another valuable brand bites the dust in sl...playboy observer

Cartoon of the day

Eye on the Blog - Hijack of the high seas?

Snapshot of SL

Dear readers:

Delights of the Season

It is time again to go looking for wonderful decorations for this holiday season!It seems I just put everything away! As you know I already picked up lovely things at Corner of revolving time at christmas. Last year I visited some wonderful places and have been wondering if there would be some great ones again this year! Well, I found some that surpassed 2007!One of my first stops was at Winter Spirit where Lestat Kyomoon has set out his wonderful skating rink again withfree skates to skim over the ice in various poses as if in a skating exhibition. He has some charming poseballs to take home with you if you have a skating pond and many wonderful decorations available.My next visit was to dAlliez Estates Winter wonderland. There, as at Winter Spirit, you can sit on Santa’s lap and take a picture or go skating again. It is a hilly build with a choo choo taking you for a tour of the whole build. There are stops along the way to debark and look around and then get back on the train if you like. Lovely little shops cascade down the mountain side overlooking the tracks and the snow which covers all the terrain you can see.

Then I was off to see another site, Imagine. As arrived I found a raft driven by a Penguin ready to take me to the entrance of the most amazing sights!!! Santa was everywhere, riding a motorcyle along side the train driving one of the reindeer in a side car taking us for a ride in a hot air balloon, sitting with his feet to the fire. Don’t miss this one!!! I went of to see the cheerful décor at the Skybeam Estates sims and there were many!! In one sim there is an ice sculpture contest and some lovely builds. In another sim I found many snowmen skating among the trees with Santa also on skates keeping watch. I stopped in at Styles of edo’s on the way home and found the sim looking like a winter fairy land. In front of the store is a mistletoe arch way where you an take your honey for a kiss. The hillside looked enchanting ! If you would like to visit these wonderful places here are the slurls.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dinky%20World/18/153/21 The winter wonderland Imagine

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Holidays%20at%20dAlliez/110/122/26 dAlliez estates

http://slurl.com/secondlife/SkyBeam%20Estates/87/163/32 Skybeam has several sims. You can start here.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/SkyBeam%20Moving%20Waves/167/95/21 The ice sculpture area

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tyche/110/128/52 Styles of edoBy Gemma Cleanslate

Mami Jewell Grand Opening for Azul

Join us December 21, Sunday, for the highly anticipated Grand Opening of Mami Jewell's Azul designer clothing store. There will be special offers for visitors who attend the Grand Opening, so you definitely do not want to miss this! The special offers will give the customers a chance to purchase a few beautiful pieces for some great prices, those offers will begin 12/21 5am SLT-12/23 5am SLT. Mami Jewell graduates from working with edo Tone, owner of the very well known clothing line Styles of edo. Five months ago the famous edo Tone had taken Mami beneath his wing to teach her the fashion industry. With edo's expert teachings Mami has taken her talented designing skills to the next level and is ready to now take SL by storm with her very own clothing line Azul.

Mami has already made a wonderful name for herself within the fashion community due to her classy, beautifully detailed, and creativity designed dresses that have a flair which sets her apart from other SL designers. Mami Jewell is the awesome designer who made the gorgeous dress that this year's winning Miss Virtual World 2009 (Mimmi Boa) wore. Both Mami and edo feel it is time for Mami to go independent again with her own clothing line and that her time with Styles of edo has been a learning experience that each will cherish and are glad to have shared together. Even though Mami is separating from Styles of edo they will continue to have fashion shows together for both name brands and continue to be friends. This is not an ending but a new beginning for the friendship that began five months ago and was built on a love for fashion.

Date: 21 December 2008 (Sunday)

Venue: Joia Azul (129, 129, 25)

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/joia%azul/129/129/25

For more information regarding Azul, please contact Mami Jewell (OWNER) of Azul, or Annette Wilder (CEO) of Wilder Public Relations Firm. Media wanting to have a tour of the location or an interview with the owner can contact Mami Jewell directly and setup an appointment.

To contact Wilder PR by email:

wilderprinc@gmail.com

To learn more about Wilder PR visit our website:

http://www.wilderpublicrelationsfirminc.com/index.htm

Svarga for sale!

Mystery

Classifieds section update

Cartoon of the day

Open the box - Touching a nerve

It seems last week I touched a nerve with a lot of people saying that we, the Residents, were nothing more than guinea pigs for Linden Lab. A lot of people have contacted me about that comment saying it is exactly how they feel.I think its sad that Linden have treated PEOPLE I mean real PEOPLE the way that they have and really the main problem is that they just don't 'get it'.They are hurting people that are already hurting in a worldwide financial low point and Linden does what? Raises prices so we can no longer even afford to enjoy our secondlives!The old feeling 'Your World, Your imagination' disappeared a long time ago and if most hear it now they would just laugh it is 'Lindens World, OUR imagination' now.Do the Lab listen?There have been times over the last few months I have actually thought they have but those times are few and far between. Take a quick look at the Jira or the forums and see how many questions go completely ignored, we are asked for our opinions but then not answered.Is it just bad PR handling?Well that is a big part of it and the company that handles Lindens PR needs to be fired! BUT no PR company could prevent the change in the Lindens attitude to its Residents that takes work and Linden collaboration which is obviously not happening anywhere.Sure we have office hours, when the Lindens turn up to them. Recently I have been to many office hours and seen how the important questions are ignored simply because the Linden sets the topic and ignores anything not relevant to that topic. Other issues raised can be just as important but there are no answers forthcoming from anywhere.SOS is the big issue and although some may think, in time, it will go away if everyone else just gets on with it or ignores it that is not the case. Linden have hurt people where it hurts most and even if everyone moves forward or leaves, the problem is not the price hike, it is the way Linden Lab treated PEOPLE that has caused the most damage.Quite simply the way Linden Lab have acted is intolerable to almost everyone.From the Labs point of view there may always be others to replace those that leave, there will always be people coming into SL but what they cannot replace is the loss of faith and trust. That is gone forever.Linden Lab needs to look closely at the fallout from their choices, how many people/businesses did Sarah Nerd bring to SL? She was a formidable ally, she brought businesses here she advocated Secondlife to all she met, but will she now? I very much doubt it.In the last year Linden Lab have changed a virtual second life into nothing more than a game, it is hard to take it seriously as a business platform if Linden Lab changes the laws overnight.Can Secondlife continue without the trust of the Residents?Yes it can and will but it will become something a lot less than it was. It is now just a practice ground until there are other viable alternatives. Residents are already looking around for alternatives and one day Linden Lab are going to wake up and find there are no content creators left, no inworld investment, no TRUST!Then Secondlife will die and the reason will be linden Labs treat their CUSTOMERS.Dana Vanmoer

Winter flurry of activity on the SL blog

Gateways into Second Life by Glenn Linden

About a year ago, we began to experiment with alternatives to the usual Second Life registration pathway, which we call the Community Gateway program. The program is designed to provide a customized initial entry experience for new Residents based on their choice of preferred language or particular interests.

An important objective of the Community Gateway program is to give Residents a choice of registration options and initial locations, with the goal of enabling program members to attract new Residents and grow their communities. Members are committed to supporting and engaging new Residents, and their efforts are evaluated based on their success in attracting new registrations and the length of time those registrants engage in Second Life..... (more.....)

Stories from Second Life: Glenn Linden talks with Joni West of This Second Marketing

Hi, Katt Linden here to introduce the next installment of Linden Lab’s new podcast series, “Stories from Second Life.” These are stories about individuals working in Second Life and their projects.

Today’s podcast is a conversation between Glenn Linden, Director of Business Programs and long-time Resident Joni West.

Joni West is the Founder of This Second Marketing, a marketing agency that specializes in leveraging the Second Life platform to empower brands to engage audiences in a compelling and engaging way. Some of Joni’s past and current clients include: Colgate, Nestle, 1-800-Flowers, Overstock.com and Sun Microsystems...... (more....)

Ecosystems of Support - Karuna and World AIDS Day in Second LifeGreetings. Pathfinder Linden here to discuss the growth and development of educational, scientific, and healthcare applications of Second Life, which I work to cultivate.

On December 1st, I had the honor of speaking at and attending World AIDS Day in Second Life.... (more....)

Win a Space in the Second Life Holiday Marketplace!

This winter season, Linden Lab is pleased to announce a limited time Holiday Marketplace. Not only is it a holiday snowscape, it’s also a land extravaganza. For a one time charge and no recurring land fees, you can have this land for 60 days!!

To complement the Second Life Winterfaire, we’ve created a small number of parcels available only via the Second Life Land Auctions starting on Monday. Auctions for parcels on Dasher, Prancer, Donner and Blitzen will start at only L$1. In order to participate in auctions, Residents must have a premium account at least 14 days old. Keep in mind, the parcels are not connected or attached to the Second Life Winterfaire event, although it is created with the same holiday spirit in mind....... (more....)

Mami Jewell Graduates from the Styles of edo

Should SL remain a free market?

I have had the debate a countless number of times with a friend. Yet, every time this idea comes up, it stirs controversy and a long argument. I ask it again, but this time here: do financial problems in Second Life make a case for failure of a free market?The recent collapse of Sarah Nerd's real estate business is a big symbol of what is wrong. Suffering from the scandal of the World Stock Exchange and from Linden Lab's policy changes, it shows how the problems that plague SL are bringing solid and well-managed businesses down.One can wonder why Linden Lab refuses to regulate its economy better, or at least create an independent body that can do this without a conflict of interest. I agree with people who like free markets on principle. Economic freedom is an awesome thing. Personal initiative remains the best way to make life better. On the other hand, some form of regulation, even if minimal, can be a great thing in a world where too many people got away with theft that gets punished in RL.When you think of it, companies that cannot rely on stock exchanges in SL deserve some form of justice system so they have a way to recover from the damage. Some light regulation would eventually help to prevent some cases. What do you do when a private company is alone with access to the data of a thieve and refuses to act? Sue in a RL tribunal with a small, remote chance of winning? Thieves love situations like that. The odds are on their side.The other issue is rather well-known. Free to do whatever it wants with this grid, even if it brings it to its long-term downfall, Linden Lab juggles with policy and drops the ball often. From the laisser-faire and banking ban to European taxes and Openspace sims, LL proved its incompetence. This reinforces my conviction that an independent body would do a better job at "governing" the grid with stable policy.Another point that gives strenght to that is the current financial crisis. People who operate in SL have little control over their operations and more risk to deal with. SL is discretionary spending in its most extreme form. I can decide to go buy a Victoria's Secret without a learning curve in RL. SL doesn't just depend on spending decisions, but also upon people's will and ability to learn how to "live" on the grid.All of this together makes me think that at the moment, the virtual economy is even more fragile than the RL economy, despite LL's claim that all is well. The current economic crisis in RL shows that naysayers usually are right when they doubt rosy reports. Remember how asset-backed securities were doing just fine?This fragility means that a bit of light regulation and a bit of help from a competent pair of hands would be a great deal to go through the crisis. There are some of us who managed their businesses conservatively, especially with their land purchases, and who are not suffering that much. We are just making money at a slower rate. Some of our ventures are even doing better than before.Sadly, it is not everyone's situation and unfortunately, Linden Lab is not qualified to handle it. An independent Securities and Exchange Commission, light-handed with a mandate from LL, could be the right answer.

CopyBot rears its ugly head at Styles of Edo

This morning I awoke to an email from Edo Tone of Styles of Edo he was very upset and showed me photographs, taken by Maggie Mahoney of Runway magazine. The pictures showed copies of his 'famous' tailcoat worn by M(ark) Linden at his first public appearance at the SL5B opening on sale at OMG! Inc.When I arrived at Sununu, next to our head office, home of OMG! Inc and saw the suits on offer, I could see for myself it was his tailcoat, it is unique. But I was also disturbed by the similarities of others on the wall and buying the white tux shown found it too was from Edo. Edo came and confirmed it but more disturbing he also pointed out designs that were from another designer Simone Stern.I brought Simone in and, although blurred and photoshopped a good deal, she confirmed some were her textures, pointing out highlights and shading that were unique to her designs.Next I tried to contact Kaddan Yue CEO of OMG! Inc. but it was the middle of the night for her so I asked Intlibber Brautigan to remove them from the sim which he did as soon as I appraised him of the situation. I admit I was impressed with the speed he grasped the facts and dealt with them.When Kaddan came online she immediately confirmed that she had bought the textures some time previously and they had been sent to her by email. She was totally unaware they were copied/stolen and shocked when shown the pictures. She took immediate action and removed all designs made from textures sent by kraus Folland. I know Kaddan and the work they are trying to do with OMG! is commendable, these designs were bought at the beginning of the project. Kaddan told me that now they are using only inworld designers and no longer buying textures because of the copybots.I have rarely seen anyone so upset and I can't blame her. It was a horrible position to have innocently bought stolen textures and used them.I arranged a meeting with Kaddan and Edo where Kaddan apologised personally to him for the mistake which Edo accepted with an offer of friendship to Kaddan.Later Kaddan released this statement;"OMG Inc is a co-operative company meaning we collect designs to sell from many designers as well as creating our own.We have bought designs from many places like XStreet and designers inworld. When I was informed that some of the designs we were selling were copies I took immediate action and removed them from all of our stores.I will also delete all copies of the textures I bought from kraus Folland. These textures were delivered to me by Email and I have destroyed the originals stored on my PC. I wish to apologise publicly to those that have had their textures copied. I would never deliberately resell someone Else's work without their express permission in writing and had I known that these were copies I would never have bought them. Texture theft is a big concern in Secondlife and because of it we are now working only with designers inworld in the hopes of preventing this from happening again.All I can do is apologise to Edo Tone of 'Styles of Edo' and also we think Simone Stern of 'Simone' and accept full responsibility for reselling their designs."My question now is WHY IS COPYBOT ALLOWED IN SL?This situation was awful for all involved, Edo and Simone had their textures ripped and altered, Kaddan and the OMG! team were, in all innocence, selling stolen goods (which in real life is no defence) but here we can see the ones to blame are those that continue to use the CopyBot and decide to profit from other peoples hard work!I guess some will always try to profit from others hard work - just make sure you know the source of any textures you buy! So we can minimise the profit these people can make from copying.Dana Vanmoer

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

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Sunday, December 28, 2008

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Thursday, December 25, 2008

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

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Saturday, December 20, 2008

Friday, December 19, 2008

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Monday, December 15, 2008

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Stories from Second Life: Glenn Linden talks with Joni West of This Second Marketing

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Sunday, December 7, 2008

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