Open the Box with Dana

You know there are certain things I hate, both in RL and SL.
One recently that I have come across in SL is bullying:

bully1  /ˈbʊli/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [bool-ee] Show IPA noun, plural -lies, verb, -lied, -ly⋅ing, adjective, interjection
–noun

1.	a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people.

Recently I was asked to remove a sponsor because they had 'copied' another sponsor - now in this I sat on the fence and was put squarely in the middle - I could see the similarity BUT I had also seen other dresses similar - believe me I hate a copycat and any out and out copy I would have acted differently - but being in the middle and considering all involved as friends I passed it over to James who told me to do the totally neutral article which asked your opinions.
Notice I still do not name names and I won't because I disagree with 'name and shame' I believe certain people have acted badly, but that does not mean I have to do the same!
Anyway the original accuser then withdrew his sponsorship and insisted his 'students' do the same saying that I had sided with the 'copycat' - so basically I was given a choice between losing one sponsor or several - well I won't be intimidated by anyone and the newspaper will not either - we report what we see regardless of whether someone is a sponsor or not - if they do something wrong we will not shrink from reporting it.
This all happened at the beginning of the month and I was told by the accused that she had been asked to remove her store from a couple of malls and other Mall owners had pressure to put on them also to remove her from their malls - as I said bullying tactics.
This morning I received a note - again i will not name names:

Dana I must ask you to empty out your space at *** , There seems to be a conflict here with your store being here . If I allow you to remain any longer, I stand to lose 5 big stores. This is nothing personal. Its just a matter of me doing whats best for the mall, your rent terminated today july 29. If you can please remove your objects by midnite I would appreciate it. After midnite my staff will return any of your objects that remain if you are unable to come pick them up. Thank you for all your help,

Its loss is of no consequence, BUT I would ask the question - which would you rather lose 5 stores or your integrity?
I guess I am made of different stuff because I prefer to keep my integrity.

What do you think? How would you have acted? Feel free to leave your comments but remember we will be watching them and any offensive comments will be removed.

Dana

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Open the RFL Box with Dana

For anyone who has even glanced at the newspaper this week you can't fail to realise its Relay time and for those that feel we go a little over board at relay time then I apologise if you feel we are harping on one particular charity.
Indeed there are many fantastic charities in SecondLife and each and every one of them does an amazing job in raising awareness and supporting people in an environment that they feel comfortable in.
I have read and heard a lot that has worried me the last few weeks, with questions about the validity of charities in SL and people asking where and how the money raised is spent, each charity is different but each should be registered and no genuine charity will mind answering those questions. If you are in doubt look for confirmation and ask questions!
There have been some huge achievements made in fundraising thanks to the hard work of the people behind the scenes and I want to once again emphasize all the people on the committees and behind the scenes at events are voluntary -they give their time and effort for no reward and more often than not they are beaten and worn by the end of it, so please please consider how much it takes to organise such huge events and give a little love to those that make it happen!

On the Flip side is the amazing enthusiasm people have shown and the positive comments on the whole of relay. I can't wait to see what the rest of relay holds make sure you check the RFLinSL section to keep up with events around the grid.

The clothing fair continues until Sunday and thats where you will usually find me around the center sim (if you can keep me from shopping) and I wanted to let you all know that the RFL vendors in each store are the ones that automatically donate to RFL a lot of the designers may contribute some or all of their profits to RFL at the end of the fair BUT they are not allowed by ACS rules to say so, to be sure to support RFL buy from the purple and white vendors in each store!
If the Relay Raiders hit 5 Million lindens by Sunday Nevar Lobo, the fairs organiser, will have to wear silks for 15 days which right now are being created especially for him by Nicky Ree! so come and join us, enjoy the live music and the shopping, buy from the vendors and help us get those totals up!

See you at the fair everyone!
Dana Vanmoer

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Open the Box with Dana

Meet the crew - This week saw us doing new crew pictures since we have had quite a few join our team of intrepid reporters, we now have an office manager, Christina Munro. If you see any of the crew about be sure to say hi, without them we wouldn't have such variety of things for you to read. Thank you all for the hard work you all do.

Well its that time again, no not time to get out into the real world but Relay (Relay For Life) time again and I have been helping out with quite a few things and finding out how it all works from behind the scenes to the point where I was overwhelmed.
I can honestly say I have a great deal of respect for all the organisers behind the scenes of RFLinSL they have to give 150% to getting everything just right and most of the time they get a lot of pressure from people, who have absolutely no idea of the work involved, and often forget that everyone behind the scenes does this voluntarily - I don't know how these people keep their tempers I know with the amount of disrespect I saw I could not do it, I am human after all.
All these volunteers have my utmost respect and admiration for all they do.

I have also been helping with the RFL Clothing fair run and organised by the Relay Raiders, each year this gets bigger and better, but again I get shocked by the attitudes. Some seem to think they have a right to tell the organisers what they can and can't do - talk about temperaments!
Its amazing what these volunteers do, it is absolutely astounding the hours and work put in, on every aspect, they do not deserve the disrespect some give them.
I appeal to all those involved please remember the organisers are volunteers for a great cause that is important to so many people, the way some have spoken to them and argued with their decisions would be enough to make me not want to do it again next year!!!!
Thankfully they have a lot more patience with peoples temperaments than I do!
Great job from a dedicated group of people.

We have spent some time this week exploring some new places and found Southern Fun a themed community and a beautiful place to visit you can find out more about them on their Sponsor page HERE
Southern Fun is 8 sims with shops, ranches, homes and so much more well worth visiting for the beautiful surroundings and friendly people.

I guess this last couple of weeks has opened my eyes to how much of themselves people are capable of putting into Secondlife and just how many dedicated people there are here with us.
I know that not everyone appreciates them but I bet those that abuse these volunteers don't realize the damage they can do to a volunteers willingness to do this year after year.
So if there is a moral to this weeks Open the Box its remember 'Volunteers don't have to do what they do - give them the respect they deserve!'

Dana Vanmoer

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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

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Open the Box with Dana

You know there has been a lot going on in Secondlife recently and you can often read here my own cynical point of view of Linden Lab, but to be honest, its cynical simply because I personally have seen promises made and not kept and also things tried that simply do not work or have had the potential to make a big difference (e.g. having a communications officer) that just haven't fulfilled that potential. Now that aside I took the risk and actually downloaded the newest viewer iteration after holding back for a long time - most release candidates simply crashed or didn't work regardless of the promises that THIS was the best one yet - now I can honestly say that I agree this latest one is the most stable iteration I can remember since way back when, I am occasionally a cloud but it rarely lasts long and we all know there have been a few days of disruption, but I am pleased to see fairly prompt notification inworld of problems allowing us to make the choice whether to stay or log off for a while. There are obviously some issues that some face and again the tools buttons disappearance is seriously annoying for us that build, but we can't have everything, right?
I have also felt slightly encouraged at Linden Lab actually starting two way communications in the forums firstly with the questions about VAT and then about the future of mainland, now I haven't covered this latest one too much as it is a huge subject. The present mainland is a huge mess and I truly believe any effort on the part of the Lindens is a step in the right direction, at least they are showing some responsibility about making an effort to DO something about it. Read the forum for yourself and take part in the discussion HERE, you will need to log in with your Secondlife details to read it.
One of the things I hear a lot about is charitable causes in Secondlife and the impact that these can have on real world issues can be immense with little and well known charities benefiting from Secondlife. Always beware that you confirm it is a real charity before you donate anything though - it is as always open to misuse - a real charity will not mind you asking questions.

RFL obviously comes to mind and managed to raise a huge L$55,230,056! total, but although the best known charity in SL it is by no means the only one.

Recently I heard about an event I think you should also know about and that is 'Great Strides' (Healing with Horses).
Great Strides is an RL innovative program that helps people to overcome their mental health issues by partnering treatment staff with equine staff. Now in SL they are holding an event this weekend an auction and a fun cross country course which I actually tried out yesterday and had a huge amount of fun with, Oldrome yer of Homes by Rome is the event organiser with her partner Sawdust Yer (contact either to register for the event), the CCC will be held on Sunday and I know I will try my best to be there and probably see if I can get the slowest time on the course possible while actually completing it :) I loved to see the little purple guys jumping out of my way, hehehehe. The auction is on Saturday with a huge array of items donated - you can go and bid on them right now HERE and maybe have a look over the course while you are there.
Of course that is not the only event going on this weekend it seems everyone has something happening and I cannot begin to hope I will make it to all of them - take a quick look through our other sections for some ideas of what you can do - EVENTS, EXPLORE, MACE and DESIGN will all give you ideas.

I guess I better stop rambling on as I could go on for a while with the things to see and do this weekend, but I think, a look through our sections will give you a better idea.

Enjoy your read and have fun this weekend.

Dana

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Open the box with Dana

You know I have been in SL for over a year now and it never ceases to amaze me, I still see a beautiful sim and am speechless with the creativity and ability of some people. Like the recent Tyche sim built by Ao Kilara and Straylight too.

But over and above this beauty and creativity the one thing that stands out is the pettiness of PEOPLE..........

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