I've had a couple of weeks of concern over a financial matter with LL.
I'm not prepared to say that I think there's anything actually wrong---but also not prepared to say that I know that everything is copacetic.....hence....silence until I know more.
(I suppose that many companies are experiencing changes in their SOP at the moment. Not that I actually can say that there's any change in SOP.)
((dull, eh!?!?)) :-(
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Update on 'Weird Week'
In my late-September blog post entitled 'Weird Week', I mentioned an in-world IM from someone requesting me to buy land they didn't own.
(I may not have posted all the details here, though I did in the Forums.)
I had eventually gone over to the land, where I was immediately IMed by an avatar present there, who had the same name as the Owner name that came up on the About Land window. This person said that they knew the person who'd originally IMed me, and that this person was up to no good.
However, I'm still not sure if it was someone genuinely engaged in the business of fraud, or someone just hoping to stir up trouble.
Coulda just been a griefer.
In the Forums, someone made a thread complaining that they were being followed around by people harrassing them.
My own weird experience with that person who may have been a griefer (detailed in the "A Mystery" thread in RA) leads me to think that it's not just you well-known-in-SL folk who attract the occasional 'character'.
I'd suspect that there are some people in SL who spend all or most of their time going around and finding random people to poke with virtual sticks.And if the person yelps and makes a fuss----Funsies! (to the 'character', anyway).
When my own 'character' IMed a week or so after the events described in my thread, saying Stop Showing My Property, Someone Told Me You've Been Showing My Property, Stop Or I'll Report You, I'm sure they were hoping I'd send a reply filled with indignation and counter-threats.
(Of course the fact is that I don't 'show' any property I don't own. I don't even 'show' my own, really, other than answering questions people IM me with.)
But instead I just replied "I see".
And that was no fun, and the person left to find someone who'd be more responsive.
Long-winded way of saying----if the person who wrote that Forums thread about being harrassed is finding that people follow him/her around, then it seems quite possible that the person is doing something to encourage them to do so.
(Never feed a troll.)
(I may not have posted all the details here, though I did in the Forums.)
I had eventually gone over to the land, where I was immediately IMed by an avatar present there, who had the same name as the Owner name that came up on the About Land window. This person said that they knew the person who'd originally IMed me, and that this person was up to no good.
However, I'm still not sure if it was someone genuinely engaged in the business of fraud, or someone just hoping to stir up trouble.
Coulda just been a griefer.
In the Forums, someone made a thread complaining that they were being followed around by people harrassing them.
My own weird experience with that person who may have been a griefer (detailed in the "A Mystery" thread in RA) leads me to think that it's not just you well-known-in-SL folk who attract the occasional 'character'.
I'd suspect that there are some people in SL who spend all or most of their time going around and finding random people to poke with virtual sticks.And if the person yelps and makes a fuss----Funsies! (to the 'character', anyway).
When my own 'character' IMed a week or so after the events described in my thread, saying Stop Showing My Property, Someone Told Me You've Been Showing My Property, Stop Or I'll Report You, I'm sure they were hoping I'd send a reply filled with indignation and counter-threats.
(Of course the fact is that I don't 'show' any property I don't own. I don't even 'show' my own, really, other than answering questions people IM me with.)
But instead I just replied "I see".
And that was no fun, and the person left to find someone who'd be more responsive.
Long-winded way of saying----if the person who wrote that Forums thread about being harrassed is finding that people follow him/her around, then it seems quite possible that the person is doing something to encourage them to do so.
(Never feed a troll.)
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Measuring a Land Parcel
People selling land in Second Life tend to try to make the parcels rectangular, because buyers like rectangular parcels. They're easier to understand, and that can make them easier to build on.
But that doesn't always work out. To name just one reason why a parcel may not be perfectly rectangular: it could border on a Linden Road, and thus have one irregular side. To make the number of square meters come out exactly to one of the Tier Limits (512m, 1024m, 1536m, etc.), it might be necessary to have some other non-straight-line sides, too.
To measure, you can right-click the ground and choose Edit Terrain. Clicking the ground again will make a small, 4m by 4m yellow square show up. Technically you could make a lot of these and add up all the 16-square-meters together, but counting individual 4 x 4 (16m) squares can be difficult because each disappears as the next is clicked, and it's easy to lose track.
A fairly quick way to be sure you've got the right length, along one side of a parcel, is to do the right-click and Edit Terrain, then do one click in a corner to be sure you've got the 4m by 4m width selected---but then to extend the rectangle (still 4m wide---be careful, it's easy to accidentally widen it to 8m) from one end of the parcel's side to the other. Then whatever number shows in the Edit Terrrain window---divide it by 4.That will give you the length of that side.
But that doesn't always work out. To name just one reason why a parcel may not be perfectly rectangular: it could border on a Linden Road, and thus have one irregular side. To make the number of square meters come out exactly to one of the Tier Limits (512m, 1024m, 1536m, etc.), it might be necessary to have some other non-straight-line sides, too.
To measure, you can right-click the ground and choose Edit Terrain. Clicking the ground again will make a small, 4m by 4m yellow square show up. Technically you could make a lot of these and add up all the 16-square-meters together, but counting individual 4 x 4 (16m) squares can be difficult because each disappears as the next is clicked, and it's easy to lose track.
A fairly quick way to be sure you've got the right length, along one side of a parcel, is to do the right-click and Edit Terrain, then do one click in a corner to be sure you've got the 4m by 4m width selected---but then to extend the rectangle (still 4m wide---be careful, it's easy to accidentally widen it to 8m) from one end of the parcel's side to the other. Then whatever number shows in the Edit Terrrain window---divide it by 4.That will give you the length of that side.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Advice to SL Newbies: Quiet Neighborhoods
Two things that might serve as indicators of a quieter sim:
1) PG, as opposed to Mature, status. (all mainland sims are one or the other--the designation is right next to the name of the sim). This isn't an absolute guarantee, but people who want to run XXX clubs are certainly going to put them on a Mature sim.
2) Lack of green dots (each indicates the presence of either an avatar or a bot). Pull up the Map when your avatar is in the sim of interest. If you see a lot of green dots, there may be a very active club or mall there. (Of course it's ideal to do this check at various points within 24 hours, as a sim that's very quiet for 20 hours out of a day may routinely be maxed out at 50 avatars or more for 4 hours of each day).
1) PG, as opposed to Mature, status. (all mainland sims are one or the other--the designation is right next to the name of the sim). This isn't an absolute guarantee, but people who want to run XXX clubs are certainly going to put them on a Mature sim.
2) Lack of green dots (each indicates the presence of either an avatar or a bot). Pull up the Map when your avatar is in the sim of interest. If you see a lot of green dots, there may be a very active club or mall there. (Of course it's ideal to do this check at various points within 24 hours, as a sim that's very quiet for 20 hours out of a day may routinely be maxed out at 50 avatars or more for 4 hours of each day).
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Burning Life
I've been enjoying my trips over there---some lag issues, but not too bad. From what I read on the Forums, though, lag has been really awful for many. Of course I haven't tried going to the musical/speechifying events, so that may be why I haven't had as many difficulties.
I'm wondering to what extent the word has gotten out about this to actual Burning Man attendees---is there something at the event itself, in Nevada, that tells people that Second Life has its own version?
I'd think that people who have already been there would have the deepest emotional response to the SL version.(Of course BM attendees are probably split between those who are more prosperous than the average person, and those who decline to participate in Society, and thus are much LESS prosperous than the average person. And that last group wouldn't necessarily be online...)
I'm wondering to what extent the word has gotten out about this to actual Burning Man attendees---is there something at the event itself, in Nevada, that tells people that Second Life has its own version?
I'd think that people who have already been there would have the deepest emotional response to the SL version.(Of course BM attendees are probably split between those who are more prosperous than the average person, and those who decline to participate in Society, and thus are much LESS prosperous than the average person. And that last group wouldn't necessarily be online...)
Friday, October 3, 2008
More on the shamelessness
I got another IM from the person tonight, making a lowball offer for another parcel I own.
I would guess that this person might have seen me lower the prices on the parcels in the first sim the other day, and might have formed the assumption that I might have tier coming due, and thus be desperate for cash.
Probably there are people who do that on a regular basis. The routine would be to notice an owner dropping a price, then IM them offering an even lower price. And probably this does pay off, for some percentage of those IMs---sometimes a lowered price IS a sign of someone desperate for cash.
I don't find such a pursuit exactly admirable, but at least it's not dishonest. It's not what you'd call noble, but on the other hand it's not unethical.
It's the fake 'oh, this would mean so much sentimentally to me, because of my dead acquaintance'----a claim which is proven false by the existence of other parcels for sale in the same location----that I find to be tacky as heck.
I would guess that this person might have seen me lower the prices on the parcels in the first sim the other day, and might have formed the assumption that I might have tier coming due, and thus be desperate for cash.
Probably there are people who do that on a regular basis. The routine would be to notice an owner dropping a price, then IM them offering an even lower price. And probably this does pay off, for some percentage of those IMs---sometimes a lowered price IS a sign of someone desperate for cash.
I don't find such a pursuit exactly admirable, but at least it's not dishonest. It's not what you'd call noble, but on the other hand it's not unethical.
It's the fake 'oh, this would mean so much sentimentally to me, because of my dead acquaintance'----a claim which is proven false by the existence of other parcels for sale in the same location----that I find to be tacky as heck.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Shamelessness
The other day I got an IM, inworld, asking if I'd drop my price for a large parcel (above 18,000m).
I replied that I'd just dropped the price the night before, and would give it a try at that price (or give them a try--it's divided into several smaller parcels) for a few weeks. Which has the virtue of being the literal truth, on all counts.
So in a while the person sent me a second IM, telling me that the reason they wanted my parcel was that the sim just to the north---a Protected ocean sim---had a name that was the same as a deceased person they'd been close to.
...........................Gosh, well, in that case, of course I'll sell it to you below my cost!!!!
...
Of course my response was 'I'm sorry for your loss', but-----no price drop.
Because: THERE ARE SEVERAL PARCELS UP FOR SALE THAT ADJOIN THE PROTECTED SIM IN QUESTION.
So, no: it's not the case that *sob* the only way this person could honor the deceased would be *sob* if they could buy my parcel.
Honestly.
...
I gather, from song and story, that people who do this sort of thing have no qualms of conscience whatsoever---if you can fleece the rubes, you've WON WON WON!!! That's the way they think.
May their karma come upon them!
I replied that I'd just dropped the price the night before, and would give it a try at that price (or give them a try--it's divided into several smaller parcels) for a few weeks. Which has the virtue of being the literal truth, on all counts.
So in a while the person sent me a second IM, telling me that the reason they wanted my parcel was that the sim just to the north---a Protected ocean sim---had a name that was the same as a deceased person they'd been close to.
...........................Gosh, well, in that case, of course I'll sell it to you below my cost!!!!
...
Of course my response was 'I'm sorry for your loss', but-----no price drop.
Because: THERE ARE SEVERAL PARCELS UP FOR SALE THAT ADJOIN THE PROTECTED SIM IN QUESTION.
So, no: it's not the case that *sob* the only way this person could honor the deceased would be *sob* if they could buy my parcel.
Honestly.
...
I gather, from song and story, that people who do this sort of thing have no qualms of conscience whatsoever---if you can fleece the rubes, you've WON WON WON!!! That's the way they think.
May their karma come upon them!
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