The witchhunt begins
Just a few days ago, I followed from my Twitter that my good friend Lienna Jael, journalist for Pixel Pulse magazine and blogger on CyberSpaceBabes.Com, has been expelled from a club she was going to visit for an interview with the owner for an upcoming article.
The owner of BDSM club that I wont name here, seemingly told her to change her avatar to an adult one or to get out.
Here is the tasty log excerpt, public log it is, edited to protect the identities of the protagonists. I hesitated to give some names especially of the owner, because frankly, she’s as paranoid as anyone at the moment, even if this is utterly ridicoulous. I just hope she recognize and whips herself for being so stupid:
Mister 1: Hi Lienna Mistress: warning him again Mister 1: sorry we are moving just now Sub 1: sorry mistress Mistress: he sad i have bugs in my mind Mistress: lol Sub 1: he said that to me also mistress Mistress: lol Sub 1: before asking me be his gf lol Mistress: lol You: Hello, Mister 1. : ) Mistress: change your avatar or leave Mistress: now You: To what? Mistress: to an adult You: Mine? I am an adult. Sub 2: hello mistress - i was short RL Mistress: then change to one Mistress: you look to miner to me (NDLR: she must mean MINOR) Sub 1: u look like a child lienna You: Really? hm. Mistress: rl calls Sub 2: yes !!!! You: Haven't heard that before. What would I need to change? Sub 1: yes my mistress Sub 2: leave here please Sub 2: mistress?? Lienna Jael shrugs. As you like. Mistress: yes? Sub 1: ure body or skin, u look so yung Sub 2: tomorrow is a bad day for Sl Mistress: ok
To her defense, she seemingly did not know about Lienna’s coming to her place to interview her for PixelPulse, and must just be very paranoid because of the actual witch hunt climate. One can hardly blame her for it, no pun intended to the Lindens but I fear something got out of order.
Now what was just marginal and rather ignored behaviour in SL has just blown out of proportions, everybody talks about it. And it will extend to any weird or unusual RP behaviour if the SLizens dont make their voice heard. This is RP, not RL. This, the Linden’s reaction and the community’s reaction only gives some fuel to the uber-conservative fucks of this world; if they got children avies banned from SL, now they can clean the tubes of Interweb!
Sorry for being sarcastic about it, but maby the Lindens themselves are getting very de-phased about this issue and needs a course on how to distinguish RL from fantasy.
This issue also affects adults REALLY roleplaying childrens on SL, like my dear Annette Blachere. Those people are already confined to PG areas most of the time, but since the line about Community Guidelines is so blurred now, what’s next? Social services? Even if Robin Linden declared those types of roleplayers were acceptable, who will decide of their faith? Angry mobs of conservatives burning torches? I’m too sarcastic? Well it’s exactly what’s happening now anyways. Courage, Annette.
Long thread on Flickr about this issue:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/secondlife/discuss/72157600318787835/
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GRRRRRR!!!!! You have no idea how angry all this makes me!! Sending a {big hug} to your friend Lienna. /me files this away in her ‘Stupid b****y Linden rules’ file for future reference.
Ugh. Spot on, Codie: “Sorry for being sarcastic about it, but maby the Lindens themselves are getting very de-phased about this issue and needs a course on how to distinguish RL from fantasy.”
That is is exactly what is going on. It seems that many at LL have lost perspective and clear understanding of what reality is, and how Second Life fits into it. The result is confusion and fear among residents. And I’m sure LL isn’t too worried about some BDSM people freaking out and “misunderstanding”–because in the end most people see the BDSM community as “other,” just as the GLBT and furry communities are seen as “other”–and who cares if *those* people get upset. Because on some level, there is no “misunderstanding,” it is likely it is what some (many?) people at LL want even if it can’t be made official policy: the “others” to be marginalized and go away, so the the comfort of the status quo is maintained.
you said it even better than I would have said it Alex. to the point, like usual. i really love the Lindens. i want SL to become Web 3.0. but this strategy, it’s not going anywhere any time soon. they cannot police the web centrally it’s impossible. i hope they will finally throw a different view on it for the better…