I maintain that players must do this somehow, and then prepare cases for Lindens to examine. I’d like to see dozens of such groups emerge of all sorts, consumer advocates, community associations on sims, BBBs, trade assocations, and all of them interacting as associations with an “Ombudsman Linden”.

I know it seems like sectarian college stuff when everyone worries about being right and not active in world. But when we have a small group of people with lots of Linden attention who brag also of Linden blessings actually forming a group and actually claiming that they already do do mediation in secret with secret results, we have to worry. I think it’s the wrong way to go about things. I think there could be a company that does private mediation for businesses who don’t want mediation to be public, but the consumer and the average player in a dispute is not served by secrecy, they are served by the public record creating a paper trail of deterrent and empowerment.

I am all for a Better Business Bureau of some sort. But while I feel the FIC is mostly a straw man, I also feel there’s a ribbon of legitimacy running through the concerns some people have raised. Part of our duty as a newspaper is to chronicle not only what’s happening on the Grid but residents’ reactions to what’s happening, and the tensions that are keeping things from happening. One of the most interesting things about this moment in the development of player governance (not *government*), is that everyone seems to be spending more energy trying to be right than they are in trying to get their projects off the ground. This is often under the guise of “this is a serious issue and we need to be taken seriously on this.” But what it says to me is that a lot of residents do *not* take their second lives as seriously as they think they do. What they take seriously is how they feel they’re being perceived.

The one thing we absolutely need right now, and I’m not being facetious, is for “two or three people [to] meet in-world, and organize themselves to abide to a code of ethical behaviour that they have just invented on the spot.” There is /nothing/ in the game that stands in the way of a Better Business Bureau or any other kind of ethical or governance body arising right now. What stands in the way is pride. Everyone wants to have their views known, be the protector of the little guy, defend themselves against accusations, etc. In part, I’d imagine this is a function of cyberspace, where “who one is” is something that’s not very well defined. But it doesn’t get much better defined through debate. I gets defined through work and action. Three of the most successful entrepreneurs in Second Life are people who rarely if ever participate in the ongoing Core discussions: Blue Burke, Anshe Chung and Cubey Terra. They just go out and do their job, they explore the limits of the Grid. We all need to do this a little bit more, I think.

I haven’t been in to check the forums, but I hope the meeting went well. I hope the next step is that someone goes out and actually starts one of these things. Whether it’s the one that becomes The One, only time will tell. But even if it’s just a seed, it needs to be poked into the soil so we can see what sprouts up. And please let us know at the Herald that it’s going on, so we can celebrate the moment for our readers.

If by inviting people to attend any sort of organizational meeting in SL will always be judged as a “FIC thing”, you’ll be in a classical lose-lose situation – you’ll be simultaneously be arrested for owning a dog or for not owning a dog.

Readers of forums, blogs, and The Herald are all FIC. They represent perhaps 5-10% of the SL population which is actually interested in discussing these things (and similar things to these). The rest of the SL population are clueless, since there is no easy way to get in touch with all of them. Sure, you can put a message on the login session of SL – “attend this meeting if you’re interested”. But not everybody logs in on every day, or at least, on the day the message (or the meeting) is available.

The problem with base democracy is that it is only participated by the ones who are really paying attention to it. If you miss a message, a post somewhere, an article on a blog or e-zine – well, it’s tough to say that “the FIC are conspiring against you”. That will always be the case with any tentative base democracy.

So, there is no way you can discuss these things or write about them without being shunned and labeled as FIC. Since you will never be able to address all 32,000 residents simultaneously (and over 90% of them really don’t care a bit), all sort of meetings will always be FIC. No matter how “open” they are, no matter how often they’re announced, in-world or off-world, by posting on public forums, exchanging emails, posting on blogs. It’s utterly impossible – you will never reach them all. So, you’ll be only addressing an “elite” of interested residents. Thus, you’ll be FIC and talking to the FIC. It’s simple to understand.

Taking this to the extreme, if two or three people meet in-world, and organize themselves to abide to a code of ethical behaviour that they have just invented on the spot, and nobody else attends – well, these 2 or 3 people will be labeled as FIC in less time it takes to look up “feted” in the Wikipedia (well, it’s no there yet). After all, they did not announce their meeting; they are doing something definitely FICish; they are an elitist and exclusivist group, since there are only the 2 or 3 in them; they have sorted out a group of common rules that nobody has participated in elaborating. So, you have to watch your steps. If you talk about anything intelligent which is neither related to business or to Tringo – beware, you may be FIC, and not even notice it.

Actually, I propose that we start to name all people that ever meet together to talk about these things “FOC” – the Fetid Outer Core. They are dangerous, because they might become FIC very quickly – you just need someone to overhear them. Worse than that, if you want to discuss anything intelligently, never do it in public. Never do it with any resident older than 30 days. And never, never do it in front of an avatar whom you don’t know. Lindens have alts, you know, and if you just happen to say something intelligent in front of a plainclothes Linden, you’ll be immediately immortalized as FIC. They may even give you access to their IRC channel.

Walker Spaight, beware. You have revealed yourself as FOC, and a prime candidate to become FIC very soon. Who nominated you to speak on behalf of the upcoming BBB? Why are you bringing it to public? Have you done a public consultation to be able to speak about these things on the Herald? Surely you’re revealing your FOCness and your desire to be FIC, by appearing clever and intelligent, and posting your ideas in public? Beware – we all know they are not your ideas, but the FIC’s ideas, so you’re another FIC wannabe. We have recorded your name on the FIC candidate list. You’ll be IMed shortly and get an invitation for the secret (and hidden) FIC membership club.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter this place. Play Tringo, stick to buying or selling land and objects, or else you’re FIC, or at the very least, FOC, and a FIC wannabe.

i find all of this very disturbing. I would like to live in a SL community that allows you to express your opinions freely, without being labeled as being “elitist” for doing so. But then again, perhaps I’m just naive. This doesn’t happen in RL because RL is so big. SL is just a small town, with a provincial feeling about it.

Aimee, if you cancel the meeting, how will I get rid of all this potato salad I made! Selfish, the lot of you.

http://forums.secondlife.com/showpost.php?p=527678&postcount=1

Ideally, we’d have several BBB type or Consumer Advocate type groups come into existence, but our problem now is that under cover of saying “no one wants to volunteer” or “it’s too much work” or “it’s too much burden on the Lindens” a few players will follow through and monopolize this issue precisely to keep themselves from scrutiny. It truly is appalling. that some could cook up a “whitelist” to put themselves beyond scrutiny and house the entire thing on a third-party website precisely to avoid having to follow TOs regulations like not disclosing RL information.

I proposed having an Ombudsman Linden who would be sent capctured-chat contracts from the game to store and then retrieve in the event there was a dispute. I raised the idea of having player groups work up presentation of cases to the Lindens. But we’d be stymied in this, just like the SLH itself is if it takes these things seriously, by running the risk of being accused of being “unethical” or “in violation of the TSO” if we accept and compare various chat logs betwen players, private IMs in game, PM offline, etc.

Pathfinder himself has made it clear that he simply will not open up and review any notecarded convo in the game that if it is a private conversation between 2 residents. Um, well it’s good he’s taking the high road on this, but what on earth can you do when you’ll be reporting allegations of TOS violations in the game, and allegations of the offenses that go beyond the TOS like fraud, libel, and extortion (the TOS simply cannot deal effectively with these categories of offenses). This involves the very necessary ability in any society to allege wrongdoing.

Groups of players that are going to be AR’d by the angry targets of their inquiries and their buddies; or by groups of net nannsy; or by Lindens, are not going to be able to function to mount impartial and independent investigations. Everyone harps so much on the ability to alter an IM, they forget that these are useful documents many rely on to keep others honest — the shaming factor is an important one.

I think groups of Lindens (they don’t think all in one mind on these topics) and groups of vested interests wlil likely gang up on a fledgling Consumer Advocates group or even BBB staffed by the most respectful parties.

So please, Aimee, make sure your minions don’t cancel that meeting ; -)