One and a half year, it is what it took to regain the losses of this terrible and futile war. Groups died, projects were abandonned, members were scattered, all this by the fault of egocentric thinking. Sure we shall take great care that such a thing will never happen again.

Actually, although I’m hardly ever on SL these days, I drop in every once in a while to visit old friends. (I ceased supporting Linden Lab– but my friends are still around).

Since a few of my best friends hang around Mean’s sim from time to time, I dropped in there (it’s progressing nicely, isn’t it?). However, I don’t believe there are a “lot of builds” owned by me there– just one. Put it there mainly as a “housewarming gag” for Mean… and I guess he decided to leave it. Took me about an hour to build it, so no big loss of time there.

But for the most part, I don’t have much to do with SL these days. RL rocks.

I’d reply further, but bottom line, you’re a pompous liar who hides behind a bogus name. All you are doing is trolling and bringing nothing to the table. Not much more to be said than that.

As for secrets, you built a history based on keeping things secret. You wanted to keep secret your reason for demoting Forcy, but she wouldn’t have it. You sure don’t talk about the girl you slept with and then banned for having the nerve to tell someone she had done so. You banned people for disagreeing with you, how small a person is that? You want to micromanage every aspect and when you can’t control someone you attempted to remove them. No, having you put forward as some great person isn’t right. Other people made Elf Clan great and it is now being proved you where not important to it. You stood on the shoulders of giants who backed you with money, time, and effort. Now they are moving forward free of your shackles. You have shown you could not do it on your own. The future is much brighter for everyone here without you and your ego.

Zek is a businessman and his shop was right at ElvenGlen entry point. Agree with Forcy or not, it’s understandable he wouldn’t want to shut down one of his most trafficed locations. That doesn’t negate the fact that he moved his main shop– all 1024m of it– to ElvenMyst and wrote a public statement regarding Forcythia’s activities. I think “Elf Clan was robbed” leaves little doubt as to his opinion, do you? Now like many people, Zek is a generous person who tries to get along with people. So what he does in regard to Forcythia now that Elf Clan no longer supports Second Life is his business.

But as far as Zekeen working “with” Forcythia in establishing an RPG sim– there are things involved there that you’re obviously unaware of (or if you are, you’re choosing to not mention). That has nothing to do with what happened back at the split, nor Zekeen’s opinion of what happened. The same thing about Mean Golem and Schlitzie Martini, who are partners with Zek. The fact that Schlitzie immediately moved his primary home– the Orc Embassy– ElvenGlen’s first residentail build– from ElvenGlen to ElvenMyst leaves little doubt as to his loyalty– or his opinion of Forcythia’s actions. Mean Golem set up a 2048m residence in ElvenMyst and has cursed the “enemy” to this very date for busting up the Elven society. So I think the facts are pretty much established, “Elfish”.

What people do now that Elf Clan has ceased support of Second Life is their business, isn’t it? Some people will choose to support those sims simply because there is no alternative at this time. We knew that when we closed Elf Clan. When Elf Clan decided to cease financial support of Linden Lab– I ceased caring about Second Life and whether it succeeds or fails, and what “Elves” do on Second Life. My attentions are primarily focued on Real life now, and I tell ya, as much fun as I had on SL– RL is better. All that I care about now is Elf Clan’s history and reputation in the face of people who keep slaming it with fraudulent statements and propaganda.

Myself, I do have one question to you: why is it that whenever someone writes something nice about me or Elf Clan, you and “Heather” find it necessary to show up and badmouth it all? What is your problems? If Forcythia’s group is all that wonderful– what do you care about what Elf Clan used to do? What exactly do you think your rants accomplish? (Especially when I and others blow them apart with factual information the moment you post them). Nothing more than attitude, if you ask me. The fact that despite prior mentions, you both keep your Elf Clan identities hidden, tells me you’re not on the up and up.

And yet, Zekeen Phoenix kept and still has a shop in Forcy’s ElvenGlen and all three are working with her to create a combat RP sim. Yep, they are not supportive of her at all. . .

Yes, you are correct. There should have been some sort of official contract set up between Forcythia and I. However, some things should be realized in this:

1) When we first established Elf Clan, Second Life was still in its childhood days. There were less than 25,000 total residents, and neither of us ever dreamed that Elf Clan would boom to the size it did, nor that we would eventually have four sims. This wasn’t seen as a business venture; it was seen as a hobby. We were purchasing one sim for the good of the group. It simply never occurred to either of us that an official contract was needed.

2) There was an element of trust involved in this. At the time, Forcythia was a very active and trusted member of the group. In addition, this wasn’t a matter of one or two people buying a sim and “surpise! We have a sim!” To the contrary, the sim investment was very public and the entire group involved. Everyone knew how ElvenGlen was funded. Since we had only been members of SL for about 2 months (yeah, we were still newbs), we weren’t really aware of the inner workings of SL, the problems with Linden Lab policies, nor were we aware of land thefts that had already taken place on the board (and took place regularly). It wasn’t until examining the forums later that I came to understand what a wide-spread problem it was. It just never occured to me that Forcythia would ever be a) disloyal enough or b) audacious enough to appropriate those lands for her own use when everyone was aware that those lands were funded by Elf Clan members. To those in the know, it was never thought that land rentals were being paid to Forcythia for her personal benefit; she was the name on the lands because that’s what Linden Lab policy required, and those fees were being paid for the benefit of Elf Clan.

[A side note: it is a matter of general knowledge among older Elf Clan members when we first purchased those lands, we were told by Linden Lab that Forcythia and I would have joint and equal control over the sim. It was only when the sim was delivered that we discovered that was not the case-- and we were very upset. We immediately began a push for Linden Lab to establish joint ownership parameters-- which eventually resulted in the now existing Estate Management Tools-- which still don't meet the needs of group-funded sims. But at the beginning, although Forcythia's was the "billing name" on the sim, we had been lead to believe that we would both have joint and equal control over that sim-- which was the only reason I agreed to Elf Clan involvement in the first place.]

3) I trusted Linden Lab to moderate their board and prevent such things (duh. Did I find out different). They knew how the sims were funded. They were well aware of these things– several Lindens were members of Elf Clan. After the break, I had direct chat and telephone conversations with them. They basically took the hard line that no matter how it was funded, “Forcythia is the owner of record.” Which was the stance that finally caused Elf Clan to abandon the Linden Lab platform. No way we were going to continue shoveling funds into a company like that. We’re not the only group who has lost major assets to a renegade officer– nor will we likely be the last– especially in light of recent changes to the TOS that officially absolves Linden Lab of all such responsibilities.

Now, as far as “mass defection from one group to the other” and the “membership who did the work” still being involved, no that wasn’t the case.

In the first place, only about 10% of the members of Elf Clan joined Forcythia– and many of those due to not knowing which way to go due to all the lies and propaganda going around. Some were emotionalistic people who acted in drama-queen fashion, without even knowing why she had been removed from office (I still remember those initial public shouts “I’m with you Forcy!” from people who didn’t have a clue as to what was going on). Many of those who joined her group did so because they rented land and had homes on those lands and had to have whatever information she circulated through that group, so they were pretty much caught in the middle. (That’s not just me making claims; that was the general feedback from people who joined the new group while asking to retain membership in Elf Clan. We allowed such in almost every case– with a few noteable exceptions. Those who helped Forcythia destroy Elf Clan builds and in leveling ElvenGlen to bare earth, wiping out almost two years of Elf Clan history, and those who accepted officer positions in her group… yeah, those people were ejected, deservedly so).

In addition, the members who joined Forcythia tended to NOT be the original members who had generally funded such lands. It should be noted that the major contributors– people like Peter Lioncourt (one of the heaviest contributors to our group), Zekeen Phoenix (another major contributor), and Schlitzie Martini (yes, the legendary orc and oddly enough the very first resident to set up on ElvenGlen) immediately announced refusal to support Forcythia’s actions. Peter Lioncourt shut down his vast lands on ElvenGlen (including his financial support of the Gardens) as soon as he heard of her public activities. Both Zekeen Phoenix and Schlitzie Martini immediately moved their builds to ElvenMyst. Mean Golem, a long-time member who had major role in the wondrous Elf-Orc wars, did so as well. In total, after the fur settled, 90% of Elf Clan still supported Elf Clan. The ones who supported Forcythia were by and large NOT the same people who donated heavily to the founding of those sims, and not those who rented lands the first several months during which additional sims were purchased (with a very few exceptions). In addition, a portion of her membership were known alts of some of those who initially joined her. Like Second Life itself, support of her group was greatly exaggerated (SL claims over 3 million “residents”, although it is a well- known fact that over 90% of those never log in, are alts or “camping chair” identities used to boost traffic figures). Point made: not heavy support figures for Forcythia’s group.

So no, despite Forcythia’s face-saving claims and propaganda, her new group did not consist of the Elf Clan members who worked to purchase those sims in the first place. They consisted of Forcythia, a small core of close admirers, a small core of hate-Wayfinder trolls (such anti-authority people exist in any group, especially larger groups), and quite a few people caught in the middle, not sure of what happened, and unwilling to choose sides (and I do give them credit for at least that).

Regarding the way the lands were funded (and forgive me if I repeat anything here– writing on the fly before getting to tasks today): massive donations went toward the purchase of ElvenGlen. Those donations increased in the months that followed, as our group went from approximately 100 to over 600 members and became the largest non-nightclub group on the grid. Before ElvenGlen was purchased, I established a land group called Elf Haven (not to be confused with ElfHaven sim, a product of that land group– just loved that name). It was agreed between Forcythia and I that a combination of Elf Clan donations (including mine) along with the investment initially offered by her would be used to purchase the sim. I would design and implement a rental and merchant system which would then be used to pay off her investment. I would be responsible for designing and building the sim and for primary management thereof (mainly because I had the time and building expertise and while she didn’t).

We both worked at land rentals, with her collecting all rent, merchant fees, and further SIM donations (event donations were my area). Since it was a privately owned land group, with me representing Elf Clan itself, she offered to split any “profits” with me after her investment was repaid. I declined on this, recommending we instead hold such funds for further growth if needed (thus, came about Elf Haven sim). I fulfilled my part of the bargain and she hers: the sim was purchased, I designed and built the majority of its features, and created a rental and merchant agreement which was designed to pay off sim tier at half-land capacity (yup, if half the land was rented, tier was met). The result? The sim was entirely rented before our first official opening day, and before the first tier payment was due. From day one, ElvenGlen was not only self-supporting but actually earned a bonus each month, that bonus to be applied to new sim purchases (which it was).

Bottom line: those sims were paid for by massive group donations (which continued from around January of 2005 until April of 2006), as well as land rentals and merchant fees, as had been agreed in our land group arrangement. Those donations and rentals were not made to Forcythia Wishbringer to use as she pleased– they were to Elf Clan for benefit and growth of the group and lands (and not for the takeover by another group. No matter what Forcythia’s group might achieve in the absense of Elf Clan, it can never wipe away the stain and dishonor of the manner in which it originated, the way its lands were obtained, nor the deeds it performed against Elf Clan in the process. Those lands were foudned on Elf Clan work– not the work of Forcythia’s group– and they were taken from Elf Clan WITHOUT GROUP PERMISSION OR GENERAL CONSENSUS. Forcythia did it the day she was removed as officer, of her own and singular will, then later supported by her core group of followers. That is not Elf Clan. Any claim to the contrary is self-deception. It is unfortunate that to this day, such claims deceive others as well.

So… to answer the question about who comprised Forcythia’s new group, no, it was not the same people under different leadership (ie, Elf Clan under a different name). Elf Clan continued to prosper on ElvenMyst and despite the initial loss to Forcythia’s group, grew to numbers greater than ever before, became more active than before and equalled or excelled our builds in ElvenGlen. With very few exceptions, those who chose to join Forcythia were largely those who knew little or nothing about early Elf Clan, the sim purchases and the way those lands had come to exist. With a few exceptions, they had little or no involvement in their funding.

That new group and lands didn’t include me, the Founder of Elf Clan. They didn’t follow the long-established Elf Clan Charter (although they borrowed from our foundation principles quite a bit) And since she immediately separated her sims from ElvenMyst (where Elf Clan governance had now settled), she definitely severed all ties with Elf Clan. So no matter how you slice it, she took lands funded by Elf Clan and established her own group thereon. There is no rationalization for such actions, no justification aside from drama and dishonor, no matter how much such is hidden or painted over by those with personal agendas in the matter. Five of the Elf Clan Titled published public statements in such regard. In the words of one very prominent and respected member, ‘Elf Clan was robbed.’ I don’t think I could put it any better. No matter how loudly or often members of Forcythia’s group claim otherwise, no matter how much propaganda and slander circulated– the history stands.

What amazed me in all this is that some people were so gullible (I guess that’s why propaganda works). I remember when she moved “her” sims away from ElvenMyst, people charged me with moving ElvenMyst and asked me why I was breaking up the Elves; it simply never occurred to them that Forcytha was responsible. Even when she started destroying Elf Clan builds and flattened ElvenGlen to the ground, it never occured to them that just might be wrong, that there might be some ethical considerations there. In these deeds she didn’t have the permission of Elf Clan, nor my permission. She didn’t put it to a “vote”… she just did it and had her cohorts assist her (and shame on them for taking it upon themselves to do so!). She intentionally destroyed a year and a half of Elf Clan history without any regard for its members, their feelings or their wishes in the matter. It was a typical hate response in classic drama-queen fashion, and there’s no painting over that fact. Most Elf Clan members saw that– and refused to have anything to do with her thereafter. Unfortunately, some were taken in by all the fog and actually supported her in such dishonorable activities.

Forcythia currently claims no problems with Elf Clan and that Elf Clan members are completely welcome in “her” lands (how generous). But people don’t seem to remember that she did everything in her power to wipe Elf Clan from those lands. While she now presents all sorts of “reasons” for doing so (some people are so good at politics), the evidence was there for anyone to see. Anyone could at any time have stood up and shouted, “This just isn’t right”. Unfortunately, those who did were personally attacked for such courage– and Linden Lab refusing to do so put the nail in the coffin. How sad.

Well, that’s as lengthy as I feel like being in this. Hope that answers your questions. No matter what claims are made in such matters, those who were involved know. Propaganda, slanders and lies may serve to cloud the truth– but the truth remains known by those who were there.