Woodbury University Island Destroyed
by Pixeleen Mistral on 01/07/07 at 2:28 pm
LL’s extreme smackdown – Woodbury University’s island deleted for TOS violations!
“a fascist company-controlled cookie-cutter world” – Tizzers Foxchase
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
not even a smoking crater was left…
Sometime Saturday, Woodbury University’s Second Life island dropped off the map of the virtual world. Second Life players have grown accustomed to intermittent outages from their metaverse service provider, sometimes spinning fanciful stories about tsunami and seismic activity as part of in-world roleplay. A virtual catastrophe does not appear to have been the cause of Woodbury’s demise, however.
It appears the complete disappearance of an entire virtual university was a disciplinary move on the part of Linden Lab – for Terms of Service (TOS) violations. Tizzers Foxchase, an administrator of the virtual land group for Woodbury University, provided the Herald with a copy of the virtual eviction notice:
Tizzers Foxchase: (Saved Sun Jul 1 12:19:36 2007) Linden Lab has continued to find inappropriate uses of the Second Life region “Woodbury University” under your control. On the 16th of April, you were informed of problems with the activities taking place in the region. Many members of the Woodbury University group (which controls the region) have been detected before and after that date causing severe problems in Second Life, in violation of the terms of service. These problems include incidents of grid attacks, racism and intolerance, persistent harassment of other residents, and crashing the Woodbury University region itself while testing their abusive scripts. Due to the ongoing problems, Linden Lab has no option but to immediately close the Woodbury University region. If you believe that this notice has been sent in error, or that the details of this incident have not been adequately examined, please address your concerns in an e-mail to abuse-manager@lindenlab.com Sincerely yours, Customer Support Linden Lab 945 Battery Street San Francisco, CA
Earlier this afternoon, I contacted Ms. Foxchase to learn if the Lindens have refunded Woodbury’s money, what the plans the displaced residents have, and how the Linden ban on Wodbury’s sim might affect educational uses of the metaverse.
Pixeleen Mistral: so in other words, Linden Lab pwned Woodbury
Tizzers Foxchase: Right, which was totally the wrong thing for them to do.
Pixeleen Mistral: how so?
Tizzers Foxchase: It’s as if LL took Friedman offline because we decided to hang out in the WTC basement or something, Intlibber can’t be held responsible for the actions of every person that comes to his sim, and especially things they do outside of it. That’s what they expected of me.
Pixeleen Mistral: what does this do for Woodbury University’s commitment to Second Life as an educational platform?
Tizzers Foxchase: Pixeleen, education and educational institutions are dangerous, people they are a place where people can think freely. They start asking questions and doubting authority. If WU is going to exist in SL, we’re not just going to be a static virtual mock-up of a RL campus, we’re going to be an active, living, breathing entity. Linden labs is like the catholic church, and we at WU are the modern Luthers.
Pixeleen Mistral: I wonder who the modern martin luther is in that analogy?
Tizzers Foxchase: We are. In fact WU is going to be writing a book about it. Second Life is not the peachy euphoria that it’s advertised to be, it’s a facist company-controlled cookie-cutter world where all the citizens are expected to comply and conform to the model of life that the Lindens have outlined.
Pixeleen Mistral: btw – who was paying for the Woodbury University sim? Did they get a refund?
Tizzers Foxchase: The University was, it was coming out of the communications advertising budget. I’m not sure if they did, but there’s hell to pay if they don’t. We have people working on the inside to get it back. And by on the inside, I mean people who have developed a personal friendship with Philip Rosedale.
Pixeleen Mistral: I ask because a lot of the institutional “purchases” are pre-paid for a year or 6 months
Tizzers Foxchase: I’m not sure of the financial details, all I know is, there was quite a large financial investment made.
Pixeleen Mistral: this all happened over the weekend – so I don’t imagine that the office staff know anything yet
Tizzers Foxchase: But do you see where I’m coming from? 99% of the RL schools in SL are nothing but boring models of a RL university. WU dared to be different.
Pixeleen Mistral: WU was certainly different
Tizzers Foxchase: The WU sim was purchased as a place to study virtual culture. /b/ and 4chan personify virtual culture. What better guinea pig or test subject, than to bring culture to us.
Pixeleen Mistral: I wonder if I should run this story now – or wait and talk to some RL people at Woodbury tomorrow?
Tizzers Foxchase: I can give you the direct phone number to MC Fizgig (Dr. Edward Clift). He is the chair of the school and is really the driving force behind the campus. I’m sure he’d be happy to answer any questions.
Pixeleen Mistral: so what is the next step – besides trying to get the sim back? if the Lindens won’t give it back, then what?
Tizzers Foxchase: We are going to begin writing a book. And waging a barrage of media, exposing the truth about the metaverse.
Pixeleen Mistral: so you would not recommend SL for education? or its only good for some sorts of things?
Tizzers Foxchase: It depends on your goal. If you essentially want a virtual museum, by all means SL is a great place. But active involvement comes with a bit of risk, the risk that Linden Labs may disagree with your viewpoints and the way you operate.
Pixeleen Mistral: any other messages for the Herald readers?
Tizzers Foxchase: Second Life has not seen the last of Woodbury. You may be able to kill the physical establishment but you can never kill a mindset. Ideas are bulletproof.
Pixeleen Mistral: so you will still be around
Tizzers Foxchase: Indeed we will.
Pixeleen Mistral: I suspected as much
As the displaced residents of Woodbury University consider their options, I was struck by the irony of a group that helped displace the Alliance Navy from half their Emit Time sim base being displaced by a higher power – the Linden game gods.
Certainly Woodbury University has attracted a rough crowd at times, but with the Bragg lawsuit hanging over the Linden Lab, the question of “ownership” of virtual land is brought into stark focus here. Will Woodbury write off its investment in virtual real estate? Will the Lindens refund all or part of their payments? Is it possible that the Lab may rehabilitate Woodbury and turn it into an example of compassion in action? This seems unlikely to those who remember the destruction of Satyr sim. While we wait for others from Woodbury to respond to Herald inquiries, perhaps the only clear lesson is that rolling with griefers may start with lulz but end in tears.
TomatoesX
Jul 3rd, 2007
@DF
—-”Au contraire, Foxchase HAD been warned, and even previously banned for griefing.”
Actually the temp ban she got was for copyright infringement, for copying the alliance navy group name and wearing similar outfits
So yea, I just thought Id correct you, since you were pretty much just makeing things up.
LettuceX
Jul 3rd, 2007
@Prokofy Neva
—-”So…what’s she doing standing idly by, then?”
You suggesting that tizzers should try to grief them all for useing bill cosby particles?
Anonymous
Jul 4th, 2007
WU is gone
good-bye and good riddance!
Anonymous
Jul 4th, 2007
@TomatoesX
Well, Woodbury was taken offline some time back for a couple of days when the PNs used it as a staging ground for sim crashing attacks all over the grid. That was PROBABLY warning enough, don’t'cha think?
WitnessXXX
Jul 4th, 2007
—-”Well, Woodbury was taken offline some time back for a couple of days when the PNs used it as a staging ground for sim crashing attacks all over the grid. That was PROBABLY warning enough, don’t'cha think?”
And what does that have to do with what happened between WU and AN? PN wasn’t involved with the whole alliance navy drama with WU, since they hate intlib, so what you’re saying doesnt really enter into this at all.
PN use just about any sim as a stageing ground that they want to attract bad attention to, if not, then theyd just use an empty island. They organise outside the game, so they wont meet ingame unless a) its a deserted sim, b) they want to attract attention to the sim or c) they’re going to raid it.
TRUE LULZ
Jul 5th, 2007
BWUAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA
…oh, and Tizzer’s response:
BWUAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!
Coleslaw
Jul 5th, 2007
It’s not so much that the school was different, rather the people inside where racist /b/tards. No, a sim shouldn’t be removed due to the owners political party. (Hell, I’m communist, but they doesn’t make me a horrible person.) And rather than arguing with each other, how about we listen to Prokofy Neva and the other right-minded people? They seem to have a better grasp on the event than most of us..
Anonymous
Jul 5th, 2007
No one has said anything against the PNs and other people repeated use of the word “fag”.
It is a hateful and insulting term when used by people who are not gay. The way it is used on this forum is as an insult.
Have we seen the N-word in this forum, or other slurs that are used to disparage one’s race, religion, nationality, skin colour?
Those insults have become unacceptable.
So why is that term bandied about? The comments are moderated on this weblog.
Possibly the moderator does not know it is unacceptable because no one has come out to say anything.
So, I say it is unacceptable.
And using it reveals the speakers for what they are.
Bigots.
They are no better than the type of individuals that took great sport in lynching African Americans, or conducting pogroms against those of Jewish faith.
After all, those things used to be considered good fun.
The “lulz” of its time.
They may seek to rationalize the behaviour by saying that no one is hurt, that this is only the internet, conveniently forgetting that behind each screen sits a heart that beats. I wanted to use the term human being, but humanity is derived from empathy and compassion and the presence of a soul.
And not everyone who has posted here has displayed those characteristics.
help desk
Jul 8th, 2007
what does PN stand for?
what is a meme?
a little help for the newbie please
help desk
Jul 8th, 2007
what do PN and meme mean?
anonymous
Jul 9th, 2007
help desk, lurk moar.
Maldavius Figtree
Jul 11th, 2007
WitnessX I am interested in how I could possibly be talking to Tizzers Foxchase during the WU incident. Seeing as her account was in fact banned at the time of the incident. Nice try
A Person
Jul 23rd, 2007
Admitedly, I didn’t read all the comments.. there are just way too many … And I was in the middle of looking for something else when I found this article.
However, from what I read there was lots of talk on lagitamacy of LL’s actions, and how it relates to RL law and such.
One person pointed out how he is responsible when his kids do damage to his RL residence, as he is a renter.
The problem with this analogy is LL didn’t go after the renters… They played a part as the government .. As such, in this analogy, your kids run through the flower beds, destroying them, and the state comes in and takes the land away from your landlord… Is the landlord truly responsible? No.
This could even be taken to the criminal level.. You own an apartment complex. The cops discover one of your tenants is participating in pedo-ness .. Does the government have the right to take the complex away from you? .. What if the tenant wasn’t even doing pedo things in his apartment, but going somewhere else to do it?
This is effectively the stance LL seems to have taken. If you own land, and you rent/sublet that land out to someone else, you can loose your land if that person does anything wrong, on your land, or off.
I can’t wait for all the sandboxes to get shut down now … Or entire mall sims to vanish because a single vendor sells something “inappropriate” at some other location.
If there is proof in the landlord’s participation in said activities, or encouraging them, then perhaps they would be in the right to revoke the lands. But this is a very tight rope for LL to be walking. They should tread very carefully.
SLJustice
Jul 26th, 2007
Dedicated to the virtual freedoms of avatars.
http://slcongress.com
Anonymous Lulz
Aug 4th, 2007
Do not know what PN stands for? PN stands for Great Justice.
Memes are Ebaumsworld secret code words for attacks on people on the Internet.
You need to gb2 school.
I P Freeley
Oct 2nd, 2007
It seems pretty clear that the so called griefers are just a bunch of sad teenage boys with limited hacking/cracking skills and even fewer social skills. They are only so mean spirted because they know that they will die with their virginity still intact. Their excuses/protestations of innocence are laughably transparent/idiotic.
As for Prokofy Neva…I’m sure in your head, the things that you type sound intelligent. You take yourself WAY too seriously. There are many real problems in this world. Punk brats cyber vandalising you is laughable at best.
If you want to stop attracting griefers then take your own advice from your response to one Jim Schack’s embarrassingly weak (seriously Jim, leave the humour to the professionals) attempts at offensive humour; don’t respond. Your hysterical indignation is like fuel to a fire.
Oh, and anyone who throws around phrases like post modern, fascist/Nazi, leninist/trotskyist/marxist as liberally as the people in these forums is gauranteed to not have more than the vaguest of ideas what those things actually mean. Here’s a new phase for such idiots- pseudo intellectual.
NY Bandit
Feb 27th, 2008
After reading all this I can’t help but notice that most of the anti-Woodbury sentiments come mainly from right winged uneducated individuals that would have our world, virtual or otherwise, ruled by archaic, narrow-minded, god fearing, bigots who would have the world governed by oppressive idiots… oh wait… their world is already governed by a tyrannical idiot! know what i’m talking about?
Neo Citizen
Feb 27th, 2008
The Woodbury people promote anarchy, and with that comes – well – anarchy. Which, when you strip away the third-grader bathroom humor, the racism and the running off at the mouth from the sexually ambiguous emo kids who think they run the place, all you’re left with is a bunch of idiots who stand defiant in their refusal to attempt to get along with anybody.
Like that’s something to hold up as an example of a model citizen or something. And then they make fun of everybody else for complaining about them. They don’t realize that being jackasses doesn’t make them cool. It just makes them jackasses.
Suzzanne
Jul 19th, 2008
Watch out for a bitch named elurin lohner, she gets people banned off for no reason. I really need a booter for that bitch.
Xena
Feb 22nd, 2010
WoodBurry University is still today Illegally Violation (TOS)/Terms OF Service Rights.
Here is how.
On their Estate They randomly ban anyone who doesn’t seem they fit in for any reason? Ever wondered to ask yourself Why? Well I can tell everyone why right here right now.
Tizzy Teardrop, Is A Member of The Wrong Hands, Part who exposed the JLU, and Their Illegal Actions, However She runs Woodburry University, With W-Hatt, and A Bunch of other Random Hackers, Griefers, PN/Scripters. These guys are From PN, if you look at their WoodBurry Logo Currently, It is the same as that found on the ThugLyfe Client. Also INF, a group attacks These guys, Takes the Illegal Copybot clients they make, and hands them out to everyone for free. They Preform Griefing attacks, and Griefing Tests on this sim, But Most Importantly of all, They have allied up With W-Hat, which allows them to do Griefer Attacks, and Pass out Spoofed Copybotted items Via Keys in secondlife to multiple residents, or people they wish to.
Yes Linden Labs Should Permently Ban Tizzy, and the other people from this sim who are knowing of this. These type of things are Illegal, Espically when they ban people and try to cover it up, Although it is quite Obvious, Not To Mention that half the people on this estate besides the Owners and Comrads are Alternate accounts who have probabily been banned from SecondLife. However anyone who looks like they do not fit in with the woodburry group are Banned without Any Notice, And Also they do it if they do not fit in, because they Fear that people may find out this, or OverHear something, and File Abuse Reports on them from within SecondLife, So they Just ban anyone who doesn’t look like they belong?
Kinda Cool isn’t it?
Xena
Feb 22nd, 2010
OH Yessss, and I forgot to mention this. It makes a pretty neat war. Here we have
Skills HAK Developing CDS which ruins our community as whole, And Ruins LIB SL.
Then We Have PN/Creators OF Thug Lyfe, and Banning residents from woodburry because they are afraid people will catch on to it.
Now we have INF Handing out copybots to everyone
http://www.thuglyfe.org/
http://inflife.wordpress.com/
http://blog.patrioticnigras.org/index.php/category/software/thuglyfe/
And Get This, The Guys name is SOVIET!!!! SOVIET WOODBURRY? Doesn’t anyone get it hihi?
Alyx Stoklitsky
Feb 23rd, 2010
Shut up Xena. I know you’re a reptillian shapeshifter.
In the Belly of the Beast: Pooky’s Second Life Game Show | The Alphaville Herald
Apr 25th, 2010
[...] Perhaps it was just me – but this does not seem like a place that I would want to hold classes – or do business. But there must be more to the story – certainly the Lab knows this is an odd time to swing the ban hammer wildly. The Woodbury faction gained deep experience in getting the mainstream media’s attention when Lindens deleted them in 2007. [...]