FIC Tables Turned – Ex-Critic Crows About LL Land Seizure

by Alphaville Herald on 25/01/08 at 1:43 am

Ravenglass rental agent gloats over neighbor’s land confiscation

by Pixeleen Mistral and Jessica Holyoke

Shaun3
Prokofy Neva smiles as Agent Linden confiscated more land this week

An empty plot in Furness sim may be a warning to anyone expecting rule of law and property rights in the metaverse. According to a report published by Shaun Altman, the virtual land was seized by Linden Lab earlier this week. But why would the normally disengaged Lab suddenly take action? Several sources report that Prokofy Neva, a role-playing advocate of rule-of-law and property rights has stepped out of character and is claiming credit for Linden Lab’s land seizure. The land seized was formerly owned by a group of students building a tower next to several plots of land owned by Mr. Prokofy Neva. Mr. Neva claims that these same residents have harassed him for over a year – this apparently means that these students are ineligible to purchase virtual land – at least if this displeases Mr. Neva.

According to Mr. Altman’s account, the students were said to be from Woodbury University – an institution who’s island was destroyed by Linden Lab last spring. Mr. Neva has waged a long standing battle against all thing Woodbury, and the newly purchased plot in Furness was in close proximity to Mr. Neva’s virtual land holdings. The result seems to have been a volitile combination, resulting in more than a little irony – irony which seems to be entirely lost on Mr. Neva. The long time critic of insider dealing by Linden Lab now brags of special connections that can result in avatar bans from the metaverse and property confiscation – without anything like due process or public hearings getting in the way of LL’s rough justice.

As Shaun Altman writes, “This event is alarming mostly because when I viewed the build prior to it, there didn’t seem to be anything present which violated the rules of Second Life. Prokofy Neva often theorizes about the existence of a secretive and elite cabal of Second Life residents, known as the “Feted Inner Core”, or “FIC” for short. According to Prokofy Neva, this is a group of residents who are well-connected with Linden Lab, and receive special favors and/or special treatment within Second Life as a result of those connections.”

Shaun2
Shaun Altman feels deep concern for what the future of Second Life may be like

Mr. Altman confirmed for the Herald that Mr. Neva now claims a certain FIC status for himself – and seemed to be indulging in a bit of victory dancing on his victims’ land:

Pixeleen Mistral: did Prok really say he can get people banned?
Shaun Altman: Thats what he said to me (roughly, I didn’t log it).
He said “do you see that land”
“do you remember what used to be on that land?”
“do you remember who owned it?”
“check who owns it now” …
“check find people”
“now do you see what I can get done if I want to?”
That’s a rough recollection, but thats more or less it

Pixeleen Mistral: I guess it pays to be Robin Linden’s super-friend
Shaun Altman: Well I wouldn’t want to speculate about how Prokofy accomplished this or if its even true.
The facts are LL snatched the land, the guy is gone, and Prokofy says “do you see what I can get done if I want to?”

Attempts by Pixeleen Mistral to contact Mr. Neva for comment were met with silence. Once the Herald located a reporter that Mr. Neva would consent to speak with, Mr. Neva said he was simply exercising his game-god given right to abuse report as he sees fit:

Jessica Holyoke: Hello. My name is Jessica Holyoke and I am a reporter for the Herald. I am following up with a story found here: http://www.shaunaltman.com/articles/2008/01/24/property-snatched-by-linden-lab, that states that you used your insider connections with Linden lab in order to get people banned from Second Life and their plots seized. I am following up for my editor in case her attempts to contact you for your comments were in vain due to her possibly being muted.
Prokofy Neva: ROFL I didn’t use any “inside contacts,” I filed an Abuse Report against a group of people who had harassed and stalked me for a year and who crashed 4 sims repeatedly where my rentals are, where the bought property. I guess the Lindens finally read and acted up on their abuse reports

While Mr. Neva’s trash talk has been confirmed by both Shaun Altman and Intlibber Brautigan, was Prokofy Neva responsible for the land confiscation and account bans? We may never know for sure. It does appear that Mr. Neva will reach for the abuse reports if he believes there are any connections to Woodbury University. Why would Mr. Neva compromise his former commitment to due process and transparency in this fashion? It all makes a certain amount of sense if it lowers the cost of expansion of the Ravenglass empire by depressing land prices near Mr. Neva’s holdings. Virtual land barons agree that buying low and selling high is the ticket to success – particularly if you are not concerned about how fair the game is. Should we look forward to another Ravenglass rental plot in Furness once Agent Linden puts the land on sale?

101 Responses to “FIC Tables Turned – Ex-Critic Crows About LL Land Seizure”

  1. Prokofy Neva

    Jan 25th, 2008

    You can read the chatlogs with Shaun on my blog, and I’ll have more soon:
    http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2008/01/lindens-finally.html

    I wouldn’t expect anything else from the Herald, which assiduously pursues the “rights” of Woodbury “students” to stalk and harass anyone who criticizes them on the grid.

    The empty lot in Furness is evidence of the Lindens finally ceasing a very unjustifiable practice of affording me LESS protection under Community Standards No. 6 (regarding disturbance of the peace and interference with another’s SL).

    I’m finally getting equal protection of the law that has been long denied me. And I’m proud to say in private to Shaun or to anyone in public that yes, this shows what you can get done.

    It shows how assiduous use of the abuse-reporting system, as flawed as it is, does finally get justice if you can be devoted to showing a long-time pattern of harassment and stalking, even in the fact of constant lying about those evil deeds and distraction from those crimes by the perpetrators, in which the Herald has played a big role.

  2. Brendan Cale

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Quite frankly, Prokofy Neva has been part of the FIC ever since SHE was invited to the Linden Labs Private Conferences that only few residents can visit in Second Life.

  3. Prokofy Neva

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Some more facts:

    I own some 15 sims in Second Life, mostly mainland, a fraction of the empire of Intlibber Brautigan, which is at least double this size on far more lucrative land, and the financial worth of Shaun Altman, coder of both Cyberland and WSE stock markets, from which he has benefitted handsomely.

    I wouldn’t know where to go to get a “special favour” from Linden Land. My “special friend” Robin Linden hasn’t answered any of my emails in months. In office hours, she is curt, even dismissive of me, as anyone can see. I can’t remember the last time I had any kind of significant conversation with her. When I inquired recently about a chronic problem of griefers and grief objects on mainland sims that were always being ignored in tickets to the Concierge, and bucked back to the Governance Team which did nothing about them for ages, she basically referred me to Cyn Linden and told me she has less time for doing the customer support side of her job now that it has been given to Cyn as her new job responsibility.

    The last time I had an answer to any mail from Cyn was I think in early 2005 or something, she’s consistently ignored me.

    The gadzillion abuse reports I’ve filed for more than a year on Woodbury get the standard automatic replies from the system. When I raised them specifically in the G-team meetings, I met with cynical and even nasty responses from Michael Linden. Special friends? Insider contacts? Where?

    I merely sat down and wrote very careful abuse reports the other night on each and every one of these characters who had *joined my open group and set prims on their new property to my group* and were harassing me with the usual menu of taunts and fake stuff. I pointed out that buying land in a sim where I own land next to my flagship sim was a provocative and demonstrative act of griefing and stalking — and anyone can see this.

    I didn’t ask for their land to be confiscated for my use somehow, I don’t have those aims or powers.

    The Herald has a lot of explaining to do as to why they continue to enable this group and therefore participate in the victimization of SL residents.

    When the Herald made me an “avatar of the year” in 2005, it referenced the banning of me from the forums and the plotting against me by Pathfinder in LL, and my theory of the FIC.

    The Herald has truly deteriorated since that day, because when it makes Tizzers the 3rd place avatar of the year after her permabanning, it can only cynically, fully tongue-in-cheek, refer to her “educational activities” which so far have consisted in touting the kiddie anime porn 4/channers and sim-crashing b/tards and providing them with a safe haven in SL on her island and in her groups.

    That our hippie Lindens could have to REALLY have had something on Tizzers to finally ban her permanently seems to elude the power-drunk Herald editors, who, very much like Intlibber, have figured out that you need to basically hire goons for a successful business in SL. The Herald pays the goons for their articles and op-ed pieces here on the Herald, and gets more ad space from the traffic that comes from their constant controversial positive coverage of goons.

    Tizzers was said to be banned for disclosure and stalking, that spilled beyond the Lindens’ domain into real life. MC Fizgig’s purchase of very high-priced and even laggy land next to me in the gigantic grid of 16,000 sims of Second Life lets us know of an obvious intent to grief, following a long-time pattern of griefing.

    I do not dvocate seizure of land merely because it has ugly builds or groups that criticize me on them. If I did that, I could find a long list of things to be AR’ing. But when there is a very well documented pattern of not only disclosure and stalking of me, but also constant griefing of me and my tenants and crashing of servers (which the Lindens can easily spot once they start monitoring the server logs), then I think the Lindens are correct in closing an account and seizing the land due to violation of the TOS.

  4. Prokofy Neva

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Perhaps the Herald can role-play reporter on some other questions now that might get at Shaun Altman’s motivations for doing this sort of report:

    1. What is the total amount of earnings that Shaun Altman has made from Cyberlands and WSE and any other stock exchanges and banks in Second Life?

    2. Where, exactly, now, are the investments made in Cyberland by some prominent investors in Second Life? Why can’t they get answers to their repeated requests for reports, or a return of the money?

    3. What compensation, if any, did Shaun Altman receive prior to the closure of WSE ostensibly for 30 days supposedly for a “software upgrade”?

    4. Why has Shaun Altman ceased his criticism of WSE and specifically of LukeConnell?

    5. Where are the proceeds from the ostensible liquidation of Ginko assets that Shaun was supposedly going to use to pay back depositors?

    6. What are the amounts invested in Intlibber’s empire by the Woodbury University ringleaders MC Fizgig and Tizzers Foxchase?

    And so on. You know, act like real reporters.

  5. IntLibber Brautigan

    Jan 25th, 2008

    The land owner, MC Fizgig, is Professor Edward Clift of the real Woodbury University. I doubt very much that Prof. Clift has harassed Prokofy at all. Nor has well recognised builder Trebesan Clary, or buccaneer Dartblueafro Cummings ever been found raiding or otherwise “cyberstalking” or “harassing” the cat lady. Admittedly Alyx Stoklitsky responds to Prok troll for troll, but always within the bounds of free speech. If trolling were against ToS, Prok would be permbanned long ago.

    Furthermore, seizing the professors land due to actions of persons who he has no association with is no kind of justice at all.

    Prok your a sick sick woman, you’ve internalized all those leninists you’ve interpreted over the years who you claim to despise, and you are now just as much a tyrant.

    I was there that night, and the only terms of service violation I saw was PROK’s prims encroaching upon the land of MC Fizgig. I advised the students to AR her, but they insisted on taking the high road, they wanted to prove they could be good neighbors, now they’ve gotten bitten as proks dragged everybody down to her low level. Great going Prok, teaching students how to be good citizens.

  6. Misty McConachie

    Jan 25th, 2008

    The break-up was tough on both sides, I know, but must we gentle onlookers be dragged into the crossfire of a love gone awry?

  7. Kahni Poitier

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Christ, I hate Prok.

    Banning him would get rid of so many hassles.

    Bring back Tizzers, ban Prok.

  8. Francoise Fairey

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Move on folks, nothing happening here. If Shaun Altmans’s blog is to be believed, then LL have reclaimed the land because a new base for Woodbury University was being set up and clearly advertised as such. As LL had acted against their island, this reclamation is down to that. As there appears to be a rumbling dispute between Prokofy and Shaun, it appears the latter has blogged with what would be the biggest insult to Prokofy: “There is a FIC and you are the chairman.”

  9. Penny Sautereau

    Jan 25th, 2008

    This surprises no one. A hypocrite says what Prok?

    *sings along with Prok’s theme song “The Outsider” by A Perfect Circle*

    Theeeey were riiiight about youuuuu…..

  10. Prokofy Neva

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Brendan, um, you’ve got your stories all mixed up. It’s *Shaun Altman* who had been to the Linden Lab private conference called “SL Views,” not me. I’ve never been to Linden Labs.

    But uh, don’t let me confuse you with any facts.

  11. NinaA

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Some abuse reports are more equal than others.

  12. Prokofy Neva

    Jan 25th, 2008

    MC Fizgig’s provocative purchase of land right next door to me, even paying a huge amount for over-priced land an auction-flipper was selling, is a very demonstrative act of stalking and griefing. To try to spin it as otherwise is to do damage to reality and truth visible a mile away even in virtuality.

    Add to that the fact that the group of Woodbury “students” who all appeared had my group tag on which meant their prims would set to my group — they do this to annoy, exploiting the openness of the group. Trebesan Clary, At0Mic, etc. have come to my properties numerous times to harass, incite, grief. There is a long trail of abuse reports of them doing that, and they are banned from most parcels in that area by me or by tenants who get annoyed with their constant flying around, hovering, and playing Eddie Haskell and Robert Fisk.

    It was definitely a new base for Woodbury University — the sign put out was a giant WOODBURY UNIVERSITY and on it was one of those moebius strip FIC red-and-black badges that I believe Lordfly or somebody once designed in a spoof like of FIC memorabilia. It was a direct taunt to me, moving in next to Bonecrusher Slate’s old garage, where they often had congregated in the past to annoy me. I have gadzillion screenshots of them doing it. On one of there many griefing posses to my sims (they were crashed about a half dozen times on the days after the Wired story came out), they noticed this land for sale, the only land in the area, and they decided it would be fun to grab it and annoy me.

    I AR’d eacn and every one of them for stalking and harassment. I was surprised as anyone that it worked, since I’ve been abuse reporting them for ages, with little effect. When Tizzers was permabanned, somebody up at the Lab acquired a spine, and they possibly decided that re-opening the Woodbury lot again — and right next to Ravenglass to torment me — was likely trouble, and they decided not to wait the 90 days to watch a parade of goons and geeks crash the sims and harm their software and destroy my business (and BTW all the other businesses on those sims which I share with others), they decided to act right away with the first report.

    I followed up with an email to Robin urging them to oversee the G-team which only looks at each report in isolation and is very frustrating in its refusal to do the basics, like note the dates and times of sim crashes, and the dates and times of these possess galavanting around. A day doesn’t go by with one of these sims red on the map.

    To try to telescope this down to some kind of isolated instance, with no history or precedent, with no pattern of abuse, is to be beyond Haskell and beyond Fisk into a realm of real deliberate malice, if not evil. And the Herald props it all up. The Voice of Pixeleen!

    Intlibber is totally one of them, he was there shouting, cat-calling, harassing, provoking the gang to file an AR over a trivial prim sticking out, and supporting them — possibly financially (I do have to wonder where they got the $250 US to buy this overpriced land!).

    MC Fizgig is a member of only two groups, Intlibber’s Ancapistan Exchange, and Woodbury University. I guess these Leninists/socialists/technolibertarians of Woodbury find soul mates in the Randian/anarcho-capitalists/corporativists of Ancapistan.

    Intblubber is absolutely lying about Trebesan, who nearly daily joins my group to harass me, comes to the Ravenglass sims constantly and flutters around being annoying, and is always present minutes before sims crash. MC Fizgig has been less active but he was *owner of the land*.

    What’s especially hilarious is this elaborate faux-indigant faux-civil role-play that Intlibber, and their PR flak, Madelina Rossini (who calls herself a “Professor of Woodbury” and may well be), where they talk about “the dear students” whose learning I have “disrupted” who were “just trying to be good neighbours” (by building a sky-high mushroom lol? please).

    It’s really quite amazing theater.

  13. Jim Schack

    Jan 25th, 2008

    And you people wonder why i haven’t been in SL lately? MC Fizgig or anyone else on that land did nothing wrong. They did nothing but build a building. wasn’t even a “greifer build” as Prok would put it. There was no signs or references to anything /b/ but because she knew they were /b/tards she had them removed. If we’re talking about skin color instead of self labels (/b/tards) it would be racism. Certantly its a form of bigotry. Prok wants good neighbors, unless they talk funny like those people.

    So on the days they owned the land, what on earth did they do to you? Humm? Nothing. They minded their own business and harmed no one. Not even you. Be a virtual man, and grow some balls.

  14. Prokofy Neva

    Jan 25th, 2008

    So actually, I guess the moral of the story goes like this:

    o don’t criticize the editor of the Herald
    o don’t criticize the Herald’s chosen subjects of glee like the /btard and Woodbury goons
    o don’t criticize griefer groups in SL
    o don’t criticize a big furry SL financier beloved by the Herald
    o don’t criticize fake Dadaist word-salading fisking haskelling professors and their fake students

    or

    o you will be accused of being a paid police agent of the Lindens (via Nobody Fugazi)
    o accused of having special insider connections to Lindens to get land confiscated at a whim
    o accused of betraying your principles and critique of LL
    o accused of being Robin’s super-friend
    o ridiculed by the hermaphrodite harridans in residence
    o set up to have yourself and your tenants hideously griefed with particle and physics objects to crash or overload your sims, as I was all night
    o not permitted to have equal rights with other avatars free of interference and harassment

    Ok, just so we’re clear on how it works!

  15. sigh

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Fucking Penance and fucking Prok. Go and get a real fucking life.

  16. Pie Psaltery

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Why do people still refer to Prok has HE. I mean, she’s really ugly, but she’s got a snatch.

  17. Jim Schack

    Jan 25th, 2008

    No Prok it’s real simple;

    Don’t spit into the wind. Quit being as big a lulzcow than IntLibber and they might get bored with you and leave you alone. Why can’t you two ever just stop? Haven’t both of you learned that you 2 are the main targets of griefers while at the same time you 2 are the most vocal about them? Haven’t you seen the connection yet? Can’t you see that 2 + 2 ≠ OVER 9000 ZOMG CONSPIRACY!!

    Jesus on a stick, just shut the fuck up already.

  18. Lao-Tzu

    Jan 25th, 2008

    @ Prok…now they are attacking you in today’s SL Blog under Torley’s post (Torley announces no tip for this week) . Prok, I am on your side. Your attackers are seemingly very immature. Dont allow them to rage you.

    23 IntLibber Brautigan Says:

    January 24th, 2008 at 8:16 PM PST
    Good tip, Fen,
    My Tip of the Week: Do not buy land near Prokofy Neva and put up Woodbury University signs, even if you really are a real professor at the real Woodbury University, Prok will freak out, LL will steal your land, and ban your account for absolutely no reason, even if Prok is encroaching on your parcel, or maybe especially cause Prok is encroaching on your parcel.

  19. Alyx Stoklitsky

    Jan 25th, 2008

    I will actually side with Prok here and say she doesn’t have any magical ‘FIC’ ties. I am quite certain that the ban of MC Fizgig actually occured because the circumstances under which the land was hastily purchased would indeed hint at the account being an alt of Tizzers Foxchase.

    This, however, is not the case, and I am certain that once MC Fizgig has been proven innocent, the land will be returned and my tower can go up once again.

  20. Nobody Fugazi

    Jan 25th, 2008

    I’ve been looking into this myself, and the other shoe really hasn’t dropped yet. Once someone successfully makes contact with the Professor who was banned, we’ll know more. As for now, well… I do agree that Prokofy Neva is probably the chairman of the FIC. No way she could have lasted this long doing what she does.

    But what no one has suggested is also interesting. Maybe they quit SL because of Prok, and Linden Lab had nothing to do with it.

    Personally, having seen the tripe that Prokofy manufactures regarding me, and her malice to people who don’t even write about her (because she really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things), I find it doubtful that anyone did anything to her – or if they did, I doubt she didn’t provoke it somehow.

    She keeps screaming ‘Wolf’, and the day I stop hearing it I will know that there really was one. Otherwise, she writes fiction – and poor fiction at that.

  21. Kahni Poitier

    Jan 25th, 2008

    C’mon, Prok.

    Keep up with the “Leninist/Socialist/Commie” tirades. You make yourself look more uneducated, and more insane every time you do.

    You’ve obviously read way, WAY too much Ayn Rand.

    Hell, if there’s anyone who causes problems, it’s the self-important, holier-than-thou, “prepare to read a wall of text” nutjob named Prokofy.

    Go feed your cats.

    Long live Tizzers, Long live Woodbury.

    Ditch Prokofy.

  22. Trazen. V

    Jan 25th, 2008

    I find this really quite a shame…..
    Is the Herald so short of stories that they have to write an article about a perfectly legitimate land seziure? SLH do not ”report” news. They try to make it.

    -Trazen

  23. Artemis Fate

    Jan 25th, 2008

    I agree with Prokofy’s first post on this one, as he put it, he’s spammed the Lindens with far too many insane paranoid Abuse Reports about “That person stared at me for too long, they must be a leninist w-hat griefer from Woodbury and are going to stalk me in real life and that last sim crash was probably their fault too!”, that I doubt any Lindens could possibly take Prokofy seriously anymore. At best, I would think that each new AR from Prokofy is the time in the LL offices where all the employees gather around a computer, read the AR, and laugh at the absurdity of it, wondering if he’s actually serious or just that batshit paranoid. He’s always sort of been Second Life’s little inside joke, where we put him up on display, let him rant for a bit, so we can all laugh and point at the wide-eyed flailing crazy person. The only one that isn’t on this joke, is him. Still.

  24. Anon

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Thr only power Prof has is the power everyone gives the drama queen lol
    shes been useless for awhile now lol

  25. Prokofy Neva

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Nobody Fugazi is going to be rather embarrassed to see that the shoe *has* dropped, and I’ve received definite confirmation from Dr. Rosen at Woodbury University that no one is authorized to represent the university in Second Life, they have formed an oversight board due to past incidents, and they are investigating this one.

    http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2008/01/the-university.html

  26. Prokofy Neva

    Jan 25th, 2008

    They were not authorized to rent or buy land in SL and represent the Woodbury University. Your support of them in this illegitimate endeavour makes *you* suspect.

  27. Prokofy Neva

    Jan 25th, 2008

    >This, however, is not the case, and I am certain that once MC Fizgig has been proven innocent, the land will be returned and my tower can go up once again.

    Um, tower of what? Babel? You aren’t authorized to rent or buy in SL, or represent Woodbury University in SL.

  28. DaveOner

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Considering all the sources involved have a spotty history as far as truth and ethics are concerned, I find it hard to see any answer in this deeper than “you’re all assholes”.

    This story shouldn’t have been written until the people that ACTUALLY owned and worked on that land had been contacted.

    Otherwise, SLH you need to quit making Prok feel famous or otherwise “not a waste of old, busted skin”. You already know that all attention is wanted attention for her regardless of how positive or negative it is. She’s the same as the griefers you guys keep highlighting.

  29. SqueezeOne Pow

    Jan 25th, 2008

    “I own some 15 sims in Second Life, mostly mainland, a fraction of the empire of Intlibber Brautigan, which is at least double this size on far more lucrative land, and the financial worth of Shaun Altman, coder of both Cyberland and WSE stock markets, from which he has benefitted handsomely.”

    HAHA that’s funny how Prokofy tries to appear disadvantaged by saying she only owns 15 sims.

    Prok, this is like Romney complaining to the guy that changes his oil that he only has two Hummers but Donald Trump has 5. You still come off like a jerk.

    And wtf are you guys wasting all that money on the least interesting part of a comparatively shitty video game? You could have a mortgage on a house or a couple cars with the money you’re wasting!

    Give it a year, Prokofy and friends. Once LL open sources the server side of things then you won’t worry about only owning 15 sims. By that time only the dumber people in SL will still be renting land from you land barons!

  30. Thomas O'Malley

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Prok is not FIC.

    Not in the normal way people become FIC, anyway,(by being visible, talented, and by doing more than a little schmoozing of the Lindens).

    The inside word has it that LL never got rid of the The Big Mouth because they are afraid of litigation (and the ensuing PR issues)that would come from the Old Sourgums.

    It’s sad really.

  31. Prokofy Neva

    Jan 25th, 2008

    BTW, knowing how keenly sensitive the Herald is to the faintest hint of a libel threat, and knowing with what alacrity they have responded to the tender concerns of the Electric Sheep and to Lisae Boucher and other various and sundry thin-skinner personages, I’d like to see them retract their false statements here, namely:

    o That I am claiming credit for Linden Lab’s seizure. False. I’ve published the chat log which Shaun very selectively remembers (he forgot the part where he says, “Sweet!” in which I said that when I need to, I get things done. Yes indeed. I stay on a case, and I abuse report it, and I keep going until there is action. I didn’t call for seizure of this land; I flagged the incident as a gross example of the systematic griefing I’ve suffered

    o The I’ve claimed that people who harass me are ineligible to buy land. I’ve made no such claim. But they don’t get to harass me, and I get to abuse report it. Furthermore, as I’ve verified, these people have no authorization to rent or buy on behalf of Woodbury.

    o That these people are “students”. Doesn’t appear that they are, and they don’t have any right to represent WU as I’ve ascertained (as the Herald could do as well if they weren’t lazy reporters).

    o That I’ve bragged of some sort of “insider connection”. This is the feverish rantings of a mogul in Second Life, a fox named Shaun Altman, with an axe to grind because I’ve been asking him some hard questions about his role in the banking disaster of SL. So this statement of the Herald’s is false: “The long time critic of insider dealing by Linden Lab now brags of special connections that can result in avatar bans from the metaverse and property confiscation – without anything like due process or public hearings getting in the way of LL’s rough justice.

    Due process is exactly what I called for by filing an abuse report, and filing an email with the real Woodbury University asking for an investigation. I’ve already determined that these people are fakes, as evidently LL – and that’s probably what was at work in banning Tizzers as well.

    Ok, pool’s closed kids, get out now or you will get AIDS.

  32. Fink Rau

    Jan 25th, 2008

    OK, please clarify, sorry for being noob: This “Prokofy” character is not a persiflage?? I followed some discussions for a while, and i have been very amused by this “I am against everything” statements with the subliminal “Put me in the spotlight” behavoir. I thought what a great persiflage. The person behind this is in earnest??
    If the answer is yes: Mr Prokofy, you should really seek professional help.

  33. Anonymous

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Hey prok, stop being a hypocrite. :)

  34. Belka

    Jan 25th, 2008

    “There was no signs or references to anything /b/ but because she knew they were /b/tards she had them removed.”

    No, this is a strawman. A grief build doesn’t necessarily have to have huge 4chan memes slapped all over it. A grief build doesn’t have to have giant spinning Mr Lee’s Hong Kong. A grief build is something built deliberately to piss off the people in the immediate area.

    Take the Edwards/Edward debacle months ago. The build promoting Edward didn’t outwardly blast memes, but being nearby the John Edwards campaign build was an obvious to all as a grief build. Funny at the time because it wasn’t happening to us, wasn’t it? All a grief build has to do is enrage the target. The dopes building this thing knew Prok was in the area, knew he hated the fan club they made for him, and knew he really really loathed builds that contrasted heavily with his rentals. Knowing all that, they still built the Giant Mushroom Tower.

    If these people really didn’t want to stir the shitstorm that is Prokofy, then they would have built something tame. Maybe an ivy covered campus building. Really, any generic college building would have sufficed. The erection of the Mushroom State Building was delibrate and damages any claims of ‘trying to work with Prok and oh isnt Prokky so unreasonable ;P’.

    “Pixeleen Mistral: I guess it pays to be Robin Linden’s super-friend”

    Was this an interview or a circle jerk? What kind of reporter feeds that opinion into their subject? Don’t hand me that “Oh, we never claimed to be a newspaper” bullshit. Of the entire rotation of herald writers, only Pixleen and Jessica, two of the highest people on Prok’s shit list, were avaliable to gather this story? How about sending out Jimbo or Onder? What about that freaking poet? I’m sure their interviews would have come off a tad more professional and a lot more entertaining to say the least.

    And come to think of it, why is this actual news? Griefers get banned and get their land frisked, its happened before and its bound to happen again. The only difference here is that some griefers got canned near prok and now its oh so exploitable?

    “I didn’t ask for their land to be confiscated for my use somehow, I don’t have those aims or powers.”

    Prok, you ass. You know very well that if you report a whole group whose leaders get banned, that without someone stepping in to pay tier the land is as good as gone. What did you think was going to happen if you reported them? That the Lindens would really let a banned account keep land? Its statements you make like these that put people off. If you worked this properly you could have had a major PR victory, by being a pompous ass you turned it into more second life controversy. I know you hate to be told that you need to change the way you write and talk to people, but the thing is that you really really REALLY need to consider rethinking your approach. You probably could have had a small army by now if you had played your cards right, by acting like Atilla the Hun attacking each and every thing with full and unyielding force you drive off and embarrass (and intimidate, from the sounds of Lao-tzu) your friends.

    The TL;DR version: Everyone in this story is an ass cake. Take that to a SL bank and smoke it.

  35. Alyx Stoklitsky

    Jan 25th, 2008

    > “Um, tower of what? Babel? You aren’t authorized to rent or buy in SL, or represent Woodbury University in SL.”

    I based the tower rather loosely on the Ivory Tower from the 1984 movie ‘The Neverending Story’, mainly because I felt that the ongoing saga involving WU was a ‘neverending story’, and that WU embodied imagination and infinite, just like the heroes of the film.

    As for ‘representing Woodbury University’, I never claimed such a thing. I just happen to be helping a student from the university whom I have become friends with.

    Tizzers wanted something nice on the land, so I built something nice.

    It’s that simple.

  36. Tenshi Vielle

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Can we lock Prokofy and Penance in a dark room together and just see what happens?

    Jimbo can help me lift them. Please?

  37. Nobody Fugazi

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Sorry, Prok, I’m not embarrassed. I view anything you write as suspect. When I hear from the professor myself, then I will decide.

    Not you. Never you. You can’t even keep your facts straight on someone like me, I imagine a whole University must be very confusing to you. :-)

  38. sean percival

    Jan 25th, 2008

    YAWN

  39. Thomas O'Malley

    Jan 25th, 2008

    **Can we lock Prokofy and Penance in a dark room together and just see what happens?

    Jimbo can help me lift them. Please?**

    If we could put you in there with them Tenshi, it would then be a trifecta.

    Although I doubt there are any building materials made that are strong enough to contain all that self-loathing when it is locked in a single room and prevented from projecting misery onto others.

    Actually though, Penance isn’t a bad person at heart, I get that read on her – she is way too self-assured (which is probably an insecurity cover)and reactionary for her own good though. Prok is hypocritical evil incarnate coupled with delusions of grandeur. You Tenshi, you’re just young, and trying way too hard to be cool and to be noticed.

  40. Jessica Holyoke

    Jan 25th, 2008

    I’m only commenting to Belka and one other point. Sorry, y’all.

    I thought about asking someone else to talk to Prokofy. I had a reasonable peaceful couple of weeks where I haven’t been attacked by Prok and I was going to suggest someone else ask. But, I thought it was important that Prok be asked about his opinion and that no one else should be subjected to the abuse that Pixeleen and I would receive as a result of this article. Do you believe that anyone else would be spared scorn because of this article? Looking around the blogosphere about the incident, no one has asked both Prokofy and Shaun about what happened. And the reason why the land owner can’t be contacted is because he’s banned.

    As to griefing being what angers you, that’s a very wide view of griefing. I mean yes, the tower was overwhelming, but let’s take Prokofy and Woodbury out of the picture. Would that tower still be griefing if it didn’t fit in the overall feel of the sim? Should the land owner be restricted on his supposed property because of something he builds that is within his boundaries? Now put Woodbury and Prokofy back in. There is a parcel, should it not be sold to certain people because of their groups or their past actions?

    And as to Prokofy not having a special Robin Linden friend, she was the one who posted here supporting Prok after the first lightly attended Linden press conference and he was the one who wrote an entire newspaper article about his real life dinner with her.

  41. IntLibber Brautigan

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Prok Lies here:

    “The I’ve claimed that people who harass me are ineligible to buy land. I’ve made no such claim. But they don’t get to harass me, and I get to abuse report it. Furthermore, as I’ve verified, these people have no authorization to rent or buy on behalf of Woodbury.”

    Because in an earlier post in THIS COMMENT SECTION, she said this:

    “Um, tower of what? Babel? You aren’t authorized to rent or buy in SL, or represent Woodbury University in SL.”

    Firstly, beyond Proks arrogant snobbishness of treating people like 1950′s african-americans, she’s entirely wrong. Firstly, Trebesan, Windowlic, Darthbluafro, all legally have land in SL of their own.

    Secondly, there is no rule against students putting up fan sites or other builds promoting their alma maters, favorite college football teams, etc. While such sites may not be sanctioned by the university administration specifically, such installations seem to legally fall under the same category of fraternities which are unrecognised by a University administration.

    Its actually smarter for a university administration to encourage such unsanctioned groups to become sanctioned so they can agree to comply with the Student Rules of Conduct. I know the real WU has such rules, and Universities do need to ensure that they treat actions by their students in SL as if they were offenses on their own campuses or local communities.

    I myself have had discussions with WU on this topic and they agree that such policy will be held to in any future involvement by WU in SL or other virtual worlds.

  42. L

    Jan 25th, 2008

    This just in from the PN Newsroom. PN has obtained an exclusive photo of Prokofy Neva, never before been released, of an enraged Prok on the offensive!

    http://i31.tinypic.com/23uu937.jpg

    STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES.

  43. we are all woodbury now

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Boycott Ravenglass Properties.

    Would you seriously want this jerk as a landlord? To put up with Prokofy, the land could never be cheap enough. Even if free.

    Prokofy deserves the same derision as Anshe Chung.

    Let the ignorant deal with them. Anyone with half a brain will avoid them like AIDS.

  44. rjs

    Jan 25th, 2008

    Just curious if the Herald ever reports on any real news stories without bias? This isn’t even a story. Are there any adults over 18 working for the Herald?

    People in SL would like to read about real happenings around SL but it seems a majority of the SL news sites don’t participate. They are to busy I would suppose to do any real journalism.

    So far the only credible news source for SL is Reuters. It’s really ashame that others cannot or will not act like adults and write stories that are worthy of attention. Every once and a while I’ll see a story here “worth” viewing, but the majority is trash, friends, prok junk, p/n garbage etc…

    This site is like some “inside” clique of user friends who like to spill adolescent garbage all over their pages. Nothing credible at all.

    It’s a shame to have such a nice venue with people wanting to see what is happening around SL, and all we get to see is the rubbish.

    –rjs

  45. Anon

    Jan 25th, 2008

    looking at all of rjs’s post it has to be Prok lol

  46. growing memes

    Jan 26th, 2008

    Thanks to Prokofy, Woodbury has become an idea, not a place. Thank you for spreading support for Woodbury, catlady. These are the exact things that make Anonymous so strong. Call them communists if you want, call them Leninists if you want. Anonymous is legion. Your actions bring this upon yourself.

    Expect us.

  47. TM

    Jan 26th, 2008

    **Boycott Ravenglass Properties.**

    I do and have been actively doing so for a couple of years now.

    I have a note card with links in it to some of NevaWrongs rants on the innurwebz, which I pass to anyone who mentions Raving-ass to me.

    This whole episode simply serves to further to illustrate exactly what kind of control freak hypocrite NevaWrong is.

  48. 4Chan Btard

    Jan 26th, 2008

    Prokofy Neva is all over these comments like a fat woman on cake.

    Damn woman. Watch out for those communists, they are around every corner.

    Prokofy, You are no better then a RACIST! You judge others based on their group affiliation and not their character.

    Remember, You may be playing Second Life, but we are playing Poke Prokofy!

  49. rubbber

    Jan 26th, 2008

    RJS: Welcome to the Internet, you must be new here. This is a BLOG, not the freaking New York Times.

  50. Unwashed Mass

    Jan 26th, 2008

    RJS – the voice of reason! I’m rapidly losing interest in the SLH, since a lot of the ‘news’ it reports is a) incomprehensible to those not in the know and b) reminiscent of schoolyard bickering. I want news that’s relevant to the 99.9% of SL residents who aren’t involved in griefing, anti-griefing, anti-anti-griefing etc. SLH ‘news’ appears to be a circular phenomenon, which generates its own controversies and then disappears up its own backside reporting on those controversies.

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