)))I would like to commend the Second Life Herald for taking quasi-professional web journalism in a strange new direction. One facet of journalism is to present multiple point of views to the reader while striving for neutrality for onesself. Clearly the Herald is not hampered by such traditionalist nonsense.(((

Hmm, “point-of-view” journalism has been around for some time now (also called “advocacy journalism”) and this approach is closely related to the notion of the “Op-Ed” piece – an article written overtly taking a point-of-view for the purpose of stimulating discussion. The Herald (whose masthead proclaims “Always Fairly Unbalanced”) is possibly a textbook example of advocacy journalism, so much so that I would personally recommend it to all students of the Fourth Estate. The skill in reading the Herald is to actually find the objective article, which in itself a slippery word frequently used by writers who want to pretend they have no point of view, when, in fact, they are as partial as anyone else.

)))A journalist’s job is also to inform, to take complex events and condense them for a broader audience who lacks the specialized knowledge of the source material.(((

I second that opinion. However, see my first paragraph. Prok’s piece was never intended to be a piece of objective reportage and should probably have come with the label “Op-Ed” just to make sure folks didn’t mistake it for objective journalism.

)))Boldly, you eschew such principles and dump undedited, copy and pasted Email chains right on the unwashed masses who have come here, primarily judging from your recent screeds, for excruciating poetry and naked catgirls.(((

Don’t forget male strippers, eating naked women, and awful poetry. I know it’s unfair to mention bad barding twice but pathetic poetry can be ten times worse than poor prose. I am, by admission, a lousy judge of what is “good verse” and never really got further than Tennyson and Coleridge – both of whom I would happily read to my girlfriend by the flickering flames of a log fire while sipping merlot and gently stroking the back of her soft neck.

The readers of the Herald who spend the most time in Second Life are probably not only unwashed but close to naked and overweight due to the solitary life they lead hunched over a computer and having the pizza delivery guy as their only friend and contact with the real world. If they eek out a crumb of comfort from the tabloid trivia of this august periodical, then Heraldic Scriveners have done their holy duty.

Can I take my tongue out of my cheek please?

This is already happening inworld. People AR others (usually business competitors I assume) based on their classified ads, the ads get deleted, the poster gets banned for some days. Now, what exactly are those ads about you might ask? Do they advertise gambling or child porn? Far from that. All it needs is a bare female nipple.
That’s right, it’s no longer allowed to show or name (!!!) any adult content in mature classified ads. Your business competitor advertises revealing lingerie? AR him. It was never easier to get rid of competition. Soon you won’t even have to write an abuse report, just click a button and ask two friends to do the same, severely hurt a business and drive another talented content creator out of SL.

Read it in Linden Lab’s own words:
“You may continue to advertise mature events, services, objects, businesses etc…, but any pictures or text related to any such classified must be PG in nature.”

The above quote is taken from a reply to one of my tickets, signed by “Linden Lab and the Second Life Community Team”. This is where LL’s greed for user numbers / the total lack of age verification has gotten us. Everything that is visible grid-wide, like classifieds, group charters or even resident profiles, must confirm to PG standards. Since you can only sell what you can advertise, it’s no longer possible to sell adult content on the adult grid (without risking a permanent ban). Or, from the viewpoint of the adult roleplayer: Soon you won’t be able to find adult content in SL anymore. It won’t show up in the search.

If LL wants to prohibit certain (perfectly legal) content, they need to hire a team that reviews classifieds before they get published. Just imagine a magazine publisher would work like this. Submit your ad and pay up front, and if we don’t like it we won’t publish it, nor will we refund you. Great.
If this continues, LL will soon have kicked the kneecaps of enough business people and will find themselves confronted with a class action lawsuit. In court, establishing L$ as a currency will be a matter of minutes. Ripping the TOS to shreds will only take another minute, it’s already been done. I wouldn’t want to be in the skin of the new CEO when that happens (Philip had good reasons to step down).

Nevermind the fact that craigslist today makes over $150 million per year, with only 24 employees. It’s a quickly sinking ship, where its users are vicious backstabbing narcs. Everyone I know hates craigslist.

Ditto with Wikipedia, which lets its users REMOVE offending content. Everyone knows Wikipedia is an utter failure.

I must say, very insightful. Perhaps you ought to write for the herald yourself.

A journalist’s job is also to inform, to take complex events and condense them for a broader audience who lacks the specialized knowledge of the source material.

Boldly, you eschew such principles and dump undedited, copy and pasted Email chains right on the unwashed masses who have come here, primarily judging from your recent screeds, for excruciating poetry and naked catgirls.

Btw I also support the new Showcase thing. Its not perfect but its better than the current system based on traffic which doesn’t work at all.

Residents are uniformly outraged by the decision. Some indicate such an unannounced gift will ruin their tax planning. Others are angry that the gift is in the form of US dollars, which will need to be converted to their local currency.

Prokofy Neva has already burnt her check, and is organizing a group protest where others will do the same. “If Linden Lab doesn’t agree to take back this money, our next step will be to gouge out our eyes” says she in a press release.

Meanwhile, longtime Neva rival Pixeleen Mistral issued a statement “I burnt my check before Prok, she shouldn’t get all the credit, that bitch.”