The Alphaville Herald

Op/Ed: Repression, Tyranny and Corruption = Economic Stagnation

by Alphaville Herald on 21/08/08 at 11:59 am

by IntLibber Brautigan

KREMER, SL – The recent LL blog announcement by Jack Linden that LL is holding off any new mainland land sales indefinitely, due to flat land prices, indicates that there is little new interest in land buying by the general public. This means literally zero economic growth in SL for the past two months. The game gods have succeeded in killing an economy that previously had grown at rates of over 400% annually.

While many could explain it as a reflection of RL economic circumstances impacting individuals disposable income, there are other factors at work here. It is a proven fact that tyranny begets reduced economic activity. Former users of SL have either left SL, or reduced their usage to the status of free accounts with no land not just due to real life circumstances, as many are well paid professionals in RL who have plenty of disposable income. The reason they are ceasing contributing to the SL economy is they are sick and tired of the creeping fascism in SL.

Lets face it, the casinos, the ad farming, the banking, was all a sign of a healthy, growing, vibrant economy. People joined SL because they liked the idea of earning at least a part of their living in SL, and they were willing to invest their savings and free time here to make that possible. Linden Lab even promoted SL for this very purpose. Unfortunately, people from economically repressive states and countries also joined SL, brought their ranting demagogery with them, and have succeeded in destroying the economy and driving away capital, much as is the case in their real life nations.

In the real world, cultures that ban economic activity such as these wind up in the economic dustbin. The muslim world, many argue, is underdeveloped specifically because the islamic prohibitions on charging and paying interest on loans or deposits makes obtaining capital difficult, even in supposedly oil rich countries. If islam dropped the prohibition on interest, those nations would flower economically, their middle classes would grow with industry, and the supply of disenchanted underemployed individuals to islamist jihadist organizations would dry up because they would be too busy working.

Governments which engage in campaigns of terror against dissident groups wind up driving out economic players. Argentina, for instance, is a good example. The junta ruling that country in the 80′s ‘dissapeared’ thousands of persons, but the terror of being dissapeared drove out tens of thousands of the most creative, productive, and prosperous individuals, who fled to more free countries with their ideas, creativity, and wealth. Where Argentina was once the industrial powerhouse of South America, it lost so much ground economically that by the 1990′s it suffered a monetary meltdown and required a bailout by the world bank, and now lives under austerity measures and goes begging for debt restructuring.

Mexico, as well, has suffered economically because of its political corruption and record of repression of opposition political groups. It is decades behind the US specifically for these reasons. Recent reforms mean it is now catching up, and its membership in NAFTA is helping.

Second Life is suffering a similar fate as other nations suffering under tyranny. What exacerbates things here is that nobody is trapped in SL, and this is indicated by the vast reduction in new premium accounts, and the steadily decreasing number of new accounts, while the number of existing accounts going dormant is rising significantly. For this reason Linden Lab should be far more circumspect about how harshly they treat people. One story of bad publicity about how LL treats residents drives away tens if not hundreds of formerly loyal users.

The ban of gambling is now recognised as the cause of the collapse of Ginko Bank, and its collapse set off a wave of bank panics and capital flight that easily destroyed between a half billion to a billion L$ of net worth over a few months. The repercussions of this was an inworld recession which we have not yet exited from, a year later, and those remaining in SL are left to cause drama and infighting. LL tried to gloss over it all by blaming the banks themselves, refusing to recognise that ANY economy so drastically changed, in the real world, by government fiat, will set off a similar banking collapse.

Creative and outspoken residents are regularly branded ‘griefers’ by the mundane uncreative mediocrities of SL, and false abuse reports for age, harassment, assault are levelled and too often enforced by a governance team which is now demonstrably corrupted by furry and JLU influences. The furry communities intolerance of opinions which regard their behaviors as extremist fetishists and sexual deviants is well known. The g-team regularly permbans residents who do not implicitly accept furriness as mainstream and ‘normal’. They engage in vendettas against idiosyncratic and iconoclastic individuals who regard the “Big Six” as little more than softcore fascism and who publicly confront others who promote fascism through ranting demagogery.

Today I witnessed possibly one of the most overt acts of corruption by the g-team I’ve ever seen.

Now, you all know that a few days ago, I created the Tizzers BnT account using my custom last name which I paid LL a lot of money for and for the ability to register any account I wanted on it. It was shortly age-banned even though LL knows I am ID verified and have been for a year now, and knows all my BnT accounts belong to me. The account had NEVER been logged into the grid, so there was absolutely no chance that anybody could have filed an abuse report on it with any evidence to support an AR.

Since then over a dozen accounts with the first name Tizzers, created by various other residents, have likewise been banned, and in some cases their primary accounts have also been banned, without any valid incidents or evidence to support the bans.

Those of us at todays Governance Team office hours witnessed this corruption first hand. I got up and asked what the policy was regarding accounts named Tizzers, why they seemed to get banned without any justification. The g-team members repeatedly attempted to evade my questions, trying to insinuate I was asking about a specific case and not explicitly about a general policy, as my questions clearly stated.

Finally, Socrates Linden stated there was no policy wrt accounts named Tizzers…. read on…

[10:15] Public Microphone: Next up to speak is intlibber BnT
[10:15] You: Please explain the unpublished policy that prohibits anybody from having the first name “Tizzers” on an account and why you age-ban anybody doing so, even when you know the primary of the account owner is already ID verified, and before the account even logs into SL for the first time? There have been over a dozen accounts treated in this manner in the past couple days created by many different residents.
[10:15] Zara Linden: even so, we can’t operate off of notecards or IMs (info is in video)- please file a support ticket if you have any concerns that were not addressed after filing ARs
[10:16] Socrates Linden: Age closures are not done via first name.
[10:16] Aargle Zymurgy: I understand, Zara. the notecard wasn’t abuse related.
[10:16] You: well if an account has not even logged into SL once, you obviously are not operating off of abuse reports
[10:16] Kaylee Linden: And again intlibber we cant deal with specifics at this meeting
[10:16] You: this isn’t specifics
[10:16] You: this is about policy
[10:16] Public Microphone: adding Dakota Schwade to the question queue.
[10:16] You: you are obviously exercising a policy against a number of residents
[10:16] You: please explain the policy
[10:17] Harry Linden: Your question relates to an account created by you, unfortunately we can’t dicuss that here.
[10:17] You: wrong
[10:17] You: it applies to over a dozen accounts created by other residents int he past day
[10:17] You: not just me
[10:17] You: so obviously you have a policy you are not admitting to
[10:18] Socrates Linden: The policy is, no one under 18 is allowed on the main grid.
[10:18] You: that has nothing to do with it
[10:18] You: how do you know someone is under 18?
[10:18] You: if they’ve nver logged into SL on that account?
[10:18] You: so you have no chatlogs
[10:18] You: and the accounts are created by known, legitimate residents
[10:19] You: so again, please explain the policy you are not admitting to
[10:19] Socrates Linden: And specific accounts are “specifics”.
[10:19] Kaylee Linden: intlibber – you have already stated some of those are created by you, we have stated we do not deal with speicifics especially when they are not relevant to you, this is not the purpose of this meeting
[10:19] You: I created one of them
[10:19] Harry Linden: Unforutately we can’t dicuss this topic here, if you have an issue with an account please file a support ticket at the support portal.
[10:19] You: which you have not released yet
[10:19] You: I am asking about your policy wrt accounts named tizzers
[10:19] Socrates Linden: If you feel that someone has been incorrectly banned, please file an appeal.
[10:20] You: that would keep me busy for months
[10:20] You: so what is your policy wrt accounts named tizzers?
[10:20] You: it shouldn’t be hard to answer this question
[10:20] Kaylee Linden: intlibber we’ve discussed this lets move on to dakota
[10:20] Socrates Linden: We have no such policy against the name Tizzers.
[10:20] You: either you have one or you dont
[10:20] You: ok thank you
[10:21] Kaylee Linden: dakota you’re next
[10:21] Dakota Schwade: Well he’s not “done”
[10:21] Kaylee Linden: please say done intlibber
[10:21] You: done

Now you can clearly see Socrates statement. Which, taken by itself would give everybody a big sigh of relief that whatever vendetta one Linden may have held, it has been dealt with. However this was tested a minute later:

[2008/08/20 10:25] Pierce Kronos notices an unbanned Tizzers show up
[2008/08/20 10:25] Zara Linden: you came to the right place jacen
[2008/08/20 10:26] You: newly created
[2008/08/20 10:26] Tizzers Muggins: This unbanned Tizzers is 30 seconds old.
[2008/08/20 10:26] Jacen Merryman: I am staff for a private estate w/4 islands.
[2008/08/20 10:26] Tizzers Muggins: We’ll see how long that lasts.

Indeed, shortly after the office hours finished, both Tizzers Muggins and Bridget Waffle were logged off by administrators for no reason:

[2008/08/20 11:31] Alyx Stoklitsky: Intlibber: No. Geona: I may google it.
[2008/08/20 11:32] Tizzers Muggins: rofl, Bridget was just logged out.
[2008/08/20 11:32] Alyx Stoklitsky: POOF
[2008/08/20 11:32] Alyx Stoklitsky: AND THE LIGHTING LEVEL IS BACK TO NORMAL
[2008/08/20 11:32] Geona Graves: I best run, lest I get removed
[2008/08/20 11:32] Alyx Stoklitsky: THANK YOU, LINDEN GODS
[2008/08/20 11:32] Tizzers Muggins: “Please check your email regarding identity verification”
[2008/08/20 11:32] Alyx Stoklitsky: Shit is SO cash
[2008/08/20 11:32] Tizzers Muggins: Countdown to ban….
[2008/08/20 11:33] Tizzers Muggins shouts: DO IT HARRY. DO IT.
[2008/08/20 11:34] Alyx Stoklitsky: THAT IS SO CASH
[2008/08/20 11:35] You: both banned eh?
[2008/08/20 11:35] Alyx Stoklitsky: aye

So, despite Socrates clear declaration that there was no policy against accounts named Tizzers, this one and her primary account were both logged out of SL and age-banned within minutes of the conclusion of the governance team office hours meeting where Socrates said it. The logouts occured in the sam sim, Kremer, as the meeting.

Now, I know the identity of Tizzers Muggins and Bridget Waffle. Neither is a minor. The entirety of Tizzers existence on the grid was in the sim of Kremer, and I witnessed the entirety of her short life in SL. Not once did she say or do anything that would lead one to think they were underage.

However, the G-team is not even in its enforcement of age-bans. I have repeatedly reported one individual, as have others, who is 14 years old, who stole tier money from people he worked for and bought his own sim on the adult grid with the stolen money. He lives less than an hour from me in real life, and I know he used his mother’s ID and help to fraud the age-verification system. Despite proof being supplied about this, the G-team allows him to remain on the grid because he is also a furry. Yes, a child who engages in furry sexually deviant activities with adults on the grid, and Harry Linden refuses to act.

It is now clear that death squads now roam SL filing false abuse reports against people they don’t like, and getting corrupt members of the g-team (if they are not the death squads themselves) to ban those residents for false reasons. It is also well known that SL mafia groups have Lindens in their pockets who will permban a resident for money. Yes you heard it. The Nicholas Mafia is well known to offer this service to people, and to exercise it themselves against competitors in the mafia business.

Historically, mafia activity, no matter which ethnic group is involved, tends to be a sign of economic and political repression of ethnic minorities. Sicillians formed La Cosa Nostra due to economic and politcal repression first by the Moors in the middle ages, and later by northern Italians, French and Spanish occupiers. In the US, Italian-Americans repressed by the WASP establishment, formed mafias to gain economic opportunities and political power through racketeering and corrupt practices. In Russia, Georgians and Moldovans have historically done the same. The Triads of China, and Yakuza of Japan arose the same way.

Terrorism and guerilla activity is also a sign of political and economic repression. While such can be exacerbated by proxy-state brinksmanship between superpowers, the seeds of any such group are based in local repression. It creates fertile soil with which leftist revolutionary theory can be taught by activists to individuals with nothing to lose.

While the PN griefing group arose out of the /b/tard community on 4chan.org, they are only a small percentage of the overal /b/ community. Yet the governance team targets /b/tards in general, as do narrow minded fools like Corsi Mousehold, Angel Fluffy, and Kalel Venkman.

Likewise, many members of the PN leadership: N3X15, Mootykips, JWAN, Yaranaika, NigraLynch, Orly Lawl, have all been outed or come out as furrys. Shouldn’t LL likewise ban all furry’s from SL by the same logic?

They won’t because furry’s are so embedded within Linden Lab. Harry Linden, head of the g-team, is one, as are others.

The Governance Team has clearly and unequivocably gone overboard in their remit. They are now clearly suppressing legitimate residents who pay good money to Linden Lab, and cooperate with groups that target legitimate, money-paying members those groups do not like. This is not new. Cyn Linden, VP of Customer Service (Harry’s boss) was the person responsible for stealing Mark Bragg’s land in 2006. When LL caved in on the case and settled rather than have a precedent set against them, Cyn was not punished for causing the whole mess, she was promoted higher where should could do more damage. She drove Michael Linden out of the G-Team manager spot, and put her protege Harry in his place. She is also responsible for driving Chadrick Linden out of LL, as he was slated for the VP’s spot until she started plotting against him.

It has become quite clear to those of us in the SL public what has previously been spoken of by sources inside the Lab to myself: Cyn “Linden” Skyberg is destroying SL, and most people, in and out of the lab, are too scared to do anything about it. Philip and Mitch are oblivious to her responsibility for the state of things, and M Linden has not been here long enough to figure out she is snowballing him.

The corruption and repression the g-team is exhibiting against certain members of SL, while letting others who are members of approved fetishes get by, is destroying SL. The decisions by Cyn Linden in dumping land on the market, in banning advertising inworld, in banning bank interest, gambling, etc. have driven all the interesting people, the fun, and the capital out of SL.

SL was such a killer app. It really took a lot of work for Linden Lab to fail, but it seems endemic. When I was at an LL recruiting party in June 2007, I was asked what I wanted to do for LL. I said “Strategic Planning”.

They asked, “What do we need to plan for?”

I said, “among other things, you need to plan on how to not become AOL.”

One of them retorted, “But AOL is a GREAT COMPANY!”

It should be no surprise that to cap off this summer of fail, Linden Lab has hired as the CTO replacement for Cory Linden, an executive from AOL. Now all they need to do is hire an exec from EA who used to run TSO and things will be complete.

If Linden Lab wants to revive the battered SL economy, they need to do a lot more than freeze mainland land sales. They seem to have taken the first step by implicitly permitting the return of certain types of gambling. This is a good thing, because the FBI told me specifically that they never told anybody the L$ was akin to a poker chip.

Secondly, LL needs to recognise that Federal Law prohibits real world banks from dealing in L$, so no RL bank will start banking here without a change in regulations. LL should seek such a change from the Feds, or take on the responsibility of lightly regulating the banking business with a few simple rules, and a basic equation that will use known economic data to set official prime rates in SL for independent banks to follow. This isn’t hard, its called Mankiw’s Law and is known by many finance professionals. They should use their gamegod powers to ensure that bankers maintain adequate reserves and limit their ability to take money out of world through process credit or transfer significant percents of bank assets to other avatars.

Thirdly, they need to make separate PG and M continents. This pastiche of PG and Mature sims and parcels is a huge source of drama and strife. Once you make a PG continent, merge the Teen Grid into the main grid, and make teen avatars tags and profiles a distinctly different color from normal accounts, so nobody can claim they dont know they are minors. Then require all teens on the grid to have a parent registered to supervise them. Only allow teens to be on the PG continent, and permit registered parents/guardians of teens to review the chatlogs and other interaction logs of their teens.

With separate PG and M continents, there will be no problems with advertising content being inappropriate, advertising installations on the mainland should be permitted, and owners should be able to sell the land they advertise on at rates reflecting the economic value of the advertising installation. Unless you own a private sim, you have NO RIGHT TO A VIEW. You on the mainland pay 33% less tier than those of us with private sims. The discount you get is because you get less abilities and rights. If you want land that zones out advertising, etc then you should be prepared to pay higher tier for it. Zoned mainland tier rates should be commensurate with private sim tier rates. Likewise, ‘adfarmers’ should also pay higher tier for the economic opportunity they are exercising.

If the governance team wants to get tough policing certain chronic troublemakers who refuse to repent, so be it, but they should do so and can save LL a lot of money, by filing complaints with the local authorities where those individuals live. However it should likewise be open to hearing the heartfelt pleas by those who have forsaken troublemaking, who have grown up, and wish to become positive, contributing members of SL society. We know they have done this in the past for Plastic Duck, and Sha Laxness, both of whom exist on the grid today, unharassed by the g-team on alt accounts.

The person behind Tizzers Foxchase would like the same opportunity and has made a heartfelt apology and plea for mercy, repeatedly, via email, IM, and in person, to no avail. I know Tizzers is personally responsible for much damage done to my own sims in the past. Tizzers made a heartfelt apology to me several months ago in confessing all of her offenses. I have accepted that apology and she has remained true to her word since then. I request that Linden Lab give her a second chance. I am positive that you wont regret it.

It is time for everyone to recognise what is happening, to drop the drama, drop the demagogery, drop the vindictiveness and vendettas, try to just get along, and get back to building the economy of SL.

Corporate customers are not leaving SL due to griefing. They are leaving due to public queasiness about furry and ageplay fetishes going on which the g-team protects, and they are leaving because Linden Lab seems to be more occupied with protecting sexual fetishists rather than developing and producing the tools needed to make real business possible in SL, namely:

a) Groups 2.0: a fully fleshed out group management system for people to run their businesses through.
b) SL VOIP: Businesses need to voice conference with anybody on the planet, not just other SL users. You need calling plans for users to be able to call people outside SL.
c) HTML on a prim: no, not just a picture like the media setting show, but a dynamic link library to make prims into dynamic objects in a linkset application to do email, web browsing, embedded media, ecommerce, with SLL and shttp and https connectability.

Stop messing around in yiff-pads and get to work on making SL the business platform you’ve been hyping it to be. Stop harassing and messing with residents who pay, or want to pay, good money to be involved in this economy, and stop listening to chronic demagogs like Prok and tin-pot-rent-a-cops like the JLU.