Archive for 'Opinion'

Op/Ed: Time to Outsource SL Support to India and Botswana?

How Linden Lab can benefit by offshoring labor — and why they should. by Kelvin R. Throop, concerned resident A while back, I tried to teleport to my office in Second Life. However, for some reason, I couldn’t teleport there, and I landed in the sim next door. My office sim hadn’t crashed, and I [...]

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My Love

by One Song In the midst of so many passionately fought battles We must not be distracted, nor forget our love. Today, we commemorate the execution of a saint, St. Valentine, who was amongst the most virtuous. Often, it seems, valiant warriors are martyred Unjustly defending a good cause. Saints, unlike angels, do not live [...]

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A Secret Garden in Second Life

Why is adding a memorial to Linden Memorial Park so hard? by suzy Honi One of the greatest secrets of Second Life is a huge region owned by the Linden’s but open to everyone. The land is beautifully landscaped and formed with beaches, flowers, woods and streams. It is one of the most beautiful open [...]

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Linden, do not harm

How Linden Lab’s good intentions turn into public wrath by Mony Markova How is it that good ideas turn into complicated and alienating actions that keep Second Life client base perplexed? To find out, a brave group of concerned citizens managed to place a bug into one of the many LL meetings, and this is how [...]

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Op/Ed: You’ve Lost That Web 2.0 Feeling

Capturing the analog human spirit in a soulless digital environment by Tizzers Foxchase In 2006, Time Magazine named You the Person of the year. With user-generated content dominating over half of all web traffic, there is no doubt that the antiquated, unidirectional methods of media delivery are giving way to the notion that we are [...]

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Letter to the Editor: Jesus Loves the Little Yiffers

"Give hospitality to the zoosexuals and furries of the furry fandom" – Kobidobidog Saturday, Urizenus Sklar received Kobidobidog’s response to the 2007 Herald story Are Furries Doomed? On Sat, Oct 2, 2010 at 8:37 PM, kobidobidog wrote: I am sending this to you because you are only one of two humans I can send this [...]

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Linden Lab Has No Apparent Business Plan

by Ron T Blechner (Hiro Pendragon on SL) How does Linden Lab, creators of the most popular non-game virtual world, Second Life, make their money? Easy: land and a cut of the marketplace. How are they going to ensure that they continue to have this revenue stream? Easy: Stick their fingers in their ears and [...]

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The Hall of Mirrors and The Real World

A note from the Alphaville Herald Editors Since the Alphaville Herald’s inception in 2003, we have covered the news of online worlds and societies like no one else. You’ve enjoyed tales of griefers, scammers, virtual mafias, virtual paramilitary organizations, epic trolls, perverts, furries, babyfurs, baby unicorns, goreans, elves, online Nazis, anti-Nazis, virtual communists, dirty dealing [...]

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Op/Ed: Our Responsibilities As Avatars

A Six Part Manifesto To Save Second Life by JS Uralia The Linden Lab economy is collapsing, with the market value of Second Life’s stock down over 35% since May, according to SharesPost. If we avatars are to survive, we must exercise good citizenship and socially responsible corrective action to remedy this situation at once, [...]

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Nelson Jenkins: Why Would Anyone Trust These Emerald Guys?

[Nelson Jenkins has been awarded the “commie” or comment-of-the-week award for this detailed breakdown of the Modular Systems abuses. The award winning comment is reproduced below.] @ Jocelyn Pawpad I’m going to go ahead and cross-post this, just in case you didn’t get the memo. Why anyone would continue to trust these folks will remain [...]

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