You WILL accept display names! DX

So, what really is in a name in SL?  Mine?  It's a sentence.  Some people have real sounding or culturally specific names.  Others have AOLish atrocities.  Then there's the people who try to get a 'message' across with their account name... Like... xxx69lickyoudry Felicity. (O.o)

Of course, now we're going to be getting DISPLAY names.  Our account name will be locked to whatever we signed up with, but, with a 7 day minimum we can have any bloody name at all... Well... Unless it's a curse word, on the ban list, or "Linden". (=_=)

But, why Linden?  Eventually that gets dug up at the end of the meeting. (=_=)

[2010/10/07 11:57]  Jack Linden: Drongle, Linden is a real world company with real world brand and protections of that brand. So yes, we will protect that inworld

But, what does that mean? (O.o)

Here's how the crowd understood it. (^_^)

[2010/10/07 11:58]  Ciaran Laval: Linden is also a real name Jack
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Master Kane: Oh and we qare just pissants jack?
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Zoha Boa: ZoHA Islands is a RL company paying +400 K US$ in tier to LL. Why can't you protect us ?
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Cummere Mayo: jack, many of the designers here are real world companies with bradings too
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Cummere Mayo: *brandings
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Imnotgoing Sideways: So, what about Linden St. San Francisco? (^_^)
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Marianne McCann: Hmn. I suspect Voyager might be a company's name out there, maybe others...
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Drongle McMahon: SA are hundreds of other names.
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Aargle Zymurgy: and I'm legally incorporated as well.
[2010/10/07 11:59]  Rigrunner Rang: so again i repeat a person can take no action until they see someone using their TM? There's no protective measures in place for anyone except Linden?

So, yeah, something is inconsistent... I mean...

[2010/10/07 12:00]  Imnotgoing Sideways: But, we get to use our RL names, right... What about when a Frank Linden signs up to SL... It's now everyone but him. (^_^)
[2010/10/07 12:00]  Imnotgoing Sideways: If there's nothing to be afraid of.... There's nothing to be afraid of. (^_^)
[2010/10/07 12:00]  Lamorna Proctor: yeah, you can have any name you like, as long as it's not Linden. What's sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander

So far, the way I'm reading this is that anyone can have anyone else's name at any time, we can use our real life names, we can make up character names, but our display name can NOT contain "Linden". (=_=)

Stepping back in time...

[2010/10/07 11:38]  Imnotgoing Sideways: Linden Lab was only called Linden Lab because the initial office was on Linden St. in San Francisco. Surely, the name has a history that predates SL. (^_^)
[2010/10/07 11:38]  Lamorna Proctor: Unter den Linde was a street in Berlin years before :)
[2010/10/07 11:38]  Lamorna Proctor: *Linden

So, Linden Research Inc. (Remember when they made that change?) feels the need to protect the "Linden" name.  Why?  It wasn't theirs to begin with.  There are people, places, and streets that use Linden as a name.  Surely, there may theoretically be a genuine reason for someone to name their avatar "Linden" at some point in time.  But, that's blocked? (=_=)

To say they're protecting a trademark means... what? (O.o)

[2010/10/07 11:52]  Cummere Mayo: i asked what procedure you have for takedown notices of trademakred or copyrighted names?
[2010/10/07 11:53]  Cummere Mayo: saying talk to us isnt a procedure

Oh, true that.  Residents have trademarked their names due to business interests and such.  But, its not just that.  We'll be stepping into this with zero knowledge of the grief that will come from mistaken identity, fraud, misdirected Abuse Reports, among many other potential issues.  But, the Lindens aren't choosing to protect their resi... CUSTOMERS!  Paying customers, at that. (=_=)

Personally, I can say that I don't completely mind display names, but, I despise the current method being used to implement it.  Add to that, Linden Lab keeps telling us that there won't be a need for protections over our names.  But... They protect their own?  So, if there's no need, why do THEY need it?  That's the whole sticky point for me. (=_=)

I think I have a solution... Opt out. =^-^=

[2010/10/07 11:17]  Imnotgoing Sideways: I'd still love to have an option in my profile that says "Add my account name to the display name blacklist". It can be a tickbox right next to "Hide me In search". (^_^)

People like the idea.  But, will it be implemented.  Heck, it's not even getting acknowledged. (=_=)

I dunno.  I'm seeing a lot of frustrated people who are currently putting a lot of money into SL.  Linden Lab seems to strictly target who they can get far more than who they can keep.  It just smells.  (>_<)

The question is...

[2010/10/07 11:20]  Molly Montale: If being fooled is not a real concern then why will the sur name Linden not be available?

Anyone got an answer?  Anyone?  Bueller?  =^-^=

llSetFriggnImmy();

I'm getting very sick of what I've turned into lately. I'm pulling my hair out. My friends are pulling their hair out. Heck, even people who don't like me are trying to figure out what's going on.

I know what I want to do with myself. But, I lack the strength. I need something. A trigger? A catalyst? I don't know what.

I spent a lot of today on my drums (in RL) beating the crud out of them. My ears are shot for the rest of the day. I finally downloaded Cage The Elephant from Amazon and I've been listening to In One Ear over and over.

I'm trying to get the message.

I know my friends want me back. I want me back too.

How do I come back?

What direction do I go?

I need Need NEED to get out of this funk.

I'm frigg'n Immy!!!

I can be the biggest little crud on the grid if I just get my head together.

But, what's going to be the catalyst? How am I going to get my confidence back? Where did I go so wrong and how can I put that behind me?

Working on this.

Hating myself for killing the Emoticons. Finding delays when I backspace them out of chat.

Going to go say "Hi" to someone on my friends list now and see what comes of it. I'm rarely that bold.

Anyway... Who could turn down freebies like this? ...

... That are THIS FREAKING CUTE!!! XD



Now... Where mah BDSM at?! =^-^=

Anatomy of an Immy. =^-^=

I've been LOLing lately at all the places where I'm seeing my name used as though I'm a beast of lore. "Imnot" here, "ING" there, "Immy" everywhere. It's like watching a bunch of wrinkly curmudgeons telling stories about Bigfoot, Nessie, Jaws, or whatever. It's silly. (^_^)

Anyway... My blog, my rules. Let's talk about me. I'm so vain. =^-^=


Little Immy - March 2008

I started SL as a kid AV. Quite antisocial, in fact. One thing I sure as heck didn't want was to be in the virtual gene pool of the online dating/sex scene. Making myself a creepy little crud really helped work that out... To a limit. (O.o)

I STILL ran into people who would IM me with less than savory requests. And, I was all like "Woah! Dude! DX" most of the time. So, back then, I spelled it out in my profile. I introduced myself, left a messages telling people to NOT IM me with sexual requests, even threatening to shout them to open chat. Finally closing my profile with "Please call me 'Immy' so that I know you've read my profile. (^_^)". Not bad, no? No only an indicator that I got my preemptive message across, but, a nickname was born. =^-^=



So, yes, for quite a while I was a kid avatar. It was fun. Though, I was quite imp-ish and sometimes very un-kid-like most of the time. I was mostly floating between trying pass as a kid, a vampire, a loli-imp, a neko, or whatever my mindset was at the time. Regardless, no matter what I was, I was "me". (^_^)

I've since sprouted up and gone adult now. Along this whole time I've been a regular at the Hanja Welcome area, Waterhead, NCI, and various other places. I like to diversify. I hop around from PG sandboxes to Adult dollification sims and everything in between. (^_^)

One thing that's been consistent to my nature is helping. I was always the kid in class who would put things down to help someone else reach a better understanding of what they are trying to accomplish. So, it's only natural that I become a helper. It started when I found a pile of green dots on the map in a PG sim. I dove in to find this funny little place called New Citizens Inc. One of my Hanja friends was there, so I said "Hi" and chatted up the place for a while. Over time, I got to better know people and even ran into the first person to ever chat with me in SL... An active NCI officer at the time who I had shoo'd away because I wasn't really chatting with anyone back then. (>_<)

Anyway... The group was fun and I became a regular. I started getting used to the idea of being able to build and script on the land. I started entering contests. I started having serious fun. Over time, through what I hope was merit of my actions, I was assigned the role of a helper. (^_^)

I really enjoyed it. Helping comes naturally to me. It's how I get my thrill. I can't really explain it. I guess it's the pride. I like the feeling I get when I've given a person one more thing than they didn't know before. I won't even say I'm generous. I can't say that generosity is my motivation. It's just the thrill of spreading information. I'm an information glut and a showoff, so, I like to spout all day about information I have. (^_^)

At one point, I was finally past my minimum time required to sign up for Second Life Mentors and I dove in to it. The application process took a long time and the meetings, shadowing, and final acceptance was very rewarding. Again, this gave me more opportunity to help. I really didn't have to change any habits and I rarely wore the tag, but, it was nice to have the extra resources available at my disposal. Mentor group chat was a great place to take baffling questions. Access to Help Island was a fun way to pass the time assisting people for their first minutes inworld. It was a blast. =^-^=

Between infohubs, NCI, and Help Island, I sure as heck had a full plate and it was full of things I liked. In between and intermingled with my duties, I had my friends. From the Welcome are mobs, to the drones at The Doll Works, to the nutcase /b/tards of Woodbury, to my own close and personal friends... SL always had something to offer for my time spent inworld. (^_^)

Then I faced a griefing. To me, THIS was a genuine griefing. Not silly cubes and particles. I got falsely Abuse Reported by a W-hat goon for (Sexual)ageplay. Mind you, I was in a PG (adult robot) avatar, on PG land, in a PG event, and building a PG project for the event. What part of anything I was doing had a chance of being misconstrued as (sexual)ageplay, I'll never know. (>_<)

Aparently, neither will Linden Lab. After filing a ticket on the suspension, I got a response clearning my record of the event and apologising for the error. That was a good thing. (^_^) In the process, I was able to point out the events that lead up to my AR and even the presumed name of the avatar that reported me. From that, the NCI community and senior land officer offered me the opportunity to become a Land Officer of the group. I accepted the poisition and continued to do my best to keep the sandboxes clean and safe. At the same time, making a mess of my own, much to the pleasure of the crowd of regulars. (^_^)

To date, that's what I continue to be. SL is supposed to be fun and I'm finding all of my facets of fun in different places all over SL. While I will be losing my Mentor tag in just a couple weeks, I will still mentor on my own terms. The existing fringe mentor chat groups are still fine resources for information and NCI still remains the number one location and group for getting exactly what you need to adjust to this funny little virtual world. (^_^)y