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?  =^-^=

Doggies in kidland =^-^=

Currently there's this one bloody thread in the SL Blogorum. It OP'd with a lady expressing her hatred for kid avatars. Though, her "hatred" wasn't really much more than annoyance over annoying people. Heck... Even kid avatars hate the kid avatars she describes. (^_^)

Of course, there's the typical run of chime-ins by people who want to spout about their false pretenses over pedophilia and such... And the people who still think there's some sort of political agenda in keeping kid AVs on the grid. Oh, and let's not forget the kid avatars who really do portray themselves as outspoken and positive contributing residents to SL (Waving at ya' Mari!) (^_^)

But, now we have teh trollzorz! Xd

Namely one Dogboat Taurog. Now, name alone tells me not to take this bugger seriously... Much like myself and that bloody "Sideways" name. =^-^=

But, here's the fun part: He's "CAMPAIGNING" for an all out ban on child avatars. Yes, the total "LOL WUT?" session, all the way. Apparently, he subscribes to the worst form of Association Fallacy known to man. The one that believes that he's heard remotely of one kind of person being bad so it's time to paint the whole community with a broad brush and somehow put them in their place. (^_^)

See... For one, he doesn't seem to care about any form of actual child abuse. Being that he hasn't mentioned any concern of that level at all. In addition, he won't even focus on sexual ageplayers. Lacking focus is a surefire way to fail at a goal. No. His target? The ENTIRE child avatar community. Oh, and for a moment, me along with it... You know, he directly threatened to AR me based on some speculative statement by someone parroting Prokkie's rantings of your's truly. =^-^=

So, now what? What's the hubbub? Why bother? (^_^)

Well... He's bloody entertaining. It's like prodding the village drunk and watching him stumble down the street. And, since LL's moderators seem to be asleep behind the wheel, the thread's able to trudge on without any resistance. (^_^)

It's times like this when I love delusional people. They make such entertaining toys. (^_^)y

http://blogs.secondlife.com/thread/27560?start=0&tstart=0

(Be sure to read the thread in "Flat" mode... "Threaded" mode will practically crash your browser.) =^-^=

"Fun" Show&Tell event last night...

I've been substituting for the Sunday night Show&Tell events for a few weeks now. For the host, it's a very active event. While you're seeing an avatar just standing there, what's going on in the background is someone working in Excel, Photoshop, SL IMs, group chats, and trying to time manage each presenter to prevent the event itself from becoming an endless wait for the next question. (>_<)

Then, you get what I got last night. A one, McLickingAlot Ying, decided it would be fun to particle, sound, and chat spam the event. He was orbiting guests and presenters and pretty much simply causing a ruckus. In any other NCI location, he could have been easily dealt with via Banlink or a classroom security orb. But, none of those resources were available. I was basically left requesting an estate ban on the guy in the Land Holdings group. I pretty much got it about half way through the event. (^_^)

None the less, the event went on all the way to the end and we saw some impressive items. =^-^=

Still, I can see that I've developed no fan club due to recent events. One person in particular (maybe two) decided that the event should be turned into a Q&A session over why the event was like the "Good old, more innocent times" and how the event and crowd were 'influenced' by Woodbury. Even taking a snipe at my promotion of the NCI mall by asking how many items for sale were from "Real people and not WU goons". (=_=)

Well... The event was hosted entirely by me, and each presenter was selected simply on the basis that they IMed me and were more than 90 days inworld. In addition, the mall has been managed entirely by me and each seller was selected simply on the basis that tney IMed me and were under 120 days inworld. Spewing such conspiracy theories otherwise turns out to be a grand way to erode your perceived integrity. (=_=)

So, in spite of spammings, orbitings, detractors, and the general madness of what it is to be griefed in SL... It was a pretty darned good show. (^_^)y