Today I have unpublished all of my remaining open source code repositories.
This is happening because some individuals forked the code, and implemented "hardcore" style settings in a way that it would apply (and re-apply) them to the user's device without that user's express consent.
I have had problems of that kind in the past.
Several of the default or "stock" OpenCollars I created were modified by some people in a way that users perceived as having highly undesirable and malicious effects on their experience.
Often these collars would be renamed to something like "Red Roses" or "Flowers" to hide what it was. Users would attach the item unknowingly and were locked down, stripped in destructive ways, had their vision destroyed, and in the recent case have such "settings" re-applied from a web server even after resetting the scripts.
Reporting these problems in the past didn't seem to have any effect, and considering what happened with the OpenCollar group I am not really surprised.
All that can be done at this point is to get as much distance to this as one possibly can and hope to be outside of the blast radius.
That said, please stop associating me with OpenCollar.
It has been three years that we go separate ways, and I have done everything in my control to disambiguate my current product from my old product which they distribute as one "official OpenCollar 7".
Peanut collar had substantially improved security in this regard, and the new type I was working on even more so, but the open source code I had on GitHub was deliberately kept "white label", more approachable and more "hackable", so others could make proper use of it, instead of creating Peanut or OpenCollar clones.
I'm sad to inform you that with this, and despite of what I had said in recent comments, I have given up on creating open source LSL code for the Second Life® platform.
My personal experience has been that it largely caused negative effects like the ones described above.
The modifiability of the open source is never made use of to create something positive, and there is a misconception of open source being nothing else than cost-free content, a business in a box, that can be resold.
Open source means more than just the right to resell it for business. It is the sharing of knowledge that gives it so much value.
Despite the great reach I once had, I have failed to convey this, instead I have empowered phony "designer" brands to take over most of the related business segment, and malicious trolls who only make use of Second Life® to jerk off and make others miserable.
Reporting those also had no effect that I am aware of.
Certain groups that center around themes such as extreme misogyny and fetishized hate now have thousands of followers.
When I had reported some of those initially several years ago, and over the years, they were below 20 members on average. Something I would usually do when I saw another hateful group tag pop up over someone's head at the Temple of the Collar.
This is more than just an oversight on Linden Lab's side because they are being overstrained with the amount of Abuse Reports.
It is a complete and utter ineptitude of being able to distinguish in between what is abuse, and what is adult roleplay.
Linden Lab had a very long time to realize that a large part of their user base was on Second Life® for adult entertainment, and there was a chance to develop an understanding of what is play and what is abuse.
The only way to mend this situation now, is for us to create our own protected "bubbles", such as even Fire Flower, where we are willing to take heavy hits from people who disagree with our "political" attitude, calling us "libtards", "radical Marxists", and "Antifa terrorists" only because we position ourselves in a way that reflects an open mind, tolerance, acceptance and equality in race, gender and sexual orientation.
I will continue to contribute to open source programs that I use for image manipulation, code editing and other purposes, but obviously not under my Wendy Starfall handle.
Wendy Starfall has an expiration date. I'm trying my very best, pushing 24+ hour days, every day, so I get a classic, final and safe collar done. Not because I am so obsessed with this, but because I fear that my days on this platform are numbered, and creating collars even was a defining part of my life - I have done this for almost 10 years now, and I want to leave a positive legacy behind that brings joy to people, and not grief.
All open source code I have ever released on Second Life® has been released with full permissions (readable, modifiable, transferable) and I have no obligation to keep any of this code available for download in other places. Meaning who owns it, owns it already and maintaining backup copies is within those persons own responsibility. I have no obligation to function as some kind of download node for something users already owned and chose to delete.
Here is to another weekend with bad news.
I'm surprised there are still people following me at all at this point.
This is happening because some individuals forked the code, and implemented "hardcore" style settings in a way that it would apply (and re-apply) them to the user's device without that user's express consent.
I have had problems of that kind in the past.
Several of the default or "stock" OpenCollars I created were modified by some people in a way that users perceived as having highly undesirable and malicious effects on their experience.
Often these collars would be renamed to something like "Red Roses" or "Flowers" to hide what it was. Users would attach the item unknowingly and were locked down, stripped in destructive ways, had their vision destroyed, and in the recent case have such "settings" re-applied from a web server even after resetting the scripts.
Reporting these problems in the past didn't seem to have any effect, and considering what happened with the OpenCollar group I am not really surprised.
All that can be done at this point is to get as much distance to this as one possibly can and hope to be outside of the blast radius.
That said, please stop associating me with OpenCollar.
It has been three years that we go separate ways, and I have done everything in my control to disambiguate my current product from my old product which they distribute as one "official OpenCollar 7".
Peanut collar had substantially improved security in this regard, and the new type I was working on even more so, but the open source code I had on GitHub was deliberately kept "white label", more approachable and more "hackable", so others could make proper use of it, instead of creating Peanut or OpenCollar clones.
I'm sad to inform you that with this, and despite of what I had said in recent comments, I have given up on creating open source LSL code for the Second Life® platform.
My personal experience has been that it largely caused negative effects like the ones described above.
The modifiability of the open source is never made use of to create something positive, and there is a misconception of open source being nothing else than cost-free content, a business in a box, that can be resold.
Open source means more than just the right to resell it for business. It is the sharing of knowledge that gives it so much value.
Despite the great reach I once had, I have failed to convey this, instead I have empowered phony "designer" brands to take over most of the related business segment, and malicious trolls who only make use of Second Life® to jerk off and make others miserable.
Reporting those also had no effect that I am aware of.
Certain groups that center around themes such as extreme misogyny and fetishized hate now have thousands of followers.
When I had reported some of those initially several years ago, and over the years, they were below 20 members on average. Something I would usually do when I saw another hateful group tag pop up over someone's head at the Temple of the Collar.
This is more than just an oversight on Linden Lab's side because they are being overstrained with the amount of Abuse Reports.
It is a complete and utter ineptitude of being able to distinguish in between what is abuse, and what is adult roleplay.
Linden Lab had a very long time to realize that a large part of their user base was on Second Life® for adult entertainment, and there was a chance to develop an understanding of what is play and what is abuse.
The only way to mend this situation now, is for us to create our own protected "bubbles", such as even Fire Flower, where we are willing to take heavy hits from people who disagree with our "political" attitude, calling us "libtards", "radical Marxists", and "Antifa terrorists" only because we position ourselves in a way that reflects an open mind, tolerance, acceptance and equality in race, gender and sexual orientation.
I will continue to contribute to open source programs that I use for image manipulation, code editing and other purposes, but obviously not under my Wendy Starfall handle.
Wendy Starfall has an expiration date. I'm trying my very best, pushing 24+ hour days, every day, so I get a classic, final and safe collar done. Not because I am so obsessed with this, but because I fear that my days on this platform are numbered, and creating collars even was a defining part of my life - I have done this for almost 10 years now, and I want to leave a positive legacy behind that brings joy to people, and not grief.
All open source code I have ever released on Second Life® has been released with full permissions (readable, modifiable, transferable) and I have no obligation to keep any of this code available for download in other places. Meaning who owns it, owns it already and maintaining backup copies is within those persons own responsibility. I have no obligation to function as some kind of download node for something users already owned and chose to delete.
Here is to another weekend with bad news.
I'm surprised there are still people following me at all at this point.