Please understand that I'm running a very small non-profit project.
I value stability over growth and there are only so many users our band of misfits can serve. I rather have an existing happy user base instead of being wide open to some weird sabotage like it happened with our installers.
Right now it is best when we can work on new things and get everything ready, without distributing anymore installers and creator kits with the current version for the time being.
I realize this must feel totally alien to everyone who is used to regular business practices, because why take things down when they could be sold just fine as we work on new stuff, so again: I’m not trying to make a profit, and it makes no sense to distribute a software product when there is a new thing at the same spot in its shelf any day now.
That’s like when you buy a new MacBook and then look at the Apple store the next day and there is an upgraded version of it all of a sudden. Fuck.
Now I know that Apple usually swaps it for you when you ask, but as I said, we are a very small crew, and we simply don’t have the infrastructure and tools for something like that.
I don’t want to earn money to buy a yacht, I want to earn money to pay my rent, and I want to do that by being decent and within a groove that is healthy and fun for my crew.
There also needs to be something said about the retaliation to our messages regarding racism.
When I repeat hash-tags like #NormalizeEquality, remind people to register for voting (which is among the most critical tools to bring people one step closer to racial equality in America), or when I quote statements such as:
I value stability over growth and there are only so many users our band of misfits can serve. I rather have an existing happy user base instead of being wide open to some weird sabotage like it happened with our installers.
Right now it is best when we can work on new things and get everything ready, without distributing anymore installers and creator kits with the current version for the time being.
I realize this must feel totally alien to everyone who is used to regular business practices, because why take things down when they could be sold just fine as we work on new stuff, so again: I’m not trying to make a profit, and it makes no sense to distribute a software product when there is a new thing at the same spot in its shelf any day now.
That’s like when you buy a new MacBook and then look at the Apple store the next day and there is an upgraded version of it all of a sudden. Fuck.
Now I know that Apple usually swaps it for you when you ask, but as I said, we are a very small crew, and we simply don’t have the infrastructure and tools for something like that.
I don’t want to earn money to buy a yacht, I want to earn money to pay my rent, and I want to do that by being decent and within a groove that is healthy and fun for my crew.
There also needs to be something said about the retaliation to our messages regarding racism.
When I repeat hash-tags like #NormalizeEquality, remind people to register for voting (which is among the most critical tools to bring people one step closer to racial equality in America), or when I quote statements such as:
"We said black lives matter. We never said only black lives matter. We know all lives matter. We just need your help with #BlackLivesMatter for black lives are in danger!"
And some people take this as, let me quote, "radical Marxist propaganda" - it's not me doing something wrong, it's those people living in an alternate reality where racial equality isn't a basic human right but "political propaganda".
If a person believes that another human being doesn't deserve the same rights as they do because of the color of their skin, then I am proud to be that person's enemy.
I could care less whether our apps and toys have fewer review stars, silence is not an option, but I think it is not right that people are given the tools to effectively retaliate in such a manner when they disagree with someone’s opinion.
The point that I was "weaponizing" my messaging system in some way is moot, because I had no malicious intent, and none of my messages were in some way aggressive or hurting anyone. Let me re-post what this message system is about:
If a person believes that another human being doesn't deserve the same rights as they do because of the color of their skin, then I am proud to be that person's enemy.
I could care less whether our apps and toys have fewer review stars, silence is not an option, but I think it is not right that people are given the tools to effectively retaliate in such a manner when they disagree with someone’s opinion.
The point that I was "weaponizing" my messaging system in some way is moot, because I had no malicious intent, and none of my messages were in some way aggressive or hurting anyone. Let me re-post what this message system is about:
Our products are married to their community. Occasionally there will be news.
News may include, but are not limited to, links to blog posts, promotional offers, announcements of interesting events and new product releases, or invitations to community gatherings.
We also send news addressing social issues and important causes.
They are small pieces of text that are no greater than 1,024 characters in length, which appear only when you are currently logged into Second Life®.
Every message is received only once per each individual copy of the product.
We don’t have any mailing lists, and we don’t have anyone’s personally identifying information. The news messages are comparable to text appearing on your Hi-Fi, displaying the name of the radio station and what song is currently playing.
The news settings are not networked and can't be distributed to other copies of the same product, meaning that enabling and disabling has to be done for every new copy of the item.
Messages can be disabled by posting the following command to the Second Life® viewer's Nearby Chat: /301 news off
I have been using my messaging system in one way or another since 2011. When all this started I urged people not to throw bricks and to wear protective masks at protests.
Meanwhile I don't believe that this was about people receiving a message once every other week, it was about the context of these messages, and those feeling offended were either disturbed in their fantasy roleplay in-game, in which case it is best to disable the messages, or they felt attacked by the context itself, which speaks for itself.
Apparently it was just fine for others to hijack my groups for political debates in the past, or park themselves with "MAGA" signs at my in-world sim. It also seems to be fine when "Reinhard Heydrich" visits Arcadia in a SS uniform, or men with tags above their character stating “Misogynist Gentleman”.
They can be asked to leave or kicked out or banned. But our content on the market gets hit in a way that is visible to the outside world in web searches.
We can moderate these trolls only in ways that have no real consequence for them, but they can retaliate in a manner that affects our businesses and reputation.
We keep doing genuine good, but end up having our reputation warped to look like radicals and spammers.
Go ahead and google my name. Look at what you find, and then ask yourself how messed up it is when stuff like that happens to a nobody like me, and how effective it is to clip a person's wings just because they were standing up for what they believed in.
Now, I don't need wings for standing up, but if things progress the way they do I may need my fists to defend myself. I'm harmless because I choose to be, just like every other peaceful protester and activist, but there are causes when we need to be loud, and when we can’t be heard we need to go out on the street to make ourselves be heard properly.
We are not powerless or weak only because we choose to broadcast our message in a non-harmful and peaceful manner - which is exactly what I did with my messages.
The last time I looked my name was still Wendy Starfall and not Ulrike Meinhof.
Meanwhile I don't believe that this was about people receiving a message once every other week, it was about the context of these messages, and those feeling offended were either disturbed in their fantasy roleplay in-game, in which case it is best to disable the messages, or they felt attacked by the context itself, which speaks for itself.
Apparently it was just fine for others to hijack my groups for political debates in the past, or park themselves with "MAGA" signs at my in-world sim. It also seems to be fine when "Reinhard Heydrich" visits Arcadia in a SS uniform, or men with tags above their character stating “Misogynist Gentleman”.
They can be asked to leave or kicked out or banned. But our content on the market gets hit in a way that is visible to the outside world in web searches.
We can moderate these trolls only in ways that have no real consequence for them, but they can retaliate in a manner that affects our businesses and reputation.
We keep doing genuine good, but end up having our reputation warped to look like radicals and spammers.
Go ahead and google my name. Look at what you find, and then ask yourself how messed up it is when stuff like that happens to a nobody like me, and how effective it is to clip a person's wings just because they were standing up for what they believed in.
Now, I don't need wings for standing up, but if things progress the way they do I may need my fists to defend myself. I'm harmless because I choose to be, just like every other peaceful protester and activist, but there are causes when we need to be loud, and when we can’t be heard we need to go out on the street to make ourselves be heard properly.
We are not powerless or weak only because we choose to broadcast our message in a non-harmful and peaceful manner - which is exactly what I did with my messages.
The last time I looked my name was still Wendy Starfall and not Ulrike Meinhof.