My post in Second Life Forums gets deleted by mods

So I made a short post in the Second Life Forums General Discussion section that linked to my blog article titled "Linden Lab losing focus?". Almost a week after I put it up, the topic was suddenly removed by a moderator along with some 20 replies. And the replies were as interesting and divergent as one could want including several pro-Linden Lab perspectives.

The reason I was given for the removal (in PM) was that I had linked to a third-party website (my blog) which was a violation of the Community Guidelines. Well feel free to read them yourself. I couldn't find a single thing mentioning third-party websites or otherwise -- only that one can't put up a link to something that promotes a product or service.

Now I have done this in the past -- put up a post with a few comments and a link to the full article on a topic. Sometimes it's my blog, sometimes it's someone else's or even a news article. Others do it too, often blatantly commercial. It's kinda like why in the hell bother with a URL feature in the Forums if you can't use it!

Plus, as most of you who follow me know, I don't even have this blog monetized for ads. It's strictly something I do for fun.

So hmmmm. I suspect it was more the fact that the TOPIC was negative about Linden Lab. OK, that's fine. I could actually somewhat respect that as the decision factor. But couching the topic deletion in non-existent Community Guidelines was, IMHO, lame.

So does anyone know what the moderator structure of the Forums is? I can't figure out who has mod rights and where you might appeal. I asked the moderator who pulled the post directly why it was a violation when there was nothing in the guidelines suggesting it was.

No reply so far.

Troobles. Ugly virtual pets from Linden Lab.

As commented in the Second Life Forums, these have to be the saddest looking VPs out there. Seriously Linden Lab?? Someone spent time developing these? Mommy pig talks and Daddy pig can act as a security orb. Wowee!

Oh but they are free for a limited time on Amazon.com. I can't wait. Read all about them here. Or not.

Lottie -- summery, butterfly magic

Lottie by Inga Wind

There's a story behind this outfit. When I first got it from Inga Wind, I absolutely loved the print (Inga has a thing for butterfles) and I loved the styling. Plus the wedgie sandals! OMG. They are freaking amazing!

Alpha gap

What was driving me crazy were the alphas! Now most mesh outfits require a certain amount of shape tweaking to get your curvy parts to fit the mesh. But in my case, no amount of tweaking to my boobs would hide some gaps between the alpha and the top.

You can see the little transparent spot above showing the gap. If I set my sliders so the gap would close, the tops of my boobs push through the top. Not a pretty picture (down guys, it looked stupid).

So I sent Ingathe photo evidence and voila, she turned around new alphas in about an hour that solved the problem perfectly! They were just a bit too large. Shrinking them to cover less skin area made a huge difference!

Lottie Sandals by Inga Wind

OK so what you get with Lottie is the dress as shown with sleeves, plus a very cute prim butterfly chest attachment and the sandals!

Now are these not the cutest things on the planet? Want want want for real life! Click them to see the detail close-up. I could have adjusted the skin tone via the included HUD to be a little darker to match my skin tone, but out of the box, it's pretty darn close. (Yes they are the feet included type.)

Lottie showing included hair wreath.

So all this cool stuff sells for $250L ($125L if you are a group member and buy it within 2 days of release). But wow, I'd pay $250L just for the sandals!

As usual, here's a SLURL to Inga's store: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Pitreavie/173/191/409

NOTE - OMG I forgot to wear the hair wreath for my photo. Here's Inga's package photo showing the wreath!

Linden Lab losing focus?

I paid a visit to Linden Lab's website today (basically I was lost on the Second Life website looking for a link to the grid status page) and, to my surprise, I found four new projects sharing equal billing with Second Life: Patterns, Creatorverse, dio and Versu (Living Stories).

Call me stupid, but after reading through the descriptions of each of these, I had a very serious "what the hell are they thinking" moment. Then after playing with dio (was it named after Ronnie James Dio??) and looking at the others more in-depth, my feelings of doom, despair, defeat and dread only grew.

Dio, it seems to me, is nothing more than a do-it-yourself, point & click version of the old computer text game, Colossal Cave Adventure. I wasn't old enough at the time to know about or play Colossal Cave, but I've read enough references to it that I think I'm safe in saying that dio seems like much the same thing. Which begs the question, why? Why cobble up a full beta site for a game concept that's 40-years old? Why put resources into it? Where did this silly idea come from? And they're going to use ad revenue to drive it? Is the target audience 60-something bookworms?

Next up, Versu. OMG boring. I do a lot of writing for a living but the thought of doing interactive stories on an iPad totally underwhelms me. If I'm going to write something, I'm going to use something with a real keyboard. If I'm going to read something on a tablet, it's going to be a real book by a real author. Or I'm going to be browsing Coldwater Creek or Zappos. I can think of 100's of things to do on a tablet before I'd consider something like Versu. :P

Creatorverse - on multiple platforms no less. So you get to put cartoony, 2D shapes and things in motion and watch them do shit? Woohoo! Sign me up Rodvik! I guess it's kind of like Flash for the unskilled. Well the unskilled part fits me but exactly what am I supposed to do with something I create? Show my friends? "Hey Justin, check out this cool rocket I made on my iPhone! Can we get married now?" "Lookie here Flo! I made a happy pink poodle out of circles that runs in place. Isn't she cute?" I mean seriously Lindens? This creates revenue?

And finally Patterns. Make your own giant canyon or mountain that looks like a crazy quilt and walk or fly around it. Gosh, where do I sign up? Oh hmmm. Maybe at www.SecondLife.com where the mountains you make actually look real and not like something in a Torley Linden nightmare.

All this seems like a grasping at nonexistent straws if you ask me. (Well you didn't really ask so I'm telling you.) Maybe some of my blog readers can tell me the silver linings or paths forward in these ventures. Is this sort of creative direction coming from Rodvik Humble or further down the food chain? I welcome your comments!

Linden Lab releases alpha of Materials Project Viewer

From the Linden Lab blog:

The Snowstorm project is happy to announce that we have a Materials Project Viewer available for alpha testing of support for Normal and Specular maps on Second Life objects!  When generally available, this will enable content creators to make much richer looking materials with less geometric complexity.

Read the entire piece here:
http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Tools-and-Technology/Materials-Project-Viewer-Now-Available/ba-p/1962691

Total mesh cuteness from Inga Wind

I give you Inga Wind's latest creation --- "Alison". It is amazingly cute. I've been wearing this off & on since I got it and it just looks fab. It even makes my (normally small) boobs look more, uh, boobalicious. Oh and the wedgie sandals!! OMG! I'd pay for these separately but they come with the outfit and match it perfectly. The skirt portion is a tiny bit meshie (ie. stiff) but that's not really an issue since it dances and walks very well.

Alison looks exactly like the package photo above.

Alison is $200L including 5 sizes from XXS to L, alphas for dress, dress & shoes and shoes, and belt. Includes mesh shoes with full feet and HUD for skin matching.

SLURL to Inga Wind Clothing: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Pitreavie/173/191/409