Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Welcome our new Fascist Overlords shall we?

Linden Lab, the developers of that wonderful world of Second Life, have sunk to an all-time low. I couldn't think it possible for a Corporation like Linden Lab, who "talks" about valuing the FREE SPEECH of everyone and valuing the OPINIONS of everyone, has now become some sort of Marxist Fascist Censors.

Today I was busying myself answering questions during the New Resident Q&A event that I host every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. During this time, I was asked the normal questions you would get asked during a New Resident Q&A, and also was asked about this past weekends remarks on the Second Life Blogs.

I re-told the story of WHY I had taken up on this action, and WHY I was fighting to get our Fascist Friends in San Fran to actually FIX Second Life and LISTEN to the Community. I can honestly say I did not saying anything that was untrue, nor was defamatory in the slightest. Shortly after this though, I was "logged off by an Administrator".

To my surprise, I was being "watched" and apparently, my criticism of our Marxist Overlords was not taken well, and therefore I was banned. I received an email that attempted to explain WHY they had taken this action, but as you all know, those emails are quite convoluted and they really don't explain EXACTLY what occurred.

I can only guess what the issue here was, so let's try and figure this out. Paragraph by Paragraph let's dissect this email:

    Linden Lab individually investigates the circumstances of every Abuse
    Report we receive. Following a careful review of our server records and
    logs, we have determined that your recent actions violated the Second Life
    Community Standards or Terms of Service. The violation in question occurred
    on September 19, 2007 in the region of Kissling.
We know that during this "report" of infraction, I was hosting the New Resident Q&A. I'm sure many of you have attended this event before, and you know I have never said anything about Linden Lab or her employee's that wasn't true and I couldn't backup with hard evidence; today was no different.

Contrary to popular belief, when I'm busy doing the New Resident Q&A, I'm concentrating my efforts on one thing and one thing only; the New Residents. I answer their questions, and I mean all of them. Since I'm no longer a Mentor, I no longer have to dodge those questions that sheds some light on Linden Lab and the way her employee's DON'T do their jobs. So, while some might believe that I was actually swearing and making up stories to make Linden Lab look bad, that really isn't necessary. Linden Lab, on a daily basis anymore, does something stupid and has the act of making them look bad, well in hand.

    Violation: Community Standards: Rules of Conduct

    Within Second Life we want to support residents in shaping
    their specific experiences and making their own choices.
    Our rules are simple: treat each other with respect and
    without harassment, adhere to local standards as indicated
    by simulator ratings, and refrain from any hate activity
    which slurs a real-world individual or real-world
    community.

    The rules of conduct are interpreted with the broadest meaning possible.
Apparently the Rules of Conduct now stifle our FREE SPEECH abilities within Second Life. Although, like our friends in San Fran like to say, we should follow the laws of our local jurisprudence. This means, and these are their rules not mine, that the Residents living within the border of the United States, should be able to practice FREE SPEECH, just as long as it's not meant to incite a riot, cause injury to someone or something, or defame/slander an individual or community. Since my speech this afternoon didn't even come close to any of these three exceptions, I must assume that Linden Lab now chooses to censure those people that would criticize them. It must be difficult when you, as a company, can't handle not only criticism, but also the truth, and that truth which has been proved.

I see now why I haven't been able to get the folks at Linden Lab to move on these issues and start correcting bugs and stabilizing our world; they have the maturity of a Sixth Grader who gets mad when someone reveals something about them that they are ashamed of.

I suppose really that this shouldn't come as any great shock to us. Linden Lab has chosen NOT to listen, except when people sing their praises. If someone does manage to get in their criticism, those people are immediately made out to be hate-mongers and trouble-makers. This sounds an awful lot like China to me, perhaps we now know who is really behind the development of HiPiHi!

I imagine that I'm going to be "watched" carefully for the next few weeks, to be sure I've "learned" my lesson. It will be nice having a Linden Lab employee following me around, perhaps the next time I lose an object, I won't have to wait a MONTH before someone even tries to recover it.

So, if you see me in-world, be sure and say HI, to me, and my invisible friend from Linden Lab.

5 comments:

MagnAxiom said...

Wow, I can't say I'm to surprised either, disappointed to be sure, but not surprised.

You mentioned Ban in your blog, I guess this was a temporary ban then? I like to have had a heart attack when you said Bob had been banned!!

*sigh* LL, grow up!

MagnAxiom Epsilon

p.s. Does this now make me have a invisible LL Follower too? :-)

Unknown said...

Well, I'm quite prepared to believe that our evil fascist overlords blah blah have struck again, but I'd like to understand the context -- you just aren't telling the story fully. Content of speech shouldn't matter, but without it, we can't understand the neuralgic reaction. What was this "action" you speak of, and what was said? Are you saying that a Linden was present at this event where you were answering questions of newbies, or did they invisibly log you off?

I was surprised the other day when after a public meeting, a person (Benjamin Duranske) who had harassed me and tried to crash the meeting, and had been banned from my land, returned to Governor Linden land nearby and spied on the convo -- and then after the meeting was over, lifted out of the chat history my publication of his harassing IM to me in the chat. He AR'd me for "disclosure," one of the things I find most heinous about the TOS which is unjust since there is even a tool now to preserve chatlogs within the client itself, i.e. not just cut and paste as you know. I believe private conversations should be left private, but that's a moral precept that shouldn't be enforced by LL; public conversations and IMs by public figures including Lindens who are like public officials should not be sequestered as "private communications" subject to disclosure laws -- in fact the entire disclosure "law" should be dumped as it is no longer enforceable with voice capacity now.

Within hours, I was slapped with a warning from LL for disclosure. I was amazed, as I can take 3 days sometimes to get a response to gross attacks on me and my tenants, i.e. a huge billboard of my RL picture put up in an infohub, or anti-semitic/racist attacks on my sims where the perpetrators remain in the people list griefing over and over for days, despite numerous reports. No action there, response time is sluggish, but gosh, when some little dweeb ARs me and the Lindens wish to "make a point" (and *what* that point is, I'm still wondering about), they move.

I think you have to face the fact that FIC 1.0 is not indispensable and it is one of many things the Lindens are going to be throwing over board on their way to open source.

Bob Bunderfeld said...

Dyer:

I would LOVE to give you a transcript, but since we were using the VOICE CHAT to conduct the Q&A, that's not possible.

I can tell you though, and I'm being honest and open here, that I was talking about this past weekends uproar when I pasted the IM Conversation that Kona Linden and I concerning the return of my Lost Objects. I also spoke of how I was able to get the OLIVE SIM re-districted to MATURE from Sandbox. At no time did I use any language that was inappropriate or defaming.

The problem is Linden Lab has NO defense from the LOG I have brought forth, and so they are going to do whatever they can to silence me, even if that means stretching their own rules to the limit to cover something I said, such as "Good Morning".

I wish this were different, I really do, but unfortunately, it seems the ONLY work Linden Lab employee's are capable of doing is Suspending/Banning Residents. Amazing how fast they can "investigate" a supposed issue and pass judgement, yet a MAJOR BUG in Second Life continues to go unfixed and nothing is being done to reimburse the Residents that are most effected. Sounds like Linden Lab has completed their change from a small time gaming company to a Nazi State.

Heil Philip!

Unknown said...

Comparing LL to a Nazi State will, in actual fact, probably get you banned. I like what you stand for, but have some civility.
Hope to see you in world again soon,

Dave Talamasca.

xxx

Bob Bunderfeld said...

Dave:

If Linden Lab reads this, and promptly bans me for what I speak on MY blog, then they are exactly what I suppose them to be.

So, Uncle Philip, prove me right, ban or suspend me for what I write in my blog, I dare you :)