Get Rid of These People

FlipperPA Peregrine is busy cross-posting from the odious Second Citizen (a disgusting, obscene, scatalogical, brain-dead, cynical, griefer-supporting forum that I'm glad I've stopped reading, much less posting to, completely) about SLCC. That's indicative in itself -- that he and his RL wife Jennyfur are among V-5 W-Hat griefing assholes who harass others and devalue and destroy their property, and that they are also helping to prop up other frequent-flyer nasties like Weedy Herbst or Hecktor Hannibal or even the insufferable second-rate pod-caste Cristiano Midnight -- and that's his first stop for where to publish a notice about how to organize for SLCC 2007.

In this post (below the fold), Flipper airily notes, "in our yearly tasks" -- as if it's perfectly fine to assume that Jennyfur and her husband FlipperPA can just go on ruling our world and ruling these vital community conventions. Quite a few are unhappy with their leadership, yet through indifference, fear, lack of resources, they simply let them role on.

They're unhappy with the piss-poor performance of FlipperPA last time, when he refused to care or troubleshoot or provide for the inworld segment of the conference.

They're unhappy with the overall disgusty FIC-y atmosphere of the thing, which last summer seemed largely about the Feted Few hawking their services as hugely overpaid metaversal minions to Big Corporations and flogging the brands of those corporations, instead of serving the world -- the community.

They're unhappy at the over-Lindenization of this venture -- ugh, really, come on.

Who is they, you ask? And who am I that I can invoke this "we" or "they"? Just somebody who is unafraid, who hears the complaints, and articulates them.

More than that, people are heavily disliking some of the featured acts at SLCC. The dildo guy was funny -- and we never did get some truth in advertising -- isn't he a Linden now? So how much "our world imagination" is THAT? And is that really putting the world best-feet-forward for mass membership -- clunky tekkie dildonics? I gather most cybersexers are getting along fine with whatever makeshift arrangements they develop between their chosen partners, their computer, and their real-life accoutrements lol.

Stroker Serpentine just finished bullying a yard-saler and making false accusations against her as a "thief" before prancing off to run an SLCC workshop -- a despiccable act that the Peregrines -- and the Lindens -- shouldn't have been endorsing as they do. It's wrong. Jeska Linden shouldn't be a member of a resident's group that does shit like that.

And FlipperPA -- he of SLB which he claims he doesn't benefit although ESC benefits from SLB and he is on the ESC payroll -- has advocated really sucky positions like "let's get rid of the Events calendar so Tringo and sales won't cause eyebleeds" or "let's not let unverified accounts have sale privileges for their content". All his moves favour one group: himself, and his friends who believe in the mantra "no business but our business".

Jennyfur is largely known for her sullen and belligerent responses to even the mildest criticism of the poorly-managed SLCC, and her reigning it over others on the forums. (Lately, I've just stopped reading all forums, in favour of just reading all the news sources and blogs; it's been refreshing, though I still look for a forum where really serious discussion can continue. Right now, the comments of the Herald, this blog, and Secondlifeinsider.com as well as 3pointd.com seem to be the best "forums" to me).

So...let's get rid of these people! How? you say. They are favoured and beloved by Lindens, especially Jeska Linden who has propped them up and their excesses on the forums all these years. But...there's nothing whatsoever to stop anybody from having their own alternative community conference. There could be lots of them -- it's that big of a world!

I urged this to be done last summer when SnoopyB did finally step up and put together an alternative metaversal meet-up in Chelsea. Of course, it was overly Sheepified for my taste and there was at least two other people there actively selling their metaversal brands, not really discussing the stuff criticially.
Still, a good start.

With SOP IV not having enough money to put the show on the road, and being so hobbled by political correctness, I just wonder where the place to go will be to have open, intellectually honest, and serious debates about the metaverse. The brand-infused and Linden-loaded SLCC of last year just won't cut it -- I'll boycott it again, I guess.

I personally don't likely have the resources to put on something in RL, and even inworld is a stretch. What's needed is someone really dedicated to the mechanics of serving people on sims and broadcasting to them faithfully and taking their input. Some dedicated team of shoutcasters needs to step up, even for pay that we could all contribute to perhaps.

And I do hope that in cities all over the world, people will not let these long-time feted pets rule the conversation. Have your own meeting, make your own world. It's your imagination!

As someone who has booked conferences at hotels numerous times over the years, I can only shrug at all this churning. You go to the cheaper hotels in the cheaper cities and you get their convention rates and they give you the room with the equipment. Perhaps universities or law firms with large conference space can sometimes pony up the in-kind donations. The question is whether people should allow these unimaginative types currently leading it, who produce bland, stupid agendas and suck up to both Lindens and big branding in ways that are entirely unnecessary, to keep running it.

Often, this sort of situation happens simply because they show up, volunteer, and muscle in where others don't. But that can have a paralyzing effect. There are people who would volunteer if it were not them, and if the job were not getting done. So I can only put out a clarion call: start alternative organizing now.

The SLCC 2007 Location Input Needed (crossposted from Second Citizen by FlipperPA Peregrine) Greetings!

The SLCC team has processed quite a bit of feedback. Thank you to everyone who responded to the survey. If you haven't seen the results to the survey, Jennyfur did a great job summarizing the key points here: http://jennyfursblogshite.blogspot.com/

Choosing a location is always the most polarizing part of our yearly tasks in running the SLCC. Everyone wants to have it as close to them as possible, and that is understandable and just part of human nature. However, we must consider many factors when choosing a location:

(1) Popular demand. How many people will attend at a given location? Which locations are voted the most popular? What demographics are there to support the location choice?

(2) Ground support. It is crucial to have key volunteers in the destination city who are willing to put in quite a bit of work; several hours per week from now until the event itself, and many hours in the weeks leading up to the event. The week before the event, a good thirty hours will be required from several people who are present in the city itself.

(3) Cost of event, cost to attendee. Hotels, food, airfare, entry: it all adds up. Certain cities (San Francisco, Philadelphia) have much more affordable hotels than others (New York, Boston). Other factors weigh in as well; for example, we were able to use the space in the New York Law School for a very good rate as part of State of Play, however, our cost for convention space last year at Fort Mason was much higher. All of these factor in.

There are many other smaller factors, but these are the big three.

That said, with Las Vegas and Chicago as the two leading vote getters, we need to now reach out to people from either city who would be willing to be volunteers. This is not a casual position; it is a lot of hard work, a lot of commitment, and not paid.

Our goal for this year is to find a single location to host the event instead of throughout a city. What we're hoping to do is find a hotel that will give us the space we need for the convention itself in return for guaranteeing a number of rooms. Then, if you book a room, your convention entry is covered. Of course, you'll still be able to pay to enter if you don't want to stay at the hotel.

So to the community: it is up to you! Please get in touch with us if you're truly interested in sponsoring as a volunteer in one of these two cities, or we'll have to look into other posibilities.

Comments

[Joshua Nightshade]

Awesome!

[Nimrod Yaffle]

I think you should work on your own personal problems before bashing other people about their's, prok.

[Siggy]

"That said, with Las Vegas and Chicago as the two leading vote getters, we need to now reach out to people from either city who would be willing to be volunteers. "

Ironically that would be myself, Jonquille Noir, and Hosequeen.

I'm sure if you just said 'please' really really nicely........

[Number]

"Get rid of these People," said Stalin.

And no, they didn't attack an "honest" merchant. Did you do any investigation into the matter before you issued your fascist call to virtual avatarocide?

[Lecktor Hannibal]

You misspelled my name again bitch.

[Prokofy Neva]

1. Yes, have it in a city with Siggy in it, and geez, you'll get what you pay for there.
2. Your name is deliberately mispelled, Hecktor. Don't you have an earlobe to take care of or something?
3. Yes, they attacked an honest merchant and it has been exhaustively investigated and covered at amazing depth here on these blog pages here:

http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2006/07/consider_yourse.html

[Chip Midnight]

Perhaps the reason you no longer post at or read Second Citizen is because you were banned for your deplorable behavior? Just sayin'

[Lecktor Hannibal]

Glad to see you're keeping up with my prose Cockofy. The earlobe is much better today thank you. IP noted.

[Phoenix Psaltery]

Gosh, I am almost disappointed that I've fallen out of your Top Ten People To Hate (Or At Least Disdain).

While I'd much prefer to pretend hatemongers like you don't exist, I do have to stand up and say that Flip, Jen, and the rest of the people who put on the 2006 SLCC put more work into that three day event than virtually any group of people I ever saw.

If you put half the effort into doing something constructive as you do into smearing others, you could be a tremendous force for good. Alas, I fear the Dark Side's hold on you is steadfast.

[Joshua Nightshade]

"2. Your name is deliberately mispelled, Hecktor. Don't you have an earlobe to take care of or something?"

Like Feted, right?

[Number]

No, she was not an honest merchant. She was someone who manipulated someone's generosity by turning around selling something for a profit. She was selling something that people could get for free. She was deliberately lying to people by charging them for freebie objects.

Taking schematic information (e.g. the design for a bed, dress, or whatever) and creating an infinite number of duplicates to sell to people for a profit is not the same as selling a finite number of second-hand objects on eBay or at a Garage Sale.

For example, here's an object that I made and I give away for free:

http://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wellinevaiu0.gif

I spent about half an hour doing this to make something that all people could enjoy. If someone secretly and dishonestly takes that object and starts making a profit they are defrauding the people they are charging.

It would be like selling Free AOL discs for 5 dollars each.

And there is definitely nothing wrong with "naming and shaming" the people who do this.

[Number]

No, she was not an honest merchant. She was someone who manipulated someone's generosity by turning around selling something for a profit. She was selling something that people could get for free. She was deliberately lying to people by charging them for freebie objects.

Taking schematic information (e.g. the design for a bed, dress, or whatever) and creating an infinite number of duplicates to sell to people for a profit is not the same as selling a finite number of second-hand objects on eBay or at a Garage Sale.

For example, here's an object that I made and I give away for free:

http://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wellinevaiu0.gif

I spent about half an hour doing this to make something that all people could enjoy. If someone secretly and dishonestly takes that object and starts making a profit they are defrauding the people they are charging.

It would be like selling Free AOL discs for 5 dollars each.

And there is definitely nothing wrong with "naming and shaming" the people who do this.

[Siggy]

"1. Yes, have it in a city with Siggy in it, and geez, you'll get what you pay for there."

Yup - you'll have fucking great time! Coz lets face it - I'd hate to fly in the face of popular opinion - all those tourists visiting Las Vegas can't be wrong.

So you take Chicago, you and Coco can have a panel of the effects of post Stalin Russia on knitting patterns and scrapbooking :)

I'm your endevour will be a huge success - after all both of you will fill our your post convention polls saying so - giving it a 100% chance of success!

Cheers!

[Coyote Momiji]

Damnit. How about Southern California? I know someone you can stay with, Prok.

...I, uh, hope you don't mind anarchocommunists...

[Cocoanut]

Ah shut up, Siggy, or I'll jam a knitting needle up your arse.

coco <---- doesn't even knit

[Carl Metropolitan]

Candace Sullivan is an honest merchant. I saw the bed Stroker accused her of ripping off. It was not a copyable bed. I've also seen other beds of the same style come though the second hand store owned by a friend of mine. They had the same permissions.

As for your claim, "she was selling something that people could get for free", that bed only became a no transfer freebie after Stroker got pissed off at people selling it at yard sales. He made it a freebie to destroy the resale market for it. Costing him tens of thousands of L$ and costing the second hand merchants a few hundred.

[Number]

"He made it a freebie to destroy the resale market for it. Costing him tens of thousands of L$ and costing the second hand merchants a few hundred."

It was his intellectual property to do whatever he wanted for it.

And there's no such thing as "second hand" in Second Life. Goods can be multiplied indefinitely. Bedsheets never stain. Wood never splinters. There is no "second hand. " What there is: people who don't have the creative prowess to sell their own creations, leeching off the artistic ability of others without their permission.

One time someone begged me to give them an object that I had created with permissions. I assumed they wanted to edit. Fifteen minutes later I saw them selling my object for 300L. An object that I give people for free.

Yes, that's fraud and misrepresnetation. It's stealing money from people by selling them goods that they can ordinarily get for free.

Prokofy Neva is constantly harping on how we should "name and shame" people -- well, that is precisely what this group is doing. If they don't refuse to stop selling freebie items, then they can expect signs to appear next to their store saying "THIS STORE SELLS FREEBIE ITEMS FOR PROFIT"

Prokofy Neva condones a lot worse for people who she puts on her "griefer" list.

[Prokofy Neva]

If someone doesn't want to sell their item for copying, then can turn off "no copy". *Shrugs*. We've been over that a million times. If they put it on copy so that everyone can rez and tier under their product, then they entitle people to sell it for whatever the can get.

Numbers can't post here because he has no SL name shown.

[Tao Takashi]

So Prokofy, please start an alternative SLCC now and we will then can see how much it's better.

Complaining is so easy..

(and please work on your posting style. Insulting people hardly helps anything, thank you)

[Kyrah Abattoir]

prokofic in all her greatness, again

[Charlotte Williams]

"If someone doesn't want to sell their item for copying, then can turn off "no copy". *Shrugs*. "

Why should they have to do that? What if I want to give out something that I want people to share with others? Does that give them a right to secretly defraud other people (as well as the creator) by turning a profit off of something that is not their work -- something that is, in fact, available for free?

Why are you so permissive on this issue while you have a giant prim-stick up your butt on other minor issues?

Is it just because your pet boogiemen are involved in this?

[Allana Dion]

"Second Citizen (a disgusting, obscene, scatalogical, brain-dead, cynical, griefer-supporting forum that I'm glad I've stopped reading, much less posting to, completely ... among V-5 W-Hat griefing assholes who harass others and devalue and destroy their property,"

Because some of the people who participate in a forum spoke out against the blanket banning of an entire group, what amounted to a guilt by association ban, you're going to now label everyone who participates in that forum greifers as well?

I never even heard of V-5 or W-hat before they were banned and I've never griefed anyone but I post in Second Citizen. So guess that means I make the list.

"the insufferable second-rate pod-caste Cristiano Midnight"

Cristiano, you mean the guy who just a few weeks ago you were praising for how well he moderated his forums, that is until you were banned from them, then he got put right back on your shit list I guess.

As for those planning the SLCC, you're bitching about people who have volunteered to do a huge job that nobody else wants to do. Do you want to do it? No? Didn't think so. You claim so many people are complaining, yet don't see them stepping up to take on the job either.

"overall disgusty FIC-y atmosphere of the thing, which last summer seemed largely about the Feted Few hawking their services as hugely overpaid metaversal minions to Big Corporations and flogging the brands of those corporations, instead of serving the world -- the community."

Disgusty?

But of course you weren't there. You "boycotted", which we all know translates to, you couldn't go because it was too far away, like many of us couldn't when it was in New York the year before.

So are you going this time Prok? If it's in Chicago or Las Vegas, will you be attending, participating, putting in some work even? Or will you again just be criticizing from a distance about all the things you imagine are happening?

[Prokofy Neva]

Tao, you aren't a journalist and reliable media service when you step in and comment on people's content. There are miles of things that go up on your blog roll, many of them that cry out for some sort of commentary -- you remain blind to them. Only when your class warriors are going into battle do you show up lol.

I'm glad I put this criticism up here, because we can flush out all the usual fighters for the FIC here, and see what is holding up progress. Everyone can see what is happening, and see how hard they cling to power.

I don't think I'm required to make an alternative conference just to criticize the one that exist. Many, many MANY people had criticism of SLCC. All I'm doing to voicing what many people say in private to me INCLUDING FROM YOUR OWN RANKS, how's that for fun?

SO an argumentation that says "put your money where your mouth is" is not one I can accept. From the FIC or their water-carriers like Tao Takashi.

There was always a reason to explain the ferocity that the FIC held on to their rule; now I see it more clearly. They had an insider view on the whole thing, of course and could see that they and their pals stood to make literally millions of dollars as consultants and start-ups. I never could fathom why people fought so viciously -- now it's so clear -- they wanted to make sure NOTHING got in the way of them making their fortunes. That's why I was banned.

I'm not banned from SC that I'm aware of -- it would be humorous and lame to ban someone after they stopped posting for two months and stopped reading it lol. If they did ban me, it would mean they passed over really outrageous stuff like outing personal life, defacing RL pictures ingame, really abusive and scatalogical talk, in order to ban me for pointing out that they do all those things ROFL.

Yes, I think SC is aiding and abetting grid crashers by joking with them, celebrating them, and not disassociating with them. If you are a frequent poster and participant in SC and you have not condemned those who crash the grid and destroy business for LL and others, shame on you. This definitely needs to be said, and yes, indeed you WILL share in that guilt by association, and not because *I* make it, but because it exposes itself.

The Peregrines stand in the way of others appearing who could do this job better. That's a bald fact. You don't have to be volunteering yourself to state the obvious. We need new leadership. It cries out as a job to be done. I hope my plea will be heard and someone else will step up who is less of a suck-up to LL, less craven to commercial interests, and more caring and aware of the community's need, especially those who opt to do the inworld version.

Oh, I've been a long-time critic of Cristiano and nothing has changed there. If someone does a good job at something or gets in the news, I'm happy to praise them but I don't then withdraw my criticism of their overall bad behaviour. I merely acknowledged that at first I saw Cristiano really was enforcing even-handedly. He actually stood up to some of those long-time bullies and urged them to stop their personal attacks on me and others.

But then, when it came to the Queen of Toxology, Weedy Herbst, he couldn't stand up to her -- she threatened him with leaving and hissed and sneered from all her perches and he got worried at how bad she could get and caved. That was an obvious sight to see. Nothing I said on Sluniverse.com was anything as bad as what people like Cindy Claveau wrote against me. Most people simply are unable to debate normally, they are insecure kids.

Going to California isn't a problem for me, I travel all over the world if I have to. The problem is the leadership and the content. I'd be happy to fly to Chicago if it had different leadership, a serious agenda, and was open to the public for a variety of interests, not just the FIC and their clients. They should just hold a commercial trade fair of metaversal start-up companies and not drag the entire Second Life community into something that they get those people to fund with registration fees.

Charlotte, I don't have any prims up my butt, I'm free.

And if you enjoy something, and love something, let it go. If it loves you, it will come back : )

If you truly want to help people and see them use your stuff, you have to tolerate their resale of it as well -- or turn off NO TRANSFER.

Why should I be advertising your business with its loss-leaders, or advertising your non-profit reputation enhancement venture in SL to gain power, on MY land? On MY tier? with the eyeballs I get? I'm fine with people reselling things that are on RESELL.

I don't see why I and others who have land, malls, yardsales, etc. have to be part of YOUR advertising effort to put out freebies to get people to your stores. Put them in your stores, and pay for advertising like the rest of us have to.

[Prokofy Neva]

Flipper and Jennyfur aren't MEMBERS of W-hat that I can tell but they are AMONG them in their company on Second Citizen.

Also, I'll never forget who was the very first person to arrive to see the defacement of my RL picture and bust in SL and who victory-danced for an hour playing war games around it: Jennyfur Peregrine.

Now, is she on some hotline that gets this news? Yes, it's called IRC I guess lol.

[Stan Pomeray]

I tried Second Citizen, but stopped reading because I considered myself too old for it.

i.e. over 14.