Archive - 2008

January 25th

Once banned Robert Scoble returns to Second Life

(Originally published on SLNN.COM)

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND and REUTERS AUDITORIUM - Robert Scoble, today in the shape of RobertScoble Sopwith, returned to Second Life for the first time in about eighteen months after he was banned for allowing his twelve year old son to use his Second Life account. Scoble simple stated that after the event, “I just never went back.” He went on to explain that for him, part of the fun of Second Life was the things he could with his son. His son moved on to World of Warcraft, and Scoble focused on other issues.

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January 24th

Clinton, Edwards and the Enabling Act of 2008

(Initially posted on DailyKos)

I don’t like attack diaries, but today is too important a day and the emails I got today were too important to leave without highlighting them. I am on the Clinton and the Edwards mailing lists. Here is what I got from the two campaigns:

Chelsea Clinton wrote to say:

I love talking to people who are thinking about supporting my mom -- about why I believe in her and why I support her as a young American, a woman, and her daughter!

I also love talking to people who already support my mom's campaign. Every day, when people tell me they're voting for my mom, putting their faith in her, using their voice to encourage others to support her and working hard for her, I grow more proud.

I've been campaigning with her across the country -- and I'm definitely planning on being at the next debate. Would you like to join me? The campaign is picking an online supporter to watch the January 31 debate in Los Angeles with me and to meet my mom. I know she'll be thrilled to meet you -- she is so grateful for how much every supporter has done for her campaign.

John Edwards wrote to say:

When it comes to protecting the rule of law, words are not enough. We need action.

It's wrong for your government to spy on you. That's why I'm asking you to join me today in calling on Senate Democrats to filibuster revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that would give "retroactive immunity" to the giant telecom companies for their role in aiding George W. Bush's illegal eavesdropping on American citizens.

The Senate is debating this issue right now -- which is why we must act right now. You can call your Senators here:

I’ll give you three guesses about who I’m supporting. The first two don’t count, and if you are a major telecom corporation, the third doesn’t either.

One person responded talking about a pie recipe fundraising letter that the Edwards campaign sent out some time ago. Another person noted that an important aspect is the timing of the emails, and sending a fluffy email on a day like today is ‘tone deaf’.

I responded,

I think you captured some of my thinking quite nicely there. I actually think there is an important place for emails like the one that Chelsea sent on behalf of her mom, as well as the apple pie recipe that the Edwards campaign sent out.

My daughter Fiona was out on the campaign trail when she two years old handing out palm cards saying 'Vote for Mommy!' She had fun, she got people to listen to my wife's message.

This is about things like caring for our family. Yet, personally, I take the issue setting corporations above the law if they are serving a unitary executive branch very very seriously and so the fluffiness of Chelsea's email really grated at me today. On a different day, I might have found it cute.

Personally, I tend to think that a better name for retroactive immunity might be the Enabling Act of 2008. Perhaps we can manage to hold it off until March 23 and pass it as the 75th anniversary edition of a previous enabling act.

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Does Philip Linden need a Colgate Smile?

I’ve written articles about the Colgate Smiles in Second Life. I’ve written about the Second Life Banking Ban in many places, and recently about Philip Linden being sad. People have asked if I really believe that avatars need to be able to smile, that the Second Life economy needs banks, or why I was so harsh on Philip Linden. To me, it is all part of the same question; what is Second Life really about anyway?

Too many people view Second Life as a game rife with sex and scams that nonetheless is getting some sort of interest from corporations and educational institutions. Others are very happy with the types of role playing that Linden Lab allows them to engage in, as well as the commerce to buy and sell clothes, skins, and other objects to enhance their role playing and don’t really want to see it change.

I believe both perspectives are too narrow and overlook the real potential of Second Life and other virtual worlds to become the key platform for the Internet in the twenty first century.

Review: Art openings build community

(Originally published at SLNN.COM)

Cento Italia – RockPianoman Pienaar’s unique blend of tunes from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s wafted from the piano Saturday as art patrons gathered for the double gallery opening of Sky Hye and GM Nikolaidis.

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January 23rd

Philip Linden is ‘sad’

Today, Philip Linden spoke with Adam Reuters from the World Economic Summit in Davos. Fleep Tuque wrote an article about Adam Reuters’ Interview with Philip Linden. Fleep wrote:

Adam Reuters remarked that in some ways, 2007 was the Year of Restrictions in Second Life, and Philip responded that it really made him sad every time they have to restrict behavior, and that despite these changes, SL is still an incredibly open platform.

Fleep goes on to talk about getting the sense of the person behind the CEO’s role and believes in the Philip is sincere in his sadness. I’ve been impressed by Philip when I’ve heard him speak as well, yet I want to follow Fleep’s lead even deeper. Companies often reflect the personality of their CEO and I wonder what all of this is really telling us about Philip or about Linden Lab.

People have commented to me about Linden Lab’s method of dealing with conflict as ‘passive aggressive’. The ranks of people who are getting fed up with the way Linden Lab handles conflict seems to be growing, and the only thing preventing a large exodus is that alternative grids are still in alpha testing. Linden Lab has a little bit of time to repair the damage they’ve caused over the past year, but that time is running out.

This ‘passive aggressive’ nature seems to reflect on a CEO who is ‘sad’ about what is happening and incapable of making any substantive changes to improve the situation. Does Philip Linden have any ideas about how to better understand the ‘God Paradox’, the conflict of a game provider trying to provide a safe environment while at the same time trying to be a hands off service provider? Does Philip Linden have any ideas about whether the Linden Dollar is a “limited license right available for purchase or free distribution at Linden Lab's discretion” or if it is something closer to a currency which banking regulators would be interested in? Is Philip interested in hearing the opinions of residents, or going to continue to have messages from Linden Lab sent out from the email address ‘no-reply@secondlife.com’.

Yes, I feel sad too. I feel sad for Philip failing to demonstrate any leadership. I feel sad for people who want to make Second Life a more vibrant environment and keep bumping up against arbitrary and capricious restrictions by Linden Lab that are never sufficiently explained. Yet unless the folks at Linden Lab change their tune, the folks that I won’t be sad for are those people gearing up to provide alternative grids where the residents are actually valued and listened to.