So I asked in the Roleplaying forum:
“In April Fantasy Faire 2011 will be upon us, as explained here.
Anyone displaying anything there, or planning on visiting?”
Then away I went and played some Goblin power in WoW for a bit and returned to find, my post has been deleted and I’ve received a warning for violating the rules. Now my first reaction isn’t suitable for a PG blog, nor was my second, third or fourth. Seriously, in a roleplaying forum about roleplay in Second Life, I’m not allowed to discuss one of the biggest roleplay events of the year or provide background to it by linking to their website?
I have no idea if someone reported my post, if they did, that’s pretty damn petty and if they did, why can’t the moderators see that my post was about an inworld event? I do know that Relay for Life has been discussed in the forums, albeit the events section and Fantasy Faire 2011 does have links to Relay For Life, they raise money for Relay For Life, so I’m quite bemused as to why this has happened and why I’m receiving a warning telling me further violations could result in a forum ban. Relay For Life is a very good cause and should absolutely be discussed and promoted on the official site.
I’m not a happy bunny about this at all. I’ve said things over the years in the forum that were out of order, petty, aggressive, confrontational and rude, if I’d been warned for any of those incidents, hey I’m a big boy now, I know when I’m wrong and I know when I cross the line, I’ve been warned by a Linden before about my conduct so I’m not trying to portray myself as squeaky clean.
I am not an organiser of Fantasy Faire 2011, my sim will have a presence there via some advertising, I go out of my way not to mention my sim in the forum, I’m at a loss to understand why Linden Lab don’t want their customers discussing inworld events, if they’d told me it needed to be moved to the events forum, where the Relay For Life post is, that would have at least made a bit of sense, removing it and warning me I’m in violation makes no sense whatsoever.
No wonder Amanda Linden said the best place to find out about cool things going on in Second Life is on Facebook, the official forums don’t welcome you discussing the cool things going on in Second Life.
The new Mods on the Community Forums are heavy handed and beyond aggressive. I received a warning yesterday and my post was edited for “harassment”. Yet the thread hijacker, the person that insulted me and harassed me was not only left alone, he was promoted to Member status. I’ve left the new Forums as it’s clear they want nothing to do with truth anymore. Bland rules, bland posts, favoritism and bias. *sigh*
We had a ray of hope when the new CEO came on-board. But if this is his new vision for Second Life .. I’ve half a mind to petition for the return of M Linden. And least he was bad for SL in a predictable way.
First of all, how do you put a picture in your icon on wordpress? 😉
I saw that thread Darrius, I don’t know what you said as by the time I read it, the moderator message was there.
Member status is an automatic process but it seems some people are more equal than others, neither of us will be surprised about that.
The new CEO supports the greatest football team the world has ever seen (or soccer team) so he gets some breaks from me, but not forever.
Really, moderation needs to be even handed, if it’s not, you end up with a forum that has feedback that is worthless as you miss the issues people are concerned with as they are censored.
Fantasy Faire is the biggest event of the year for Roleplay clothing and accessories in one play, this is in addition to the money it raise for Relay for Life. Yes, I will have a presence there, but that is beside the point as I guarantee I will spend a lot more than I would make. As for the new forums, yes, the moderators do seem to well I do not know how to put this other than ‘clueless.”
Yes Fantasy Faire is a massive event for the roleplaying community, which is one of the reasons I posted about it in the roleplaying forum.
I wonder if the moderators have much inworld knowledge, or whether they are just there to respond to forum issues,
It’s ironic, given their first ever (and so far only issue of the “SL newsletter” so loving delivered to people’s e-mail addresses was on the subject of….roleplay in SL.
Sadly, I predicted this state of affairs prior to the new CP going live; let’s face it the same happened with the JIVE environment came on-stream.
In your case, I suspect the moderation process was a matter of the “Sooper Sekrit” Keyword List. You hit one of the words they are paranoid about having the potential to upset the minors or agitate the parents of minors.
Hence why many have hopped the fence to the likes of SLU (again).