CDS Discussion

I have been asked by the chancellor and, indirectly, the LUC to begin the Road Committee from 2017 again in order to help the LUC in their work. I consider this important work as we seek to build up the regional identities and cultural patrimony of the CDS. This committee in the past sought to provide names for all the roads and paths in the CDS. The following regions and areas still need roads: iirc, Locus Amoenus, Friedsee, and the new fishing village in CN.

Previously I sent out surveys as notecards in world. This time I am hoping to solicit responses through Google Forms, though I hope to continue to have a list of landmarks in world, too. Are there any objections to this method? Are there any burning suggestions out of the gates? Is there anyone who would be willing to work with me on this committee, keeping in mind that all suggestions are collected and presented at public meetings for approval?

I volunteer to work on this with you Guillaume, partial reason being that I am working on the signage of all the roads in CDS, AM is done now except for two new paths.

I would like to see a Galgengarten (Gallows Garden) on the cliffs of AM

I would be happy to work on this committee, if I'm allowed, and if you don't have enough others!

Thank you, you two, for volunteering. I don't see why we can't discuss that, either, Tan.

I will reach out to you all soon.

I know it is not on the current to-do list, but in Neufreistadt you can find some streets and places names named with funny blends of German and English ("Marketplatz" instead of "Marktplatz"). Would it be possible to rename them correctly? Of course I'm willing to help here.

Almut

Almut Brunswick wrote: ↑Fri Jul 03, 2020 12:50 pm

I know it is not on the current to-do list, but in Neufreistadt you can find some streets and places names named with funny blends of German and English ("Marketplatz" instead of "Marktplatz"). Would it be possible to rename them correctly? Of course I'm willing to help here.

Almut

I think that's a good idea, Almut. Mind you, the funny blend could perhaps be viewed as a CDS colloquialism! Just kidding, I'd rather things were spelled properly.

Thank you to those of you who have volunteered, and for looking over my form!

Please find our first survey for roads in Locus Amoenus and Colonia Nova below:
https://forms.gle/f41gcx5aFqkruFzu6

Thank you Gaius for taking on this project.

I hope to see names that are both pronounceable and intelligible for non-native speakers. "WindingSteepDangerousTrailAlongCliff" might seem clear, but it can be a bit much to pronounce, much less remember and type. Likewise, "Town Hall" is a perfectly reasonable name, but it may look like a Home for Rats to others. The "Used Bookstore" is not where I would ever think to look for a Visitor's Center.

A separate but related project is to name the major geographical features in CDS. What are the names of the mountains and the waterfalls on them, for example?

It would also be very welcome to have a script in the name signs, so that when a sign is touched a message in local chat appears with information such as, "This road is named...because...". I have always wondered for example why "The Platz" is the "Haney Linden Strasse Platz", only recently learning that Haney Linden was a Linden instrumental in the land grant for the City of Neualtenburg in the mainland sim Anzere.

Similarly, I am very confused why we have a road in NFS named "Ulrikastrasse". I never knew who this street was named for or why and thought little of it. While I was discovering who Haney Linden was, I also learned who Ulrika Zugzwang was. As I understand it, Ulrika was indeed a founding force in the creation of Neualtenburg and the concept of a self-governing entity, but Neufreistadt itself was created as a rejection of Ulrika. I learned this bit of history through our own CDS Portal, https://cdsdemocracy.org/ where towards the bottom at the right of the CDS Google calendar is a section "A Second Life Community". The "Read More" links to https://secondlife.fandom.com/wiki/Conf ... Simulators A relevant passage is quoted below:

In the beginning of 2006, when the project still consisted of just one sim, the workings of the judicial system of Neufreistadt were put to a test after being threatened to its integrity by Ulrika Zugzwang, one of the founders, who launched all types of attacks to the city in order to destroy it — physically, by deleting buildings on the common ground, and other people's objects; psychologically, through a well-elaborated campaign of misinformation, public defamation on all public channels (SL forums, emails, in-world meetings, wikis, blogs, interviews to the SL media), and pseudo-legalistic threats. Public hearings on the issue were discredited and even used as further tools to break the community apart.

By mid-June 2006, the citizens, more united than ever, once and for all broke free by replacing all structures with better content, and finally changing the name of the city to Neufreistadt.

While significant and important to the history of CDS, this is not an appropriate person to celebrate by naming a road in her honor.

The Road Committee should review existing names for continued appropriateness, as it embarks upon creating names for other roads.

Lyubov, no one can defeat hate with hate. Only love defeats hate.
Therefore I would like to see the name of Ulrikastrasse kept.
And the Catfahrt too, because it is plain funny.
I live in the town of Herzogenaurach. There is a quarter officially named Herzo-Base. This name was inherited from the barracks of the U.S. Army which were the historical core of that quarter.
You can see, such things exist in RL. And I somewhat like it.

Right now the project is to name roads that have no names. I personally love to see the names of things in the appropriate languages, even if I can't pronounce them. I'm never going to pronounce them anyway! Likewise the rathaus. If you don't speak German (as I don't) it might make you wonder why it's called that and look further into it (as it did make me). If we make everything English-friendly then that would be making everything bland in my view. If we renamed everything for English-only speakers then we'd have to rename the region itself to be consistent.

The historical names in Neufreistadt are indeed a part of our history and have been named so for years. I would hate to lose that history by renaming them, even though Ulrika was apparently not a very nice person she was instrumental in the creation of the CDS, whether she knew it or not. Whoever named the road for her must have had their reasons. I think these kinds of names are important to keep because they have meaning, even if the meaning is not a pleasant one. Just being an unpleasant person causing some havoc isn't a reason to remove her name in my opinion.

I do like the idea of naming the topological features, as I often don't know what to call some of them! And, adding a script to the signs to whisper the name and perhaps what it means or why it is there is a great idea.

Appropriate names in appropriate languages would be much more welcome with the suggested "touch for whisper chat explanation" feature. That would help to change a name from being "strange" and "meaningless" to something much more interesting and valuable.

I am not suggesting to replace all names with English-friendly versions. I am however suggesting that new names be considerate of how they may be viewed by non-native speakers.

I do have a significant issue with naming a road for Ulrika. The name and history is important, for our "books" and our "museums". Renaming this road is not an exercise in "hate", but it is removing an undeserved honor. It is not "love" to allow this name to remain. There is no context or explanation for why this honor has been bestowed. Ulrikastrasse stands equal in celebration to Sudanestrasse and Gwynethstrasse. How is this fair and appropriate?

20th century world history has a number of very important and influential individuals that have had an immeasurable, and disastrous, impact. We learn about them in appropriate settings such as books, films, and museums. We do not honor them today with prestigious public displays of distinction. Cities, roads, buildings have all been renamed following their departure.

If the criteria for honoring an individual with a road or place name is "Impact upon CDS", then we are missing at least one individual who also had a great influence upon CDS in our more recent history. Where shall Cleopatra Boulevard be located?

Ulrika is no Hitler or Stalin either. We have no reason to rename Ulrikastrasse “Street of the Victims of Zugzwangnism”. She was an individual with big and deserved reputation, even if she went crazy at last and caused some minor trouble.
She was a friend to some of us, I am sorry to be a late comer who had no chance to befriend her personally.
I believe Ulrika suffered from an episode of mental illness. I really hope she recovered. There is so much of what she said and did I can relate to.
I wish Ulrika has found her peace of mind. Maybe her alt wanders our roads one day and is touched by a symbol of loving kindness. Or has already.
About Cleo: I met her at an event about a year ago. She was ejected and banned together with a bunch of religious fundamentalists. She is a miserable creature. We can name the Amphitheatre after her, as the place where drama takes place.

OMG... a WONDERFUL discussion! Thank you all for jumping into this.

For the record, my recollection is fairly clear that it was Ulrika herself who named the streets within the Neufreistadt city walls. It is possible that she did so in collaboration with Kendra Bancroft (for whom Kendrastrasse is named). Perhaps another old timer like Aliasi can confirm this.

If that recollection is correct, you can see readily that Ulrika was a complex character, assigning the honor of street names not only to herself and Kendra (another complex character for whom I hold no fond memories) but also to others who later became her mortal foes (Gwyn and myself... Talen and Urusula had already disappeared by the end of 2004).

Personally, I am a creature of our community life, which often, but not necessarily, means change. I am very sympathetic to Tan's opinions on this, and equally sympathetic to Lyubov's. I will surely be supportive of whatever is decided.

The extent of my desperate conviction for preservation extends to the large ice rock on the westward end of Haney Linden Strasse and the nearby odd sign saying "Paradise", both placed there by Eric Linden (placed in those locations in Anzere, to be more specific) in early 2004. Truly ancient monuments, utterly irreplaceable.

Sudane.......................

Yes, thanks for the reminder about the ancient rocks and sign in NFS! Those are indeed precious relics.

Interesting that Ulrika was likely the namer of streets in NFS, I hadn't known that.