Some Apology,with a side serving of bile.

[Jeremy Bender]

Greetings,

This will be my first and possibly last post on the forum.

In that my little in-world protest has got so many people upset, I decided to respond to the criticism and apologise, at least in part, for my actions. Some of my actions I don't apologise for at all as I think this insular little community could probably use the criticism. I also think that overall I did very little wrong and violated no rules that I know of that haven't already been violated with impunity by others (rotating signs, use of public space). Certainly nothing I did was justification for some of the responses I got, like threats of lawsuits, name calling etc.

Since I am as long-winded as the rest of you though, and since I don't intend to participate on the forum, I have put my long detailed explanation of my actions and my views of this community on my SL blog. Please go there if you are still interested in this controversy, want to know why I did what I did or want to read an "outsider" view of the CDS. You will also get some context as to what kind of person I am. (Hint: [i:2msr0o00]not[/i:2msr0o00] an asshole)

I would like to apologise for implying that Michel was the same person behind the Roma sim when in fact he is merely closely associated with it. I would like to apologise to Rose, because it seems like I really hurt her feelings and that was not intended at all, even though it still doesn't change what I think.

Finally, I would like to give you all a sharp poke in your virtual asses for being so quick to judge me, for taking down my protest signs so rapidly and with so little thought, and for making my CN experience such a lonely, boring, and frustrating one in general. I know you (collectively) deserve it.

The link to my blog posts are here:

Land of Simulated Democracy - Part I
http://jeremy-bee.livejournal.com/#entry_2715

Land of Simulated Democracy - Part II
http://jeremy-bee.livejournal.com/#entry_3030

Part I sets up the scene by describing my miserable experience in this community, and Part II gets in to the detail of the "protest."

Enjoy! and with luck you will never hear from me again on the forum. I am not leaving the CDS right now though and still intend to get my store set-up, so too bad if you don't like me.

[Nikki]

Thank you for the explanation Jeremy.

Before I did not understand what your signs were about and now I know why you put them up.

[Aliasi Stonebender]

[quote="Jeremy Bender":157lmkoq]Greetings,

This will be my first and possibly last post on the forum.

In that my little in-world protest has got so many people upset, I decided to respond to the criticism and apologise, at least in part, for my actions. Some of my actions I don't apologise for at all as I think this insular little community could probably use the criticism. I also think that overall I did very little wrong and violated no rules that I know of that haven't already been violated with impunity by others (rotating signs, use of public space). Certainly nothing I did was justification for some of the responses I got, like threats of lawsuits, name calling etc.
[/quote:157lmkoq]

You are [i:157lmkoq]actively[/i:157lmkoq] wrong there.

Anyone with one of those without a specific okay by me, it gets taken down as soon as I'm aware. (Note that getting an okay from the Chancellor consists of IMing or emailing me, I do a quick sanity check, and generally wave it on.)

Of course, I'm just one person, so sometimes things don't get taken down right away. That's why we had caretakers. Sadly, both of them have left.

Can't say I have any particular dislike, but as it's beside the point here, I'll take a look-see at the blawg.

Edit: I find your comments re: "building police" to be obnoxious, frankly. You agree to the covenants when you join up. I'm terminally easygoing; [i:157lmkoq]all[/i:157lmkoq] I ask is to be kept in the loop so I KNOW about it. So, I can't say I have a hell of a lot of sympathy for breaking an agreement willfully for no better reason than "because I can". Hell, I've protested too, but I stuck to my own damned plot.

[Aliasi Stonebender]

Further comment on part II: Well, excuse me for having to put the final weeks of the semester (I attend college) above an unpaid babysitting and administration hobby, especially when I get this kind of thanks.

Still, as I'm currently a member of the government, I'll try to keep to the high ground and not actually cuss you out as I'd prefer.

[Dnate Mars]

After reading what you have wrote, there are some ideas that might have had a positive impact on the community as a whole. The problem is that they are buried in a lot of things that could be taken the wrong way (or maybe that is by design?). I for one always welcome ways that we can improve things. Maybe we don't have the info out there like it needs to be for the website. We are lacking in a real sense of community in the world. We have asked ourselves why that is. We have tried to come up with ways that we can reverse this trend. We are far from perfect, but just be cause you hold a lot of land in CN or NFS, does not get you anything special. I used to be a big land holder, but I never had any power, other then at the voting booth. I am now a smaller land hold, my power is still just in the voting booth.

I am on at all sorts of strange times, but I would like to talk to you in game, if you would like to. Send me an IM whenever, I may be lurking around somewhere.

[Justice Soothsayer]

I read the initial post and Jeremy's blog postings with great interest. Setting aside the bile, Jeremy has a very valid point about how full and active participation in our society requires a "third life" - presence in SL as well as on the forums. I have regretted for some time the overall emptiness of our sims, as I've found very few citizens around when I'm able to log in.

Now that there is HTML on a prim, maybe someone could contrive some communication tools that we can use in-world to take over some of the work of these forums. Part of our difficulty is that we are a community of users who are in different time zones, which has forced us to rely on the asynchronous (not present at the same time) communication tools of web pages and emails. I'm sure there are some inventive folks in CDS who can help us conquer this dilemmna. How about a bulletin board in the Forum/Platz? What about an RSS feeder into SL that feeds forum posts, as the SLNN reader did?

Any ideas?