Looking Back: The Saftey Pin Post-Election Support Group

 

A few weeks after the Presidential Election, things are starting to calm down somewhat. But with both sides screaming that victory for the opposition would bring ruin to the country, there are still some people nervous about what lies ahead. It was much the same eight years ago. In response to Trump's victory in 2016, the head of one Clinton HQ, Evangeline Ling, founded the "Safety Pin" post-election support group, "to provide a safe space for people negatively impacted by the election to process it and to support each other," inviting people over, "if you would like to take some time to process your fears, hopes, and experiences about this election." The Newser would interview her about the group then.

I would message Evangeline a few days ago, asking if the group was back or she knew of another. She would say no, "While 'Safety Pin' as a group no longer exists in reality it certainly exists as a concept." She would say she still thinks Trump is "disastrous," but would rather express her disappointment more privately than in 2016.

If anyone knows of such an existing support group, feel free to contact the Newser.

 

Governance User Group Meetings Have Ended

 
For some time, Linden Lab held monthly Governance User Group meetings, with Tommy and Kristin Linden as their representatives. There, residents could discuss "issues involving Governance such as in-world abuse, Abuse Reports, Forum Reports, Marketplace Reports, etc." But they are no longer happening. In a forum thread, it was asked if they were removed from Public User Group Meetings, and Tommy Linden confirmed it.

At this time there is no scheduled user groups for Governance, the majority of questions asked at the user group meetings are questions that we are just not going to be able to answer. Such as information regarding action taken, DMCA, or other Resident specific information that we will not discuss due to privacy policy, or it being outside the scope of the Governance team.

However myself, and others will always remain available to answer questions in how to file Abuse Reports, and you don't have to wait for a meeting to do that, you can message me your question and the next time I log in, I will always respond. If you wish to bring a specific incident of abuse to our attention however, as always the answer will be to file an Abuse Report.

He would later say, "Yes, at this time the user group has ended. I am exploring other options to better share useful information with all of you."

A few residents expressed their displeasure, "I'm sorry to see this.  These groups were an ideal forum for people to bring up ideas, and to get an idea of how many people were experiencing the same issues." "I went to Governance every few months, for the same reason I'd go to a city council meeting once a year or so. It's good to keep an eye on the people who think they're in charge. ... Governance was boring. That meant things were working." Someone summed it up, "... it sounds like the Users seen it as possibly usefull, but LL doesn't. And just again a step backwards in direct LL - User contacts."

Blogger Daniel Voyager would be among those who felt the meetings should have continued, "It’s a shame they are no longer happening."

To read the forum thread, Click Here.

Hat Tip: Daniel Voyager

Bixyl Shuftan
 

CDS Announcement: The Neufreistadt Kirche Available For Meetings

- Remembering those impacted by COVID-19, CDS honors worldwide health care providers
- available for celebrations of life, silent contemplation, group religious, spiritual, or non-religious gatherings
- no fees or obligations

We all know heartbreaking stories of people who have lost beloved family members and friends to this horrid, highly contagious COVID-19 global pandemic. As devastating as it is to lose a loved one, that pain is further deepened because next of kin are forbidden customary ways of grieving and mourning, forbidden to gather with supportive family and friends to celebrate a life and soothe the transitions. While those prohibitions apply to our solid lives, they don't to our Second Lives. Here we can hug and console each other. And while we can't prevent these tragedies from happening, we can provide people with a welcoming gathering space.

The people of the Second Life community of the Confederation of Democratic Simulators, known as the CDS, have a beautiful kirche on the Platz in Neufriestadt. We offer this kirche as a place where people can hold their mourning and celebration gatherings. The architecture of Neufreistadt is inspired by the physical world town of Rothenburg, Bavaria and that includes the beautiful Romanesque kirche. 

Here's a little bit about this kirche. From the beginning our kirche has been a nonsectarian public space. Consistent with the town architecture, we normally have a triptych that is a replica of the 16th C one by Tilman Riemenschneider in St. James's Church, Rothenburg ob der Tauber set up in front but that is easy to remove and replace with other religious or non religious pieces to accommodate the preferences of any gathering. We hope this offer will give some piece and relief to people in need.

With our most sincere gratitude, the CDS community has placed blue lights around the kirche bell tower dome to honor the healthcare providers around the world during this COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.

Anyone who wants to use the kirche should contact our Chancellor, Emilia Dagostino (emilia.avindar) inworld or via email emilia.avindar@yahoo.com for assistance.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Neufreistadt/134/175/173

Delia Lake

FMI about the CDS: https://cdsdemocracy.org/

News and Commentary: Can Second Life Replace Real Life Events Amid the Coronavirus Scare?

By Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich)

With the advent of the global breakout of Coronavirus (COVID-19), major events are being canceled left and right. Many have joked that the year 2020 is canceled, but does it have to be? It would seem that Second Life has indeed seen a resurgence since the pandemic started. Linden Lab has even set their sights on the corporate sector since many businesses have had to halt business travel plans.

So can Second Life be a valuable alternative to group gatherings? First, I’ll provide a possible example of a large scale event: The Electronic Entertainment Expo was one of the big events that were canceled this year. The event itself is no different from a car show or computer fair. You have vendors there showing off their products to the public, explaining why they should buy them, and letting the public try out their hardware and software. Would this work in Second Life?

No. This wouldn’t work in a virtual world like Second Life. This large trade show had 66,100 attendees last year. A Second Life sim would fill up pretty fast with that kind of crowd. Most big events in Second Life only can hold 60-80 people. You could try to spread out the crowd amongst multiple sims but even then there would be issues. There’s also the problem of there being no real way to try out the products. People want to touch and feel a new video game controller. They want to play and experience a new game. They want to sit in a new car. They want to do these things so they can write about it or spread the word through other means. You can’t do that in Second Life. You could maybe stream a conference, by why not do that on YouTube?

What about smaller events such as corporate meetings? Why bother? There are much cheaper options than renting a sim just so everyone can have their own virtual avatar. There’s also the problem of everyone having to learn how to use Second Life. Can you imagine Jill from accounting trying to figure out how to dress her virtual avatar? GoToMeeting would be a much better option in terms of cost and time investment which is what companies look for when choosing such services.

Second Life only is an option for very niche events; the kind of events that already take place on the platform. What Second Life can do in this time of turmoil is provide a unique social platform as well as an escape. What do you think? Are there other events that could take place in Second Life that I haven’t thought of? Sound off in the comments.

Sources: New World Notes, Skift

Cyfir

Post-Election Support Group For Democrats

It was quite a Presidential election season in the United States this year. While some are happy with the results, and some are just glad it's over and putting politics behind them, others are expressing fear and anger. For those genuinely worried about what changes the election might mean, Evangeline Ling has started a support group. The first meeting was last week, but another one is tonight. Talking to Evangeline, she had a number of things to say.

Read more in People.