My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

 

Today, the SL Newser turns sixteen. But what did people read before it? While there were tablods such as The Herald, there was also the Second Life Newspaper, owned by JamesT Juno with Dana Vanmoer as editor. It started small, a blog with occasional glances at the virtual world, but soon grew into a respectable newsletter with a good sized staff. I would join it in October /November 2007, and become a respectable member of the team. This was a different time, the Golden Age of Second Life when it and not social media was talked about as the future of the online world and it would be mentioned on the news and even prime time TV, while we the residents made all content entirely inworld in these pre-mesh days with only a small amount of the content created by the Lindens. So what was covering the news in these times like?

 

Read the 2015 article in Extra. 

 

My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

 

It was Fifteen years ago this Wednesday that the Newser came to be. But who was reporting the news of Second Life before that? In 2006, JamesT Juno would start the Second Life Newspaper, and others would join him in covering the news about this virtual world. This included Dana Vanmoer who would take over as editor, as well as Gemma Cleanslate and Bixyl Shuftan, who would go on to write for the Newser. So what went on during this earlier time of Second Life? Bixyl Shuftan would describe how things went from his point of view.

Read the article from 2015 in Extra. 

 

My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

 

It was fourteen years ago this Wednesday that the Newser came to be. But who was reporting the news of Second Life before that? In 2006, JamesT Juno would start the Second Life Newspaper, and others would join him in covering the news about this virtual world. This included Dana Vanmoer who would take over as editor, as well as Gemma Cleanslate and Bixyl Shuftan, who would go on to write for the Newser. So what went on during this earlier time of Second Life? Bixyl Shuftan would describe how things went from his point of view.

Read the article from 2010 in Extra.

My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

 

Yesterday was the thirteenth anniversary of the SL Newser. But before the Newser, there was the Second Life Newspaper. It was founded by JamesT Juno as a simple blog with short entries in 2006. But he would soon bring Dana Vanmoer and a number of other writers into it as a full-fledged newspaper, with yours truly joining up in November 2007. This was considered the golden years of the virtual world, when it was the darling of the tech media and talked about not just by computer nuts but was mentioned in mainstream news and prime time TV shows alike. So what was it like to cover the news about Second Life then?

Read Bixyl Shuftan's article from 2015 in Extra.

SL Newspaper's Editor Makes Real-Life News

 

 Since the closing of Second Life Newspaper, the predecessor paper of the SL Newser, not much has been heard of it's editor Dana Vanmoer. She has come back to Second Life once in a great while, but not often. But recently in real-life, she made a little news. 

In real life, Dana (Donna Wilby in real life) has taken up crochet. With the passing of Queen Elizabeth, she decided to do a tribute of her own, knitting a mailbox "topper." Well, it was one of several "Woolly Wonders" that were featured in the Daily Mail online newspage. 

She would write on Facebook, "I intended to stay anonymous but have been outed by the Daily Mail so you get to see work in progress and final photos"

 

 You can see more of Dana's creations at her "Donna's Designs" blog, which has it's own Facebook page. 

Best of luck Dana,

Bixyl Shuftan

My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

 

Yesterday was the twelfth anniversary of the SL Newser. But before there was the Second Life Newser, there was the Second Life Newspaper. It started out as a simple blog by JamesT Juno with short entries in 2006. But he would soon bring Dana Vanmoer and a number of other writers into it as a full-fledged newspaper, with me joining up in November 2007. This was considered the golden years of the virtual world, when it was the darling of the tech media and talked about not just by computer nuts but was mentioned in mainstream news and prime time TV shows alike. So what was it like to cover the news about Second Life then?

Read the article from 2015 in Extra.
 

Before The Newser ...

 

Before the SL Newser, there was the SL Newspaper.

As we look back to our beginning today, we also look back at where for some of the crew the story truly began. Bixyl Shuftan (myself) and Gemma Cleanslate got our start in JamesT Juno and Dana Vanmoer's Second Life Newspaper. From it's humble start as a blog in 2006, as the months went by it changed into more of a newsletter, and a year later was Second Life's top source of information with a team of reporters. But nothing lasts forever, particularly in virtual reality, and forces beyond the owners' control in real life would force it's closing in June 5, 2010.

For over three years, the Main Page remained up for those interested in reading it. Then in January 2014, it was taken down. While some of the articles can still be accessed through the Internat Archives, it can be difficult. A few stories from it were reposted, notably around May and June 2005 for our fifth anniversary. But the real effort was our SL Newspaper Archives section. It's slow work, so it's a long-term effort. 

We won't be able to post everything as sadly, the other sections are gone, and so are some of the main page articles. But we can do some of them. Recently a little of the humble first few days were reposted, as well as the "Australian Ban" scare, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the goodbye posts of Gemma, myself, and Dana.

While we look to the future, we also remember the past, and take care of things in the present.
 
Bixyl Shuftan
 

Reflections: Ten Years Ago ...

Ask most people what happened to them ten years ago this month on the first or second weekend, they probably wouldn't remember. For yours truly however, it was a fateful day in his Second Life, one that would set the stage for the end of one chapter and the start of another. Ten years ago, despite all the Coronavirus stories, despite everything going on in Second Life, I still think back to what happened.

Read the commentary in Extra. 

My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

The SL Newser is having it's anniversary this week. It should be pointed out that before there was the Second Life Newser, there was the Second Life Newspaper. Starting as a simple blog by JamesT Juno in 2006, he would soon bring Dana Vanmoer and a number of other writers into it as a full-fledged newspaper, with me joining up in November 2007. This was considered the golden years of the virtual world, when it was the darling of the tech media and talked about not just by computer nuts but was mentioned in mainstream news and prime time TV shows alike. So what was it like to cover the news about Second Life then?

Read the article from 2015 in Extra.

My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

As the Newser celebrates it's eighth anniversary, it should be noted our roots go back to another publication. Before the SL Newser, there was the SL Newspaper. Founded by JamesT Juno, it blossomed into Second Life's leading newsletter under editor Dana Vanmoer. About a year into the paper's history, I joined up with them. For the next two and a half years, I would be one of it's reporters, and eventually assistant manager. In this article written five years following it's closing, I looked back on my time at the "Gray Lady" of Second Life newsletters.

Read the article in Extra.

More SL Newspaper Archived Articles Up

Over time, the Newser has restored articles from the old SL Newspaper of JamesT Juno and Dana Vanmoer, which vanished from the net a few years ago. The ones we've restored more recently are in the SL Newspaper Archived. Among them, the two articles I wrote about the Second Life Fifth Birthday (first) (second). So enjoy this little blast from the past.

Click here to go to the SL Newspaper Archived.

A Glance Back at an SL Newspaper Meeting

Gemma Cleanslate had taken these pictures in February 2009, over eight years ago when she and I were part of the Second Life Newspaper. In the above picture, we were at a meeting in our office at Ian Bernard. JamesT Juno and Dana Vanmoer are on the left. Nazz Lane is second from the right.

We would go through a few offices in the two and a half years I was present, this one probably the second largest we had. As the years go by, the memories of these happy times get a bit fuzzier, and pictures like these help us remember.

My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

On this seventh anniversary of the Second Life Newser, we look back to the days of the newsletter that preceded it: the Second Life Newspaper. For three and a half years, this publication founded by JamesT Juno and managed by Dana Vanmoer, covered the news of Second Life until it's closing on June 5, 2010. In 2015, Bixyl Shuftan did a write-up about his time at the publication from Fall 2007 to it's closing day.

Read the 2015 article here in the archives.

My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

When the Second Life Newser was celebrating it's fifth anniversary last year, part of it was looking back at where we had come from. The original staff, including myself, Bixyl Shuftan, had gotten our experience in virtual journalism through another newsletter: JamesT Juno and Dana Vanmoer's Second Life Newspaper.Writing for them was a journey that would last for two and a half years, taking me through much of a Second Life that was quite different in many ways then from how it is now. So I wrote an article about my time as one of their writers.

Read the 2015 article here in the archives.

My Time At Second Life Newspaper

As Second Life Newser and it's friends celebrate the newsletter turning five years old, the thoughts of it's editor have turned to the paper he and the rest of it's founding staff worked for before, Second Life Newspaper. For three and a half years, it went from a simple blog to Second Life's leading newspaper, covering the virtual world from when it was popular in the tech media to when many were passing it by as an oddity. Bixyl Shuftan, who signed aboard a year after it's founding and continued to the end, looks back at his time there.

Read the article in Extra.

Real Life Businesses in Second Life (2008)

In our looking back at Second Life Newspaper today, we see how it took a look at a trend that many residents today would find odd: real life car companies trying to use Second Life to advertise their automobiles. This was a time when the virtual world was much more popular in real life media, and with the public's attention here, some felt there was money to be made. In March, Dana Vanmoer wrote about her and James taking a look at some of the cars being offered by real life automakers. So what did they think?

Read the 2008 article in Design.

SLN Archives: BNT Bankrupt 53 Sims Offline ( October 2009)

With the anniversary of the Newser less than a month away, Second Life Newser will be reprinting a few of the stories of it's predecessor, Second Life Newspaper. One event that was important both in terms of it's impact on residents and the paper itself was the bankruptcy of BNT holdings in October 2009. Over fifty residential sims were lost, and their residents had to find new places to live. For James and Dana's SLN, meant the loss of their own home as well as the paper's office and their sponsor.

Read Dana's reprinted article, and additional commentary by Bixyl Shuftan, in Extra.

Dana's Return

Before Second Life Newser, there was Second Life Newspaper, of which the editor was Dana Vanmoer. Since the close of the old paper four years before, she'd only been back inworld once, when her SL mother Breezes Babii was ill. Since then, she'd decline invitations to return. But finally, on Tuesday June 10, I ran into her online. "You finally got me curious," she told me. After meeting up at her old home in Skybeam, we headed to the SL Newser office.

And later on, we headed to Book Island, where we ran into Freda Frostbite, and Crap Mariner. Crap had quite a few things to say on a number of topics from drama to the Avi Choice Awards.

Dana and I chatted quite a bit about the Grid, a conversation that went on when we'd later drop by Club Zero and some friends joined in. Second Life had changed quite a bit. Dana had gotten her start as a dancer, and back then a girl could make a bundle at a club doing that. Not so much any more. She had moved on to being a clothing designer. That had changed as well, with mesh and fitted mesh designs on the scene and making things quite complicated for dressmakers. Gambling was banned just before I was on the scene. It was a different Grid.

Dana told me she had no plans to appear regularly, but making occasional visits inworld to see friends and SL family.

Good to have you back, Dana.

Bixyl Shuftan

Looking Back: The End of Second Life Newspaper

Before Second Life Newser, there was Second Life Newspaper. So what happened to the original? Well, it did have some problems near the end, but what pulled the plug were problems no one could solve. As it's Office Manager, here's Bixyl Shuftan's story on what happened to what then was the best newsletter in Second Life.

Read the article in People.

An Ode to James and Dana

It's been about seven months since Second Life Newspaper closed and Second Life Newser began. We at the paper still remember our times at the paper we used to work with, and our mentors. Since their farewell in June, I've had a little contact with them. Dana expressed her sorrow at not being able to come back more than one short brief time, but has not yet recovered from events in real life.

Here's to you, James and Dana.

Note: we've made some changes to our Crew page explaining a little more about our orgins.