In Spring 2010, the staff of the Second Life Newspaper faced a dilemma. It had not been a good past several months. A sponsor went under, forcing them to abandon their office and build a new smaller one elsewhere. The owner and founder JamesT Juno was facing real-life difficulties and had to take an indefinite break from Second Life. And Editor Dana Vanmoer was spending less and less time inworld due to real-life as well. Finally in their April meeting, Dana announced she was having to close the paper. It was news that shocked the rest of us, some having been writing for the "Gray Lady" of SL for most of it's three and a half year history.
So we talked amongst ourselves, and four of us, Gemma Cleanslate, Grey Lupindo, Shirley Sands, and Bixyl Shuftan (myself) made the decision to start a new newsletter. Since I was the one with the most experience, being Dana's assistant editor aka Office Manager, I would be the owner and editor. And so on June 5 2010, the day the Second Life Newspaper made it's last entry, the Second Life Newser would start.
Sadly, our first topic was covering the retirement of the established paper. Following that were a few routine articles. Then came shocking news. Linden Lab was laying off a third of it's staff. This would include some popular Lindens. Then came news of then CEO M Linden stepping down and Philip Linden returning as interim CEO. We would cover a happy event as expected, the Second Life Birthday, the SL7B, though we also reported on the close of the classic Greenies sim which longtime residents from the early days still look back on fondly. And there was the office and land donated to us by Ranchan Wiedman of the Sunweaver/Angels community. It was an active first month. As the year went on, we would report on the Relay for Life, the Emeraldgate scandal, the decision to merge the teen grid and the older teens, Universal demanding Linden Lab shut down the Battlestar Galactica roleplay and then pulling back, Ozimal bunnies taking Amareto horses to real-life court, Philip stepping down and the new CEO Rod Humble stepping in, and the real-life news network CNN closing it's location in SL. To help us out, Breezes Babi and Any1 Gynoid would join the team. We would also get our first sponsor, the Podex Exchange owned by Jacek Shuftan (no relation). 2010 was a pretty active year.
Since then the Newser team has continued to report the news, big and small, of the people, places, and events in this crazy and wonderful virtual world. There have been no shortage of problems, the occasional griefer, drama that can end a group or community, sims closing down, the occasional questionable move by Linden Lab (in the past this happened more often), and saddest of all people passing away. But there's also been plenty of good, memorials set up to honor soldiers and others who gave their all, support groups to help those with troubled thoughts, people tweaking the mechanics of this virtual world to explore it's possibilities, people who found friendships and comradery here, charities that help people in real life such as Team Diabetes, Homes For Our Troops, and the Relay for Life, and much more.
Sadly, over time people have had to drop out of the Newser team due to real-life concerns. Grey Lupindo and Shelly Sands would drop out after a couple years. But we've had others step up to contribute to virtual journalism such as DrFran Babcock and Grease Coakes. Today, the Newser consists of three full time staff. Gemma Cleanslate (who is currently under medical leave) and myself remain from the original team, with Netera Landar having rejoined us and is productive as ever.
Sixteen years later, Second Life is a very different place. The few sims owned by corporations and US Government agencies are gone. Mesh has changed the way people build. The people have themselves changed with the Boomers and Gen Xers slowly giving way to more Millenials and Zoomers. But what hasn't changed is people still want to know what's going on. And it's up to newsletters such as the Newser to deliver. We're not perfect and occasionally we miss something. But we're persistent. Every day we post something, even if it's just a video or cartoon. But we inform as well as entertain. Our mission as always is to report the news big and small on the people, places, and events of this virtual world. And we will continue to do so.
Special thanks to JamesT Juno and Dana Vanmoer for showing us the ropes. Special thanks to Ranchan Wiedman and the Sunbeamer and Angels community for giving us our office. Special thanks to Linden Lab for giving us this virtual world to start with (but we still wonder about some of our strategies). And of course special thanks to you the readers without whom this newsletter would not be possible.
And that's the way it is. Good day from the Second Life Newser.
Bixyl Shuftan
Editor
SL Newser
