Woodbury in Kitely Grid

Several years ago, Linden Lab shut down the Woodbury location and group in Second Life, banning many of their members. With a strong reputation for being a hangout for griefers, the news of their departure was greeted with relief by many. Recently Second Life Newser would get a tip that the group had a place in virtual reality, but in a different grid: Kitely. So it was decided to investigate.

Read more in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

News and Commentary: Update on JP Laszlo of the Trump Organization

It was a few weeks ago in which JP Laszlo and several other members of the Trump Organization, the most well-known of the groups in Second Life promoting US Presidential candidate Donald Trump, were banned from Second Life by Linden Lab. The Lab also closed the group's sim, "The Wall." The group had a short but controversial history in Second Life. Members of the group erected a "Trump Wall" next to the Sanders HQ, towering over it, and they were blamed for a number of griefing incidents there and other places on the Grid.

Since the banning, little has been heard from JP Laszlo that the Newser is aware of. On the group's Facebook page, they mentioned there's been no response to their ban appeal. On his Twitter, JP changed his name there to "JPizzers" and posted a picture showing a girl in a Russian uniform with the words "Make Woodbury Great Again," a reference to an area in Second Life that had a reputation for harboring griefers which was eventually erased by Linden Lab and many of it's group banned.

 As part of the Trump Organization, JP insisted they were not griefers, but called what they truly did pranks which they felt the Sanders group overreacted to, saying the incidents of outright griefing were not his doing. But JP's adoption of the Woodbury name compromises his claim and provides ammunition to those who blamed Trump-themed griefing attacks on him. JP's critics included Hamlet Au of New World Notes, whom felt their sim was taken down due to the huge black eagle design visible on the map resembled a Nazi symbol.

Hamlet Au would go on to call the Trump Organization an example of Second Life imitating real life, comparing them to the Presidential campaign they claimed they supported, "in this case, they're actually less troll-ish than their real life counterparts -- who are literally drawing on images and memes from trolls in the online realm in order to troll the entire world." But unlike trolls in Second Life, which are close to universally disliked by the residents, Donald Trump enjoys the support of much of the US electorate, seen by many working-class Americans as their champion. This week at the Republican Party's convention in Cleveland, he officially became their nominee for the office of President of the United States,giving a long acceptance speech. While this may be the last we hear of JP Laszlo, Trump will dominate the headlines of real life news for the next few months, possibly for the next four to eight years.

 Sources: chronicle.com, New World Notes, BBC News  

Bixyl Shuftan

Hillary Clinton Group Claims Trump Organization Leader Banned

It's not yet confirmed, but it may be the beginning of the end for Second Life's most well known group of supporters of Donald Trump.

On the evening of June 30, a member of the Hillary Clinton 2016 group, who requested to remain anonymous, stated that there was a group notice that JP Laszlo, the leader of the Trump Organization and a few other Trump groups in Second Life had been banned by Linden Lab and their sim, "The Wall," had been confiscated.

J.P. (jp.laszlo), leader of the biggest Trump group in Second Life got banned by the Lab and their main sim was seized.  J.P. and other associates no longer appear in people search or in any affiliated Trump groups.

J.P.'s group has been well known to troll SL residents (including us) with their political propaganda and harassment tactics.  I guess Linden Labs had enough of it. :-D

The notice was given by Priscilla Cox (Prissycox), the head of Hillary Clinton 2016.

A search for JP Laszlo both using inworld Search and on secondlife.com proved fruitless. The sim was still online when I checked. While it was blocked to visitors, it had been closed to them under JP as well.

Of exactly why JP and others of the Trump Organization were banned, the informer doubted it was for anything done with the Clinton group, "they had done some minor griefing to the Hillary HQ nothing major really.  So not sure what precipitated LLs big move last night." She had heard of a griefing incident at Bay City not far from where they had a building. But when I later talked to Marianne McCann, she had strong doubts that the Trump Organization was involved or that even if this were it would get a permanent ban in response as the incident in question was minor. However in the past, JP and his Trump Organization were accused of taking part in the outright griefing of Bernie Sanders supporters, in addition to the pranks they admitted pulling, such as the Trump Wall. Hamlet Au of New World Notes basically called for Linden Lab to ban members of the group for violations of Second Life's community standards. JP denied his group was griefing, "We are not trolls, just political activists with a sense of humor and fun." But others begged to differ,

More information may come in over the next few days, but with JP's account removed, it's doubtful he will be coming back to Second Life. While no doubt there will continue to be trolls harassing people in Trump's name, it seems the largest group of Trump supporters has just been swatted down.

* * * * *

A visit to Lionheart Ahadi revealed that the Clinton HQ was no longer at the block it and the old Trump HQ had been on. It's owner Candace Larganta had earlier hinted it would be up until after the July 4rth weekend. But there was another Clinton building at
Lionheart Pumbaa (205, 210, 28). The Trump building by the old Trump Organization that had been across the street from it was gone to, though one biker bar did put up a Trump sign.

In real life, the primaries are over, and both Clinton and Trump are trying to unify their parties behind them. But a number of Republicans are reluctant to support Trump, and many "Berners" say they will not vote for Clinton reguardless of whether or not she gets Sansers' endorsement. In both Second Life and real life, it's been an interesting election.

*Addition*  Contacting JP Lazslo through his Facebook group "Donald Trump Still Thinks Your Waifu is S***," he confirmed that Linden Lab had indeed banned him and others in his group. He also made a short but to the point post on his Twitter account.

Bixyl Shuftan

Update on the Politcal Locations

So with the appearance of a new Hillary Clinton HQ in Second Life, what have the Trump and Sanders supporters been doing, and have the Clinton supporters been doing anything else? As one might expect, the "Trumpers" have not taken the appearance of supporters of another of their candidate's opponents lying down. So just what happened in the latest chapter of the 2016 US Presidential election's reflection in the virtual world?

Read the story in Extra.

The Trump Manor

Late last month, Second Life Newser found out about a location in Second Life, made with the theme of one of the leading candidates for the US Presidential election this fall: Donald Trump. Named the Trump Manor, the location is owned by JP Laszlo, a member of a Second Life group of supporters for the candidate. JP explained a little about herself, her support for her candidate, how the location came to be, and some plans for the future.

Read more in Places.