EOTB: "Membership Mania" Offering Higher Group Limit, More Perks For Upgraded Accounts

 

 

On Monday February 10, Linden Lab announced their "Membership Mania" week. Everybody, basic accounts included, is getting higher group limits. And there's now more perks for upgraded accounts, including a few Linden Home types available for Plus.

 

February’s Membership Mania continues with even more surprises and rewards for our valued Plus, Premium, and Premium Plus members! If you thought last week’s announcements were exciting, just wait until you see what’s in store this week. From free daily Linden Dollars to expanded benefits across the board, there’s never been a better time to be a Second Life member! 

To begin with, everybody is getting a higher group limit.  This includes Basic accounts, who are having it raised from 42 to 50. Plus accounts are getting it raised from 50 to 55. Premium residents are going from 60 to 70 groups. And for Premium Plus, the limit is going from 140 to 150.

The last time the group limit was changed for basic accounts was in 2011, when it was raised from 30 to 42. At Second Life's beginning in 2003, it was just ten.  In 2004, it was raised to 15. In 2006, it was raised to 25. In 2016, it would raise the limit of Premium accounts to 60.

 

In 2019, Linden Lab announced it would be cutting the limit back, but eventually relented and kept the limit at 42.

Less important but still useful, the number of stored IMs will be going up. For Basic, the number will be going up from 15 to 30. For Plus, from 15 to 40. Premium goes from 80 to 120. Premium Plus goes from 160 to 240.

 

Linden Lab is lowering the cost to be a Linden Home owner. Those with Plus accounts are now eligible for one. But, they won't have the selection Premium residents have. They will be limited to just three kinds, Newbrooke Sakura, and Campers. 

For those wanting to add one more decoration to their Linden Homes, more good news. Linden Lab is raising the Land Impact levels. For land parcels 512 square meters in size, is up from 175 to 234 LI. For those 1024 in size, 351 to 468. And for those 2048 from 703 to 937. 

And for those using the Mobile Viewer with accounts over Basic, good news. The Lab will be paying you to log in daily with their "Linden Reward Streaks"

 

 

For a limited time, we’re rolling out Linden Reward Streaks, an exciting new way for Plus, Premium, and Premium Plus members to earn free Linden Dollars daily simply by logging in to the Second Life Mobile app. 

To claim some free Lindens, log onto the mobile app if you have an account higher than Basic (download it first if you don't have it). If you log on for a second day in a row, you get a few more Lindens than the first day. If you log on for a third day in a row, you get still more up to day seven. After that, you get the same amount of free Lindens for as long as you keep logging in every day, "Look for the Streaks pop-up when you log in or find it in your main menu. "

To check the blog post in full, Click Here.

Linden Lab Bringing Back Second Life Mentors

 

 Longtime residents of Second Life may remember when Linden Lab had an official Mentor group in it's early days. But in November 2009, the Lab announced it was retiring the program, saying, "While the official Mentor Volunteer Program has been an extremely valuable endeavor, its sheer size has made it increasingly difficult to support, and we need to reallocate our resources at the Lab for other Resident-focused programs." The move has long been criticized as another example of the Lab's shortsightedness, at least during this time.

After more than thirteen years, Linden Lab seems to have changed it's mind. Yesterday on June 8, it announced that it was calling for people to sign up to be part of "A New Generation of Second Life Mentors!"

To coincide with our 20th Birthday celebrations, we are excited to announce the introduction of a new generation of Second Life Mentors.

Second Life Mentors will be the first ripple in the pond of “Paying It Forward”. 

Paying it forward is an ancient concept but we are bringing it right up to date and beyond in our amazing Second Life Community and “Our Fantastic Future”!

There will be two teams of volunteer Mentors.
 
-The Second Life Mentors, welcoming and guiding New Residents arriving at the Welcome areas and helping with ongoing assistance. 

-The Bellisseria Mentors, introducing people to the many themes and choices of Linden Homes and assisting people to settle into their Community across the Bellisseria Continent.

We will welcome Mentors with all levels of knowledge and experience. The most important qualities will be patience, warmth, positivity, fun, and a focus on inclusion. Mentors will learn and develop new skills and information within our teams with ongoing skill-sharing, training, and Community development ideas to take forward and share with our wonderful fellow Residents. 

 

In the blog post were links to two separate applications, in Google docs. One was for the new regular Mentors group (here). The other was for a special Mentors group for the BelliHub in Bellissaria (link).  It stated there would be training sessions to attend, and that this was a volunteer position so there would be no pay. They would also need to list days of the week and times they could regularly be available. And, a detail that some residents will find annoying, Mentors must use the official, or Linden Lab, Second Life Viewer. 

In a thread in the official forums, reaction from commentators was skeptical. For some, having to use the official viewer was a dealbreaker. Others felt there were reasons the Lab discontinued the old Mentor program, such as drama and people abusing authority. There were also people recommending that the Lab not use volunteers, but make the Mentors paid workers, "You get what you pay for."

So Linden Lab has brought back a group whose removal people complained about for years. But with its return, different people are complaining.

Bixyl Shuftan

Mystery Colored SSP Sims On Map

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On the map, there's a group of sims, some unnamed, the majority labeled SSP, on the map, far north of the mainlands.  

The sims are not in a single group, but in four clumps, colored purple, green, black, and red. 

It's possible these siims will eventually be part of some expansion of the Bellisseria area, but their planned function is unknown.

So what is SSP short for? In one town hall meeting with residents, one Linden commented that it stood for "super secret project."

Stay tuned for more information.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

After The SoS: Other Mental Health Support Groups

It was over a week ago in which the head of the Survivors of Suicide, the best-known depression support group in Second Life, announced it's closing. The natural reaction of some was worry, wondering where else they could go. So the SoS staff provided a list of other groups.

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As you search for new groups and spaces to get support with your mental health, please be mindful that SL is NOT an appropriate medium to offer or receive therapy, counseling, or medical advice, and that anyone offering these services should be avoided at all costs. No matter what they may tell you, you have no way of verifying their credentials, nor is there any licensing authority that would permit them to offer those services through a platform like Second Life.  

Only relevant groups with a proven track record, or new groups that are run by people with a proven track record have been included. (Listed alphabetically)

Fearless Nation - A 501c3 nonprofit providing PTSD education and support to SL residents since 2009.

"Founded in 2009, Fearless Nation PTSD Support is a 501c3 and 509(a)(1) and (2) organization as determined by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS), meaning that we are a publicly supported charity (not a “private foundation”) and an exempt-purpose, activity-supported charity."

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fearless%20Nation/134/118/22

Let's Talk - A mental health peer support group with great listeners and frequent support group meetings. Established in 2018.

"Hello. At *Let's Talk* the volunteers offer a little time to listen to anyone who feels they would like to talk to someone about a problem - large or small.  We do not try to fix you, we are not therapists, we are simply a group of people who have our own life experiences and understand that at times life can be very difficult.  We can listen to you only as a friend would, try to encourage you or look at things from a new perspective. We can also learn from you as everyone's feelings or problems are unique."

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lawst%20Paradise/228/137/2501

Impact Mental Health - A brand new mental health peer support organization run by former SOS staff, providing a safe space where people can get support from other people with similar experiences.

"Impact Mental Health is a peer support organization with a heavy focus on mental health. We provide a safe space, free of judgment or stigma where people can get support from other people with similar experiences.

"We are inclusive and open to all. We do not tolerate discrimination and we actively defy stigma.

"We are not doctors, therapists or counselors - nor do we pretend to be.

"Mental health therapy can be an important factor in recovery for many people and we fully encourage anyone who needs therapy to speak to their RL doctor or mental health team, but we do not offer therapy at Impact. We recommend you don't use any other "therapy services" in second life either as you have no way of verifying if the people offering it are legitimate. "

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Urban%20Dream/14/245/46

Virtual Ability - A support community for people with disabilities. Though not specifically geared towards mental health, they provide excellent support for people with a wide range of disabilities, including mental health disabilities.

"Virtual Ability has been building communities of support for people with disabilities in virtual worlds since 2007. About three-quarters of our group members have one or more kinds of disability (physical, mental, emotional, developmental or sensory) or chronic illness; the rest are family members, caregivers, professionals, researchers, students, and others interested in disability issues.

For anyone not yet a member of the Virtual Ability group, we invite you to take a look at upcoming events scheduled on our Community events calendar. The calendar is posted inworld near the Cabana Classrooms on Virtual Ability island."

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Ability/141/129/23

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The Newser covered the opening of Impact Mental Health last week, and has written about Fearless Nation and Virtual Ability in the past. We may cover the others in the future.

Bixyl Shuftan

Commentary: Why The Furry Fandom Isn't A Community

To people looking at a fanbase from outside, especially those with little familiarity with it, it's members may seem very much alike and more or less unified. The reality is, a large fanbase often has many internal divisions. For instance, Star Wars fans are split on how good the different trilogies are. Fantasy fans are split on the use of "chainmail bikini" armor for female fighters. And those are just two of the issues that the fanbases have, along with the petty rivalries individuals and small groups can have with one another. And then there's the furry fandom. While some from the outside see it as a monolithic group, it actually isn't. In his commentary, Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich) reminds us of that.

Read Cyfir's article in People.

"Relay Goes MC"

While most of the Relay sims are closed to all but designated builders, several of the southernmost ones are open, at least to Relayers, in an event called "Relay Goes MC" or the "Five Days of Relay."

Our 2019 event will introduce a brand new concept, the 5 Days of Relay! The first addition to the 5 Days of Relay will be the coming together of more than 70 motorcycle clubs in Second Life who will work together for the largest motorcycle rally in Second Life to fight cancer.

There are a number of smaller events going on, such as music parties, bike auctions, and a racetrack building contest. The entries have been placed in two stacks, one going over 1200 meters in the air!

The "Relay Goes MC" lasts until tomorrow, Friday June 7. After that, Saturday June 8, comes the main event of the Relay season, the Relay Weekend, 24 hours that's Second Life's biggest weekend event.

Bixyl Shuftan

Second Life Destinations: "Horse Riding and Enthusiast Communities"

(Click here if the video fails to play)

Even though motor vehicles have long been the dominant form of transportation for about a century, there's something about riding horses. In this week's Second Life Destinations, Linden Lab puts the spotlight on places and groups related to horses, or "Horse Riding and Enthusiast Communities."

This week, we shine a spotlight on the many virtual horse communities in Second Life. ... there is renewed interest in equestrian experiences across the Grid. Horse lovers need places to saddle up and ride...and there’s no shortage of destinations that cater to horse enthusiasts ...  Check out the Pets & Animals category in the Destination Guide for even more options.

The number of horse groups, breedable horse companies, and horseback riding locations are too numerous to mention. Last month, we interviewed Kitacelia about the challenges of raising breedable horses. If one wants to get a horse from her, she has a few at Dark Moon Rising at Helmsgarde (14/20/22).

Sci-Fi Expo Tomorrow

The Sci-Fi Expo is coming back to Second Life. For nine days from Saturday May 12 to Sunday May 20, there will be exhibits and events over a four sim area. You'll find Star Trek, Star Wars. Battlestar Galactica, Dr. Who, and other science fiction groups represented. The Expo is a fundraiser for the Relay for Life in Second Life.

For more information, Click Here to get to the website: https://slscifiexpo.wordpress.com/

For a calendar of the events, Click Here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SciFiExpo%20Landof%20Giants/128/128/24

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.

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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

Second Chance at Gachas

Linden currency exchangers have been in the news lately. But what about gacha resellers? Have you found out about a cool item that was on sale at a gacha but it's now over? Syndra takes a look at the market for goods obtained from gachas and are now up for resale to anyone interested.

Read more in Design.

Eye on the Blog: Group Limit Extended to Sixty for Premium Accounts

Late last week on May 28, Linden Lab announced they were expanding the number of groups for premium accounts. The new limit for these has gone from 42, which remains the limit for normal accounts, to sixty.

Today we’re thrilled to be rolling out another perk for Premium members: now you can be a member of 60 groups! Groups have been a consistently popular feature among the Residents of Second Life. It may not be obvious, but group membership can have an impact on the performance of a number of systems. That's why in Second Life's early days, Residents could only join a maximum of 10 groups. Over the years, we've made improvements that enabled us to raise the group limit to a maximum of 42, but we know that for some power users, even that isn't quite enough, and today we're happy to raise the bar for Premium subscribers.

The Lab stated while they would like to raise the limit further, "We must make sure that the recent gains in group performance are not jeopardized." The group limit raise took place immediately. The Lab went on to say "Downgrading from Premium membership will not remove you from any of your groups, but it will mean that you cannot join any new groups until you remove yourself from enough groups to get below the Basic account limit, which remains at 42."

Daniel Voyager wrote on his blog that over the years, the group limit has gone up over time from Second Life's beginnings. When the Grid officially opened, residents were limited to just ten groups. Compared to today, some of today's residents would consider this a ridiculously small number as there's all kinds of groups, for music and dance clubs, combat roleplay squads and platoons, estate community announcements, breedable pet fans, political discussion clubs, stores, even for Second Life families and circles of friends. Jo Yardley commented in the official blog that she thought "I think we have almost 20 just for our sim alone."

But over time, the limit would go up. In 2004, it was raised to 15. In 2006, it was raised to 25. In 2011, it was raised to the limit it was for all accounts until recently, 42.

Linden Lab has tried a number of ways over the years to encourage residents with basic free accounts, which were introduced in 2006. This has included offering them free gifts, sims only residents with premium accounts could access, discounts for the first month when signing up, and more. Some residents have commented these perks have seemed a bit small. But for some whose group limit keeps maxing out, raising it to 60 may be a very welcome convenience they're willing to pay more for.

For the comments in the Linden forums, Click Here.

More on the Mos Espa "Star Wars" Sim Closing

Last week, we reported that the Mos Espa sim, the home of a "Star Wars" themed science-fiction roleplay, was about to shut down. So what was Mos Espa, and what was it like? Here's the full story.

For more, go to People.

Lab's Grid Tinkering May Affect Moderating Larger Groups

Jasmine Dawn Shuftan got the following from the Builders Brewery.

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Beginning tomorrow, Linden Labs will be rolling out some changes across the grid in the code for groups that will affect ALL viewers being used in SL right now - including the SL viewers. The rollout should be completed by Friday

What it means is that you will be unable to access the member lists in any group with 10,000 or more in the group.

You will still be able to get group chat. You will be able to send group notices and invite people to join the group if your group role allows it.

You will be unable to assign a role and you will be unable to eject anyone from the group since you will not have access to that particular individual's name. If you are a moderator in the group, you will be unable to exercise any mod abilities such as taking away chat privileges for the same reason..

The SL viewer should be updated soon. Firestorm will be updated but the timeline is unsure at this point (hopefully this weekend but that's not a sure thing yet).

We have no information about any of the other viewers at this time.

Addition:  Daniel Voyager reported the reason for the code changes, "The new code changes will fix groups using HTTP which makes it more reliable for loading and editing for 10k+ members in SL groups. This is a switch-over from the old UDP which is not that great for handling large groups with 10k+ members. Its slow loading and harder to edit things with additional issues within groups."

The Adult RolePlay 2012

For Second Life residents interested in adult-themed role-play areas and groups, it can be difficult to find just the right one. It can also be just as hard for such groups to find individuals interested in joining up with them. A member of one such group has began organizing an inworld convention for both, the "Adult RolePlay 2012."

Read more in Extra.

Two Pony Fans Speak Out

Over a year ago, a new type of avatar joined the ranks of the furries, tinies, dragons, and humans: the ponies. Although a community of "Brony" fans, as they're also called, experienced a crisis when its sims were taken down, the four-footed residents bounced back and continued to be seen in and out of their new Pony sims, as well as others using the cartoonish avatar on occasion at parties. Recently, a writer for the Newser asked if there was some trouble between the ponies and furries. One pony fan after reading the article contacted SL Newser, and asked for a chance to talk, saying while there was some trouble, it wasn't between the fans of these avatars.

Read the interview in People.

Update on the Blake Sea Dispute

Yesterday, Gemma Cleanslate, with the help of Howdy Colter and Marianne McCann, reported on a dispute in the Blake Sea region between the sailors of some modern day ships whom had just arrived there and the pilots and sailors of civilian craft whom had been using it before. The last development was when there was a ban enacted against the warships. The full bulletin that was posted was finally recovered by Gemma.

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Hello All,

Due to the excess, disruptive events and protesting at Hollywood Airport and surrounding sims including Blake Sea - China, the management team has now found it necessary to implement a temporary ban of all navel/combat oriented vessels in the water surrounding the airport on the Santa Catalina sim, We hope to be able to lift this ban as soon as possible.

Exclusions to this ban are SLCG (Second Life Coast Guard) vessels. Also this ban does NOT apply to the peaceful use of military planes, jets or helicopters used for leisure flight.
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How it works:
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One warning will be given, failure to comply to this warning will result in an immediate two-week ban.

If poor conduct is given to the administrator that is warning the person, the ban time will be bumped up to a minimum of one month.

The ban will be from the Hollywood Estate, including the regions:

Santa Catalina (Hollywood Airport)
Hollywood (Starboards Yacht Club)

Any other consequences will be pressed if necessary-

We would like to remind everyone that Hollywood Airport is meant to be a fun and peaceful place to come and share a common interest, flying. Disrespect of your fellow pilots, security and/or management will NOT be tolerated.

Once again, we hope to return to regular operations as soon as possible. We are sorry for the current inconvenience


Sincerely,


jetplane1123 Hanly
Serendipity Weatherwax
Felicia Humbridge
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Hollywood Airport Management Team
June 20th, 2012
Santa Catalina

Troubled Waters at the Blake Sea

The Blake Sea has been the location of some controversy. Groups of WW2 era ships have recently come to the waters, to the irritation of the sailing community that was already there. The result has been protests and counter-protests over the use of the ocean sims. Gemma Cleanslate got together with Howdy Colter to write about the dispute

Read more in Extra.