Team Firestorm Warns About Scammers

 

 

 On the Firestorm Viewer today, there was a popup message, warning about scam activity. 

Please be aware that there are currently no Firestorm versions 8, 9, or 10. The latest official release is Firestorm 7.1.9 (74745). For your safety, always download Firestorm from the official source: main firestormviewer.org domain. Make sure to type this address directly into your web browser or click the version number in the top-left corner of the Firestorm splash screen. Do not trust download links shared by non-team members. You can verify if someone is a Firestorm team member by checking their profile and looking for "Firestorm Support/Developer/[Staff]" in the payment information field - the "description" fields, groups list or "picks" do not count. This message will be displayed for a few days due to a recent increase in scam activity - please do not ask in support groups to remove it, or when exactly it will be gone.

While this message is just a temporary one, it's a reminder that scammers are always trying to ways to get into peoples' computers, either to try to find a way to steal something, such as Linden dollars, or just to wreck systems. So one needs to be careful. So as the warning says, don't download any viewer that says "Firestorm" anyplace else but https://www.firestormviewer.org/ . And be aware of other kinds of trickery as well, including friends suddenly acting strangely, repeatedly telling you to click on fishy-looking links - they've been hacked and the hacker is trying to hack you as well.

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Cartoon of The Day: Shirt Fail Message

 

 

 Taken at Club Squeaks. Being a virtual world, computer humor isn't usually far away in Second Life. In this case, on a guy's shirt.

By Bixyl Shuftan

"A Message from our CEO: Coronavirus and Second Life Operations"

With the Coronovirus continuing to spread and make news, Ebbe Altberg/Ebbe Linden issued a statement yesterday on the issue. It was to state that measures were being taken to ensure the crisis would not disrupt service, and asking them to show patience, and welcome, to new and returning residents.

* * * * *

As concerns about the current coronavirus outbreak continue, we want to assure the community that we have taken steps to ensure that the Second Life operations stay steady while also helping our employees stay safe through this public health crisis. Our hearts and thoughts go out to those who have been affected by this unprecedented event. 

Second Life will continue to be available without interruption as we get through this tough time together. Due to our previous crisis contingency planning and the flexible nature of our distributed workforce, we are not expecting any changes to response times for support inquiries and payment processing. 

We know that Second Life serves a great purpose for our community as people seek ways to stay in touch with their friends and co-workers, as they grapple with new social distancing protocols, mandated remote work requirements, and other precautionary measures. 

With the closure of many universities and displaced conferences and events, Second Life also continues to be an option for disrupted organizations looking for new remote work, classroom or event solutions. To help, we recently implemented a reduction in pricing to a flat $99/month per region for qualified education and nonprofit organizations.

We are seeing an increase in new registrations and returning residents during this outbreak. Please be kind and welcoming to those who may just need a friendly conversation to escape from this crazy world for a moment or more. If you have a friend or colleague who is looking for a safe place to socialize online during these tough times, we encourage you to help them discover how Second Life can enable them to feel less isolated by connecting them to your favorite communities or experiences.

Like many companies across the globe, we’ve put into action new remote work policies for our employees to ensure that they can take care of themselves and their families while continuing to work from home. Prior to this incident, a large percentage of our company was already working from the “Moonlab” (that’s what we call remote employees’ locations), so we have been able to transition quickly and efficiently to a fully remote setup. 

For the past 17 years, Second Life has been a special place that brings people across the world together -- and we appreciate your trust and support as we get through this rough time together.

Ebbe and all the Lindens

SL Newser Discord Channel

We at the Newser do our best to give you news about the people, places, events, and things about Second Life. We've also invited feedback, especially reader submissions. We've been posting links to many of our stories on Facebook for many years, for instance. But as there have been more questions about the social network, some have stopped going there.

For some months, I've been on a few groups on Discord, a chat program that many have been using instead of Skype lately. So we're opening ours on SL Newser Discord channel ( https://discord.gg/SttVuj). It's still new, with plenty of informal though friendly comments so far. So feel free to join in (though behave yourselves as drama and other trouble is unwelcome).

Source: The Guardian 

Bixyl Shuftan

SL12B: A Message From Doc

Doc Gascoigne, the co-leader of the SL12B staff, had one final message for the people behind the Second Life Twelfth Birthday.

Thank you SL12B Community

 We would like to thank everyone who contributed, volunteered and exhibited. All the DJs and Performers and the builders. It took an army of volunteers to bring this year’s birthday celebration together. 

If you enjoyed this year’s event and want to be a part next year, keep an eye on this blog and stay in the SLB Community Group for notification of next year’s festivities.

 It is always my pleasure to work with all of you.

The message came with the picture above, appropriately titled, "C'ya next time."

A Note of Thanks From "Land of the Giants"

Gemma Cleanslate recently got a note of thanks from Randy RanDom (Randy Burt) for her article about her writing about his build "Land of the Giants."

Your article along with Linden having The Land of the Giants on their destination guide has helped keep us going.  Generally I change the entire region every six months, but on April 15th it will be one year for the Giant's House.  Again thank you so much for your article.

SL10B: A Message From Golan Eilde

SL10B  -Looking Forward, Looking Back

What a celebrations it was. Wow, made my heart be filled with joy.

Eight days 24/7 shows, I can't really even start to count on what made my SL10B so amazing.

Maybe its my Crew that changed my way of thinking.

Maybe its the DJs that changed me to who I am today.

And maybe it's the music, after all it is what makes us do things.

I look back to Second Life to my past, and see the path I walked where I was. And am looking now to where I am. What a transformations it was. Time to look forward to new horizons and to take a step forward.

I wanted to say to all that made an impact on me during this event,  a big thank you. Without you I don't think we could done all of this.

You made this one birthday to remember!

Also wanted to say special thanks to:

Sim Coordinators -  all you did to keep the sims stable

Moderators  -  for keeping our event on the safe side from griefers and unwanted people

Greeters/hosts  - You guys did great work welcoming new residents and all that needed help on the sims.

EA - You guys were just amazing gave the help to exhibitors, what they needed and setting access, rules, and set their parcel, permissions, etc. It's not an easy job but one of the most important.

Performers - It was a blast this year, I thank you for the tunes. Thanks for a job well done.

Leads- (senior and land ) - Thanks for your support and for all you did to make this event happen.
          
Stage Manager -  without you guys the stages would never worked themselves out.
                               
          
To sum it up: 

           It was a pleasure to work with you all
           and I am looking forward for next year!!!
   
          
                        
P.S. DJ STAGE TEAM - You  Rock  :D           
       
GOLAN   Eilde
Lead, DJ Stage                     
SL10B                                                        

SL10B: Doc Gascoigne, "Thank you SL10B Community"

I personally would like to thank everyone who volunteered to work for the Second Life 10th Birthday Community Celebration. All your collective effort and volunteer spirit helped us pull off this grand event. I also would like to thank the SL Community for supporting this event. Without you whether it be in the form of volunteers or visitors, our birthday event would not be as successful as it has been this year.

This year’s gathering was a look back for some and look forward for others. For me personally, it reminded me of the SL I came from where we “paid it forward” by helping each other with our knowledge, experience and throwing really great parties. If I had not said it a dozen times I will say it again; Community is not just a word it is an entity; a living, breathing entity. An interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location. Our common location is Second Life.

If you enjoyed the event and want to be a part next year, keep an eye on this blog and stay in the SLB Community Group for notification of next year’s festivities.

It was and always has been an honor and my pleasure to once again work with all of you.

Cya next time,

Doc

Source: SL10B website.

Message from Misty's Haven

A few days ago, Gemma Cleanslate wrote on Mistyowl Warhol's new art gallery. Gemma found out that Mistyowl started a blog, and the second entry were some kind words about us.


I can describe the Galerie and New Group, but a dear friend, Gemma Cleanslate did such a better job than I could in her post on SL Newser. Thank you Gemma for a great job. ... Gemma has to be my first person to talk about. She is easy to sum up... classy, warm, friendly with nothing but kind words.


And thank you Mistyowl.