Fifteen Years of The SL Newser,

 

It was fifteen years ago yesterday in which one chapter in Second Life journalism ended, and another began. 

 

For about three and a half years, the Second Life Newspaper had been reporting on goings on in Second Life. Starting off as a simple blog in 2005, "one man's dream," it grew and developed into a real newsletter with a staff that ensured it was updated every weekday. Yours truly would join in 2007. But sadly real-life would catch up to the owner and editor, and in Spring 2010 we were informed the paper would soon be closing.

 

A few of the staff would simply depart and go on to different things, but four of us, Gemma Cleanslate, Shellie Sands, Grey Lupindo, and myself, had joined the dream of reporting the news and were not about to just give it up. So we got together and made plans for a new one, with me as the owner and editor since I had been the "office manager" of the SLN. And so on June 5 2010, Second Life Newspaper ended, and the Second Life Newser began.

 

It wasn't easy. While we had plenty of experience writing the news, this was a new paper, and owning one isn't the same as managing one. And we started just as some *major* news was hitting from Linden Lab laying of a third of it's staff to the CEO leaving and Philip Linden returning as interim, to the closing of the Teen Grid and others. But we were persistent. By the end of the month, our friend Ranchan Weidman and the Sunweaver community had provided us with an office, and the land to put it on. And it was becoming clear to everyone we were around to stay. We would report on the people, places, and events of this virtual world that has become for many of us truly our second life. 

 

Since those first days, much has changed. Linden Lab went from where to go after the end of it's Golden Age, for a time creating or buying other products. But after a few years, over time it would close them or sell them off, the last one being the next-generation virtual world Sansar which while looking good never really took off. Confidence with the Lindens would fall and rise over time as blunders of theirs made residents wonder about them, and smart moves encouraged users to invest more time and money as well as spreading the word.  And Linden Lab itself would find itself purchased. But the new investors knew a good thing when they saw it, and let the Lab to continue as it has. 

 

The land and people have changed. Over time, we've written about many places and people. Sadly, many areas would close, and time and real life would take some people away. But other locations would open, and other people would join. The residents over time would be less Boomer and Gen-Xer, and more Millennial, who would bring in new attitudes and outlooks. 

 

We have changed. Sadly Shellie and Gray would have to depart the Newser, but others would step in such as Grease Coakes, DrFran Babcock, and others. Those who have remained have gotten older, and have had some real-life challenges, yours truly's hair has become mixed with gray in real life, but the writing goes on. Some of our competitors have not, shutting down over time for various reasons. 

 

But much remains the same. This is still the virtual world that brings out creativity and inspiration. Builders continue to make great landscapes, buildings, and other creations such as lifelike virtual pets, vehicles large and small, and more. Artists come here to show their masterpieces and see what they can do in a three-dimensional landscape. Fundraisers, such as those done by the Relay for Life and conducted, bringing in money for valued charities that help thousands. And much more. 

 

And the future? Despite the naysayers over time who thought Second Life was doomed, it has continued over time and remains stronger than ever. And while we the staff of the Newser have seen some real-life challenges, we remain committed to continuing to bringing you the readers the news of this great, and sometimes crazy, virtual world. On occasion real life may slow us down a little, but we still deliver the news. 

 

Special thanks to the Sunweaver Estates and the Angels to giving us a location inworld, Farshore Radio for helping to spread the word, to James and Dana who taught us how a newsletter should be run. And of course special thanks to you the readers whose readership makes this paper possible.  

 

Bixyl Shuftan

Editor

SL Newser

 

Eleven Years of the SL Newser

 
What is it like to take part in a dream, and one day being the ones to continue the dream?

It was eleven years ago, Saturday June 5 2010 that the leading newsletter of Second Life at the time closed, and the one formed by four of it's reporters that carried on where it left off began. For myself and others, especially SL Newspaper editor Dana Vanmoer, the past several months had been a challenging time. In October, the SLN's main sponsor had gone bankrupt with no warning. Linden Lab had made some decisions such as closing their mentor program that made people wonder about their concerns of the well being of the residents. Over time a number of reporters had left. And events in real life had forced the paper's owner, JamesT Juno, offline and were dragging Dana away. Fortunately I could update the paper when Dana couldn't.

Finally in a meeting in early April, Dana informed us she could no longer keep the Second Life Newspaper going, and it would close in two months. We were shocked and surprised, Gemma suggesting there could be another way. But Dana felt without James' input, there were no other options. After a little time to recover and talk, four of us, Gemma Cleanslate, Grey Lupindo, Shellie Sands, and myself came to the decision to form a new one. And so just as Dana was finishing the closing article for the Second Life Newspaper, the Second Life Newser had begun.

For us, it was a scary time. And for me personally I wondered if I was up to the task. But we had a job to do, and with big stories coming in such as the layoff of a third of Linden Lab, the return of Philip Linden, the Second Life Birthday, and the Relay for Life, we went to work reporting the news. We soon had our office thanks to the Sunweaver community, then our first sponsor, the Podex Exchange. By the end of the year, it was clear we were around to stay. The news would continue to be reported.

And so over the past eleven years, we've written much about the people, places, events, and things in Second Life. While I would make a few changes from Dana's model, the Newser would report the news in much the same style as the SL Newspaper did. While yours truly was the one in charge, we were a team effort, reporting from our perspectives. Shellie had stories about her misadventures with bunny raising. Grey liked to explore around a lot, but would also report on the goings-on with her home community. Gemma would also explore, report on a new art gallery exhibit, and once in a while talk about a nice little fishing event. Myself, I would do a little bit of most everything from writing about goings-on in the Sunweaver community, to breaking news about Linden Lab, an interesting sim I came across, amusing advertisement articles for the Podex Exchange, and more.

Over time much has changed, both with the Newser and Second Life itself. While this paper didn't cover Second Life in it's golden age, it did began as the Lab was reacting to it's end. Over time, the Newser covered three changes of leaders at Linden Lab, and various changes of strategy. We covered the introduction of mesh which would change the way objects and avatars were made. We covered changes in the terms of service, such as one vauge change that caused confusion about the rights of content creators for many months. More recently, there has been Second Life's long slow decline in it's numbers coming to a halt, and then the virtual world experiencing a resurgence as it's numbers grew once more, and then came it's getting acquired by investors.

And the Newser itself would change some. Sadly Shellie Sands and Grey Lupindo would depart as circumstances in real-life dictated changes in plans. But others would come in over time such as DrFran Babcock, Xymbers Slade, Any1 Gynoid, Becky Shamen, Breezes Babii, and many others over time. Each had their own perspective of the virtual world, and covered Second Life from that perspective. Those whom had only been on for just a few months were just as welcome as those whom had been on for many years as sometimes those whom have been around for just a year or less can notice things "oldbies" often miss. And of course those whom have been around for a while have a sense of history and how things used to be, as well as earlier times when residents panicked about the virtual world ending and of course it didn't. In recent times, three fine reporters have joined the team: Anita Kimono, Dancerina Starlight, and Rosie.

But what never changed was our mission to get the news out of the people, places, and events of Second Life, and to do so without unnecessary controversy. Unlike the tabloids, we don't make things up outside of April Fool's day unless it's the occasional piece of SL fiction (such as the advertisements we used to do for Podex). Nor do we need to. Eventually some troublemaker reveals himself, or Linden Lab does something that results in unintended consequences. There have been a few times we've made a mistake, but we try to correct them.

We have done much. Over the past eleven years, we've posted over ten thousand briefs, announcements, videos, cartoons, and of course articles. And for those interested in what happened in the past, one can quickly go back to a certain time and see what was going on, such as previous Second Life Birthday and Relay Weekend events.

And now, eleven years have passed, with the virtual world we cover now reaching it's eighteenth year. Thanks to the combined efforts of our reporters over the years, and of course you the readers, we have not just endured but prospered. It's a different Second Life than the one we started in, but we cover it just the same.

And our future? Some of my friends feel all it would take for the virtual world to collapse is one really dumb move by Linden Lab. But the virtual world's demise has been predicted more times I can count. Most likely, it has at least several years left. Unless there's some unforeseen calamity such as an Internet-destroying solar flare or catastrophic economic calamity, Second Life is here to stay, at least for the rest of the decade. And the Newser will be around to cover it.

Special thanks to our sponsors Lorena Chung Estates, Montecito Bay, The Deathlands, Coral Estates, the Safe Waters Foundation, Farshore Radio, and the Sunweaver Estates. Special thanks to James and Dana who taught us how a newsletter should be run. And of course special thanks to you the readers whose readership makes this paper possible.

Bixyl Shuftan
Editor
SL Newser
 

OS Grid Hypergrid Business "Winding Down" After Nine Years

For fans of Opensim, some sad news. HyperGrid Business, the leading source of news and other articles about the OS grids has been scaling back it's coverage lately. Maria Korolov, the editor, stated they have just two more articles, "after that, there's nothing else in the pipeline."

"What's Next?" Maria stated, "I’m going to continue maintaining the site itself, so that the article archives stay up, and all the resources stay available. I’m also going to do a monthly active grids list — just the list of active grids, not any of the usage stats. I’ll stop updating the list of popular hypergrid destinations, since I’ll no longer have the traffic numbers.I’ll continue running press releases and guest columns, and the free ads will stay up. We might do a short news piece or two each month as well."

Of her cutting back, "The reasons are both personal and practical. Personally, I’ve moved on from covering virtual worlds to covering cybersecurity and, most recently, artificial intelligence. ... I barely spend any time in OpenSim anymore."

"Practically, there was once a strong possibility that OpenSim would evolve into an open source, virtual reality metaverse. That’s not happening. Our viewers are still stuck where they were ten years ago, without any real support for web or mobile access or for virtual reality headsets. All projects to address that issue seem to have faded away. Instead, the focus has shifted to VR-native platforms from Google, Facebook, and, to some degree, Microsoft. We don’t know yet what Apple is cooking up, but they’re busy as well.

"It’s increasingly looking like the whole SL-OpenSim ecosystem has hit a dead end. It will probably continue to exist as a niche platform for its half million active monthly users, shrinking slightly each year until it’s just a nostalgia thing, like text-based adventure games or manual typewriters."

Those commenting on Korolov's article tended to support her observation about OpenSim. One stated, " The open source developers have been great, but if OS is not to degenerate into an historical curiosity, there needs to be a linking of business cases and investments with resources and developers. Investors need to understand the need for Open Source, and OS developers need to be open to dealing with the changes that come with resources." Another commented, " It does feel like we are stuck in Limbo at the moment. ... Opensim development seems to have hit a dead end." A third remarked, "To get to the next level of user involvement is going to take a lot of development. The kind of capitalization needed to do that means big players will develop it. Yes, there is the possibility of a grass roots development effort, but that is much harder to coordinate." But one remained optimistic about OpenSim, "I think Opensim still has a lot going for it and for those of us that still use Second Life too and are perfectly happy still using our PC's."

Hamlet Au didn't agree with Korolov's comments, at least in regards to Second Life, " I don't quite buy that last bit, because unlike OpenSim, Second Life is still backed by a profitable company with a highly engaged, highly monetized userbase, giving Linden Lab enough money to evolve ... . As with many open source-based projects, OpenSim was relying almost solely on the community spirit and voluntary work of assorted tinkerers and enthusiasts -- and that rarely leads to a commercial product with a consumer userbase." It was his wish though that Hypergrid Business somehow find a way to continue on, "maybe a benefactor could buy the site and take over?"

Sources: Hypergrid Business, New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

Error Messages

A couple people have been telling me the Newser doesn't always come up in their browser. Blogspot, which the Newser has it's pages on, seems to be glitching a little. If the paper has trouble loaded, refreshing the page once or twice should take care of it.

Hopefully the glitch will be fixed soon.

Bixyl Shuftan

Editor To Be Guest Speaker at Safe Waters Foundation Today

Yours truly, Bixyl Shuftan, will be the guest speaker at the Safe Waters Foundation's mer Chat Pavilion today. The topic, at least which I'll be speaking about, is about writing for an online newsletter, or blog. Among the people there, Grace Wrigglesworth, the head of the Safe Waters Foundation, and Barbie Alchemi of Creations for Parkinson's.

The discussion is at 1PM SL time.

Mer Chat Pavilion  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Union%20Passage/96/229/1

Second Life Enquirer Turns 12

A couple days ago on May 9, The publication Second Life Enquirer celebrated their twelfth anniversary. It was also the rezzday of it's founder and owner Lanai Jarrico. Having gotten her start in the now closed "The Sims Online" virtual world, she came to Second Life to write about goings on here. In a 2015 interview, she described her paper as being more entertainment-oriented while the Newser was more news-focused.

Rather than being the arch-rivals the SL Herald and the SL Newspaper were, the two publications have more or less cooperated, such as when Lanai requested that yours truly take a picture of her at a 2014 jail and bail and let me make a cartoon out of it, and today's article on Net Neutrality being on the line.

No doubt she and her writers will be continuing for a while.

Happy Anniversary SL Enquirer

Bixyl Shuftan

A Week at the Office Alone

For the first time in over a year, it's just been the me the editor and head writer at the paper this week. No, nobody's been slacking. The others had to take care of some real life matters. But don't worry, the rest of the team will soon have some stories. Until then, I'll hold down the fort the best I can.

Interview with Lanai Jarrico, Editor of the SL Enquirer

Those who keep up with the news in Second Life, particularly the entertainment side, are familiar with the Second Life Enquirer and it's editor and owner, Lanai Jarrico. Both recently celebrated being inworld for ten years. Bixyl Shuftan recently met up with Lanai for an interview, asking her a few questions such as how she came about to be a writer of virtual news.

Read the interview in People.

Massivley, WoW Insider, And Other Joystiq.com Websites To Close

Among other online newsletters, those at Joystiq.com, notably Massively and WoW Insider will be closing and soon be no more. After more than a decade of covering computers and computer gaming, including Second Life, these publications are shutting down. So why after a decade are these gaming news sites closing?

Read more in Extra.

Second Life Enquirer to Move Inworld Location

The Second Life Enquirer recently announced they would be moving their building. The new location is described as being in Mont Fleuri Isle.

Second Life like the real world goes through many changes. Businesses and avatars come and go but some just relocate for better opportunities. We are proud to announce our move to the beautiful Seychelles Isle where traffic is booming and people work together to create a close knit community.

Mont Fleuri Isle is among a group of islands off the east coast of the Nautilus continent, north of the Blake Sea.

The Second Life Enquirer is owned and edited by Lanai Jarrico, and has a link exchange agreement with the Second Life Newser

Crew Meeting

A few scenes from last week's monthly crew meeting. Here, the Newser crew discusses possible stories to cover this month.

 There was also a bit of funnery involved, such as when a froggy friend of DrFran's stopped by.

And Johnny decided to "pony up" on his avatar collection.

Stay tuned for some interesting articles this month, and a special announcement early next month.

Bixyl Shuftan

A Week at the Office Alone

For the first time since the start, it's just been the me the editor and head writer at the paper this week. No, nobody's been slacking. One was in the hospital, and the others had to take care of some real life matters. But don't worry, the rest of the team will soon have some stories. Until then, I'll hold down the fort the best I can.

*slides the keyboard forward and puts a pillow down, followed by taking a snooze*

The Metaverse Journal Folds

Earlier this month, the Metaverse Journal, once a noted newsletter covering Second Life, officially closed. Lowell Cremorne (David Holloway in real life), the Journal's founder and main writer, stated he no longer had the time to update, it had been months since his previous article, and rather than leave people uncertain about it's fate decided to make it's shutting down official.

I’m not sure how many people will see this post, but I thought I’d jump in to state the somewhat obvious – that The Metaverse Journal is pretty much no more. It hasn’t been regularly updated in well over a year – not because my interest has flagged but because I plain don’t have enough time to devote to this site AND work on my further studies that involve virtual worlds. I still have 3-4 years of that study to go, so I’d rather draw a line in the sand rather than leave things hanging.

This site has been live since 2006 and was initially launched as Sloz.info (Second Life Oz) and SL was our sole focus. We then widened coverage to virtual worlds more broadly. It’s been a hell of a fun ride ...

Lowell gave thanks to Tateru Nino for her "encouragement over the years," in addition to Feldspar Epstein, Graham Sabre, and Wolfie Rankin who also contributed articles.

Lowel started the Journal in November 2006, saying it was for "bringing an Australian perspective to virtual worlds," but reported on Second Life events, places, and issues in general.

One can still read the Journal's stories at http://www.metaversejournal.com/. Lowell stated he will occasionally post on his Metaverse Health blog: http://www.metaversehealth.com/ .

Hat tip: Daniel Voyager

Bixyl Shuftan