No Second Life Veterans Tribute This Year

 

For fourteen years, the Second Life Veterans Tribute was a yearly event that honored American and other veterans, both living and deceased. But unfortunately, there will not be one this year. 

 

Eesy Spyker  (Meesoh Honi) would post the following in the Tribute's Discord group:

 

It is with a sad heart to report that this year's SLVT will not be able to be presented this year.  Due to a number of contributors, that make it happen each year, that are going through RL health issues, some with dire family issues/responsibilities and other factors out of our control, we have been unable to work on the tribute and present it this year.  We hope and pray for all involved and will strive to be able to once again provide a place honoring and remembering each and every one of our veterans.

We hope that you all find a place and a manner, in your own way, that you will still honor and remember our veterans.  Each of us contributors from SLVT hope that we will see you out and around SL, in various ways, honoring our veterans.

From all of us here at SL Veterans Tribute we wish all of our veterans, near and far, past and present, a happy and wonderful Veteran's Day, and thank them for the dedication and the price they have paid for us.  

 

Hopefully another event can be organized. But the Veterans Wall, with names contributed by many residents over the years, will be unavailable to see this year.

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Facebook Suspends Account of "Snow Crash" Author, Accusing Him of Impersonating Himself

 

 While not everyone knows the name Neal Stephenson, probably most who go about virtual worlds know about his novel "Snow Crash," a cyberpunk thriller describing them about a decade before the appearance of Second Life. 

 

Well, it seems Meta, the company behind Facebook which rebranded itself to match the name of his description of life online, the Metaverse, has been less than kind to him. He posted the news on his Twitter/X account. 

 

Today in “you can’t make this stuff up,” Meta has suspended my Facebook account because they suspect me of impersonating someone noteworthy

 

 New World Notes would report that his account was restored the following day, but that it happened to begin with was too ironic to ignore, "it's pretty fun to spend two-three years in research and interviews, writing about how Meta's leaders never really understood the Metaverse, couldn't even explain it to their staff, were never really passionate about virtual worlds and what made them meaningful, and how they sidelined people on their team who were. When all of that could be encapsulated by quoting this single tweet."

 

 Source: New World Notes

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Rita Mariner's Account Suspended Due To Missing IRS Tax Form

On Friday night, Rita Mariner, the leader of the Sunweaver community, got an unpleasant surprise when she tried to log in. She found her account had been blocked. So she came on with an alt that night. Her name couldn't be found in the Sunweaver group, though it was still on peoples' friend lists, leading to speculation she'd been hacked. But when she called Linden Lab the next morning, it turned out they'd suspended her due to not filing a form with the IRS.

Sunnies:  Rita discovered the reason she was blocked and took care of the issue.  Seems LL sent her an IRS Tax Form W9, via e-mail, that they wanted her to fill out.  She didn't notice it in scanning her e-mails, on her cell phone, but she found in checking on her PC.  It was dated last month.  Still Rita was upset wondering WHY they wanted the form filled out and all that sensitive, personal, info, since she didn't do business on SL, wasn't here to make money. In fact SL costs her.



At the Club Cutlass event on Saturday night, she (via the alt) talked about what was going on, "LL wanted me to fill out some IRS Tax Forms, why?  I have no clue. ... If I was making money on SL and pulling it out, I could see it, but the opposite is true, I pour money into SL every month." She stated that it was a W9 form sent in her emails, "So I filled it out and then I had to verify it again it was me. It was from a Linden. It had a ticket number. And it was in my account."

Others around were puzzled by the turn of events, one commenting ironically, "Because the IRS just KNOWS you are getting rich off SL." Another remarked, "Odd that I haven't heard of other large land-owners having issues." "Other than H and R Block, no business has demanded a tax form from me," spoke a third. "So maybe the IRS is gonna make you pay tax on the rents you collect?" someone jokingly asked. "If they try, then I get to deduct the losses," Rita answered, "which means I get a refund." "Or offer to pay them in Lindens (grin)."

Rita was optimistic, "I found the problem, filled out the paperwork, now just have to wait. ... Hopefully (by) Monday Rita will be back, now that LL has their desired paperwork."

Talk soon turned to other issues, such as the upcoming Relay season, hopeful the situation was on it's way to being resolved.

Bixyl Shuftan

Facebook Insists No "Games Character" Names

Earlier this month came two developments from social media that were less than welcome news to Second Life users. For residents who use Facebook and Twitch, those services just became a little less friendly.

For Second Life residents who use Facebook, one constant complaint is that many would rather have an account under their avatar's name than their real life one, while Facebook has insisted that only real-life identities should be used. The result was that Facebook accounts named after Second Life avatars were sometimes suspended or banned. When it was revealed that Facebook was altering their policy somewhat in regards to drag queens, some Second Life users were hoping that this would soon mean a change in it's policies to avatar names.

But when Facebook recently clarified their policies on names, they clearly stated they would have none of it, insisting on "authentic identities. ... If you want to create a presence on Facebook for your pet, organization favorite mocit, games character, or another purpose, please create a *page* instead of a Facebook profile." But as New World Notes commented, "A Facebook page has less functuality than a Facebook account, so some SLers are unlikely to find this acceptable."

So does this mean Second Life users of Facebook have no choice but to bite the virtual bullet and say goodbye to having their virtual personas' names on their social media? Not necessarily. Singer Mankind Tracer (Seth Regan in real-life) in the "Second Friends" group on Facebook suggested there were ways to reduce the chances of winding up suspended.

Becaaue many SL'ers post SL avatars as their profile pictures, Facebook looks at SL Fb accounts partially as "inactive" or as "Fake Accounts", as others have also corroborated and I've seen 150+ "Likes" on SRM simply VANISH in a day! We all lunderstand the anonymity that SL affords. But please, don't get yourself on Facebook's BOOTING sights. Post a real life photo or two, also make sure you post once a day for the next few days at least. This will help you to not be booted.

Yours truly has kept his own Facebook profile under his Second Life name for over five years without incident. Possibly because he's already been doing what Mankind suggested, posting most every day, and having a real-life picture among those in the profile. So maybe there's something to this advice.

Sources: New World Notes,  New York Times 

Bixyl Shuftan

Facebook Accused of Suspending Accounts of Native Americans, Asking They Use "Real Names"

Although many Second Life users are perfectly happy with using their real-life names on Facebook, for others they would prefer to use their account names as what they post is mainly about what they experience in the virtual world. Unfortunately for the latter, Facebook's official policy is that users must use their real life identities as their profile name. As it turns out, their "Real Names Only" policy isn't just affecting users of the planet's most populated virtual world. Some American Indians have complained Facebook refuses to recognize the names they use in real life as real names, and have their accounts suspended for using them.

Read more in Extra.

Some Examples of Linden Labs' Ill Treatment to Those Who Do Second Life Good

Recently, a good friend of mine, Alleara Snoodle, experienced what I thought would never happen. The genius whom had been so helpful time and time again, more often than not unrecognized, was suspended by Linden Labs for the "crime" of insulting a Linden for not doing his job. But looking back, this was just the latest example of the Lab's history of turning on those whom have done Second Life good.

Read more in People.