Brigadoon Station

Mistress Has Been Productive

2012-01-26T15:43:00.001-08:00

Mistress Has Been Productive, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
I've been busy, I've been delightfully busy creating artwork - both as framed art and for books. The books so far are rather naughty, but I don't intend on limiting myself. But right now, my venders are workign for the books and Brigadoon Station is quietly filling up with artwork.

If you touch the art on the walls... you never know where you might find yourself.

This one right here, in front of me.... you should really touch that one. Trust me.

Taken at Demelo (242, 18, 51)

Baby Monkey Julia's - Today only!

2012-01-26T11:46:00.001-08:00

Baby monkey Julia's - Today only!, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:

Todays Deal of the Day is an all new suede ankle boot with satin laces and texture change eyelets. A litle bit Victoriana, a sexy shaped heel and yummy 'touch me' textures.

There are 16 colours, and each one is L$25 for 24 hours only. The all colours texture change pack is a bargain L$200.

I bought white and black. The fat pack tempted me, but I'm on a budget at the moment - and these I want for myself, not for a blog post or a photo shoot, so I'm not about to pester Pixie about them. These are everything you expect in a boot, they were fitted by default, (yay!) and between black and white, I'll have shoes to go with much of my as-yet-unpacked loot from various hunts and visitations.

Oh, and are they worth buying at full price?

Yes. Yes they are.

Taken at Dindrane Elfor (174, 74, 41)

Oh, and since you are there - right NEXT to it is an assortment of free flats. Make a note, so that when you see a sad, wandering newb with horrible shoes that bling... you can bring them here.

She's All dressed up and all for free.

2012-01-19T19:03:00.001-08:00

She's All dressed up and all for free., originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
Eliza was putting her favorite outfits together into her RLV folders to interface with her Community Doll Key's "Dressup" feature, and she was so cute I had to snap a picture.

This is one of her many looks, and as with most of her doll outfits, it's a combination of hunt gifts and free items. I asked her to take a snapshot of her worn items for me and send it to my flickr. It's a very useful technique. Next time I'll ask for a larger image, I had to enhance it a lot to be able to read it.

But the dress is a hunt gift, TDO - NSA Hunt Gifte, it says. I hope Eliza can tell me what that means and where you can find it, as it's lovely. I thought it was from Rag Dollz - one of her usual haunts.

Her skin - which the photo doesn't do justice to, is labeled "House skin, old porcelain." It's a really nicely done jointed doll skin, and If I were a doll, I'd want that skin. Again, I hope she remembers where she got it. I'd probably want to visit there. Of course there are risks with freebies - it's become HER skin. I rarely see her in any other - and though of course, how she looks IS up to me in theory, and yes, even in practice...

*ahem* Let's say that she's a work of collaborative art and has considerable influence on the project.

That, and she's quite capable of pouting telepathically via the internet. Honestly!

Her shape - well I made that and while you can't have the face - that's hers - I should probably make a generic porcelain doll. As you may notice, the hips fit dolly dresses, and she looks entirely unfinished without a key.

Now, speaking of keys. You can't see it, but she's wearing a Community Dolls key, and it has all sorts of interesting features. You can get a copy at Brigadoon Station, from the giver under the Community Doll group join sign.

I shall save the pearls for last. They are a brand new group gift from Baby Monkey - it's a full suite of pearls, they can be recolored and all you need to do is teleport here and...

...oh, you are gone? See you later then. :)

Taken at Demelo (238, 32, 51)

Compare and Contrast

2012-01-15T17:06:00.001-08:00

Compare and Contrast, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
I had just gotten two new latex outfits from Bhadra, both in her Latex Sister series, and I'd wanted to shoot them in appropriate contexts.

The Latex Web is one of my favorite places to shoot latex. It's just so atmospheric and of course, I don't really have to worry about the modesty issues of prudes as I switch layers about.

I also have a folder full of skins and shapes from tokyo.girl that I was looking through, and while I won't generally walk around in someone else's shape... I AM curious. Often I'll put together an outfit on the spur of the moment and then pop somewhere to take a picture. Well, that's what happened here. I put on this shape, wondered if it would work with B's amazing Laced Mistress Corset. (It does, with minimal ajustment) and realized that whoever it was that I now was, I certainly wanted to molest me, and I needed to put this third-party perky caboose in a context where it could be properly admired.

I have trouble running two instances and I recalled that at Latex Web, Darkadia Nin is always there, and covered in very nice latex.

I don't believe in shooting anything against an inferior backdrop. If I'm shooting a picture of latex, I want you to see it in the presence of latex it complements.

It would be just a matter of walking over, popping my pose hud, snapping an image, and presto!

But that day, for some reason, Darkadia was slowly changing poses - something I hadn't noticed before - so I kept having to wait for my shot. The shots were good, but as you can tell, getting a PG angle on her was less simple.

What had started out as an impulse to grab a few quick images for a nice little blog post was expanding into a Project... one I'm still working on, and as usual, it's one more project than I truly needed, but in the end it will be a quick little in-world flip book with some inspirational text to go with some rather nice imagery.

...because it turned out that the combination of latex, corset, shape, skin and hair did indeed have it's desired effect. One thing led to another and yes, I did remember to take pictures.

..but before that is shown off, I need this blog post, so here's the style notes.

B's RubberSisterDress in Midnight
B's Laced Mistress Corset

tokyo.girl
Hair Kana, Majestic/Midnight
Skin & shape Alari

Lips - Glamorize Dirty Babe ... can't recall the colour.

And here's another shot I took in B's Latex, this in my proper form.

This was shot in a skybox popped by Eve Light's "Stolen Carrerra" car/sextoy. I honestly think this skybox is one of the best builds Eve Light has ever made. The ONLY problem is that it's completely concerned with sex... because otherwise I'd love to live here. Sometimes, I just want to flop on the bed and read a book, or sit in my throne and watch tv.

Snuggles are the most important poseballs

2012-01-08T19:30:00.001-08:00

Snuggles are the most important poseballs, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
Vivienne Schell sent out an update for our living room furniture. Apparently it was supposed to be texture change as well as being a very fully animated pose object set. I remember a time when you would pay as much for a "sex bed" as I paid for this entire home... a home which includes "intimate poses" in the couch, the bed, the shower/tub, the kitchen counter (blush), the kitchen TABLE... and two more scenes in the "rez room."

But that means our home is just FILLED with snuggles!

I rather adore the fact that two could be snogging happily on the couch while two others sit nonchalantly in the flanking armchairs. I can't imagine being that rude... but it's somehow nice to know I could be. All the poses are nice and they are easily adjustable. These items are modifiable, so if you have other poses in mind... add your own! I must say, I was utterly delighted with this purchase, even BEFORE the upgrade.

The Sky Bungalow III can be found here, along with several other designs, or you can find it on the Marketplace.

Purrfect10 VIP Exclusives, Now at the Kmart Price!

2012-01-07T14:48:00.000-08:00

My Gynia is an Unhappy Puppy and I don't particularly blame her.

I remember when Gynia got these boots. I remember shooting them, and I remember the squeals of joy.

Purrfect 10 Damaris Boots Patent Black
"DEE! Come LOOK!"
I think I was pouring a cup of coffee at the time, and the idea that I could be delayed seeing these boots by matters that happen
at analog speeds was almost more than Gynia could bear.

P10 is one of Gynia's favourite designers, and these boots are just stunning.I looked at the price, blanched a little, looked at her face - and realized that while I am a bitch at times, and perhaps a bit of a sadist... some
things are too cruel to contemplate. Besides, now she has boots fit for our
next few fetish events.

Here's how Purrfect 10 presents itself.

Purrfect 10: Luxury Designer Footwear In The Virtual World Of Second Life.
Handcrafted couture footwear for those who demand the very best.

In other words, you pay for the shoes AND you pay for the exclusivity, and of course, one would expect, quite reasonably I would think, a certain level of courtesy and respect that goes along with being an "discerning, fashion forward customer."

P10 was presenting itself as being the Manolo Blahnik of Second Life... so it was rather a shock for Gyna to find that the VIP exclusives - the "couture line,"was being remaindered. Discounted. Tossed into the K-Mart Bargain bin... and the VIP group was being closed. Gynia had paid an substantial sum to belong to that group, but had thought it worthwhile. All of this happened without any notice or explanation. This is how she put it.

[13:35] Gynia Clarity: nods.. my p10's? well, the VIP group ( cost of one pricy pair o shoes there) is closing, which is NOT right, as one paid for t he priveledge.. (offer of 10 free pair o shoes a year).. well they did go one year, ish and did get the freebies.. so, hard to whine TOO much) plus supposed to get a discount on all purchases.. like 15% or something, also ending AFTER having paid for it.. but all of that i can live with

[13:35] Gynia Clarity: BUT.. the VIP *exclusive* shoes

[13:35] Gynia Clarity: are now on SALE to ANY ONE for only 99 l each

[13:35] Gynia Clarity: which is REALLY angering me..

[13:36] Gynia Clarity: IF they need to close the vip thing, at least keep the EXCLUSIVES for those who got them and never give thiem out again, i think

[13:36] Gynia Clarity: so, i'm an unhappy customer.. sigh

[13:37] Gynia Clarity: OH, and i IM'd the owner a few days ago, stating my position, and she hasn't even bothered to reply.

To be fair, it seems that nothing much has been said to anyone other than a terse notice to the p10 Group.

from "regular" group notice announcement

There has been some confusion about the 99L Specials on sale The VIP group is closed for entry effectively shut down,

although i will send remaining members notices of new releases and promotions.

Purrfect 10 members will be able to get discounts in future because i can set the vendors to that group.

But for now grab yourselves some bargains at 99L!! :D

notecard from regular group

VIP Exclusive Items Now Available To Our Standard Members For Just 99 Lindens!

Purrfect 10 is pleased to release all of our former VIP Exclusive items to our standard group members for just 99 lindens each! Come and check out the gorgeous designs never before available outside our VIP group featuring unique colors, limited edition designs, and all of the fantastic quality you've come to expect from Purrfect 10. Make sure to have your group tag activated to purchase. Happy shopping!

Thank you from the Purrfect 10 team.

So much for being "Very Important Persons."

No explanation at the Purrfect 10 blog. Perhaps they are revising their business plan, lowering their price point to a more competitive level. After all, my dear PixiePlum Flannigan has been coming out with affordable (not cheap, affordable) wares that are becoming more and more competitive with footwear on the level of P10s.

So it's perhaps understandable, but it's remarkably disrespectful to loyal customers and I cannot help but think it degrades the brand.

While Gynia will not be throwing away her p10s, she's not buying any more, ever. I don't feel at all moved to get any myself. I can get moderately priced quality shoes in many places from people I have a good relationship with and who treat me with respect.

What one wears tells a story... and when people click on my heels, I want that to take them somewhere I'd like them to go.

Poor FuzzyWhumpus

2012-01-06T15:40:00.001-08:00

Poor FuzzyWhumpus, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
I had to go looking for the fuzz.. It's always the sock monkey's fault when he goes missing. He managed to toss it over the skybox railing and plummeted from 2000 meters. It's probably a good thing he landed head-first... Purebred, you know.

Happy Holidays From Frick!

2011-12-31T20:57:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays From Frick!, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
I'm wearing the {frick} Confetti skin in Sugar. :)

Fricka Says: "I sent out a little gift to my subscriber group to help ring in the New Year. My subscriber had a few hiccups so I hope it managed to get out to everyone. If you are in the group and didn’t receive it, drop by the shop and click the little box next to the unit and you should be able to grab it there. If you aren’t in the group and would like the gift, hit the subscribe button on the main unit and then click the little box and you should be good to go. Happy New Year everyone!"

slurl.com/secondlife/Saint%20Helene/14/9/307

Happy New Year! I'm about to scare the ponygirl...

2011-12-31T17:15:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! I'm about to scare the ponygirl..., originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
To celebrate, I'm mentioning that the Karu Karu Red Zip Suit I'm wearing layered over my Bhadra's Yellow Rubber Sister transparent catsuit is on sale for 99L right now, (Marketplace)(Store) so you might wish to treat yourself and get something special for New Years.

My hair, skin and boots are all from tokyo.girl - and all came as group gifts. The group costs 250L to join, but there's so much I haven't even managed to look at it all yet. The boots are called Ayare and are just the thing to spur a ponygirl forward!

Lips are Dirty Babe from Glamorize. I need to visit there soon - I wear these all the time.

Shot at Broceliande, a lovely, low-traffic scenic ponyplay area. Shh, don't tell anyone!

When you Make War on Christmas... Christmas Takes Hostages!

2011-12-24T23:54:00.000-08:00

I hadn't really planned on doing a seasonal post because ... well, Mistress is a little Gothy to do Christmas properly. But I saw these new boots from Drakke... and I knew I had an Elf underfoot...

..and there may have been a little Holiday Spirit involved.

Also featuring the WB "Surf the Web Anywhere" Desk and this cute outfit from Wolfmoon Designs:

DeNovo Broome Style Notes

WD Metallic Flats
WD Lolita Dress
WD Surf The Web Anywhere wearable Desk
Skin and Hair: Tokyo.Girl

susan faintree style notes

Drakke "Tangled" Holiday ankle boots
Fierce** Elf Explanatory outfit.
DrLife Hair Yi Long
Skin: :HS: Solstace : Utopia : Autumn Breeze

So, just as I was about to shoot the "Tangled" Boots, Passon, AKA Janny says "wanna see my new look?"

2011-12-24T23:29:00.001-08:00

So, just as I was about to shoot the "Tangled" Boots, Passon, AKA Janny says "wanna see my new look?", originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:

So, just as I was about to shoot the "Tangled" Boots that susan faintree is wearing, Passon, AKA Janny says "wanna see my new look?"

[18:33] DeNovo Broome: can you send style notes? those boots are omg!
[18:34] Passion™ (janick.janus): Kas Boots, Kas Corsetdress, Lulu's Signature Series Ball Harness and MD Bondage mittens
[18:34] DeNovo Broome: and the wings and horns? and tail? people will want to know.
[18:35] Passion™ (janick.janus): Sinful Needs Chiroptera wings, tail is a Customized Agrumax Qeen one - also from SN
[18:36] Passion™ (janick.janus): horns are a one off custom hybrid
[18:37] DeNovo Broome: thank you.. ;)

DeNovo Broome Style Notes

WD Metallic Flats
WD Lolita Dress
WD Surf The Web Anywhere wearable Desk
Skin and Hair: Tokyo.Girl

susan faintree style notes

Drakke "Tangled" Holiday ankle boots
Fierce** Elf Explanatory outfit.
DrLife Hair Yi Long
Skin: :HS: Solstace : Utopia : Autumn Breeze

De! Must!

2011-12-17T23:30:00.001-08:00

Feniks by Tokyo.Girl, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

It all started with this outfit, Feniks by Tokyo.Girl. Gynia dragged me to the store and pointed at this outfit. De! Must!

I had to agree. And so starts what I hope is a long fascination with a new (to me) designer.

If you prefer to show less skin, there's a closed option for the pants, and it's made for layering. My only regret is that the jacket isn't simply a corset and sleeves, as I have so many pieces that would work with that. Actually, I'd love it if the pants were chaps and there was an optional underwear layer. Because, again... I have so many layering pieces that this would look even more fabulous with.

Isn't that stunning? I can't wait until I show that to Bhadra, and it IS going on my own personal wall. (continued after the jump). I got quite a LOT out of my 200L!

I thought about it overnight and then decided I WOULD splurge and join the group. Now, do understand... I joined the group before I knew it was such a great value. I truly believe in supporting the work of artists that contribute to my work.

Then I found out what a good deal it truly was.

200L$ seems like a lot to join a group, but this outfit alone made it worthwhile.

Goodness, the boots! There's easily 2000L$ worth of items - including skins, shapes and hair, all of it nice. So if you wish to be a petete asian girl.... start here. You can put together a complete, presentable avi very in minutes. And it's not all, or even mostly latex fashion. I simply picked items that seemed like they would work well with me.

I'm sending friends here, soon!

Consider... 200L$ and a landmark, to fill a stocking with glee! :}

One more.. just to show that normal people can shop here too, and to have an excuse to play a bit.

Tokyo.Girl

Jeans Mini Dress

AnnaX skin

Cho Hair (Midnight)

High Platform Sandals

VUI Fashions

Sheer long sleeve (hot pink)

And of course, new latex means I had to hop over to Latex Web and grab a few pictures. It really is one of my favourite places to shoot.

Sit Pretty: Taken from the window of our perfectly good, empty living room...

2011-12-17T21:18:00.001-08:00

Taken from the window of our perfectly good, empty living room..., originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Using our Wolfmoon Designs Sit Anywhere stools out on the veranda. Gynia loves these and got me one of my own. She has several of them, Wolfmoon has a lot of avatar accessories and these "sit anywhere" items are really very handy.

Reading...

Toenail painting...

Meeroo Petting...

Find it all here.

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wolfmoon%20City/76/166/23

A Latex Cowgirl in Apache Country

2011-12-11T14:45:00.001-08:00

Latex Cowgirl in Apache Country_016, originally uploaded by Mandy Galileo.

It's lovely to have friends who can take hot pictures of the things I won't wear in places I won't go. :)

M. Broome is simply not "cowgirl" material.

But even given that, the Southwestern sun is something Gothy people avoid like the plague.

But as you see, the outfit is nicely detailed and Mandy shot it beautifully.

Via Flickr:
Trying out the new Latex Cowgirl outfit made by Mariko Nijan, pictures shot at Arizona in the Apache Territory, some with shadows turned on

Outfit - LWI Latex Cowgirl
Boots - VvB Ballet
Skin - Belleza Melissa Sunkissed
Hair - Zero Style Newbie

A Naked Endorsement of {frick}

2011-12-09T22:44:00.001-08:00

A Naked Endorsement of {frick}, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
I almost always wear {frick}. They may not be the most "realistic" skins out there, and they are certainly not the most expensive, but I treasure both the drama and the matte appearance. A {frick} skin was, I think, one of my first deliberate purchases, after realizing that I'd been wearing her freebies for ever so long. I had such a fixation on purple lips at the time... and really, I still seem to look my best that way.

But once I realized that I HAD settled on a skinner, I started actually buying her skins. And I still have all of them.

I hyperventelated when Fricka Morgoth made noises about quitting, but thank heavens, she's back with a holiday Dollarbie Hunt... and unlike her Halloween Hunt, and this time she has a much broader selection of her inventory, including many of her classic skins.

I have several more shots in my flickr stream, but this was my favorite. Sadly, I have to pixilate it. But I do wish you to know that the parts that are blurred are as well-done as the parts that are not - and most importantly for me, consistant from skin to skin.

I want a skin that is anatomically correct, but not conspiciously so. A smooth or censored "bikini area" bothers me terribly - and exaggerated "features" make me feel equally uncomfortable. And for some reason, many skins seem to come with hair "down there." Now, as a girl who loves latex - let's just say that proper grooming matters!

Frick Snowflake Fairy - ghost - Nude Lips (#8)
*C + C* Apnea Black Frosted hair
*C + C* Blind Mag Lashes
BM Eyes
Drakke Delicious Fetish Thigh High Boot (Latex Black)
Taken at Saint Helene (13, 16, 581)

A little more...

I had a photo of this taken at fricka's store but I just hated it, so I had to reshoot. Besides, what better place to shoot pajamas than in my own bedroom?

{frick} Snowflake PJs
{frick} Snowflake Fairy skin
From the winter Dollarbie Hunt

Hair is "Joy" from Analog Dog - and it's free - an unscripted prim side pony and matching hairbases on the tattoo layer.

I has a Meme? PLAUSIBLE!

2011-12-07T11:36:00.001-08:00

I has a Meme? PLAUSIBLE!, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
Please credit original photo and story: APTOPIX Mythbusters Errant Cannonball/LA Times

Now say after me...

DON'T
TRY
THIS
AT
HOME!

Home - The Butterfly Circus

2011-12-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

The Butterfly Circus

An example of the sort of art and the sort of ideals that I think should be at the core of Second Life.

Every culture and all of history is made of the stories we tell one another. There are the facts, yes, and they are like bricks and mortar. But what we build is still up to us - and the most important question is what do we build, and for whom?

Well, that's new....

2011-12-03T14:04:00.001-08:00

Well, that's new...., originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
I've lived next door to Miles Harbour for ... years, it seems, though I barely know them. I once saw a gorilla wandering about, dressed as Queen Victoria, and that seemed comfortably surreal. But this is new, I think... I wonder where it goes?

I shall have to crawl, but nobody seems to be watching...

Taken at Fishergate (30, 70, 52)

The Baby Monkey is all grown up!

2011-12-02T22:28:00.001-08:00

The Baby Monkey is all grown up!, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
The Baby Monkey Group just reached 10,000 members and Pixieplumb Flannigan sent out these Ultimate Roxanne shoes to the group as a celebration.

I put them on and realized that these were "FM" pumps. Well, not pumps... but just look at the antennae! They are certainly intended to push out a strong signal! Anyway, I happened to be naked when I put them on... and once I had the skin matched, I felt perfectly dressed. At least, perfectly dressed for the intended mission! But how to express that on a PG blog - and of course, spare our Pixie's blushes?

Oh, good thing I didn't delete the box!

You may well see me in a similar photo without the box... ...sometime soon. They are definitely a wonderful addition to my inventory.

Sets and props courtesy Eve Light's Smooching Serpents. This is her Stolen Carrera+, which is one of a handful of sex beds in second life that can also hit 300kph on the straightaway. Well, so Eve tells me. I'll hit buildings before I hit 300kph.

Not only is it a sex bed, it's also a very capable scene rezzer with several of Eve's best builds included. And it flies. It's wicked looking and german engineered to get you from initial proposition to "by the way, that was fun; can I friend you" in 20 minutes or less.

...or you can use it for modelling shoes.

Catch It - Serena

2011-12-01T14:07:00.001-08:00

Catch It - Serena, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
I hate coming here.. I either spend too much or don't have enough to spend.

And then there's the poroblem of seeing something like this; Catch It's latest design Is it me? No, not really... but I want to lick it off HER!

If you look in the background, you can see that playful mood is not unique to me...

So you see why I had to come and see what Catch it's latest looked like in person. It's called Serena and it comes in black, blood, blue, pink, purple red and white.

It's paired with the Areen boots, also from Catch it, which match perfectly.

For myself, I'm wearing Catch it's Catja catsuit, which I adore. It's one of the few things they have that are domme in the way I do it. When I saw it, I bought lindens so I could have it. Mine. All mine.

My boots are Drakkes Delicious Fetish Thigh Highs, and as you see, they complement this catsuit very well. And they fall in the same category as the catsuit.

Mind you, when paired with the transparant version of this catsuit, the result is even MORE unfair to the human hindbrain than what this girl is wearing.

Sadly, I do wish her shape lived up to the latex. I'll slip her something... Meanwhile, I shan't mention her name. No doubt she's working to be able to afford nice things...

...so I sent her a copy of my "Maxine" shape set. Because you really do need a nice butt to rock this outfit.

Taken at UKD Project Island (148, 144, 24)

Mall Cops!

2011-11-30T00:02:00.001-08:00

Mall Cops!, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

There has been conversation about why the controversy about the JLU has been dying down. Well, there are many reasons... but this IS one of them.

2011-11-16T12:43:00.001-08:00

The Fall Fetish Art Show Extended: slurl.com/secondlife/darkadia/147/135/33

Due to popular demand, we will be extending the Fall Fetish Art Show through Thanksgiving weekend until Sunday, November 27 here in Darkadia. This is a wonderful follow up to our last show and will be our third in the last 12 months with many wonderful artists from across Second Life participating in the exhibition. We are honored to showcase their work and to seeing you all there. Most of the artwork on display is available for purchase with 100% of the proceeds going to the artist.

Teleport direct, or drop by Brigadoon Station - I put an RLV teleportal right on the front steps!

For what else IS a "Nation?"

2011-11-11T20:23:00.001-08:00

"The reason we make international treaties and declarations about human rights is because, somewhere along the line, we agreed that certain rights are sacred and universal. We need to make the same principles applicable to our human rights online, as they are offline. These two worlds have fused together, and there is no way to define them as separate anymore." Birgitta Jónsdóttir

Now, that's not a member of The Pink Hands talking. It's a member of the Icelandic Parliament. A parliament that is already setting precedent in human rights and the dignity of persons. And while Iceland is very small, and easily dismissed as being largely irrelevant to Important Nations - the truth is not nearly so simple as that. It would have been 20 years ago. But right now, they are on the cutting edge. If there is a Silicon Valley for government - well, this is where it is.

Because they can afford to do that. Because, by and large, while there are enough people there for this to matter to them - there are few enough there that it will be ignored by most of the rest of the world until the effort bears whatever fruit may come.

And it occurs to me - Second Life's population; the people that show up every day - that population is comparable to the population of iceland.

The difference, of course, is that we are not a single step away from ratifying international treaties. At the moment.

On the other hand, the People's Democratic Republic of Facebook has - both in it's leadership and through the sheer numbers of people connected through it - achieved a status in the mindspace of the world that dwarfs entire mid-ranked nations of the second and first world.

That causes me to ask a question of you, my readers. What significant difference is there between THIS pile of people, and THAT pile of people? How, as people, could our essential human rights - and more significantly, our essential human needs vary so much as to make this distinction significant in essence?

You may argue that they are entirely different things. I would counter argue that they are entirely different ways of doing the same thing - put a lot of people together in a useful and productive sense. For what else IS a "nation?"

I suppose I could go on and on from here - well, clearly I could, for I often have. But I think I shall just leave it at that for today.

"Personal" data is valuable.

2011-11-11T16:58:00.001-08:00

Great Minds Think Alike, it seems. I have not delved into this resource far, but I do love the "Pitch."

Act like you own the joint... make them see things your way
Personal can help you use your data anonymously to connect to opportunities you actually care about. You can save time, make better decisions, and ultimately earn cash and savings of more than $1,000 each year (Personal’s secure, opt-in, permission-based marketplace is coming in 2012). Use your power to demand that companies play by a fair and transparent set of rules if they want to access your data.

Now, I'm certain I wrote something that related to this some time ago... oh, wait, I DID!

Well, I never claimed to be more than someone capable of seeing the obvious and saying it out loud before it would be polite to notice.

But yes, that is the new reality, not just in SL, but everywhere. We are all "Prosumers," some of us are even our own "brands." Social networking, the Internet and the ugly political economic realities in "Reality" have underlined two things - first, our "Leaders" are not really any more qualified to lead than most people - and indeed, the ones most concerned about Where Things Are Going To End Up If The Right People Are Not In Charge are clearly less qualified to lead than... well, nearly anyone you might randomly strike with a well-thrown peanut.

And second, the need for authoritarian, top-down structures has diminished, if indeed, it's not merely a form of cultural nostalgia, akin to waving back at the Queen.

In the end, it will all shake out and make a good deal more sense - within the decade, one hopes. I'm sure that many of the dramas in SL - not to mention within the Lab - have to do with misunderstanding how very radically the foundation of economy has changed in the blink of an eye. Because the pyramid is suddenly much flatter - and the people who once loomed above all of us... are now a quaint landmark that we simply walk around on our way to somewhere interesting.

But you can thank your giant banker for debasing capitalism to the extent that a new consideration of collectivism is more in tune with the zietgiest.

People have realized that there is a "value" that they can control - and that is their attention. While many seem to confuse it with socialism, or even outright communism, it's not that at all. It's about doing things that are valuable to you in a group along with people who are also into doing that. It's exactly as communistic as a theatre group. "The Play's the Thing."

For myself, I put my attention to doing things that reward me, personally, in ways that matter to me. Oh, I'm still letting go of old assumptions, old ways of thought. Most of us are - and even those of us who will be relieved to see the Old World pass away are concerned about it dying so quickly that the transition will seem like running head-long into a brick wall.

The king is dead... and we no longer need a king. That much is clear. What is not clear is what actually will be needed, and what next great pattern will define the next couple of millenia.

Tweaking Brigadoon

2011-11-11T14:41:00.001-08:00

Brigadoon Station Portal Card, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

This is my living room, gallery and place of buisiness, and an image that I hope you are going to be seeing a fair bit of in the future. I had started to realize that what I was doing with it bored me and limited me.

I felt the need to simplify, and I've been quietly making these changes.

I'm starting to do something very simple, and I hope, very useful; combining my love for artwork and graphic arts and what I've learned about social networking and marketing in Second Life. It's a refinement of what I started off doing with Brigadoon Station, which was the idea of a "train station" that would whisk you off to various places to play.

Well, this was a good idea, possibly even a great idea - but it was an idea with implications that I hadn't really considered. In the back of my mind, I had been thinking of it as a "stamp of approval," and I think other people were assuming that the links to various sorts of play spaces indicated that I was interested in that sort of play, in itself, for it's own sake.

Well, that led to all kinds of confusion. Worst of all, I confused and distracted myself.

I realized that being tied to a single metaphor was very limiting and ultimately boring, aside from costing far too much in terms of prims and the ability to scale.

I realized that what was most fun for me was finding places I wanted to take pictures of, taking pictures of them, and then slipping in an RLV teleport script I bought from Chriss Rosca.

Now I can pop about and create art, without worrying about much more than, "is it pretty?" If it's pretty, but not worth visiting, well, I won't put a teleporter script in it.

And this has to be fun for me, first. If it is, the fun will spread from there.

It also addresses a point that I find sad. I go places and I see things all the time. I hate going to a great venue and see it decorated with "artworks" downloaded from Google Images. It's not just the casual copyright violations, or the lack of credit to the artists - though such things bother me - it's also the fact that photographs tend to clash with SL ambiance.

Now there's no lack of art in SL, but there's definitely a lack of affordable art. But you know, if I don't worry too much about making a great deal of money - I think I can make a lot of fun. And somehow, I find, that if people are having fun, the money generally follows.

I'll be offering my teleportal artworks as both decor and 3D bookmark. For those of us with a few prims to spend on a home and decor, it will now be possible to go directly from home to your favourite places. Well, it was before, of course, but it wasn't a visual experience.

For people with clubs and venues, It will be possible to buy packages of relevant art to decorate your club - or even better, get me to make art to decorate AND publicize your club and venue. After all, if you have a beautiful place populated by beautiful people, why would you NOT want to decorate it with your own creations and the people that enjoy it?

I'm still in the process of reshooting all the places that I have had linked, and as time and lindens permit, changing over scripts and uploading the new artworks.

The first few are up on the wall in the main area, and the first new style "business" portals are running "downstairs."

Toy's Toys was the first portal in Brigadoon Station, and the first to be revised. I'm really happy with the new look, too.

The bottom floor will be for little shops, the upstairs will be an art gallery with conversation areas, and the mezzinine will be a display area for doll pose objects and other forms of interactive avatar art.

I Haz A Grief!

2011-11-02T15:41:00.001-07:00

I Haz A Grief!, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
I teeped into Ravenglass on an unrelated matter only to be beset by self-replicating inflatable commie lolcats. Well, no doubt someone was looking on and laughing, though it wasn't me. I was mildly annoyed and bored. I coudn't even summon up my impression of Joan Rivers to pan this griefing. It was not just bad... it was unmemorable.

Granted, subtle and understated seems unfitting for Prok-poking, but this is actually a rental sim, where uninvolved parties pay actual money for their prims.

And no doubt it's amusing that Prok will blame the wrong people for doing this. Certainly Prok has blamed me of such "crimes," and of being supportive of them.

No. I'm all very supportive of fun, and even on occasion fun at the expense of the truly deserving. But I don't consider Prok truly deserving. I've been watching Prok for some time now, and if there's one think I can recognize easily, it's a Smart-Assed Masochist.

But nonetheless, it really isn't Prok being griefed here; it's the renters and neighbors. On their behalf, I sent off a couple of AR's before leaving before the sim crash that seemed inevitable.

I agree that Prok is easily annoyed, but this is Excessively Annoying even by my standards. And aside from the visual drama of the flags, not actually all that clever.

Yes, yes, Prok is an "old cat lady." with "silly ideas" about private property and such. She favors the silly ideas of Ayn Rand. But the ideas of Marx and Mao are easily as silly. Granted, Rand's ideas are being proven stupid in real time. But that's why I come here, to be shut of the stupids of RL. So ordinarily, I do my best to ignore prok, and see if my own ways of doing things work better than conventional wisdom does.

But since I WAS there, I shall treat this as an attempted act of performance art. Sadly, I must give it a failing grade, though obviously there's some talent involved, it lacks wit, art and any respect for the viewer's taste. So, a sad waste of time and talent.

You could be building prim dirigible phalli and sending them wandering Zindra as Ann O'Toole has done with scripted cars on Mainland. You could be giving out exploding freenises. You could be handing out free kitty boots that create lingering commie cat pawprints to the innocent and gullible. You might even make a few lindens competing with Prok.

Indeed, do you have any idea how much such publicity is WORTH to Prok? People come for the prims, but at least some must stay for the drama... at least for a while. And who's heard of YOUR rental business?

Put your own ideas in practice! That's what this glorious mess is all about, if it's about anything, but you see this as "just a game," well, even by that standard, Prok is several levels ahead.

Stop whining, stop pestering those doing better than you and start grinding some levels. Yes, perhaps your main got banned. Possibly that was unfair. But as many say aloud to me, just before something stupid happens. "It's Just A Game."

Start over. And this time, if you roll up a flaming piss-ant, just roll again.

Taken at Carlisle (99, 31, 84)

Boots Before Breakfast

2011-10-24T16:36:00.001-07:00

Boots Before Breakfast, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Now what a lovely thing to find in the morning email! Two pairs of B's
newest and a lovely pair of Baby Monkey boots from an MM board that I
slapped while picking out new eyes. (Previous post).

I live for cute little ankle boots and so does Gynia. So when I saw a cute
pair at BM on an mm board, I slapped it silly. And it paid off. Well, sort of. Her first question was OMG, HOW MUCH ARE THEY??? 250L$ so you might want to put some panties on and go.

Get them here. Oh, Pixie? Gynia just grabbed a pair in nude. At 250L$ with that stunning new hud it seems a steal.

But as much as I love casual, yet slightly assertive boots that click when I walk and which will become a treasured part of my personal wardrobe, I'm most known for my fetish fashion work. And this brings us to Bhadra Rhodenburger.

Bhadra's shop... Bhadra's shop is a mecca for the cognocenti of fetish fashion. She does a little of everything, her works are uncommon enough to not mark you as being a trendoid, they are reasonably priced and well-scripted. She's uncommonly generous, dispensing her works liberally to friends and visitors via her lucky chairs.

She sent me her Towerplateu Shoes and her Towerplateu Boots, which come in both tall ankle and knee-high versions, with her usual beautifully detailed lacing.

This actually works out to MANY pairs of shoes, and her shoes and boots will continue to play a huge role in my artwork. The shoes are like fetish Mary Janes with a wide variety of texture options. I'm posed to the left wearing the shoes, dressed from winning a latex contest at Le Fetiche. Thank you B! Thank you Karu Karu! What did I win? Well, that, as they say, is Another Story.

I love Bhadra's stuff and these new skyscraper platforms of hers sent me into creative bliss for two days. Mistress Must Share.

There's more over at flickr, much still needing to be cropped, tagged and grouped, but this is already rather long.

So Hot I'm On Fire!

Posing At my Latex Web Installation

Romance : Doing it Right

2011-10-23T16:19:00.001-07:00

Romance : Doing it Right, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Mad Blue Eyes at Baby Monkey

2011-10-22T13:41:00.001-07:00

New Eyes at Baby Monkey, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Pixieplum Flannigan has these on sale for 10L$ I'm wearing the palest blue she has. The fatpack is only 150L$!

Follow the red arrow...
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dindrane%20Elfor/176/115/41

My Installation at the Latex Web Fall Fetish Arts Show

2011-10-19T23:27:00.001-07:00

My Installation at the Latex Web Fall Fetish Arts Show, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

As noticed in the Devices and Desires Blog: My installation was shot as one of the illustrations for the article.

"It’s no secret that there is a side of my life that has encompassed D/s & fetish (why else do I maintain (what has admittedly become) an occasional blog on D/s matters within SL?). I’m also well aware that my biggest vanity in this regard is the fact that I look almost as good in fetishwear – corsets, heels, and so on – now, as I did when I first discovered them, despite the fact I’m fast approaching my “second 20th birthday” (and no, I won’t tell you precisely when that is, so don’t ask!). Thank God for rowing machines and swimming…

While I’m not as active in SL D/s circles as perhaps I once was, I do still enjoy the incredible, diverse and amazingly imaginative work that goes into fetish fashion is SL (Jackie, Erik, Chill3, Jinxed, Cheyenne – love you all!), and the devious creativity that can go into various restraints (step forward, Marine Kelley!). I was therefore curious to learn of a Fetish Art exhibition going on at Darkadia, the mysterious home of The Clan of the Latex Web, so I decided to drop by and take a look.

Darkadia is something of a work of art in its own right. The Clan of the Latex Web has its origins in the graphic novels by Michael Manning, and while the novels are not to everyone’s taste (I admit I find them a hard read), the sim is admirable as it encapsulates the aesthetics and other-worldliness of the novels and presents quite a stunning build that can be admired in its own right.

There are several teleport options listed for Darkadia in Search, so whichever one you opt for, look for the signs to Fetish Arts 2011 – they are hard to miss and are spread across the sim. Each contains a teleport that will take you directly to the exhibition (SLurl)."

I do wonder how many people have actually discovered that the installation itself has a few little surprises. You see that one just under my name? You should totally touch that... the experience will transport you.

Frick for Halloween

2011-10-16T15:13:00.001-07:00

Hm... close. VERY close.

Frick for Halloween, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
It may just be that I'm terribly resistant to change, but a Frick skin was the first skin I felt like me in, and Fricka's decision to close her store left me feeling bereft. So it was with squeals of glee that regular encouragement from those of us who MISSED her stuff!

This store is smaller, has just a few things and the only promise is for it to be up for halloween. There's one of her dollarbie hunts and if you love her doll clothes (I do, but not on me), you will absolutely NEED to do this hunt - and maybe buy the new dolly dress in every color. Her new alice skins co-ordinate with her Alice dresses, by the way.

Frick Just Alice in Sugar with Dark Brows
Outfit by Ho-Wear (Red Lightning)
Analog Dog Minna hair in Red

Glamorize dirty babe lips in Criminally Crimson - and voila!

I love this new skin, and I actually like the semi-nude lips with the very artful touch of colour in the center. But Gynia thinks it makes me look too much like a doll. I noticed the sharpness of the lip line, and I did wonder how I'd look with a bolder lip and if it would appear seamless. YES! And I love the eye!The total package really works for me. A tiny, perfect and possibly dangerous presence. Something between Miss Parker and Emma Peel.

Drop By. Bring a Friend!

Of course, with every designer, there are things that work for me and things that do not. So when I saw the azure Alice dress... I knew that it would clash with my soul... and who needed to have it.

Eiza in Azure Alice

There are two different skirts and quite an array ofoptions, so at $99L it feels like stealing.If you want a complete look, there's a matching Azure Alice skin in an even wider range of options than you have come to expect, including tint-able "undertheres" so you could be completely color-coordinated. But we don't speak of such things to Eliza. There are certain things that are simply inappropriate for collectable porcelain dolls.

Natural Language in Virtual Worlds: A seemingly blinding glimpse of the obvious.

2011-10-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

I must remind myself at times that a great deal of Science is simply confirming and quantifying things we already know quite well, particularly when it's being patiently explained to us as being exciting and remarkable by science writers. It seems to me at times that some are deemed qualified to write about science by seemingly knowing neither trade particularly well.

Present story, publication and author excepted to be sure, this is from The New Scientist. So it's perhaps the opposite problem - seeing the issue as being so very intuitively obvious that it may well be implied.

Still, I marvel that the author leaves unmentioned that the research itself is an effort to study something that is obvious to the average toddler - or indeed, a typical cat. For indeed, the more we study the things living beings do naturally and effortlessly, the more complex it all seems, and the holy grail of cybernetics - a true artificial intelligence, or even a not-terribly-creepy simulation, seems further and further away.

Blank stares and rigid postures could be holding back virtual-reality conversations in environments like Second Life. Now, mapping real-world motions to virtual avatars has been shown to help people communicate better. "It makes a difference when we give people these body gestures that naturally accompany speech," says Trevor Dodds, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, who led the experiment.

Participants played a game in which one person described a word to another, without using the word itself, and the second person had to guess what the word was. The twist is that they met in virtual reality, with both players wearing head-mounted displays and motion-tracking devices on their hands, feet, back and head. In some rounds of the game, players used these devices to control their avatar, but in other rounds it remained static or used pre-recorded animations that didn't necessarily match the players' real motion.

The results show that players using self-animated avatars were able to guess around eight words on average in a 3-minute round, versus just under six words for static avatars.

Dodds says that players' subtle body gestures were the key to the greater success of the self-animated avatars. "It's surprising that it makes a difference, because the movements are really subtle. We're talking about very small movements of the hand that accompany speech."

Surprising? Really? I need a "facepalm" gesture! We can't blame the author for this one! I'm starting to understand why it's taking so long for cybernetic devices to make their way out of the "uncanny valley." Perhaps we must drag their creators out of that valley first.

Mistress smiles ruefully, remembering to offer a self-deprecating gesture indicating wry self-referential fellow-traveler-ship.

Perhaps, indeed, that's why the whole issue fascinates them... and to be sure, even noticing "normal" behavior is difficult when you are, indeed, "normal." At the same time, keeping a nueurotypical or two around the lab as a reality check and reference sample might be a good idea.

/Me takes a deep breath..

/Me recalls the difficulty of writing to length in top-down format.

Still, I think that in explaining the obvious, Jacob Aron glossed over something interesting, though it's implied in the first paragraph.

Behavioral aspects such as body language, while obvious and natural are not at all easy to reproduce in a lab and obviously, huge swaths of natural behavior are indeed unconscious, both as transmitted and recieved.

Thinking about them makes them difficult to study, and quite likely, Second Life may be one of the first practical ways to get people to interact in a fairly natural way while encumbered with all the wiring and clutter designed to measure subtle gestural cues - by using that clutter to take the subjects out of the mindset of being observed and into the mindset of thinking of that clutter as a better and more natural interface for a virtual world.

I think that would have been the more interesting approach to explaining the point of doing the study and how the problem - the need to explore the need to enrich natural communication in order to develop virtual worlds - is also in some ways the means that permit the exploration in the first place. Because Mistress Broome - of all people - is more than a little aware of the limitations imposed upon her by the lack of gestural language and expression.

:-}

Mistress Licks a Paw: A Personal Apology To Serjourn Daxter

2011-10-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

My issues with Forceme Silverspar do not excuse my public statements toward the Freedom Continent, or my self-righteous tantrum toward Serjourn Daxter in IM. I did very much need to have a rant, and she was there, and I certainly thought I was being entirely rational. But I wasn't, I was wrong, and I apologize. She's very graciously accepted my private apology, but that's insufficient, under the circumstances.

Part of this was triggered by Forceme Silverspar's choice to involve herself in my concerns and me trying to find the line between a righteous and ethical stand on what I consider essential principles - and being an uptight, selfrightious ass. Well, I tripped over that line in imposing on Serjourn Daxter arrangements with Forceme and fell on my face.

Your Kink Is Ok, It's Just Not My Kink. I KNOW this.

But bruises remind best. This has caused me to rethink some of my own unconscious assumptions. I'm going to consciously unthink my assumption that it's my responsiblity to appraise each and every destination at Brigadoon, determine whether or not the people are on balance trustworthy and if it's some sort of fun.

What a lot of work, what an impossible job and how very presumptious of me! And how little wonder there are so few places to go!

Had I realized I was actually doing that, I'd have pointed and laughed mockingly at myself! Well, so I am. Mistress Broome is entirely capable of being...

...wrong.

In Which Forceme Silverspar Earns A Public Correction

2011-10-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

"If you choose to log in using RLV and if you choose to log in using RLV with an open relay, they hey, ya consenting to any jack-shit that comes your way. It's called being responsible." -Forceme Silverspar

Forceme Silverspar has a reputation for committing acts of drama, and seems to delight in exposing situations in which various people do things she disapproves of. She then publishes the chatlog for the amusement and edification of all. Now, generally, she does not clearly identify the persons involved - though obviously, it's usually rather easy to figure it out and I imagine she's collecting enemies at a truly alarming rate. But that's her Karma.

I don't care to speculate why she's chosen to involve herself in the thread on my post about Dave Carmichael's store, How To Damage Your Reputation. Frankly, I'm baffled. But, she invited herself, and in doing so, is managing to both derail the essential point while at the same time making an argument I cannot leave unaddressed.

"EJNine

I don't happen to agree with you, really. If you choose to log in using RLV and if you choose to log in using RLV with an open relay, they hey, ya consenting to any jack-shit that comes your way. It's called being responsible.

And besides... You should have checked out the land description which clearly says there are RLV traps about.

I took exception, and in response, Forceme chose to double down, on the record.

"If it means that people understand that when they log in using RLV with an open relay, this is the kinda thing that can happen to them, then I reckon that's me doing good *professional* teaching, yet again.

Forceme Silverspar laughssssssss."

So let me take that and rephrase that in Real World terms.

"Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized."

Let me expand.

SlutWalk Toronto might be one of the more provocatively named events of 2011, but that's the whole point. Founded shortly after a police officer participating in a safety forum at York University's Osgoode Hall remarked that "women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized," the protest seeks to re-appropriate a term that has been used historically not just to limit and stigmatize female sexuality, but as a rationalization for sexual assault.

That unfortunate wight hung his public reputation on a truly unfortunate and offensive presumption - that it is the woman's responsibility to act in ways and to avoid places where they "might get raped." Now, his statement was less explicit than Forceme's - and came from a culture with a far less explicit understanding of the concepts of consensual power exchange and abuse. Indeed, whole SWATHS of BDSM - including the core ethos, "safe, sane and consensual" exist solely to distinguish BDSM from common, garden variety, non-consensual acts of abuse.

That is what we are speaking of, Forceme. A non-consensual act of abuse. Which you just endorsed as being normal BDSM practice, at least, in SL.

Clearly - and quite aside from my own bent whiskers - you have no qualifications whatsoever to speak of BDSM professionally, to people who have not been exposed to the concept. This isn't merely a "difference of interpretation." This is a core part of the ethos and tradition. Even those who disagree with SSC do so by referring to it as a common, understood principle.

The one thing BDSM is not is a simplistic and unthinking recreation of patriarchal conventional wisdom and to hear you indulge yourself in "mansplainin' by proxy" is really quite... loathsome.

However, dear, while I loathe teaching, would be terrible at it and have no intention of directly competing with you, there are many fine resources for people who are willing to click a link and learn.

I'm concerned that if the information and traditions and BDSM are not commonly known in SL then you can say anything you like. You can speak from a place that demonstrates a complete misunderstanding or contempt for the psychological realities of D/s and it's not merely possible, but entirely likely that your instructions may lead people into situations of emotional distress.

We may well draw inspiration from the Gorean "Scrolls" or The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. And much of what is done in SL is in fact, porn and for many people, much of the time, it need be no more than that.

However, it's important to note that whether you think of either set of titles - no actual people other than the authors actually participated in the happy spanky fun, and that we may plausibly assume that if there was harm depicted or feelings hurt - it was entirely fictional.

But we are in SL, within an immersive shared reality and feelings do get hurt. It's rather a truism of SL, and indeed all of the Internet, dating way back when. To suggest that the people hurt are being "irresponsible" for allowing themselves to be hurt is just good old fashioned perp-apologetics.

Dear readers; I would find Forceme's statements both irresponsible and wrong regardless of who was saying it, and if I became aware of it, I would have to say something about it. I would like to think that rather a lot of people would - and I refer you to the video at the top. Rather a lot have.

Indeed, if our personal history affects me in any way, it's been to make me reluctant to speak out, lest there be a tendency to dilute the importance of what I say with the fact that I may well enjoy saying it just a bit too much.

Well, I do hope you can keep the both things in mind. I will not pretend to care for Forceme, but note also that I did not seek this out, nor am I hanging it on events in MY life... it's directly about what she chose to say. Regardless of her feelings about me, or even what she feels about how I do what I do, she should know better, and it says to me that her ethics depend on who she's targeting.

But I do play fair. I can tell the difference between people I like and people who know what they are doing. If you want to know how to use RLV in SL as as Submissive or Dominant, Forceme is who I refer people to, even now. She is a good teacher and on factual matters, she is worth your time - and you should tip accordingly.

I also tell them to read her blog before engaging her in conversation.

That understanding of HOW to use RLV does not translate to any understanding of why you should and what you may or may not presume to do given an open relay or broad hints about dangling keys. RLV is a tool that permits an enhanced experience, one that does have emotional risks and rewards, There are many, many different forms of play, and many different forms of emotional reward attached to it. But the one thing they have in common is that the possibility of abuse - or even a simple fuckup - are always possible and that is why we have the customs and protocols that we do.

And most importantly, I would have thought that the very most basic concept of BDSM, RL or SL, would be engraved on her "home stone."

SAFE. SANE. CONSENSUAL.

I will have to say aloud that if you are in a sim that relies on Forceme's understanding and teaching of BDSM you may well find yourself making assumptions that lead to personal pain and sorrow. Were I running an area devoted to BDSM and setting great store upon it being known to be "Safe, Sane and Consensual," I would find this whole matter of deep concern - for it would reflect on me, and it might well endanger mine. I was a complete idiot for saying this part and have felt the need to apologize for having done so.

An Undercover Bother

2011-10-06T21:56:00.001-07:00

Undercover Bother, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
Well, the Alphaville Herald threw an interesting party! I must say... the troll they got for the barbecue really wasn't very tasty. A word to the caterer is in order.

But seriously - we were trolled. He appeared not long after much speculation was had about who the JLU spy might be.

Joining the Damage Group (free to join) on a newb alt, and then coming to a party to pick on ... anyone who might be a griefer? And particularly hard on one notorious fellow in particular. As I observed, Obvious Troll is Obvious.

But it IS interesting that someone on a 15 day alt thought there was trouble there to stir. As I've said - multiple times - griefing the Damage store doesn't help or please me. But of course, it might help the JLU get another sim equipped with a PhantomZone device.

CEO Rodvik Humble Shares What's New in Second Life

2011-10-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

Home is where the FuzzyWhumpus Is - Putting our Lindens into Second Life

The latest news from Rod indicates some exciting new directions in potential and we are encouraged enough to invest in new things.

Usability Withthe Basic mode, which we rapidly deployed, new users can now moreeasily find things, move around the world and manipulate the camera.This has really helped people walk and talk, as well as getting newbiesup and running. But it has its limits —particularly when it comes to participating in the economy and creatingthings. Soon you will see us merge the Basic and Advanced modes, whichwill eliminate the need to switch. All functionality will be in one modewith easier-to-use controls. After these modes are merged and deployed,you can expect us to release an improved UI into the viewer. Thisshould be a lot more flexible for user flow for all users.

The viewer 2 UI is horrid so I'm a little skeptical - I'm not sure what the base UI is for, but it's not comfortable for anything I actually do. The only Viewer 2 UI base viewer I use is Kersten's, and while I love what it does for me as an artist and photographer - it's just plain awkward for talking to people. So I'm staying with Phoenix. Well, Mistress IS a creature of habit.
I shall hold off the evil day of getting familiar with a new UI as long as I can, and hope that these tweaks actually improve things. I do remember how hard it was to learn to walk... and how I cursed people who "helpfully" put in pathways that made it impossible to click the "goto" function of the pie chart.
I just have one small point to make - if we want to have these new features and new investments, the "Old Hands" of SL really do have to make the new people feel welcome. It's clear that people do care, there's a user-funded initiative to make mesh work properly for designers and people who don't wish to change their avis just to wear a new outfit.
Users join forces to fix mesh

Second Life users, led by digital artist Maxwell Graf, called onSecond Life to fix the problem by adding a “mesh deformer” — a featurethat would automatically resize mesh clothing. Second Life users can seethe request here — and more than 800 supporting comments — on Second Life’s “Jira” bug-tracking page. But this wasn’t enough to spur Second Life to action.
“Apparently, the Jira I posted about mesh clothing, has been downgraded… to ‘someday maybe’ status,” wrote Graf on his blog.
So he and other mesh users have decided to fix the problem themselves, in the first example of publicly funded development in Second Life.

Back to Rod for a moment.

Improved Service
Although our response times have improved, we realize that we still have a waysto go. You can expect continued investment and focus in this area toinclude expanded support staffing, as well new features (similar to theestate tools we rolled out earlier this year) and revised policies tomake the Second Life experience much better for customers.

I and many of us bitching about the JLU over at the SLU forums applaud the faint implications that we may hope that perhaps something relevant might happen regarding some of the issues that citizens and content creators alike have been raising, the issues that make things like the Phantom-Zone and Voodoo networked alt-detection/ban systems seem like a good investment to harassed and overworked store owners.

In my opinion, any system that matches alt to alt to main and stores that information in an external database is a huge problem waiting to happen. And indeed, it IS happening, in regard to the huge groundswell of unrest directed at the JLU in large part because while alt detection and matching is an explicit TOS violation, the JLU's policy has been to "work around" the restrictions with various sorts of rules-mechanics.

One of the more interesting emergent behaviors of the year.

This is being taken with all due seriousness - and it's a fascinating emergent behavior. But many of the promised improvements sound wonderful, to the extent that I can manage to guess what they might mean from the bland crypto-speak.
But do keep this in mind; Second Life is a rich and vibrant culture, and it's very important for any improvements or modifications to be taken with an eye toward how those decisions impact that culture. Making it richer and better is all to the good. And I think we all understand that some of the problems of the culture simply cannot be met by the Lab. They must be addressed by the members OF the culture - we bloggers, activists, creators, builders and such.
Mostly, that can be done - and indeed, has been done - as we wander off preoccupied with our own little realms. But they all have to fit together, and we do have to take notice when people treat other residents - particularly new residents - as an endless resource to be strip-mined for profit.

Ms. Bedonebyasyoudid will be glad to see you at your Earliest Conveniece.

2011-10-04T15:03:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid - Illus: Mrs. Jessie Wilcox Smith

And Tom looked at himself: and he was all over prickles, just likea sea-egg.
Which was quite natural; for you must know and believe thatpeople's souls make their bodies just as a snail makes its shell (Iam not joking, my little man; I am in serious, solemn earnest).And therefore, when Tom's soul grew all prickly with naughtytempers, his body could not help growing prickly, too, so thatnobody would cuddle him, or play with him, or even like to look athim.
What could Tom do now but go away and hide in a corner and cry?For nobody would play with him, and he knew full well why. - The Water Babies

I got a notecard sometime recently - I just noticed it as I was fumbling for the Fall Fetish Arts 2011 card. I presume it's been widely distributed to where they think it will do me the most good or harm, based on the dramas of the last several days.

It alleges that it was made as a comment here on this blog, but that I had "failed to approve it."

In point of fact, I moderate comments to ensure that I don't become infested by commercial scammers and viagra ads. If it had been in the comment queue, I would indeed have approved it. It isn't, it's not in the approved comments either. I certainly didn't delete it. But I'm certain it was a simple oversight of some kind and it would be unreasonable to read more into it than a possible "blonde moment."

But I'm always open to fresh perspectives, and I did indeed invite damage models to comment.

Some did, some did not, and many current and former models commented to me in private. I was given the impression by some that our conversations marked the transition between "current" and "former," and perhaps that's why Dave felt it needful to order his models to not listen to me. However, aside from the one invitation, I haven't been keeping track of who is a Damage Model and who is not. Nope, the information I get comes from people who clearly think as little of Dave as I do. Which of course makes me take what they say with a grain of salt - but the man certainly makes passionate enemies. And you will recall that the initial article was about the wisdom of casually offending people when you are trying to run a business. People do drama and have their little wars, and usually it doesn't matter to third parties. It's when that becomes "part of the experience" or when freinds have to say to their friends, apologetically, "well, he's like that some times," that friends, good words and positive reviews of the things you are proud of seem to start drifting out of reach.

I've published every comment so far. I will continue to publish comments that in my judgement won't cause problems with TOS or the law, including anything Dave might wish to say in public.

I'm really quite baffled as to how plain english can be so badly understood, but then, I think willful misundertanding and recreational abuse was rather the seed of this - in my opinion. So here's the full text of the note. I've preserved it in it's original form.

I generally refrain from getting involved in any drama as I would rather enjoy SL then spend time in a frivolous drama such as this one created by eliza and DeNova Broome.

However, the comments in this blog are moving from being mere opinions to being slanderous and abusive, the blog being used merely to insult, inflame anger in others, and hurl disparaging and untruthful remarks. This blog is a clear presentation of how someone can use a blog to create drama and abuse others as I have ever seen, under the pretext of ‘this is only my opinion’ Apparently anyone can say anything, and it does not have to have any truth or substance, what so ever. It can be mere flights of fancy.

Wading through Broome’s verbose attack on the Damage Stores, Dave CarMichael and all the Damage Models, the issue becomes clear, eliza, got pissed off and the blog attack is ‘payback’. As evidenced in Broome’s own words “The people I blog about regularly - they don't make a visible point of having a right to offend me or mine for whatever reason.” Broome does not regularly blog about Damage, but does so now because she and eliza feel offended.

From what can be gathered through all the ramblings, eliza went to CarMichael the owner of Damage stores with a question, she thought reasonable and important. She did not like the answer, nor did Broome, thus the diatribe of assertions, speculations, assumptions etc in this blog. All stated for the purpose of misleading others into believing there is abuse and under handed dealings going on at Damage. Clearly not everyone who writes a blog can do so responsibly.

The trashing of Damage clothing, the belittling of CarMichael, the comments regarding the pay scale of the Damage models, Broome’s numerous insults to the models, the references to green dots, gaming and bots and not to forget the ambiguous reference to “…erm… other usages” are all used by Broome as smoke and mirrors for the sole purpose of not only continuing this drama but expanding it.

The issue if there is a valid one at all is clearly between eliza, and CarMichael. Broome has deliberately entangle herself and inflamed others to the point they have griefed the Damage Store, which we all know is a violation of SL protocol, all this done as a result of Broomes irresponsible fact less and egregious diatribe. Though Broome claims to be an ethical being her actions and comments clearly show otherwise.

The crux of the matter is very simply, eliza does not like the manner in which CarMichael runs his business, spoke to her, nor liked the response she obtained regarding her question. She should have merely departed but eliza got pissed and subsequently so did Broome, so they cause this ‘drama’ for as many people as is humanly possible, substance and facts not required. How then can anyone believe anything she posts on this blog in the future? Intelligent people will question, is what Broome saying actually true, or her own spiteful opinions spoken to further her own agenda? Broome and thus this blog now lack any sort of credibility.

The actual facts of this drama appear quiet simple and clear, eliza went to Damage to model on the statues, she did not investigate the land admitting “I saw no warnings at all. True, I didn’t read the land description” now blames others for her lack of due care and attention, playing fast and loose on SL regarding her RLV permission. Damage clearly and responsibly placed not one but two notices of RLV traps that eliza chose to ignore.

Those who choose to leave open and accessible approve RLV permission ‘intentionally’ do so and thus run the risk of it being used, consent being to permit, approve, agree, comply or yield, after all this is the purpose of open RLV.

Those who do not grant RLV permission thus deny its use and are abused only when RLV denial is over ridden by another.

Everyone is responsible to use caution and common sense when travelling on SL especially with RLV permission granted. Further to take responsibility for their own actions and investigate where they plan to visit, especially when they consent to RLV by having it open and available.

Damage site clearly shows adult with RLV traps. Thus there is prior warning and no surprise. To emphasis consent is given when RLV is activated. To withhold consent “do not” activate RLV. It is not rocket science people.

More specifically in regards to the Damage models, they all chose to model at Damage as either a statue or on a pose stand. Thus to place ones self upon the statue or pose stand is clear acceptance of the terms and conditions of employment. Your own actions speak for themselves. Further as mentioned earlier RLV traps are clearly noted to be present on the site. No surprise, no hidden agenda, clear and concise, you don’t like it go elsewhere. As well not all Damage models have open RLV permissions.

Lastly, my name is yolinde resident and I can attest to the fact, I am not a bot, you may think what you wish. However, to write on your blog that the Damage models are bots, not human, nor female, or potentially an alt of CarMichael is beyond mere opinion, is baseless, clearly untrue, highly inflammatory, offensive and slanderous against the good name of each and every past, present and future model of Damage.

As well, neither I nor any other model at Damage is compelled to speak to Broome or any other person who might happen into the store and attempt to engage us in conversation. Nor are the models required to speak to anyone who go out of their way to try to antagonize us into commenting on a blog such as Broome has attempted to do. “Well, I waited. And I waited. It's tedious waiting to approve comments…… So, just in case the dears were scared, I went to both stores and offered my personal invitation to each avi there.” Broome did not mention however that she just might have been intentionally ignored, not because we are bots, but because we chose not to be engaged with her in conversation for any reason.

There are always those few like Broome who will use their blogs in a libelous manner to attack others, to further their own agenda and create drama out of nothing, and are hurtful, harmful, with their attempt to destroy what good there is in SL. Broome you should be ashamed of yourself.

Broome has moderate enabled on her blog, “It's tedious waiting to approve comments” perhaps to thwart those who would speak out against her unethical and unbelievable attacks. However, should this ever see publication, Broome will likely turn her attack towards me, either personally or via my employment or employer or heighten her attack against CarMichael. This would not be unexpected at all. I however will take the high road and not respond again. Those who see through Broome’s sham will understand why, those who do not, will not or can not, never will, and any further response on my part would be valueless.

yolinde resident
Damage model

Of course, I checked yolinde's profile.

My. Now there's a substantive profile. But of course, sending around notecards should prove that there was a real person logging in to send the notecard.

:Smiles and Waves at Dave.

Lest I pay too much attention to the appeal to sweet reason above, and lest you be unaware of the specifics... I was raised to believe that when you let people get away with saying things like this to your face, somewhere a fairy dies.

quote this: Fuck you and your freakish fake female windup key pedophile avatar.

No, there are some things up with which I will not put. I do believe that I'm doing a fairly good job of rising above it all, but should I occasionally slip in a dig or two, I rather think I'm entitled.

Now as it happens, I do have a "wrap up post" in mind, for despite the background harassment in IM's and such, I'm fairly much content to let the issue itself pass. Fairly much, I find that such "rebuttals" as this prove my essential points rather better than anything I could say, and it's ever more so polite to simply point and say.. "You see? That sort of person."

Those who get it will get it, those who can't or will not - will tend to cluster where they can be easily avoided. So much so that one doesn't stop to think just how long the list of "people and places to avoid" has become.

It has also occurred to me that my reaction to Dave and Dave's reaction to being publically called on his nonsense was perhaps in part due to the fact that "Daves" have become an generic phenomenon. Dave is a douchecanoe - but the problem is not that DAVE is a douchecanoe; it's that I don't have to explain to you what a "douchecanoe" is.

Just stop and think about that for a moment. We have come to take this sort of behavior as one of the background irritations of... not just Second Life, but OF life. And so have the douchecanoes. They assume they have the privilidge to casually and thoughtlessly treat people like crap - and yet somehow, at the same time, are completely unable to connect negative consequences with their own actions. And somehow, this has become something of a social norm.

I disapprove. And I have no problem explaining in very small words for those who clearly were not taught english as a first language why it is a problem - and why it's nothing I can or should be expected to put up with. And moreover, that whatever anyone says to a douchecanoe who might be in a position of power, nobody actually does put up with it any more than they really have to.

The art of diplomacy is saying "nice doggie," until you can find a rock. - Will Rogers

This is my rock.

Open Collar Database Shutdown

2011-10-03T13:27:00.000-07:00

My AI Tech Open Collar is a wardrobe essential!

There's been some confusion about the changes with Open Collar, and since many who have the collars don't keep the group in their group lists... it seems like a good idea to reproduce the inworld notecard here.

Yes, they have shut down the external database. Why?

In short - it's a volunteer effort and that doesn't extend to raising the money and doing the accounting to maintain the data register.

Now, this reminds me that I've done little to support OC - other than to hand them out like candy. I will donate one or two designs.

As I keep reminding people, an Open Collar is not just for slaves and submissives. I particularly like the new 3.7x code, which allows the user to decide what features will and will not be included - even including the relay!

You can use your OC collars with anyone's relay, and get around the new limitation of the collars not knowing "who owns me." The new update system will let you remove the relay - or I'm told that if you prefer, you can simply turn off the relay and use another. As a designer, I'm thrilled about this, because it opens new avenues and applications for the OC code base.

Though that's as much a feature as a bug, of course. And we've all run into it.

"Hmmm... a Dari's Haus collar? In THIS day and age? Whatever for?"

But as I said, it's simple enough to work around, and it's as much a feature as a bug.

Hi all,

So people in OpenCollar Chatter seem pretty concerned about the changes coming in version 3.7 of the collar, particularly about the loss of the server side features. This note is to help answer questions that have come up more than once.

Q: What's happening?
A: OpenCollar is turning off the server components that support saving settings to an online DB and sim-to-sim remote control. We're still going to run the server components of the update/distribution system, however.

Q: What features are we losing because of the database switchoff?
A: Online storage of collar settings, and sim-to-sim remote control.

Q: Why?!
A: The OpenCollar server code runs on Google App Engine. We've had a pretty good run on App Engine, getting free hosting and having to do almost no system administration, and had very high uptime for an application that's under constant load. But Google is raising their prices and taking us out of the free quota range. At first we thought this would raise our hosting costs to around $200 USD/month, but Google subsequently adjusted their plans (see http://googleappengine.blogspot.com/2011/09/few-adjustments-to-app-engines-upcoming.html), which took the cost down quite a bit. With that and some tweaks of our own we're looking at around $30/month, though that will spike up when we release new versions.

Q: When is this happening?
A: The Google price changes are taking effect on Oct 31. We plan to put 3.7 into the auto update system at least a week before then. (You might have heard me say Oct. 1 before. I was misremembering. Thankfully. The real drop-dead date is Oct 31.)

Q: Why don't you just raise the money inworld?
A: This involves a lot of administration that just isn't practical right now given the number of people on the OC team and the amount of time they're able to commit.

Q: What will happen if I just keep using version 3.600?
A: When we put 3.7 in the update system you'll start getting nagged to upgrade. When we turn off the server components, you'll start seeing error messages.

Q: Can I just run a copy of the database on my own server for my own use?
A: Yes. BUT:
    1 - You would need to set up your own instance of our code, (on Google App Engine or maybe Appscale http://code.google.com/p/appscale/), or fork it to run on your stack of choice.
    2 - You would need to fork the LSL settings script to use your server.
    3 - You would start with an empty database.

Q: Can I donate use of my server to run the main OC database?
A: Probably not. Both because our code is designed to run on App Engine (not your bog standard PHP server), and because we are extremely careful about who we entrust with our users' data.

Q: THIS IS THE END OF OPENCOLLAR!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!
A: /me hands you a valium.

Q: Will the server features ever come back?
A: Maybe. If/when they do, it will only be if we can afford to pay for the hosting and have sysadmins in place to keep it running smoothly. This might mean charging a small fee for people who want the online features. We don't have the infrastructure or team for any of that right now, so don't plan on server features until there's more news.

Q: What's wrong with 3.701?
A: It has a bug where the settings script gets wedged on some rezzes. A 3.702 fix is in testing.

Q: How can I help support OpenCollar?
A: I'm glad you asked! Here are some ideas:
    - Join the OpenCollar R&D group. When a beta gets sent there, test it out. If you file a bug on our tracker, IM Nirea about it.
    - If you're a scripter, dive in and learn the collar's systems (auth, settings, menu hooks) and join in the current effort to make the collar's core simpler and better documented.
    - If you're a designer, consider making something beautiful and useful that you can donate to the project. Those who have made particularly significant contributions are featured with their own section at the main OC temple.
    - If you know how to read and write, ask Nirea how you can contribute to improving OpenCollar's documentation. Make that double if you have html, css, or web design skills.
    - If you're a nice person, consider becoming an official OpenCollar Helper. Helpers hang out at the temple from time to time and answer questions.

One last thought: OpenCollar usually presents itself as a team project rather than any one person's efforts, but these days the team is looking pretty thin (1 active person, 3-4 less-active people) It's normal, and totally acceptable, for people to move on when their life situations or even just their interests change. But that means we need a steady stream of new people stepping up, and that's where you come in. If you have the means, and have the desire, this is your opportunity. OpenCollar only lives as long as its community sustains it.

Nirea

Next Weekend at Latex Web

2011-10-02T20:26:00.001-07:00

Next Weekend at Latex Web, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
The Fall Fetish Art show will start next weekend and I do hope you join us. I have included a number of gifts, and I'm introducing a new pose object as part of a performance art display. The art I've put together has been the result of playing with the ideas of Michael Manning, the concepts embodied in the people and places to be found in and around Darkadia and a few of my own better questions about personality and identity.

Somehow, in all of this, while I wasn't censoring myself, I didn't manage to create anything very erotic for a show filled with (really quite good) erotic and fetish art. And yet, somehow, I think it fits. My mood and mind were more on getting you there, rather than showing what might happen once you find "there."

Wear your best haute fetiche outfits and remember - it also means "Stand and Model!"

Mistress Broome's Notorious Patience.

2011-10-02T17:05:00.000-07:00

Getting Our Mugshots for the Next JLU Wiki Leak

Now, this was all an impromptu thing; Elysium Hynes was putting together The Pink Hands Group shot ...still a work in progress, there are more member pictures to add, but here it is, so far.

I thought I was volunteering myself to shoot a couple or three pictures. Suddenly I'm in the midst of a crowd and having more fun in second life than I've had in years.

So here I am surrounded by a hourde of pink-clad gleefers, some with rather lurid reputations, all claiming to have reformed of course, or at least, not wanted in THIS territory, feeling rather like a frontier photographer shooting pictures of Wyatt Erp and having to tell Billy The Kid he will have to wait his turn...

"not bots"

POKE: "I am not a bot!"
POKE: "I am not a bot!"
POKE: "I am not a bot!"

I try to be a Good Person, but I must admit I came close to biting through my lip a couple of times.

Wait your turn dear. I shall deal with you in good time, in my way, and within the terms and best intentions of the Terms of Service. I need not, and shall not ask others to grief you; that would confuse the issues I consider worth writing about.

Goodness, if your sim went down, nobody could visit Damage to make up their own minds about whether it's worth visiting twice, could they?

Dear Dave Carmichael: Is it just me, or is it getting a little childish out?

2011-10-01T16:47:00.001-07:00

Dear Dave Carmichael: Is it just me, or is it getting a little childish out?, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
Due to my earlier posts and my assertion/assumption/speculation that the Damage stores could be staffed by bots, Dave Carmichael has seen fit to ask each of "his girls" to contact me personally to inform me that "they are not a bot."

Well, that's fair play; and after all, I did actually personally invite each to comment on my blog. IM's are not quite what I had in mind, but Mistress Broome is nothing if not patient with those she feels are being taken advantage of and misused by a flaming douchecanoe. Please note the term "she feels are" - that makes it a statement of opinion which is entirely protected speech. I say this out loud lest Dave ...once again... threatens to sue me.

And please note the annotated illustration: I am quite familiar with locking RLV pose objects and the protocol surrounding them. "Fornaphelia" is something I know quite well, and I have known many decorative objects, many who are on my Flist. I have been designing, making and even occasionally selling such toys for quite some time. This one, for instance, designed for the art exhibition, actually has a regrab function so that if an avi is unseated due to a glitch or crash, it will most likely reset her without direct attention. I also make objects that do full transformations, including several lovely fountains. And I'm rather well aware of the protocols and kinks surrounding the use and abuse of RLV devices. They can be fun - or they can be an imposition.

There, now that we have established who has the right to be condescending to whom, let us continue to the direct issue at hand.

First - the most basic point. Every single "bot" on a "botserver" will be attached to a perfectly ordinary SL account. That is why people use botservers to game traffic - there's simply no way to tell if that green dot is made by an actual person or a piece of software. Most botservers can't do much other than maintain an avi on a pose stand... but then, there I was in a store filled with nonresponsive avis on a pose stand, one with a very curious texture glitch that seemed to indicate to me the possibility that they were indeed bots.

But since then, rather a lot of accounts have taken the opportunity to inform me that they are not bots. At least a couple are genuine; as for the rest, one was ever so concerned that I do not use her name and photo. I suspect her rather strongly of being Dave's female alt, and if so, apparently sensitive about it, though for the life of me, I can't see how he could possibly manage without one. Well, perhaps she spends a great deal of time at Lesperado. One can only wonder. But you see, that sort of wonderment is all there is here.

For regardless of whether an account is normally logged into a bot server, it would be perfectly possible for a childish and obsessive sort of person to log into them normally - one must have those details on hand, after all, and commit an act of serial griefing. There would be no way for me to reliably know whether these are all Dave, all aggrieved models, or some mix of the two.

...and I smile as the light dawns...

Yes, you see, having an avi say to me "I am not a bot" is well within the grasp of common software. Radegast - my model in the photo above is logged in with it - is perfectly functional for most interactions, and it's light enough that I could run six instances easily. I use it myself if I want to be inworld and am using heavy graphics software at the same time.

It's no doubt less powerful than server based solutions, even ones intended for perfectly legitimate customer service applications. I would certainly expect such software to be able to handle IM's - possibly from an convenient web interface.

But it's my long-standing custom to treat each avi I come across as a legitimate and distinct individual and so when I noticed a new poke and it was possible to take a moment, I spoke to each. It seemed only polite and reasonable to do that given that I must actually take the assertion that they are not bots at face value.

But when you think of it, as an ethical being, I am rightfully more concerned if they are not bots. It means that they are quite possibly being taken advantage of to harrass and annoy me, an act that is certainly the behavior of a total ass, even if it does not rise to the level of harrassment required to get a large number of people banned. It's simply rude and wrong to use employees so. At least, at such low rates.

But since I am a courteous thing, I've taken the opportunity to give each model some context as to what exactly they are stepping into. Past a certain point, I resorted to cutting and pasting.

[13:05] DeNovo Broome: ask dave why he'd want to use you to grief me for what amounts to a bad review?
[13:06] DeNovo Broome: paintree.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-damage-your-reputati...
[13:06] DeNovo Broome: paintree.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-confirm-your-reputat...
[13:07] DeNovo Broome: so there you go, a little context. :}

Now for at least one, the reaction was something along the line of "OMFG, he said THAT?"

I suspect it was probably just right around here.

[19:53] Dantalion (dave.carmichael): I can only imagine what a putrid little self loathing ugly and fat computer chair jockey wanker you are. You can quote that. Kiss my ass and stay the fuck away from me (like I told you the first time). Fuck wad. Quote that too. And quote this: Fuck you and your freakish fake female windup key pedophile avatar.
[20:00] DeNovo Broome: Why thank you. And by the way, that is not me. I'm a different person and avitar entirely. But thank you for the permission to quote you.

Actually, I've had a number of lovely conversations with current and former models and in the process, I've seen a need to gather information about the modeling industry in second life - starting with the very basic question, "Has anyone gathered information on the modeling industry in second life so I can just link to it?" That will be forthcoming, whatever I may find.

And so, Dave, it really doesn't matter if your models are bots or not - clearly, you treat them with all the regard and respect you would give a bot, expect them to obey your commands unthinkingly, and generally don't give a damn if they get their accounts suspended for participating in your childish games. Now, I have not AR'd them and I would never do so... but neither you nor they could know that for sure when you sent them to poke me.

But meanwhile, dear, regardless as to whether they are all bots, some are bots or you just fill in with alts when you are low on actual people - the fact is, it's all about green dots and gaming traffic. And I think that every single model of yours should understand that her primary job is to put a green dot on your map. I've written about that idea before, in "My Little Green Dot: The Economy of Respect."

In essence, it means that anyone standing anywhere in a sim for any length of time, for whatever reason, makes it seem more interesting. Just by standing there, and not somewhere else, or just logging out - you are making that place seem worth visiting. You are giving social capital to them. So you may wish to ask - as I did in that article - what am I being offered that I should lend my reputation to your sense of importance? For that, I think, is what we have here.

Green dots - where green dots don't truly belong.

How To CONFIRM Your Reputation!

2011-09-29T02:39:00.000-07:00

UPDATE Below.

My. I've been mentioned. This small, insignifiant blog, which almost nobody reads, (actually true, that) and which I was told on Twitter by someone who is NOT Dave Carmichael of second life, could not POSSIBLY affect the bottom line of a Significant and Important Establement that Is a Really Real Business in Second Life, Really.

Oddly, when I go to screencap them, those tweets have vanished. And there were so many of them!

But, somehow, despite the assurances that I am an insignificant, lowly blogger, nonetheless, I am still important enough for this notice to be sent out to all the Damage Models in regard to my earlier story, How To Damage Your Reputation.

"Group Notice, Sent by Dave Carmichael, Damage Model Staff"

A stupid bitch named DeNovo Broome has blogged negatively about Damage here:

[19:22] DeNovo Broome: Congratulations! You earned some free publicity! http://paintree.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-damage-your-reputation.html

She had an idiot friend who accused me of fraud because she stood on a statue stand for less than 30 seconds and wasn't paid. Obviously I ejected the dick. Feel free to agree or disagree with her on her own ridiculous blog.

Well, I waited. And I waited. It's tedious waiting to approve comments. Almost as tedious as sitting on a pose stand for 2 Lindens per hour. Yes. Really. 2 whole lindens an hour. He assured me that he's one of the most generous businesspeople in all of SL, so that must be a really GOOD rate! I can't imagine why they aren't flocking to my blog to tell me how badly I'm abusing their kind and generous employer!

Is that a BOTlist on her chest?

So, just in case the dears were scared, I went to both stores and offered my personal invitation to each avi there. Only one replied, and one other seemed to be suffering a horrible fashion accident; it seemed as if she was wearing a web page. One that listed the names of a number of avis who were also there. The sort of page generated by web-based botservers. So it does bring one to wonder aloud if that notice sent out was an act of social intercourse - or social self-abuse.

The score so far - two contacts from people who've encountered Dave C; one at least is a former model. None from current ones. And lest it be left unsaid, no comment from Dave Himself.

Perhaps they don't feel that they are paid enough to get into this drama. I would agree. They aren't. 2L per hour is an embarrassingly low return even for a third world gold farmer, and it's not as if the clothes themselves are that special. Oh, they are well photographed - but at the end of the day, they are the sort of clothes someone like Dave would put on you so he could leer at you. I'm given to understand that he may even expect his models to buy the clothes out of their earnings.

One of the two people who contacted me in-world confided that getting even paltry sum promised was contingant on...erm... other usages. And while I obviously cannot confirm that, his words towards me and towards Eliza makes me tend to believe the story.

But the thing that makes me take this personally is that Dave is claiming to be a Real, True BDSM Top - and that he's an example of how it is done.

I beg to differ.

UPDATE: The person with what could be a botlist on her chest (update) claimed to be not a bot. several hours later. Well, not implausible. She objected to the use of her name and photo. Well, I don't believe that's truly her right to object, given she's in public and supposedly there to be photogenic, but even if it's the very Dantillon on the other end of the avi - I can't see a good reason to not respect the request. I'd simply be standing on my right to be an asshole. So I've added this, made the proper apologies and I actually think this is the photo I should have used in the first place.

Within the conversation, it has come to my attention that some griefing of the stores may have occurred. Please, don't do that! That simply turns this into the usual thing. The approprate response and the only response that I consider ethical, the only one I intend is that you shop elsewhere - and work elsewhere. Nobody should have to risk their dignity for the "privilege" to shop, or even gather freebies or work in a sandbox. It's a lovely thing to do, provide freebies, offer employment and mentor creators - and this was actually why I had "Damage" on my list of places to blog about favorably before Eliza's unfortunate encounter with Dave. But no good thing will come of this by driving someone from the grid, if that's your intent.

Sian Pearl's Four More Years of Total Discipline

2011-09-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

It's really not all that different in RL. And they would take it this far if they could.

parthenoid: Four More Years of Total Discipline:

Usually, you just ignore us. We're shoplifters, homeless kids, sometimes just kids from schools at the bottom of the league tables or ...

Mitosis Observed In Captive Meeroo Populations

2011-09-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

Rodvik's Light Brown Pwnie

2011-09-27T16:47:00.001-07:00

Rodvik's Light Brown Pwnie, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
It's a gift from Rodvic Linden. Does it mean I've been Pwnd, or is this a
trophy for Pwning someone? Well, either way, it's cute and it could well be
that I deserve it. But even if I don't... I'm keeping it here in a place of
honor.

How to Damage Your Reputation

2011-09-26T19:03:00.001-07:00

How to Damage Your Reputation, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Update Below:

...unless you are cultivating your reputation as an asshole.

My Eliza loves posing and clothes, She's quiet but social in her way, so when someone told her she could make a few lindens by being a statue for a while at Damage, she of course checked it out. And being a truthful thing who saw something that could cause the designer problems, she did the right thing and informed them. That turned out to be a mistake. A mistake Dantalion (dave.carmichael) will, I hope, come to regret in time. And if this little illustration doesn't serve that need, well, perhaps the next few collisions with people will underline the point.

When Eliza had a reasonable and important question, she brought it to the attention to the owner. You see, he has statues that decorate his store and "models" who are probably bots. Eliza was told that she could earn a few lindens via someone connected to the group or store by being a fountain for a while. And apparently the fountain Eliza found does indeed have a payment system: I was able to verify it.

Damage tranquil fountain whispers:

DeNovo Broome's mind is suddenly filled with a strange thought of turning into solid marble... what just happened?

Damage Golden Marble Fountain whispers: Your last confused thoughts are of sadness and longing as your clothes dissolve into smoke and your body turns slowly to stone.
Damage Golden Marble Fountain: You've earned 0 Lindens.

However, when asked about it, he asserted that the statues were permanent, no payment would be offered, that what Eliza had been told in chat (his own customer support group, I believe) was wrong, and that she was an "asshole" for bringing this matter to his attention.

Then he asked her if she was a female in real life... and when she closed the chat at that point, landbanned her! From a store!

Well, as Eliza agreed, just looking at his profile would give the impression that talking to him was pointless. She really needs to learn to profile stalk more, it saves so much time.

"I'm the owner and creator of Damage. Notecards to Reilly Button for Damage inquiries. NO spam please.

Call me hun, dear or sweetie and you get the mute.

If you say "your" instead of "you're" you get the mute.

If you IM me when you're in the same room, mute.

To hell with your long-ass high maintenance list of prerequisites.

"Capped IMs" are for stupids. I get all via email.

Second Life is RP by definition. Stop dropping out of RP like that means anything. Unless you're really an avatar."

What an adorable attempt to roleplay an malignant narcissist.

So he was wrong, chose to call my Eliza an "asshole" for pointing it out, and then when it seems that she's not willing to discuss her sexual preferences on voice with a manlyman who just demonstrated how big and hard he can be - bans her. Or that would be my impression...

He also claims some interest in bdsm, and eliza wears a collar. My name is mentioned in her profile. So he should not be surprised to find that I consider an insult to my own to be an insult directed at me. But in the ordinary run of things, mute/ban, that would be the only real possible consequence, short of an AR.

But, he makes fashion items and I do blog about fashion - and this store was actually one I'd wandered through, thinking I should pick out some freebies, do a shot or two, and of course, I often shoot with Eliza as well. I think that's worth pointing out - that if your kink in sl is being a "businessperson" than it's not at all unreasonable for people to expect you to be professional and businesslike. Particularly if your income depends on other people being willing to say nice things about you for little or no money. :>

...so much for that.

So we won't even bother discussing his stock in trade - which is utterly ordinary, "sexy" clothes, appearing upscale in the pictures with upscale prices, presented in what's not just a store - but a "shopping experience." That is to say, if you like feeling privileged to shop in someone's store - and clearly, he DOES think it should be a "privilege."

The people I blog about regularly - they don't make a visible point of having a right to offend me or mine for whatever reason. There are far more designers than I can possibly name, much less put together outfits, shoot the pictures and create a post. It seems "not having to deal with assholes, nor subject people I like to them" to be a really good way of starting to get to the actually difficult choices.

And since I'm hardly alone in using that as a way of picking and choosing, that's how you "Damage" your reputation.

UPDATE 1

Oh my. As is only proper and polite, I informed him that I'd blogged about his store. Ok, perhaps not entirely polite. But it is proper. He logged in (he DOES get notices in email!) and hurled abuse. And logged out, before I could reply... well, read below. For in all the hurling of abuse, to the point I felt entirely proper sending an AR his way, he gave me permission to quote him in full.

-- Instant message logging enabled --
[19:22] DeNovo Broome: Congratulations! You earned some free publicity! http://paintree.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-damage-your-reputation.html
[19:22] Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[19:31] Dantalion (dave.carmichael): Oh wah. Kiss my ass you weiner lol
[19:33] DeNovo Broome: Oh, dear, you can't afford me.
[19:33] Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[19:45] Dantalion (dave.carmichael): You're such an insignificant little whiney dick. You came into my store acting like an asshole, and if that weren't enough you've shown all the millions and billions (eye roll) of your readers that you can be an asshole blogger. Hey, windup toy asshole, go fuck yourself. I can't believe you actually think anybody gives a shit about your opinions in world or off or your pathetic fucking blog. Go build something and stop being a class A fuck wad.
[19:45] DeNovo Broome: Oh my. Aren't you just special. May I quote you?
[19:45] Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[19:51] DeNovo Broome: Feel free to comment on my blog, should you wish that view shared with my tiny readership.
[19:51] Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[19:53] Dantalion (dave.carmichael): I can only imagine what a putrid little self loathing ugly and fat computer chair jockey wanker you are. You can quote that. Kiss my ass and stay the fuck away from me (like I told you the first time). Fuck wad. Quote that too. And quote this: Fuck you and your freakish fake female windup key pedophile avatar.
[20:00] DeNovo Broome: Why thank you. And by the way, that is not me. I'm a different person and avitar entirely. But thank you for the permission to quote you.
[20:00] Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.

Yora Vig, Myself, and Eliza Maiman

In his tirade, it became clear that he mistook me for being an Alt of Eliza. How very predictable, and rather pathetic. And all because eliza won't prove she's a "real woman." Well, I would not either. Nor would I feel the need to "prove" I was a real man. And dave... you've proved all anyone really needs to know about you.

Completely, totaly unworthy of having intercourse with anyone in any sense - other than a separate instance, running on your own computer.

UPDATE 2

Got another stream of abuse from dave carmichael when I logged in.

The stream of abuse was slightly more moderate. He revoked permission to quote but ...without quoting him, mind you ... I was told I should "get my story straight" on my blog lest "somebody sue me." Then there were various presumptions and accusations made toward Eliza which boil down to this: People who fail to behave as he expect are probably males in disguise. There was some chest-beating, a list of all the wonderful things he does and I'm expected to list. However, he also wishes all my expletive friends to expect fairly much the same treatment as Eliza got, should they "bother" him in like manner.

How very amusing that he should expect this to achieve anything particularly useful. The things one steps in here in SL, it does seem to bring out the worst as well as the best in people. So it seems to me a kindness to pass along that message from him - if you like people like me, if, for instance, you happen tolerate clockwork dolls, or don't really feel it's proper to have to skype-verify your gender to be able to be treated with respect, I do believe that there are places where you might find statue skins, work opportunities and perhaps even a sandbox or two. And rather better clothing, both free and for sale. In my humble opinion, of course.

However, should he wish to tell the story in his own words - he's more than welcome to comment here.

The Rising of the Pink Septemberists

2011-09-25T02:22:00.000-07:00

Elysium Hynes did these recruitment posters for The Pink Hands.

The fight between the JLU and ... well, everyone else who is aware of this, isn't kind of creepy themselves and doesn't have some reason to remain silent keeps gathering steam. And in the absence of evidence of decisive action from Linden Labs, some sort of outburst was inevitable.

...this, I did not expect. But then, I'm not alone in not having expected any of this.

As CheerGirl Allen says:

The sheer fact that The Pink Hands has gone from a silly signature line I added to my SLU posts once pork neva said I was a Wrong Hands Alt grifer wiki hacker, to a group in SL who's membership went from 1, to 49 members in less then 24 hours is honestly totally amazing. If the members are infact so called "griefers" then SL NEEDS MORE OF THEM! So far we have 2 diffrent uniforms styles, as well as diffrent makups, cute salute Animations and even a new Cyborg Skin all created by the group's members! Only the JLU would call this level of creativity grief.

A lot of people paying attention to this are not griefers, not copybotters, and really annoyed that they have to go through this again, after the RedZone Scandal. People that are into sl for their own creativity and close social networks rarely go anywhere that could get griefed.

I mean, this was the first I'd ever heard of the griefer wars. The idea of "organized griefers" still sounds more than slightly oxymoronic to me, so colour me surprised. But then, the definition of "griefer" seems to be, "any group of people who disagree with." So, with entirely uncomfortable paralelles with North American Real Life, being called a "griefer" is becoming a label not unlike being called "A Socialist" because you think Ron Paul is a better choice than Rick Santorum.

But seemingly just a few weeks ago, I really didn't know much about the JLU, nor honestly, did I much care to know, for all I knew about them told me that I would find them tedious bores who would be best avoided, because of their tendency to keep secrets about people they were "watching" in not actually secret places. Oh, and the best way to avoid them was to avoid the places I wouldn't go anyway, for the most part? Check and check.

But now it seems that it's possible to state without hyperbole that the JLU makes xFire Xue look like a moderately upright citizen, by contrast. And in paralell I'm becoming less and less impressed with the Lab, because the leaked wiki seems to show that in many ways, the JLU is the frankenstien creation of the Lab; proxy warriers pressed into (deniable) service to combat what may well have been quite a rash of griefing and copybotting. Somehow, I missed all that.

It's not that I don't appreciate the difficulties the Lab faces - the fact is, I actually DO appreciate the difficulties. And that causes me to be concerned that with limited staff, far too much attention goes to geewhizmatronics like voice, web on prim, mesh and far to little toward maintaining the social aspects of what is, after all, an immersive social environment in which all kinds of social difficulties can be foreseen.

Like most, the extant of the data kept by the JLU and the very disturbing nature of many of their internal discussions caused me to change my mind about taking this issue on, and luckily, some of the people stepping forward are people that really can't be easily dismissed. For example: Avril Korman, writing in Search Engine Watch:

Two weeks ago, I had never heard of the list of organized griefer groups in SL, and the only time I've ever laid eyes on the JLU was on Help Island in 2008 when I first got my account. It's sort of like learning about an ongoing war you didn't realize existed before.

I said this earlier, but it bears repeating:

I'm beyond convinced that the ability to moderate behavior and secure data has been underdeveloped and the very mechanism to "crowdsource" the issue of moderating behavior has been deeply compromised. So I'm not suggesting that you should think about fixing this - I am saying that, as a user, this is my highest priority. And since it is, I will either stay or go depending on how secure I feel, and how little I'm interfered with so long as I am a grownup and colour within the lines I'm given.

I require a certain amount of peace and quiet to do what I want to do, creatively. Needless to say, many projects and ideas have been put aside to concentrate on this. Now, multiply that by lots of people who really do have better things to do than track down and publicly define a problem that should have been quietly dealt with a couple of years ago, when Kal-El's creepy ways must have become apparent to the Lab.

And if they weren't apparent to the lab - well, that would be an even bigger problem.

ATTN: Soft Linden, Rodvic Linden

2011-09-23T19:40:00.001-07:00

ATTN: Soft Linden, Rodvic Linden, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

UPDATE: Today, the chair sits empty.

Via Flickr:
CC: security@lindenlab.com

(this text has been expanded from that sent directly from the site where the image was taken.)

This bot has been mentioned repeatedly in the SLU forums, it does not seem to be an acknowledged scripted agent. I'm told the interesting scripted bits are in the chair. I'm given to understand that this is a misuse of resources and an AR offense from several viewpoints.

It may rise to the level of an actual crime:

Section 2261A(2) makes it a federal crime to stalk another person across state, tribal or international lines, using regular mail, email, or the Internet. The stalker must have the intent to kill, injure, harass, intimidate or cause substantial emotional distress, or to place a victim or a victim's family member, spouse or intimate partner in fear of death or serious bodily injury. (18 U.S.C. Section 2261A)

As I said, it's been here for weeks. And yet, here it is. Still.

Please note, this is my main account. I'm reporting it with the same email I use to blog and read my email. I'm pissed enough as a person to risk my own personal pink and aged main avi.

I PRESUME this will make me a target for the JLU and their various semi-deniable tools. And... Rod... this is not an unreasonable presumption. It's not even slightly paranoid. In very small words, sir, my experience has already been degraded to the degree that if I'm forced out or kicked out, that's an outcome I'm able to live with.

I will be blogging this, for what it's worth; I'm tired of this sort of tactic and apparent favoritism. I want a safe, just, benignly indifferent and even-handed second life and I do not wish to be
upskirted by devices like this. As a user, I find that I'm increasingly unwilling to guess or hope as to your intentions. There are other grids willing to be explicit and pro-active about moderation.

We both know this bot is here for no good reason. It's here POINTEDLY. It is intended to send a message; a proper spy device might well be a nanoprim. So it's meant to harrass, as part of it's mission. It's intended in exactly the same sense as a KKK "we were here" card. It is intended to make people "straighten up and fly right" by the tems of those who leave the message.

I doubt I am the first to AR it. And yet, it is still here. Should I have to wonder aloud why that is? Is it that you approve, or is it that you simply don't care about the "unimportant" people? And when DID you stop beating your wives? I tease, in order to point out that unfair questions arise when there are no fair answers.

I'm standing here: slurl.com/secondlife/Blue/173/216/72.

Perhaps you should see for yourselves, and ask yourself what permitting this sort of harassment and obvious surveillance says to people, such as myself who are largely uninvolved observers. You might think on the psychology involved, what such low-level harassment might provoke people to do, and what unfortunate bedfellows might find themselves offering cigarettes to one another. Really, dear. This is where it could all go sideways and pear-shaped.

For added points, do walk around zip paz's place, seen below, and then wander around Justice Island (I know you can).

Now ask yourself - where would YOU prefer to hang out, eating pizza and doing all that social networking? Me, I have built my own comfort - but consider the average user, in the golden demographic, Male, 18-35. You know, where the disposable income is, Sir. Would you rather have them see this - or KalEl's grim vision?

Which group would you bet could make a "sticky" Welcome Island?

At the end of the day, I do realize that Second Life must "make the nut." It must cover the salaries, the bills and the expectations of the investors. I am also very much aware that it does this by taking invested social capital and volunteer sweat equity and transforming it into a marketable experience and lucrative demographic data.

Well, dears; a very wise whore once said something very wise to me about situations like this:

Don't FUCK with the money!

This is a social medium. And you do value "emergent behaviors." Second Life has very little to offer other than the potential as a raw creative platform and the richest possible form of social networking currently available. It is also a very, very new thing and we are still poking buttons and finding out if they make things go bang.

And yet, you are willing to let a group of cartoon vigilantes annoy people to the extent that the absolute most valuable corporate asset - MY WILLINGNESS TO LOG IN AND TALK TO PEOPLE - might be lessened?

You really, really need to think about that! Out loud. AT the people who should have dealt with this before it came to your attention.

And do consider the additional subtext. I am willing to yell at you in public about that, for I see little downside in doing so, and little hope that anything less will work. So this is no disposable account. I've been here, contributing to the economy of Second Life and spending rather a lot of real world money to do that. And while I do not have a premium account - if it will make you more willing to hear me or gain me access to meetings I would not otherwise know about, yes. I will put my wallet and my time where my mouth is.

I'm beyond convinced that the ability to moderate behavior and secure data has been underdeveloped and the very mechanism to "crowdsource" the issue of moderating behavior has been deeply compromised. So I'm not suggesting that you should think about fixing this - I am saying that, as a user, this is my highest priority. And since it is, I will either stay or go depending on how secure I feel, and how little I'm interfered with so long as I am a grownup and colour within the lines I'm given. And if you tap me on the shoulder and say, "well, smart girl, what would you suggest," ... well, to complain is to volunteer.

Meanwhile, dear third party reader, if you have been stalked or harassed in second life or on the internet in general, these people would like to hear from you.

Howl's Moving Castle.

2011-09-21T18:34:00.001-07:00

Howl's Moving Castle., originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
Kasper Helstien in an adorable elf avi that is to actual scale to the castle they have created.

Scale explains a great deal - this build is, I'm told, to scale and according to the official plans made for the movie. You will need to be of a size to fit, and it's very helpful to have some tool to modify your camera perspective, or disorientation is a given. Having said that...

It's a delightfully accurate three-dimensional tour of Howl's Moving Castle!

Meanwhile... I'm rather amused by the fact that somehow, on my first trip away from Zindra for anything other than hunts or shopping - I should trip over an elphin doll. I promised them a blog post - and told them that should they wear a proper doll key, that Zindra had many doll-friendly locations.

Oh, Snap! (Is the sound of someone spraining their freenis.)

2011-09-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

It's reassuring to know that the public organ of the JLU is urgent and upright in their seminal mission of keeping us safe from inappropriate mental imagery.

My Private Depravities and other offensive presumptions.

2011-09-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

Prokofky Neva writes a blog I never read, but others do, and from time to time snippets make it into various fora. Adrianne Korda gets a hat tip for this.

Every once in a while, I'm reminded that people like me annoy people like them just by breathing, which makes me smile, to be frank:

"Slun is filled with nasty Brits of the left or extreme licentious type who are impossible to reason with (Lucifer Barphomet and some of the others showing up in these endless JLU threads). The British haters of Americans and under-the-wire British anti-semites, the kinky lifestylers and vicious BDSM queens and identity-politicking victimologists from the LGBT set -- these are all in full display at Slun and make it a horrid atmosphere"

To which I replied "...you know, I have a term for moral outrage of that sort from that source: "Endorsement.""

But I think that Prok and fellow pecksniffs, bluestockings and purveyors of Comstockery think my life is rather more lurid than it actually is.

Indeed, one of the issues I see with the fight between the JLU and... pretty much everyone trying to have fun in a sandbox is that they obviously cannot tell the difference between "griefing" and simple failure of taste. Or between "this offends me" and "intent to offend" and "inherently offensive."

Or Criticism, social commentary, free speech and Griefing. All the same to them it seems - and any means seems justified to end the Griefer Menace for All Time. Including ... some very unsavory things. And all of that comes at a very high price, for SL citizens and the potential future of SL as a viable grid.

One of my personal annoyances with this JLU fiasco is how much creative energy is being diverted from things that matter - like our SL friends, or our creative endevours. To give one example, fellow fashion blogger Laverne Unit pulled this out of the latest JLU Log release, (before I could get to it as I had planned to do.)

Anyone with any doubts whatsoever about the JLU should read the October 24 2010 log file. (You can start from here for all the alt detection stuff.) There's quite a lively discussion about how right or wrong it is to use alt detection, and the stuff said by the supporters of the scheme shows just how much they think they're the law in SL. There also seems to be no question that they were using an IP-based alt detection system created by the Police Department, but I'm going to assume that they stopped using it at some point; it would be really interesting to see the subsequent meeting logs. From what's been said here, it may well be that it was too difficult or time-consuming to integrate the system, but they seem very eager to use it in the log.

A few quotations (I've tried to preserve context as much as possible, but there are links there too):

Quote:

[13:48:49] Jeremiah Pintens If you wind up finding out about some random alt of mine, it's not going to bother me
[13:48:49] Maverick Grunfeld Exactly Jere. There's not judgements at this table.
[13:48:49] Kara Timtam If a griefer's name shows up as an alt of yours, I will ask you first what's the deal.
[13:48:49] Maverick Grunfeld And Kara, if that happens, there's still value there.
[13:48:49] Maverick Grunfeld As in learning the griefer may be in the same goelocation.
[13:48:49] Maverick Grunfeld Or college.
[13:48:49] Maverick Grunfeld Or wherever.
[13:48:49] nik Daffyd Its still an invasion of privacy ...
[13:48:49] Jeremiah Pintens Even if it turns out that I'm actually Cthulhu in disguise or something like that - I trust the League, explicitly - and I have for *years*.
[13:48:49] Kalel Venkman Here's an example scenario: A person or group decides to go after another.
[13:48:49] Maverick Grunfeld How so? History has shown that RL IDs are the only major way to stop griefer activity. We work constantly to ID folks. It is the business.
[13:48:49] Melanippe Karas What I think Billi and Nik's point may be is that -- whether the information is available or not, should WE be using it.
[13:48:49] Vagabond Carter I'm sorry I have to run, church time, wish I could stick around and discuss this more
[13:48:49] Maverick Grunfeld We've been using it for years Mel.
Regarding the emphasised line above - I cannot believe that LL are letting them get away with this, and yet I think they will. I'm mentally drafting a letter to Rodvik. I haven't been personally affected, but this is unacceptable. I do not use SL with the expectation that a vigilante group is going to try and find out my RL and alt information if, in their rather skewed judgment, I do something that makes me a griefer.

Quote:

[13:48:50] Emiley Tomsen Ok hold one moment, for one thing, if we keep the information on say a special wiki access only. It could also prevents the Lindens accusing us of disclosing in-world, even if it's just to eachother.
[13:48:50] Melanippe Karas Hm.
[13:48:50] Kalel Venkman She brought up the fact that if it's not in the main printout, most people won't know to look it up.
[13:48:50] Maverick Grunfeld There's no issue of inworld Disclosure Emiley.
[13:48:50] Maverick Grunfeld This has already been clarified by going through the TOS/CS.
Interesting that at this point they believed that putting the IP-derived alt info in a wiki was okay with LL. Again, going by what they've said recently, they must have stopped at some time, so I wonder how long it was after this.

Quote:

[13:48:51] Melanippe Karas What's the matter of a few months of we protect individual rights?
[13:48:51] Maverick Grunfeld We're not Mel. The data is still there.
[13:48:51] Kara Timtam We are not threatening individual rights!
[13:48:51] Kara Timtam We're nearly an hour over, nobody is budging, and nobody is going to let go of this.
[13:48:51] Kara Timtam I don't know about you but I have other things to do with my day.
[13:48:51] BilliAnn Bravin If a person doesnt want certain information available to those they haven't told, and iwe make it available, how is that not violting their rights?
[13:48:51] Melanippe Karas Emiley's proposed a reasonable workaround.
[13:48:51] Kalel Venkman We are the Justice League. I can't think of anybody or any group who can be trusted more with the information.
[13:48:51] Melanippe Karas Qui custodiet.
[13:48:51] Kara Timtam I do. You do.
[13:48:51] Kalel Venkman And the answer is, we do.
[13:48:51] Melanippe Karas I'm trying to.
[13:48:51] Kara Timtam I trust you implicitly.
Throughout, the argument/justification for using the data on alts seems to be: the data already exists - as collected by the PD - so the JLU should use it, and the JLU can be totally trusted, because they have sworn an Oath.

I really need an eyeroll smiley. __________________
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I think I need to point out that people with these evident ethics and the complete inablity to secure private data they WANT to keep private should be the last people entrusted with any small confidence. Much less the data they are collecting. And they must be made to understand that we, as grid citizens disapprove, and LL has to understand that we ultimately do have the freedom to reluctantly vote with our feet, for a grid that takes a strong line against such offensive intrusions into our private and personal lives.

"Our need to protect ourselves vastly outweighs a criminal's right to privacy." - Kalel Venkmann

2011-09-14T00:49:00.000-07:00

"Our need to protect ourselves vastly outweighs a criminal's right to privacy." - Kalel Venkmann

It's difficult, to say the least for one small and perfectly formed avatar to keep track of the leaks, revelations, outbursts, transgressions and insights into Second Life's most infamous grief-creation group, the Justice League Universal. But it seems that enough has emerged to form a picture worth hanging a hat upon. But first, dear readers, breathe. Remember that such people are always with us, always peeking through the blinds to make sure that their neighbors are behaving "properly."

First, I must explain my sudden interest in top hats and monocles.

[2011/09/11 13:44] Ryokashi Revestel:
Prokofy Neva's Profile - BizarroBrainiac
-- Instant message logging enabled --
[13:45] Prokofy Neva: I'm ARing you for continued harassment and distraction from your group's real crimes. I'm not a griefer, and I've never spammed anyone with particles or done anything listed there. They probably saw one of your griefer alts using a version of my name and AR'd my real name instead. They know that perfectly well.
[13:45] Prokofy Neva: mute
[13:46] Ryokashi Revestel: Uhuh.

I like how the JLU actually does have her listed as a griefer and has abuse reported her on numerous occasions, and somehow it is still my fault that this happened. Also continued harassment is apparently sending her a tophat after she accused me of being a member of Lulzsec for wearing a tophat, then the chatlogs above. That was the only inworld communication I have ever had with Prokofy.

But Prok is never wrong about such things, just ask Prok.

In the seven years I've been in SL, I've never been wrong about "guilt by association" when it came to griefer groups. One way in which people like Imnotgoing Sideways, who might be able to claim that technically he has never crashed a sim or dropped a particle bomb (although he has accompanied griefers on their event-griefing and has been a documented stalker and heckler), are marked as griefers and *are* griefers is by continuing to engage in apologias for the griefers, continuing to distract from their crimes, and continued to pound on the "guilt by association" argument.

Forsooth, a Monocle!

It seemed to me that Prok's completely irrational fixation on how people look tells us one important thing - and it's not that Prok needs a wardrobe update.

No, Prok is easily aggrieved - and that grievance attaches to the friends of the offender, people who live in the same sim the offender lives, the entire membership of every group they belong to - all of them are equally guilty for Not Doing Something. Let's recall that even IF doing something more than raising an eyebrow in disappointment were appropriate, these people would actually have to know about it to do so much as that.

Desmond Shang observed that this must mean that a significant fraction of all Caledon must therefore be Prok's mortal foes, indicating their solidarity by the deliberate and provocative choice to wear top hats and monocles. It's absurd, of course.

But if the JLU wants a sympathetic ear outside of their own Exclusion Zones, there are only a few who could be bothered to give them ink. Prok, while no great supporter of the JLU, does it just to annoy those who are annoyed by the JLU. So the various bullies hang together, the nerds have their own table, which they may share with the chess club.

Yes, it does take me back to seventh grade, at times. The swirlies. The wedgies. The Mean Girls and the Shop Guys. I find it all tedious and annoying, more so for the fact that these loud idiots seem to think this past idiocy privileges them to run the world. Oh, did you know that Green Lantern Excelsior was a NewsMax fan?

But he is part is an organization that seems completely obsessed with the idea that there might be people having unregulated fun in SL. It seems to think that the only residents that deserve to be taken seriously own at least one sim, and that sim has to be commercial. If it's being paid for by some person who's primary motive is to surround themselves by people having fun and being visibly unconcerned for those Who Are Serious About Their Business Plans* - well, those people they DEAL with.

And as for their targets - well, let's say that in the accounts by the Alphaville Herald (rather obviously unsympathetic to the JLU), the Usual Suspects don't come off looking terribly mature.

On the other hand, if so, so what? Creativity and play in a sandbox gets noisy and occasionally vulgar. If you don't care for that - pay for your own prims! That is exactly why I do, indeed, pay for my own prims. Or you can do as I did before - look for sandboxes that have rules you can live with and people you like. I'd tell you about a few... but then, well, I'd have to kill you. A good sandbox rarely survives being "discovered."

Yes, the Woodbury group was banned en-masse - for reasons that are obscure, and made even less easy to discern due to the sheer amount of "but ROBBIE..." and "He's a POOPY head!"

And yet there is substance, principle and issues of significance here, amid all the noise. Because for all the annoyance and disruptions griefers cause - the JLU's response is not merely a festive flamewar - it has become an obsessive amateur intelligence gathering organization - as creepy as Sea Org, but not nearly as professional or unobtrusive.

Obviously, the bans are something SL will not nor should comment upon. But it's clear that whatever did happen, there were some rather worthy targets for the woodburys gleeful taunting and probably more subversive disruptions, if you happen to think that the humorless, self-righteous and easily trolled deserve to be poked with sharp sticks.

For I am at times humorless and I am at times self-righteous, and I am easily trolled. It hurts. And it's not my place to say authoritatively that someone "deserves" to be hurt for who they are. I will say with confidence, that there are actions the self-righteous, humorless and easily trolled are known to ta take that make them worthy and dangerous targets, the most obvious being nuclear-grade over-reaction.

Poking people with sticks is an inherently dangerous thing, and if bad things happen to you, or the seven people next to you - well, what did you think was going to happen? On the other hand, there are some very considerable problems with the "ban them all and let God sort them out" approach the JLU is so fond of.

So Woodbury is gone, and it's pretty clear - to me at least, after reading hundreds, if not thousands of posts in the SLU forums, that they have pretty much moved on to other things, possibly wiser for the experience. Some have gotten new accounts, a few seem to have had accounts restored, others did not. It's rumored that the real hardcore griefers have gone on to screw with Blue Mars. But there is a sour taste, because there is some legitimate question as to whether the notorious JLU AR Parties were effective at gaming the system - or if indeed they "own" a linden able to ban an entire group and cause all they had made to evaporate.

Blowing a hole in the world to deal with roaches seems ... excessive. But you would at least think they would be satisfied.

And yet the JLU and their humorless allies are still hunting down suspected Woodburyites, using language straight out of the McCarthy hearings. Here's GLE in his own words, speaking to the ever-solicitous ear of Prokefky Neva. (Second Life's own Charles Krauthammer.)

GreenLantern Excelsior: The original idea behind collecting RL information was that we could point out the bad guys to law enforcement authorities in case that was needed. Over time, I believe that members "caught the fever" to do research and find out more about Second Life residents, so other personal information was included in the wiki that had nothing to do with helping the authorities identify griefers. My personal opinion is that no one needs to gather RL information on SL residents. LL will contact law enforcement if there is criminal behavior in SL, and law enforcement will identify the perpetrators. I see no violations of civil rights or personal privacy, though, since the RL information was all available on the Internet through a simple Google search, or had been supplied to JLU members by the people involved. Currently there is no RL information contained in JLU's wiki. It's deleted, all gone, won't be back.

The world was a very different place in the late 40s and early 50s. The Soviet Union was engulfing eastern Europe, and China had become a Communist country. The threat of Communism was on everyone's minds in those days. Senator Joe McCarthy had evidence about Communist infiltrators in the US government, and his speeches on that subject caused a huge media response and resulted in Senate hearings. The final Senate report, written by Democrats, said that McCarthy's charges were "a fraud and a hoax," while Senate Republicans called the report a "brazen whitewash of treasonable conspiracy." McCarthy's strident style and frequent accusations irritated Democrats and the news media, and he was vilified in the press. McCarthy's tactics could never be implemented today, and viewed through the eyes of 21st century Americans, he was a "fearmonger." But the truth is that McCarthy was right. The US government had been monitoring communications between the Soviet Union and people in the US, and it turned out that there were Soviet spies in the US government, as McCarthy had alleged. McCarthy's reputation and career were destroyed by the liberal news media, and these days "everybody knows" he was a bad guy. He also happens to have been right.

It may just be me, but this is just one part of a long and rather tedious excercise in self-congratulation that makes me wonder if GLE is appropriately medicated. I grew up during the cold war and the tail end of McCarthy's reign of terror. It was a bad time. He ruined lives and screwed with people just because he could. And clearly, people like GLE truly miss those days of breaking heads and taking names. He's probably disappointed he didn't get to be in on this posse.

You do not make a safer nation or a safer second life by running around with guns and making everyone worry about whether their papers are in order, or if they have been seen in public with the wrong people.

Yes, Mistress's sense of humor about the matter is conspicuously threadbare, for this was supposed to be my little refuge from the cares of the world. I come here to be as far away from hijinks of all stripes as possible; I have a Meat Alt for that sort of thing and that alt is supposed to be the one who tells the self-appointed arbiters of probity that calling someone a commie fascist isn't even an insult.

I just wish to make pretty pictures and fun things and be unbothered by moralists, pecksniffs and control freaks, and I want to create and not fuss about what might cause offense to whom. That's not an easy thing to predict, I've found.

So I wrap myself in latex and keep my interests and intents obvious, and stay where such interests are unremarkable; in the general run of things, I'd never encounter Hewee Hewett, much less suffer his passive aggressive threats to enter my name in The Permanent Record.

But on occasion, Mistress must make her disapproval directly evident, and I'm certain that in the next wiki leak, I will have been noted for "associating with known griefers" and the willful disrespect of a JLU Member.

But I intended no inappropriate disrespect .

*Not that there's anything wrong with that! I'm the desperate fangirl of several.

An Practical Demonstration of the use of an Clockwork Homunculous as anArchival Transcription Device.

2011-09-12T18:38:00.001-07:00

An Practical Demonstration of the use of an Clockwork Homunculous as an Archival Transcription Device., originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
Eliza is a great fan of Rag Dollz. One of her most just complaints is that the shape I had made for her was ... less than my best work, and made a good fit impossible. So I took some happy time and updated her shape.

In the meantime, I had been searching for Top Hats and Monocles in an partially silly and partially serious quest to get my self banned from every part of Second Life that takes Kalel Venkmann and Prokefky Neva seriously. Rag Dollz is a well known source for high quality Top Hats and Monocles. Since I WAS there, I slapped an MM board.... and I scored. A wonderful, classic 40's vintage A-Line day outfit with hat, suitable for a responsible professional woman of a certain station.

As for my Eliza, well, her collection of Rag Dollz clothing is vast. So for once, we match, and her shape makes everything fit. I knew this because I put on one of my very few dolly outfits and fitted it to the hips I meant for her. All told, I'm delighted with it. But now, of course, we must go on promenade. Where to go with refurbished clockwork doll? Caledon! So off we went, and we shall return, I'm sure, regularly, for I find that it has many of the social benefits of Zindra without quite so many wandering phalli.

It's not that I object to wandering phalli on principle - it's much more the question of where do people who live in Vegas go when they go on vacation? Somewhere that is as much unlike Los Vegas as possible! Well, Caledon is nothing at all like Las Vegas, nor for that matter, any sort of roadside attraction. By the way, that's intended as an profound complement.

By the by, after I took the raw snap, I found out that Rag Dollz was having a "spooky" themed photo contest. I got in the very first entry - this picture. Drop by the sim, get your notecard and do your best to top it.

9/11 Memorial

2011-09-11T00:15:00.001-07:00

9/11 Memorial, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
slurl.com/secondlife/STAGG%20ISLAND/10/152/37

9/11 - it changed the world - and now here in SL, which came afterwards, we
all live with the consequences.

Come Dear, It's Bedtime!

2011-09-10T20:33:00.001-07:00

Come Dear, It's Bedtime!, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
My contest entry for this month.. (well, the first of a few.) Contest, you say?

Best Picture with Drakke Boots Contest

When?
The entire month of September, ending at midnight SLT September 30

What can I win?
1st Place - - $2500L Gift Card
2nd Place - - $1000L Gift Card
3rd Place - - $1000L Gift Card

How do I enter?
Go to...
www.flickr.com/groups/drakke_designs/

What are the rules?
A Picture that includes a pair of Drakke Boots posted on the Drakke flickr website.
You may submit as many quality pictures as you want.
Please make the pictures tasteful. (No sex, no demeaning nature, etc)
Let's have fun, make it fun for yourself and let your creativity go wild!

Winners will be selected based on design, creativity, quality and composition.
Top three pictures will be displayed at the Main store!

Shot at UBU in front of the MD Prison. Getting a PG image here proved something of a challenge. It is an adult sim, so as usual, it is filled with people in expensive fetish gear waiting for a Dominant, while talking about Jersey Shore and computers. In other words, a classic BDSM Munch group/area.

One of the best things about a good BDSM sim is that you never know if you are going to be talking about kink or Kerkgaard. I do try to dress so that neither pleasure can be entirely ruled out.

Wearing: !Shiny Girl White stripe mix set over Parker Frostwytch's shiny latex full body skin.
My headpiece is from Latex Web, from their Kerchief Pack, and has color change options as well as an alarmingly brutal blindfold with a public key. Fortunately, one can HIDE the key.

I'm also wearing the AITech posture collar (available via The Open Collar Temple)... one of my very favorite props, actually.

And of course, the upgraded leash holder. A leash holder is one of those little indications of where one stands in the pecking order.

The boots? Delicious Fetish Thigh Highs in Black. From Drakke, of course.

I live in these things... and oddly, they go with outfits a great deal less kinky than this.

Petulia Wiesel - if that's your Real Name!

2011-09-06T02:38:00.000-07:00

I'm quoting in total because I assume that soon Petula's words will be gone from G+.

By the way, I agree with what she said.

Petula Wiesel - Yesterday 19:26 (edited) - Public
My apologies to everyone I've sent a Google+ invite to. I can not, in any way, continue to recommend an identity service that is masquerading as a social network. I highly suggest that you take a look at the following links and that you consider "downgrading" your Google account to no longer include a Google Profile. Before you do this, make sure that you've backed up your Picasa account so you do not loose control over your photographs.

I will be downgrading this account once I'm certain my electronic boxes of stuff have been safely moved elsewhere.

Straight from the mouths of google: they don't give a flying hoot about your desire to NOT live in a giant glass house online -- a glass house directly linked with your wallet name: https://plus.google.com/110295984969329522620/posts/ExKJZgBAYxM

Google+ as an Identity Service: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/31/google_plus_identity_service/

If you don't understand why people should have the option to use something other than their wallet name, you need to read this: http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Who_is_harmed_by_a_%22Real_Names%22_policy%3F

Nymwars even has a wikipedia page including many links to the incident and why it matters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymwars

And a small handful of my favorite blog posts on identity and google+:
* http://hayesandgrey.co.uk/13.html
* http://blogs.gartner.com/bob-blakley/2011/09/01/google-can-be-a-social-network-or-the-name-police-not-both/
* http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2105755/Real-Names-Google-Government-The-Identity-Ecosystem
* http://geekfeminism.org/2011/08/03/pseudospam-nymwars-continue/

And follow the ocean of nymwars blog articles and updates here: https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23nymwars

And tons of discussion here happening here on Dreamwidth (which is, btw, a true social network that makes a point of allowing wallet identities to be completely disassociated from long tern pseudonymous identities, and it is a community that is 100x more civil and friendly than the community Google+ is creating): http://googleplus.dreamwidth.org/

You can disable Face Tagging in Picasa, if you trust it as a semi-protective measure: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Picasa/thread?tid=697d7d49bbebfcaa&hl=en
Google+ is an identity service, Schmidt says • The Register

Social Capitalist

2011-09-04T18:36:00.001-07:00

Social Capitalist, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
The Real Me, surrounded by things Me owns and things Made By Me.

Setting up a web kiosk and faced with visual reinforcement of the the things I invest my time in, in one of the places I built, made real and spend money to keep alive - and it strikes me that this is more reality than a lot of the real people in my real life can actually claim.

WebSite = www.scoop.it/u/denovo-broome
WebSite = paintree.blogspot.com/p/rule-of-quiet-disorder.html
Blog = paintree.blogspot.com/
Market = marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/16949
Twitter = twitter.com/#!/denovobroome
Flickr = www.flickr.com/photos/paintree/with/6109697543/

All of these things are things I would stand to lose if I were to do something stupid and irresponsible. Even if I didn't lose my account, I could lose my respect. I could lose influence. I could lose friendships. There is a huge, practical incentive to me to behave respectably.

Perversely - if I were to use my "real name," on any of these services, I would be starting over from scratch. (except for twitter, which I just started investing in today, after disinvesting in Google+)

You see, there's a point here that some people are missing. This social capital - may not be transferable between identities. It may not hurt - but it may dilute the brand. Did I really need to know that A.N. Roquelaure was also Anne Rice?

How To Make A Griefer In One Easy Lesson

2011-09-04T17:03:00.000-07:00

Tux, speaking on the SLU forums, regarding serial griefers

When you take away a person's identity, destroy their social capital and any possiblity of social investment - then you get exactly the sort of thing that these "real names" and "alt detector" types are saying such policies prevent.

Can't find rodvik.linden

2011-09-03T13:54:00.001-07:00

Can't find rodvik.linden, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
My name is DeNovo Broome, I often wear skintight shiny latex and my superpower is that things break when I touch them.

I was trying to fix my language settings, as my SL "wall" was being rendered in German.

This made it difficult to figure out what link to even look for. OpenSource Obscure gave me a suggestion - but when I clicked that link from RodVick Linden's page, this is the result.

Bug, feature, editorial comment? I laughed, took this image and clicked through to the main page, where following the earlier directions worked perfectly.

Well, it's not Guernica...

2011-09-02T23:57:00.000-07:00

Click to Embiggen.

No doubt this will convince the JLU that I'm a "Woodbury-fellow-traveler."

Well, they do make me smile, though I've never seen them in action, just heard a few war stories while waiting for news from the front. Some of those stories me tired just reading them.

So no. Really not my thing, and I've had more than enough grief in second life to be against poking people for shits and giggles. While not an educator myself, I have familial linkages. Contriving situations in which the Energies of Youth might be expended in some relatively harmless way - or at least, locally harmless way - while at the same time getting them wade through all KINDS of technical references and commit acts of design and architecture... well, all I can say is that if there were not a Prok for them to have poked, it might well have occur ed to any one of them to have invented him.

You see, they develop skills, which do come in handy at times. That's what I applaud.

There was a reason the Spanish Volunteers called themselves "Anti-Fascists." It reminded them which way the guns should be pointing. I do rather approve of strange bedfellowships.

BTW, shot on location at the Milk and Cream Island. It's... filled with mutant cows. But a good place to hide, if you are immune to that sort of thing. Casual visitors should wear protection!

Edit: At the time of posting, I could not for the life of me remember names find the blog where I read of this, and I was trying to keep up with the JLU chatter. But the blog is The Digital Pasture.

Penny Patton is the mad(cow) genius designer of this little island. It deserves exploration and I look forward to exploring whatever else she might be up to.

JLU, KalEl Venkman : In which the fecal matter hits the rotating impeller

2011-09-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

Enjoy the song. Then if curious, read on. For soon it will be a matter of historical curiosity, and only the music will linger as a reminder. One way, or another.

UPDATE AND BUMP

Something I missed earlier, a better description of what this box is by CheerGirl Allen

Originally Posted by Elysium Hynes
If it is a chat relay probe it is a clear violation of TOS and no way LL can excuse this, if it´s simply a radar probe i´m not so sure.

It was an Everything prim

how it worked was... "OBJECT" was rezzed on the edge of the sim, under the ground. every 30 seconds "OBJECT" rezzed a prim called "PROBE" Probe would then shoot up to 550M and release 9 objects named "s1 - through - s9" that would then move to intervals of 400M from ground level all the way up to 4000M.

I will re-post all the screenshots in order.. If the names of the scripts inside the various objects are any hint to what the OBJECT, PROBE and S# functions are... then you can form your own conclusions. This is what Myself and the other avatars all observed. As well TJ Linden returned them all.

Isn't this a lovely turd in the sandbox? Potosi Abonwood explains as part of her ongoing coverage of the JLU fiasco, as it unfolds in the Second Life Universe Forums.

Okay folks, especially and land owners out there, it's time to give your area a complete look over. Take a look at this:

Think you might want to have a look at the scripts in that box, TJ.

This is a JLU object on land they don't have rights to rez anything on. So that means they are using and exploit and from what some of the SLU posters are talking about this thing listens in on SIM WIDE local chats. So 2000 meters in the air in your skybox... Kalel is listening or logging it all to his server. No clue how long these have been around.

Find one then alert the Lindens immediately and AR the hell out of the JLU for it. Oh do notice that there is a Linden there looking at it. May want to drop that specific guy a line if you stumble onto one of these things. This is totally against so many rules it's unbelievable.

Yeah more and more the JLUs true spying, griefing, stalking, harrassing, listening in, lieing colors come out. Guess these are to 'protect us' also.

This is roughly the point where the fecal material was discovered...

CheerGirl Allen had to LITERALLY dig to uncover it.But why, you might ask, would the JLU, a supposed "peacekeeping" outfit, be concerned about what people were saying on land they did not have rez rights? Well, it seems they are terribly worried about what people might do if they were allowed to freely discuss things amongst themselves. Because, well, they know how damaging it is if the things THEY discuss in private get into The Wrong Hands.

If you own land or manage estates, go check right now for objects owned by Kalel Venkman. Then AR Soft Linden or TJ Linden (so that attention is directed to someone who can properly evaluate it and drop the matter in the right pile.)

By the way - I know all these people via this discussion and of course, from being a member of Greenzone - though I'm not currently part of that group.

But one thing I do agree with people posting in these threads who may or may not have griefed, by whatever definition of "grief" might fit the AR party...

People like the JLU and the *Police Department* and gridwatch and RedZone and Phantom Zone and the various Tiersizers... I mean, Creators and Owners groups seem to be wishing to suck all the fun out of Second Life and turn it into a virtual strip mall.

With actual strippers.

For Privacy!: On Copybots and Copybot Defenders

2011-09-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

For Privacy!: On Copybots and Copybot Defenders:

It seems necessary to spend some words on what copybotting is, since there are so many devices claiming to defend against copybotting.

Yes, this is about the ongoing stream of products that claim to protect you against copybots. Sadly, as far as I know, there is no good way to do this, not as a third-party solution. If Linden Labs chooses to address the problem, they might perhaps be able to create a tool to do so, but currently, there's no real way to protect content against piracy.

But let's remember something. There is a concept known as "provenance." Knowing and following designers is one of the more interesting parts of SL culture, one that I find most rewarding. I also notice that the most successful designers - that I know - generate a huge amount of free content. Why?

Well, for the very same reason I keep folders of free, transferable stuff.

"Ruth" is a terrible thing to see. We must go shopping, but first, you need to be fitted well enough so that I'm willing to be SEEN with you!

ZEXPO 2011: The Forbidden Carnival

2011-08-29T15:46:00.001-07:00

ZEXPO 2011: The Forbidden Carnival, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
It's only missing the mechanical clown laughter and the calliope music...
but I have media turned off, so for all I know...

Take picture, and vanish. That's what I did. Other people who have better
tolerance for blinks, flashes, hoots and squirts will have better coverage.

It's adult. It's in Zindra. Dress inappropriately.

Heather managed to find some trouble to get into before I could teep out... so there are some more snaps in my photo stream. Seriously, if you don't share my twitches, you will probably have fun. Take pictures and later we can pretend I was there too.

slurl.com/secondlife/Distrel/193/62/57

...just one more picture...

...I'm not sure these people grasp the concept of "kinky." I felt like a mouse dropping on a dolly tea-party tablecloth.

Akari Greenwood poses with her portrait

2011-08-28T17:55:00.001-07:00

Akari Greenwood poses with her portrait, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
...sadly, we didn't have badger

This sculptural portrait is made with layers of images and transparncy and only by seeing it in world will the image be clear.

It's kind of stunning, if I do say so myself. :)

slurl.com/secondlife/Demelo/237/41/44

The JLA and it's PhantomZone may have fallen into the RedZone... Popcorn?

2011-08-27T01:06:00.001-07:00

The JLA and it's PhantomZone may have fallen into the RedZone... Popcorn?, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
A short - two page - summary of a two hundred plus page Megathread! www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/63541-sum...

A quick summary of the summary - the JLA and the Police Department have been quietly harvesting IPS and "Doxing" people they consider to be "griefers."

While I dislike griefers and stalkers as much a the next person, they have gotten seriously creepy - as the once-again-leaked "Braniac" wiki has demonstrated.

...frankly, people who collect sensitive information on others and who can't be trusted to keep it secure really, really need to be taught a lesson.

Oh yes, and they are no different han any other well organized griefer group. Save that the /b/tards are, on occasion, funny.

B's Rubber Sister Catsuit

2011-08-19T18:59:00.001-07:00

B's Rubber Sister Catsuit, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
The day after I bought the boots, Bhadra sent me this catsuit - which is a new release, which is STUNNING, and which goes beautifully with her boots. (and her corset too, but I'll shoot that later, if I can make it fit me and behave. These boots have an AO that may well fix it for me. )

I had to crop the full image on the box, as the catsuit has all the strategic cutouts that you would expect and desire, and it comes on every possible layer, from tattoo on up, so your options for layering are unlimited, and the detailing is very well done - competitive with Karu Karu, I'd say, but with a unique sheen unlike anyone else's.

Here's a closeup of the ankle boots.

I bought these retail... and as expensive as they are, they are precisely
the thing I needed. They include an AO that I needed and go with almost all
of my wardrobe, with a multitude of appearance options. A bit script heavy, and useless without the scripts... so not for casual wear. Don't even THINK of teleporting in these on a laggy day!

But the, they aren't casual wear, are they? No, these boots say, "come to ME, dear."

You can find them here.

Anonymity, Privacy, Discretion, Real Names and the idiots who make laws about them.

2011-08-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

HT: Botgirl, on Google+ for provoking me to write a short comment that I realized should be a longer, more formal blog entry.

Ladies, Gentlemen and beings of all indeterminate persuasions, allow me to present to you a teachable moment.

[T]he Indianapolis Star has been given the smoking gun. In a story running this morning, the Star has seen proof that [a] long-serving legislator offered a teenage boy $80 for sex after finding the young man on Craigslist and they've printed the salacious details.

An anti-gay Republican state Senator soliciting gay sex from a MUCH younger partner? Shocking... but alas, not even slightly surprising these days. Still, if you ARE going to "Vote Dry and Fuck with Wet™" it's probably best to separate the two worlds.

These are the sorts of idiots that think it is perfectly sane to "cross the streams" of public and private discourse. More to the point, these are the people that think RealID and the Patriot Act and an increasing flood of efforts to strip us all of our privacy is a good idea. For some unknown reason, they seem to think that somehow, such a comprehensive lack of privacy is a good thing, for us.. and somehow, it can never affect them.

It's as if legislators somehow fail to see that the laws they pass affect them, as well. And if that is a reasonable thing for a legislator to believe - well, I would see that as a problem.

Please note that this silly man thought it was an intelligent idea to bribe someone with his Blackberry and his iPad in order to get them to not talk about an illicit encounter (by the standards of his circles) that would have been completely deniable... until he bribed them with his Blackberry and his iPad. I would venture sums of money that both contained information he had no right to share. Possibly even literal secrets.

His Blackberry contained every single contact he had. Including his sister. Who apparently, rather than reporting this immediately as a theft and blackmail attempt, offered the new owner $10,000 to not talk. She, and he apparently had no idea and not a single thought about the data breaches implied.

I'm just wondering aloud what his iPad contains. The story does not speak of that, but the equipment itself served as proof of a pattern of behavior that had, apparently, been rumored for some time, but had no legs to hang a story upon.

And these are the people who claim to be smart enough and ethical enough to make rules to keep the rest of us "in line." These are the sort of people that I have long since learned cannot be trusted with discretionary information, because they can't even be trusted with their own well-being. Please consider how everyone in his Blackberry and everyone in his iPad must feel about this situation, potentially. People who might reasonably have expected a level of implied responsibility and trust. A duty of care, from a man in a responsible and powerful position.

Now, people who are engaged in survival sex tend to have finely tuned instincts. One of these instincts is that there are some bits of information that are absolutely unsafe to know.

The teen, Kameryn Gibson, insists the two did not have sex; he says after picking him up and driving him back to the hotel, Hinkle told him he was a state lawmaker and the teen backed out of the deal. When he told Hinkle he wanted to go home, the legislator exposed himself to Gibson and refused to let him leave.
After Gibson called his sister for help, she came to the hotel room and started yelling at Hinkle and causing a scene. Hinkle offered the duo hush money, his iPad and his Blackberry to stay quiet. Taking the legislators Blackberry, the two left the hotel.

I needn't hold these people up as moral paragons. I merely point out that finding out that one knows something that could be hidden most effectively along with my body, by a person that could well have enough influence to get away with killing me is disconcerting. A prudent rent-boy who wishes to live to see the next sunrise (which is the point of the exercise, whatever moral tint you care to apply to the mental picture) makes a large point of not putting himself in a situation wherein being disappeared is a possibility.

I also point out that it is cold comfort indeed to have someone tell your unmarked grave that you have been Avenged by the Justice System.

Now personally, I'd like to say that a person's private behaviors should not be a reflection upon their public persona, but this is an obvious exception - when those are stark and evident contradictions. Even so, in a sense it's still proper - after all, the man was clearly acting as he was paid to act, and however he deals with the internal conflict - strong drink, gay sex, beating his children - should strictly speaking be held aside. Or so most social conservatives insist when such things ooze from under the closet door.

Save of course that we are all moral beings in our way, and aside from that, horrible gossips. And of course, it's really difficult to unsee and un-know such stark hypocracies.

So please. There are things I do NOT want you to know, of a certainty, about me - and probably even more that I NEVER wish to know about you. Nor is it really a question, for me, of "keeping my dirty laundry in my hamper," though of course, we all have some things about ourselves (should we be worth knowing at all) that really do not reflect well upon us.

My ethos is "Harm none, and do as you will." The harming none is the first clause for a reason. This man's ethos is "Gain power to abuse it, harm others as proof of power." But, of course, even such an evil code has an inherent standard: "Getting away with it."

Google+, Facebook and probably many other social networks, along with the very devices cited have made it difficult enough to keep data secure, private matters private and discretion plausible. I truly do not think any of this is - currently - well considered, in part because a thoughtful reflection upon the implications of it all would definitely affect Facebook's IPO and Google's "market penetration."

Well, far be it from me to suggest they should go uncompensated for the many benefits they give, still, there are times when "market penetration" can lead to uncomfortable ends.

Good rentboys know when someone thinks that would be a fun thing to do to them. They either avoid that sort of client - or charge extra.

I went Nuts at Latex Web

2011-08-11T22:36:00.001-07:00

I went Nuts at Latex Web, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
I've been meaning to do something with Latex Web stuff. I've been a fan of Michael Manning since I was a very little... whatever it is that I may be.

If you didn't know, Michael Manning is an erotic artist and cartoonist. Rather a cross between Aubrey Beardsley and John Norman, if Norman had a serious latex fetish. His graphic novels are both beautiful, intensely arousing and ... have stories. It's intense enough that I dare not link.

fans self!

A bit contrived, but one is really along for the excuses for the pictures.

Oh, one other point. I'd be a fan of Michael Manning if he drew cats and fruit, or some entirely "safe" webcomic.

Indeed, if he does, I'd appreciate knowing of it.

I'm wearing the Kimono Taito with the Jemu collar and groin-piece (Which you can see in the shot I took of the Drakke's limited edition boots, later in the stream, and one post down in this blog) I'm wearing one of the latex kerchiefs. The head dress for the kimono is rather insectile and it turns out has a very effective blindfold.

...I found this out having pressed the wrong button, not realizing I had left RLV on, after playing with rlv teleporters.

annoying. MOST annoying. No doubt that's the point, but I must see if I can reconfigure that...

But I actually like the kerchief better.

Drakke Laced Limited Edition Boots

2011-08-11T21:38:00.001-07:00

Drakke Laced Limited Edition Boots, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
The first boots Mandrakke Dagger ever made, the Laced LE thigh-highs, just re-released with little, but important tweaks. The new version is copy, not trans, but even so, anyone who bought the old version may have the new version for the asking.

Paired with bits from Latex Web and a hint of a Michael Manning image - they fit.

What more need I say?

Oh. you need the landmark, don't you?

Here you go.

Google+ poised to corner the nerdy soccer-mom market

2011-08-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

You can't use this street if you won't play nice!

I'm beginning to suspect Google+ is betting the farm(ville) on the insecurities of beige-clad soccer moms who are more concerned about talking to the right people than talking to interesting people. If that is the idea, they are certainly making the right decisions. Civilization may be burning around our ears, but we should never say anything rude or offensive that might cause people to think. Not like that distasteful hooligan, Al Gore! (We must never empower that sort of childish attention seeking behavior!)

Seriously, I do wonder if Al Gore's magnificent nerd-rage would pass Google's filters.

There are many that suggest (arguing against the outcry against these policies) that "If I don't fit in, I should leave." And indeed that's true, and it's possible that I will. That's why I don't invest social capital in linkdin or facebook. It's why I don't tweet. These networks do not achieve the ends I wish at a price I'm willing to accept.

A Firsthand Examination of the Google+ Profile Reporting Process
Cheaper than Paper reveals that not only is the "real names" policy "security theater," it's "not-ready-for-community- security-theater."

Real name sites are necessarily inadequate for free speech
...but insights paid for by rivals are of course less trustworthy?

Did Google+ ban cleavage-snuggling LEGO stormtrooper?
Photo by Lockergnome's Chris Pirillo sparks discussion about Google+ standards.

Cleavage with lego stormtrooper inexplicably banned as "offensive." You might be interested to know "how" and you certainly may well wonder "why" and you may well click through to the community standards policy you never read because you have certain reasonable expectations of a policy that you would comply with if it bore any relationship to you or anyone you'd invite - and then you might well wonder, what the HELL?

Speculation as to a reason quickly coalesced around a particular section of the Google+ terms of service. Pirillo continues:

Gabe Diaz suggests that it was a violation of the ToS: "10. Sexually Explicit Material Do not distribute content that contains nudity, graphic sex acts, or sexually explicit material. Do not drive traffic to commercial pornography sites. Your Profile Picture cannot include mature or offensive content. For example, do not use a photo that is a close-up of a person's buttocks or cleavage."

How was that image anything remotely "sexual?!" By that logic, no photos containing swimsuits should EVER be posted to Google+ (which are FAR more revealing at higher resolutions). I didn't change my profile picture. Is Google being run by Puritans? How the hell is cleavage offensive?!

I sent Pirillo an email asking if he'd received any explanation from anyone at Google. His reply:

Nope.

Cleavage is VERY offensive ... in 1791.

What my girlfriend and I shared was innocent and playful. I didn't change my profile pic, and I didn't expect that other images with women in bikinis (when zoomed in) would ever be subject for removal without explanation or appeal.

I'm offended that anybody was offended. Maybe cleavagegate is about hating LEGO? ;)

While some of Pirillo's Google+ followers were willing to consider the possibility that a glitch of some sort was responsible for the photo's disappearance, rather than the application of a strict standard of decorum, others were less reluctant to see a heavy hand.

If this is what the world is coming to, I want out. It offends me that someone would censor such a mild photo as this.

Wow. Google+ may suddenly be becoming a place of extreme seriousness and lameness.

Emphasis Mine.

When launching a cool new networking app, you might just possibly wish to avoid appearing... uncool. Freaking out over a sexy cute shot is uncool. Implying that girls with boobs should never ever admit they have them on social networks is ... inept. Is the problem a confused sexist nerd who thinks a woman something adorable and silly with their boobs is all about sexual behavior? It it simply a porn-seeking algorithm gone all Skynet? It would be nice to know these things, lest we leap to our various conclusions.

The first rule of social networking is that a social network should never troll itself. And yet, here we are.

None of these things make sense at all. I could have added more links, plus of course links to various discussions on G+, but it's all more of the same. There are hundreds of these blandly inept decisions.

But the people invited to the G+ beta tend to be the sorts of folks who simply cannot possibly accept such little dissonances. Speculation ranges widely and it baffles everyone with any actual professional insight into any of the underlying decision factors. Security experts are alarmed at the security issues raised by the real names policy. Privacy advocates are apalled (and wonder if G+ have any lawyers with European Union credentials.) Social networking professionals wonder aloud if anyone involved in policy have actually used a social network - and by that, I mean, explored outside of their own usage pattern. "Golly, different people do different things! How could I have anticipated that?"
I don't think it's reasonable to presume that the culture at Google is stupid. One might presume that they do live in a bubble that permits them to think so far outside of the box they would need gps co-ordinates to find it. I don't find that a bad thing, but it is a thing. I would hope they are smart enough to realize that they need a real world reality check, I DO hope they realize that this rough patch indicates that they need to reconsider the entire issue, deeply and fast.

In the absence of real information, and in the presence of bland platitudes and bizarrely contradictory applications of an incoherent policy, it's truly the path of wisdom to ask, "who does it profit, that I take these assurances at face value?"

I've found that a degree of pro-active cynicism and a certain degree of rational paranoia pays. BotGirl Questi is someone I find to have the more public form of rational paranoia. She's been so bold as to offer a plausible and deeply troubling theory that actually does make all these disparate "misteps" look like they could actually be part of a well-considered policy.

Whether it's true or not - well, that's really not the issue. The problem is that BotGirl is making more sense than official Google+ spokespeople. Do you wish to take the risk that she's incorrect? Because once all your data is linked into the cloud - reconsidering the wisdom of that decision is somewhere between expensive and impossible.

Identity, Credibility and Anyonmyity

2011-08-01T04:56:00.000-07:00

Xpost from a long G+ discussion. about the matter, illustrated with examples you might care to avoid.

DeNovo Broome - You know, I just realized something. I've been online since the net was flat and starhubs roamed the land. I remember bangpathing my way to anon.penet.fi. And it just occurred to me that we have all been reminded of what Internet credibility is founded upon.

You see, back in the day, well, at least once it was in fact the Internet, it became quickly apparent that it was almost entirely impossible to be sure that anyone was who they said they were.

This happens to be a very old argument, and I don't actually think I've ever seen it resolved. I do remember that for the most part, those who raised it tended to have either @AOL or @Webtv addresses.

But it boils down to "How do I know you are speaking credibly to the topic at hand? How can I take your word for it?" Some people are persuaded more by credentials than by argument and that is often because they haven't the faintest idea how to argue, follow an argument or evaluate a document for content. They lack critical thinking skills, or are perhaps locked within some dogmatic paradigm that makes it quite literally impossible for them to hear, much less respect, persons with different viewpoints.

Well, on the early internet, that amounted to an social handicap on the order of not bathing for weeks at a time. Such people would attempt an argument from authority, typically, asserting credentials that, if they were actually genuine, spoke mostly to the Sad State Of Our World. But the thing about the internet was while such annoyances are must be dealt with cautiously in real life, as they may know where you live, or have some say into your economic reality, On the Net, you did not have to put up with them. There was no downside to telling them what you thought. And out of this the art of the flame was born. Illustrated above is an example of troll-spanking for the amusement of an audience; it becomes truly inspiring when the opponents are well-matched.

However it is also one of the great arts of Parliamentary Democracy, (CF "Question Period"). But then, it's not actually unheard of for violence to break out on the floors of Parliament - to the extent that there's often legislative immunity for acts short of outright murder.

But here's the thing; there's a great equality to it, if you choose to speak on the internet, argumentatively or simply with assurance. You walk into the ring bringing nothing. No status. No gender. No racial privilege or deficit. You could be wearing an Armani suit or a janitor's coveralls. You age was invisible, unless you choose to make it clear. Your physical being mattered not a whit - or at least, it did not get to speak before you did. And that was a powerful thing to many people. I contend it still is, and ought to be so.

With no way to "prove" that you deserved to be respected, you had to go out there and be literate, knowledgeable and coherent. You needed to be respectable to gain respect, you needed to be usefully authoritative to be considered an Authority. And many were the academic egoists and authoritarians who walked into the fray expecting a mere assertion of privilege would carry the day.

And this is how the internet was built - and why Google should know better than to try and reshape it. Facebook is for people who wish to communicate through a medium. I (and I think most making arguments similar to mine) wish to participate in a culture within a medium.

This culture - and it is a culture - is not welcoming to people who feel naked without their claques and cliques and credentials. Goodness, that came out snottily. Well, let it stand; it's true, if put rudely. But in fact, it's a different culture than the one that predominates in meat-life; one that may well be better suited for meat-life, but this is not meat-life. This is an reality made up of photons and flat screens, the combination of texts and images. And even when the web goes into an immersive 3D, with streaming realtime voice - all of that - every single byte - must be taken with great skepticism for it's literal truth.

Those images will be no deeper than these words. We may not trust them as real, but we may test them for value, for truth; for emotional reality. And we will, of course, have to examine what makes things real, and how that differs from being photographically accurate.

But here, it's just words. That's all you have. Unless you are willing to hire someone to be your virtual spokesperson.

But this goes back to pseudonyms, handles, anonymity, "accountability," and the whole idea that you can't know that something said on the internet is reliable if you can't find a personal address.

That's utter nonsense, the sort of nonsense that makes me wonder if the real desire is to be able to rebut an argument with a thoughtful beating.

Can you argue your point? Do you have facts at hand? Do you understand those facts? Can you explain what they mean in a useful way that's testable in the real world? Do you know the likely counterarguments to your position? If both of us can do all this (and you should be able to, they are really rather basic requirements for communicating intelligently) then it really matters little if you know me as DeNovo Broome or Biggus Dickus.

A decent regard for the rules of grammar, spelling, composition and audience are appropriate, and as basic as ensuring that your shoes fit the rest of your outfit - for almost entirely the same reasons.

In both cases, the language and the attire both clothe a persona that is suited to the context. And I do live to point out that we are not, any of us, platform-independent.

As a side note, the essence of this article and the issues as to why people such as myself prefer to be pseudonymous - indeed, as anonymous as is reasonably possible - is highlighted in a post about my own, very recent brush with the sort of people who think I don't "deserve" my "creepy" secrets.

An Open Letter to Forceme Silverspar - and those who may trust her more than they should.

2011-08-01T03:51:00.000-07:00

I'd shared a confidence with Forceme Silverspar, in private chat. I made it clear it was a confidence. And it was because I'd accidentally outed my other blogger account.

Fortunately it's not actually a secret, it's a discretion. I am indeed a member of a multiple personality collective. I don't consider it a disability, but a difference. But her milage varies.

DB: Actually, I'm part of a multiple personality system. This was supposed to be my personal "get-away" account.
FS: Get away from ya maleness?
DB: goodness, no. I'm female. At least a third of the system is. So now you have met your first "out" functional multiple.
FS: Far too complicated for me to understand all that stuff :) You not got a FL cock then?
DB: I don't have a FL body. But the fingers I'm using at the moment do. And I agree, it's really rather dull. But you may have notticed that I don't have the traits or habits of the usual "male pretending to be female."
FS: You don't? Are you drunk?
DB: no... what an odd question. Why would you even ask me that?
FS: What do ya mean you don't have a FL body?
DB: I suppose it's a question of definition. My avi looks fairly close to what I look like. The body doesnt, it's comfortable for some of the males, but to me it's just fingertips and eyeballs. :)
DB: and to make more sense of it would require ... rather more information than you most likely would care to read.
DB: but if you are curious, there's a site called Astraea's Web.

I, of course, Googled "Astraea's Web" and found this http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/ I'll not pretend... to come in cold to this concept described on these web pages 'ucking creeped me out big time.

I found not just one, but three of our private conversations logged there - and unlike her usual practice, it is quite clear who I am, and she's referring to me in terms that I was taught to be, in the words of the AP style guide... what's the word? "Actionable." THAT's the word.

I didn't know whether to make this anonymous but if ya follow the blog you'll know who it is so I'll semi do it to save Google from picking the name. This err... hmm, person come thing come whatever she/he/it is got to know me through my blog. For a time, the only 'convos' we had were through my blog comments. In February, she/he/it IMed me about GZ mostly... April, a very quick convo about one of my posts...

Frankly, I believe that this is a blatant violation of the Second Life TOS. She has indeed revealed sensitive personal information. She has referred to me in a very degrading way, just so we cannot miss that she disapproves of my existence. Since this happened some days after I note-carded her master, (and presumably husband) Cunja Lefarve, I must also presume that she did this after consulting him. I mean, assuming he is not her alt.

Unlike her, I do not presume, nor do I judge; I take people as they present themselves to me, but yes, I do consider alternate possibilities. For a BDSM submissive in SL, a master is a wonderful way to say no thank you, ever so much. An alt is ever so much more obedient than an ordinary man. Well, if you aren't like me, of course. The definition of multiplicity is the ability to argue with yourself and loose.

I consider this behavior vile, and I am deeply considering what options I may have besides public outrage.

But Forceme clearly made a mistaken assumption, that this was something I wished to hide. No; I wished to control disclosure, and had been considering it. Actually, this was an aborted attempt to discuss such a post. In other identity(s) I have been "out" as a multi for years. It's not an issue I address commonly, it's fallen out of fashion and I've found far less need to rebut offensive preconceptions. Nonetheless, I don't consider it a secret; my writing are part of my credentials; my body of work.

But by the same token, I did wish to step away from a public persona that brought with it many assumptions about me, and see if I could indeed function in my own right, as my own person. Indeed I can. And it was refreshing to be able to present myself as I see myself, and be taken as that.

I had been seriously considering revealing that I am, indeed, multi, in order to contribute to the sorts of incredibly fascinating discussions BotGirl Questi has been provoking. I've done pretty much everything one can do in SL that I actually want to do - I definitely am motivated to shake things up a bit. It's an important issue - and I have unique insights into it. Seems almost rude to not share them.

So while Forceme's actions are not as harmful to me as she probably hoped, I can only think this is a deliberate attempt to cause me harm, or at the very least, degrade my reputation. It does tend to underline the broader point of the need for anonymity and the importance of the reinforced TOS regarding disclosure of private information.

Disclosure
Residents are entitled to a reasonable level of privacy with regard to their Second Life experience. Sharing personal information about your fellow Residents without their consent -- including gender, religion, age, marital status, race, sexual preference, alternate account names, and real-world location beyond what is provided by them in their Resident profile -- is not allowed. Remotely monitoring conversations in Second Life, posting conversation logs, or sharing conversation logs without the participants' consent are all prohibited.

This robust policy is are in large part due to Forceme's activism, so it's all rather ironic and far, far less excusable than it would be if done by some random idiot.

Oh, and look at the very first item:

Intolerance
Combating intolerance is a cornerstone of Second Life's Community Standards. Actions that marginalize, belittle, or defame individuals or groups inhibit the satisfying exchange of ideas and diminish the Second Life community as a whole. The use of derogatory or demeaning language or images in reference to another Resident's race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation is never allowed in Second Life.

What she has done to me is exactly what we fought against together during the entire RedZone Affair. A quick scan of this and many other articles about it - some written by her - surely should establish why a public outing and disclosure of private information is a bad idea.

As regards to "They accuse any Red Zone users of using the information to harass others" I don't think posting up the FetLife.com posting from TorqueDom3 Primeau where he outs the many 'alts' of a sub, information which he had gleened from RedZone database, to be particularly helpful on this blog post, and I certainly do not suggest that 'any' RedZone owner harasses people, but what I do say is that RedZone owners have information on people that they are not entitled to have.

It seems that this incident was not so much a cautionary tale to her as an inspiration. Still, it's a remarkably short-sighted choice... if your claim to SL fame is teaching BDSM roleplay ethics. Apparently a "mental condition" that "creeps you out" is a matter of more serious concern than the common cross-gender avi.

You might imagine just how thrilled I or any "differently abled" person would be to have such a person able to connect them to a real-world address. People have lost custody of their children, lost their jobs, been subjected to involuntary confinement and subjected to many indignities simply because someone like Forceme decided that being "'ucing creeped out" justified taking action in order to keep "normal people" safe.

The entire incident goes to prove just how very necessary robust pseudonymous accounts are for many people; in particular people who's nature tends to make seemingly perfectly nice folks turn into rabid abusers.

Differences in gender identity come to mind, obviously. Gender identity is only the most obvious trait people play with in SL. SL would be a much less interesting place without those people.

I might just as easily point to my advocacy of bdsm, my politics, my rather overt and paradoxical-seeming feminism and anti-authoritarianism; all of these things have one time or another resulted in someone... someone just like Forceme ... dealing out a little public "attitude adjustment." Some survived. Some did not. I find myself intolerant of such vicious acts of intolerance.

This goes to the heart of the Google+ debate about anonymity and the Facebook insistence that "privacy is dead." I think this underlines graphically what can happen when the wrong person gains access to private information and misuses it maliciously.

The rest of this post started as a blog comment over here - and then I realized that I did not choose to put my words in her hands.

It is disturbing to have trust so publicly betrayed. It's a pretty awful thing to do to someone. But I suppose that's ok, because you find I'm "creepy."

Although it does eerily remind me of the Matthew Sheppard case. Goodness me, it is lovely that we need not worry about more than being landbanned in SL, for the most part.

But dear, if I'm the creepiest person YOU have ever met - as we have our own separate Bonanza experiences you quote so extensively - I do feel you are a very lucky person or perhaps lacking in some essential perceptions.

Yes, I was indeed hurt.

Yes, that is entirely possible.

I'd entrusted you with a confidence due all my friends. My situation is what it is, I'm quite comfortable with who I am and how I function, and while I prefer to maintain a certain consistency in public and with acquaintances, I prefer to not have to worry overmuch about such things in the company of friends.

So it's something rather a lot of people know, and obviously, dealt with rather better.

I was frankly shocked at your reaction. And yet, realizing that you WERE in the grip of some irrational impulse, instead of reacting angrily, I respected your implied safe-word.

Well, I should really have been a little more cautious. You do love the art of public humiliation, but since you generally pick deserving targets, I'd unwisely thought myself immune.

But I don't feel at all humiliated. I feel pissed. As the account shows (and thank you for the fair reporting in that regard), it's not as if I considered it a secret, much less anything to be ashamed of.

I really do feel this says more about you than about me. So, for whatever reason you have for have doing so, you have, in fact, written a post that is all about what I proposed to write.

"..about issues of gender, identity, and reflexive judgementalism."

From my point, this is better. I would not have felt comfortable including our conversations. Frankly, our ethics differ on that point.

Well, then, I shall only need to link to this to provide a solid example for the genuine need for robust anonymity. And given the Redzone battles, I thought you understood that.

In a more personal note: You are a bad person by the very standards you championed in that battle. One you help lead. It's not like you don't know better, dear. Goodness. Your SL presence lectures people about ethics and roleplay.

That last part makes the idea of a person who chooses to define themselves in an non-ordinary way familiar on some level, or so any reasonable person would think. This makes me wonder aloud how good your courses on Roleplay could possibly be.

Apparently the sensation of "Creepy" overrides everything you teach other people. Apparently that makes it impossible for you to not share your feelings with the blogoverse in search of justification.

Oddly enough, it never seems to have occurred to you that I could possibly have been offended by your reaction. Well, I was, I am, and I did speak to you while influenced by that feeling. It was a feeling you reinforced quite effectively.

Are you still squicked by my existence?FS: You presume too much then. I would rather not talk with you as you talk of blackmail and CC'ing to Master. Not that I have ANYTHING to hide from him but both those things are actions that don't attract me, along with your la-la idea of whatever that shite was you were talking about before. So on that note, yeah, bye bye. Again.

I did as your profile suggests and reported a problem I had with you to your Master. I presume this is the result of his advice. Or perhaps it's proof you chose to act without benefit of his advice.

Let me say that if anyone linked to MY name had behaved in such a manner - and I don't merely mean in SL, in any context - there would be deep and consequential discussions of their behavior.

This choice of yours to publically share information I prefered clearly to be kept in confidence, and then defend that act as one that is rational and moral makes it impossible for me to choose to simply let the matter drop.

I don't think I need say that I'm not going to be the only person deeply troubled by this - but I will say it regardless.

You never know who's going to turn out to react in total xenophobic hysteria until it's too late, and then, of course, in TOTAL "self defense," lash out and blame the offended person.

Master is away on a bit of leave, I wanted to run to someone, run away from this person into the arms of safety. I have had a disturbed night. God, I am still creeped out, I don't wanna move from where I am. Helpppppppppppppppp!

In essence, dear, you are no better than any random fag-basher. But if your sleep is troubled - well, don't be concerned that I shall hunt you down. That haunted sensation of being followed? That's your conscience.

Apparently you've lost touch with it.

...and the drama continues, over at forceme's blog. Indulge me - it's a gift to my larger point about the need for anonymity and safe spaces. As I said to a friend... it's as if for no apparent reason, some random ass threw a rock through my window - and it was precisely the thing I needed to complete a sculpture I was stuck on.

I quote myself. Since you keep insisting that it's "blackmail" to wonder if reacting aloud to unanswered verbal abuse is warranted.

"DB: And that leads to such a very amusing post at your expense.
DB: ...and you do realize how very, very popular that would be. I point this out because, dear, it's true, not because it's effective blackmail."

Now, dear, I do hope you realize that in english, the word "not" has a particular meaning.

It is true that such a post, embarrassing you, would be popular. Given no explanation and no apology after many days for you appallingly hurtful reaction, I indeed had every right to blog about it. And I was indeed angry enough to be slightly injudicious, but nonetheless, not SO imprecise as to be entirely mistaken.

This is her reaction to me and a few random supporters. Who may well be next on her menu, at least if you go by my posting history on her blog.)

I shall highlight the critical points, which - you may believe this or not as you choose - not actually about my hurt feelings.

Trinity! Yeah, POP big time.
Amgel! Yeah, you're simple in the grand scheme of things. The eyeball and fingertips and three people inhabiting one body creeped me out. I don't have to just placidly lay back and dutifully accept with everyone's la-la shite with a happy face. The world is PC mad.
Amaya! Yeah, no doubt I would have found it fascinating too if I was introduced to it with a bit more thought and care.
Crash! Funny :) And yeah, it reminds me of The Exorcist, creepy spirits invading souls, well shit, it just presses my wrong buttons.
DeNoVo! You lost all right to your privacy the second you attempted to blackmail me. I betrayed you because of the blackmail, not because of your creepiness else I would have shared your creepy tendencies 14 days ago when I knew about it.

I happen to know that the SL terms of service regarding intolerance and disclosure would disagree. Had she felt it needful, she might have chosen instead to report me for harassment. It would not have been my intent, but was there any honest thought that was my intent, that would have been the proper and appropriate course.

Violating my privacy was not. Common law, the various privacy statutes in the UK and EU, the Revised TOS... all of these things beg to differ. As do centuries of commonly understood civilized behavior. We call people who willfully disregard such rules "wrong." And they are indeed wrong, regardless of whether any particular trespass brings them pain enough to reflect upon the root of their discomfort.

But since people often are willfully wrong like this, and often perfectly willing to be wrong in your face, on your doorstep, and may well have the support of like minded people who really should not be ignoring law and custom in their favor ... let's say it's prudent to be discreet about one's personal details.

The comments continue on her blog, but it seems possible that it all might suddenly vanish in a fit of sober second thought, or perhaps some other consequence. And that would be a shame.

Now my sense that preserving the following is making a larger point may be my spleen and wishful thinking, but I beg your indulgence; it's difficult to separate feelings and principles at times.

DeNovo Broome said...
I quote myself. Since you keep insisting that it's "blackmail" to wonder if reacting aloud to unanswered verbal abuse is warranted.

"DB: And that leads to such a very amusing post at your expense.
DB: ...and you do realize how very, very popular that would be. I point this out because, dear, it's true, not because it's effective blackmail."

Now, dear, I do hope you realize that in english, the word "not" has a particular meaning.

It is true that such a post, embarrassing you, would be popular. Given no explanation and no apology after many days for you appallingly hurtful reaction, I indeed had every right to blog about it. And I was indeed angry enough to be slightly injudicious, but nonetheless, not SO imprecise as to be entirely mistaken.

Unless, of course, you wish to EXCUSE this attempt at public humiliation.

Now I've run this by several people. They have read both accounts. They are unimpressed with this behavior, particularly since you, well, you do give the impression that you have a better handle on appropriate behavior than the average person.

Goodness me, your entire blog focuses on it.

However. the difference between "blackmail" and "not blackmail" is a willful misunderstanding in the same vein as your willful, reflexive, or merely irrational verbal assaults upon me.

I am what I am. it's not my responsibility to hide that from you because you might have some irrational urge to cause me public harm. I would have thought that it would be inappropriate be wary of that reaction from a "friend."

I rather think the fact you acted as you did rules out you valuing me as anything other that interesting potential blog-fodder. And I seem to join a long list of people who's feelings were hurt by your various contrivances.

Now, this was why I did point out that it would be a popular amusement. It's a fact. "Friends come and go, enemies accumulate."

And a person who has a talent for making enemies makes for a poor friend indeed. Karma tends to splash.

As I said in my own post. Your behavior is no different here than any random fag bashing. You were startled by a confidence, reacted hatefully, betrayed my trust, violating every custom of discretion within BDSM, polite company and indeed, the SL terms of service and now, somehow, it's all *my* fault, and I'm abusing *you.*

You aren't worth my time, or the time of anyone worth knowing, so I'll take myself elsewhere. I should not wish to startle you further.

1 August 2011 20:48

Forceme Silverspar said...
For someone who is not worth your time, you sure are spending a lot of time on me by visiting my known contacts and writing as you are doing.

You can try and worm yaself out of what you did all you like, it is clear to everyone who reads what happened you tried to blackmail me.

I won't be blackmailed and so for the third time and hopefully last time, Byeeeeeeeeee. Be off with you, all three of you and ya creepy eye balls and ya creepy fingertips.

Well, as we used to say on the Usenet groups, as we captured some offensive statement as a full body quotation from a post marked with the X-No-Archive Tag - "Let THAT stand in all it's awful majesty."

There, now I've outed myself as being old, along with all else. We would do that when someone had said something that was so inherently offensive and damning that there really wasn't any need to say anything against it; if you didn't get it, you needed to go back to AOL, where you came from.

There, I'm an elitist too. Indeed I am. Or at least, those with standards are often accused of that. Clearly I think this proves my point.

But let me spell it out. If this were some random ass - I don't have the time. AR/mute/landban and I'm done. But this is different. Forceme has placed herself in a position where on one hand she is claiming an expertise in BDSM - a subculture, an ethos and a tradition - while on the other hand, behaving in a way that would shock everyone I respect to the core.

Would they speak up? Yes. Our standards and customs exist, online and offline, for very good reasons - and the reason is... well here, read for yourself of the stonewall riots. There were rather a lot of leatherpeople involved, as the Old Leather people were mostly Gay. They were the most secretive, the most paranoid and they were mostly WWII Vets who became biker families.

Het, trans, and more complicated things such as myself joined the parade later, adopting and adapting the culture along the way. But those magnificent old bastards; flaming queens and leatherdaddies alike started it, in response to being treated, well, exactly like this.

So someone claiming the right to wear the triskel does not have the right to behave like a 60's era vice cop. And if I, as an Old Thing of the Community, do not correct her, neither do I. So yes, there IS a stick up my ass, and it's square!

Now, to explain the broad hint Forceme made that I was gossiping behind her back: Serojan Daxter and I have an cordial, professional acquaintance. Brigadoon Station links to Penderello Bay and the Freedom Continent, where she currently offers certificate courses in the matters of BDSM, roleplay, ethics and emotional well being within D/s relationships.

Of course I informed her there was a matter that she needed to be aware of before it took her by surprise.

She's a grown up, I presume her to be professional, and it seemed reasonable to me that she might wish to know of matters that might reflect upon her name, her ethics and her lifestyle. I shall certainly live with whatever seems like a wise choice to her, if she makes any decision that concerns me.

Returning to myself, I know I have a few, barely noticeable twitches. The sort of thing that people might misunderstand if they notice them and are not made aware of what they mean. Irrational fears of demonic possession spring to mind, for some odd reason.

I've found that in almost every case, if I explain that I am multi to people I'm on familiar enough terms with that they might notice, things go well because it explains they weren't quite consciously aware of. I'm matter of fact about it. This is me, this is who I am, my mind works like this and I have no need for cure nor - goodness me - exorcism.

On occasion, though, one does run into people who's own issues become suddenly apparent to everyone but themselves, when you accidentally trigger one of their barely noticeable twitches. It could be homo or transphobia. It could be the sudden realization that you vote for liberals. You might mention that you are pro-choice or indeed, pro-life. Vegan or Carnivore. Catholic or Atheist. You might think it unremarkable to refer to nonwhite ancestors or disclose being what we euphemistically call a "mental health consumer." Suddenly you are face to face with a screaming mad thing, with no warning whatsoever. The only actual protection against this happening in "real" life is do your very best to be exactly like everyone else in the Approved Circles of your locale.

Since they are quite sure they are being perfectly rational, it must be your fault, and you must be made to pay for causing them to abuse you. The less normal you are, the less able you are to conceal the subtle "tells," the more likely you are to have this happen to you.

Let us remember, the Internet and it's culture was built by freaks and geeks, in very large part as an refuge from such casual oppression. Handles were standard, and you considered yourself privileged to be told a real-life gender. If you recognized a writing style under a different handle - you kept your mouth shut about it.

Most people posted through anon re-mailers. A huge proportion of women posting at that time used gender-neutral handles and were very careful about how they wrote outside of carefully defended "safe spaces," such as private listservs.

I knew many people quite well, but the number that had my actual email address (or vice versa) was a short list indeed. Situations like this illustrate why we thought that was prudent, and situations such as this today, prove that it would be stupid to think it any safer now.

These situations are always emotionally trying and can become dangerous, should they happen to have any means to harm you. Avoid them if possible, be discreet, take such precautions as your situation dictates and remember - it gets better.

Part of it getting better is knowing how to deal with such people - and why they deserve the contempt and shame they try to inflict upon you. Even if you can't do anything about that right now - hold that knowledge in your heart. It will help you live through it. Trust me. I know this one by heart.

It's not your shit, dear. It's theirs. Whenever possible, make them own it. Post by post, stonewall by lawsuit by wheelchair ramp, it gets better, if you don't accept their demand that you deserve to be treated badly for whatever differences they object to. And nothing is quite so sweet as outliving them.

Rebel Ego

2011-07-24T22:17:00.001-07:00

Rebel Ego, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
Well, this is really as close to rebellion as she gets.

Playing a bit with windlight settings, I particularly like the sky I got here, using London2050 with no alterations.

Drakke Divine laced boots in Violet
Shade Rebel Outfit in purple

Hair by Analog Dog
Skin by Saphira

Shape by Paintree Designs
Pose stand by Paintree Designs

Want to try out Second Life for yourself? Sign up at
secondlife.com/?u=ac6868f512264bcf91d94eaa91358b58

Lost Amid The Freebies at Kaylywulf Kingdom

2011-07-17T15:59:00.001-07:00

Lost In Freebie Table at Kaylywulf Kingdom, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
Gynia told me that the freebie table at KK had been refreshed, and I figured it was important to cover it.

KK Latex seems to be something people either love or hate.

The sheen is, in my opinion, more like plastic or vinyl than latex; for myself I prefer a softer, rubberier sheen, but I've actually had arguments with people, including my own Yora Vig - who's a model here. Tastes vary, and if you are going for that fetish doll look, well, here's where you will find everything you need. It's not just a store, it's a subculture! And Yora really does rock this look.

So, in solidarity (and feeling a little guilty, as I've never actually covered KK before), I sent Maxine to get some pictures and see if there was anything that looked good on her. I'd already stuck her in a new shape and abused her patience in many ways, but what are slaves for? Besides, free stuff!!

Since it is such a love/hate thing, it's wonderful that they have a freebie table with a wide selection of representative things. You'll get a good idea of the Kaylywulf look, and if you like it, some starter basics, like this cute little Periwinkle latex lace dress that Maxine is wearing.

I firmly believe that freebies are the business cards of Second Life - there's simply no better way of showing off what you can do.

slurl.com/secondlife/Kayliwulf%20West/152/128/42

Committing an Elegance in Falln's Five Year Group Gift

2011-07-14T12:26:00.001-07:00

Committing an Elegance in Falln's Five Year Group Gift, originally uploaded by DeNovo Broome.

Via Flickr:
Falln is a brand I've just started following, and they have such a huge selection I've been overwhelmed and had to teep out before it all even rezzed - much less shopped. But I have a few gifts to examine and shoot in restful surroundings. Let's start with this one, as it celebrates five years of Falln.

slurl.com/secondlife/FallnAngel%20Creations/132/133/124

Shot at the Marble & Ice Maze @ Ralf's Dark Paradise
slurl.com/secondlife/Ralf's%20Dark%20Paradise/37/93/47

Outfit: Falln Minya (five year group gift)
Boots: Karu Karu tiffany ankle boots
Skin: {frick} Betty in peach

Marble And Ice RLV Maze

2011-07-14T12:18:00.001-07:00

Marble And Ice RLV Maze, a set on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
The maze is as done as I can make it. While there's much left to do to make it a full rlv maze, that requires scripting abilities I don't have, so I shall leave that to others.

Right now, there are a few toys scattered about and many photo ops.

One hint. Not all the walls are walls.

slurl.com/secondlife/Ralf's%20Dark%20Paradise/187/94/47 and look for the palace.

then look for the elevator...

2011-07-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

Anti-pseudonym bingo by Mary

for your reading pleasure:
On refusing to tell you my name

Botgirl's Second Life Diary: RANT ALERT: You're all a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites

2011-07-12T22:10:00.000-07:00

What SHE said!!

Botgirl's Second Life Diary: RANT ALERT: You're all a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites