| 15:05 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Welcome to Oxbridge General Q&A. Myself and Andrea Jones are here to answer any questions you might have about Caledon, Oxbridge, Second Life, the Steamlands, and various related topics. No questions are too basic, and no questions are too obscure. |
| 15:05 |
Carl Metropolitan |
If we don't know the answers, we can find them for you. |
| 15:05 |
Carl Metropolitan |
If we can't find them quick, we can send you to someone who does know. |
| 15:05 |
Carl Metropolitan |
But usually, we just know :) |
| 15:05 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Hello Luran |
| 15:06 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Lothi, I mean |
| 15:06 |
Carl Metropolitan |
sorry |
| 15:06 |
Lothí Rose (luran.mortal) |
hello ☻ |
| 15:06 |
Carl Metropolitan |
My radar picks up Registration Names first |
| 15:06 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Let's get started! |
| 15:07 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Hello Lust |
| 15:08 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Let's have your questions. |
| 15:09 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
A notice then Carl. |
| 15:09 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Please |
| 15:09 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
The fundraiser last night was a great success. Many thanks to Duchess Cynthia Farshore for DJ the whole 3 hours. We raised a total of 22,870 lindens for the COU. Due to an early error on my part. The second fundraiser we do the following week day will be Tuesday the 22. I originally said the 23rd. Posters were fixed and the notecard as soon as it was noticed. A new notice will go out tonight. We will be in the goblin cave in Duchess Farshore's Downs region. |
| 15:10 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
So if you didn't have a chance to make it Saturday, you can come then. |
| 15:10 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
I believe this puts us back to where we need to be in funding for the COU. |
| 15:10 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Or if you just want a chance to show off another Halloween costume :) |
| 15:10 |
Larky (larkylouz) |
good work, Andrea, all! |
| 15:11 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
Yes it is Halloween themed and I believe Cynthia has the region set up with gams and a hunt. |
| 15:11 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
Cynthia? |
| 15:11 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Thank you Cynthia |
| 15:11 |
Lothí Rose (luran.mortal) |
The event last night it was a lot of fun. You've all done an amazing job decorating and organizing for events. Thank you so much ☻ |
| 15:11 |
Larky (larkylouz) |
Gams? skeletal gams? |
| 15:12 |
Cynthia Farshore |
There is a skull hunt game with a prize on Downs |
| 15:12 |
Carl Metropolitan |
That was all Andrea. |
| 15:12 |
Carl Metropolitan |
She created the build... |
| 15:12 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
Cynthia, anything to add on Tuesday night's fundraiser? |
| 15:12 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Organized and made the decorations... |
| 15:12 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Lassoed the DJ... |
| 15:12 |
Lothí Rose (luran.mortal) |
and the giveaways were a nice touch! |
| 15:12 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Publicized everything! |
| 15:13 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
In Nov there will be autumn fundraisers |
| 15:13 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Right, she also found all the cool door prizes. |
| 15:13 |
Cynthia Farshore |
The tunes will play on the entire sim so you can enjoy looking around and playing the skull hunt and still hear |
| 15:13 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
excellent ty |
| 15:14 |
Carl Metropolitan |
These fundraisers are a lot of work and Andrea does most of it, and what she does not do, she wrangles! |
| 15:14 |
Soup Jonson |
I love Andrea Jones! |
| 15:14 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
blushes |
| 15:15 |
Carl Metropolitan |
she is looking especially foxy tonight. |
| 15:15 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
was playing at a party |
| 15:15 |
Carl Metropolitan |
(or some other kind of tiny that looks like a fox) |
| 15:15 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
is a fox |
| 15:15 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
... hi ho, hi ho, to waffle mines we go... |
| 15:16 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Okay. Question time now! |
| 15:16 |
Gronk Seriman |
Carl, as somewhat of an SL historian, can you explain why SL dropped the first and last naming scheme, and made it "something Resident"? Did it have something to do with gloming on to Facebook? |
| 15:16 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I can only guess. First, it would have had nothing to do with Facebook |
| 15:17 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Around the time things changed in the naming scheme Facebook was busy purging accounts from people who were not "RL People" |
| 15:17 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Lots of SL avatars lost their pages |
| 15:17 |
Carl Metropolitan |
They do that from time to time. |
| 15:18 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I think it has mostly gone away now as Facebook has moved to "we wantz all the data!" |
| 15:19 |
Carl Metropolitan |
LL did buy a start-up that was designed as a “Facebook for MMO avatars”, and swallow it |
| 15:19 |
Carl Metropolitan |
And they did nothing with it. |
| 15:19 |
Gronk Seriman |
I heard about that fake people purge, too. That's why I thought the change was to make it obvious to people that Residents were not real people. |
| 15:19 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Then later, they pushed some of the SL profiles on to the web. |
| 15:20 |
Gronk Seriman |
Oh! |
| 15:20 |
Carl Metropolitan |
No. You are not considering that when this happened Facebook was not the social media juggernaut it is now. |
| 15:20 |
Gronk Seriman |
True. |
| 15:21 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I can't read into LL's mind, but I think it was just laziness and/or lack of staffing. They figured with one software update they could get rid of the task of having to update and release new last names several times a year |
| 15:21 |
Carl Metropolitan |
And fix things for people who had been complaining that they could not change their SL names. |
| 15:21 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Or course, LL didn't really fix either very well |
| 15:21 |
Carl Metropolitan |
and now we have what we have now. |
| 15:22 |
Carl Metropolitan |
A system that instituted a "class divide" between oldbies and newer residents in their very names. |
| 15:22 |
Jorge Serapis |
I believe also they found they were losing sign-ups because people didn't care for the limited surnames on offer at any given time. |
| 15:22 |
Carl Metropolitan |
The worst possible outcome. |
| 15:22 |
Carl Metropolitan |
One other issue with the last names |
| 15:23 |
Cynthia Farshore |
For what it's worth, I was told they just ran out of last names to dream up. |
| 15:23 |
Cynthia Farshore |
So they quit. |
| 15:23 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Before the change LL had issued some last names that had awful real life connotations. A signal that their system for vetting them had not been working. |
| 15:24 |
Carl Metropolitan |
“Quisling”, the last name of a Norwegian Nazi War criminal and a synonym for "traitor" in many languages now was released |
| 15:24 |
Carl Metropolitan |
So was "Rockspider" which was Australian slang for "pedophile" |
| 15:24 |
Jorge Serapis |
I remember "Coon". :shudders: |
| 15:24 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Yes |
| 15:24 |
|
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) has been wondering why practically no one with a Finnish surname is Finnish |
| 15:24 |
Gronk Seriman |
Oh, Geez! |
| 15:24 |
Carl Metropolitan |
That's another good example |
| 15:24 |
Carl Metropolitan |
So few people picked that one, I forgot about it. |
| 15:25 |
Carl Metropolitan |
LL has promised to bring back last names. |
| 15:25 |
Jorge Serapis |
TBH, my jaw dropped when I first saw that one. |
| 15:26 |
Carl Metropolitan |
And have reiterated that promise recently. I'm assuming they are working on it and trying to come up with an implementation that has checks to make sure "Coon" and "Quisling" don't happen again. |
| 15:26 |
Gronk Seriman |
SL was using lists of their favorite authors and scientists, I thought. |
| 15:26 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Yes, but they ran out. |
| 15:26 |
Carl Metropolitan |
They used a lot of other stuff, too. |
| 15:26 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Lots of Finnish authors and scientists, then |
| 15:27 |
Carl Metropolitan |
The most popular last name ever issued (partly because it was one of the last ones and stayed on the never-updated list for over a year before LL stopped doing them) was "Oh". |
| 15:27 |
Gronk Seriman |
Oh! |
| 15:27 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Yes. |
| 15:28 |
Gronk Seriman |
It was Yes? |
| 15:28 |
Cynthia Farshore |
could have been worst could have been Who. |
| 15:28 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Well, LL did release last names of all the actors who had played the Doctor in Doctor Who up to when they turned off the last names. |
| 15:29 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I think they got as far a Smith. |
| 15:29 |
Gronk Seriman |
Who is on first. |
| 15:29 |
Phrynne |
What's on second |
| 15:29 |
Carl Metropolitan |
If you like, I can look up the old LL notice on their official reasons for eliminating last names. |
| 15:29 |
Lust Synn as Morrigan (tahisha.fairplay) |
I Don't Know's on third |
| 15:30 |
|
Gronk Seriman grins |
| 15:30 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Okay. Next question. |
| 15:30 |
Cynthia Farshore |
well "official" is what they want you to think but can have a grain of truth |
| 15:32 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Ebbe Linden said in an interview in April of this year, "There are some more back-end changes to SL which need to be made before Last Names can make a return (actually, it's really name changes that are the hard part), but we are working on it and hope to have it ready later in 2019." |
| 15:32 |
Carl Metropolitan |
So it is still "soon" |
| 15:32 |
Carl Metropolitan |
But not "coon" at least. |
| 15:32 |
Carl Metropolitan |
The elimination of last names took place in 2010, BTW. |
| 15:33 |
Carl Metropolitan |
LL's official page on names does not even cite a reason |
| 15:33 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Surnames were gone when I joined |
| 15:33 |
Carl Metropolitan |
So finding their "official" reason will take more digging than I can do while hosting this. |
| 15:33 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Okay |
| 15:33 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Now. For Real. Next question. |
| 15:34 |
Rosafiere Varda (drawingroom) |
I have one. Was all of that just an excuse to repeat racial slurs? |
| 15:35 |
Jorge Serapis |
I sincerely doubt it. LL was founded in San Francisco, one of the most liberal cities in the US. |
| 15:36 |
Carl Metropolitan |
The only past SL name that could be considered a racial slur would have been "coon" and that is not the only context that word can be used in. Throughout much of the US "coon" is just a short form for "raccoon". |
| 15:36 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I imagine the name got by LL's naming people because the person doing the evaluation came from a part of the US where that is all the word meant to them. |
| 15:37 |
Jorge Serapis |
Indeed, but just as "gay" now has a new meaning, so does that surname and word. |
| 15:37 |
Carl Metropolitan |
"Quisling" and "Rockspider" while insulting, had nothing to do with race. |
| 15:37 |
Gronk Seriman |
And there have been authors and celebrities with that last name, too. |
| 15:37 |
Rosafiere Varda (drawingroom) |
And then you continue doing it. Well, have a good day then. |
| 15:37 |
Cynthia Farshore |
you will hear coon used in the furry community since their are indeed raccoons |
| 15:38 |
Soup Jonson |
She meant you Carl oh political Correctness what have we come too where a historical answer offends someone |
| 15:38 |
Jorge Serapis |
best to just stay away from that one, then. :_) |
| 15:38 |
Gronk Seriman |
Carl, you forgot to include the Trigger Warning at the top of the hour. |
| 15:39 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I expect her to complain loudly to to anyone who will listen to her. Fortunately, I don't care. I would rather answer the questions. |
| 15:39 |
Carl Metropolitan |
And I'm not going to use a euphemism like "the c-word" as people would assume—in American English—that it meant something very different! |
| 15:40 |
Carl Metropolitan |
And quite crude. |
| 15:41 |
Cynthia Farshore |
It's ok Carl some people get a kick out of being offended and will use any excuse to be. nothing you said was wrong |
| 15:41 |
Jorge Serapis |
*raises hand* |
| 15:41 |
Soup Jonson |
Gimme a break you were explaining a historically bad decision by SL. |
| 15:41 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I am aware of that. I was typing fast a few months ago at one of these and left a "not" out of a sentence and offended many people. |
| 15:42 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Go Jorge! |
| 15:42 |
Jorge Serapis |
On a random, Carl... what do you find possibly exciting on SL's horizons? |
| 15:42 |
|
Soup Jonson points at Jorge. Great question as always |
| 15:42 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I have honestly not looked much at what is coming to Second Life. |
| 15:42 |
Jorge Serapis |
...besides the reinstatement of SL surnames? :_P |
| 15:43 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I absorb a bit of it. |
| 15:43 |
Carl Metropolitan |
But I don't follow the LL announcements and interviews like I used to. |
| 15:43 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I think the really innovative stuff will continue to surprise us as it it comes from resident creators. |
| 15:44 |
Jorge Serapis |
I've found that most improvements to SL have been "under the hood", so to speak.. but not seen much in terms of actual resident use inworld. |
| 15:44 |
Carl Metropolitan |
However, if anyone else here has been listening to LL and knows some upcoming changes, please tell us. |
| 15:44 |
Jorge Serapis |
...with the exception of the new Linden homes for preemies. |
| 15:44 |
Phrynne |
Um. preemies? |
| 15:44 |
Gronk Seriman |
I keep hearing of real mirror reflections. Well, I hear it once in a while Firestorm tried it a while ago and blew it. But it keeps coming up once in a while. |
| 15:44 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Those have already been rolled, out Jorge |
| 15:44 |
Jorge Serapis |
Sorry. Premium members. :_) |
| 15:45 |
Phrynne |
oh good. Had visions of some of the inhabitants of those transparent uteri getting their own homes, which... no. |
| 15:45 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Mirrors are not that hard technically. |
| 15:45 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
I think there was someone who created _fake_ mirror reflections... |
| 15:45 |
Carl Metropolitan |
It may be some weirdness of SL's nearly two decades of spaghetti code in their server that makes it hard. |
| 15:45 |
Carl Metropolitan |
There was. |
| 15:46 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Used the water reflections. |
| 15:46 |
Carl Metropolitan |
And turned everything 90 degrees |
| 15:46 |
Jorge Serapis |
Wasn't there also a trick that you were able to use an inworld camera projecting onto a flat prim or something like that..? |
| 15:46 |
Carl Metropolitan |
If you want to keep track of what is coming in SL, follow Inara Pey's blog, "Living in a Modem World" |
| 15:46 |
Carl Metropolitan |
https://modemworld.me/ |
| 15:47 |
Carl Metropolitan |
She does the best news gathering on it. |
| 15:47 |
Gronk Seriman |
She does! |
| 15:47 |
Soup Jonson |
I will! |
| 15:47 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Right behind her, I would recommend Wagner James Au's New World Notes |
| 15:47 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
In the aggregator |
| 15:47 |
Carl Metropolitan |
https://nwn.blogs.com/ |
| 15:48 |
|
Soup Jonson quietly removes a candybar from Elfbiters coat. |
| 15:48 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Though he's a bit more cynical about SL and LL than I am. |
| 15:48 |
Gronk Seriman |
More? Really? |
| 15:48 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Au's has gone to conspiracy theory level at times.. |
| 15:48 |
|
Gronk Seriman grins |
| 15:48 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Yes |
| 15:49 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Granted, that's why I don't read his blog any more |
| 15:49 |
Carl Metropolitan |
He's also a bit obsessed with high triangle mesh avatars as the reason for all of SL's technical problems. |
| 15:49 |
Carl Metropolitan |
It is not that simple. |
| 15:49 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I also like the SLNewser |
| 15:50 |
Carl Metropolitan |
http://slnewser.blogspot.com/ |
| 15:50 |
Cynthia Farshore |
oh thanks |
| 15:50 |
Carl Metropolitan |
It covers a lot of more in world stuff. |
| 15:50 |
Cynthia Farshore |
Bix will be glad to hear. |
| 15:51 |
Cynthia Farshore |
Is there anything being considered for Thanksgiving as in events fundraising or such? |
| 15:51 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Which I would note all three of which will go into the "Newsstand" that I'm working on for the Train Station to go next to the Maps Kiosk on the East Side, opposite the freebie wall |
| 15:51 |
Carl Metropolitan |
The Maps Kiosk is now complete and updated |
| 15:52 |
Carl Metropolitan |
My new Caledon map and the updated "Land in Caledon" poster were the last bits of that |
| 15:52 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
there will be a November event |
| 15:52 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
maybe not on thanksgiving |
| 15:52 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Thank you Jorge for the updated CAT and CNR kiosks, too. |
| 15:53 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
Thank you for keeping the cats running. |
| 15:53 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Okay. We have time for a few more questions. Not a lot, but some. Would anyone like to ask me when I stopped beating my wife? Or if I am now, or have ever been, a member of the Communist party? |
| 15:54 |
Kara2016 |
ouch. |
| 15:54 |
Phrynne |
I think you answered those five years ago and they don't need to be revisited. |
| 15:54 |
Gronk Seriman |
What is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything? |
| 15:54 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
42 |
| 15:54 |
Lust Synn as Morrigan (tahisha.fairplay) |
i was about to say that :) |
| 15:55 |
Gronk Seriman |
I just can't help asking. The answer still cracks me up. |
| 15:55 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
So notices will go out on upcoming events |
| 15:56 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Well, if anyone is looking for Land in Caledon, I urge you to ask people in the Independent State of Caledon group or the Caledon Oxbridge University Group for nice parcel locations, then to contact Desmond Shang via email at desmondshang@gmail.com. |
| 15:56 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
There will be a thank you something going out soon from |
| 15:56 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
the fundraiser |
| 15:56 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Oh. I need to build that don't I? |
| 15:56 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
Well someone does, but it will be done soon |
| 15:56 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
just a FYI. |
| 15:56 |
Kara2016 |
giggles. |
| 15:56 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
as the question did not come up |
| 15:57 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
oh a notice |
| 15:57 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
DJ Piper Steampunk’s dad is in bad shape |
| 15:57 |
Soup Jonson |
Is the fundraiser donation box still out Andrea? |
| 15:58 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
in the hospital. |
| 15:58 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
yes it is still in the build. |
| 15:58 |
Soup Jonson |
Can I add to it so it gets factored in rather than the coin. |
| 15:58 |
Soup Jonson |
Oh good. |
| 15:58 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
the build will be up for a week or so |
| 15:58 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
so there is time to go back and explore. |
| 15:58 |
Soup Jonson |
I'll need a horse to get there but good. |
| 15:58 |
|
Soup Jonson looks at Lothi |
| 15:58 |
Carl Metropolitan |
The coins there are labeled as to "Halloween Fundraiser" |
| 15:58 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
A flying horse maybe |
| 15:59 |
Carl Metropolitan |
So they show up easily on the Oxbridge Mint account. |
| 15:59 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
There is a second story there with a gallery upstairs |
| 15:59 |
Lothí Rose (luran.mortal) |
I took it upon myself to explore most of Caledon on my horse, looking for available land. I'm proud to say I'm now a resident of Caledon Cay ☻ |
| 15:59 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Soup, sadly for you, Lothi is riding the highest quality and most expensive horse in Second Life. |
| 15:59 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
the portraits have notecards in them, just touch for the written works |
| 16:00 |
|
Soup Jonson nods. |
| 16:00 |
Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) |
Try the horse for the female beginner avatar; unlike the male one, it seems to work |
| 16:00 |
Carl Metropolitan |
It is the "Water Horse" and they run upwards of 5000L$ |
| 16:00 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
I will be moving the collection to a gallery later, with new additions |
| 16:00 |
Carl Metropolitan |
But there are less expensive ones out there. |
| 16:00 |
Lothí Rose (luran.mortal) |
I had a good chunk of L$ left over from when I sold my mainland plot. |
| 16:01 |
Lothí Rose (luran.mortal) |
so I got this horse and got a plot here ☻ |
| 16:01 |
Soup Jonson |
Oh I was just being witty like I wanted the expensive horse |
| 16:01 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I believe the creator also sells very realistic centaur avatars, too. |
| 16:01 |
Soup Jonson |
Sorry |
| 16:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
No. It is cool. I just wanted to answer an extra question so I made your comment into one :) |
| 16:02 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
Caledon Oxbridge Village (135,219,1889) to the build |
| 16:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
I think though, we are past our sell by date here tonight. |
| 16:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Thank you all for coming |
| 16:02 |
Cynthia Farshore |
Evening |
| 16:02 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
Waves |
| 16:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
See you all soon, or at least at the next General Q&A! |
| 16:02 |
Carl Metropolitan |
Goodnight! |
| 16:02 |
Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) |
Thank you for coming. |