Caledon Oxbridge General Q&A for 2020-07-19

15:01 Carl Metropolitan It's just after 3 PM, SL Time, so it is time to start.
15:02 Carl Metropolitan Welcome to this Sunday's Oxbridge General Q&A. Andrea and I are here to answer any of your questions about Second Life, Caledon, Oxbridge, Steampunk, Linden Lab, Virtual Worlds, and anything vaguely related to any of the above. I'm also good at trivia questions.
15:02 Carl Metropolitan If we don't know the answer, we can Google it. In other words, we know where to look, or at least can probably put you in touch with someone who does know the answer.
15:02 Carl Metropolitan As usual, before we start with the questions, let's see if Andrea has any announcements that she would like to tell us about?
15:03 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) We will be having the biweekly fundraiser next Sunday
15:03 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) place and theme not set yet.
15:03 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) mumble, i was supposed to do that today...
15:04 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) there will be a dance Tuesday night
15:04 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) theme is Victorian and I put together a little hall for it
15:05 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) Victorian wear if possible
15:05 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) Like what I'm wearing or formal
15:05 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) suggested.
15:05 Carl Metropolitan Does anyone else have any announcements before we start with questions?
15:06 Carl Metropolitan Okay. Then lets move right on into the Questions and Answers part of the class.
15:06 Carl Metropolitan Hit us with your questions!
15:07 Carl Metropolitan Anyone?
15:08 Remembered Ghost what rating is the sim where the Victorian party will be?
15:08 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Well, I still host the Writers Meeting
15:08 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) moderate.
15:08 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Thursdays 11:00 AM
15:08 Carl Metropolitan Thank you, Elfbiter.
15:09 Carl Metropolitan Except for Caledon Oxbridge, all sims in Caledon are rated Moderate.
15:09 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) I noticed a bit more buzz about the Belli passport system this weekend. Does Oxbridge have a stamp machine yet?
15:09 Carl Metropolitan SL ratings go: General (G), Moderate (M), and Adult (A).
15:10 lovejoy2199 We need passports?
15:10 Carl Metropolitan Aeval, I have no idea what that is. Can you tell us about it?
15:11 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Bellissaria has a BBB that offers its citizens passports. There's a system to it. Different locations can host a machine that "stamps" the passport with a unique stamp designed for that location. So in effect, it helps visitor numbers as people collect stamps for their passports.
15:12 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) There's like a visitor guide that they keep with listings and the whole bit.
15:12 Carl Metropolitan What does BBB mean in this context?
15:12 Larky (larkylouz) Sounds neat!
15:12 RainyDayRecess Is that similar to what Word already does with his data collection?
15:12 BrandonLeeJack hi umm ty
15:12 Carl Metropolitan It sounds like something that we might want to be listed in possibly.
15:12 Phrynne I'm not finding Bellissaria in Search.
15:12 Carl Metropolitan Andrea, you are in charge of marketing and fundraising here; what do you think?
15:12 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) I knew you'd ask me that. lol! It's not Better Biz Bureau...honestly I can't remember what cutesy thing they came up with.
15:12 Carl Metropolitan Bellissaria is a name for a continent.
15:13 BrandonLeeJack :) sorry
15:13 Carl Metropolitan For the new Linden Homes.
15:13 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Bellisseria is the big Linden home continent
15:13 Remembered Ghost LL reminds me of Amazon
15:13 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) I think as far as the COU, the deans need to meet on it.
15:14 Carl Metropolitan Okay. Aeval, can you give me a LM for the place where this BBB operates?
15:14 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) As for Caledon. I guess Desmond would have to be contacted
15:14 Carl Metropolitan I will try to pick up some information there.
15:15 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) I don't see an issue with it, but I have not looked at it.
15:15 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) I set up one for Sacred Cauldron and we had an uptick of visitors. Let's see--BBB stands for Bellisserian Bureau of Bureacracy and passing you the LM, Carl. :)
15:16 Carl Metropolitan Thanks.
15:16 Larky (larkylouz) LOL. Love the name
15:17 Carl Metropolitan I have a question: A few weeks ago, someone brought up the topic of "Caledon Regents". I had no idea what they meant. Since then I have seen a person wearing that tag. Does anyone here know what a "Caledon Regent' is or does?
15:18 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) They basically have fewer perms than an estate manager but more than a regular citizen.
15:18 Carl Metropolitan Are their permissions valid through all of Caledon?
15:18 Carl Metropolitan And do you know what their function is?
15:18 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) On land dedicated to Commonwealth
15:19 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) AFAIK, regents have been dealing with rentals at least.
15:19 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Actually, regents can't do parcel switches
15:19 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Only estate managers can.
15:20 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Then my info is out of date
15:20 Carl Metropolitan Are Estate Managers authorized by Desmond to do land sales/parcel switches?
15:20 Phrynne Perhaps some regents are also estate managers?
15:20 Carl Metropolitan I thought it was only Mari Moonbeam.
15:20 Phrynne Also Jorge Serapis and Vicereine Kamilah
15:20 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Right--all estate managers are also going to be classed as regents but not the other way around, necessarily.
15:20 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Kami and Jorge are both EMs
15:22 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Regents can change music settings, toggle land settings, and return non-group objects. (Looking at the perms in the Commonwealth group now.)
15:22 Carl Metropolitan Did Desmond send out a notecard that explained this?
15:22 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) (And apologies--I didn't mean to take on the answering here. I'm an estate manager and it helps to know who can do what when stuff happens)
15:22 Carl Metropolitan I appreciate it
15:22 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) I think that was couple of years ago already.
15:23 Carl Metropolitan I don't know anything about this, and I should to be able to answer questions about it.
15:23 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) If you're in the Commonwealth group and need to know, just look in the roles tab under perms and you can see the differences.
15:24 Carl Metropolitan Thank you Aeval
15:24 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Sure :)
15:24 Carl Metropolitan Okay. Next question?
15:25 Carl Metropolitan In SL news, Linden Lab, the company that runs Second Life was acquired last week by a private equity group.
15:25 Carl Metropolitan https://www.lindenlab.com/releases/linden_research_to_be_acquired
15:26 Carl Metropolitan https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2020/07/linden-lab-second-life-acquired.html
15:26 Carl Metropolitan https://modemworld.me/2020/07/16/linden-labs-acquisition-sundry-thoughts-speculation/
15:26 Carl Metropolitan I don't think it is going to change much, as the firm that bought LL likes to hold on to stuff and invest, owning businesses that generate cash for the company.
15:27 Larky (larkylouz) that's good to hear. I think some people have been a bit concerned about what the acquisition means
15:28 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Tons of confusing investors with vulture capitalists.
15:28 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) That's what kills most small companies creativity. bought out and the pressure to make money leads to constant changes.
15:29 Carl Metropolitan I think the Inara Pey article has some good analysis
15:29 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) As they fail to perform.
15:29 Carl Metropolitan That was the third link I posted.
15:29 lovejoy2199 "Vulture Capitalists" lol That is cute.
15:29 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) "Disruptive innovation" and so on.
15:30 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) Saw it with Freds here in the south of the us
15:32 Carl Metropolitan The other thing to keep in mind, of course, is that the previous ownership of LL wasn't exactly amazing. They did blow millions on Sansar and ignore SL for several years.
15:32 Remembered Ghost What's Sansar?
15:33 Phrynne I've never had the sense that LL really knows what SL is about. To them, it seems to be renting virtual space and doing some money-changing. They have never been involved in community building.
15:33 Sanylle Linden's hobby horse, Ghost
15:33 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Great graphics but total miss as far as community building.
15:33 Carl Metropolitan Sansar was a new virtual world that Linden Lab developed. It failed by all measurements, and was sold early this year for pennies on the dollar to a small company.
15:33 Phrynne and Sansar was only available for Windows, not Mac.
15:34 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Think of what SL would be if, to create *anything* inworld, you had to know how to create mesh on using a high end program and port it inworld.
15:34 Remembered Ghost I think a lot of ppl like graphics who are artists and such, but community can make even "bad" art good
15:34 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Sansar needed very powerful computers with graphics capacity beyond lots of people's computer
15:35 Carl Metropolitan Sansar was doomed from the start as Ebbe early on said that it would 1) have no interoperability with Second Life; you could not take any items or clothing that you owned in SL to Sansar, and 2) There would be no adult content (a significant part of SL's business)
15:35 Carl Metropolitan That is an excellent point Remembered.
15:35 Sanylle "Available" if you're in the top 2% of gaming computers
15:35 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) and no inworld creator tools
15:35 Carl Metropolitan Right, Aeval.
15:36 Carl Metropolitan There is also some speculation that the owners of LL had to get rid of Sansar dragging them down in order to be acquired at a good price. I am not sure if that's correct, but it would not surprise me.
15:37 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Unfortunately there were Lindens who were well-known in SL who were put on that project to try to build interest and, when it went, they went too. :-/
15:37 Carl Metropolitan Most of them were hired by Sansar's new owners though.
15:37 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Sansar had some streams with DeviantArt but they seemed, shall we say, dull.
15:37 BrandonLeeJack o wow
15:37 Carl Metropolitan So they were able to find jobs.
15:38 Carl Metropolitan I personally tried it, and found the User Interface confusing, and found it very hard to move around. Perhaps it would have been different on my current computer, but I was not left with enough interest to bother trying again.
15:39 Carl Metropolitan One other thing I found on the LL acquisition is here: Some comments from the owner of Blueberry: https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2020/07/linden-lab-acquisition-second-life-mishi-blueberry-fashion.html
15:39 Remembered Ghost Blueberry is very popular, a lot of traffic so much lag
15:40 BrandonLeeJack :(
15:40 Phrynne Whatever happens, it's not happening tomorrow.
15:40 Carl Metropolitan I have heard that much. It is a very successful business. Most of my female friends who are not into steampunk/Victorian fashions have at least some outfits from Blueberry.
15:41 Carl Metropolitan Any other questions? News? Announcements?
15:42 Remembered Ghost any suggestions for Victorian clothing stores?
15:43 Remembered Ghost such as vendors from Caledon?
15:43 Ligeia002 what period?
15:43 Remembered Ghost for the party, the dance on Tuesday
15:43 Ligeia002 aye...regency or later?
15:43 Carl Metropolitan That is a question I'm bad at. However, Andrea, Phrynne, and Aeval may have some good suggestions.
15:44 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) Cog and Fluer
15:44 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) for one
15:44 Sanylle I have a suggestion on a completely different topic
15:44 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Cog and Fleur but it's not in Caledon. Rainy Fay (it's up in Kittiwickshire)
15:44 BrandonLeeJack whats a good way to earn Lindens in Sl
15:44 Ligeia002 JustBecause has a mesh part dress late period
15:44 Ligeia002 for mesh bodies
15:44 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) if you are a classic avatar
15:44 Carl Metropolitan Sanylle, what is your question?
15:44 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) there are freebies in the hall of avatars and the gazebo behind the train station
15:44 Ligeia002 aye classic avatar there are more accurate creators
15:45 Sanylle It's a suggestion, Carl
15:45 Sanylle about Oxbridge and language
15:45 Ligeia002 *historical accurate creators
15:46 Carl Metropolitan Brandon, the best way to get L$ in SL is to buy them from Linden Lab. There are lots of ways for people to make money here, but they are work, and unless you enjoy what you are doing, are often not worth the time. I would suggest going through Oxbridge's Hall of Money and Commerce for more information about the SL economy and jobs.
15:46 Dennis Meercat (dennis51) i gave you a couple LM:s Brandon....it´s one way to earn some money in SL
15:46 Sanylle Not about clothing at all
15:46 Carl Metropolitan What is your suggestions, Sanylle?
15:47 BrandonLeeJack sorry and ty
15:47 Sanylle Well, we get people who don't read and write English well from time to time
15:47 Carl Metropolitan Yes. Frequently.
15:47 Sanylle Some we can send to other Help Centers, but some there is nowhere they can go
15:47 Carl Metropolitan That's unfortunately true. And LL is not much help there.
15:48 Remembered Ghost there are tutors like Giovanni
15:48 Phrynne Tutors have information on all the known help areas in other languages than English.
15:48 Sanylle So, I thought it might be helpful if the information on the tutorial display boards was available in notecard form, so visitors could cut and paste the English instructions into whatever translator they might have
15:49 Phrynne Sanylle, there has been a project for five years to translate the tutorial into several languages. It is still ongoing.
15:49 Carl Metropolitan That is an excellent idea. Lindal Kidd is in charge of the tutorials here.
15:49 Carl Metropolitan I would talk to her about the notecard idea.
15:49 Sanylle Yes, I know that, Phrynne, but this would allow people some benefit now
15:50 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) That could also help with those who use screen readers but I don't know how many of those would be around anymore.
15:50 Carl Metropolitan Another good point, Aeval.
15:50 Sanylle Yes, I hadn't thought of that
15:50 Ligeia002 On the point of helping people that talk another language
15:51 Ligeia002 truth to be told there is s problem getting the basics
15:51 Ligeia002 reality is that they loose interest
15:51 BrandonLeeJack what was that
15:51 Ligeia002 as a social platform, it is the community that counts
15:51 Ligeia002 and that could never be replaced
15:51 Ligeia002 many attempts have been done by the collage faculty and they been good
15:52 Ligeia002 such as this one gesture
15:52 Ligeia002 bienvenido a Vida Segunda! Aqui está una lista de sitios dónde encontrar ayuda en tu lengua:
15:52 Ligeia002 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ayuda%20Virtual/16/236/25 Click and Teleport!
15:52 RainyDayRecess Thank you Lia ;)
15:52 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) Thank you Lia for the donation
15:52 Ligeia002 yet what makes people stay more than half an hour with how overwhelming the platform can be is the community
15:52 Carl Metropolitan Thank you Lia
15:52 Carl Metropolitan I agree Ligeia
15:52 Ligeia002 and truth to be told, there are not many communities active in every language
15:53 Ligeia002 this is not to be taken as disregard to the proposition
15:53 Remembered Ghost also the art
15:53 Orange Planer May I ask what the topic is currently?
15:53 Ligeia002 It has been an issue as long as I can remember
15:53 Remembered Ghost customizativeness
15:54 Ligeia002 and i say this as a Spanish speaker and slight Portuguese...not being Spanish my main language
15:54 Orange Planer COU being more accessible to those who speak other than English?
15:54 Ligeia002 /me smiles...I yield
15:54 Carl Metropolitan How best to help people in other languages.
15:54 Carl Metropolitan This is a good topic to raise at the monthly Q&A With the Deans.
15:54 Ligeia002 indeed
15:54 Orange Planer What things have been tried?
15:54 Ligeia002 a lot
15:54 Remembered Ghost recruit multi-linguals
15:55 Remembered Ghost ?
15:55 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) I can send Finnish newcomers to two places; the pub seems to be more helpful...
15:55 Carl Metropolitan I am not a Dean. I am not part of the staff.
15:55 Ligeia002 /me smiles
15:55 Phrynne All the tutors have translators that work for dozens of languages, and use them.
15:55 Ligeia002 /me nods
15:55 Carl Metropolitan So policy decisions I can't make.
15:55 Dennis Meercat (dennis51) the pub....hhmm maybe helps
15:55 Orange Planer We all know how useful translators can be... (not). People prefer native speakers.
15:55 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Machine translation still tend to be faulty with Finnish.
15:55 Ligeia002 well
15:55 Phrynne We have notecards of places people can go, and information on social areas as well as info areas.
15:55 Sanylle there is a list of newcomer centers that use other languages
15:55 Orange Planer /me nods
15:56 Ligeia002 /me nods...I think we are covered io the directing
15:56 Carl Metropolitan Those four notecards I have the art for and update, Phrynne
15:56 Phrynne If people prefer native speakers, they can learn to use Search and find places with native speakers.
15:56 Ligeia002 the problem is that many times peeps want to socialize since we are partly a social platform
15:56 Carl Metropolitan I'm going to do another update in September.
15:56 Ligeia002 and there is the problem
15:56 Orange Planer If they know how to do search, Phrynne.
15:56 Orange Planer Suggestion:
15:56 Sanylle Catch 22?
15:56 Orange Planer Can we make the signs available in several languages?
15:56 Ligeia002 as Dean Phrynne points
15:56 Phrynne We teach what we can.
15:56 Phrynne why am I talking when nobody is listening?
15:57 Orange Planer I'm listening, Phrynne.
15:57 Lia (tokyorii) Input as always with these meetings of course
15:57 Phrynne All right then. The entire tutorial has been translated into Spanish and French, but the translations have not all been put onto the posters.
15:57 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) I have helped some people by giving them a link to a group related to their homeland.
15:57 Phrynne Work is continuing on this.
15:57 Orange Planer /me nods
15:58 Orange Planer Do you also need Italian and Portuguese?
15:58 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Like the Algerian lady this week.
15:58 Orange Planer Or Portuguese.
15:58 Phrynne There is no help area in Italian. There is one in Portuguese.
15:58 Phrynne I would like to get the first two languages up first.
15:58 Ligeia002 aye Ayuda Brazil
15:59 Carl Metropolitan There are technical problems and other issues that are out of Phrynne's hands that have to be worked out. She is doing her best. We all wish this could have been done earlier and more efficiently, but we work with what we have.
15:59 Orange Planer Well, I'm thinking of someone who can translate to Italian.
15:59 Orange Planer If you need it.
15:59 Carl Metropolitan All of the Deans have RL jobs and RL lives
15:59 Carl Metropolitan Updating tutorial posters is a massive task.
15:59 Orange Planer /me nods
15:59 Carl Metropolitan I know; I created the first versions way back when...
16:00 Ligeia002 /me smiles -true!-
16:00 Phrynne And nobody has ever come forward and said, 'hey, I have a lot of experience in modifying layered textures, I could help.'
16:00 Remembered Ghost if only there could be funds from a university in RL then we could hire artists
16:00 Remembered Ghost I know some graphics programs
16:00 Carl Metropolitan There are not. We just manage to cover our expenses.
16:00 Remembered Ghost what graphics are need?
16:01 Remembered Ghost I make alphas and used to texture clothing
16:01 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) The stop-gap measure would be to just create notecards instead of having to recreate all of the textures.
16:01 Carl Metropolitan Photoshop or GIMP, Adobe Illustrator, I think. But this is a good discussion to have offline with Phrynne if you think you have the time and skills to help.
16:01 Remembered Ghost ok I can help
16:02 Remembered Ghost what is Phrynne's name?
16:02 Remembered Ghost in sl?
16:02 Remembered Ghost I will friend
16:02 Orange Planer Uh
16:02 Carl Metropolitan Her name is Phrynne
16:02 Carl Metropolitan She's behind you.
16:02 Remembered Ghost ok
16:02 Phrynne I'm right here.
16:02 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Okay, unfortunately I have to go into my RL bed. Getting up early tomorrow
16:02 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) just to clarify. The Tuesday night event is a Caledonian nights event. the Bi-weekly Fundraiser dances on Sunday are the COU event.
16:02 Orange Planer Good night, Elf.
16:02 Sanylle Good night Elfbiter
16:02 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) Sleep well, Elfbiter :)
16:02 Carl Metropolitan I think that is all we have time for tonight.
16:02 Lia (tokyorii) How come you aren't up in the front as usual Phrynne?
16:02 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) night Mr eb
16:02 Ligeia002 evening Mr. Elf
16:02 Carl Metropolitan Thank you Andrea.
16:02 Lia (tokyorii) Goodnight Elf!!!
16:02 lovejoy2199 TC. Goodnight
16:03 Carl Metropolitan Thank you all for coming
16:03 RainyDayRecess 'Night Elf sweet dreams ;)
16:03 Carl Metropolitan See you next week at the next General Q&A!
16:03 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) Be well all
16:03 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Be seeing you
16:03 RainyDayRecess Thank you Andrea and Carl ;)
16:03 Lady Aeval-Leigh of Speirling (aevalle.galicia) ttfn :)
16:03 Carl Metropolitan Goodnight
16:03 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) I have notices on the Tuesday night dance in the ISC group and the Caledonian Nights group
16:03 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) IM me if you need info
16:03 Carl Metropolitan And thanks to Phyrnne and Aeval for helping with questions tonight!
16:03 Ligeia002 evening everyone
16:04 Carl Metropolitan Bye
16:04 Suki (sukiosudako) thanks guys!!
16:04 RainyDayRecess Yes, thank you Phrynne and Aeval ;)
16:04 RainyDayRecess Thank you again Lia ;)
16:04 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) thank you lia
16:05 Lia (tokyorii) :)
16:05 Lia (tokyorii) Be seeing you all
16:05 RainyDayRecess Thank you Orange ;)
16:06 RainyDayRecess 'Night everyone ;)
16:06 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) Thank you Orange
16:06 Sanylle Welcome to the wonderful world of SL region administration, Brandon
16:07 Sanylle hi larky
16:09 BrandonLeeJack ty