Shutting Down for the Protest!
Posted on 05. Nov, 2009 by Tenshi Vielle in Announcements/Events, Digital Life
SCD will be participating in the Artist’s Voice 48 hour protest! See you Saturday!
The L$ transactions proposed for boycott on November 5th and 6th are as follows:
- uploads
- the purchase of $L currency
- the sale of $L currency
- XStreet purchases and sales
- in-world purchases and sales
- land store purchases
- stop blogging about Second Life (while not a $L transaction, it will help)
- pay shop rents on the 4th or the 7th (you should NOT go in arrears on rent or tier)
(Pssst, if you get bored tomorrow night come see me at 5pm SLT at this location for an inventory sorting party! It’s been too long since I’ve sorted – in fact, I might have some goodies available!)
Man_In_A_Skirt
Nov 5th, 2009
Armidi will remain open as usual
Merlynn D
Nov 5th, 2009
No purchases, no sales — not much different than the last few months anyway… *sigh*
haha
Nov 5th, 2009
there are no normal designers in ur group and most shops are open
leonardo
Nov 5th, 2009
i dont think few hundred dollars will harm lindens. they know about content theft but they do notgive a shit about it. its not their fault, its the designers themselves.
Missy
Nov 5th, 2009
Stoping sales and purchases is only hurting content creators NOT linden lab. When will SCD realise that just because they think something is a good idea doesn't mean it's the right idea?
Autumn Heyse
Nov 5th, 2009
I see. So if everyone participates then we lose 7% of our monthly income and sinse theres nothing else to buy then newbs and shopaholics will just buy more stolen content and Linden Lab only benefits from a massive influx of sales off XStreet where they get a nice chunk of our income. Wait, what!?! How does this help us again?
scd
Nov 7th, 2009
Income isn't determinable by dividing the days of the month by 30 because sales aren't steady per day, surely as a content creator and a shop owner you know that's the truth.
I think your comment takes this too far.
Fray Jigsaw
Nov 5th, 2009
Ha ha, wow, barely half a day in and the feed is full of people explaining why this campaign is bullshit and full of fail, your own website's poll says 50% of people won't be participating in this boycott and people are buying stuff like mad. Enjoy your 48 hours of fake accomplishment kids, the rest of us will be buying and spending like usual while you look down on us.
scryana33
Nov 5th, 2009
Instead of infighting over how something should be done, can we not just try to respect people's choices to try and make a difference, whether we agree with the specifics of it or not? Regardless of whether you think they will be successful they're trying to make a difference. This was a voluntary event, for both customers and retailers, no one is forcing anyone to do anything. At the very fucking least, have the courtesy to let people have their protest in peace. Some people are acting like this is a movement to torture kittens.
In a nutshell, I'm just sort of saddened that everyone decided to finally take a stand today, and then made a conscious decision to undermine each other. I guess the real lesson learned today is not to do anything, because we can't seem to stop the infighting long enough to get anything accomplished. Sad.
BubbleGum
Nov 6th, 2009
I agree with you 100%. People are screaming because it's either not enough, or too much, or not the right thing…well, ok, let people try to do SOMETHING. And frankly if these people have so much damn time to complain they should be using to, oh, DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE instead.
scryana33
Nov 5th, 2009
How's that schadenfrude, Fray?
No one is looking down on you because you didn't choose to participate, that's your prerogative, always has been.
But you're kind of an asshole. THAT'S why I'm looking down on you.
Fray Jigsaw
Nov 6th, 2009
"How's that schadenfrude, Fray? "
Feels pretty good. Artist's Voice specifically hijacked another content theft awareness campaign's date with a ridiculously extreme stunt and it backfired on them. This is an object lesson that you should talk to the community you claim to represent and you shouldn't think that being the bull in the china shop will get you any further than ignored if not chastised.
And as to your notion that "no one is forcing anyone to do anything," that's not really true. This protest was designed to force designers to lose money by having people not spend any money in the name of a giant sweeping gesture that, if you stop and think about it, was never going to accomplish it's fuzzy goals.
I don't necessarily think that Step Up's idea of not uploading textures for a day was really that effective a concept, but their message about content theft is getting out there, because they're trying to educate people about it. They know that LL isn't going to suddenly rush in and protect everyone from content theft, that the situation is what it is, but they understand that change starts with education, not blackmail.
And lastly, god this is so tl;dr, you said no one is looking down on us? Go back and read the comments from the initial 5th of November post and see if you can spot the condescension.
Fray Jigsaw
Nov 7th, 2009
I replied yesterday, but apparently they're deleting comments they deem too truthful.
Man_In_A_Skirt
Nov 5th, 2009
I appreciate the effort for this protest, but sooner or later someone else will come along with a much better idea for a protest.
Shutting Down for the Protest! | Shopping Cart Disco | Portal site of Second Life and metaverse"MetaLog-meta log"
Nov 5th, 2009
[...] uploads; the purchase of $L currency; the sale of $L currency; XStreet purchases and sales; in-world… [...]
Mockba_the_Borg
Nov 5th, 2009
Cache out your money … that's a protest.
Cache it out and say you won't put it back into the game unles something is done… whatever it is… that >>>>>may<<<<< be effective.
Mockba_the_Borg
Nov 5th, 2009
sorry … cash … not cache … I war thinking "proxy" this time … lol
Baily
Nov 5th, 2009
I haven’t come across any closed so far, i will continue my shop for shoes
Heidi Halberstadt
Nov 5th, 2009
I will proceed with following Step Up!, which is a reasonable plan – no uploads = no money for LL. No matter what your intent originally was, it just seems like you're trying to trump Step Up! by one-upping them in your demands. Not shop? Not sell? I'm sure most shop owners will thank you heartily for suggesting to cut into THEIR income, instead of LL's. FAIL!
scd
Nov 6th, 2009
Heidi, LL makes a lot of money off of more than just uploads. This wasn't an effort to try to trump Step Up. Obviously, the solidarity has been lost in this attempt – or folks don't think it exists.
MissKillian
Nov 5th, 2009
What about the 50L Friday sales! Why couldn't you do this on a Monday
Ajax Manatiso
Nov 5th, 2009
The stupidest idea ever! A new low! Now that content creators are hurting, let's attack their meager incomes! On a weekend yet when they count on 90 per cent of their weekly sales! Nice going — morons.
Baily
Nov 5th, 2009
Er Step up isn’t going to do much good either. How many texture will you upload the day after, how many did you upload the day before. Pointless don’t you think
annie paster
Nov 5th, 2009
wow this amzazing lets do it ! i may just blog on music!
annie
Nov 5th, 2009
after reading soem comment there soem good point insend stoping sales and buying L we need show linden labs we are one but maybe in a way we can personal shut this down , but starting a campain at that noob island where new users come and inform them aswell and show them that they dont have to steal that they can get "job" in sl to buy that somethign special becuase i know many girls that say i want clothes all those nice thign but dont know the information behind what take get all that and jsut say ill get surgar daddy or get stolen content because it easyer then working we need stop that thinking biteing the hand that feed use "LL" may not full help we need infom new users and show do everytihgn we can , then maybe LL can see that hey this is a issue and the users are trying stop this and you know what lets do soemthign
that or dont log on for a whole week?
but that be bit hard and crazy hehe
Roblem Hogarth
Nov 5th, 2009
IMO the bigger focus of the Step Up! group was the informational parties going on now. Bonfires, fireworks, music and information. As far as the "no uploads for designers" that was meant as an act of solidarity among designers rather than some kind of a "killing blow" to linden labs.
Merlynn D
Nov 6th, 2009
exactly. how does it help me or hurt LL for me not to sell any items for 2 days? I'll just have to BUY LINDENS ANYWAY to pay my shop tier — so how does it hurt LL?
Cat
Nov 6th, 2009
would have been better to all drop notecards or textures onto M Linden, Removals Linden, JP Linden etc..
goob
Nov 6th, 2009
totally useless I'm afraid :[
Monolock
Nov 6th, 2009
There is a bit of irony in the fact that 'Artists Voice' associates itself to 'Step up! Against Content Theft' by using the same date and 'Step up!' Nicky Ree is opening her Annual Sale 2009.
Looking at the feeds this whole thing is utterly useless, but at least people talk about it and thereby spreading the awareness. Next thing would be to come up with a concept to really reach the lindens.
Man_In_A_Skirt
Nov 6th, 2009
Unless i don't buy new L$ I don't see what difference it will make. If I have 6000L$ in my account and I see a pair of Stiletto Moody shoes for 6000 L$, whether I buy it or not doesn't make a difference, either way, LL still has my 6000L$ whether it is in my account or Stiletto Moody's account.
As Mockba_the_Borg says, it would be a more noticeable protest to have a Cash Out weekend instead. Where everybody cashes in their Lindens. But the only problem with this is that it could bankrupt LL as it could reduce any liquidity they have to pay for their overheads and force them to shut down.
Besides, it's obvious that M Linden's 'master vision' is to get into bed with the Fortune 500 companies. Not by being a company that treats its customers well, but by associating itself with successful brands that DO treat their customers well. I suppose his father doesn't like the idea that his son is the CEO of a game company, working on a product for us lowlife gamers when he could be smoking cigars with the big boys.
I say we protest for Mark Kingon (M Linden) to step down as CEO, it's plain obvious that Philip Rosedale is too scared to fire him.
Cajsa
Nov 6th, 2009
People are well aware that uploads will happen before and after the no uploads day and that purchases will bracket the commerce moratorium – but that blip or downward tick on the commerce stats could be an effective measure of intensity of support for combating theft.
3blahs1whatever
Nov 8th, 2009
You know what I would like to see? A petition to SL shop owners to make their shop PAYMENT INFO ON FILE ONLY access. Dont play a guessing game, send out notecards and have shop owners who wish to participate send in a notecard back. That way theres an idea of who/how many people, will be doing it.
I think payment info on file access to stores is something that will encourage people to submit some form of verification if they want access to content.
There is no denying that the MAJORITY of thieves have blank, unaccountable, profiles.
Man_In_A_Skirt
Nov 9th, 2009
Yeah, and SL residents have been complaining for years about LL opening up membership to everyone without verification, why not just use the available tools that LL have given us to make SL a verified and safe place to live in?
3blahs1whatever
Nov 9th, 2009
Exactly.
Also, many people use shop land to hang out on, so they would be in the company of other verified individuals.
This doesnt only have to be limited to shop owners, but land owners as well who host common areas.
Yea, it closes off access to innocent people, but its not hard to submit payment info. And like I said, you may lose some sales and upset people now, but if people really cared about this, in the long run, this is a move worth trying out.
Man_In_A_Skirt
Nov 9th, 2009
the point is to make SL less attractive to potential griefers and thieves. Most of the people who I've met and who I've remained friends with have payment information on record.
I urge everyone reading this to do the same, and check their friends profiles, they'll MOST probably likely discover that they all have payment info.
And people should stop renting stores from malls who refuse to change their access to payment info only.
Educause 09, Copyright/IP in Virtual Worlds, Dusan’s War « Fleep's Deep Thoughts
Nov 8th, 2009
[...] responded to the lawsuit filed by SexGen bed maker this week, a group of content creators staged a 48 hour period of creating nothing to protest content theft, Ben Duranske urged everyone to register their copyright with the US government, and the very [...]