But IRL my beleif is that you speak where you’re standing. If I were to visit another country, I think it’d be only fair for me to have to speak their language… You’re virtually standing on their land so you should follow their rules.

“ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER, DO YOU SPEAK IT?!?”

XD

@ Amy Pritchard

I honestly think you bungled this one up pretty badly. I think you damaged the WB brand rather than promote it, a huge mea culpa for WB and your company. For your information “English” is not the official language of the US. There is no “official” language and if you travel to places like New York City or even Miami; you will hear the language of many different countries being spoken even “here in America”. But that is not what is the heart of the matter. What is the heart of the matter that is the intolerance for other cultures that is stated right here on this blog. “Of course, this begs the question of why anyone would want to speak in a way that is largely not understandable by the rest of the group.”

Second Life users span all over the globe and comes from every country of the world. So it is extremely small minded and ignorant to think that English should be the only language that is spoken on a sim that holds public events. As an international company that represents various interests abroad; I think the mistake Warner Brothers made was hiring a company that is very limited in its vision and doesn’t understand the meaning of “global community”. Quite frankly, I find this company practices within the metaverse which it is suppose to be an expert on a bit counter intuitive to the principles it was founded upon.

Lunata Lupino was treated in an extraordinarily MEAN nay, EVIL way. and I will NOT be able to forget who did it, and why. Such intolerance CANNOT be ignored!

I also have the pleasure to know Lunata Lupino who is such a nice and gentle person.

However I think is important to leave my opinion here, as it could has happened to any of us.

Of course private sims can have the rules the owners decide.

But when the owners decide to allow public access, they should send the rules or publish them, mostly if they are as ridiculous as the ones we are talking about.

It is hard to believe an important corporation as Warner Brothers, has retrograde, hatefull, unnethical and ridiculous rules.

How fair it is to ask someone to change their language, change their culture, change the way they talk to their friends…?

I am glad to read that most of the people here is against discrimination. Lets try to make it history.

Mein Kommentar (Vorsicht! Satirisch!):
*Schalom, mein Sprach-Führer*

1) the landrules have been public published
2) the stuff was asked to stay consequently friendly and polite
(nethertheless an offending visitor might have been rude)
3) they have been only allowed to eject someone when visitors massively acted against rules
writing racistic comments, personal insults, or sexual abuse

And as someone commented, we didnt care so much if anyone tried to break the rules in Urdu,
because nobody would have *got* it.

In my opinion, the ban on communicating in *mothertongue* is ethical questionable
and encroaches upon the right of free speech and mind.

But if understand well, Lunata was banned because she chatted with her German friend not in English.

Just as in RL, when I walk for example through Manhatten nobody expects that a police officer understand my Italian, but I can expect to not be expelled for speaking with friends Italian.

As for translators within SL, how many of you can find one that accurately can translate things? It all depends on the phrasing used. Slang words do not translate and tend to be gibberish. And if you do not grammatically type a sentence it can make the translated sentence laughable.

While yes the mods having translators would have been helpful it doesn’t guarantee that the mods would have been able to do their job with increased efficiency in regards to international visitors.

Dass diese Debatte sattt fand in dieser internationalen Welt .. es ist eine Schande

Que ce débat pourrait avoir lieu dans ce monde international .. c’est une honte

Que este debate hubiera podido tener lugar en este mundo internacional .. es una vergüenza

Dat dit debat kon plaatsvinden in deze internationale wereld .. het is een schande

eg… you might not use the word shit in front of your parents. A franco would probably not feel too much of a problem saying merde in front of theirs. I may be wrong, but I don’t get the silly prudishness feelings from non-anglos that I do from anglos.

And hey…. could somebody put the corporate and other names for these mod guys at the top of this page in a big h1 tag… that way their future clients can read this page before they sign a contract.

“If we strongly disagree with any rules, we can work to persuade our client to change the rules” (Amy) which she didn’t in this case. It speaks volumes about Amy’s view of the world that she never questioned this rule. It speaks volumes that she interpreted this rule as to eject people instead of ‘moderating’ by supplying her squad with translators and giving out translators to the visitors. She not even bothered to make these rules public on arrival in the sim or through other means.

Reading Amy statement made me very angry. She obviously is a condescending and patronizing person, xenophobe with even racist tendencies. She still sees the global community in the internet from the imperialistic pov of the 19th century. Her idea of community is not bringing together people by emphasizing their uniqueness but by leveling everything under the “Queen’s English” (Amy) (that she even has this term in her head freaks me out).

I would re-post Amy’s statement here at SCD as a new topic … maybe I am off here and it is professional and asks the correct questions, but I feel as a non-American kicked in my ass by these words.

Basically saying: Why on earth would someone not want to speak english if someone who is speaking english is around (I’d file that condescending remark under: ignorance)
And: If we don’t eject people someone else would be hired and eject them (This goes in: utter stupidity, and we have all heared the phrase “I was just following orders”)
If this statement wouldn’t be so delusional on what the actual problem is here i would call it ‘very terrifying’ how they define their job.

Sorry, but this sounds like the same *animal* to me, it has just a prettier face.
I believe the comment was meant to be nice, but reading between the lines
it shows us *foreigners* the mental disposition of the writer.

Quote*
……There was a group of German girls who we all knew and spoke excellent English
that refused to comply but he did not ban them……..
…..they came around and became a part of the “family” we had developed in the club….
end Quote*

So they have been *brave girls*?

My first thought was: is that arrogance, ignorance or (what i truly hope) just naivety?!
Telling us, this episode happened on a German SIM where the owner was polite enough
to find a common intersection, well knowing from experience,
english people are seldom able to communicate multilingual.

Elizabeth’s reflects about some girls who did nothing else what many other people do here.
They just DO NOT WANT to make any efforts in foreign languages only for pleasing those
who make a POSITIVE show-off from having NOT learned more than their own language…

I was remembered on the *good missionaries* stories
where natives have been *convinced* how to *behave right*

Prize: becoming a member of the *better* community

********

Thanks again to all of you!

Lunata Lupino waves friendly across the big ocean….

I never expected anyone to bow his spine in switching only for me to MY language as you pointed out.

My principle: Short arms, no cookies!

If i don’t understand, my problem. (No cookies)
If i am interested to understand, be creative and find a way WITHOUT bothering the other side.
(Cookies!)

I didn’t meet ANYBODY here in all that time who demanded that.

NOT BEFORE i accidently dropped in that girlie-Sim.
I have to admit, never having heard about that place before, also not about that TV-show.

So I looked in Wikipedia and now i believe to understand why over there such governesses are needed!
(avoiding by aim the term *moderator*, which i learned has to have skills
in moderating and not in just sanctioning)

Correct me, if i am wrong.
The target group is suggested to be on a middle teeenage mental status?

Contradiction, sanity-and-reason not appreciated?
Otherwise imposing sanctions?
What an interesting system…

Poor me, i JUST wanted to listen Cosmic Haystack’s wonderful tunes!
And not for playing a Kindergarten-Rolegame.

After my *lesson*, I make a formal apology, not having been immediately conform.
That such *rules* actually exist i didn’t know.
Throwing ashes on my head, wearing a hair shirt i whisper humbly begging:
Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…

Not all the time in SL you are willing or able to speak a *foreign* language.
It is WORK, regardless whether you are practiced or fluent.
And its annoying for us too that its often simply assumed,
especially when you see no grain of effort on the *opposite* side.

For that reason i was really pleased to meet one of the rare exceptions on this
Cosmic Haystac concert and I tried to reply politely this nice *reaching-hand-gesture*.

Sometimes also *foreign* users just want to relax and enjoy, without Working.
Furthermore please think about, for most Europeans its late night on such venues,
and not everyone of us is able or willing to switch *tacky taky* in foreign languages after a long day.
Searching in invent for an english-named translator-tool which produces more laughs than sense?
Sometimes you just want to enjoy the company of friends surrounded by good music and a lazy chit chat.

Was astonishing to me that you cannot imagine.
Let me broaden your horizon:
Several reasons occur immediately (to me),
because not all what is presented in SecondLife is textbased…

i would like to give you a few examples:

- visual and audio crossover experiences
- a live concert of a good musician, which was public announced
- visiting the the work of other engaged and skilled 3-D artists and illustrators
- collecting impressions how other countries display their culture in the SecondLife platform

*It is curious that he/she is screaming about the fairness and equality
that Second Life fosters as a virtual world ….*

Don’t be worried about me, I didn’t scream, neither at home nor in public,
I just shared my “exceptional gossip-girl-SIM-experience* with some friends.

That this blog comes out of that, i didn’t expect.
But it shows YOU now, it seems to be a *matter* what happened on that SIM.

And come on, complaining about passing chatlogs, which show up this hard-to-believe-case?
First time i meet such a thin-skinned lawyer.

I took and will also take my freedom in future, telling all friends i know
what happened to me on this SIM.

Amy, you seem to be a young American woman.
Let me explain something to you from my point of view:
This episode was something where especially Berliners react exceedingly sensitive,
because we have been taught by the American soldiers and other occupation powers
NEVER to take ANY order AGAIN which is obviously against free speech and free mind.
And still we appreciate the support we got after those dark years of paralysis.

We learned our historical lesson, not to accept the smallest begin of suppression in being different.
History showed, it begins in small grains, but grows to an huge evil – if nobody stands up.

First of all, thank you for your support and that you made the effort
in spending your time to write down your thoughts.

In this thread were made some assumptions which i would like to reply
because indirectly was speculated about me.

*********
Dancien, you made me smile in all my anger with your fast and unprepared Borat-like-action.
Ok, it wasn’t a subtle way – what some writers complain here,
but if you are in a hurry and upset, don’t they follow their first intentions too?

And i don’t believe you wanted to grief a special SIM because you *just don’t like it*,
neither that you have been bored and needed something to write about.

You chose an exceptional and illustrative way.

It seems to me, you felt the same like other political sensitive people do:
Something evil is going on here which might easily effect all of us, if we let it grow.

if u dont work with thi rule, you could go away.

i am wondering what you wanted…. could be just cause troubles…lol