Am I just behind the times?

Photo: Teleny Macarthur

So I’ve been running Clover’s Kitchen for something to the tune of 3 and a half years now. One of the things that I do, that I’ve been doing since the beginning, is manually inviting customers one-by-one into the shop group. I don’t believe in using Subscribe-O-Matics because they make it difficult for an unwilling customer to leave (click and “leave group” from the comfort of your own home is way simpler), they’re abused and mistrusted, and they rely on sending notecards. Nobody usually READS notecards.

The oldschool SL group, on the other hand, enables me to program my vendors so that group members get special deals (like the monthly group-only dollarbie); they get the message and a LM right away, logged on or not, and–most importantly to me–they are in the group because they actively chose to be.

And so at least once per week I round up the names of those who have made a purchase from me, and one by one, I add them to the “invite” list for the shop group. Then I send the invitation. Those who are already in, never get the duplicate invitation (god damn, LL did something logical! Good going!). Those who want in, click “accept”. Those who don’t, click “decline”. The list gets purged, life goes on. In the three and a half years of using this method, I’ve gotten two complaints from people.

The second arrived just a short while ago. I got IMed: “please im me before spanning me.” I hope she’s all right with me ignoring her and closing the chat because that struck me as the kindest and most honest thing I could do. Like I say, if you don’t want in the group, I don’t want you in it either. So… click “decline”.

So am I just behind the times here? I figured a quick opt-in group invite sent once would be way less rude than, say, IMing her out of the blue first. She apparently does not agree. And I think it’s way WAY less rude than my just putting you on a list for a Spam-o-Matic machine that spits notecards at you whether you like it or not, and forcing you to come back into the shop in order to (hope that you) remove yourself from said list.

Am I mistaken?

Mistletoe wants YOU!

Hey, in case you haven’t heard, SL9B is looking for people! People to exhibit, people to perform shows, people to work as greeters, people to make SL9B freebies, people to spread the word!

Consider this your official call to duty! Go to http://sl9b.wordpress.com right now. And the next time you’re inworld, make sure you join the SL9B group: The SLB Community. Yes I know I hate it when group names start with “the”. But it does. And your mission is to join up and help us make SL9B the best yet!

Why should you bother, you ask? Because this is our chance to prove that we residents can throw a bigger, funner, more organized party than Linden “we’re making it all about you so fuck off” Lab could ever dream of throwing. This celebration is done by us, for us. And “us” includes you!

Hey, want to make your own poster like mine? Download this template from Dropbox, open it in Photoshop or Gimp, and put your own menacing mug in there! And spread the word!

Edit May 28 to add:
I had too much fun. Some of my pictures I shot for this poster came out better than others. Here’s a parody poster I made with one of the “other”s.

Sort it out.

So, did I tell you guys the one about the time I was offered multiple free regions in a new up-and-coming grid?

It started on the Tweety Tweets when I was asked what I’d do if I had my very own free Hypergrid-enabled region.

As I go on about this, let’s play a fun game together.  Any time this grid does something like LL has done in the past 4 or 5 years, take a drink.  Just a heads-up: little sips.

The Carrot.

Curious, I got to tweeting back and forth with him and as it turns out the guy runs a social website for things SL and OS related, and said if I were willing to blog for said website, I’d get my own free region (“or two or three or four”) in this new grid.

Well blogging is hardly what I’d call work.  If Dire Straits had written the song Money For Nothing twenty years later, and if by Dire Straits I mean me, then it would have been about blogging.  I write about anything and everything because I enjoy it, because it’s fun, and because I get to hear myself talk. So I figured, what the heck, let’s give it a try.  I’d keep the rule that the second he asked me for a dime, I pull up stakes and walk.

Sure enough, within a few days, I was shown my very own first region.  And the guy said to me, I can have as many as I’m willing to develop.  So the next day, plan firmly in mind, I asked for two or three more and described what I had planned.

The Stick.

That was when I was told, oh, well, turns out we don’t know how we’re going to make revenue on this yet(!) so you can still have the one region you were promised (just no more of the ones you were promised) for free. But if you want some more, they’ll be $12 a month.

SL9B Preparations

OK, before talking about SL9B, I’ll back the truck up a little bit and clue in those of you who are even further out of the loop than I tend to be.

SL9B refers to Second Life’s 9th anniversary celebration. The actual anniversary is on June 23rd. I personally have only attended one previous year’s event, and that was SL8B, last year.

Now, unlike previously, Linden Lab made the executive decision to not host an expo-type celebration this year, but instead decided to have us do the same stuff we do the rest of the year in our own sims and only slap an SL9B tag on it. Or as Mr. Mariner put it, a sort of grid-wide hunt celebration.

I hate grid-wide hunts. THERE I SAID IT.

But what I hated more was the Lab saying “We’re making it ALL ABOUT YOU!” Because they’re making nothing about nobody; they’re just saying “have at, kiddies!”

Many residents, yours truly among them, were less than pleased with that.

However, unlike yours truly, there are some who would rather solve problems than just bitch about them. And so some truly inspiring and gutsy folks have taken it upon themselves to REALLY make it all about us.

So, for residents and by residents, there will indeed be a commonly-located SL9B event. Last I read, no fewer than 20 sims have been donated for use by various generous donors. And because I reside in the suburbs of The Greater Loop Area, there may indeed be more that I just don’t know about yet.

This year’s theme is Community. And now, thanks to the residents running this shindig, it really is.

Now. I really want to tell you all about what I’ve got in the works for Antique Square’s build (as it is they with whom I’ve thrown my lot this year). I would love to describe all the little victories between now and the big day.

But I’m of the opinion that it’s a thing so very cool, so steeped in awesomesauce, that I just can’t give away any spoilers yet. I am hopeful that when you do see it you’ll find it as awesome-flavored as I do.

OK OK OK, just one tiny ittybitty taste.