November 5 - Just My Opinion
There has been a lot of press on the November 5th boycott to spotlight content theft. Here is the latest post I've seen -- just in case you've been under that proverbial rock. I have nothing against the effort and I have luckily missed the controversy.
Should you go along with the eight step program for 24-48 hours? That's absolutely up to you. Since the only thing I actually DO on a regular basis is blog, I am pretty much out of the equation. True I have a few products on Xstreet and a few vendors in my studio, but going through all the effort to take them off the wall and shutting off my seldom used Xstreet account isn't on my personal list.
It's not that I don't want to be supportive. I am against content theft. I just don't see how any of the advocated steps is going to make more than the tiniest ripple. First of all, if the general statistics on blogs is correct then only about 5 percent of SL(R) users even read the blogs -- let alone the fashion blogs. If half of the people reading go along with the idea (admittedly a stretch as most folks just want to do their own thing and not worry about "issues"), that is less than 2.5% of SL citizens. And each person would not be doing all eight of the items on the following list in that given time span.
So let's call that a 1 percent decrease overall. Heaven's let's say everyone reading the articles anywhere agreed and complied and call it a 10% boycott. That seems to really be stretching it, but hey, it could happen.
Originally I read this was for two days; the article sited above seems to mention both one and two day timelines, but it really doesn't matter much. If after a day or two everyone goes back and buys the lindens they didn't buy, sells the lindens they didn't sell, purchases the products they were planning on two days later --- you get the idea.
History has shown that The Lab simply doesn't care. If half of the content creators throw up their hands and leave, maybe they would give the issue some serious thought, but I can't see that this will do a bit of good. I'm not advocating anyone leaving. That is a personal matter and each designer needs to choose whether this is an issue that bothers them SO strongly that they are no longer willing to continue.
We are here by choice. Sometimes the rules change without our approval. That is very much a part of any life -- virtual or real. We can work around problems as much as we can. We can decide that we are no longer willing to take part in a system we don't agree with.
The system IS faulty; I doubt anyone would refute that. I just can't see how this will make a bit of difference. I've had my designs stolen in the real world; I have fought and sometimes won - sometimes not. We are talking bigger bucks here, so I DO understand the issues, and I do feel for the parties that have been hurt. I just can't convince myself that this will help.
Should you go along with the eight step program for 24-48 hours? That's absolutely up to you. Since the only thing I actually DO on a regular basis is blog, I am pretty much out of the equation. True I have a few products on Xstreet and a few vendors in my studio, but going through all the effort to take them off the wall and shutting off my seldom used Xstreet account isn't on my personal list.
It's not that I don't want to be supportive. I am against content theft. I just don't see how any of the advocated steps is going to make more than the tiniest ripple. First of all, if the general statistics on blogs is correct then only about 5 percent of SL(R) users even read the blogs -- let alone the fashion blogs. If half of the people reading go along with the idea (admittedly a stretch as most folks just want to do their own thing and not worry about "issues"), that is less than 2.5% of SL citizens. And each person would not be doing all eight of the items on the following list in that given time span.
- 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)
So let's call that a 1 percent decrease overall. Heaven's let's say everyone reading the articles anywhere agreed and complied and call it a 10% boycott. That seems to really be stretching it, but hey, it could happen.
Originally I read this was for two days; the article sited above seems to mention both one and two day timelines, but it really doesn't matter much. If after a day or two everyone goes back and buys the lindens they didn't buy, sells the lindens they didn't sell, purchases the products they were planning on two days later --- you get the idea.
NOTHING HAS REALLY CHANGED!
History has shown that The Lab simply doesn't care. If half of the content creators throw up their hands and leave, maybe they would give the issue some serious thought, but I can't see that this will do a bit of good. I'm not advocating anyone leaving. That is a personal matter and each designer needs to choose whether this is an issue that bothers them SO strongly that they are no longer willing to continue.
We are here by choice. Sometimes the rules change without our approval. That is very much a part of any life -- virtual or real. We can work around problems as much as we can. We can decide that we are no longer willing to take part in a system we don't agree with.
The system IS faulty; I doubt anyone would refute that. I just can't see how this will make a bit of difference. I've had my designs stolen in the real world; I have fought and sometimes won - sometimes not. We are talking bigger bucks here, so I DO understand the issues, and I do feel for the parties that have been hurt. I just can't convince myself that this will help.
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