Being a creator myself I do get frustrated by Linden Lab and their seemingly impotent approach to supporting the people who make second life what it is. However I find myself far more irritated by the disparate strategies employed by creators themselves. As a ‘community’, and I use the term in its loosest sense, we have always been rather egocentric. It does sometimes seem that for every 100 content creators there are 200 voices, each demanding to be heard and each convinced they know best.  Artists do need a healthy dose of self-confidence of course or they would never release any of their work but somehow Second Life seems to attract many people with a sense of self-importance that is matched only by a stunning lack of any actual ability. Too often it is these people who feel it is their duty to ‘motivate’ the community, only they can show us the way to slay the dragon and by all the gods they will never tire of telling us. Usually, like sheep being chased by a dog, we allow ourselves to be herded oblivious that the dog may have an agenda of its own.

Except this time something is definitely stirring in the belly of the beast!  A group of creators styling themselves “The Artists Voice” have led the call for a 48 hour protest against content theft following the latest high-profile case in which many big name creators had some of their premium content ripped and bundled in a box which was offered as a freebie at the Linden organised Burning Life event. You can read the details HERE in a post on SLUniverse.

In a spectacular instance of overestimating it’s perceived influence “Artists Voice”, a group of [mainly?] fashionista led by the doyenne of drama herself Tenshi Vielle, called upon their members and the creative community at large to STOP on the 5th November. For 48 hours there should be no selling, no buying, no uploads, in fact no L$ transactions at all. In an ultimate show of self-sacrifice (for Ms Vielle herself runs one of SL’s most read fashion blogs) there is to be no blogging for the duration.

My own feelings regarding the stupidity of this knee jerk protest don’t matter in the slightest given that many of the “Artists Voice” rank and file and even more creators loose in the wild were swift to illuminate the “Artists Voice Council”, (NO – I’m not making that up!), as to the magnitude of their displeasure. For once the majority of us sheep (even the tame ones) seem to be giving the dog the finger. Counter protests are springing up all over the place my current favourite being a 48 hour protest sale.

Of course the 48hr STOP protest will go ahead. Ego’s depend on it and I am sure it will be reported as a huge success by at least one large fashion blog. But even if the grumbling of the beast has more to do with self-preservation than any real rebellion against e-celebs getting too big for their virtual boots it still gives me a little hope. Maybe  people really are beginning to understand that not every problem has an easy solution and that those who would lead us into futile battles may just have their own agenda.

Being a solitary creature I was not even aware of “Artists Voice” until this current furore so in that respect I suppose the “debate” has been somewhat successful in introducing them to a wider audience. To be fair after reading the website  their raison d’être does seem to be commendable and the website is informative. However the whole thing seems to be setup as an autocracy rather than a democratic gathering of concerned creators and as a result I can’t help but associate the ‘drama journalism’ style of its leader with the group itself. This of course may be grossly unfair, but given Tenshi’s penchant for shock jock ‘investigative’ blogging and for the ensuing drama it is an association that is going to be hard to shake. Given the lack of judgement shown in their first major ‘action’ I am not persuaded that I am at all wrong.

It could well be said that they are at least doing something. However I maintain that doing nothing is better than doing nonsense.

Your mileage may of course vary.

Humps xx

As explained in the “about” page I have wanted a blog for eons where I could just drone on (and on) about anything and everything. Initially I was going to add a section to my Fab Pads blog but was a tad concerned about posting stuff non SL business related there. Soooo I have grabbed a freebie blog from wordpress.

Let the self opinionated navel gazing begin