I Guess today is my day to write letters

Dear™ Qarl™ Linden™,

I™ read™ on™ Hamlet's™ fabulous™ blog™ that™ you™ are™ going™ to™ do™ things™ differently™. Let™ me™ offer™ some™ advice™.

Start™ your™ diet™ today™.

I™ mean™ that™. Don't™ say™ that™ there™ will™ be™ an™ initiative™ later™, start™ today™ to™ change™ the™ culture™ at™ LL™ by™ your™ statements™ and™ public™ demeanor™. It's™ always™ better™ to™ start™ today™, the™ day™ you™ look™ down™ on™ the™ little™ numbers™ on™ the™ scale™, and™ they™ tell™ you™ things™ you™ didn't™ want™ to™ know™. Don't™ cut™ out™ the™ extra™ fast™ food™ meal™ next™ week™, do™ it™ this™ week™. Don't ™let™ things™ SL™ip until™ later™, because™ it™ will™ only™ make™ matters™ worse™.

The™ thing™ you™ have™ to™ realize™ is™ that™ information™ travels™ very™ SL™owly™ in™ Second Life™. It™ travels™ SL™owly because™ of™ the™ lack™ of™ broadcast™, because™ of™ the™ difficulty™ of™ pulling™ in™ web™ sources™ in™ to™ SL©®@p™, and™ because™ in™ world™ search™ is™ broken™. Because™ LL™ sucks™ up™ most™ ad™ revenue™ there™ is™ much™ less™ for™ news™ coverage™. Yes™, we™ are™ addicts™, but™ you™ can™ only™ pressure™ the™ market™, you™ can't™ make™ it™ go™ away™. There is no such thing as free sex. And™ there™ is™ always™ a™ cost™. The™ cost™, in™ your™ case™ is™ that™ when™ you™ want™ to™ get™ the™ message™ out™, the™ very™ things™ that™ your™ company™ has™ done™ to™ extract™ excess™ consumer™ surplus™ are™ getting™ in™ your™ way™. A™ certain™ overly™ broad™ trademark™ policy™ being™ a™ good™ example™. You™ say™ you™ want™ better™ opensource (not™ tm™!), but™ really™ we™ know™ that™ means™ it™ is™ open™ until™ you™ take™ it™ away™ for™ "any reason, or no reason at all."

We™ can't™ trust™ you™, Qarl™ because™ you™ make™ us™ agree™ to™ a™ contract™ of™ adhesion™ that™ says™ you™ are™ no™ more™ to™ be™ relied™ upon™ than™ a™ wife™ beater™ on™ meth-amphetamines.

Ok, so I was a mean girl about this, but let me be as direct as possible. LL isn't getting something for nothing by pushing unconscionable contracts, yes that is the legal term of art, on people who value their anonymity so will not seek redress in court. Instead, what they do is they hit back in other ways. Those other ways are what you see in the pages of the press. Don't you realize that some of the people writing negatively about you come here to engage in sex play? Don't you realize that some of their friends do? Don't you realize that as long as LL behaves in a manner which is below the the, already low, standards of trust and ethics in the computer industry, that people will have no trouble engaging in retaliation which they would ordinarily not consider?

You want people to engage in the gift economy, and yet, LL says that what is ours is yours if you see fit to take it away from us,

For any reason, or no reason at all.™

Not exactly the words you want to be your trademark, hmmm?


Sincerely Yours,




Lillie Yifu


(Use of Whitespace does not disparage the trademark on white space™ held by the Republican Party USA.)