Comments on: VTOR commenting policy to be openly discussed Friday 1/12/07 10pm GMT

By: VTOR site updates and 1/12/07 meeting agenda » VTOR - Virtual TO Reality

VTOR site updates and 1/12/07 meeting agenda » VTOR - Virtual TO Reality — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 16:21:12 +0000

[...] As mentioned earlier this week VTOR readers are invited to attend today’s event too and offer their thoughts on what they think should be our official comment policy be like or if we should have one at all. There will be an audio stream that coincides with our weekly adult webmaster radio show Script School Radio (#314) streamed live on the VTOReality parcel. [...]

By: TD Goodliffe

TD Goodliffe — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 03:56:56 +0000

Good thoughts Kami, thanks for sharing.

By: Kami Harbinger

Kami Harbinger — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 03:33:33 +0000

I’ve had public disagreements with Prokofy that haven’t ended in hatred and recriminations. As with anyone, it’s simply a matter of treating him as a reasonable person on at least some subjects (and as with anyone, that assumption may or may not be true, but civilized conversation depends on treating it as true), and recognizing that while he might very well be wrong about some things, he has plausible reasons from his own experience for believing them to be true. Meanwhile, if you listen to the last SecondCast where one of the Sheep just completely shut down any polite conversation that mentioned Prokofy, and finally hung up to avoid hearing any contrary opinions, you do not hear that basic respect for another person.

The bans from the SL forums, SL blog, and now SL Insider are foolish, as they force Prokofy to post, unchecked by opposing opinion, on his own blog, and increasingly isolate LL and the Electric FIC from Prokofy’s opposing opinions. Are they so unsure of themselves that they can’t hear one voice saying something else?

As for avatar gender, the example from transsexuals and transvestites is to use what someone projects or dresses as, or just ask. Gender is a social role, while sex is a biological classification which doesn’t really apply to avatars. While in RL I’m male, and currently have a fairly male-appearing av, I don’t really care which gender my av (and my ambiguous name) are assigned.

By: TD Goodliffe

TD Goodliffe — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 11:50:25 +0000

I’ve got a prospective title for a post on that, Caliandris: Avatariquette In literary terms anyway when you want to go unisex “he” is considered an acceptable and polite pronoun. Definitely don’t want to disrespect any avatars though and I yield to your guidance on this one. Maybe you can come up with a list of avatiquette to share in a new post? I’d find that information helpful to point to new residents, most certainly.

By: Crissa

Crissa — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 23:29:01 +0000

I love Prokofy’s comments, they’s a great agitator, but they has a tendency to go on at length in comments about things which weren’t the topic of the post… At least in the Linden blog. ..Which can be troublesome for a larger blog.

Currently they seem to be putting more of these comments in their own blog, which I heartily approve. …It’s easier to find the comments there.

By: Caliandris Pendragon

Caliandris Pendragon — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 20:53:39 +0000

I’ve always assumed that it is polite to refer to someone as the sex that they have chosen for themselves in SL, thus I try to refer to Prokofy as a male. It is usually the most straightforward too. It only comes unstuck if someone goes through a crisis of identity and changes avatars frequently, in which case I’m assuming that either sex would be right.

By: TD Goodliffe

TD Goodliffe — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 20:03:10 +0000

I get the sexes in these virtual worlds all mixed up (men playing women, women playing men, yadda, yadda), weirdharold and am opting to use the he pronoun for everybody in SL unless I’ve seen their boobs (j/k of course).

As for wordiness, are you saying I have competition? Grrrr! lol

By: Weirdharold

Weirdharold — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 19:50:05 +0000

TD, I am in perfect agreement with you about the comments. I believe whether one agrees or disagrees with anything I publish, they have the right not only to have their opinion but also the right to comment on it as well.

Prokofy Neva can be extremely long winded with the comment, maybe using more words than are really necessary to achieve the point, often the same as you. Usually the thoughts are very well formed and I can not remember them ever being off topic.

I may dread the day I have to get into a debate with Prokofy, cause Prokofy is a more than adequate word smith, but when that day comes.. I can be certain I have written a piece worthwhile.

Oh! One last thing…. If I am not mistaken HE is a SHE.