Chicken Little - The Openspace is Falling

"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

Unless you live under a rock and missed this, the SL public is having hissy fits over Jack Linden's announcement last night, Openspace Pricing and Policy Changes. The blogosphere, group chats, twitters, plurks, forums, and any other way of discussing Second Life is all a buzz with outcry, tears, anger, and threats of lawsuits. While we support opinions of all sorts, even our blunt view of the world, I have never seen so many misinformed people in my life.

There is an old business saying: buyer beware. The parameters for the use of Openspace is clearly defined at Information on Openspaces where it states that openspaces are for: for light use only, not for building, living in, renting as homes or use for events. Where does this give you the impression that these would be great investments to build your business on? In fact, quite the opposite is stressed. It says it right there: Not for Building.

I saw one designer plurking how angry she was that all those people abusing the sim have ruined it for their business. This designer owns an Openspace and uses it for her business renting out what they do not use for others. Hello? Earth to designer? You are one of those people they were talking about when they said there are people abusing Openspace.

Buyer beware! Never buy anything without reading the fine print or large print in this case. You all knew the guidelines because it says it right there in black and white. If you chose to ignore the purpose of these sims, then this is your own fault and not Linden Lab. If you lease a car for 36 months/36,000 miles, and you put 50,000 miles on the car you are going to have to pay. The dealership doesn't warn you that you are about to be charged because you agreed to the rules when you leased the car. This is no different with the exception that people using Openspace for legit reasons are being punished as well.

A vast majority of those complaining are the very people that have caused this issue in the first place. I have been on Openspaces that are used for open water(sailing) and for wooded areas(great for photos). These Openspace owners are the ones who are going to suffer because of the majority of Openspace owners are not using them properly.

People are whining about how unfair this all is to them. If you used it properly, this price change would not be happening. Those of you griping over your businesses should turn around and apologize to those using them properly for giving them the shaft.

This is not Jack Linden screwing you all, it is those abusing the use of Openspace screwing you all. Place the blame where it belongs.

Update: Apparently people are rallying to file false complaints against Linden Lab with the FTC. This is not LL's fault but your own. They have done nothing wrong but try to protect their servers. You have violated this by overloading them. I am pretty sure when you agreed to buy it there was some nice fine print that said something about "subject to change without warning" because there always is.

See what others are saying:
Are the recent changes in Openspace sim pricing a sign of more price increases to come?
Avoid the Voids - Lessons in Lindenomics
Concierge Customs Take Angry Protest to Nautilus Waterfront
Death of a Dream
Drop Dead, Part Deux: Openspace Sim Owners, BOHICA/
Für Openspace-Besitzer wird’s 2009 teuer!
Goodbye Openspace sims as you know them
I am Jack's overloaded infrastructure. I break. The grid dies.
I am leaving SL
Jack Bombs the Hunker Bunkers
Linden Lab Has Its Business Model Ass Backward
Linden Lab Betrays Consumer Market
Linden Lab changes Openspace(and for the better)
Linden Lab changes pricing/policy on void simulators
Linden Lab instigate price rises: backlash plus
Linden Lab Screws Estate Owners, Again
Linden Labs to destroy sailing and aeronautical interest in SL
Linden Labs make another f**k-up!
Linden Lands screws us over once again
Linden Research, Inc. sleight of hand
Lost in the Void: Unexpected Virtual Land Price Hike Leads To Anti-Linden Protest, Self-Immolation
New Void Sim Price Hike will destroy the foundation of themed sims in Second Life
Open Space Sims = Death of SL
OMG!
Openspace Announcement Discussion with Jack Linden
Openspace in your face
Real Estate Crashes In Second Life, Too: Linden Lab’s Bailout Plan
Shouting Into the Void
Thanks, LL
Virtual Betrayal
Will much beauty be lost forever?
WTF LL of the Day: Openspace Sim Smackdown

Rumour has it

Darlings, it is time, once again, to look at the rumour bag.

Rumour has it, that a freebie store owner has a past history of child play. (true)

Rumour has it that the mysterious disappearance of a controversial blogger is the work of their enemies. (ransom has been paid)

Rumour has it that an old school designer is planning a coup and making their own grid. (true)

Rumour has it a clothing designer is being targeted in a hate smear campaign. (maybe)

Rumour has it a certain jewelry designer pretends to be sweet on the outside but is really the sourest of apples on the inside. (perhaps)

Rumour has it a certain photographer is trying to run their competition out of business. (maybe)

Rumour has it that a certain freebie blogger has can be as vicious as a wolverine. (true)

Rumour has it that fashion blogger has allowed her SLebrity status go to her head and forgotten all about the people she stepped on to get there. (true)

Rumour has it that a particular designer is sweet as honey unless you go after on of their friends and then they turn into a viper, ready to kill with poison words. (true)

Rumour has it that we are secretly a pair of Lindens that have access to your inventories. (Muahahahaha!)

Way Off Topic: Have you always wanted to comment on a blog but were afraid of the fallout? Never fear. Anonymouse is here. While this will not work on all blogs for the most part it gives you a chance at privacy. This is also wonderful for those trying to get around work filters.

Rumour has it

There are more and more rumours flying about.

Rumour has it, that some top named designers are frauds. (true)

Rumour has it that Bianca's alt has more fun than mine. (lies, I tell you, lies)

Rumour has it that an old school designer is a diva-bitch-royale and when other designers do not bow down to her, she stamps her feet and quits their projects. (true)

Rumour has it a certain gossipy blog has jumped-the-shark and died. (maybe)

Rumour has it a certain jewelry store knows full well the truth about their DMCA problems and is very lucky the filer cannot afford a lawyer. (true)

Rumour has it a talented builder/designer has a serious crush on a blogger/designer. (maybe)

Rumour has several designers are trying to open a new shopping area with disastrous results. (maybe)

Rumour has it that a dedicated designer is pretending to represent a charity and pocketing the money for themselves. (maybe)

Rumour has it Elle has a crush on a animation designer's bf. (true)

Rumour has it that we are secretly a pair of Lindens that spy on all your groups. (Muahahahaha!)

Lioness: Queen of the Scammers

Darlings, some people just need to quit while they are ahead or behind as the case may be.

This is the story of a Lioness named Sarabi Spatula. She owned a little piece of SL called the .25 Cent Shop. This little shop closed and her hair became one of the standard full perm freebies that can be obtained at any freebie place. Thy style is called Destiny(circa August 2006). Admit it all of you older ladies, this style was one of your first flexi hairs.

The lioness then opened up Sarabi Designs selling inexpensive hair and accessories. Early in March of 2007 she announced that "Sarabi Designs is closing down. Today. Unfortunate RL problems, stuff like that. All my hair and jewelry is marked down to 10L$ atm so hurry down and grab some if you wish. I honestly cant promise when it will be gone, could be in a hr, could be more, but definitely today. Oh, and if anyone wants to buy my business, the cost is 19,999. Full perms. Not exclusive. Send an IM. There was 1 major problem with this closing. The fine print reads Not Exclusive. The buyers who paid the lioness all this money ended up with a worthless pile of prims. The hair was released in less than 1 week as free and full perm all over the grid. This was the beginning of the Business in a Box epidemic. You all know the hair by now: anamaria, baby, handlebars, knot, minerva, miss mess, princess, sixties, spirit 2, and valentina. You can recognize a noob by how proudly they wear this hair.

This is where our story gets a bit scammish. The last week of March, less than 2 weeks after closing down. Sarabi McMahon opens a shop called Tangles. We are not fooled by the name because she still sells some of the styles that she had at her previous store. I wonder how this must have felt to those whom she had just ripped off. She took their money and did not run very far at all. This too closed down.

The end of June the lioness opened another shop. This time the shop was called Runway and was supposed to be all about clothing and skins. At this point we have to wonder why she is bothering. After much controversy over her use of, ironically, Business in a Box items and other such drama, the lioness closed her doors for good...

Or so we thought. Last week Sarabi McMahon has announced that she has opened a new store with the revolutionary name of Sarabi. At this point, Darlings, why bother? Most of the designers at the time of her hair store closure(store #2) decided it was greed that caused her to oversell her business and create the first Business in a Box. Many believe that she used alts to undercut the industries so she could make more money on the deal. Even after she knew that her buyers held worthless products, she was sell her full perm set for a $500L donation on SlX. With scandal overshadowing the last 15 months, you would have to wonder why she would open another store with her name.

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Darlings, we see that Miss Spatula/McMahon has "friends" to defend her honour in the form of so-called hair people. I think they need to go back to worrying about themselves. The own stores where one makes the designs and the other pretends to make the designs. Is pretend too harsh of a word? Let us rephrase, where one modifies templates to make designs. How is this much different from the one they are defending?