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I love technology (at least the parts of it I can use). I love that it doesn’t care about age or physical strength or language. It does, however, come with a large amount of both frustration and risk.
I’m going to create a group title for myself that says “Rez Dammit” – then people would have a PG-filtered insight into my thoughts as I stand there waiting to take a photo. Honestly, it’s been a long time since I had to deal with 2 FPS – I grumbled a lot this morning.
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| Cupcake (moderate) |
The greatest source of annoyance, and even threat, apart from the electronic components to an online life, would be our fellow metaversal travelers. The technology we all embrace not only facilitates our creativity and joy, it also makes it possible for asshats to compromise our virtual existence. They can damage or even delete our pixel lives.
I recently posted↑ about a wonderful place called Grizzly Creek. Morgan Garret↑ creates and sells the most exquisite birds I’ve seen. He also sells his windchimes and stained glass and other wonderful objects, but it was the birds that made me fall in love. What he doesn’t sell are trees. This is important to remember.
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I’ve only spent a short amount of time talking to him, but I can tell you he’s a truly lovely person. He is (publicly acknowledged) a Tlingit living in the Alaskan wilderness, close to nature and very genuine.
His Grizzly Creek build included landscaping materials he had purchased and modified. That’s one of the reasons people buy things with mod rights – they can modify them. :)
He had backed up his build and, through various permutations of the viewer take/save/rez steps the creator name on those modified objects was his. We’ve all experienced this – once you change textures, prims etc., that’s what happens. Again, remember, he wasn’t selling them.
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Somebody decided he was copybotting and notified the original creator of the trees. They accused him of modifying them to steal the objects and then sell them. This is a misunderstanding that I’m sure could have been resolved.
Unfortunately, before that was even possible, somebody cleared his build and hacked his account. His password was changed and the money he’d been saving towards buying his own sim is now out of reach.
He’s still planning to keep his marketplace stall↑ open but is taking time to decide if he will ever return inworld.
A really nice person, with beautiful creations built with a love and passion for nature, has been badly injured by indignation coupled with thoughtlessness. The harm was made possible with the same technology that supported the creative process. I love the fact that we can all make it work, I just wish the bits & bytes checked for common sense before acting on rash commands.
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Indigo Mertel
/ April 29, 2013Ah, this is very sad. Is Morgan the same person who made the birds you posted about some weeks ago? Those are the most beautiful birds I have ever seen in SL. It would be a loss if he decided to leave SL.
I have not personally met Morgan but I trust your judgement. Morgan needs to know that his work is much appreciated and admired and he shouldn’t let this questionable episode hamper his creativity and stop him from sharing his work with fellow SL users. Morgan, please don’t leave.
honourmcmillan
/ April 29, 2013It is the same person and it’s just horrible. :(
Mona Eberhardt
/ April 29, 2013I think the Lindens should receive the infamous Skype call not only from Morgan, but also from those who know and appreciate him… So that the petty little dramacrats will end up being given their due punishment for being the morons they are. Oh, and I also think they should be named and shamed.
honourmcmillan
/ April 29, 2013I just hope it gets sorted and he can get past the hurt feelings etc., the people who did this aren’t known to me, I hope I never encounter them.
lludmila
/ April 29, 2013If his account was hacked, where does the money for his marketplace shop go?
honourmcmillan
/ April 29, 2013The Marketplace Store is managed by and under the account of his sister. :)
ZZ Bottom
/ April 29, 2013Sad World where creation is being menaced by greed!
Seems that some really don’t know the word, sharing to create!
LL could easily change that, making mandatory that all items non transfer should be mod and copy and all would have the right to do with them whatever!
As soon as some enters SL is LL property no matter what any says!
honourmcmillan
/ April 29, 2013It is sad – I guess people don’t recognize the possibilities when they make their products mod, or realize what happens to the details of an item once it has been modified and then saved/re-rezed.
valkendal
/ April 29, 2013Grizzly Creek was just beautiful, and his birds are beyond compare. When I was there I did notice there were trees that I knew were from somewhere else with his name on them, but I was relieved to see they were most certainly not being sold. He seems like a truly wonderful person, and I hope he recovers from this setback and continues to bless us with his creations. Thanks for covering his story :)
honourmcmillan
/ April 29, 2013Thank you for that! :)
Gary Wurzer
/ April 29, 2013pez!
honourmcmillan
/ April 29, 2013LOLOLOL
Xi Larnia
/ April 30, 2013I never knew about grizzly creek. I can only hope I someday get to visit it when the hurt is gone and things have returned to some measure of normalcy. I can only wish him the best of luck and not to let the bastards get him down.. it’s the only way not to let them win
honourmcmillan
/ April 30, 2013I agree with you – I can also understand the hurt when you work so hard on something and some idiot trashes it. I hope he makes it back. :)
Leanna
/ April 30, 2013That’s unbelievable. I’m so sorry and I hope it gets resolved really soon. :(
honourmcmillan
/ April 30, 2013Me too :)
peepsideshow
/ April 30, 2013A friend of mine recently had her account hacked and had all of her inventory deleted. She was able to have the account reinstated and her money returned by LL, but sadly, all of her possessions are gone for good.
I hope Morgan can work with LL at least to reinstate his account and return his money. It’s sad that he would have to start over to recreate Grizzly Creek and I hope he finds the heart to return, but from the ashes…
Mona Eberhardt
/ May 1, 2013Like peepsideshow said earlier, I too do hope that Morgan can find the courage to come back, but it will all be pointless without the griefers who targeted him getting kicked out of SL for good. What they did was an extremely serious violation and they deserve to be banned. And I hold the person who accused Morgan of “copybotting” responsible for this – 10000000%.
Aisling Sinclair
/ May 1, 2013Honour, thanks for this. You introduced me to Morgan’s work and I was instantly, utterly charmed – one of his birds has perched on my shoulder to this day – and I’m sad and angry that some idiot vigilantes have done him harm. There are procedures to follow when creators believe their work has been infringed, Account hacking isn’t one of them.
Like many others, I hope LL can help Morgan achieve justice and that the perps can be made to pay. And I especially hope that Morgan will feel the support of all of us who appreciate him, his work, and his ethics – and choose to come back.
Chuck Baggett
/ May 4, 2013I question the use of the word indignation in the title. I think it should something else. I’m not sure what.
Yordie
/ May 6, 2013This is very sad. I’ve given up hope that LL’s customer service group can respond to any problem appropriately. The hacking is just too much to bear.
honourmcmillan
/ May 6, 2013It is sad – I’m really hoping the support and encouragement he’s getting will help offset the hurt.