You are hanging on a VERY thin thread

I was reading some plurks and stumbled on one from Hyang Zhao, who wanted to reset her password for SL, but seemed to have forgotten her security question. Peter Strindberg wrote a blogpost about it.

So, even when you have a premium account with all your private information, credit card numbers, RL name and address, you can not change your password at LL. It must not be easy for Hyang to find support on that matter since she is Russian, and will have to call to the US, which she already did, but without any result so far.

After being on the grid for more than two years, this proves again what you money is worth to LL, what you are worth to them. You're just an avatar, a genuine pig to them. They use your information to improve their game, their business, without thinking of the people who brought them so far as they are now. It is a shame.

I know Hyang is getting support from her friends, but at the end, she will have to clear it with the Lindens. And if they can not help her, she will have to build her personality in SL from scratch, although she is a well known person in the community.

I only can say, beware! You're just a number, an avatar...not a person!

Avatrait Gallery Presents: Giving

Yes we are still here, still ready to show you some of the best Artistic Digital Impressionism on the grid. Come join us May 30th for the re-opening of one of the coolest gallery builds on the grid.

This will be a multi artist event which also features the top three winners from our May "Giving" art contest.

There is still some work to do, but I am convinced that we can have a fresh new start with this show, don't miss it!!!

The Avatrait Gallery eventually not on the ModaSL sim

Some doubtful and unsure weeks we have been through.

Several weeks ago we had to reorganize the show of Joshua Morane to the Avatrait Garden, which was in fact a location on Shoshana Epsilon's sim. Our Gallery, which was up from December, had suddenly disappeared, due to technical reasons. In the meanwhile we were looking for a new place where we could build our gallery up again.
We received a generous offer from ModaSL , and Track Hax, the owner of Avatrait, did not hesitate a moment to accept this offer (see previous blog article). We were back in business , so it seemed. But after the excitement of having a place to start again, the board realised that, maybe we agreed to soon with this deal. Avatrait wouldn't be a stand alone company anymore and would probably have to deal with other circumstances. As we were thinking of how we could made this new start happening on ModaSL, we received another possibility.
Although we will probably still have some events with the co-operation of ModaSL, we have now a completely new location, thanks to one of the Avatrait artists, and dear friend, Mecca Merosi.

We have already built the gallery back up again, and are preparing the next show at the end of May. Location will be announced approximate a week before the show.

We are grateful to the people of ModaSL for the proposal which they made and hope to be able to work with them in the near future.

Don't let your virtual creations DIE - WILL your WORK day

Bettina Tizzy made a recall on flickr to share all works inworld, so that the works will not die, if something happens to you or if you leave the virtual world. This effort includes ALL virtual creations, not just art. She wrote:

"Dear fellow photographers of Second Life:

About two weeks ago, virtual artist Vanfarel Kupfer died. Had he not left copies of most of his work (no trans, no mod) with his virtual girl friend, Native Aeon, his only legacy would be what is currently rezzed today.

Avatars in Second Life devote thousands of hours to creating content, and all that work is LOST when they die. Yes, even if they backed up that work by giving it to an alt. Even if they gave their account password to someone. When you die and unless you have taken appropriate measures, no one, not even Linden Lab, can legally access your work. It is simply lost forever.

I have been in communication with Linden Lab regarding the correct procedure for "willing" one's artwork - or for that matter, any assets - in SL. Legally, the correct and ONLY procedure boils down to this: support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=441...

In a nutshell, I propose that we establish one day a year, May 18, to encouraging content creators to "Will your Work."

The goal would be to celebrate Van's art while at the same time encouraging people to either give copies of their work to one or more avatars (not their alts) whom they trust, or add them to their Real Life will.

Also on May 18 and for one week, and working with his beloved Native Aeon, Vanfarel Kupfer's work will be exhibited at four locations: his former home sim, EnLuminaria, the Crescent Moon Gallery, the Blackwater Gallery, and Chakryn Forest. Understandably, Native is still very much in mourning over her loss, and when I asked her how I could help, she stated that her greatest wish is that Vanfarel's work become known throughout the grid. So be it.

I am asking all my fellow bloggers, photographers, community leaders and more to join me in writing about and promoting May 18th - on Monday, May 18th - as Will your Work day, to generate awareness of this important objective. If you speak more than one language, please help us to get this message out to your fellow residents in their native language. Won't you please help?

Feel free to create your own artwork. Help us to get the word out with your powerful images.

Here's to enduring great virtual content!
Bettina"

Lost World in the new issue of Role Magazine

Role Magazine is pleased to announce the publication of our May, 2009 issue. As we celebrate the release of our 6th issue we take a closer look at the challenges surrounding enforcement of residents’ Intellectual Property rights including trademark and copyright issues.

If you’re considering strolling down the aisle during the upcoming wedding season, be sure to look at our fashion spread which features a lovely selection of nuptial attire. As always, we bring you articles on the latest trends; hot finds and kawaii, fashion tips for men and women; and, features on the subjects of house and living, art, music, literary, travel, property and more.

See an article that might interest your friends or group members? ROLE Magazine blog posts can now be easily shared by linking directly to your Plurk or Twitter page.

ROLE Magazine continues our commitment to our advertisers by providing verifiable readership statistics on our website.

As always, the team at ROLE Magazine thanks you for your continued support and encouragement!

The article I wrote this month for the Role Magazine is about "Lost World" and more in particular lolmac Shan and Kiya McMahon.