I prize having quiet thinking time to contemplate what's going on. In recent memory, I've had more space to reflect on, and nurture ideas about Second Life and where we're headed. Here's one of them:
It's pretty special that I can go to several predominantly "first life" communities which weren't created with SL in mind, but nonetheless, people use their Resident names on them. Flickr is a wonderful example of this: click through the above picture and look at the nice comments. 
Almost all of them are SL names with corresponding profile pictures (AKA "avatars of their avatars") to match. Facebook is also prone to this: they don't have an allowance for virtual world identities, so altho they say "… fake names are not allowed", if someone really views their SL avatar as an extension of themselves, then verily, it's as real a name as any other. How pleasantly subversive is that? 
Another thing that trips me out is how someone who's never heard of SL before can, say, be searching for "sunsets" on Flickr (try this cool tag browser), and come across a WindLight-powered gallery. Upon doing a double-take and realizing these aren't photographs of the physical world, they become curious. And hopefully, even come inworld to experience it all firsthand. This sort of latent discovery — in part because of how easy and encouraging Second Life is when it comes to taking and sharing snapshots — joys me tremendously.
Everett Linden and I had a good discussion about this earlier today. He brought up New World Notes' mention of The Sixty One and Second Life's music community rockin' on it, and Vint Falken has her own astute observations which I've overlapped to some degree (good!). Bands like Chou Chou exist which profess to "exist only in Second Life", and I'm really not familiar with another online world being so strong about it. Therefore, the Second Life community's strength outside of the inworld experience is something we can't ignore, and I'm outright celebrating it.
I especially love the outside communities, because it allows me to stay connected to SL when I am not able to be inworld (i.e., at work). I have gotten to know many people much better through these forums, without the clutter and distraction of being inworld. I have made some new friends as well, people that I later connected with in Second Life.
While there are many SL-specific sites, I think I prefer infiltrating the RL sites. For the most part, they are more developed, have more features.
Plus, where else but on facebook could I be the proud owner of Mia Linden? A few more days and I'll have saved up enough to buy Colton too.
The longer I'm in SL, the more I find myself connecting with the people behind the avatars in RL forums and other communities. Livejournal and Blogger blogs of SL folks have spawned groups in both communities.
I consider my avatar name to be very real, tyvm! She has her own email account, her own flickr account, and her own livejournal! She is an extension of Me and I of her - its an odd symbiosis that seems to grow stronger every day.
Ironic to read that now, just after I have read that your company has put the use of references to it's online world under restrictions.
"the [...] community's strength outside of the inworld experience is something we can't ignore, and I'm outright celebrating it."
Well that's not in line with company policy, Torley. The official line is to outright restrict it. Sorry for being a bit negative all of a sudden.
laetizia, He has a disclaimer that says that the opinions in this blog is not necessarily of Linden Lab's.
I also share the same sentiments as Torley's, it is something truly unique to SL. May everything else change but not that.
Yes, the disclaimer! This is my home page, my personal blog. Thanks Isadora. Laetizia, I do hope we have followup to the confusion about those issues, though.
@Susannah and Taryn: Well-said… I think in coming times the "distinction" and "artificial walls" between communities will be less. After all, we don't make a big deal if someone has two snail mail addresses they can be written at, or multiple phone numbers. These are just new outlets which can be used in fascinating ways.
I would like to be able to IM people inworld easily without logging into Second Life in the future… it'd be nicer if login time was as quick as most IM apps too!