Without getting too metaphysical, sometimes I get asked how I write so much. I'm described as "chatty" and "verbose". I don't see myself that way—infact, Torley sees himself|herself as traveling at a slow pace. But, if there's one thing I can count on, it's because I'm passionately persistent. I keep going. Not because I want to sometimes, or even that I have to, but because… it happens. And it's my "fate". (For lack of a better word.)

And… certainly not just about me. My "fate" is intertwined with others. There's been so many times I've almost given up on something in life, and felt scared. I wanted to run away and hide. But despite how I felt, it was the wrong thing to think about. The key, as always: return, dig deeper into this dirt, find out what kind of watermelon is growing under all the layers. When I make a move, someone will be there for me. As I am for them. (I should make a note of this blog entry next time I feel this way; for it surely will happen again.)

In recent days, I wasn't feeling all that good. In addition to having a headache that's unpleasantly overextended itself, I also had to deal with the wasteful negative crap on the forums. Specifically, redundant interpersonal bickering involving a lack of self-power. It gets me down, because whether it's Second or First Life, I'm convinced each of us already has enough problems to deal with. And to compound that with more worthless trash? Or more accurately, I see myself using "human spam filters" to junk out the generic cliches and focus on the quality produce. It's my personal opinion that Linden Lab should strive to allocate resources where they'll make the most positive difference. That sounds obvious, but simply put: every petty forum dispute I get involved in takes away time for me doing usability testing, corralling bugs, etc. And no matter how many good people we hire, it'll always take someone's time.

As a Resident—and to a greater extent, as a paying customer of Second Life—how do you want your hard-earned money spent by us?

[This is part of the reason why we, as a service provider, want to give Residents more tools to control their land inworld. So at least, if you consider someone else a troublemaker, you can keep 'em out. But there's no equivalent for those on the forums, and apparently, the Ignore button is more difficult than it looks to press. :p So fascinatingly, just like 2D is flat compared to a 3D world, the aging forums are limited by their medium in the way of being consistent with Second Life itself. That divide is only going to broaden as time passes on. (I'll write more about this as more emerges...)]

ANYWAY—