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Archive for the ‘Oh no’ Category

Creator Beware Turns to Buyer Beware

Posted in Oh no, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 29, 2010| 12 Comments »

Last week I posted about art work from Threadless.com being illegally used in SL, and how using copyrighted work makes content creators look bad who are saying they are protecting IP rights, but obviously don’t protect other people’s rights as fiercely as they do their own.

Well… much to my surprise (or, well.. maybe not even) today I was being made aware of another well known and seasoned content creator, Kenzie Craven, using the very same artwork from Threadless.com in her newest (as in TODAY’s) release.

I’m shocked that, when confronted on Plurk, Kenzie told that, yeah, she would take that shirt down, but that she’s sourcing images from all sort of sites… so likely there is more art work from others in her shop, which is not in the free domain.

Caveat Emptor.

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Creator Beware

Posted in MV-SL-Fashion, Oh no, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 22, 2010| 8 Comments »

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with Threadless.com. I wasn’t, till it was shown to me a couple of weeks ago in relation to a possible case of copyright infringement. People submit their designs to Threadless.com, and when they get enough votes, their work will be printed on t-shirts or as posters and put up for sale. Cute, huh?

I was informed on that occasion that a couple of shirts in Aikea Rieko’s shop, The Plastik, looked very familiar to a RL artist who is in SL, and she could swear she had seen the designs before, but couldn’t  remember where. A search through creative sites ended when on Threadless.com,  3 of the designs which are on sale at The Plastik were found. (more…)

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Things That Make You Go.. OMGWTF!?

Posted in MV-SL-Fashion, Oh no on August 16, 2009| 2 Comments »

Last year Linden Lab decided to update some of the default (library) avatars and invited content creators to send in their offers. People like Nylon Pinkney and Sachi Vixen are among the creators who have made these new avatars. It was good to finally see some better noob avatars, after all, it’s not like Second Life is still brand new, but the default avatars were still the first set, I believe.

Snapshot_002

Unfortunately, ever since, Sachi, and possibly also the other creators of the library avatars, have been receiving messages that residents found ripped content, showing them as the creator. Apparently these  f*ckers ( pardon my French) rippers  use the library material to paste their stolen stuff on, thus covering their identity and at the same time tarnishing the reputation of some of the most appreciated creators around. Sachi often receives messages from people who found  ripped stuff on Xstreet and ask her how come she’s ripping other creators. Well, let me tell you one thing, she’s not, nor are the others!

Linden Lab could easily solve this issue by making the content in the library non transferable. After all, it is available to all of us already, so why does it need to be full perm? Pick it up in the library, it will go to your inventory, and there it should be copy/mod. If you mess up, repeat procedure. Instead, if you want to create something new, then you go to create>new “whatever”> etc etc in your inventory. That way, credit where credit’s due… even if it’s the questionable credit of being listed as the creator of stolen stuff you’re trying to get on the grid! It’s something the creators clearly have not realised at the time they got the assignment, or they would have, without any doubt, asked for a better protection of their names.

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I wonder…..

Posted in MV-SL-Fashion, Oh no, Rambling on August 14, 2009| 9 Comments »

Yesterday, while shopping at The Abyss, my HUD sent me a disturbing message: [22:30] [ HUD ] XXXX (wear Me): Name of Bot: Irascible Monitor – Victim: Grazia Horwitz. Yes, apparently a cryolife user targetted my pixels to be copied. Flattering?  Hmm.. not really. In the meantime this account apparently got deleted already but when I checked the profile of this creature, while I AR’d it made me wonder about a thing or two…

Obviously this was a noob account, created in August 2009, with no payment on file. It was however in the GOL VIP something group, which is not open to the public. So someone with rights in the GOL project groups had to have this avatar admitted to their VIP group. Ignorance or alt?  I’ve left GOL owner Dakota Neumann a message about the copy attack and the AR, because I figure that in a prestigeous project like GOL, with many well known (and often already frustrated with copybot attacks) content creators on their GOL shopping sim,  this would be quite an issue for him. So far I have not heard anything back. Not that I necessarily need to, but it just left me a bit meh to see an avatar like that in such a group and I wonder how Mr Neumann follows up on things, just like I would like to hear opinions of mall and estate owners on how they try to protect content creators who rent on their property.

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Look of the Day After Loosing Your Inventory

Posted in Armidi, Coco, Dutch Touch, LOTD, MV-SL-Fashion, Oh no, Stiletto Moody on July 24, 2009| 9 Comments »

UPDATE: I should have posted this before I went to sleep last night, but I was too tired. I have no idea what has happened, but   about 30 hours after I first discovered my inventory missing, it started to load, and load, and load… and as far as I can see, everything is back now. I have not yet received a response on my second ticket filed with LL, so I have no clue if it is something they have done, or that my SL has just been SEVERELY f*ckd up over the last day or two.

Anyway, I’m insanely happy that it’s all back. I did get myself a Bright Inventory back up system which  Miskat recommended to me and will be boxing and storing stuff over the next few days (both in world and in inventory)

As for my incredible sweet and supportive friends and others who cared enough to IM me or contact me otherwise with kind words, good advice or just a listening ear… you guys really rock my socks. Thank you so much for your support!

LOTD090724, originally uploaded by Grazia Horwitz.

Yup, that’s right… all my folders are empty. All but a few. There are no clothes (bye bye LE Dazzles, LE Last Call and well, really almost everything), no animations (all Sinewave dances, my 1000+ modeling poses except for the ones I had in a stand in world), no skins (including several customs) no scripts, no objects (not even the boxes I have been meticulously saving in case SL would eat an outfit or so)….Basically, anything that was not directly put into a system folder (including sub folders in system folders) has disappeared.

Yes, I’ve cleared my cache, both in world, and from my HD. Yes, I went to beta grid and tried loading my inventory there, yes, I’ve tried tp-ing to an empty sim, and then tried clearing cache again… and again. So I have filed a ticket with LL and hopefully… miraculously, they will be able to retrieve it. I’m sceptic though. I’ve suffered inventory loss before, when I was still pretty new in SL, and nothing ever was retrieved that time as well. Cross your fingers for me that this time is different.

So what does a fashionista do when her stuff is gone.. right… you are, for once in a SL, really happy with busineses like Armidi and *coughs* Stiletto Moody.  “But… Graz… why?” Will you be saying you saying, since it’s known that I’m not particularly fond of either one of them. Well, people, as much as I like hanging around in my Blowpop undies (that’s what I was wearing at the time I discovered that my stuff was gone) I don’t like to go out in them… and both Armidi and Stiletto Moody have *drumroll* RE-DELIVERY systems!!!

I own(ed) a few of SM’s earlier shoes and got them redelivered after I went there and clicked on the items that I knew were supposed to be in my inventory. And Shoparmidi.com has a history of items that you bought from Armidi, both in world and via the site and so I got some decent clothes back to put on. I wish more creators would invest in a system like that. I bet it will save them a lot of CS time, too, when  clients can just come and retrieve from the vendor the stuff that they bought and got lost (or misplaced and went missing).

Stylenotes: The hair is Truth’s Kristin (I know it almost sound like a conspiracy, but my Truth and Exile hair is stil all there), The skin is Dune Cocoa Natural from Dutch Touch (<3 Iki for resending it), The blouse is the Aufren white from Armidi. The belt is a group gift from Coco that I went back to pick up, and while I was there, I could not resist these black pinstripe slacks, which I never owned before (you know… no doubles in case LL for once DOES work a miracle and finds my stuff back). Not visible, but very happy with right now, are the black Mary Jane sandals from Stiletto Moody.

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Intemptesta Nox

Posted in charity, Oh no on April 3, 2009| 2 Comments »

intemptesta-nox

Many of you will be familiar with the work and the sim of Sue Stonebender and if you’re not, it’s high time do get to know this remarkable lady. Known for her pianos, the music sheets,  her exquisite jewelry, the furniture, the beautiful builds that she has shared with the community, the synergy she has with her long time SL partner and builder extraordinaire Baron Grayson, but most of all,  her altruism. Sue is one of the most giving people in SL that I know, and her initiative “The Giving Tree” has provided many people in 3rd world countries, trough Kiva, with micro loans for their businesses and intitiatives to make a better future for themselves and their families and their communities as a whole.

Last week Sue sent out a message to her group which can be resumed as follows: Health issues and economical circumstances are  being increasingly difficult, and make being in SL and being active in SL  harder and harder for Sue. That’s why she’s selling her sims and will consolidate her business with Baron’s on his sim The Nameless Isle. Both Sue and Baron will be focussing on RL artistic projects and will be further reducing their time in world.

While I’m happy for Sue that she has new things to focus on in RL, and she herself describes these developments as ending things and growing in different directions to start other projects and heading to a healthier place, I a sorry to see a long time content creator and pretty amazing person move away from SL.  The giving Tree will move to The Nameles Isle as well, and Sue vowed to keep that going as long as she possibly can.

Last night she sent out another note to the group about the 30 hr famine. Read Sue’s message, please,  and if you can, go to Intemptesta Nox and donate to the apple tree  in front of the shop and make this happen.

“More than 26,000 children under the age of 5 die every day, most of them from preventable causes, including hunger.

The 30 hour famine is a quest to raise both awareness of the great and ongoing need to work toward ending poverty, as well as an opportunity to gather additional resources around families in need. Because of my illness I am not able to do the fast for 30 hours.  My 14 year old daughter has offered to do it in my place, and I love her to pieces for it.

Tonight I am reaching out one last time through the Giving Tree space before it disappears from the Intemptesta Nox SIM, which is about to transfer to it’s new owner in the coming week.  If you would like to join me in putting a little something in the cup for the 30 hour famine, I’ve turned the apple tree directly in front of my shop into a special new Giving Tree, allowing you to put in any amount you wish.  Just touch the trunk and you’ll get a menu allowing you to make a donation.

No amount is ever too small.  It all makes a difference!  The money will be sent on to World Vision as my daughter starts her fasting in the morning and goes through until Saturday afternoon. 

Thank you again for the great generosity that so many of you have continued to show through the Giving Tree program.  It has been the greatest blessing I’ve enjoyed in my time in Second Life.

Namaste,

Sue Stonebender”

The goals is 100k, which equals more or less 380USD, and that, amazingly so, is sufficient to feed a whole family for a year!!! But more is better, and I’ve seen how much we can accomplish in little time when we all care enough.

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Look of the Day: March 20, 2009

Posted in LOTD, MV-SL-Fashion, Oh no on March 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Rant ahead… 

lotd090320

Why don’t I just follow my gut feeling? A loooong time ago I stumbled on a then new shop from a then new designer, and I picked up the cutest looking dress.. only to discover that it was far from flawless, and that the primwork needed to be re-done before I would even consider wearing it… That dress by Indyra Originals has long been deleted, and although I have been looking at her designs on occasion, I have always had this “be careful”  feeling that the vendors cannot be trusted to reflect the quality of the actual design.  Last week at the clothing fair I saw this lovely outfit at her shop: Bourgeois. And that blouse would be perfect to match with numerous outfits…sheer, looking gorgeous… so I bought it. After all, designers develop over time, right? They get better, improving their skills…So I bought it, and I’m wearing it here.  And it does look lovely… or doesn’t it… It does, except for the 2 less sheer “stains” under the arms, that obviously have not been properly cleaned up, and a similar stain on the neck, barely covered by the prim collar.

Anyway… I should make a habit of taking more time to shoot pics for the blog… Had I seen this before logging off from SL… I probably would have changed the blouse in something better, but oh well… I always hear people want flaws to be pointed out.. so here you have one… major… flaw…. Luckily the rest of my outfit is pretty flawless and pristine… like Insolence’s Dolores white bra, like Maitreya’s  Ivory high waist skirt, or, also from Maitreya, the white slinky stilettos. Simple but elegant. Less simple, but simply to die for are Muse’s new Melusine earrings, currently available at  l’Armoire .  Also lovely are the Secretaire glasses from Le Petit Prince.

I’m wearing Tuli’s Nathalie skin, one of the sweetest faces around at the moment and ETD’s Juliana in strawberry.

Check http://slurls.wordpress.com for your TP’s

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It’s All in the Details

Posted in Blogs, fashion, new designers, Oh no on July 3, 2008| 4 Comments »

I enjoy reading blogs, and I enjoy getting to know new designers through the blogs of fellow fashionistas. Like Elemiah Choche, covered a few weeks ago. The post made me put her shop on my to-do list and I bought some of her designs. I think we have a talented new designer here. She really makes cute things. Talented.. and also a tad arrogant… not open to feed back.. and not living up to promises…..

O.o… Grazia is starting a rant? Uhm.. yes.. I suppose you could say that. What happened… I saw this really pretty lace dress… called accurately Pretty. Look.. this is a shot of the vendor in Elemiah’s shop. Cuteness….

But this is what I saw once I put it on… oh rage… o désespoir…. such ugly seams on such a pretty dress. In shock I IMmed the creator, as well as the blogger. Blogger in shock too.. she in fact had not noticed it because she had been covering another outfit, lacy as well… but in a grey colour and thus less visible. And then the creator came back to me…. No no.. it was not a flaw.. it is intentionally with the holes under the arm… and she had not had any complaints of many other customers. I told her I could have understood that if the front of the seam was sculpted like the back of the seam, but that this looks to me like a ready made texture fit on the template. So she said she’d add a photo to the vendor of the under arm so that people could at least see what they were buying, she sent me an “I’m sorry you are disappointed” gift and that was it.

Ok.. really… what you do with the feedback that I offer you, is up to you ofcourse, especially if unsollicited… and maybe reviewing fashion and skins for as long as I have been doing makes me über anal on seams issues and such… but, I just cannot believe that people are so blind that they don’t see this…. or that they like it when they see it… so getting no complaints… that doesn’t automatically mean that people are satisfied. More likely they just delete the outfit and don’t even bother to contact the creator… but most likely… they will not shop there again too… and I wonder… Is that the kind of clientbase you want to establish as a creator?

For a time I just let it go… until today I decided to go check up on the shop and see what was new (because really… she does make nice things too… I picked up the sassiest charleston dress there) and in the meantime decided to look at the altered vendor… including the photo she said she would add. And which she didn’t, as you can see above… I shot this photo just 30 minutes ago. I just don’t think it is fair to sell a dress with an obvious issue like this, and not show it to your clients… it may be only L$ 250… but according to me… it’s L$ 250 too much.

/rant off

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Windlight

Posted in Oh no, SL on December 8, 2007| Leave a Comment »

I tried to download the new first look viewer today….. I can only hope it will take verrrry long to fix bugs and implement windlight. The previous windlight was no issue, but as the situation is now, that will be the end of my SL.

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