Being all things to all people: and virtually 2nd

I don't ever want to be like 'jam', as that may indicate that one has also become a statistic. In IcT though it's very difficult to spread yourself as completely as you might like. The desire and apparent need to 'multi-webtech' is profound. So it is gratifying (if that's the right word?) when news comes through that the grass is not always greener being an 'early adopter' and in with the in-crowd. For me this missed opportunity and news comes c/o Second Life.

As with the philosophy dialogue there is a virtual effort that dates back to 1991. I realised ages ago that if you are going to build a community dedicated to the compound conceptual space that is Hodges' model then virtual - augmented reality is the space to Be. I have long thought of the model as the ideal portal for a virtual learning environment. So here is news that actually indicates a trend, a shift in the maturity of the web as the established newspaper media also takes stock of traditional journalism, its investment in web content and how to monetise. The latest sign of change is today's news of a possible NewsCorp and Microsoft alliance against Google in The Independent. Here's the Second Life news item:

Subject: [NetBehaviour] Second Life To Remove Free Content From Web Search.

"In a move that continues to shake the Second Life community of content creators, merchants, and consumers, Linden Labs has declared that free virtual content will no longer be searchable without listing payments on their website portal - (formerly at:)
(http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Managing_Freebies_on_Xstreet_SL_Roadmap_FAQ);
and additional fees will be added with the intention of discouraging content listed for inexpensive selling prices. The move is particularly troubling because the online Web listing service is the de facto search engine for virtual content in Second Life, since the in-world search tools are unable to provide information about an object beyond name and location - basic textual descriptions, pictures, or descriptions of licensing, size, or content-category are not possible. While initially the change was explained as a response to community feedback, the residents involved in this feedback process were revealed to be fewer than 100 in number, primarily larger merchants among a community of millions. Within 24 hours of the announcement, the feedback thread (https://blogs.secondlife.com/message/38923#38923) has swelled to over 1,000 overwhelmingly negative responses. Additionally, in-world protests have erupted throughout the day, and over 20,000 objects have been voluntarily removed from the online store by angered merchants."

Read on for more details on the brouhaha.

Adding to the controversy are the officially stated justifications in the FAQ
(http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Managing_Freebies_on_Xstreet_SL_Roadmap_FAQ),
such as 'They [free content listings] hinder the shopping experience because a "sort by price" puts all freebies first,' and the perplexing statement 'They [free listings] garner so much attention that Residents are driven toward the freebies instead of quality, fairly priced items.'

Various independent virtual content listing sites have been proposed, such as Meta-life.net and Slapt.me, but attempts to post this information on the Second Life forums has been met with aggressive administrative censorship of these links.

Found originally on slashdot.org
My source: CI list and marc garrett (FurtherField)

Additional links:
FurtherField
NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity