I don't pull punches and I prefer not to beat around the bush. Plain-talking is simply the way I communicate. Often I come-off as abrasive but the fact is sometimes truth hurts. However, overall I see myself as basically considerate and highly empathic of others. It's how I am able to look through the bullshit whining of the hysteria-paranoia crowd and see how a lot of what Linden Lab is trying to do with their roadmaps, ideas and policies is actually a good thing for us all and the grid whether we like it or not.

This post will likely appear as an angry rant, but it's not. I assure you I simply speaking plainly with a rather stoic if melancholic demeanor.

Linden Lab does a lot of things for us all. Things almost all of us on the grid will never see or know about or even fathom and I'll give some examples in my next post or two.

One of those things that is better known is the Blake Sea project. There are a lot of people who enjoy sailing throughout the grid and it is one of the reasons why virtual waterfront property is more valuable. Especially if there is access, direct or indirect to the Blake Sea.


The Blake Sea project is a coordinated effort between Linden Lab and the United Segregationist Society of Second Lif... er.... excuse me. AHEM! The United Sailing Sims of Second Life. The primary play time of the USSSS (nope, no "R"'s in there, fortunately) is sailboat racing. In fact it seems to be the only thing they ever do. But I digress.

Good. Hurray. Drive-on and have have your thrills. I also find it ironic how the USS web site features beautiful art of tall ships, but yet they give the strongest impression they don't like tall ships anywhere near them in-world. It's all I sail and that's the feeling I get.

There are a couple prim signs posted throughout the Blake Sea area (BS area LOL) that say more or less the same thing, though I don't recall any of them including the word please, I could be wrong. They pretty much state the same things and I'll paraphrase here:
"Welcome to the Blake Sea project, a coordinated effort between Linden Lab and the United Sailing Sims. There are often sailing races throughout. Please do not interfere and do not click on any of the participant boats. Enjoy the show!"
Okay, fair enough. Though it's not much of a spectator sport from my own purview, I have no intention of depriving others of their own entertainment. I would hope others feel the same way about my own activities on the grid.

I enjoy sailing the Blake Sea area. And often - in fact at practically every conceivable hour of the day - I see there is a sailboat race being organized. And here is where I am starting to get tired of the bullshit.

Mr. MarkTwain, I ask that you pay particular attention to the following portion of my diatribe because I likely speak for others beyond just myself.

If I get even within a neighboring sim, someone will start shouting, and though I am paraphrasing, it's pretty darned close to actual quoting:
"Sailboat race, keep clear!"
Whatever happened to including the word "please" in there? I ignore the shout. I'm not some idiot looking to grief your never-ending sailboat races. However, I am becoming just this side of outright pissed-off about your race coordinators or referees or whomever the fat-headed, power-drunk, self-important boneheads are.

If I am IM'd, the statement isn't quite as curt, but still curt just the same: "Racing, keep clear." To which I used to reply politely with something like "I see it, appreciated, just passing through." But it has gotten to the point where if I reply at all I'll simply say "I see it" and then just close the window. Often I will raise sails or turn into irons and then just sit idle and flounder until the cute little sailboats try hard to zoom (overstatement) past me before I continue on my way. I am courteous that way whether I am notified on a race or not.

This morning was the last straw: first, I am getting sick and tired of the phrase "keep clear". You know what? Screw you. I even try to restrict my Blake Sea excursions to 4 A.M. in the freaking morning just so I won't "interfere" with your little races with the cute little prissy-sissy-looking sailboats.

This morning - and mind you I am an entire sim distant from the starting line of a race that hasn't started yet, and someone flies right next to my boat, says "Racing, keep clear" then clicks me to freeze me solid and doesn't let me go for almost five minutes. That's it. All "courtesy" is now out the window. Screw you and the toy boat you rode in on.

Mr. MarkTwain White: that was the last straw and I refuse to take it any more.
I highly recommend you pass a notice to your group that they need to start being a bit more considerate and polite in their requests. There is nothing in the ToS, CS or even your own little prim signs that says I must "keep clear". I have every right on Linden sims to be there as you do, coordination between you and they or not. I refuse to have demands to "keep clear" placed on me.

You want to ban me from your surrounding private sims: go for it. But I am tired of the bullshit on the open Linden-owned sims. The next idiot that tells me "race, keep clear" my response hence forth will be "Go around me".

And the next time someone clicks my boat to freeze me will be when I start clicking to freeze your pretty, tinkly, prissy racing sailboats and freezing them. I believe very strongly in the "mirror" method of like-wiseness all around. You will get what you dish.

I will not "interfere" with your races or racers. I will not click on them (except in the above case). However, I will no longer alter my course to ensure I do not block their paths. From now on, screw the "keep clear" crap. Ain't happening. If I am headed from North to South and your race crosses my path I am no longer going to radically alter my course or coast to a stop. I am going to keep on course as I intend.

Tell your people tough-shit, go around me. If you expect others to "keep clear" then put up prim fences cordoning-off your entire race course.

I know this isn't you or your intentions and that individuals act on their own. But I am sick and tired of the bullshit elitism that wreaks from your group.

And to be clear, I don't mean all the members of your group and I don't even mean your race participants. But rather whomever the hell it is with the fat-headed power-trip who "coordinates" or otherwise referees these races.


Reel them in, Mr. White.


Then it will be sail and let sail as it was before from me.