Epilogue

If you talk about Bellisseria the discussion often moves towards mainland and the (lack of) attention it receives from Linden Lab.
After a number of discussions about this it becomes time to say it out loud.

Linden Lab has stopped caring for the mainland.

In the olden days, not so long ago, moles were working on improving the mainland in various ways.

They dived into the deep seas to plant weeds and set free fish. They set out routes and build an infra-structure increasing the value of the attached land. Regions appeared at places where SL sailing was difficult.

What's that with mainland?

Mainland *is* Second Life!

Mainland makes from Second Life a World! A world to explore and discover. It gives dimension, width and length. It allows people to own part of the world by buying a plot of land. It is a place to meet random people. 

Mainland can be explored, by boat, car or airplane. Try doing that on a sim.

Linden Lab and the moles used to improve things. fill a void, make it better. Make it worth exploring.

The emptiness of mainland is probably because Linden Lab has forgotten about it. They want the BIG spenders that want an expensive sim and if you can't afford a sim you have to go to Bellisseria, the poor peoples refuge.

It appears as if Linden Lab wants people to move out of mainland and move them to Bellisseria, since that is what is happening. Mainland becomes more and more a wasteland. Empty. Home for grievers.

I bet there are hundreds of completely empty mainland regions. Completely empty. Not a single prim.
Empty is empty is dead.

Long time ago at a beach I knew well, there suddenly were beach chairs, a surfboard, and a cooler with drinks. Oh, and a rezzone. Just like that. Nobody asked for it but it was suddenly there. Making that beach alive.

Editor Vick Forcella

Mainland is loved by so many, except by Linden Lab and I am so sad about that.

It is even so that some fear to talk about this. They feel forced to cheer and applaud the moles and Linden Lab.Fear to express critique about mainland.

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Bellisseria, I love it. But mainland is ignored and forgotten by the moles and Linden Lab. Those that claim that Bellisseria is mainland, try and buy land at Bellisseria and build a house there.

Now that I have this heavy load of my chest, thank you for reading the Bay City Post.
Send your love towards your reporters that made it possible, Thomas, Dakota, Qie and Marianne. Some love for me would be nice too. Thank you.

Editor Vick Forcella

20200708

Epilogue

News is a commodity, it has value. If you want to earn money with news you have to give your customers something that is interesting, something they are willing to pay for. Willing to see past the advertising to get to the news.

News costs money to make. A good reporter can be working on one article for half a year, travel to far away destinations, gather evidence, listen to opinions and observe events.

Cheep news is easy to make. Copy/paste from others. Write opinion pieces without investigation. Write things that are controversial, or just wrong. Repeat old news.

Discussions about news is also news and has value. Is also very cheep to make.

In the Internet world of today people are unwilling to pay for news. They have sources outside regular media, Twitter, fb. Behind the scenes are news websites, stacked with ads, that push out interesting news and controversial opinions.

Investigative news has become rare, extremely rare. Most news today has to be churned out in a few minutes.

There are people that seek to be in the news. The motivation for that most often isn't altruistic. They want something. Funds or use the news as an ad to show how nice or good they are.

There are no bad ads, as long as it's being viewed. The product with the most annoying ad will be sold the most.

If things are repeated enough, even when they are extremely bad, can become normal and accepted.

If you share news in any way, you are part of the news chain. Even if you share critical views you can inadvertently normalise something you do not want to normalise.

If everybody starts to talk about a carpenter that wants to work as a brain surgeon people might think that carpenters seriously can do brain surgery.

<insert some wise words of conclusion here>

The Bay City Post is made by a group extremely motivated volunteers. We are biased. We like Second Life, we like Bay City, we like the Bay City Community. We want everybody to use Second Life, visit Bay City and get a taste of community.
Not because we want money, we want to share the fun we have, with everyone. And it's free!

Thank you ! Thomas, Dakota, Marianne and Qie for making this edition possible.

Editor Vick Forcella

20200605

Epilogue

Sometimes we are reminded that life can be very fragile. One can be hit by three bullets, run away and survive, yet the tiniest of life forms can kill a human in a day.

You can protect yourself from bullets,
by not going where they are,
avoid contact with people that carry guns and/or by
wearing protective gear.

A virus isn't that much different from a bullet.

Bullets can't be washed away, a virus can.

It's not so complicated except some think that a virus is something political, and it is! 

Since everything is politics---but politics isn't everything.

Be wise and stay safe!

Editor Vick Forcella

200504

Epilogue

Second Life is a hide-out for many people escaping from Real Life. That is today more true then ever as the world seeks new ways to be social yet keep a safe distance.

For many this world is as essential as breathing, locked inside for various reasons. (limbs, oxygen, liver, sugar etc)

Due to lack of funding people are loosing their land and houses, residents fall off this world because their home has vanished, they no longer feel at home.

I can not express how sad this is.

I hope that the ones that leave can find a new way of living without this world. I also hope that Linden Lab is being lenient towards the ones that have problems gathering the required funds.

This is not the time to ban hammer the pesky poor people.

One of the wealthiest cities in the world, New York, is digging mass graves for the poor, coffins stacked three high in trenches as long as a football field.

Strange world we live in.

You all be safe!!!

Editor Vick Forcella

200406

Epilogue

Somehow it feels like coming full circle.

When I volunteered to awaken the Bay City Post from it's deep sleep my motivation was to bring back something that was one of the most visible artefacts of Bay City. The City wasn't complete without it.

I volunteered long before I received the keys to the building. Must have been December, November, of 2018 when I gave my resumé. Due to reasons unknown, and they are none of my business, it took some time.

I assumed I had to do it all myself. I started with cutting and pasting posts as announced in this post.

My idea was to make publications based on label, for that I had to move old posts and add labels.It was a lot of work but my idea turned out to work. 

I think, but am not sure, that this method is less work to maintain.

While lubricating the presses I was contacted by the old reporters, one at a time, they wanted to help out!

Suddenly I had Thomas, Qie, Dakota and Marianne helping me. Great!

Confident we started writing what resulted in the first real publication of our team.

That was one year and one month ago.

Though I have stared at empty pages many times before I started as editor, it still is a challenge to create something from nothing, for others to enjoy.

It's not coming full circle, as that would mean I would stop. I won't and you are stuck with me for some time to come.

Enjoy!

Thank you Thomas, Qie, Dakota, Marianne and Roc!!!
Thank you all the readers for your support!!

Thank you Ever

 

Editor Vick Forcella

200302

Epilogue

The rain-forests in America are vital to the world. Converting them to farmland is an eternal loss.

The airplane landed in Glasgow where my vacation in England started.

The heather in Holland, near Dwingeloo, is well worth a visit.

I would love to rent a sim in Second Life so that I have full privacy.

When enough people use a word to describe something that word becomes synonym with that, even when it's technically incorrect.

America is a continent. North North America is better known as Canada. Rain-forests in America can be found in Brazil. Yet when people talk of America, nine out of ten times they mean the United States of America.

When people talk about England, most of the time they mean Great-Britain, that includes Whales, Scotland and England.

When people talk about Holland they probably mean The Netherlands, that includes two Hollands. North- and South-Holland, and ten other provinces including Drenthe. And also islands in the Caribbean.

A region isn't a sim, technically. The word Sim comes from Simulator. A computer or, to be more accurate, a server where a program runs to simulate part of the world. A simulator, in Second Life, can contain five regions. The way things are going servers will be replaced by a cloud, a number of connected servers. A cloud can contain much more then five regions when the machines are strong enough. In theory a cloud can move towards your location reducing lag.

A region is a square of 256x256 meter. Each region has a name and our world is build from those 256^2 blocks.

When people talk of a sim, nine out of ten times they mean a region. Don't correct them.

Enough people use the word sim to identify a region, a sim is a region.

Just for the record, I'm not a Hollander.

This edition would not be possible without the amazing support of your reporters Thomas, Qie, Dakoka and Marianne. Send them your love! Perhaps I should give them a pay-rise.

See you all soon!

Editor Vick Forcella

PC Image Wiki

200206 

A word from our sponsor

Epilogue

All over the internet you will find examples of Instant Karma. In short: somebody does something bad and immediately after that something bad happens to that person.

It is also a song by John Lennon.

In the current incarnation of Karma it means: you do good, you will be rewarded with good. You do bad, you will be rewarded with bad.

Anybody that has any experience in life will tell you, it doesn't work that way!

If you are doing bad things you will be rewarded. If you are doing good things others will flock and demand more.

It's not a positive message, and not completely true, but more realistic as "Karma".

I'm not calling to be bad or not to do good.

I am calling to do good and expect nothing in return. Not now, not ever.

And for the people that do bad remember, your acquired fortune will be inherited by someone, that can spend it all on some casino and go poor.

Karma, and Instant Karma, is in fact a sort of religion. You either believe it, or not. By that, there are many things that should be perceived as being a religion. Too many things.

I believe that = I think that = religion. Religion isn't politics and religion isn't science.

If religion helps you through the day, it's ok. If religion tells you to bring harm, it's not ok.
If religion becomes politics or when science becomes religion, we are in problems since you can't fight religion with fact or the truth.

I believe this very strongly.

Thank you for reading the Bay City Post. I hope you enjoyed the information we have provided and that you are eager to read next editions.

And I didn't write anything about the Toxic Taco this time!

Editor Vick Forcella that promised not to write about heavy things in this newspaper.

200106

Epilogue

To Bellisseria or to Bay City? That's the question.

To compare Bellisseria with Bay City is a bit like comparing mainland with a private region. Or marbles with nuts. A bike with a car. A helicopter with an air-plane.

Both are themed regions, both are rigged by the best builders there are, the moles. Terraforming or splitting up land is a no-go.
Both have thriving communities.

The differences.
You can not buy or sell land in Bellisseria.
You are allowed to place any building, within theme, in Bay City.
You can increase your prim count if you buy more properties in the same region in Bay City.
Bay City Land is double prim land, it can hold twice the amount of prims compared with Bellisseria.
Getting land in Bay City depends on what is on sale or on auction.
Getting land in Bellisseria depends on luck. You are offered a place, take or or abandon it.
Bay City land is costly. Prices well above L$50/m2 are the norm.
If you own land in Bay City you are allowed to rent it out. Don't try that in Bellisseria.
Bellisseria is Moderate (in-door almost anything is allowed if not commercial). The West part of Bay City is General, the rest is Moderate.
You are allowed to start a store in Bay City. In Bellisseria this is not allowed, in the future a commercial area might appear.
You are allowed to start a club in Bay City. Unsure about Bellisseria on that but it seems like a bad idea since you are required to use one of the prefab-builds.
Bay City has sewers.
It's possible to rent an apartment in Bay City.
Residents of Bay City can apply for a place at the Marina at New Port.
Residents that own land in Bay City rarely sell their land.
In Bellisseria you can have 10 new neighbours in one month.
Bellisseria is a continent on it's own.
Bay City has an Emperor and the Toxic Taco.

This list is probably not complete but as you can see there are plenty of differences between the two places.

One is not better as the other. It's just different.
The biggest real difference is price. Upfront Bay City is expensive, for that you buy a great level of freedom and stability.

Many residents of Bay City have taken a parcel in Bellisseria as a vacation or second home. Bellisseria is a good deal if you are a new to Second Life and would like to explore all options before committing to anything like renting or buying land.

Dear Bellisserians. 
Come and explore Bay City! There is much to see and do. 
We, the residents of Bay City, are already exploring Bellisseria and we lovin' it.

Thank you for reading the Bay City Post.
We hope you enjoyed the articles we have written, the insights and the gossip.
Thanks to the reporters. Qie for going so far away to write an article. Dakota for deep diving into Bay City and getting lost on my request. Marianne for writing down near forgotten memories. Thomas for recording all events that take place and organising an amazing auction.

Editor Vick Forcella

191202

A message from our sponsor,

We don't make the Bay City Post, we create the Bay City Post.

Epilogue

The older old people get the less the younger people know. It is a moral obligation for the old people to share their wisdom and experience with the young so that they know where they come from and can avoid the pitfalls the old people have found.

At the end of the school year our teacher asked what we wanted for our last lesson. How to make gunpowder. Before the lesson was over the school was evacuated. The batch of made gunpowder ignited by accident, smoke entered all classrooms. After opening doors and windows the fumes went away and classes continued.

I hope you enjoyed reading this edition. We gave it our best.

A big Thanks to the reporters Qie Niangau, TJ Hooker, Marianne McCann, Dakota Schwade and Georgiana Florence.

Thank you Roc for all you do for Bay City.

... there is something in the water...

Editor Vick Forcella

190902

Message from our sponsor

Epilogue

In a time of uncertainty it is important to use your moral compass. You have to place your trust in the ones that use a similar compass so that the future can be one you can agree upon. It's not the promises that matter, it's the principles and motivations.

The future is not an extension from the past, it can change in a fraction of a second. The past is a gathering of events we can learn from, perhaps predict possible outcomes.

We are living today, make it a fine day.

It is a present.

I want to thank the reporters TJ Hooker, Marianne McCann, Dakota Schwade, Qie Niangau and Georgiana Florence for their excellent work.
Thank you Mitch for the coffee and interview.

I want to thank Roc Plutonian for donating the offices the Bay City Post is using.

A big thank you to the citizens of our Fine City for making such an amazing city.

Editor Vick Forcella

190805

Epilogue

Second Life has been changed, tweaked and modified many times in the last 16 years. It is the only profitable virtual world there is.

Changes are always needed. Some turn out good, some less good. A balancing act. It is important that our provider, the provider of our addiction, is perceived as stable, predictable and reliable.

The investment goes both ways. We invest in Second Life, Linden Lab invests in their staff and equipment. Together we have a shared interest and we all want to protect that.

Now we, silly users, are not stable, reliable and predictable, unless you take the big numbers and draw a graph from that. Then users become very predictable.

Predictable is not to announce fundamental changes, undo parts of that change. Leave people almost no choice in increasing their investment. Tell them that more fundamental changes are coming and not tell them what, when and why.

Will those changes be good for me? What did I just invest in? What will my money be worth in a year, or two? Was I just successfully blackmailed?

Making things less welcome for new users is not very clever. Sure they are a pain but they are the future. While the old move into houseboats as their second home, let the new taste the old place once, for a month or two (with Payment Info On File). Be nice to new users!

If my provider becomes unstable, unpredictable and unreliable I don't want to invest a year or more. I want to invest on a day to day basis.

It must have been a hiccup. Vacation, the heatwave and so. Being corp. is a tough job, you have to be perceived as stable, reliable and predictable. That's tough.

(the above is my personal opinion, it does not represent the opinion of the citizens of Bay City)

Also, fix mount G'al and the Feed!

Now rush out and enjoy SL16B while you can!

Thank you Roc, TJ, Qie, Dakota, Georgiana and Marianne! You, and Bay City make this newspaper what it is.

Editor Vick Forcella

190701

Epilogue

Our landlord still has not fixed Mount G'al. When you jump in you will live a high age as a Golem covered in lava.

The consequence is that our attempts to fix SL, by jumping in, has no lasting effect. It will remain wonky.

Our landlord still hasn't fixed the feed, aka, webprofiles, aka my.secondlife.com.

The feed was amazing. You could share and post images with location. With that you could discover new and amazing places. You could follow unique personalities, become friends with them.

I have found many friends using the feed.

Without the feed I am 100% sure I would have fallen off Second Life.

I would not have become citizen of Bay City.

I would not be here as editor of the Bay City Post.

Due to continuing brokenness of the feed people have vanished from it. Others rarely post and share experiences. Even I have reduced my Feed time.

If you post you'd have to check whether or not the post has arrived. If it doesn't you'd have to post again. Sometimes you'll find that the first post was delayed and you end up with two identical posts or with no posts at all.
Often you can not log-in.

The alternative, Twitter, is utterly depressing and impossible to follow.

Now that our landlord has found new fortunes it must now be able to fix the feed once and for all. And fix Mount G'al so we can contribute even more to the survival of our world.

This month there is much to see, much to do. Enjoy!

Thank you ! TJ, Qie, Dakota, Georgiana, Marianne, Roc and Bay City for this edition!

Happy Birthday Second Life.

Editor Vick Forcella

190602

Epilogue

In May 2008 a crowd gathered at the border of Nova Albion. Something spectacular was going to happen. From afar people tried to look over the bridge to see what was happening but the fog took away the sight.

Then the bridge closed and the crowd started running in. Bay City was opened!

Long before some clever minds were plotting something never done before. Michael and Blue wanted to make something unique. For that they deliberated, plotted and draw up the lines of roads and waterways.

They asked the most clever creators in our world to help out. The clever creators received the name Mole. The LDPW was founded.

They started mining as many prims they could gather so to build the infrastructure of our Fine City. Their secret wasn't unnoticed, word got out and people started asking questions, that were left unanswered. All they could do is wait at the bridge and so they did.

When the crowd raced out over the newly opened bridge they found a beautiful themed city with parks, canals, roads and land that can hold twice the amount of prims.

The lands were sold faster as you can say Bellisseria. Houses and buildings went up in great pace. All within the set theme, 1950's Chicago.

This month we will celebrate the 11th anniversary of our fine City.

Join us!

This concludes the end of this edition.

I want to thank our reporters Qie, TJ, Dakota, Georgiana and Mari for their work. Without them the Bay City Post would be rather empty and boring.

Thank you Roc for hosting the best newspaper in town. Patch for not revealing any secrets. Keira for being Keira. Pygar for reaching out. All the photographers that allowed me to use their pictures.

See y'all soon!

Editor Vick Forcella

190504

Epilogue

This concludes the end of this edition.

I expect the articles have captured your interest and have provided you with live changing information.

The staff, reporters and photographers of this newspaper are severely underpaid! Show your appreciation by placing (positive) comments under each article! (posting delayed and moderated)

I want to thank the reporters T.J., Qie and Dakota for their work and articles. When I asked them, they were instantly available. A big thanks to all the freelance photographers.
Without you guys this newspaper would not be here in the news-stands.

I also want to thank Roc for providing us with a place to write and throw coffee cups around. We also appreciate the free beer you gave us. Sorry about the locks and the broken typewriter. Mari did it.

Oh, before I sign off, a small information request.

I have seen someone scruffy walking around the city. He walks stately and is wearing a hat with feathers. There are no reports of him doing anything bad but I'd like to know more. Let me know. Thank you!

Reporter Vick Forcella

190406

The area around Iridium has been evacuated. The risk of a tsunami is deemed extreme due to the expected connection of the SSP regions with Sansara and Jeogeot. The distance between the SSP regions and Jeogeot is expected to be far enough not to pose any risk.

You are advised to stay away from the Iridium regions and be on the alert when visiting Jeojeot.