Someone I became casual friends with went weird on me a couple of weeks back. I suppose two in one year (when you count Rabbi Writer) isn't too bad for any cybersociety. She became my friend in SL and she was very nice. Had a casual presence due to RL commitments. I added her on Facebook. During my planned decision to start up FarmVille, she admitted she didn't go overboard for those types of games (as most of my friends had) but found FarmVille amusing. When I created an online profile, she happened to be a common friend of TMA people and added me there too. That was fine; I have a couple of friends common to both accounts.
The vast majority of friends for the holocluck profile are from an online community I spent 4 years in long before I came to Second Life (it's existed for about 14 years). Many left that VRML-based platform and appeared to continue their activities by way of Zynga and other Facebook gaming offers. Above all is they - now we with me in the mix - are family and look out for eachother.
That first weekend for that profile I went from 5 to 36 long lost friends. I added a couple initially and it snowballed. The trick of course was identifying them before adding. I didn't know most of their RL names of course, and many didn't think to include them in their request, but following a reply - and my marking their names down in a notepad file just in case - I reconstructed a lost part of my virtual history. I also added some Toontown Online and Second Life people.
Back to the story... So I made a sublist based on FarmVille friends. I didn't realize Facebook would let everyone see eachother; thought it was like sending everyone their free Farmy gifts and each would get the message solo. That afternoon several people asked me who she was.
Hah?
I found she posted in the thread of my Inbox, asking if it was okay to add them. Funny she didn't ask if it was okay with me. I mean, if I was so desperate to add total strangers as friends the way the little kids do in Toontown Online, I think if a friend was the source AND the people involved shared a bond, I'd ask my friend if I felt comfortable with such a maneuver. If I really saw them as a friend friend. I brought it up to them and she got uncharacteristically snotty. Sort of like those idiots in the SL Forum we all roll our eyes at.
I've had wacko experiences in the past with people who were pissed I didn't want to have a relationship with them and pursued to collect my friends. I don't know what compells these All About Eve types but apparently there's a demographic online which flourishes with this illness.
I sent out an all points bulletin and ultimatum that I'd cut off anyone associated with such a person. Some added her because they thought she belonged to the VRML community and just didn't know the nickname she used yet. When they realized she wasn't from there they had no qualms about removing her. She wasn't part of the family. Many report she immediately requested to be neighbors partners associates etc etc for the A to Z of Facebook games. Not quite what I expected.
Suffice it to say I removed her at once from my RL Facebook account. God forbid she friends my boss or family.
Friend collectors... ugh!
A small parcel for a sale outlet was on her property gratis. I cleared it out quickly. I don't want them to get the inkling that such an offer stipulated any obligation to hand over my first born.
When I mentioned the mass friending attempt someone on Googletalk said "Yikes! Worlds collide!" That's it exactly. While it wasn't smart to include her in a "family" mass mailing, one should trust one's associates that they aren't eyeballing a slipup as a window of opportunity to exploit people. She had no remorse for her actions and may never understand that in our culture, this is not appropriate. But that's okay. She's just with people of her culture now. I hope for their sakes.
I was getting to another quick disappearing act. While fishing at Blaksleeworld on Saturday, I noticed that KONA headquarters across the bay was gone. It couldn't have been my LOD settings because things beyond it were loading. Then Grey Nacht responded he hadn't seen any mines either (they would send a mine through the currents every 10 minutes that he liked to take potshots at while fishing). We looked at the map. Holy crap! Metamagic studios was gone too! They took up an entire sim and made it practically purple. It became a small islet. It's since been terraformed for something else.
Checking with GoSpeed I've found KONA's virtual transmitter alive and well, perched on mountainside on Mainland.
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