XStreet Forums Death Sentence?
Friday, January 23rd, 2009So in true Linden style… when something gets profitable Linden Lab either, A) Destroy it or B) Buy it. I’m not going to make this a post about the recent Onrez and XStreet buyout as there are enough people writing and ranting about that. However, what I do want to consider is the effect this will have on the XStreet forums.
I have been posting on the XStreet forums for quite some time and what Apotheus and the XStreet team achieved there was a great sense of community. While it sometimes seemed a little over censored with swear words edited out, it was very much an area where anyone could voice any opinion on…well, anything! In complete contrast, the official Second Life™ forums are overly modded. Anything that is deemed “disrespectful” can be completely removed. Combine this with a mod team reminiscent of an over-empowered school prefect team running a Gestapo like operation, and anything close to freedom of speech is a million miles away. As XSteet is now a part of Linden Lab, the sad fact is that, even if they do leave the forums on XStreet open (something they have declined to give a solid answer either way on) they are now moderated by Linden Lab. This effectively renders them dead to those who valued them as an environment independent of LL in which any opinion can be voiced.
As such, I registered yesterday at a new forum, Meta Answers set up by Ewan Mureaux, who is a very active member of the boards on XStreet. His new forums are user friendly and clear in layout. Most importantly though is that anyone can voice their opinion on anything at all without fear of it being deleted simply because it doesn’t praise the ‘Almighty Lab’. Like any new forum, it will take time for it to gain momentum and build up a community. I personally hope to see a lot of the posters from XStreet over there as well as new members. In fact YOU, yes YOU, should sign up right now! I will even give you the URL.
Enjoy! 
