Monday, May 26, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
A Virtual Sundown Town
why CDS only has five sims today
Tor says: "the xigalia's are back again" , Pip says : "that's easy enough, Run 'em outta town", Gaius and Pat say: "last time was easy, let's have some fun"
About Sundown towns:
[quote]"In some
cases, the exclusion was official town policy or through restrictive covenants
agreed to by the real estate agents of the community. In others, the policy was
enforced through intimidation. This intimidation could occur in a number of
ways, including harassment by law enforcement officers." *[/quote]
I asked questions, and I heard more than one person in the CDS group explain to me how it was
important that we all know each other well in CDS and how the thing that
mattered more was who we are and how we all get along more than the government
and the constitution and the rules. And that this is just a "quiet time " for CDS, disregard the fact that the land is half vacant and the tier isn't being covered, its okay to be quiet... "Sudane doesn't mind" I was told. I was told that following the rules wasn't necessary if we
all know and trust each other. In fact, the government part of CDS, its more of a burden than anything and we really could do with less of it, not more.
Well .. hmm..they all made it sound so lovely and
peaceful. Consensus. A place where we
all know each other, don't need laws or rules, don't have to bother to have
meetings or debate... mess with protocol. It sounded nice for the ones who were
doing it ...if half the parcels in five sims are vacant.. and a person can buy
one.. pay 1400 L a month for it, a little less a little more, and have rez rights on the government and
vacant land! Well! For them, what a deal! And a huge pot of money to buy
things for public land, and getting paid to do events.. Best deal in sl.. what
do you do when you find a great deal ? Well if telling everyone will end it for
you ? maybe stay quiet about it? The
more vacant land the better !
If the RA has at least three who members are
five friends who have no disagreements, what's the point in the meeting ! In fact by the end of the 19th
term, it got so bad..... two RA members couldn’t show up at all, leaving three people in RA to
serve anyway, so great, only two of the remaining have to agree now ! The two who left btw were encouraged NOT to resign so we didn’t
have a by election, even though they
were not able to log into SL. Basically we had a three member RA. Leaving the
chancellor with two cronies who could rubber stamp anything non constitutional
he wanted to do. All they had to do was have three people show up to a RA
meeting.
Over the three years, CDS was certainly in decline in every way.. to the point of being almost
dead it seemed. That was how it looked from the outsider looking in at least.
The people inside saw it as doing well!
No biggie, sell off a sim, raise tier.. we are fine, they said! And really, why debate things…they said , we
all agree… if we all think alike or just give in to our friend to make them
happy , right or wrong.. then...Sounded like paradise to them, something worth
fighting to keep… but it sounded like anarchy
to me.. and maybe even a covert dictatorship but certainly not a DEMOCRACY. Not the CDS I remembered.
Especially disturbing to me was that the person who
"owned the CDS on paper" the land and the money, was without
reproach.. What I mean is there was and still an unspoken rule of the group :
it is TABOO to speak anything but kind
words to and about the person who owns CDS on paper.. People are seen in
meetings to flower the EO with glowing praise that contradicts the persons
known preferences. And certainly anyone who dares ask a question that could
shed light on something done by the EO is bombarded with nastys. I mean the person is okay and has volunteered
a lot but .. the TABOO was quite powerful and so strong you could taste it.
I moved back to CDS anyway in 2011 and tried to help with the problems in CDS, as confusing as it was to me. The real problem was that CDS was half empty, I thought it was logical that they would want CDS full. Everyone kept saying they were doing thing to try to promote CDS, but it wasn't working. But I kept seeing things happening that seemed to indicate that even though they said they wanted it to grow, well, they really didn't.
So at first I feel
like I am a blind man trying to discover what is the elephant... I wonder why
the sims are half empty ... when I know they will sell easily... I hear talk of
trying to sell them.. but I see them running people off... its all so confusing
...I had to find out for myself. Is CDS unable to be sold. Is it not desirable
anymore to the grid at large. I found
that CDS was spending a lot of money on ads that didn't work at all, but infact
the owner of the radio station who has the ads also owned a sim which the
chancellor and one of the EMs lived in... hmmmm>>???? maybe its
nothing..i told myself. I did some research on it… As I uncovered bits and bobs of information
about whats going on . Reading the financial statements, asking questions. Why
is someone in the SC getting paid
many times the going rate to DJ ( and is
in the SC and a good friend of the CDS
owner?) hmm… I learned quickly don’t ask that question ! …
I kept trying to be positive, maybe they
don't know how to sell land... ??? its
not that hard… But I found out that also
if I just made a tiny effort to bring people to CDS ... they loved the idea and
moved there ! The I was actually asked
to help bring people to CDS at one point.. but when I did it and did it well ….... I was told to stop .
Then I was bullied. A member of the RA started griefing me and my husband. A LOT ! I was
frequently lied about and called names. It was odd, they said they wanted CDS
to grow.. but they didn't want it to grow ? Or maybe they just don’t like me.
Fair enough…. Only the "right kind of people" should be in CDS ? Not
my friends.huh? . but I wasn't just showing cds to my friends, I was simply
asking anyone who was interested in CDS from anywhere I met them to move to CDS.
..In appropriate groups, and such ... So the sims were full again.. despite
them saying to stop selling land, despite them saying that i should stop ...because .. CDS is my home
too ! So .. they continued to bully me
and everyone I helped get there..... to the point I left, too, and after I did they ran the rest of the new
people off, unless they agreed to ONE thing. If they didn't agree to own the
idea, they had to shut up or leave. ... CDS, Sundown Town. So I left. When I left the five sims were full, I had filled them up with the help of some friends, but we were all being harassed and bullied to get to leave. So ... I did.
I peeked at the forums from time to time during my absence, hoping that CDS would grow and thrive while I was gone. But at some point I read that Tor was going to raise tier. Or sell of LA . So I came back.
Without CLEO around
no one showed up seriously wanting to join CDS very often, and if they did they
could be either ignored or indoctrinated.. and sent away if they didn't follow
the lockstep.. Factions were removed, RA shrunk to five, no reason to have the
legitmization of diverse thought when we have but one way of looking at things
and all the people we need anyway ….. And our way of seeing things is right.
and cant be questioned. ....
I read one day on the
forums that my former home, CDS was about to consider either getting rid of an
entire region... and/ or raise tiers to stay in the black ...................I
was sad. ............................such a neat
place.............................how could it be, it was so easy to bring
people to cds only two years
before........................things were better even now than then in the
economy.....they were quite mean to me before but surely they need help selling
land, I know I can help … and also CDS might be lost ! it was about to SHRINK
…………………...........I had to know why.
So I logged in and was met by TOR.. still chancellor. And he
told me not to return to CDS………..whoAAAaaat ! ! He said they didn’t want me. Leave. ( I
didn’t know then that my name was on a coffin in the kirche. ) Most of the square in CN was for sale. I stood in some of the parcels looking
around. ... the next day the parcels were sold to Pip or Shep or someone
.. .. and that was good ! I didn't really think that they were buying
them to keep them from me. I hoped the problem was getting solved. … It was
good that less land was for sale. That was my goal, help CDS grow. But not just
in numbers of parcels sold, numbers of Citizens.
We needed more people to fill offices in the government, not
to shrink the government like they had done, I thought. So finally I bought a
shop in CDS. It was successful and a friend wanted a shop next door... Then
another. .. meanwhile I noticed that Gauis was doing his best to harass Alexia,
who finally left CDS due to the Guild and RA, especially Rosie Gray. Alexia had
had a shop in CDS for a long, long time , but didn't really follow the lockstep
of the group from what I saw....l . Was CDS still a sundown town..i didn't want
to believe it. But indeed it still was.
The new citizens were being picked off and harassed, again, one by one. But this was a
new crop of people. More aware. More
mature. And the “gang” was so bold by then after being in power so long. Is it
true that “absolute power corrupts absolutely” ? That the “three year reign of
Tor” had turned into a REIGN? A reign
of bullies and terrorists condoned by the leader of a tight knit group, all
under the nose of the one who had the EO rights. I hoped it wasn't. I saw it was. That was the end of the 19th RA term. I ran
for RA in the 20th to try to make sure it never was a sundown town again .
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Monday, May 5, 2014
CLEO Xigalia is running for RA again !
Last Term I ran on the platform CLEO1CDS .. for the 20th RA and it was a success! I have served on the 20th RA graciously and now am asking the citizens of CDS to vote for me 1 again for the 21st RA of CDS.
ONE ..........................citizens number one !
SIX ............................lets work as a unified CDS team and build our sixth sim !
TEN............................Actively celebrate ten years of CDS history and the journey to our success.
As we celebrate and rediscover the CDS ten year history, lets use that to move us into the future.
As far as the future of CDS.. it is BRIGHT! We are an active growing community now and the general tone of things is that people want CDS to IMPROVE! and GROW! and THRIVE! and be FUN!
And citizens feel empowered to have a voice and make an impact and make these things happen and enjoy the rewards of their efforts.
Democracy thrives !
New citizens are participating in their community and their government.
The forums are being monitored and becoming a place where all of
We have accomplished a lot this term in the RA.
I'd say one of the most important thing that happened in the 20th RA was that the RA voted to make sure that the plan for LA did not disrupt any parcels and that citizens land lines and builds were left intact. This was a resounding SUCCESS. With Gwyn as my partner in the RA and Bagheera as chancellor, in this effort, we were able to make sure the "power-block" of Tor Rosie and Shep did not vote to use eminent domain or compulsory purchase order with the citizens. We recently got to see a transcript of a meeting that revealed clearly that this was their plan. Our success for CDS citizens is that no one had their land taken or parcel lines moved.
Now its time to move forward and build a new sim for CDS. I am promoting buying a new sim now and making it a community project that builds cohesion in our community like nothing ever has before. Between Celebrating our TENTH ANNIVERSARY and building our SIXTH SIM there will much for everyone to do who wants to help!
ONE ..........................citizens number one !
SIX ............................lets work as a unified CDS team and build our sixth sim !
TEN............................Actively celebrate ten years of CDS history and the journey to our success.
As we celebrate and rediscover the CDS ten year history, lets use that to move us into the future.
As far as the future of CDS.. it is BRIGHT! We are an active growing community now and the general tone of things is that people want CDS to IMPROVE! and GROW! and THRIVE! and be FUN!
And citizens feel empowered to have a voice and make an impact and make these things happen and enjoy the rewards of their efforts.
Democracy thrives !
New citizens are participating in their community and their government.
The forums are being monitored and becoming a place where all of
We have accomplished a lot this term in the RA.
I'd say one of the most important thing that happened in the 20th RA was that the RA voted to make sure that the plan for LA did not disrupt any parcels and that citizens land lines and builds were left intact. This was a resounding SUCCESS. With Gwyn as my partner in the RA and Bagheera as chancellor, in this effort, we were able to make sure the "power-block" of Tor Rosie and Shep did not vote to use eminent domain or compulsory purchase order with the citizens. We recently got to see a transcript of a meeting that revealed clearly that this was their plan. Our success for CDS citizens is that no one had their land taken or parcel lines moved.
Now its time to move forward and build a new sim for CDS. I am promoting buying a new sim now and making it a community project that builds cohesion in our community like nothing ever has before. Between Celebrating our TENTH ANNIVERSARY and building our SIXTH SIM there will much for everyone to do who wants to help!
Monday, April 28, 2014
Who turned the Dean of the SC into a troll.
The CDS forums can be brutal. Its a place where we are supposed to be posting our political ideas and opinions. Making comments on the government and such. Unfortunately, my observation is that its really difficult for some people to separate a person's ideas with the people themselves. Because of that, sometimes, often actually, posters are upset about someone commenting on an action or an idea or a perception and instead of rebutting the idea, they attack the person who said it , calling them names, etc. "shoot the messenger" syndrome. When the people on the forums sharing ideas and observations and comments are also neighbors and political opponents, well the mix gets a bit wild and wacky at times.
Now the forums claim to be moderated by the Scientific Council of the CDS. They have some guidelines.. no harassment, no libel, no lots of things.. BUT. Wow that is hard to moderate, and given that the members of the SC may actually be connected politically and have great motivation to make someone or break someone in CDS it may be asking too much altogether. For example, the SC members all know they can be impeached by a 2/3 vote of the RA so they may have a bit of incentive to be less than impartial if a RA member is disagreeing with them or questioning their actions.
So recently our Dean of the SC in CDS in a meeting said this:
So this thing is called Reputation system or something. It seems more like a junior high popularity contest at best to me, and a new method to bully and ostracize at worst, with an inbetween result of giving a skewed message to the reading public. I suppose we all have to put up with biased media in the USA, Fox News or NPR, and if we all know this, then the ratings will have new meanings. The colors will mean more about who are aligned with than whether you are good or bad, no matter what the media outlet and those who control it want others to think.
This system can work in CDS, but in its form now IMHO its quite badly flawed. If the system is fully transparent and everyone can see who put what points to whom where and when and why .. then that is a great way for more people to easily give their opinions. I would applaud that system. The way the reputation system is set up now though, incentivizes something other than transparency and freedom of speech.
If citizens disagree with Cally's reputation system it hardly makes her a "troll". It would be nice if we can see who disagrees with her and why rather than calling her names. Calling people names is actually in violation of the moderation guidelines itself.
This system seems totally inappropriate to me in that the issues being brought up on the forums are often political in nature so of course sides will be taken. But more importantly, sometimes initial whistleblowers don't have much support in the early days of them pointing out issues such as government corruption at worst or minor hypocrisy ..
The need to improve a system is typically initiated from a "need" or a "flaw". Someone has to discover this need or flaw. Someone has to shed light on it. When people are unable to disconnect peoples actions and ideas from who they are, the whistleblower gets labeled as an attacker. If the discovery of a flaw in the system means that fixing that flaw would take something away from a person.. something like an unfair advantage, or any other kind of perk its not uncommon for there to be a move to "shut them up" by any means necessary. If the person shedding light on the flaw in a democracy we give more of a voice and credibility to the "popular" people isn't this skewing what people who are looking to the forums for information on how to vote?
The Dean of the SC is now the first ever legitimate, official "Troll" of the CDS forums.
And why the name "Troll"? Her message was not one the raters agreed with. Why would our system then call her names? We need a system that regulates how people approach the posting of ideas and stops them from online bullying ( moderators reviewing posts for breaking posting rules of the forums) not one that is a junior high popularity contest that ends up itself calling people names.
Our Dean of the SC Callipygian is on record as saying in a meeting that CDS citizens should be treated like junior high children. Is that what she was thinking ? I would like to believe she didn't mean for this experiment to turn out this way, for good intentions I give her ONE thumbs up.
But, I give a thousand thumbs down to the experiment.
EXPERIMENT FAILED !
Now the forums claim to be moderated by the Scientific Council of the CDS. They have some guidelines.. no harassment, no libel, no lots of things.. BUT. Wow that is hard to moderate, and given that the members of the SC may actually be connected politically and have great motivation to make someone or break someone in CDS it may be asking too much altogether. For example, the SC members all know they can be impeached by a 2/3 vote of the RA so they may have a bit of incentive to be less than impartial if a RA member is disagreeing with them or questioning their actions.
So recently our Dean of the SC in CDS in a meeting said this:
Callipygian Christensen [09:36] You need to start
approaching this as if you are dealing with junior high kids acting out, not
adults working together
She was referring to something else .. but she did subsequent to the comment put in a thumbs up or down rating system in CDS which on day 3 made her the first ever official CDS forum Troll.
That's right the first ever "troll" of the CDS forums ended up being non other than the Dean of the SC herself.
That's right the first ever "troll" of the CDS forums ended up being non other than the Dean of the SC herself.
So this thing is called Reputation system or something. It seems more like a junior high popularity contest at best to me, and a new method to bully and ostracize at worst, with an inbetween result of giving a skewed message to the reading public. I suppose we all have to put up with biased media in the USA, Fox News or NPR, and if we all know this, then the ratings will have new meanings. The colors will mean more about who are aligned with than whether you are good or bad, no matter what the media outlet and those who control it want others to think.
This system can work in CDS, but in its form now IMHO its quite badly flawed. If the system is fully transparent and everyone can see who put what points to whom where and when and why .. then that is a great way for more people to easily give their opinions. I would applaud that system. The way the reputation system is set up now though, incentivizes something other than transparency and freedom of speech.
If citizens disagree with Cally's reputation system it hardly makes her a "troll". It would be nice if we can see who disagrees with her and why rather than calling her names. Calling people names is actually in violation of the moderation guidelines itself.
This system seems totally inappropriate to me in that the issues being brought up on the forums are often political in nature so of course sides will be taken. But more importantly, sometimes initial whistleblowers don't have much support in the early days of them pointing out issues such as government corruption at worst or minor hypocrisy ..
The need to improve a system is typically initiated from a "need" or a "flaw". Someone has to discover this need or flaw. Someone has to shed light on it. When people are unable to disconnect peoples actions and ideas from who they are, the whistleblower gets labeled as an attacker. If the discovery of a flaw in the system means that fixing that flaw would take something away from a person.. something like an unfair advantage, or any other kind of perk its not uncommon for there to be a move to "shut them up" by any means necessary. If the person shedding light on the flaw in a democracy we give more of a voice and credibility to the "popular" people isn't this skewing what people who are looking to the forums for information on how to vote?
The Dean of the SC is now the first ever legitimate, official "Troll" of the CDS forums.
And why the name "Troll"? Her message was not one the raters agreed with. Why would our system then call her names? We need a system that regulates how people approach the posting of ideas and stops them from online bullying ( moderators reviewing posts for breaking posting rules of the forums) not one that is a junior high popularity contest that ends up itself calling people names.
Our Dean of the SC Callipygian is on record as saying in a meeting that CDS citizens should be treated like junior high children. Is that what she was thinking ? I would like to believe she didn't mean for this experiment to turn out this way, for good intentions I give her ONE thumbs up.
But, I give a thousand thumbs down to the experiment.
EXPERIMENT FAILED !
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Covenents and Themes in CDS
A lot of hubbub is going on in CDS surrounding themes and covenents and basically how the sims look. The arguments that ensue are said to be in the defense of the "look " of the sims. The problem really is that because votes and the voting list is tied to land ownership and that opens up a whole other can of worms that in my opinion needs to be unraveled quickly before it unravels our community.
CDS is a mix of people from all over the world and certainly the people are a wide range of age, socio economic status. I can't imagine where one would find a more diverse mix of people. Maybe the closest example I can think of in America is Manhattan, NYC, the big apple. This morning I was thinking of the issue of themes and our demographics in CDS and thought of New York and how I love the diverse mix there too. And the city's architecture reflects that diversity, and history, just as I believe CDS should do.
Have you ever traveled down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan without noticing the thing that looks as if someone was playing with prims, made a big spiral, and painted it white. Gosh I am glad they didn't have strict covenents or an elected official or nitpicky neighbors who thought the artist might not vote his way in the next election. I wonder if some people didn't want this "unusual" building in their neighborhood? I also think of another Frank Lloyd Write masterpiece, the seemingly "physically implausible" Falling Water.
I know we don't want CDS to look like mainland. But I think it would be sad to stifle the creative efforts of the people who live there. One man's art is another man's graffiti. As we have tolerance for others cultures and backgrounds and beliefs where do we draw the line in their expression of such?
I would hate to see what a sl world designed by draftsmen doing exact realistic replicas of houses would look like. We know of great examples of Secondlife being used to make replicas of things. But and that's okay. But honestly, for me, if SL was just a bunch of replicas of real life .. visually or in any other way, I doubt it would have held my interest as long as it has.
Should CDS be a dynamic visual representation of our history as a community and the population and its extreme diversity? I think so.
Let's spend our energy making the place a fabulous place to live, a friendly loving and accepting community so we can buy more sims and build enough places that there is something for everyone.
CDS is a mix of people from all over the world and certainly the people are a wide range of age, socio economic status. I can't imagine where one would find a more diverse mix of people. Maybe the closest example I can think of in America is Manhattan, NYC, the big apple. This morning I was thinking of the issue of themes and our demographics in CDS and thought of New York and how I love the diverse mix there too. And the city's architecture reflects that diversity, and history, just as I believe CDS should do.
Have you ever traveled down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan without noticing the thing that looks as if someone was playing with prims, made a big spiral, and painted it white. Gosh I am glad they didn't have strict covenents or an elected official or nitpicky neighbors who thought the artist might not vote his way in the next election. I wonder if some people didn't want this "unusual" building in their neighborhood? I also think of another Frank Lloyd Write masterpiece, the seemingly "physically implausible" Falling Water.
I know we don't want CDS to look like mainland. But I think it would be sad to stifle the creative efforts of the people who live there. One man's art is another man's graffiti. As we have tolerance for others cultures and backgrounds and beliefs where do we draw the line in their expression of such?
I would hate to see what a sl world designed by draftsmen doing exact realistic replicas of houses would look like. We know of great examples of Secondlife being used to make replicas of things. But and that's okay. But honestly, for me, if SL was just a bunch of replicas of real life .. visually or in any other way, I doubt it would have held my interest as long as it has.
Should CDS be a dynamic visual representation of our history as a community and the population and its extreme diversity? I think so.
Let's spend our energy making the place a fabulous place to live, a friendly loving and accepting community so we can buy more sims and build enough places that there is something for everyone.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
20th elections for the Representative Assembly and Chancellor of CDS
Candidacy for the 20th RA of CDS
by cleopatraxigalia » Fri Oct 11, 2013 2:02 pm
Poised to enter our second decade, this is a very exciting time in CDS! As we celebrate our 10th year the most important thing I think we can do is to make sure we secure our 20th Anniversary.
Colonia Nova, the first Ancient Roman themed full sim in SL was my first CDS home and since then I have owned parcels all five CDS sims and love them all. I served in the RA in 2007 and 2008 and many of the people I met back then are still active citizens today!
CDS is not just my home it is my sl passion. I am extremely outgoing and enjoy interesting people. This combination means I spend my spare time in SL meeting people and telling them about our democracy! The history of CDS is very important to me. Seeing the creations of current and former citizens throughout CDS always sparks memories of events and people, they represent a long list of interesting folks who have walked our land and called it home too. To continue to thrive I believe we must make sure that we have sustained population growth, citizen participation, and never become complacent or accept decline. I also believe we must be vigilant to maintain the Rule of Law, protect the power of the citizens, and always safeguard the integrity of the system that allows us to thrive as a democracy.
Sincerely ,
Cleopatra Xigalia
RESPECT
Colonia Nova, the first Ancient Roman themed full sim in SL was my first CDS home and since then I have owned parcels all five CDS sims and love them all. I served in the RA in 2007 and 2008 and many of the people I met back then are still active citizens today!
CDS is not just my home it is my sl passion. I am extremely outgoing and enjoy interesting people. This combination means I spend my spare time in SL meeting people and telling them about our democracy! The history of CDS is very important to me. Seeing the creations of current and former citizens throughout CDS always sparks memories of events and people, they represent a long list of interesting folks who have walked our land and called it home too. To continue to thrive I believe we must make sure that we have sustained population growth, citizen participation, and never become complacent or accept decline. I also believe we must be vigilant to maintain the Rule of Law, protect the power of the citizens, and always safeguard the integrity of the system that allows us to thrive as a democracy.
Sincerely ,
Cleopatra Xigalia
RESPECT
Posted on http://www.slcds.info
Let the Race begin.
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