Community Members of Defunct Inworldz Rally to Crowdfund New World

Islandzvw.com is the new online home for "Islandz", the successor to InWorldz, a commercial spinoff of OpenSim which was recently beset by financial troubles, and was taken offline. Islandz is its successor.

"It technically is not a 'new' InWorldz," InWorldz founder Beth Reischl tells me. "It is a new business entity [and] new grid using Halcyon code base. It does have the data from InWorldz, which will need to be purged accordingly; however, it is an all new grid."

Nothing is on that website just yet, not even a logo, but soon will be. Reischl is currently leading the drive to restore assets from the old world into the new one: "We're more focused on getting the OAR files properly filtered for residents," she says. A new logo will come after that, so until then, here's a dummy placeholder made by me. "We're hoping to have something for testing as far as the grid goes at the end of next week, the website will follow after we iron out the wrinkles in the grid," she adds.

Islandz is completely funded by InWorldz community members who contributed to a Go Fund Me -- and the collective decision to take those funds and create a whole new world was one that emerged through that process.

"When they suggested the Go Fund Me, [it] was originally to save InWorldz, obviously," says Reischl. "I suddenly injected some reality into the conversation by pointing out to them [that] we'd still be in same straits the following month and suggesting they request refunds (GFM doesn't allow me to initiate refunds, oddly). They then had a very long conversation, lots of yelling, emotions were fairly high, and in a couple of hours the majority had decided to use those funds to start a new grid."

She has already has plans in place to avoid the financial challenges that led to InWorldz:

"One of the biggest issues we faced," she says, "was the high operational costs that were static, and just grew as inventories grew, assets grew, etc. There's definitely some hindsight that comes into play when you start laying out and planning a whole new grid. Experiences that you learn from."

For this new world, she says, "We started with the operational costs and how best to reduce them, but still provide the service that our customers wanted. In this, we've been successful and we'll put out more details as we get closer to open testing. Since it's a fully new system, there are definitely trouble areas we're expecting to run into, so we're going to take our time and face each challenge to ensure that the experience is still the top notch experience we provided with InWorldz for our residents. We'll also have cost adjustments, and we have some new options in offerings that will become available as we grow again."

And if you're wondering why the website has such a quirky URL (www.islandzvw.com), there's actually a good reason for that:

"www.islandz.com" was $4,500 to purchase, so that was a big no," Reischl tells me, chuckling. "When I read up on why it was so expensive, it was because 'Z' has become popular. Who knew when I started InWorldz, that the Z would start a trend."

Comments

[Mike Dickson]

As Beth herself has said this is a new business entity. She also states she has "has(sic) the data from InWorldz, which will need to be purged accordingly; however, it is an all new grid."

Given this is an all new grid how does InWorldz data and most especially user profiles and account information get moved at all? The Consent act requires explicit opt in when creating an account or establishing service with a business. I (for instance) did neither with the new entity and the new business has no right to use my personal information, accounts, and most especially the content I created. Nor does it for anyone who hasn't explicitly OPTED IN.

So if this is a clean slate, something she'd wished for some time for given the asset issues InWorldz was experiencing,then great, let her build the new business like anyone else would. I suppose its possible for someone to sign up with a new account and somehow "claim" the data from their previous one. But if the intent is to launch the new grid with the personal identifying information from InWorldz, well that's a problem...

[Beth Reischl]

The data that is there, has to be used, for people such as yourself Mike, that is if you want your OAR files, which I recall you requesting. That data however, will NOT be used on the new grid unless users opt-in. Which means we'll pull their old information to the new database upon initial log-in, and after a reasonable amount of time, purge the old data.

[Mike Dickson]

Glad to hear that. Above board, and how it should work. I haven't seen that clearly stated before but admittedly I don't have access to the communication channel currently in use where such information is discussed. Best of luck with the new endeavor.

[Chic Aeon]

There was a fair amount of chatter during the InWorldz closing times concerning items purchased in Inworldz that were specifically meant to only be used there. Especially for full perm creators, this seems a bit problematic. I haven't read anything about how those OAR files were going to be filtered.

Legitimately they should only contain items made by the OAR owner, true? I didn't sell my things in Inworldz with the understanding that they could be ported out. That was the whole "closed grid" idea. So some of the content creators who have left Inworldz ARE wondering about this -- especially the full perm creators.

It would be good to know exactly what those plans are -- or see a link to something already stated about this that I (we) missed. Previous Inworldz citizens that have no inclination to enter the new world would really like to know about the future of their creations owned by others.

Also, since my Kitely sales have zipped up by a fair multiplier of late I am guessing there is a substantial portion of folks that won't be opting back into the clan; they appear to have moved to lands in the hypergrid. If they were given OAR files with items that should NOT have left InWorldz, that is a whole different issue ^^.

[Minethere Always]

ok, I will join the fray. Since I read you are noticing this place and comments.

I do not want my avatar name of "Minethere Always" to have anything to do with this goofy stuff.

I do not opt-in or opt-out, whatever, and I need no comment from you Beth. I can't enforce this and since you have shown yourself to be even more of a criminal than you had before, just remove my stuff and avatar for that matter.

It is bad enough that on the net people get away with otherwise criminal behaviors and actions. So it is a matter of dealing with the known ones rather than those can't be called out.

Jim once said I had thousands of objects in InWorldz, but whatever it is you do not have my permission to use it in any way whatsoever.

[Chic Aeon]

Without the history of MineThere, but with SOME from the months before Inworldz came into being ^^ --

I would like to add my name to the list of DELETE ALL MY STUFF. I have no plans to ever visit and hadn't been to Inworlz of old in a year or so anyway.

Chic Aeon and Lani Ashland (same typist).

It is legally very important to remember that we did not give permission for any of our items to MOVE. No one asked. My email has been the same for over ten years so if a message was sent out it strangely went astray. Even so most of the world is going to OPT IN :D.

[Morris Tyles]

Am wondering how the American Cancer Society will deal with this episode of embezzling. It may all be charity, but you don't steal from charities.
With all this happening, wondering how legit the Toy For Tots was; who's pocket did that line?

[Eagle Wolf]

Frankly....I requested my OAR to be sent to me, through email. That is NOT an "ok, you can keep my info for your new grid". Seems to me that certain legalities may be being stretched quite a bit here. This should prove quite interesting, indeed. Good luck with all that.

[Chic Aeon]

@ Eagle Wolf ---

my question is what was in the OAR file? Was it filtered to be just the things YOU created in Inworldz?

Kitely for example has a very strict "filtered OAR" policy (not exactly sure if it is called an OAR since I never had one made but you get the idea).

If you just received backups of YOUR work in a layout on YOUR sim, and especially if you asked to have it made -- then I have no issue. I see no problem. But since all I have read seemed to suggest that this was a hurried and not terribly thought out process, I have my doubts there.

And if those unfiltered OAR files got to Opensim and into the "wild" with God mode issues, then that is very bad. I have things that I ONLY uploaded to IW that I never uploaded in OS, so should that be the case it will be obvious how those stolen items got there.

Again, all people really want is some actual INFO in this issue.

[Clark]

Beth, recruit some Islandz "pioneers" who will test all things in the "trouble "areas.. And if all is well and done, they get a kick in the butt like it was being an Inworldz pioneer..

[Abigail Maky]

Dear Islandz owners, you do not have authorization to use my intellectual property, my items some handmade by me, you have zero authorization to transfer, this is copyright theft, as you have not got the legal authorization to misuse my digital commercial assets. I do not consent to being apart of islandz, I do not want my name associated with this organization, I want nothing to do with this keep me out of it.

[Abigail Maky]

For those people whos commercial assets maybe becoming listed and do not consent, file DMCA requests against this, you deserve to be paid for your products you own, and get the royalty payments you owe as is your legal right, rather than being stolen from since your royalties was ignored, and now it looks like it be updated to make profit off of marketplace fees without consent. Treat this with the contempt for copyright it deserves, and file DMCA requests against and if in America, contact the BBB, contact the payment providers and let them know they are financially assisting in copyright theft in this situation, and contact the police and report copyright theft if you feel it is necessary. I do not want my name and username associated with law breaking so delete all data, as it my right under the right to be forgotten with GDPR, do you remember that one beth? The one in which you refused to do early in 2018 before it came into law in May 2018, and said our grid would be broken if we did this it isn't possible, but some how it was possible to "comply" with GDPR despite stating otherwise that it wasn't. I am putting this up for all to see, if your going to give money to this lady at least know situations like this occured in private emails between me and beth so you know what your buying into.

[Wayfinder]

As a matter of public record:

The creations of WAYFINDER WISHBRINGER and SNOOTS DWAGON are not to be used in the establishment of Islandz or other endeavors by Beth Reischl. This isn't personal; it is a business issue of protecting one's intellectual property from carte-blanche use of a person and company which has not been granted legal permission to use my copyrighted creations.

It was not my group's understanding nor intent that Inworldz content was going to be used in creating a new entity. I neither opt-in nor opt-out; I simply require that my intellectual property (which falls under U.S. Copyright Code) be respected and that there occurs no transfer of such to a new grid without my specific intent and permission.

I wish I could just say "sure, do whatever you want" but that's not how the business world works. Islandz is at this time literally an unknown legal entity both in structure and intent. Therefore, no copyright privileges are granted. As this is by Beth's own statement NOT Inworldz, and is a totally new entity, any and all use of these properties on Islandz is forbidden.

[Minethere Always]

Abigail Maky ...I was waiting for just such a post as yours, the one that iterates various authorities with whom can be complained to.

So here is my own little bit of research. It is unlikely Beth herself will ever see any real legalities. Since she is in Panama (and isn't it so timely that she moved there?).

https://whois.icann.org/en/lookup?name=islandzvw.com (but this one has been privatized), however, it does give further information:

https://whois.icann.org/en/lookup?name=islandzvw.com which includes abuse reporting instructions.

https://www.enom.com/domains/search-results?query=islandz

I am not going to pursue this, but it is very clear some other people are quite upset and angry...and rightly so. Once I left inworldz for good my inventory no longer mattered.

[Abigail Maky]

(the following below is not legal advice and I am not a lawyer or legally qualified, this is due through my own research as I love studying law in a non professional manner, outside of college or university for a hobby, I strongly recommend you to obtain professional legal advice before taking legal action or proceeding with any and all legal matters)

The best bet is contact the payment providers, as Visa and MasterCard will simply dump her merchant account for this kind of activity, to prevent things like criminal charges like aiding and abetting, or being an accessory to copyright theft, being used against them . Whereever you are in the world Beth Reischl, the people you have wronged can solve this by pressuring the payment providers, mastercard,visa and many others with lawsuit fillings. also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extradition_law_in_the_United_States

United States has an extradition treaty with Panama :)

Remember a crime committed in your EU territory can be chased anywhere in the EU, under the European Arrest Warrant. do not hesitate to go to the police if your in the EU, if you feel it is necessary, should she has committed offenses, she will be detained on arrival in EU territory, and taken in for questioning and potentially should the police feel the evidence is strong enough and correct, criminal court. Also wherever you are in the world go to the police if you feel it is necessary it will then cut down the travel she can do worldwide, to escape the justice people deserve, I read people losing over 300 usd in Inworldz Credits unable to cash out they deserve to receive justice for this situation. Let the court decide what happens. You can run from Karma but eventually it will always catch up with you :)

[Abigail Maky]

Regarding my spelling and grammar, first, it was typed quickly without being grammar and spelling checked, two, I have flu so that I can not focus properly currently.

Why does Beth Resichl, not simply provide screenshots and evidence showing the money being locked up in paypal and the many other screeenshots of issue, theirs so many ways she can climb out of this mess in a much better situation should she choose transparency and share the evidence.

If she chooses not to do this, it is not unreasonable to ask why not?

Prove it Beth if you do people such as myself will delete our comments.

[Zara Nyn]

Christine I just appreciate a chance to get some of the stuff we made. Thank yo

[Wayfinder]

As Founder of Elf Clan I have a question about the OAR files of the remainder of our members:

Will those OAR files from Inworldz be made available as promised... or will people be required to "opt-in" to the new entity of Islandz to have that promise fulfilled?

As of this time, most members in my group report OAR files have not been delivered. As it is now one month following the closing of Inworldz, people are understandably concerned regarding when and if their intellectual properties are going to be delivered. There is concern of such properties being inadvertently or intentionally destroyed, which would of course bring in all new areas of legality. I neither suggest, suspect nor accuse in this. Merely making a point regarding the necessity of keeping that public promise within a realistic time period. People are relying on those creations to continue their virtual endeavors wherever they may personally decide to do so.

We understand there are legal and copyright issues to consider. However these issues have been established by grids like Kitely and DigiWorldz for quite some time. This is not legally unexplored territory. Again, this was a publicly published promise and must be kept. Whether people decide to support Islandz or not is irrelevant to keeping that promise to members of the now-defunct Inworldz: to provide them viable OAR copies of their intellectual properties, in many instances the result of years of work and land investment.

I am sure that not only Elf Clan but many other ex-land-owners of Inworldz are concerned in this matter and would appreciate reassurance in this issue.

[Chic Aeon]

@Wayfinder

Kitely for sure has FITLERED Oar files. Not sure about Digiworlds. Many Opensim grids will not make or load OAR files BECAUSE of the legalities.

So the big problem is just how those OAR files were made and by what criteria. I am wondering (loudly) if there was any criteria at all.

Realistically when a platform dies (and I have been on many that did) we lose everything. BUT if we are creators we surely have our original files and we can upload those assets again on another grid / platform (sometimes with some changes, sometimes not).

IF those OAR files were NOT filtered they are completely illegal and should not be delivered.

Since all this didn't slip under the radar as Beth likely hoped, I am guessing that they will not be sent out. Way too much publicity. Way to many UNANSWERED questions. Way too many original content creators on the warpath here.

We always have risks. We lose our digital goods. It happens. It frequently happens in SL simply because of database failures. So we don't even need to be part of a defunct grid to watch our items disappear into the mist. I have copies of all my items uploaded into Inworldz. Hopefully your clan member do also. They of course have no rights to movable copies of items they purchased unless that was an agreement with the content creator (at least one texture store OKed movement to another grid but that is the only one I have heard about).

So we will see what happens but I am guessing that things are going to either die quickly or get VERY messy here soon. :D.

[Chic Aeon]

To note: as of 10 pm SLT more or less http://islandzvw.com/ gives a totally white page and the graphic that appeared in this original post is broken.

[Wayfinder]

@Chic: You make good points. But copyright law sensibly puts a certain amount of burden on a creator to protect goods. It can thus be logically and legally argued that anything that is "full perm" and lacking an immediately available license would be considered public domain. People may argue against that... but such argument is without basis in U.S. Copyright rulings.

This considered, it would be very easy to produce an OAR based on once central question: Is this item full perm?

It would be reasonable that if the item is full perm and the owner is the creator, absolute copyrights and IP ownership is established.

If the item is full perm and created by someone else, the fact that it is full perm (the creator took no steps to secure copyright)... then it may be considered in the public domain and also can be added to the OAR.

If an item is not full perm, it is not added to the OAR.

That is a simple and direct method of determining the matter.

While there may be technical issues involved in the timely release of the OARs, I seriously doubt legal concerns are a valid delay. These concepts have been pretty much established for decades-- prior to the concept of Second Life itself. I'm not an attorney nor a specialist in this area, but I hold registered copyrights and have examined copyright law for longer than some people have been alive. In the matter of virtual reality copyright law, things are pretty clear: If the creator had opportunity to secure the item (by means of permissions) and opted to not / failed to do so, then that item cannot be said to be protected under U.S. copyright law. Thus... OARable.

In other words... Ele can easily determine which items to send out in the OARs, and should send such to her ex-customers as promised. That would likely generate some good will instead of making people wonder if their OARs are (as one person put it) "being held ransom". (Again, I don't accuse Elenia in this, just repeating public concern that has been brought to my attention.) These are questions people are wondering... especially after an entire month has passed.

[Chic Aeon]

@Wayfinder

I don't make full perm items. Mine are mod-copy-no transfer.

BUT -- every single full perm creator that I know has an END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT that comes with each and every piece of mesh and is up in their stores. Many say specifically that the license is ONLY for that particular grid.

I can see no way that folks that bought full perm items in Inworldz have the right to use those items on other grids. I am guessing that the creators of the full perm items (in most cases) would agree. That was NEVER the intent of the sale as Inworldz was a CLOSED grid.

Any way you look at this it is against the intent of the creator so I would suggest that putting a EULA in with each mesh sold and up in the store where the items were purchased was enough to take "reasonable steps to insure their content". No one can use full perm items for resale without them being m-c-t. We all know that. It doesn't mean BY ANY MEANS that they are "public domain" in any way. That was NEVER the intent of the creators.

If these items start appearing in Opensim and on other grids it will be VERY bad for the Opensim community which already has a long term cloud overhead with questionable mesh and textures provenances .

[Mike Chase]

It's playing pretty loose and free to equate the Linden's original permission system with carte-blanche public domain (which is a copyright concept) rights. Licensing is a very different thing from copyright. And Full Perm only makes sense in the context of the original grid the objects were realized under.

The bottom line IMO is that because of the original TOS of InWorldz under which the content was created/uploaded for distribution, IslandzVW has no right to it. Nor do they have a right to the user profile data, group information, etc. of InWorldz. I expect we'll see alot of churn and GDPR "right to be forgotten" requests here as would be prudent. Similarly there is protection of that nature for US citizens.

None of this is personal and I really object to how its all getting played out in the open when there are people actually creating cool stuff and making the world a better place with all this technology. Shame we need to focus on a case like this where the simple business reality is the grid should have been closed down, ideally with enough time for people to deal with their IP. All the ham handed attempts to raise cash to "save the grid" when there was just no way to do that plain and simple just tarnish the VW space. And for what? Who benefits? Not most of the IW users that's for sure. Good luck to everyone trying to move on. I hope you each find a place to express yourself and can make virtual fun again.

[sweet valentine]

i ok'd use of my textures,cupids textures, there but then removed the ok when i was attacked by the owner and her flunkies...they basically said they have a right to do what they want with any of our IP and i needed to be silent...i will take care of my customers personally now ......i give no license for use in this grid and state so in my new TOU

[Slient Sliter]

Chic Aeon needs to glue her dentures in and stop trying to be such a killjoy for this new grid.

She really thinks her crappy works are that important and they are not. Sit down old woman.

[Chic Aeon]

If you actually READ what I wrote Slient Sliter you would know that I don't make full perm items. It is THOSE folks that I am the most worried about (and they too are very worried from the people I chatted with).

I am very happy to stack my credentials next to yours -- any time sweetie. I guess that might be difficult since Google can't seem to find you. Somehow though Google found 1,410,000 results for "Chic Aeon" in 0.36 seconds.

And there are no dentures. My dentist assured me four months ago that I have the perfect teeth of a 28 year old.

:D

[Chic Aeon]

It always interests me when things get nasty on the forums and reply notes.

Just in case you have no idea who I am (and really why should you?) here is a year old post from Strawberry's meme when we were asked to Google ourselves.

https://chicatphilsplace.blogspot.com/2017/11/monday-meme-google-yourself.html

That doesn't mean that my opinion is better than yours of course. Oh wait -- you didn't actually tell us your opinion. I have nothing all against the new grid. I only question the inappropriateness (and legality) of taking original works without permission of the owners TO that new grid.

[Wayfinder]

@All: There's no need to be nasty in this. We're simply discussing opinions and legal situations. Even licensed copyright attorneys sometimes argue over interpretation of the law. That is why courts exist.

Chic, again you make valid points. However one point was missed: Elenia stated that anyone who doesn't want their items transferred anywhere else may contact her and have those items completely stricken. Since (evidently) she still has the user files (which should include UUIDs), then matching creators to OAR files should be a pretty straight-forward bit of coding. They could easily create an OAR-spider that would remove all instances of your creations in all OARs. Problem solved.

Since your items were non-trans, there shouldn't even be a question involved in your case. They can't be used, period.

If someone created full-perm items and had licenses with them... it should be noted those licenses no longer exist; they died with Inworldz. In such case if they produced full perm items and don't want them to be used on Inworldz or elsewhere... then we get back to the Federally-established Copyright Mandate of "need to reasonably secure your work". In this case, that means (as previously mentioned) contacting Elenia and forbidding further use of those items.

In such case I wouldn't wait very long. I sent her notice the moment I heard she was setting up a totally new company... even though most of my items (even the free ones) are not full-perm (with few exceptions-- scripts and such). I really hated to ban my items from her grid, but legally it's the only way to protect my creations from what is (at this time) a completely unknown entity with a white page for a website. As we have no idea how Islandz is going to be set up, I am not comfortable with giving that company rights to do whatever they wish with my creations. It is a matter of breached trust-- first in the destruction of Inworldz, second in the (alleged) mis-use of donated funds, third in failure to send out OAR files as promised (as of this date).

To re-gain any degree of trust, many people are going to have to see some actions of good-intent. I have *one* such action on a private level, and am waiting to see if Beth extends such to others as she promised. That means sending out legal OAR files. As far as I can tell, claims that she has no right to send out OAR files are not founded in proper knowledge of U.S. Copyright law. Members have been repeatedly given opportunity to opt-out of that process. Not doing so in light of high-visibility of this matter would offer little excuse in failing to protect one's copyright by providing legal notice of refusal.

If nothing else, the DMCA notice system is widely known, easily available and should be understood by anyone who claims to hold copyrights or intellectual properties. If one is not acquainted with how DMCA works, I recommend hitting Google for an hour or so. But Beth has stated any and all requests will be honored even without a DMCA, so it would seen the wise course to pursue that method if one wishes to protect IP rights.

[Wayfinder]

Chic as a follow-up: it should be noticed that Beth has stated that in order to have your items appear on the new grid, you must OPT-IN, as required by law in some areas. If you don't opt-in, your items (supposedly) won't appear on Islandz.

While most would understand skepticism at this time, that's the statement made. I'd still make sure a direct statement is issued to Beth regarding any items you don't want appearing in anyone's OARs.

[Chic Aeon]

@Wayfinder :D

Agreed nastiness doesn't help anything.

I can say that I never received any notices (officially or from Beth) about the closing and all that entailed. I have IMs to email checked for IW even though I haven't been there in well over a year. She of course still has my email address which hasn't changed in over a decade. I ONLY heard about the events from the Opensim Virtual Google group. There was no mention there of contacting Beth or how to contact.

It is much more the IDEA of what has been going on than any personal "loss". As I say, I have had dealings with Beth in other lands that have left a very bad taste in my mouth so I have no trust at all and never did. I was only in IW because of a friend. When she left, I left.

Sometimes there is just too much history and drama to move on. I do hope all the folks from Inworldz find new homes. Kitely is reporting 300% increase in market sales (in the middle of SLOW summer) and much of that must be from the exodus -- one would assume that anyway.

I feel sorriest for the folks that actually lost US dollars.

And for the record I do not agree with your following statement at all and I am sure it could be countered legally and on many levels :D:

If someone created full-perm items and had licenses with them... it should be noted those licenses no longer exist; they died with Inworldz.

Will wait to here the end of the story ---
Hope your clan makes it though OK.

[Carrie Snowpaw]

Hi - a little late to the discussion but I just saw the post here. I’m wondering about account balances when inworldz shut down. I had a balance that I could not cash out. I have a screen shot of it. This is my money from the sale of my creations. I’d like to know if Beth has any plans on paying creators and users the money they had when the grid shut down. I lost money way back when avination shut down and I was ignoring completely when I requested it.

[Jez Meydan]

@All

If you have any legal concerns regarding rights, liabilities, etc. strongly suggest that you disregard any comments made by @Abigail Maky (who indicates herself that she is not legally qualified and thus placing herself, and others at risk) and seek appropriately legally qualified counsel with expertise in relevant fields of practice.

Assumption of reasonable risk is a basic tenant of anyone who invests time and money in a virtual world. The biggest risk is those who set up and run such worlds.

@Wayfinder's comments appear to be an accurate and balanced approach.

Let's work proactively to enhance virtual worlds.

[Abigail Maky]

@Jez Meydan

I stated very clearly above the following:

--- I strongly recommend you to obtain professional legal advice before taking legal action or proceeding with any and all legal matters ----

Just because I have no law degree does not mean I know nothing, enough with the all or nothing mindset. Evan lawyers do not know everything, regarding the law hence why they specialize in fields like, immigration law, criminal law, family law, divorce law, elder law etc...

Placing myself and others at risk? I told people seek professional advice, can you not read that? If people have had 350 usd stolen from them, and yes it is likely theft as likely knew their was a lot of money outstanding to be paid, and did not put any plans in place to honour the withdrawls. Why should they not go to the payment providers, and hit the business where it hurts instead of be silent, and let inworldz llc get away with it. Why should they not go to the police, they have much more chance of getting their money back with a criminal report, when approaching paypal etc..

I am sorry you crawl up beths ass, but people should expect a grid owner, to run their grid in a competent manner, not in a reckless lets gamble the grid on roulette model.

Some of us have self respect to refuse to tolerate this kind of behavior and are not doormats. Its easier to slate me for trying to give people avenues of options to explore, than to hold beth responsible for what she did to the grid in the first place.

[Makoto Sharkfin]

AS A MATTER OF NOTICE TO ALL DAR DESIGNS CUSTOMERS/FRIENDS ( FULL PERMS TEXTURES/MESH ITEMS )

To whom it may concern,

The ones signing below, all members of DAR Designs and represented on grids with the name of "Makoto Sharkfin / Dar Designs" DO NOT CONSENT nor AUTHORIZE our items, textures, mesh property and appliances to be transferred to the new Grid called Islandzvw.com, nor any other Grid managed, promoted or referred by the person named Beth Reischl or the company she represents or will be representing in the near future.

DAR Designs has a Policy that includes the selling/reselling/utilization of our items ONLY ON THE GRID THEY WERE purchased and, in case customer wants to use/export to another Grid, a fee must be covered, so in case this items are exported/transferred/moved to any other grid without authorization, we will not hesitate on filing a DMCA or any other legal resource against the Grid/Person/Company that does so.

The customers that bougth our items and want to export to this grid, beware. If you do not follow our policies, you will not be able to conduct bussiness with our items in this new Grid if you decide to join.
Thank You all for your attention.

[John Johnstone]

I don't trust Beth and whatever worldZ she creates.

[John Johnstone]

The whole financial thing of InWorldz seems sketchy and smells like rotten fish. I wouldn't trust Beth Resichl with a penny.

[Susan]

None of your merchants seem to be considering all that will be lost by your customers who PAID you all that money for your stuff that you'll be taking away from us when the new grid opens. It doesn't look very good for your businesses in any other virtual worlds, and I CERTAINLY won't be shopping there. I may give up VWs altogether since I can't create things from scratch like you all know how to do. If I do log into the new Islandz, it sounds like I'm going to be coming back to a completely empty sim/OAR. I feel like the very expensive mansion I've been building with YOUR merchandise for the past 9 years has burned down.

[Susan]

PS: Your greed and selfishness have taught me the hard way that buying pixelated goods is a great way to throw away ALL your money. And SOME of the goods created by those of you above was VERY expensive for me, stuff I had to save up for. VWs are a complete waste of money and full of cliques and bullies.

[Boo Zipper]

All I can say is that I better never find any of my creations on Islandz or any other grid that Beth is involved in...period.

[Pricella Paravane]

I totaly agree with Susan. In my furniture store i had Mesh beds, first i bought the mesh object, than i had put in all the animations. I bought them from the best animation maker i could find and payed thousands of iz for them. When the new grid opens do i still have beds, will there be animations in them? and what about my customers do the have a bed that still has animations in them. It does not seem fair to me that i will loos so many things that i payed for

[gregg legendary]

Beth Reischl get ahold of me I have a proposal for you
Gregg Legendary

[Jay Donovan]

Beth, please delete ALL of Assets created by John Mahogany. I have moved back to Second Life for the time being to rethink about how to proceed. I spend a lot of time on horses I will never see again. Animals that I really enjoyed making and you took it away. you flatly refused my request to allow me to back up my own product. Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. You or any of your minions have permission to use any of my assets or scripts in any of your ventures in any form and rest assured I will be watching. Good luck with your future adventures. Oh and my credit card information has been canceled as well.

[Jay Donovan]

correction: you or your minions DO NOT have permission to use any of my assets in any of your ventures in any for m and rest assured I will be watching.

[Rose Sampang]

No textures, sculpts, or skins created by Toni Friller, Adaarye Shikami, Panther3D, or Nightside Studio are licensed for any grid other than the grid that the afore mentioned items were originally purchased on. These conditions were present and presented in all user licensing provided before and at the time of purchase.

Thank you

Adaarye Shikami

[Warwick Falconer]

Public Notice: All objects, scripts, textures and animations created by Warwick Falconer in the Inworldz grid are protected by copyright and may not be used in any manner in any other grid without expressed license. I neither requested nor authorized these to be archived, and accordingly they may not be saved or imported by the new grid owners in any manner, whether in a holding database or otherwise.

[Jeri Rahja]

So glad I found this! Any work or art that was placed on any of Jeri Rahja sims (there where 30) or any art fest sims Inworldz Dreamz and Visionz, Gulliver Travels, Imaginations or numerous others, ICE sims, I will see that the proper artist is contacted and the proper actions are taken. NO ONE has the permission to copy the art works of another. Jeri Rahja

[neil stannard]

so when is this going to be up and running?

[eekee]

Eh... don't suppose too many people will see this, but I wanted to write to help coalesce my thoughts. It's been really hard to remember all the factors.

Am still I angry with Beth Rieschl? I mostly got over that before InWorldz finally closed. She's just a human. She's made some stupid decisions, but haven't we all? I'm sure now she's not the best person to run a grid by a long shot. Both in handling of abuse reports and in the trust necessary to have other people around for emergencies, she's fallen seriously short, but she's worked very hard to save content for her customers. Hmm... now I think about it, I should be angry about her abuse procedures. That's more important than possessions, but on receipt of an accusation InWorldz would go the full shock and awe route against innocent and possibly fragile people. Now I remember that, I don't want anything to do with her; not a burning anger but frankly a revulsion.

On the other hand I'm not terribly repulsed but am a teeny little bit fiery-angry with content creators, including my friend Snoots, who think so much of protecting their own possessions that they think nothing of protecting the possessions of the people who paid them money. I've been thinking for a very long time that digital rights are 100% about the sources and never about the recipients, which can't be right. Maybe I'm exaggerating.

I do remember a few weeks after I joined SL, all the way back in 2005, I concluded that while rewarding small-time artists is very nice, doing so using computers like this will always result in serious problems. At times, I've wavered in this opinion because I was brought up to distrust my own reason, but time and time again I come back to the same conclusion, and it's stronger each time.

Between all these things... well... forgetting the abuse handling, I was still a little bit sorry I didn't opt-in for my content to be used in Islandz, but there were only a handful of freebies anyway. By the time it came up I was burned out, which is essentially the same problem which resulted in there only being a handful of freebies in the first place. Hm... maybe I could re-upload the ones I still have... or not. I'm that repulsed by InWorldz abuse handling that I don't want to care for people who would support Beth Rieschl. Sometimes I might say things like that in the heat of the moment, (I'm trying to be less like that,) but right now I'm saying it after careful consideration of all the factors, long after the heat of the events has gone away.

I feel that strongly because -- I am not exaggerating -- if someone had reported abuse against me in InWorldz in 2014, *no matter how flimsy the report,* it's very likely I would have been driven to suicide. I'm very VERY thankful I got a chance to see what could happen before it happened. Somebody got *seriously* emotionally abused by Inworldz official abuse handling staff for using the word "Mommy" in a way that parents normally do in real life. What could have happened to me, considering my emotional problems made me have panic attacks when I wore a normal-height avatar?

eekee x / eekee eebus / Aklev Noonan / Cy all / Cyall Cookies / Cyall Akula

Oh, blog bug report: I got a "session expired" notice trying to post this. This happens when I take the time to think about what I'm writing. Ah, *good!* This blog preserves comment contents when the page is reloaded, or allows the browser to do so. That makes it all right, and is a big 1-up over Blogspot. Maybe I'll use Blogs.com myself.