F.U.S.L.

Alright … Second Life is becoming ridiculously tedious.

My fabulous friend with pixel warts mentioned to me that a friend (one of the three SL boys) was interested in, and in need of sculpt maps.  Now, while I may seem She-Hulkish to most, I do in fact help fellow residents when asked.  Its like a sick disease, I never turn down helping someone (unless you’re the flakiest git this side of the Metaverse).

 

That said, what was put forth as a helpful i/m, turned into an utterly annoying and pointless ‘internet argument’, which we all know is a major qualifier for ‘Sp3shul-nessed’, n’est pas?  Names have been changed to protect the asshole-ry.

In-world I sent ‘Dear’ (a pun) a quick blurb that I had two folders I’d happily pass him (one of maps I’d purchased, and one a collection of freebies I’d gnabbed).

To this ‘Dear’ replies:

[11:24] ‘Dear’: Ow that would be so sweet ty Serishen….’SL Lady’ told me about these sculpties. Thank you so much already

To which I reply:

Oh, no, my pleasure. I can send the folders to you this evening when I’m in-world. We can discuss the stipulations of our agreement then, as I’ve often times found some are a bit touchy about pledging their first-born to me as repayment. I’m sure we’ll work something out though. Ciao! (The lack of a timestamp is in part to this being an SL-generated email .. that thingie where it emails ya.)

Now, what I responded with is obviously a joke. Though, I sincerely would like a different opinion, should someone out there think I’d want their child.  This ain’t Old Testament, folks.

I receive no reply at all.  Not a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ or even ‘roflomghahahan00b!’. Nada.  So, when I pop in-world ‘SL Lady’ i/ms me and I let her know I’d happily shoot ‘Dear’ the folders once he’s in-world.  Per ‘SL Lady’, he’s an avid builder. M’kay, good.

 

Here’s where it gets weird.  He messages ‘SL Lady’ stating the had he known there was some sort of agreement, he wouldn’t have asked. WTF?  Now, I’m vaguely confused at this point, as I work on the principle of ‘If you don’t want an offer I’ve extended (and you accepted), then at the very least let me know’. Is that asking a lot? It literally takes fifteen seconds to message ‘Thanks, Serishen, but I’d rather not.’ And its all teh gud.

So I send this:

[17:13] Serishen: ‘Dear’, what I sent to you was a ‘joke’. If you were worried about an ‘agreement’ I would have really appreciated you voicing that concern to me. You can purchase sculpties from SL Exchange, Cel Edman makes them for a very agreeable price.  (I give him Cel’s info because I’m thinking at this point … this guy must think I really want his child in exchange for sculpt maps. Kidding. In all honestly I didn’t know what to think, so I gave him the info so he could purchase them/see more of what’s offered if he wanted.)

I get this:

[0:05] ‘Dear’: Never mind Serishen. Its not that important. Its just that my dear friend ‘SL Lady’ showed me and told me you could help me…I am not going to hop from one to the other in SL to get a hold of sculpted objects. Thanks anyway

This is where I get completely confused … because I did attempt to help, right?  I had two folders, informed him I’d send them to him once he was in-world again … and … right? No hopping involved. Am I fucking retarded or something?

So I send this:

This is obviously a huge case of misunderstanding, as I have no idea whatsoever what ‘hopping’ you’ve done. I am well aware of who ‘SL Lady’ is, she’s my closest friend. ‘SL Lady’ contacted me about the sculpties for you. As far as attempting to help, I did just that. I offered you two folders of sculpties (one that I’d paid for myself, and the other I’d spent time collecting here in SL). The ‘agreement’, a joke that went over your head. The ‘hopping’ is more than a bit assumed. I tried to help and in turn you seemed to assume the worst (not everyone in SL is after lindens, mon ami). Its not important though, and regardless, best of luck with your building!

I wished him the best and considered it ‘over and out’ at this point.  I didn’t feel like I should have to pander free items that he said he wanted.  And before you think I’m being flippant with the: ‘I know who ‘SL Lady’ is’, its because he’s dropping her name as if I haven’t a clue. We went over ‘SL Lady’ in the first i/m in-world.  Personally, it seemed to come off to me as if he were trying to say ‘I would like to get these from you for free, because ‘SL Lady’ told me you’d do that’. This is fine, seriously, because I DID OFFER THEM FOR FREE?!  At this point I’m more bemused than annoyed.  To me, its simple. It’s a principle of being courteous. You don’t want them, ok, then let me know. Don’t waste my time, because I’m sitting here waiting for you to log on. And certainly don’t wait until after telling a third-party that ‘she wants lindens’, to tell me (after I contact you and attempt to clarify) you thought I could help.  Its tacky and in this case a blatant lie.

Then I get this:

[6:08] ‘Dear’: Hi,   I have been trying to send im in-world via my e-mail but when I try to log in at the sl website I get this message that my password is incorrect and I am 100% sure that I do use the right password…I even changed it in order to be completely sure I used the right password…but vainly   Kind regards,   ‘Dear’

Naturally I’m thrown into another otherworldly portal of ‘wtf’-ness.

I send this in response:

I’m sorry to hear that. Have you contacted me by mistake while attempting to get a Linden Lab associate to help with the issue?

Because … I don’t know how the fuck he messaged me by mistake, while contacting Linden Labs.  If I were as conniving as he’s taking me for (a nod to his final message), I would have messaged back, ‘Please send your credit card info and password ‘Dear’, and we at Linden Labs will see to correcting this issue for you as conveniently as possible.’  But I’m only a bitch on Fridays.  Again, I think we’re ‘over and out’. Just a misdirected (how the hell?!) message.

‘Dear’ sends:

[8:37] ‘Dear’: Yup…I am sorry about that dear Serishen (F.Y.I. I hate being referenced as dear, hun, baby, or sweetie in any form, fashion, or context. Ugh.)  With that, I think all’s well yadda nadda.  The matter is forgotten as I surf the net.

Then ‘Dear’ sends again:

[8:39] ‘Dear’: I dont assume (*seemed to assume is what I wrote* Speculation not accusation.) anything…I just dont need the sculpties anymore..claro ?

[8:40] ‘Dear’: I didnt need them in the first place as I said already.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this carries the stout note of eau d’Asshole.

Much to my ‘common sense fail-safe’ I respond:

[16:44] Serishen: Don’t be snide, as I was quite civil with you. There isn’t a need to relay any more messages.

This is completely valid folks because he is being snide, also, I thought the discussion was over like … three i/ms ago.  I can see if I left off with ‘You’re a stupid ‘tard, hope you figure out how to log-in, D’oh!’, then yes … take the offense.  But I didn’t.  I let him know a) This was obviously a misunderstanding and b) I wasn’t trying to fleece him.  And for the record, he not once mentioned ‘not needing them in the first place’ before this instance.  Contradictory statement on his part.  My entire reasoning for attempting to clarify and contacting him was because he never conceded to ‘not needing them’.  Had he said such, I wouldn’t have bothered informing him about Cel. So much for trying to fucking help …

Naturally ‘Dear’ responds:

[23:45] ‘Dear’: Who is being snide here ?????? Its you with your strange kind of humor…dont tell me what to do

Since when was my joke snide?  Maybe off-beat and … lame … but snide?  That final message pretty much sums it up for me.  Ignorance, period.  So because you thought my humor strange, you rudely dismissed my help, without even bothering to inform me you no longer wanted what I offered (and when you did, it was in a manner as if I’d forced them down your fucking throat against your will).

 

It also tells me that I was judged right off the bat. Before, I was good enough to take free sculpt maps from … Though now you jump from ‘Oh wow thanks gee whiz gosh darn you’re a peach!’ to ‘I don’t feel like hopping between people to get something’ … for free, no hopping involved.  Uh .. you weren’t?  It was just me … preparing to send you folders of sculpt maps?  Which is fine, but seriously, people in Second Life have forgotten the base concept of etiquette/netiquette.

I’m assuming my response of, “There isn’t a need to relay any more messages.”, (Which basically dumbs down to ‘d00d, oh em gee, we were done like .. yesterday with this!!111) elicited this tirade, ‘don’t tell me what to do’, which I have dubbed:

Tantrums 15:9

Let he who cannot comprehend throweth the first tantrum. Ye cannoteth tell me what to do, no-eth, no-eth, no-eth.

 In my closing arguments, I will reinstate: What. The. Fuck? I am so ashamed I even participated in this. Oh, and, Go Obama! 

Now, if you were crazy enough to read this post in its entirety … was I snide?

Simply put, if I were snide, I’d want it brought to my attention (and for the party doing so not to use me being ‘strange’ as their driving point, as that’s irrelevant.  Strange and snide are not unilateral, d00d).

 

 

These are my closing-closing arguments (tee-hee):

 

I’ve found that many in Second Life readily take offense to anything in the chat window that is not followed by a smiley, tacky gesture, or in ‘Dears’ case some term of endearment (refrain from addressing others baby, dear, sugar, hun, etc.).  This is unfair to those of us who communicate in full sentences, sans l337.  If you find some fault or take offense to something I’ve said (given that wasn’t my purpose to begin with ;p), then ask? Is it really that difficult to ask for clarification or does that actually drain a ridiculous amount of HP/pride?  Does it stop you from leveling up in Second Life?

  Let it be known henceforth, that asshole-ry is never lost in translation.

And yes, I realize he could have assumed the very same of me.  After dealing with him, and the countless residents like him, I’m done.  I’m sick of offering aid to people like this.