The birthday event, just like all volunteering, was a thankless job.  Sure, a few people acknowledged the time I invested in the project, and thank you for that, but many more didn't know or didn't care how it all came about.  That's fine.  If you thought this came from the Lindens, then we must've done an excellent job.

However, one person in particular invested more time into this project than anyone.  That was our event organizer/planner/coordinator, Tateru Nino.   She led the charge in this event.  She planned the whole shebang.  She organized, delegated, and made sure things ran as smooth as possible.  She's also received every complaint, and nearly no thanks for the job.

Tateru, I'd just like to say that you did an awesome job.  I thank you for including me in this project and I thank you for creating such a wonderful place for everyone to come and celebrate.  The party was a huge success and none of it could've happened without you.

Thank you, Tateru!

I made a little speech to thank our 3rd Birthday build volunteers, yesterday. It went a little something like this:

Hi everyone. Thank you all for coming.

About a month ago I had just revamped my little bit of property in SL. A few friends had gathered on my new patio and we were just shooting the breeze. Tateru was among us, but fairly silent. Nothing completely new there as she's often assaulted by endless IMs. She did take a moment to mention that SL's 3rd birthday was coming up and she had begun chatting with Torley about it.

Turns out we were witnessing the birth of the SL3B event on that patio deck. A day or two later, Tateru and Torley were still going at it in the IM world, deciding what would or could be done. I'd heard a few hints about what was being said, but nothing really major. Turns out the Lindens really had no major interest in a celebration if the residents didn't. That makes sense, we'd all rather have a party planned for us, than plan our own party. I, of course, volunteered immediately to help in any way I could.

Well, as it turns out, I was asked shortly thereafter to plan the design of the site. I jumped at the chance without really thinking it through, obviously. Turns out Torley and Pathfinder had managed to snag four sims for us to use. Sounds exciting, until you really think about it…which I didn't do.

So step one, I made a big map in the sky to build a scale model upon. Step two, find people to actually build. This is where our build volunteers come in. I grabbed a couple of people that I thought could help out and took them up to my skybox. A few of you were at that initial meeting. This is where it all really began. Lots of ideas were thrown around, some of which have made it into where we are today.

After that meeting, I returned to the planning phase and tried to hash out how/where things should belong. Time was getting short and it occurred to me that I was going about it all wrong. I didn't need to plan the specifics, just start with a general idea and let the builders decide. That's when I started inviting the builders independently to come up and try out some ideas of their own on the model.

The model quickly came to life and builds were assigned to builders. Things really looked like they may actually be doable. A week and a half prior to the event, we received the land. Terraforming began and areas were laid out. The builders were invited in to begin their creations. Before long, we had the basics of what is here around us.

During that time, I watched, threw out ideas, and helped in any way I could. But our volunteers did even better. They listened, they shared ideas, they worked together, and they built this place into what it is today. I did not receive a single complaint from any of our volunteers. I was reminded of why I loved SL. A group of people can come together and just make something awesome without worrying about their ego or trying to be cool before others.

This task is also a very thankless one. Many do not see what was accomplished. Many assume that Linden Lab simply pulled it out of the void. But there are a lot that do know, and often times they forget that a simple, "hey that was really cool, thanks for taking the time to do it" would go a long way.

So I'm here to say that. You know what, guys? You did an *amazing* job here. You donated your time and energy into making this a great place for the rest of the Second Life residents to come and celebrate the world that they love. For all of that and more, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this all possible.

As a small token *cough*, I'm handing out a commemorative copy of the torches to each of you. There is a plaque on the front, which repeats our gratitude, and I will be placing that plaque with each of the torches around the event.
Thank you SL3B volunteers! And Happy Birthday Second Life!

I've made a lot of new friends during all of this and I hope we can do things together again in the future.

Ok, outright, blatant griefing at the SL3B event I expected. Instead what we get are self-righteous protestors who don't take off their clothes, don't pull guns, but disrupt nonetheless. What are we to do? The gut reaction is to eject and ban them. Did we do it? No. Should we have? The more I think about it, yes.

If you want to protest, more power to you. In fact, the center stage is wide open most of the time. Plenty of opportunity to schedule your protest /and/ we'll even make sure the Lindens you wish to contact attend.

If you've been following my blog at all you'll see that we've put together a fine group of volunteers who wanted to build a place that would appeal to the SL residents and give them a place to celebrate SL's third birthday. We invested a *lot* of hours into this project. We've received almost *no* thanks for it, from either the residents or LL themselves. So now a bunch of griefers, disguised as protestors, come in and ruin yet another event by excluding those residents who actually wish to hear about the past of SL and where things may be going.

Do I agree with your protest? Does it matter? I have my own concerns, yes. I am not attacking the issue, only the way in which it was brought forward. Do you realize that the SL3B party was *not* a Linden event, but a resident organized and run event? Probably not. Well, I *hope* not. If you were aware and disrupted anyway, then shame on you.

I hope that most of you are enjoying the event. That at least makes the work worthwhile.