Peacekeeping Isn’t Silence

We all knew this was coming, right? I’ve got to talk about it at some point, so here’s the context.

Two of my buddies in Bay City have always loved Linden Homes. They’re from the OG group; the ones who were there at the beginning waiting on region borders just to run in and grab a spot. They’re also among my closest friends in Second Life; not because we spend all our time on voice or because they know every detail about my life, but because they’ve always been honest, straightforward, and compassionate with me. I trust them deeply; the kind of trust where if I were leaving the grid for good, I’d hand them anything I had of value without hesitation.

So when they started talking about how cool the new Linden Homes were, I paid attention. And when everyone I knew started saying the same thing, and then Bellisseria added commercial stores (something I’ve personally been curious about) I figured it was time to take a real look. I mean, sometimes peer pressure isn’t a bad thing, right? Maybe sometimes it’s just a signal that I might need to re-evaluate, right?

So I did. I joined the Bellisseria Citizens group, and not to stir anything up either! :) I honestly didn’t join to prove a point or anything. It’s been a few years since… ‘everything’ and I wanted to see if approaching things differently would lead to a different experience. I even reached out to one of the admins right away to be clear: I wasn’t there to cause problems. I meant that then, and I still mean it now.

Soooooo…..honestly? There’s a lot to like. That chat is alive. People are constantly helping each other, posting SURLs, answering questions, sharing opportunities. I mean, if you want to understand Linden Homes, it’s a valuable space to be in. I saw kindness and effort. I also saw that moderation at that scale is hard. Like, really hard.

There’s a part of me I call “Business Feorie.” She understands scale; she understands that managing a constantly active community of this size isn’t just difficult, it would have to be relentless. It takes time, attention, patience, and a willingness to deal with situations most people would rather avoid entirely. It’s not a job I would ever want, and ‘moderating groups’ could absolutely be a paid position somewhere because it’s that involved. So I want to say this clearly:

I respect the effort it takes to run a community like that….especially as a volunteer.

People grow and communities evolve and I think it’s important to allow space for that. I don’t know what this group has been like since inception, but I can say from what I’ve personally seen so far over the last few weeks, Dreamer has been fair in the interactions I’ve watched and participated in. That’s why I’m intentionally giving space for this group to be its own thing, separate from my past experiences with the ‘BBB’ drama I experienced before.

But there’s also a larger conversation happening right now, and it deserves the honesty it’s never gotten. A recent forum thread about an April Fool’s video brought something back into focus something many residents have been talking about for years: who gets access, how fairness, what are the rules are the transparency of that process, and how those things actually play out in practice.

Derrick Linden responded in that thread before he locked it saying that the situation wasn’t perceived as a ‘big deal’ and that ‘official announcements are only made through official channels like the blog and forums’.

So, let’s ask a real question:

What does it mean when a large portion of your community experiences something differently?

Because from a resident perspective, the distinction between “official” and “unofficial” starts to blur when information shows up in one place before it shows up anywhere else. Whether intentional or not, it creates the feeling of uneven access and it’s not because anyone formally declared it ‘official’. Whether it’s good or bad, if a resident is part of that space with Linden access information, they benefit from that access. If they’re not, or if they’ve been removed from it, they don’t. That’s just the truth.

Is that inherently wrong? Not necessarily. Is Linden Lab required to change it? Also no.

But we can’t say there are no favorites, ignore the patterns that make it feel like there are, then villainize or trivialize the people that say that trust is starting to break down.

I also want to be clear about something else: This isn’t about attacking the Bellisseria Citizens group. In fact, my experience there has been positive. The people I’ve interacted with, including leadership, have been reasonable and welcoming. That matters to me and I’m not interested in tearing that down. This is about something bigger than any one group: it’s about aligning what is said and what is experienced.

Second Life has always asked its residents for patience, for understanding, for grace. And over the past few years, I do believe there has been a genuine effort to move in a better direction. I’ve tried to meet that effort with the same energy (most days), but that relationship goes both ways.

You can’t ask your community for grace and then shut down the conversations where they’re trying to express concern. You can’t say “we’re listening” and then dismiss what people are clearly experiencing. That doesn’t resolve the issue, it just makes people feel like they’re not allowed to talk about it.

I came back to this space trying something different. I chose to approach it with patience, with openness, and with a genuine desire to see what would happen if I showed up as a ‘peacemaker’ instead of a participant in conflict. I’m still doing that. But peacekeeping isn’t silence and I think this is one of those moments where that honesty matters.

I’m pushing communication across the board to everyone. If Second Life decides this is a group they want to promote and interact in, or if they want Lindens to be more involved in the world, then say that. Tell us and tell yourselves because I’m sure there are some Lindens and Moles out there that love the mainland and I wanna meet them and know what groups to ‘talk to them’ in. :)

And as a resident, if you’ve been banned from the Bellisseria Citizen’s group and you genuinely ‘don’t want to start a fight’ but ‘want to be part of the community’, I encourage you to reach out and ask to be given a second chance to join again. I mean, it worked for me; if it worked for me, surely it will work for you, right?