Plurk paste

An open letter to anybody who wishes to read.

You may or may not already be aware that today and apparently during the month of December (possibly earlier) I have been accused of either downloading models, reverse-engineering models and more on gossip websites where the posters can remain anonymous and I would like to share my thoughts on the situation.

I have already posted WIPs of the truck in question on my plurk timeline which you can view at your leisure. Anybody with even an ounce of modelling experience can see that they are different models; and know that reverse engineering a high poly model would probably take a lot more time than making it from scratch. It appears that some anonymous people are easily threatened by the concept that people can actually create models for Second Life. It’s something I have enjoyed doing for 12 years since I started toying with DLC for The Sims 2 in 2006.

I don’t pay much homage to any anonymous comments directly; if your opinion doesn’t mean enough for you to put your name to it, I’m not sure why you expect me to respect it, and I don’t. I welcome anybody with any legitimate concern to contact me, I would be more than happy to talk to you, about whatever - as it seems many aspects of my life make people uncomfortable, including my sexuality.

Commenting that my sexuality makes my life easier in any regard just displays an enormous amount of ignorance on the commenters’ behalf but is in line with the level of logic the post carries. It’s easy to say random things and throw numbers around, such as 90% of my store being downloaded or edited models, and people who are too quick to jump to believe such numbers without any evidence. Posting a side by side of similar models isn’t evidence. Look at the wireframes, look at the UVs.

Something that peaked my interest were comments outlining that I was creating too much work for one person. And I know these people hate numbers and facts but here we go: I released 16 times in 2018, which is on average 1.5 releases per month. If you want to look at the dates they’re all there on Flickr. Yes, I created several large releases towards the end of the year, but you failed to notice that my first release in 2018 wasn’t until March, and I didn’t release between early May and mid August, which is a 3 and a half month gap. I’m not off partying for months on end, Apple Fall is my business and I spent that time, clearly, putting together larger themed collections as well as using models I have had from years ago which I never released, such as the Anashara table which I believe was also mentioned, which I made in 2016.

What is also not mentioned on the gossip sites, conveniently, is that a lot of those releases were smaller releases. 8 of those releases out of the 16 (half) were 5 items or less, some of those were 3 items, some were even just 1 new item. So while I am unsure what the basis for me creating too much work for 1 person is, the numbers are there for you to see for yourself.

Several mistakes have been made during this process by the social justice team on these sites. They come to assume that everybody has as much free time as them; that we would trawl these websites on a daily basis looking for things being said about us; we don’t. As soon as I was alerted to any kind of drama today on another site, I posted the WIPs to clear my name. I know evidence will never be enough for those few people who are so embedded in hate that they will plug their ears and close their eyes to anything factual about the situation, it’s a free world and they are welcome to do that – but realise it says volumes more about you than it does about me.

It's sad to see that self-proclaimed store owners are also posting anonymously about me in a negative manner. Food for thought would be spending less time on anonymous gossip websites and more time improving your modelling skills will do tons more for your life. And I know you will keep coming back with more lies; but note that it is a complete waste of your time, time that could be spent bettering your own situation.

I have worked hard for what I have, and I’m proud of it. It isn’t an overnight situation – it takes years to build something up from nothing. Years of my life invested in my store and my skills as a 3d modeler for the future. I have a passion for it that nobody can take away, try as they will. My friends have also worked just as hard building something up for themselves, honestly. Good people who were also shamelessly name dropped for no reason other than jealousy. These are people I know and/or work with; Dust Bunny, Wavie of Consignment, Divos Titanium of Gallant magazine, and I am happy and proud to call them my friends.

To the people who know the truth and have spoken out on my behalf my deepest thanks are with you. It’s been a long 7 years in Second Life, and this isn’t a new situation. I’ve met some wonderful people in here, and SL will continue to be a good experience for me, regardless of the people who will dedicate their lives to trying to take me out. 2019 will be a good year, it is what you make it after all.