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EDIT: Reading the comments, I see the need to redo the post. Version 2.0
Name The OSW Users You Most Respect
Who can you recommend as someone you think should be listened to and taken seriously? In other words, who has earned your respect? Try to think of not only those friends who share your views on things, but also those people who do not. (But please! Don't say which person is which, because Yikes!)
*The topic here is respect. The tone of all comments should, of course, be respectful as well. I'm not asking for the general opinions of the relative merits of those named. If you agree or disagree with someone's choice, please keep your opinion private. Thanks for respecting the guidelines.
*I wish it weren't necessary to say, but nobody needs to know, and likely doesn't care, that you don't like the post. Please, just move on. I'll respect you all the more for it. Thanks!
*Just to be clear, this is not a popularity contest. We are not voting people up or down. You might agree or disagree with the choice others make. Feel as great as you like about how your judgement is better than anyone's, but, really, we don't need to know.
I'm working on a project and looking for people to work with on it. But I think this exercise could be helpful to the OSW community at large in some way.
Thanks in advance for your participation.
Name The OSW Users You Most Respect
Who can you recommend as someone you think should be listened to and taken seriously? In other words, who has earned your respect? Try to think of not only those friends who share your views on things, but also those people who do not. (But please! Don't say which person is which, because Yikes!)
*The topic here is respect. The tone of all comments should, of course, be respectful as well. I'm not asking for the general opinions of the relative merits of those named. If you agree or disagree with someone's choice, please keep your opinion private. Thanks for respecting the guidelines.
*I wish it weren't necessary to say, but nobody needs to know, and likely doesn't care, that you don't like the post. Please, just move on. I'll respect you all the more for it. Thanks!
*Just to be clear, this is not a popularity contest. We are not voting people up or down. You might agree or disagree with the choice others make. Feel as great as you like about how your judgement is better than anyone's, but, really, we don't need to know.
I'm working on a project and looking for people to work with on it. But I think this exercise could be helpful to the OSW community at large in some way.
Thanks in advance for your participation.
Liked by: 
Comments
Since I've been mentioned thrice already, I guess it's my turn. This won't be nearly complete. And I'm going to repeat some of the names already mentioned.
Thirza Ember, for all she does for the community. She gives us an insight into what the Hypergrid has to offer by continuing the HG Safari against all odds. Also, together with James Atlloud who always tags along on her Safaris, she keeps the video series Inworld Review alive in which they've been involved for years and years, against all odds again, and organises the Hypergrid International Expo. Special shout-out to the late Mal Burns here.
Jamie Wright, of course. For starters, for her eagerness in collecting and offering legal content that others see as ugly and outdated because it isn't premium SL payware. On top of the sheer audacity of doing so and dedicating an entire sim to it, she somehow manages to unearth content that even I don't know yet.
On top of that, there's Birch Grove, dedicated to the First People as well as to 2SLGBTQQIA+ and also offering a nice selection of legal freebies, many of which are exclusive. Not to mention that Jamie has built not one, but four different Birch Groves, one for each season. You really feel like treading carefully when crossing the ice-covered streets in Birch Grove Winter. Or joining Hanukkah or Kwanzaa celebrations.
Speaking of Canadians who build sims four times for each season: Dabici Straulino and Kelso Uxlay. Québecois extraordinaires. It's one thing to get a var the size of Novale decorated without making most of it ocean. It's another thing to do it on their level with all the terraforming and landscaping and different biomes and lots of custom objects and keyframed transport and paths that lead around almost the whole sim and whatnot. But it's yet another thing to do that four times, once for each season (even though the winter variant is quite a bit different from the other three, it's also the most interactive and the most fun). And still, on top of all that, Novale won't murder your graphics hardware.
Also, kudos to Kelso for the crazy stuff he generally does with keyframes. A buddy of mine has put his keyframed ladder to good use.
While I'm at mentioning sim builders thinking big: Xi Shi, not only for her community management and being a nice person overall, but for having built Ruritania with nearly everything on it (which takes me back to the topic of keyframe magic). And continuing to change and even expand it. And keeping things at a realistic scale and telling those who can't enter her buildings that it isn't her buildings that are too small, it's people's avatars that are too big. And staying level-headed while facing the move to other servers and to OSgrid.
Suzy Avonside has already been mentioned, too. Her sim-building style is somewhat similar to Miss Xi's (realistic scale, local feeling, not relying much on pre-made stuff), albeit not quite in such a huge dimensions and more Welsh. She even offers some of her original creations to be picked up. But more importantly, she is one of the staunchest anti-Fascists you'll find around. And she is so very very Welsh that I almost feel bad when talking to her in English. She doesn't have attitude, she IS attitude.
Hyacinth, of course, deserves a lot of respect. Harper has already said a lot about her. She runs her own grid with an enormous mainland and an active community, even though we hardly notice anything from Groovyverse here on OSW. She was among the first to script an AI chatbot with an individual identity into an animesh character, especially without resorting to any existing commercial LLMs. And her name is on a number of free, made-in-OpenSim-for-OpenSim mesh bodies, not even counting the one that she has made for herself.
I'd probably put Samsara Timeless on this list, too, if I knew her better. Not only did she build Eday, one of the most unusual and unlikely island sims anywhere on the Hypergrid (which is listed here) and the most incredible rendition of New York City ever with just about everything keyframed that you could imagine being keyframed there (which no longer is), but the rail network that's spanning across the Groovyverse mainland is her doing, too.
The late Luna Lunaria. Say what you want about her having been a commercial merchant. But breath-taking doesn't begin to describe her creations. She didn't just paint textures onto her works. She had Blinn-Phong down pat when hardly anyone even know what that is, turning Luxor into one of the most awe-inspiring places in OpenSim. And then she started pioneering and perfectioning PBR, still with Blinn-Phong as a fallback where others would flip the bird at Firestorm 6 and Singularity users. Sadly, she passed away before she could tackle the conversion of her art déco masterpiece, The Majestic, to PBR. But seriously, she has probably managed to even hold the staunchest paying-for-content opponents and piracy proponents in such awe that nobody has copybotted or god-moded her creations and boxed them up as freebies yet.
Aaack Aardvark. He isn't with us anymore either, but because he decided to retreat from OpenSim before it would have burned him out, and this itself is something to respect. He, too, is a master of Blinn-Phong and art déco with his own very recognisable style. I bet that he would have jumped onto the PBR train, too, if he was still here. Not to mention his mad scripting skillz. He even provided scripting to Bibiana Bombinante of Encantada. And then he offered his stuff (but not the scripted boxes) for free and full-perm. If his creations have been exported by others, imported into Second Life and sold for a lot of money as their own original creations, that has to say a lot.
Lastly (at least for now), Cherry Manga. I must admit I'm not that much into art. But what she does with meshes and ambiences and scripted, timed automation, that's something else, something outworldly. What some may not know: Cherry has made a whole bunch of very useful freebies quite a while ago. You can occasionally find them on older freebie sims; you can tell them by their name starting with "*CM*". Jamie has a big box of them, and I got it from her. (Jamie, if that box happens to be incomplete, hit me up. All my avatars have a copy on them, and if you want, I can give you one that's packed only once instead of twice.) In spite of all this, Cherry sometimes still finds some time to tag along on HG Safaris.
And thus, I came full circle.
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Thirza Ember, for all she does for the community. She gives us an insight into what the Hypergrid has to offer by continuing the HG Safari against all odds. Also, together with James Atlloud who always tags along on her Safaris, she keeps the video series Inworld Review alive in which they've been involved for years and years, against all odds again, and organises the Hypergrid International Expo. Special shout-out to the late Mal Burns here.
Jamie Wright, of course. For starters, for her eagerness in collecting and offering legal content that others see as ugly and outdated because it isn't premium SL payware. On top of the sheer audacity of doing so and dedicating an entire sim to it, she somehow manages to unearth content that even I don't know yet.
On top of that, there's Birch Grove, dedicated to the First People as well as to 2SLGBTQQIA+ and also offering a nice selection of legal freebies, many of which are exclusive. Not to mention that Jamie has built not one, but four different Birch Groves, one for each season. You really feel like treading carefully when crossing the ice-covered streets in Birch Grove Winter. Or joining Hanukkah or Kwanzaa celebrations.
Speaking of Canadians who build sims four times for each season: Dabici Straulino and Kelso Uxlay. Québecois extraordinaires. It's one thing to get a var the size of Novale decorated without making most of it ocean. It's another thing to do it on their level with all the terraforming and landscaping and different biomes and lots of custom objects and keyframed transport and paths that lead around almost the whole sim and whatnot. But it's yet another thing to do that four times, once for each season (even though the winter variant is quite a bit different from the other three, it's also the most interactive and the most fun). And still, on top of all that, Novale won't murder your graphics hardware.
Also, kudos to Kelso for the crazy stuff he generally does with keyframes. A buddy of mine has put his keyframed ladder to good use.
While I'm at mentioning sim builders thinking big: Xi Shi, not only for her community management and being a nice person overall, but for having built Ruritania with nearly everything on it (which takes me back to the topic of keyframe magic). And continuing to change and even expand it. And keeping things at a realistic scale and telling those who can't enter her buildings that it isn't her buildings that are too small, it's people's avatars that are too big. And staying level-headed while facing the move to other servers and to OSgrid.
Suzy Avonside has already been mentioned, too. Her sim-building style is somewhat similar to Miss Xi's (realistic scale, local feeling, not relying much on pre-made stuff), albeit not quite in such a huge dimensions and more Welsh. She even offers some of her original creations to be picked up. But more importantly, she is one of the staunchest anti-Fascists you'll find around. And she is so very very Welsh that I almost feel bad when talking to her in English. She doesn't have attitude, she IS attitude.
Hyacinth, of course, deserves a lot of respect. Harper has already said a lot about her. She runs her own grid with an enormous mainland and an active community, even though we hardly notice anything from Groovyverse here on OSW. She was among the first to script an AI chatbot with an individual identity into an animesh character, especially without resorting to any existing commercial LLMs. And her name is on a number of free, made-in-OpenSim-for-OpenSim mesh bodies, not even counting the one that she has made for herself.
I'd probably put Samsara Timeless on this list, too, if I knew her better. Not only did she build Eday, one of the most unusual and unlikely island sims anywhere on the Hypergrid (which is listed here) and the most incredible rendition of New York City ever with just about everything keyframed that you could imagine being keyframed there (which no longer is), but the rail network that's spanning across the Groovyverse mainland is her doing, too.
The late Luna Lunaria. Say what you want about her having been a commercial merchant. But breath-taking doesn't begin to describe her creations. She didn't just paint textures onto her works. She had Blinn-Phong down pat when hardly anyone even know what that is, turning Luxor into one of the most awe-inspiring places in OpenSim. And then she started pioneering and perfectioning PBR, still with Blinn-Phong as a fallback where others would flip the bird at Firestorm 6 and Singularity users. Sadly, she passed away before she could tackle the conversion of her art déco masterpiece, The Majestic, to PBR. But seriously, she has probably managed to even hold the staunchest paying-for-content opponents and piracy proponents in such awe that nobody has copybotted or god-moded her creations and boxed them up as freebies yet.
Aaack Aardvark. He isn't with us anymore either, but because he decided to retreat from OpenSim before it would have burned him out, and this itself is something to respect. He, too, is a master of Blinn-Phong and art déco with his own very recognisable style. I bet that he would have jumped onto the PBR train, too, if he was still here. Not to mention his mad scripting skillz. He even provided scripting to Bibiana Bombinante of Encantada. And then he offered his stuff (but not the scripted boxes) for free and full-perm. If his creations have been exported by others, imported into Second Life and sold for a lot of money as their own original creations, that has to say a lot.
Lastly (at least for now), Cherry Manga. I must admit I'm not that much into art. But what she does with meshes and ambiences and scripted, timed automation, that's something else, something outworldly. What some may not know: Cherry has made a whole bunch of very useful freebies quite a while ago. You can occasionally find them on older freebie sims; you can tell them by their name starting with "*CM*". Jamie has a big box of them, and I got it from her. (Jamie, if that box happens to be incomplete, hit me up. All my avatars have a copy on them, and if you want, I can give you one that's packed only once instead of twice.) In spite of all this, Cherry sometimes still finds some time to tag along on HG Safaris.
And thus, I came full circle.
I’m with Nico on this—Jamie and Jupiter bring something special to the table every time, no question.
And Fred… well, everyone already knows the level of respect there. That man quietly built half the playground we’re all still enjoying. I love you Ferd, thank you. 🌹
Anna, I have to say—thank you for the taco relief over the years. And more than that, for holding onto and sharing pieces of content that actually mean something. That kind of care doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s not just “stuff”—it’s history, memories, and a whole lot of effort preserved.
This whole thread just proves something simple: the people who build, share, and stick around… they’re the reason this place still has a pulse. Thank you Nico for the reminder to take time to acknowledge and appreciate people.
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And Fred… well, everyone already knows the level of respect there. That man quietly built half the playground we’re all still enjoying. I love you Ferd, thank you. 🌹
Anna, I have to say—thank you for the taco relief over the years. And more than that, for holding onto and sharing pieces of content that actually mean something. That kind of care doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s not just “stuff”—it’s history, memories, and a whole lot of effort preserved.
This whole thread just proves something simple: the people who build, share, and stick around… they’re the reason this place still has a pulse. Thank you Nico for the reminder to take time to acknowledge and appreciate people.
It's what I do -- or try to. I figured this place needed some healing energy. Thank you for your comment and all you do for OS.
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OK so obviously everyone on this thread. Even the quiet likers...lol I'm looking at you Jerralyn and Faith. And Falene! You are eternal and delightfully ecclectic. Jupiter (seriously hard core respect for your knowledge and sharing and good vibes), Dee:).....Nico of course as I said below and Hy:). Harper, you know I love you:) Mari, Fred, Spax with his crazy awesome NPCs and graphics that are delightfully gross.
Mari! I don't even know where to start - you lift up the metaverse and challenge us in poignant ways to be better, do better, build it dammit and then eat the tacos.
John Sheppard, one of my oldest and dearest friends who's willing to even come live in my messy projects and share so much of your heart in yours. Brave brave and beloved:)
Nightshade Ceres, one of my favourite newer people to chat with on here with so much excellent energy and kindness. Also Fallenangel Absent - one of the nicest people I've met and got to have a big old chat with one day on my region. Pizza queen - so wonderful and generous and fun.
Govega - grid goddess and beautiful old friend. Love to you always for the way you make Neverworld and the metaverse a welcoming home. And Alba! Cheese loving sister from another mister. You keen building machine! So much love!
I'm sure I'm forgetting like at least 100. Jimmy Olsen. I don't even need to explain it. You make the coolest shit.
My friend Adesanya AKA IndieAuthor who's rarely on here and is the other half of my brain in many stories we write. Danko....Danko we miss you in these worlds and respect you in all. Forever passing you a box of guitars in every grid we end up in dude:)
Dabici and Kelso! Doing it your way in the best French way possible for years. Cherry Manga omg - we are not worthy of your awesomeness.
K apologies to anyone missed. I might add on later. OK adding! Xenon Darrow - always love your perspectives and Suzi Avonside - two things - major value match but also I love how you build and share your Welsh culture and language - you also inpsire me was I work on my cultural builds.
FRED! FERD! I don't even need to explain the why right? Seriously. Respect.
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Mari! I don't even know where to start - you lift up the metaverse and challenge us in poignant ways to be better, do better, build it dammit and then eat the tacos.
John Sheppard, one of my oldest and dearest friends who's willing to even come live in my messy projects and share so much of your heart in yours. Brave brave and beloved:)
Nightshade Ceres, one of my favourite newer people to chat with on here with so much excellent energy and kindness. Also Fallenangel Absent - one of the nicest people I've met and got to have a big old chat with one day on my region. Pizza queen - so wonderful and generous and fun.
Govega - grid goddess and beautiful old friend. Love to you always for the way you make Neverworld and the metaverse a welcoming home. And Alba! Cheese loving sister from another mister. You keen building machine! So much love!
I'm sure I'm forgetting like at least 100. Jimmy Olsen. I don't even need to explain it. You make the coolest shit.
My friend Adesanya AKA IndieAuthor who's rarely on here and is the other half of my brain in many stories we write. Danko....Danko we miss you in these worlds and respect you in all. Forever passing you a box of guitars in every grid we end up in dude:)
Dabici and Kelso! Doing it your way in the best French way possible for years. Cherry Manga omg - we are not worthy of your awesomeness.
K apologies to anyone missed. I might add on later. OK adding! Xenon Darrow - always love your perspectives and Suzi Avonside - two things - major value match but also I love how you build and share your Welsh culture and language - you also inpsire me was I work on my cultural builds.
FRED! FERD! I don't even need to explain the why right? Seriously. Respect.
You know those stories you see..."I was in trouble and someone I didn't even know stopped to help me, and I was never able to thank them." That's how it was in OS when I first joined 16 years ago. I had been in SL for four years prior, so I wasn't a noob exactly, but I didn't know anybody in OS, or how to find a home or shops...there was no OSW then and no market place. People helped. A lot! And there were lots of them. Such a lovely time.
God, I wish I remember their names. One was an astronomer at a University in Hawaii. Lovely person. Gave me full use of two full regions on her grid, for free! I so respected her for her knowledge, helpfulness and generosity. There have been many people like that over the years.
Two of the people I can name now as people I respect are @JupiterRowland and @JamieWright. I choose them, wisely, as moderators of the What Are You Looking For group, and they have nurtured its growth over the past two years. If you are a member of the group, you know what I mean. I also respect all of the helpful people in the group -- too many to name. So knowledgeable and kind. I haven't thanked you all enough.
I've said before that, in OS, people are more valuable than land. I think that's why most people in OS are nice. We'd like more people to stick around! So ya, stick around, and if I don't know you now, I look forward to knowing you, and the people I do know, I look forward to knowing you better.
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God, I wish I remember their names. One was an astronomer at a University in Hawaii. Lovely person. Gave me full use of two full regions on her grid, for free! I so respected her for her knowledge, helpfulness and generosity. There have been many people like that over the years.
Two of the people I can name now as people I respect are @JupiterRowland and @JamieWright. I choose them, wisely, as moderators of the What Are You Looking For group, and they have nurtured its growth over the past two years. If you are a member of the group, you know what I mean. I also respect all of the helpful people in the group -- too many to name. So knowledgeable and kind. I haven't thanked you all enough.
I've said before that, in OS, people are more valuable than land. I think that's why most people in OS are nice. We'd like more people to stick around! So ya, stick around, and if I don't know you now, I look forward to knowing you, and the people I do know, I look forward to knowing you better.
Aww thank you Nico. I respect you too:) And all you do with the group and OSW and just for being funny in crappy times:) And you seriously just made me fall over laughing with one of your bad event ideas:)
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We really need to try one of those. I'm looking for an event to replace my original satire of all of the "Best of" events in SL. It was "Best in Demo" and it was hilariously crazy. So popular other clubs copied it. No demos in OS dammit. So I need a new idea. But for the hater one, I don't think we could get Wank for Peace to perform. Plus it could get messy.
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lol ok some weird ice breaker events they have at my work. A powerpoint party? Ever heard of that. You're supposed to make a powerpoint of something completely ridiculous but present it as seriously as you can muster to the room.
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Thx for the ideas. I have a several ideas already, but I have to keep them under wraps for now.
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And different workplace but same level of odd because like attracts like but chicken bowling. It's a winter sport. the chickens are frozen and it's done on an outdoor hockey rink. Sometimes you get a warm day and the chickens begin to thaw....
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We had this kind of activity at work as part of a retreat. It was sort of both wonderful and horrible. The facilitator gave us a big spool of ribbon and we had to make a web by throwing it to one another and sharing compliments. The person complimented picks the next person etc. It was sweet but also kinda high pressure. And I couldn't pick just 2 people here either....lol
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I've revised this. No ribbon tossing -- and no grenades either (a message for other people who haven't figure that out yet).
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I literally cannot remember all the people I know who have earned my respect over the years. There's far too many and I'm far too senile! Even so just limiting it to two would be an insane task even for me.
My first and obvious choice? I feel that Hyacinth is an under-rated powerhouse. Multiple successful grids, lots of content remade or from scratch, constantlly learning IRL and bringing that learning *here*. Designer, scripter,, viewer and server programmer and all around bad-ass creative force of nature.
Unlike me? Do you mean politically? Do you mean someone I've had clashes with? I'm going to cop to a personality flaw of mine and admit that I tend to not spend a lot of time I don't have to around people whom I clash with. So you'll have to settle for a 'mea culpa' from me on that one!
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My first and obvious choice? I feel that Hyacinth is an under-rated powerhouse. Multiple successful grids, lots of content remade or from scratch, constantlly learning IRL and bringing that learning *here*. Designer, scripter,, viewer and server programmer and all around bad-ass creative force of nature.
Unlike me? Do you mean politically? Do you mean someone I've had clashes with? I'm going to cop to a personality flaw of mine and admit that I tend to not spend a lot of time I don't have to around people whom I clash with. So you'll have to settle for a 'mea culpa' from me on that one!
Thanks for your comment. I don't know Hyacinth. I need to start looking for her posts and comments here, and visit her grids. Sounds like someone worth knowing.
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She runs groovyverse, probably easiest to bump into her there and she's definately worth knowing :)
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Everyone should know Hyacinth. I respect her. Of course you too Harper. I wasn't just going to list all my pals because that's obvious. But Hy....ok my whole Irish region is inspired by her. It's also in her glorious grid. She's not Irish but Hy is building an exploration of her Indigenous heritage on her grid over multiple regions with the most amazing content. So I decided my region there would deeply explore my Irish heritage and it's a heart project. Dammit I'm tagging you @Hyacinth so you can feel the love:)
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The list of people that I respect in OpenSim is very long! I won't be limiting it to 2 people.
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