I have been under the weather since the last post and Gina kindly wrote the following to keep the blog active. Please read and enjoy.
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Don't Get Smeared! Dealing with Character Defamation in Second Life
Note: I'm not giving away all my secrets here: that wouldn't be wise!
by Ginette Pinazzo
Getting insulted is bad enough. It can ruin part of your day. Getting insulted in public? That rises to the level of shocking or ridiculous. Getting insulted repeatedly in the media? Well, now......people go to courtrooms over that! I am here t tell you that character defamation in Second Life is something you can survive and defeat.
Second Life is a wonderful place with a wonderful diverse mix of personality types, though a few of those personality types might really live under a bridge and seem to delight in harassing passers-by. In the stories of my childhood, these creatures wee known as trolls. It is just slightly possible, as your Second Life career continues, you will feel the rocks tossed by trolls and your character under threat.
The good news is that the Goddess of Creation has seen fit to make trolls inherently lazy creatures, so they will toss rocks only as long as it is easy for them. You can simply laugh and refuse to be lazy like them. I'll show you how.....
When negative publicity appears, drown it in positive. Post your own blogs, get reviews and interviews about you and your work, collaborate with others on projects to be 'more out there'. It is easy to suffocate the trolls in positive energy. After all, the real reason those creatures try to defame you anyway, is because of their inability to be as good as you are, and to be productive. Their jealousy turns to rock tossing. Realize they are too lazy to be as good as you, so they are too lazy to continue defaming for long. They will give up and move on, but you must shine a bright line in their eyes (they live in the dark, see?)
I've been the subject of some fairly ridiculous character defamation from trolls in Second Life, but I find its easily resolved by shining the bright light of positive energy, continuing to do good things and live a good life, and making all of that public. Good PR can drown bad PR. Be resolute to post more good news every day, stay in the public eye (don't retreat) and let others who love you, speak well of you.
It may be tempting for you to sink to their level and attack them back. Obviously, that won't help your positive image and that just fuels their imaginary fight. They will be lazy and give up if you out-PR them, because it takes too much work for them to be as good as you. If you insult them back, though, they will escalate the defamation because that is easy for them. Make it hard for them. Just be good.
