CyberWoLfman's ActiveWorlds Experience!

 
 
 

  ActiveWorlds Buzz
 

  This page was created by me to give information to current users and to anyone else who is curious about ActiveWorlds.  You are welcome to read it and pass the url out to others.  I hope that it is not going to be a chronicle of the end of ActiveWorlds, but the future is as much a gray screen to me as it is to everyone else.
 

  Please understand, that I no longer recommend ActiveWorlds to people in real life or on-line.  I have tried to do an honest review of the main 3D chat programs, comparing prices, number of users, cost of worlds, how many worlds in each program, and so on, but ActiveWorlds is near the bottom of the list.

  For those who wish to contact me, try coming to my world, This Is It.  And no, it's not in that hell, ActiveWorlds!  Thank the gods!  Or, to quote someone I have a growing respect for: "Thank God almighty, I'm free at last!"
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

  Page index oldest entries first:
 
 

  January 3rd, 2002.  ActiveWorlds stops allowing tourists.

  January 12th, 2002.  Received information about PKs interrogating someone and how they conducted it.

  January 14th, 2002.  An important question to think about:  Should PKs who are into gor be entrusted with the authority over children in ActiveWorlds?

  February 6th, 2002.  AW finally allows tourists again, but restricts them to only certain worlds.

  February 20th, 2002.  AW, after about two weeks from receiving my payment, finally decides to process the order and allow tourists into my world, ThisIsIt.

  February 23rd, 2002.  The gors try to cover up their harassment of users like myself by trying to blame me with harassing others.

  February 27th, 2002.  Rossyboy shows how confused he is about the facts.

  May 6th, 2002.  AW possibly merging with Aladdin.  Do they realize what AW supports?

  May 7th, 2002.  AW Megapath 'freebies'.

  June 6th, 2002.  Version 3.3 problems, and some tips on using it.

  June 19th, 2002.  Build 418 released, then shortly after it, build 419.  Some things fixed, but most not.

  June 27th, 2002.  AWTeen had the Generation Day thing, and I took some pictures of it.

  September 30th, 2002.  Got ejected from AWGate, not for cussing or anything bad, but for trying to help people and just talking!  Includes parts of the chat right before the eject.

  February 2nd, 2003.  Flagg (citnumber 299024), real name Tom Fournier leaves ActiveWorlds.

  February 22nd, 2003.  Some PK accused me of 'harassing' someone by building in AlphaWorld in an empty area.

  April 14th, 2003.  ActiveWorlds decides to let us, their lowly customers who got suckered into using their program, to try version 3.4 beta that they've been allowing their special suck-up brown-nosing friends to use for months, now.

  May 1st, 2003.  I have moved my world, This Is It (ThisIsIt as it was in the world list) to the OuterWorlds universe, where there are no gors / goreans!  :-)

  February 15th, 2005.  ActiveWorlds is dying!

  August 22nd, 2005.  More double standards from somebody with power in ActiveWorlds.

  September 5th, 2005.  ActiveWorlds' Worlds List drops below 900 worlds.
 
 
 
 
 
 

  January 3rd, 2002:  Today was one of the saddest in the history of ActiveWorlds.  Today, they no longer allowed tourists.  The upgrade was forced upon us.  At the message saying we had to upgrade, we could choose only one of two options:  OK and Cancel.  If you hit Cancel as many did, fearing an even worse upgrade that we had already suffered through with version 3.2 and its intolerance for users of ATI cards (and 'on board' video that some of the main computer makers use), the program closed.  When we logged back in, we were presented with the same choice.  So we had to choose between upgrading or not use the program anymore.

  After we upgraded, we were presented with a log in box that was a little different from the usual that we had grown used to seeing.  You were either a citizen and could type in your citname (citizen name or user name if you like to think of it that way) and password, or you could register as a new user, but in doing so, you would have to give up a lot of information about yourself and your credit card number.  See the picture here.  I managed to have a little fun with it, though...  WEG

  Only some of the information I put in those fields is true.  I'll leave it for you to decide which is true, and which I've made up.  ;-)

  According to that box, you would be able to use the program for two weeks, and if you continued to use it after that, you would be charged $9.50 (US) per month.

  This to me is ridiculous.  It means that people can no longer enter ActiveWorlds without sacrificing a lot of their privacy, and it alienates those who do not have a credit card.  Gone are the days when you could come into ActiveWorlds and enter a public building world as a tourist to build a small place of your own just for kicks then invite your friends to download the program and see it without asking them to give up information that most of us are somewhat leery of doing.

  While we're on the subject of trust, I've always said that "Trust is earned, not given upon the asking."  When it comes to ActiveWorlds, I do not trust them.  They seem to only reply to e-mails when they feel like it, and when you need help with something, you're better off trying to find a solution yourself.  Heck, I've sent an e-mail to support back on October 6th, 2001 that I'm still waiting for a reply on!

  As for that part in there about "your credit card information is encrypted before transmission", why are there no details about how it's encrypted?  What type of encryption?  50 bit (which I believe has already been cracked), 128 bit, or (like my PGP key) 4,096 bit.  And which style of encryption is it?  Some are more secure than others.

  An additional concern is who gets access to this information?  Anyone working for ActiveWorlds either in the offices or as a Peacekeeper or a Gatekeeper?  And how trustworthy are they?  Do we judge their loyalty to us by our past experiences with them?  If so, many of us will not be able to trust them.

  Furthermore, this company allows the gors to have free reign in the ActiveWorlds universe and anyone who dares to say anything against them or attempts to warn others about them is immediately censored usually through threats or ejections, yet the gors can invite people into their adult oriented worlds and discuss them openly in the main worlds' GZs which AW has decreed to be off-limits for adult topics.  Yet, as we've observed in the past, AW gets to decide who has to follow the rules and who gets to break them whenever they feel like it.

  As for the Peacekeepers who are supposed to enforce the rules, I have a very low opinion of some of them.  Please read this for information on how they've been abusing their powers to defend the gors and threaten anyone who dares to try and tell others the truth about them.  When any other user does something they don't approve of, they try to talk it out with them (even if they destroy AWTeen's GZ!) and if it's a build that was 'naughty' in their opinion, they ask them to remove it.  But not in my case.  Oh, no!  Me, they ejected on sight, and threatened with citizen lockdown.  When I complained to their boss, I was given a more or less polite brush-off and told they agreed with their decision no matter how unfair it was.

  So, since I've already tried to reason with both AW and the Peacekeepers and it hasn't worked (and for the most part only got me threatened and ejected), I'll share my thoughts with the rest of the ActiveWorlds universe, because communication doesn't appear to work, and they don't seem to want to resolve things peacefully and fairly.

  *Shrugs*  I guess they don't care about their users.  Somehow, I get the feeling that this company isn't going to do so well...

  I think ActiveWorlds was cruel to not allow tourists in for another reason.  Kids are no longer allowed to download and install the thing if they don't have a credit card or one of their parents pays for it.  With very little warning, ActiveWorlds made it impossible for them to come on-line and be with their friends.  If they didn't exchange e-mail addresses with them before they were barred from ActiveWorlds, they may never be in contact with them again in their lives.  Pretty sad when you think about all the friendships that were instantly broken up by an action of ActiveWorlds.com, huh?  :-(

  And why was it done so quickly?  I for one suspect that it may've been done quickly so that there would be little public outcry in the AW community and no long and tearful good-byes to dear friends.  Reminded me of a mass public execution, but they decided not to inform the victims that they were going to be killed.  And yes, to many tourists, ActiveWorlds was their home, and quite possibly, the only fun thing they had in their lives.

  Welcome to the new ActiveWorlds, everyone!  It sure has changed since I first started using it in 1995!  And not for the better, it seems...  :-(
 

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  January 12th, 2002:  Some nice person sent me some interesting stuff.  Okay, 'Din', just wanted to say thanks for the fun read.  ;-)   Just remember not to send anything you don't want others to know because it may be intercepted.  Unless you encrypt it first, of course.

  Odd thing about that conversation you had with the PKs.  They seemed to smile a lot when they were giving bad news and ordering someone around like they really got off on it.  Okay, so that doesn't surprise me any.  I had already suspected that some PKs are sadistic jerks.  Another interesting point.  They used a guy's first name in addressing them.  Something tells me that they have access to all of the citizen's account information.  A very bad sign, considering the fact that some PKs are of gor.  :-(

  And FYI, they liked the IP address because being a broadband connection and static (doesn't change IP address like a dial-up does when you log off and back on to your ISP), they can have it blocked.

  For those thinking I'm going to tell what was done and how, you can forget it.  It'd probably get me into trouble.
 

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  January 14th, 2002:  The Smacks Frog sent me a telegram that had something to think about in it.  Here's what he said:

  "if a crack dealer can't be allowed on the atf force ... then why could someone that enforces slavery be someone of authority around little kids"

  Made me thing about it.  I mean, how many parents approve of people that're into gor having the authority to control their children in the ActiveWorlds universe?  PKs who are into gor aren't exactly people that I believe have a very good grasp of right and wrong, and I certainly don't think I'd want them brainwashing children.  But maybe the parents who let their kids use ActiveWorlds don't care...
 

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  February 6th, 2002:  ActiveWorlds is allowing the tourists to return, finally.  It's only for the world AWGate and any world that wants to pay an additional annual fee of $59.95, but at least it's something!  And no, I don't think my writing up The Day the Tourists Died had anything to do with it.  I seriously doubt if an emotional plea would matter to them based upon past experiences I've had with them.  Okay, personally, I think their prices are still a bit too steep.  Doubling the cost of a cit from $19.95 to $39.90 would make more sense than charging $69.95 per year (or $6.95 per month if they only want to be charged for a month at a time).  And the fee to enable tourists to enter a world is a bit much for a small world owner.  Charging them 20% or at most 25% of their annual world cost would make more sense than charging a P-20 world owner (with 5 simultaneous users) who only pays a yearly fee of $40.00 for the world a whopping $59.95 extra per year to allow tourists into their world.
 

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  February 20th, 2002:  ActiveWorlds has finally tourist enabled my world, ThisIsIt!  After almost two weeks of waiting for them to do it after they got my payment, they finally did it!  Yes, I paid some money to AW so that my tourist friends can have another place to go besides AWGate.  I'm not going to help AW treat the tourists like some kind of prisoners.  If you hear a tourist saying that they're bored with AWGate, tell them to try my world, ThisIsIt!  Heck, even if the triviabot isn't running, they can still watch live vidfeeds from all over the world in the vidfeed pavilion.  :-)
 

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  February 23rd, 2002:  Someone told me that one of the gor PKs were now accusing me of harassing users. Odd.  Very odd.  I try to be a nice guy, and have used up all my free time to help people that needed it.  The only people I come anywhere close to 'harassing' is the gors and in fact, the gors have been harassing me!  Isn't it strange how the gors are always accusing those they seek to discredit with things they themselves are guilty of doing?  The only 'harassing' I'm doing of the gors is by making a Web page telling the truth about them and I even included links to other sources if people needed further proof (some of which included their very own words) and having my bots eject gors from my world.  Yet this very same gor PK who I was told accused me of harassing other users (ALexander o citnumber 299265) led a mob of gors to attack my world, ThisIsIt, and the gors themselves have sent me nasty telegrams, insulting me and cussing at me and even included a thinly veiled death threat. Who is harassing who here?  Gee, does this ALexander o guy think the AW users are that gullible?  Guys, I think that's insulting to the users of AW!

  You want proof?  I can do that, no problem!  This is from one of my bot's logs at the beginning of the attack by the gors on my world led by ALexander o:

20:33:19 VRT:  ALexander o enters s# 22723 #299265 @ 0.0n 0.0w 1.0a 0°
ALexander o:  those of you not on the eject list who made it...

  That shows he actually told them to come to my world, he was aware of the fact that I didn't want gors in my world because he mentioned the eject list, and he did this intentionally.  This is a PK, no less, who's supposed to settle disputes, not start them!  I'm also told that this is one of the main PKs who try to claim that giving out the link to my AW Experience page is harassing the gors.  The dictators of the past would be so proud of this guy using the very same techniques they used!  Making sure that those who try to inform people of the truth are not heard, and only their words are.

 Want to read some of the telegrams the gors sent me?  Okay, but I will warn you that they include cussing, but at least you'll see more of what these gors are really like.  Here's their telegrams.

  And I have done nothing anywhere close to what these people are doing inside the ActiveWorlds program!  Of course, the old gor loving AW and PK double standard is probably still in effect.  I'm sure the gors can talk about adult worlds in the GZs of the main worlds that are supposedly G rated, and some of the GKs in AWGate can encourage users to try the gor worlds while in bold text, but I can't even put up a url to a Web page that I created to help people (the main ActiveWorlds Experience page no less) simply because it has a link on it to a page that tells the truth about the gors and links to further reading if more proof is required.  And yet people still think that things are fair here in ActiveWorlds.  What a crock!

  And yes, I did write to ActiveWorlds and the PKs, trying to get them to see the light of reason, and when they've bothered to reply at all, their e-mails made me think that they tend to see nothing wrong with this.  There has been no apologies, nor do I believe that any of them are capable of remorse.

  Just another typical day in ActiveWorlds, huh, guys?
 

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  February 27th, 2002:  I've been informed that someone's been trying to discredit me again with another Web page.  I was given a copy of the page late this evening.  This is of course, Rossyboy (it was easy to figure out who it was when he started quoting my telegrams on the page.  He also goes by the names of Reasons and Still and uses the citnumber 329993 and 341677), who claims to be an expert on gor through reading their forums and talking to them outside of the gor worlds.  Yes, I consider that very strange, myself, since the gors will usually (obviously, people like mongo (citnumber 331464) will attack me in the public worlds at every opportunity.  He's done so in the past in places like AWBingo and AWGate, although I don't think that anything is ever done about him when he does) be on their very best behavior out in the public worlds, and they'll likely guard their words in their forums so as not to say anything too incriminating.

  As for the general consensus about Rossyboy, most think that he's currently immature and doesn't know any better.

  I won't bother giving out the url to the page he made since it's not very accurate, and well, I don't want to get the owner of the site into trouble with the people of AW if this company is in fact going to be having business dealings with the people of AW.  Most of them may be a bit wary of a company that allows people like Rossyboy to post a Web page attacking someone on their site.  And yes, I'm aware of the fact that anyone who can do a whois lookup to find out who the registrant of a Web site is and information like their real life name, address, and phone number.  This is another reason why I'm not putting up the url to the page.  It may cause the person who owns the site to get some nasty phone calls or letters.  I wonder.  Does Rossyboy realize this?

 Odd thing is, Rossyboy's actually doing me a favor.  He's given me lots of free advertising for my Web pages, and I've received a great many appreciative and supportive telegrams and e-mails (I was almost caught up on my e-mails, but in the space of the last couple of days, I've received well over a hundred e-mails praising me for what I've been doing and encouraging me to "keep up the good work" as many are saying.  Note:  I'll try to reply to each and every one of you as soon as I can, but I wanted to say thanks for your kind words!) thanking me for showing them the light and exposing the truth about what's going on.  :-)  Of course, I'm not going to tell him about this and I hope no one else does either, because he might stop giving out his url which makes people curious as to what I say.  ;-)

  As for what he says on the page itself, if my giving out the url to the 'truth about gor' page is considered harassment by the PKs who are either of gor, or are supporting the gor cause, then his page, too, should be considered harassment of me, but it's unlikely that the PKs will consider it so since we all know about the AW and gor double standard regarding fairness in AW.

  In regards to how accurate it is, I've noticed that he omits talking about the links I give out for further reading to pages by others who have also studied the gors (like the gorean nazism page which shows how closely the gor philosophy is to that of Hitler's and even quotes them as saying they want to diminish and control people that are weaker than they are), or the fact that I'm being censored in AW by the gors who seem to be in control of it.  He claims that he's studied gor, but limited his 'research' to only reading their words on their own forums and in chatting with them in the public worlds, and I'm fairly sure that in both of those environments, the gors would be on their best behavior and would not say anything incriminating that would show others what they're really like.  I think someone told me once that if you want to know what a person's really like, you should live with them for a while.  Nowhere in his words has he said that he's even visited a gor world, so he hasn't even gotten that close to them.  LOL  However, I, in my attempt to research them have spent months in their worlds!

  I'll go ahead and address some of the stuff here that he's trying to convince people that I'm wrong about that others have already spotted the errors in his words but the more gullible in AW may believe when he tells them:

  The gors as one group:  I tend to put all the gors in one group because they all seem to follow the same pattern of behavior and since the majority of their worlds are called gor something or other it seems that they themselves do not have any problem with acknowledging this fact.  While their individual worlds and people who are in them may vary slightly as to how they behave, I can only assume through encounters with them and the fact that they all claim to be gor that they're not so dissimilar.

  Brainwashing and 'voluntary' slaves:  As for the slaves being brainwashed, the gors themselves have stated that the slaves have been trained into how to think and act.  Please see this page for the October 10th, 2001 entry where they say so themselves, and I quote their own words.  He says that he noticed the fact that speaking in third person influences the way you think about yourself, but he seems to ignore the fact that by that time, the slave is likely to have formed emotional attachments to the gors since they tend to act nicely to people in the start or in instances where they're trying to convince someone that they're nice people.  The part about slaves having to beg for a collar is also bogus.  Guess he never heard of a gor capture zone?  *snickers*  But then, he was never in a gor world, was he?  The gors also have kill zones where they say it's okay to kill the slaves in.  Odd that he didn't mention that either, but again, he was never in a gor world, so it's hardly surprising.  As for them being voluntary, I've already said (and I quote):

  "Like I've so patiently tried to explain it before, slavery, as far as I know, is illegal in most places like the USA (where I'm assuming that most of the gor world servers are, and AW has their offices), whether a person enters into it voluntarily of their own free will or not.  If someone asks another person to kill them and the person they ask does indeed shoot and kill them, I'm pretty sure it's still considered murder, and is illegal.  So, if this is true, then those in the gor worlds who are enslaving people are breaking the law"

  Furthermore, if a slave is brainwashed into thinking a certain way, it is doubtful that this can be called entirely voluntary, since many would agree that someone who is brainwashed isn't thinking too clearly, and placing themselves into slavery isn't something that most people would do if they're in control of their mind.

  Another example: People from another country volunteering to come over to the US and ending up locked up and made to work for free.  They volunteered, and they're slaves, and that's also illgeal.  If it wasn't, the US law enforcement agencies wouldn't be trying to find and convict those who do this to people.

  The claim that I'm harassing the gors:  For those who didn't complete grade school, I encourage you to look up in a dictionary the definition of harassment.  Obviously, many are still confused on simple english words, including those who are supposed to have learned english in their infancy.  (More proof that our public school system here in the US needs help!)  I am not trying to bother, torment, or pester them.  In fact, I tend to mute gors, never telegram or e-mail them or talk to anyone I even suspect is a gor in ActiveWorlds.  You may notice the pause I give after someone says 'hi' to me in a public world.  I'm checking the Persona non Grata page to see if they're on it.  They on the other hand, have harassed me!  There have been many instances where the gors have done things like attacked my world, sent me nasty telegrams cussing, insulting and threatening me, yet I've done nothing similar.  As to the claim that my pages are 'harassing' the gors;  I've stated already that my pages are not in any way an attempt to harass the gors.  I've already said that I am merely reporting the facts as I've discovered them and in some cases, giving my opinion, and I've given links for people who need further convincing to see for themselves.  To quote myself for those who haven't been paying attention (did they have the same problem in school, maybe?):  "If it's true that reporting the facts about what people have done and what their philosophy is as well as expressing their opinions on people that've done bad things is harassment, then using the same logic, aren't news reporters harassing bin Laden?  If someone gives you a hassle about giving out this url in a chat, ask them if their boyfriend's name is bin Laden!"

  My belief that Rossyboy has been brainwashed:  Yes, I believe he's been brainwashed by the gors.  Probably happened after reading all their propaganda (I can't think of a better word for it) through their forums and talking with them here in AW away from their worlds.  Such people usually believe what they want to regardless of the truth that others have repeatedly tried to show them.  This is evident on his page time after time.

  My belief that children are at risk:  I've already stated on other parts of my Web pages where I talk about gor (though I'm sure that Rossyboy has chosen to ignore this) that it's virtually impossible to verify the age of a visitor to a gor world.  To quote what I had already said on this 'age verification' thing in response to another person who did a review of gor claiming to know a lot about gor:

"How exactly can they enforce that??  By asking someone their age, and expecting someone to tell them the truth when it would be relatively easy for a teenager or even someone not much younger than that to give a false age (say that of 22 or so), and speak in a manner that would convince others that they were indeed that age, or even a little older?  Even if someone wasn't a child prodigy, this is by no means difficult to do.  And if the person who has to screen visitors and 'verify' their age asks for a picture as proof, a picture can easily be taken from a personal Web page and given to them.  The number of personal Web pages with pictures of the authors are almost without number and can be found easily doing a quick search with virtually any search engine."

  So, it's doubtful that this 'age verification' thing really works.  Even if a gor world is closed to tourists, a child can use a parent's citizenship to visit them.  For that matter, a kid with access to their parent's credit card can get their own citizenship and the parents would likely not know about that until they got the bill for it.  The child could even get a citizenship with a money order.  Many people have already done so, and weren't asked for proof that they were an adult, either.  If you're not a parent yourself, ask some parents about what usually happens when a child is told they shouldn't do something because it might be bad for them.  In many cases, the child will go behind the parent's back and do it anyway!  Do you really want your child to be exposed to people who are into gor?  Do you seriously think that the gors and the gor PKs are people that you can trust to teach your child the difference between right and wrong?

  My saying things like "probably" and "for all I know":  I say things like this merely because I don't like speaking in absolutes.  When I say "probably", I mean that it's very likely.  When I say "for all I know" it means that this is what I believe to be true.

  The slavery getting gradually harsher:  I base what I say there upon my own personal experiences when I was posing as a slave in the gor worlds, and upon what I've heard from others.  You can either take my word and those other people or the word of Rossyboy who has never claimed to even enter a gor world, so I don't see how he can judge what the slavery is like to a slave.

  My being censored:  He seems to have omitted talking about this little detail except in making it part of a subject box but didn't address the issue.  I can only take it to mean that he's either aware of it and doesn't want to admit it's true, or he'll get branded for a liar on this as well if he tries to deny it's happening.

  Pain and slavery:  In this subject box, he claims that (and I quote his own words): "Some worlds are more painful than others. A lot of the worlds actually cut out the violent parts from the books."  Yet he never claims to have gone into a world, just talked to the gors and read their forums.  LOL

  seanchan lies:  In this subject box, he says what I can only assume he got from seanchan himself about him being an owner of a gor world (he in fact owns more than one) but didn't say what it was that seanchan had lied about.  I had said that a short time after I left gorworld that seanchan had tried telling people that he forced me out of it when I had in fact left voluntarily.  Guess old seanchan conveniently 'forgot' about me asking his co-ruler to put me on the bot's automatic eject list in case I came back to gorworld by accident and all that.  *snickers*

  My saying that it's possible that people in the gor worlds could be kidnapping people from their homes:  Yes, it's possible and I think it's likely.  I believe that there are people who are looking for real life slaves (whether 'voluntary' or not) in ActiveWorlds and that they will be drawn to the gor worlds since that is where there is slavery.  If you don't think people are kidnapped and turned into real life slaves, it's time for you to wake up to that reality.  Here you'll even find a report on it from ABC news of people doing it here in the US!  Going to claim that they're lying, too?  And here and here you'll find reports of a teenage girl being lured into it, handcuffed, drugged, and assaulted and then taken to someone's home where they were raped, tortured, sodomized, sexually humiliated, abused, and threatened with death.  It lasted for a week, and thankfully, she escaped with her life.  Will the gors (and their buddy Rossyboy) now say that they're lying or the girl that had this done to her lied and that the wounds she was treated for were merely in her mind??  Grrrr!!  There are thousands of reported cases of predators preying on teens and using chats to find them.  Makes you wonder how many aren't reported.  Scary thought!  If you think I'm lying, read and learn the facts for yourself!  Do people really think that having worlds like the gor worlds is going to attract nice people?  Get real!

  Okay, I've wasted enough time on this.  Just use your brains, people, get the facts by going to the sites I've given you the locations of, and don't be suckered by the gors or people who defend them who want to keep you from learning the truth for yourself!
 

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  May 6th, 2002:  I've been informed that Activeworlds Corporation may be doing a merger with Aladdin Systems Holdings, Inc.  Is Aladdin aware that ActiveWorlds has worlds in it which contain slavery?  Or are they themselves into slavery so much that they want to invest in a company that supports it?  If you like, you can go to their contact info page that has their e-mail addresses on it if you want to write to them and let them know what they're getting into.  If, after writing to them and not getting a satisfactory reply, some people may want to boycott their products and ask their friends and family to do the same to show the company how they feel about slavery and those who support it in what seems to be the only way many businesses understand.  Will I use their products?  No!!
 

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  May 7th, 2002:  Activeworlds Corporation in their May, 2002 newsletter has deigned to give us something for free.  On their Megapath Object Set Downloads page, they include links to .zip files for avatars, models (objects), avatar animation sequences, sounds, and textures.  You may've noticed that I made those words into links.  The reason I did that was because AW screwed up on their HTML coding.  Seems that they put in the 'target blank' command into the page so that after someone clicks on it, it opens up a new page, but it has nothing on it, then your browser asks you what you want to do with the .zip file.  This will make it easier for those who want these files if they click on my links instead of AW's.  You're welcome.  :-)  A personal note:  Considering the way Activeworlds Corporation has treated us, their customers (they can't even seem to be able to reply to e-mails to support from their customers), I'm not very trusting of them, so I recommend scanning all the files they give out for free with an anti-virus program just to be safe.
 

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  June 6th, 2002:  Activeworlds Corporation released the 3.3 version of the ActiveWorlds browser on May 31st, 2002 (the same day that Roland quit), but as I've noticed in the past, they seem to screw up by putting in more bugs as they add a few new features, possibly believing that AW users will be too stupid to notice.  Rather insulting, if you ask me!  I didn't want to say anything officially on here until they had a chance to fix the mistakes in it.  Then I realized that they're likely never to do so considering their past screw-ups, so I figured I better warn people about 3.3.  Okay, here's the main points that I like and don't like about version 3.3 so far:
 

  Stability:  From what I've been hearing, I'm not the only one who's noticed that ActiveWorlds is far more unstable now than it's been in a long time!  In fact, I've noticed that it's crashed a lot more in just the single week since I've switched to 3.3 from 3.2 than in the entire time I used the last two versions!  I suspect that part of the problem may be in the new 'avatar animation engine' because when I switched to an av that I've been using for the last year or so in my world with no problems before, my AW version 3.3 browser crashed.  Tested this a few times, hoping it wasn't true, but it was.  So now I had to remove one of my favorite avatars from ThisIsIt's av list because if I used it, anyone who saw it would have a program crash if they were using version 3.3.  Grrr!!  AWC, sometimes I really hate you guys!  :-(

  Temporary fix:  I advise all world owners to find someone who has version 3.3 installed to check out your avs, preferably someone with a fast connection, to keep the wait time down to a minimum.  If their AW browser crashes on an av, have them try it again to be sure it was that av, and if it does, you should remove the av from the list until AW fixes the problem (if they can be bothered to).
 

  Privacy features:  It lets you mask your online / off-line / AFK (Away From Keyboard) status in your contact list.  However, if you're in the 'stealth' mode by having checked the hide my online / off-line / AFK status  thing under the Privacy tab of the Settings, and you decide to change your mind and go back into regular mode so someone can see you on, but then a bit later decide to turn it back to 'stealth' mode, you actually have to close the AW browser and log back in again before it updates that!

  *  Additional note:  Be aware that if you change your privacy preferences so no one can see your status by doing it from the Options / Settings / Privacy tab, there will be some who think that you're doing it because you want to hide from them specifically, so hopefully, your friends will ask you first about it before they jump to the wrong conclusion.  If not, you're going to have to either do what I did, and put a note on a Web page explaining that you don't want the entire citizenry of AW to view your status, or write a telegram to each and every person you're friends with to tell them that it isn't because of them.
 

  Main chat text box problems:  The thing keeps getting stuck now more than ever!  Grrr!!  What, it was working fairly well before, so they just had to mess with it?  I was AFK in my world, ThisIsIt and missed several people coming in and talking because the main chat screen wouldn't go up to show the new stuff!  Only after I'd said something to one of my bots did it finally move up!
 

  Video performance:  After changing from version 3.2 to version 3.3, I've noticed that movement is a lot more  jerkier now than it was before, even at low visibility settings, and I have a newer video card, too!
 

  Moving with your avatar restraints (new with version 3.3):  In the past, you could spin faster by pressing the Ctrl key while holding down one of the left or right direction arrows on your keyboard.  No longer!  IMHO, just another example of how AW wants to restrict us even more.  :-(  Something tells me that the paintball crowd isn't going to like this very well, either...
 

  A 'playpen' effect in all worlds (also new with version 3.3):  Now you can't move further than a person can build in a world.  If, for example, you're in a world that only allows you to build 30 co-ords in any direction from the GZ, that means you can only walk that far and you are stopped.  Kind of like a playpen for babies so they don't wander around where the adults don't want them to.  Rather insulting treatment by ActiveWorlds of their customers, both those who have paid for citizenships, and worse, for world owners, if you ask me!  :-(
 

  Actions / seqs / gestures screw ups (you guessed it, new with version 3.3!):  Many avs freeze during the final part of a seq.  Also, some bots don't work right if they're supposed to do actions as part of their script.  Like my dancing bots in ThisIsIt that use the 'Walk like an Egyptian' dance.  Grr!!  If anyone knows how to fix that script so they again dance like they're supposed to, let me know, will you?
 

  To sum it all up:  If you haven't upgraded yet to version 3.3, I don't recommend you do so.  Wait until they fix the aforementioned problems first!  That is, if they can be bothered to...  If AW considers the version 3.3 that we're using now to be stable enough to release to the public, my sympathies go out to the beta testers who must have experienced far worse problems!
 

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  June 19th, 2002:  Activeworlds Corporation released build 418 (still known as version 3.3, but this is more of a patch, I think) of the ActiveWorlds browser today.  I'll tell you what changes I've noticed in this build.
 

  The 'playpen effect' has been removed:  Or at least it is for my world, ThisIsIt.  This means we can again walk beyond the build limits.
 

  Avatar movement restraints:  Still there.  Doesn't look like they're going to let us be able to turn around faster again like they used to using Ctrl and a left or right direction arrow.
 

Actions / seqs / gestures screw ups (that they made with version 3.3):  Was told that this latest build (build 418) was supposed to fix the problem, but it hasn't improved any that I've noticed.  My dancing girl bots still don't dance.  Grrr!!
 

  Building change:  Not sure if this was put in with version 3.3 or just this build, but noticed that when I build at my world's building limit, the object can't be moved past it.  So, guess you can't do that and get a message from the building inspector saying "You can't build beyond this point" anymore.

  Main chat text box problems:  Still sticking.  Once, while changing from AWGate to my world, ThisIsIt, it got stuck, and even clicking in the main chat screen and using the down arrow didn't un-stick it!  Only after I whispered to one of my bots did it again work.  Grr!!

  New problem:  I noticed that when I came back from AWGate that last time, I appeared in an av that I don't use, but looked like it was the same number down in the av list from the one I was using in AWGate.

  Contact list problem (new with version 3.3!):  For several minutes, my contact list totally disappeared, and not one name showed on it.  Was told that the contact lists are now stored on AW's servers, so that if a connection is lost to them, you don't have a contact list.  Kind of makes you wonder why, and perhaps more importantly; is this just another way to snoop into what we do by finding out who we have on our contact lists?

  AW's server confusing cits as a tourist:  This has been happening for a while now.  Notice it when I try to go to AlphaWorld and I get a message from the Immigration Officer saying "Sorry, you must be a citizen in order to visit the world "aw".  To become a citizen, press the Register Now! button in the upper left corner of the screen."  Not sure if they're ever going to fix it.  Thank the gods I can usually get back in if I try it again.
 

  June 19th, 2002 (part 2):  Activeworlds Corporation released build 419 within 24 hours of build 418, but I haven't noticed any improvements over the last build, and in fact, it seems to be even more unstable than before!  Grr!!  And my bots still aren't working right!
 

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  June 27th, 2002:  AWTeen had the AWTeen Generations Day thing, and I was there to take pictures of it.  Seemed to be a major event, and to be honest, I was very surprised to find people actually talking in the world AWTeen.  Usually, you go into it and hang around the GZ, and even though there's five or six people in the small area there, moving around and everything, no one is talking.  Either the people are very rude and snotty in AWTeen, or they're too stupid to use a keyboard.  Not sure which it is.  At any rate, now you know why I was surprised to find people actually talking in the world.  It was a very rare thing.  Guess this is why I stay in my own world so much.  Most of the regulars are much nicer people.  :-)

  Supposedly, this event was a big deal, but frankly, I couldn't be bothered to get excited about it.  It had a whole potempkin village feel to it, with all the laughing and clapping, while all I could think about was how AWcom and the PKs keep trying to cover up the main problems in ActiveWorlds like the gors and killers and sickos being drawn into the program by certain worlds being here.

  Everyone wanted to talk at once, and there were some jerks there as well.  After I muted some of them, it was a little easier to read the chat.  LOL  Should've muted Nutinmuch, too, but just ignored him.  After all, I'm kind of getting used to people insulting others.  Heard that those who insult others as he and Rossyboy do have very low self-esteem problems, believing that if they insult people, they make themselves look better.  Makes me feel sad for them, since someone that does it so much as those two must really have problems.  :-(  Nutinmuch was even trying to tell me to shut up when all I did was say one thing.  Like he should talk after asking his question to E N Z O over and over again.  As if E N Z O could be bothered to answer questions.  *snickers*

  Those who gave speeches ignored questions from people, seeming to want to snub them, and just do their pretentious - sounding speeches.  Made me think that they considered the other people there to be nothing more than riff-raff, to be ignored.  Didn't even say that they'd take questions after the speeches, just continued on, ignoring all.  Even after the ceremonies were over, they still wouldn't answer questions.  I whispered one to Brant, and he just ignored me.  And people wonder why others think they're snobs?  Well, duh!  The only time I was able to get a response to a question asked in open chat was after I pondered out loud if I would have to ask it a few thousand times to get a response.  Only then did someone answer me.  What is it with ActiveWorlds, anyway?  Am I the only nice person in this program who helps people because he likes doing it, who replies to almost every telegram and e-mail I receive (although it sometimes takes me a while to get to it), and rarely ignores anyone unless they're insulting or being mean?  Seems most in here only want to respond if you threaten in some way.  Someone also told me that the only way to get AWCom to do anything is to file a lawsuit against them.  Hmm...  maybe that would be the only way to get them to remove the gor worlds?  It's obvious that begging them to do so to keep kids safe doesn't work.  I know, because I did that very same thing in my last e-mail to them.  They cared so little about it that they couldn't even bother with a 'thank you for your input' form letter type of e-mail.  :-(

  Brant kept yammering on the stage for a long time until he finally got to the point, saying he was appointing a new caretaker for AWTeen.  After long minutes of yammering, and saying partial sentences, he finally announced he'd be giving it to Chanty and that there'd be a new position of vice caretaker, and that Poseidon would be the first one to take it.  Poseidon said that he was recommending Mike Zimmer to the core, as the new JAM leader.

  One of Brant's funnier lines was this one:

  Brant: In addition, sometimes decisions need to be made to stand up for something a person believes in

  At this point, I was having problems containing my laughter.  I mean, c'mon!  They're putting all this work into objects, avatars, and all that, and I'll bet they don't bother with keeping the gors out of AWTeen, which I would've made first priority to keep the kids safe.  But maybe they don't place a very high value on that...  Most of the time I was there I was wondering how many pervs were there taking notes on all the names of kids there and drooling on their keyboards thinking about what they'd do to them after they kidnap them, or how much they could mess up their minds.  A world that's full of mostly underage kids would likely be very attractive to some of the people who want to do bad things to kids.  Kind of wonder also if the PKs that Chanty thanked in her speech are of gor, and if the parents of the children who go to AWTeen approve of those into gor being in control of their children?  Even the gors themselves have told me that there's killers in there, but I doubt if AWLD cares, and it's unlikely that many have contacted the FBI about the gors here, thinking that someone else will do it instead.  I wonder, how many more deaths will it take before they feel like something should be done?  The number of kidnappings seems to be increasing, yet no one wants to do anything about it until after it's their child who gets kidnapped, and then of course, it's a bit too late.  All they can do then is beg the kidnappers on TV to bring their child back.  And well, if they're anything like the gors I've had the misfortune to come into contact with here in ActiveWorlds, I believe that an emotional appeal to them would likely have the same effect as one given to AWCom.  :-(

  Another one of Brant's comments:

  Brant: E N Z O has enabled tourists in AWTeen!

  Big deal.  As soon as I heard AWCom would accept payments to allow world owners to 'tourist enable' their worlds, I gave them my money the very same day because I wanted tourists to have a place to go other than AWGate.  Pity it took AWCom about two weeks after they received my payment to actually do what I paid them to.  I suspect they delayed doing it intentionally, to screw me over, as they've done in the past with other things.  If not, it's because they're incompetent.  Either way, it's a bad sign, and, based on my experiences with them, it's an accurate example of the way they do business.  Which kind of explains why so many people are upset with them.

  Here's one of E N Z O's lines:

E N Z O: and I am happy that the new era is for Community

  Yeah, E N Z O, I'm sure the gors are also overjoyed that more kids will be using AWTeen world, so that any sickos drawn into ActiveWorlds by the gor worlds being here will find lots of potential victims all conveniently found in one world.  Surprised they haven't sent you 'thank you' cards for allowing the gor worlds here and for making it so easy to find potential victims...

  Okay, to the pictures.  In the 1st picture, I took a pic while floating just a little above ground level.  Got a wide shot of the stage, the ramps leading up to it, the rows of black benches and the lighted aisle between the rows.  This was set up nice enough, I guess, but it seemed a bit confining to me.  Would've been better IMHO if there wasn't a hill behind the stage.  In this picture, you can see Woodrose o to the left, Mountain Myst and a few other people up on the stage, and the mass pile-up of people in the middle in front of it, a bit obscured by their names.

  The 2nd picture I took while floating up a little higher and turning to the left a bit.  You can see the front part of the stage to the right, with Brant there near the podium where everyone made their speeches later.  Stacee is down near the bottom of the picture, and Dmc2u is up near the top on the left side of it.

  In the 3rd picture, you can see a closer view of the balcony seats and the lights on each.  Not sure why they had the lights facing the couches, because if I was watching something, I'd want the lights behind me so they wouldn't shine in my eyes, but maybe people like them set up differently in other parts of the world.  On the stage, you can see Chanty down there.

  Took the 4th picture after getting down to ground level right by those black benches.  Facing the main clump of people, there's Veger to the left, xx spyder xx up above, ThePoem near the stage, on which Brant is standing all by himself.  Too many people in the clump to name, but you can read most of their names easily enough.  They had shift turned off and invisible objects up near the stage so people couldn't go up on it.  I was thinking of cheating to get up on it to take better pictures, but didn't want to be a jerk, although it seems others didn't have such self-restraint.  D a n and Gamecube were the ones who seemed to want to get in the way the most.  D a n was constantly claiming he was filming.  I guess that was for one of those 'stations'.  Normally, I'd link to things like that in my Vidfeed Pavilion in my world, ThisIsIt, but since they constantly like to put their pictures in front of other people's like near AlphaWorld's GZ, I'm too ticked off at them to do it.  If they were nicer, I'd consider it, but since they're not.  Forget it.

  In the 5th picture, there's a lot of people checking out the terrain features with the boxes that go with it.  Mountain Myst is in the upper left, Dmc2u is in the lower left, and Stacee and Poseidon are on the right side.

  The 6th picture shows a close up of the stage, with Brant, Chanty, and Poseidon on it.  D a n of course was there probably with the excuse that he was 'filming'.

  The stage object is seen well in this 7th picture.  Not sure why all the other people are up on the stage, but Gamecube was really getting in the way.  From the chat, I realized that I wasn't the only one who found the bull's eye on his back tempting.  Had to move around a lot to get this pic and it seemed no matter which angle I tried at, Gamecube just had to be there, too.

  Here is pic 8, showing Chanty, Poseidon, and Brant, along with D a n floating above.  E N Z O mostly talked about the new AW world, saying little about AWTeen during his speech.  Ha!  Some of us are still waiting for AWQoP to open up, having been fed the hype on that one a very long time ago.  Now they're trying to get us excited about another AW world?  *yawns*  As most other things that AW talks about doing without charging for, I'll believe it when I see it.
 

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  September 30th, 2002:  While chatting in AWGate, a supposedly 'friendly and welcoming' environment, I was ejected.  But not for profanity, using racial or ethnic slurs, being grossly obscene, or flooding the chat or anything like that.  Oh, no!  My crime was to try to help and inform other users of the program, and just chatting!  This, it seems, is forbidden in AWGate!  The GK on duty was named Tigger GK and the citnumber they were using at the time was 292683.  This happened around 5:15 a.m. VRT, and there were several witnesses to the event.  The GK did not try to talk it out with me in whispers, but instead decided to jump down my throat in open chat when I gave out a url to one of my Web pages which gave information to AW program users.  Odd thing is, they didn't criticize another user when they gave out a valid url to a Web site right before I gave out mine, and they even stated that they made a commission for all funds transferred through it!  If that was not advertising, then what is??  As for my site, I created it to help and inform people and to have some fun, but not a single one of the ads on my site was placed on it by me, nor do I make any money off of it.  This all comes out of my pocket and I do it happily.  :-)  Anyway, here's parts of the chat that were said openly where others could hear it:

Tigger GK: Cyber don't advertise here

CyberWoLfman: Sorry, Tigger, I wasn't trying to advertise, but to help people.  But perhaps that's verbotten?

CyberWoLfman: Odd.  Didn't hear you chewing out Hawkeye, Tigger.  Any special reason you're singling ME out for criticism?

Tigger GK: This is not the place for arguments so keep it in a whisper or leave

  (Note:  Apparently it is considered 'arguing' to ask a question in AWGate, especially if someone is feeling that those in authority are not being fair, even if the person is one of the GKs who often say that if you have a question, you should ask.  Is the image of an iron-fisted GK what ActiveWorlds wants first time users of the program to see?  So it would seem.)

Tigger GK: One more comment and by

CyberWoLfman: Who, Tigger?  And who is doing something wrong?  Someone cussing, giving racial or ethnic slurs, or something else that's serious?

Tigger GK: Cyber I told you this is not the place for arguments. If you can't STOP open chatting about it leave

CyberWoLfman: Tigger, I just asked for clarification.  Is that also forbidden?  If you don't say what it is that's wrong, how do they know what it is?

CyberWoLfman: I'm here to have fun, help people, inform them, and pass the time in friendly conversation.   :-)

Tigger GK: I'm done warning

  Almost immediately, I was ejected from AWGate.  They probably just grabbed my IP address then ejected me.  I tried to work it out peacefully with the GK, didn't shout (use all caps) or cuss or anything like that, but it seems my patience and my willingness to try and talk things over wasn't appreciated.  They don't seem to want peace, only conflict.  :-(

  I've written to ActiveWorlds as well as the GateKeepers.  Anyone want to bet that nothing will be done and there will be no official apology?  Okay, so it's a sucker bet.  Most people already know what AWLD is like and what little good trying to work things out with AWLD or with organizations like the PKs and GKs does.  And they wonder why so many people are leaving ActiveWorlds to go to places like OuterWorlds, Worlds, and other 3D chat programs?  Well, duh!  Doesn't look like AWLD minds losing business...
 

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  February 2nd, 2003:  Flagg (citnumber 299024), real name Tom Fournier, leaves ActiveWorlds the company (sometimes referred to as AWI or AWLD), after he's laid off by the company.  Something tells me that ActiveWorlds may be about to bite it, if they're laying off even more employees!  Maybe this is a good time to find something better?  Good thing I made my 3D Chat Programs Review page, already.  ;-)

 

All the AW suck-ups gather around Flagg.  LOL   Here you see WildAW's GZ with all the suck-ups to AW gathering around Flagg.  Included in the picture are Bassa, Peacfrog, Mountain Myst, Scouser, DMC2U, CaBLeCar Gal o, Satin Moon, Meranna, Tyrion Lannister, Daphne, and others.

 

  At one time, there were over 42 people in WildAW for this.  Other people that you can't see clearly in the picture were Wireman, King Tex, Xyzzz, MrBruce, MIKsam, and Belfalest.  Wonder if E N Z O and Flagg figured out who knocked them off-line right before Flagg gave his little speech, yet?  <weg>

  During his little speech, Flagg said that he first came to AW about six years ago (making it in 1997).  That he couldn't get JP to play Command and Conquer, that they worked together for a while, and used to hang out sometimes after work.  JP didn't want to play it, but instead had Flagg download AW.  Then went on to talk about JP working on Atlantis' submarines and pyramids.  Only spent about a week in AW, then "moved on to other stuff" and didn't talk to JP for almost two years.

  That was when I said that "Two years is a long time on the Internet!  LOL"  But, most newcomers to the Internet don't have the memories I have of having to use a 14.4 modem and trying to be patient with a 486 that's screaming about being in a 3D chat program...

  Flagg continued, saying he started working for AW about four years ago (1999).  Mentioned that his first build in AW is at 3100n 0e.  I went there, later.  It wasn't that great, but there were a few odd things in the area, like the GETbot at 3103n 9e that was in a small building hidden from view.

 

GETbot is hiding here!   Not a really well-built building, but I guess they want a little enclosure to keep GETbot out of the weather.  If there was any weather in AlphaWorld...

 

  He spoke of updating his builds, I think meaning the pictures he has in them.  Which, is something none of us can ever seem to keep up on.

  When asked what was the highlight of working for ActiveWorlds, he replied with: "well there has been many highlights and good things that have come out of working here, but I would have to say that making someone happy who was moments ealier unhappy has to be the best thing"  Which is odd, because most of us have been complaining about certain things for years, and we're still not happy.  Maybe he means how much he's sucked up to the gors?  Doesn't everyone know of his meetings with them?  Heck, I've even been given chat logs of them from some people.  You'll note of course, that AW employees never meet with people like me who have been trying to make AW a better place for years now.  They just seem to only want to suck up to those into slavery.  Ugh!  :-(

  Several times throughout the talk, Flagg was asked about what his next job would be, but he never answered.  Okay, so that's typical of an AW employee ignoring their customers, but it makes me wonder if he doesn't want his next employer to know he had anything to do with slavery.  Eventually, he said "I don't have anything lined up yet...  I need to help my family with some stuff and I am going to take a short vacation", but if true, then why didn't he just say that before?

  Then someone started building a bathroom in WildAW's GZ:

 

Here's the shower   This one made me wonder as to who would want to take a shower in the middle of the world's GZ with a few dozen people watching.

 

  When he talked of other memorable moments, he mentioned the opening of WildAW was a ton of fun.  That's when I said "Yeah, there was a huge land grab by greedy people when it opened!"  And of course, there's lots of places where people just covered up a lot of land and didn't use any of it.  :-P

  Thinking that if I asked a question of the AW bigwigs in open chat, I may get an answer (for a change), I asked:

  "Why didn't they make tourists in AW permanent?" to which, E N Z O said "cuz the second I let touristas in they started posting porn in the memorial" which I thought odd, because the memorial was smack in the middle of AlphaWorld's GZ, and no one can build within about 12 co-ords of the GZ in AlphaWorld.

  When someone said they wanted to grease the doorknob on Tom's / Flagg's office door, he said his cube (cubicle) didn't have one.  E N Z O said "but it does have a yellow tape border" then "(WKRP reference)", but I don't think too many people watch the WKRP re-runs on TV where Less Nessman (the news guy in the show) had yellow tape around his desk and acted like it was where walls and a door were, and expected everyone to go up to the tape and make knocking sounds before they spoke to him.  E N Z O later said that "Bailey was my favorite" and to be honest, she was one of my favorite characters in the show, too.

  Ferruccio seemed upset that E N Z O was ignoring them, saying "He doesn't want to listen to a customer i seems :(" and I told him "AW has a habit of not listening to customers or replying to e-mails unless it involves profits.  Get used to it."  That was when CaBLeCAr GaL (citnumber 288431 who was at the time using the citname of CaBLeCar Gal o) said "that is not so cyber wolf that is not so at all" which seems strange considering the number of e-mails they've ignored from me.  I even said so: "YOUR e-mails perhaps, CCG, but not ours.  But I know what the story is.  No biggie."  E N Z O popped in with "BTW cyberwolfman ... we have to have priorities"  Trying to avoid an argument, I returned with "Yes, I'm sure there's always 'reasons' or elaborate euphemisms for every action or inaction that a company does.  But I won't argue here."  But, considering the fact that most of my e-mails were me asking ActiveWorlds as to whether or not they cared about the safety of children, allowing gor worlds that had slavery in them into AW, and why they do such a thing, knowing it's illegal in the US where ActiveWorlds the company has its company headquarters, it kind of makes people realize that the lives of children and other users are a secondary consideration to AW, if they're considered at all compared to making more money for the company.  :-(

  Hoping I'd get at least one straight answer out of AW, I asked "when is NewAW going to open?  Or will it be like AWQoP hyped but never opened?"  Not getting an answer (no surprise, really), I said "They should put ETAs of this stuff on a page for AW."  For those who don't know yet, AWQoP is a kind of AW RPG (Role Playing Game.  Dungeons and Dragons is perhaps one of the most well-known RPG in case you need an example of what an RPG is.), and has been hyped since back in 2001.  AWQoP aka ActiveWorlds Quest of Power may never be opened.  At one time, someone said in the AW Newsletter that it would be open to the public in "December of 2002" but of course, that didn't happen.

  I'll leave you with Flagg's / Tom's last words:  "bye everybody...  and thank you for playing bingo :)"
 
 

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  February 22nd, 2003:  A PK by the name of Peacekeeper 14 (citnumber 268455) who also goes by the name of Tomas (citnumber 312020) accused me of harassing someone because I built in an empty area in AlphaWorld.  Got to the build I had in AlphaWorld, and saw that the person who I built near was a person that's been a citizen in AW for some time, so he should've known that if he doesn't cover all the ground, that people will build on empty ground.  Duh?  The citname was TechnoZeus (citnumber 155965), and apparently this guy couldn't be bothered to talk it out with me but instead wanted to screw me over by complaining to the PKs.

  Here's some pictures of the scene:

 

My build in AlphaWorld was vandalized!   In this picture, you'll see my build in AlphaWorld.  Beside it are signs encouraging people to learn the truth that's being hidden from them.  Alongside those, are signs by gors.  One of them is Alexander o (citnumber 299265) who is also Peacekeeper 74 (citnumber 301420), the very same PK who led a mob of gors to attack my world, ThisIsIt, just a few days before the attack on the WTC!  After complaining to AW, I was told that they had no problem with a PK doing things like that to one of their customers.  :-(

 

After Alexander o's sign was removed   Now in this 2nd picture, it shows the area after ALexander o's sign was removed, and I came and removed my sign pointing to his, reminding people of who he was.  You can see TechnoZeus' signs accusing me of 'vandalizing' when I built on an empty area near his stuff, then harassing me with signs!  In the right of the picture, you'll see a sign advertising for BDSM and giving a link to click on.  So, I guess my informing people of the dangers of slavery in AW is bad, but some gor putting up links to BDSM is okay?  Yikes!  Do the parents of children who use this program know about this?  Guess they do now...

 

Shows rjinswand giving a bdsm link.  Ugh!   For this 3rd picture I show you the sign that a gor named rjinswand put up, linking it to a bdsm site.  While they and AW seem to approve of this kind of thing, I went ahead and blurred out the url.

 

  It seems odd that the PKs would be harassing me about this kind of thing until I realized that AWLD and gor seem to be very close to each other.  Perhaps AWLD is owned and controlled by gors?  Kind of makes you wonder, since they approve of slavery so much, that they even sell the gors worlds, and when there's a conflict which involves one person (me) trying to warn people of the dangers of slavery and gor in AW and another (rjinswand) advertising adult material (bdsm), they decide to go after me.

  Anyone still have any doubts as to what AW is all about?  Think there's a few more convinced people out there now, thanks to this little incident.  ActiveWorlds, you're only digging your own grave by coming after me!  I'm not a sheep and I refuse to succumb to tyranny and will fight slavery every chance I get!!

  If anyone wants to see the area in question, you're welcome to.  It's at 893.80S 788.64E 1.0a 350 in AlphaWorld.  Because ActiveWorlds won't allow tourists into that world, only citizens can go there at this time.  Of course, my build will probably be deleted by some tyrant or their little Nazis, soon, so you better see it now!

  Oh, and TechnoZeus, about your opinion that I'm lying about the gors, I've been telling the truth!  Even put up links to further reading and several of them contain their own words saying how they think that women should be slaves and that those who are weak should be diminished and controlled, quoted their nasty whispers and telegrams, and if you have doubts, just follow the links!  Duh!  If you think these are nice people, you've got a nasty shock coming to you!  This is the reason AWLD, the gor PKs and the gors themselves want to censor me so that people won't find out the truth about them!
 
 

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  April 14th, 2003:  ActiveWorlds decides to let us, their lowly customers who got suckered into using their program, to try version 3.4 beta that they've been allowing their special suck-up brown-nosing friends to use for months, now.  I'll let you know what I think of this version.

  Vertical limitations:  Highest you can 'fly' is limited to 2000 meters.  Lowest you can go is -350 meters.

 

Nature as seen through AW version 3.4   Not as realistic as some of us would like, but at least they're improving a little.  Some of the clouds in this picture I took in AWGate moved.  Sol (or 'the sun' to those who don't know its name) looks better than it did in earlier versions, but the grass and water need help.  Still too low-res for me.  Btw, people, the beach on the north end of AWGate is at 43n 0w.

 

ActiveWorlds 3.4 screenshot   Decided it'd be better if I took this picture in AWGate so most will recognize the area, even tourists.

  'Comic Style' chat ballons:  In the above picture, you'll see the new 'comic style' chat ballons, that disappear after a little while.  Timed it at 30 seconds.

  The World List has also changed.  Now, the worlds show their ratings, if they're on 3.4 world servers.  Older world servers will only show a '?' on their world's icon in the World List.  Grey world icons are closed worlds.  Basically, they're still the same as red worlds in the version 3.3 and older World List.  Only those on the Enter list for that world can go into it.  Each rating has a different color.  Red violet / pink for G rated worlds, blue for PG rated, green for PG-13 rated, yellow / gold for R rated, and orange for X rated.  Yes, some of us are having uncomfortable flashbacks because of this color coding rating system.  :-P  Parents may like the fact that if they set the AW program to only allow access to up to PG rated worlds, those worlds which have higher ratings will not show up in the World List.  But hopefully, the parents will password protect the world rating option.  What would be better, would be to try a more children - friendly 3D chat program.  Because ActiveWorlds has the gors in it, I don't recommend it to people, especially those with children.  As before, you can right click on the World List to uncheck "show empty worlds" and "show private worlds".  It does make things neater in appearance, but you lose most of the world list if both are unchecked, especially if you're the nocturnal type who comes in late at night.

  Faster turn around is again enabled!  They've finally let us use the Ctrl + side direction arrow keys to turn around faster when used at the same time!  Very handy for paintball players.

  Still a bit buggy.  Of course, this is the beta, so there's still some bugs in this.  If you can wait, you may want to.  Even on newer computers, it still crashes once in a while.  Trust someone who's used these programs since 1995.  Waiting for a more stable version is a good idea, and it's less aggravating.

  New options.  Under the Sound tab in Options, you can select to not only hear MIDI files (background music mostly) and WAV and MP3 files, but also building sounds and a sound when you receive a telegram.  The first I'm not too crazy about, the second is kind of helpful if you're AFK doing something in the same room the computer is in, or if you get into a busy chat, and miss the red letters on the screen, saying you've got a telegram.  Hey, you get into a chat with between 20 to 40 people in a meeting where there's no bots that eject for flooding and their typing speed is pushing 200 wpm (words per minute) and they're all pumping out comments, ideas, odd one-liners (some I wouldn't want to share in public chat, if you get my drift), or what have you, it's easy to miss the telegram notification message.

  Moving options:  Still under the General tab in Options, you'll see other new things like 'Head bob', in the Controls area, which makes the view kind of go up and down a bit if you're in the first person view.  Even when running (Ctrl + forward or back direction arrows).  :-P  Another thing that you can turn off, thank the gods, is the pitch thing when you're flying or swimming.  It may be cute for a little while, but some of us like flying fast at a good altitude in large worlds with our visibility up high and looking down at the landscape and buildings we're going over.  If you try to do that with this pitch thing on, you're going to crash into the ground.

  Total time online:  This hasn't changed, yet.  The largest measure of time in it is still days.  So if you've been in the program for a long time like some of us, and it goes past 365 days, you'll notice it still says days, and not 1 year, et cetera.

  Object Properties Box changes:  Okay, this one I'm sort of for and sort of against.  It seems that in version 3.4, when you right-click on someone else's objects to see the Object Properties in worlds where you can do that, all the fields are grayed out.  That includes the Object used, the Description field, the Action field, and even the Owner's citnumber.  In a way, I'm kind of okay with this because it stops people from copying your work, but I'm also opposed to this because it'll make it harder for new builders to copy object names and put them into a Notepad file for use while building.  Oops.  This is true even in AWSchool world.  :-(  Guys, if you have any consideration at all for new users to the AW program, get rid of this!!  Of course, I don't really expect you to listen to me.  It's not like you ever had before when I offered suggestions to make ActiveWorlds better...

  World Features oddities:  Some of the odder things I've seen in the World Features disturb me.  Seems that AW wants even more control over the users.  In the World Features, someone can hide the chat, turn off citizen whispers, and always show names.  The first two would be like having a world where no one can chat or whisper, in essence, gagging everyone in that world, and the second one feels like it's violating my right to privacy by letting everyone see that I'm there before I say anything.  Guess anonymous lurking is on the way out.  I like it better when people are nameless until they speak.  At least that way, you've got an idea of who's been talking and who's not if you leave the keyboard for a little while and come back, so you don't waste time trying to talk to someone who's not anywhere near their computer.  If you want to protest this, don't bother writing to ActiveWorlds, because they can't be bothered to care.  Just don't go to worlds that use options like that.

 

Let the tourists back into AlphaWorld!   In the World Features under Options, it shows a check box where tourist building can be turned off for a world.  That eliminates the 'tourists will vandalize AlphaWorld' excuse.

  World Features allow tourist building to be turned off:  E N Z O, now that this option is available, what will be your excuse to not allow tourists into the main AW owned worlds?  You can no longer use the excuse that tourists will vandalize in the worlds because you can restrict them from building.  Will you now try to say that the tourist avs clash with the skyboxes?  "Darlings, someone call the fashion police!  The tourists in their little grey avatars are creating a fashion nightmare!"  LOL  So, what do you say?  A little compassion, maybe?  Or is that too much to ask for from ActiveWorlds?  Yeah, probably too much to ask for.  After all, ActiveWorlds is run by humans, and humans aren't exactly the 'kind, caring, and considerate' type.  :-P
 
 
 

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  May 1st, 2003:  This marked the last day that I ran This Is It (or ThisIsIt as it appeared in the World List).  I found a much better chat universe to put it in, and it is now flourishing in the OuterWorlds universe!  :-)  Not surprisingly, there's a lot of other people there that I recognized from AW, and it seems the real jerks are staying in AW, while the nicer people are going to the other chat programs.  LOL  Okay, just to give you a few of the reasons why I moved my world:
 

  Reason #1:  Perhaps the primary reason is that I do not want the money I pay for a world to go to a company that seems to support slavery.

  Reason #2:   I have discovered that the people in the OuterWorlds chat program are much nicer overall than those I've found in other chat programs.

  Reason #3:  Unlike other chat programs like ActiveWorlds, OuterWorlds does not charge you to tourist enable your world so that tourists can enter your world.  Unlike ActiveWorlds, the OuterWorlds chat program seems to actually welcome tourists.  :-)  This means that you save money by having your world in the OuterWorlds universe if it's a tourist enabled one.

  Reason #4:  Citizenships are cheaper in OuterWorlds!  :-)  Only $39.95 US for a full year and they accept money orders, not just credit cards.  A much better deal than the $6.95 US per month which comes out to $83.40 US per year that ActiveWorlds charges!  That's less than half of what ActiveWorlds charges!

 Are you using ActiveWorlds and want to try something better, with nicer people in it?  Then click here to download the OuterWorlds program!  Like I said, they like tourists in OuterWorlds, so you can use it for free, too.  :-)  To see my OuterWorlds pages, please click here.

 
 
 

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  February 15th, 2005:  As many of you have noticed, already, ActiveWorlds is dying.

  Delenda est activeworlds!  WEG

  Today, I returned to ActiveWorlds (AKA Active Worlds or AW) for a brief visit, and noticed that the ActiveWorlds Worlds List is now down to 939 worlds at 9:25 p.m. VRT (that's about 4 hours ahead of the US' Central time zone, and will continue to be until Spring).

  This includes private worlds, empty worlds, and even the fake worlds that ActiveWorlds itself put in like aw3d#0 to aw3d#9, which number 65 worlds just by themselves.  Oh, like we wouldn't notice that?  LOL

  So, now, if somebody says that ActiveWorlds has over 1,000 worlds, you can call them a liar.

  Just so you won't think I'm kidding about how fast the worlds are leaving ActiveWorlds, see a picture of the Worlds List from March 8th, 2004 showing 1,052 worlds in it.

  As you'll also see, I erased the names of all the other worlds but AW (which is AlphaWorld) and AWGate from the list.

  You can compare that one with today's Worlds List of only 939 worlds.

  Here's a picture of ActiveWorlds' fake worlds in the Worlds List.  Oh, dear!  Even in the few minutes that passed before I took another picture, it seems that yet another world has gone, and the number of worlds is down to 938!  LOL

  For the curious, ActiveWorlds' Worlds List dropped below 1,000 worlds in early December, 2004.  December 2nd, 2004, if I remember correctly...

  So, they've lost 62 worlds in about 2 1/2 months.  Looks like it's all downhill from here!  LOL

  Why is this happening, you wonder?  Well, ActiveWorlds and their volunteers like the Peacekeepers (called simply PKs in the program) and Gatekeepers (GKs) screwed me over too many times, so I started telling everybody I knew in the real world and on-line in all the chat programs and 3D chat programs I use about other 3D chat programs.  After getting asked for more details about them all, I started a review page for 3D Chat Programs and compared them against each other.

  A word of warning to businesses: Don't screw over your customers or potential customers.  Not only does it tend to make them not want to spend money on your products or services, but some of us are only too happy to spread the word about how you (and those you give power to) treat people, how you allow groups like the gors / goreans into the program, and even sell them worlds to promote their 'lifestyle', who are into slavery, mistreatment and brutalization of women, and how serial killers are attracted to the ActiveWorlds program which they use to find victims.  And, we're very happy to tell people where they can find your competition!

  It was ActiveWorlds' decision to treat us as nothing but a source of money, un-caring about our safety and that of children who use the program.  Is it any wonder that we're all leaving?

  Do I seriously expect ActiveWorlds to get rid of the gor worlds so people and their children will be safer?  To start treating their customers and potential customers with respect and listen to them?  To try to make up to me for all that was done by them and their volunteers who abused their power in the past?

  Short and monosyllabic answer: no.  I believe that they and the gors are too close.  And besides, they would actually have to care about children and others to do such a thing, which I don't believe they are capable of.  I think that instead of a heart, the ActiveWorlds company (AWLD or AWI or whatever they're calling themselves now) only has a cash register.

  *Sits back to watch ActiveWorlds' downward spiral into obscurity, bankruptcy, and the inevitable closing of the program*

 
 
 

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  August 22nd, 2005:  Kismet o and the double standards of ActiveWorlds.

  Oh, and a tourist named "fromme2u" who tried to convince people they were a citizen.  LOL

  Kismet o (citnumber 348664) claimed they were a GK and an ATL for the past 6 years, but for some odd reason, wanted to provoke me into an argument.  Or as they said "telling you i remember you & why" as they accused me of hurting a lot of people.  Odd thing, though.  The only 'hurting' of people I've done is to tell the world about those like the goreans who are trying to bring back slavery, are into abusing women, and believe that those who are weaker than they are should be (and I quote) "diminished and controlled" and serial killers who use the activeworlds program to look for victims.  Maybe Kismet o likes this kind of people, or is involved with them?  Either way, insulting others, then, after goading me into an argument about what I've been trying to do and mentioning the gors / goreans, they tell me we shouldn't talk about them in AWGate, but mentions them, themselves.  And, while I used lower case when I myself mentioned them, they made sure the word gor started with a capital.  Another little red flag popped up when they did that.  Oh, and they only mentioned it when I spoke of how close a relationship the activeworlds company had to the goreans, but not the first time I mentioned them in chat.

  Wonder if the word hypocrite means anything to them?  Ah, but I forgot, GKs and PKs in AW are allowed to have double standards, like PKs such as ALexander o (citnumber 299265) that are supposed to keep the peace leading a mob of gors into a person's world where they know they're not wanted, and ActiveWorlds claiming it's okay for them to do things like that, provided they didn't do it when they're logged in as a PK.  So, using the same logic, can't cops break the law, go out and rape and shoot people as long as they're not in uniform?

  Ah, and there was a tourist named "fromme2u" who tried to convince people they were a citizen.  LOL  They said they could paste in telegrams from me even though they're not a citizen.  So, they were either lying, or they were probably one of the gors / goreans who are so utterly terrified of me they can't even talk to me logged into their citizenships.  Why, you ask?  The answer is easy.  Think of roaches when you turn on a light in a run-down building.  What do they do?  They hide from the light.  The goreans / gors are just like roaches.  They're afraid of being seen, of letting the world know that they're there.  Poor little cowards, afraid of even chatting with me in a 3D chat program.  LOL

  Speaking of people hiding from me, kismet o (citnumber 348664) said something else that got me wondering: "well no doubt my name & cit number will again appear on one if not more of Cybers web sites but hey were all entitled to 15 minutes fame" (if anybody saved the logs from that chat, they can confirm this).  Yet, oddly enough, neither the name kismet or the citnumber 348664 appears on any of my pages but for this one and the Persona non Grata in ActiveWorlds page, both of which I just added information about them on.  So, they either lied, or they got another citizenship, possibly because the other one was a known gor / gorean.

  Want to check to see if I'm telling the truth?  You can either go to the front door of this site and use the search thing there to search my entire site, or go to google.com and click on advanced search, put in either 348664 or the word kismet, then in the Domain section, select only from the domain cyberwolfman.com and hit the Enter or Return key on your keyboard, or the Google Search button on the page.  See?  I try to tell the truth, but the bad people lie.  But, I tend to see it as a good thing.  After all, if they weren't so terrified of me, why would they be so desperate to convince others that I'm the one that's lying when it's so easy to prove that they're the ones who are liars?  I obviously must be doing something right, if I'm that feared as an enemy of bad people!  LOL

  And, it only encourages me to keep going, because I'll fight their lies with the truth!  :-)

  Oh, for those charting the demise of ActiveWorlds, the number of worlds in the Worlds List is now barely over 900, and that's even counting the 65 empty worlds that ActiveWorlds created that are named aw3d#0 and so on.  LOL

  If you want to see how fast ActiveWorlds is dying, go to download.com and search for activeworlds and check out the information on it, but I'll put some in here for you:  Date added: December 13, 2001.  Version: 3.2.  In the 'publisher's description', they say "You can explore more than 2000 unique worlds..." but here in the present, there's less than 1,000 now.

  Delenda est activeworlds!!  WEG

 
 
 

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  September 5th, 2005:  ActiveWorlds' Worlds List drops below 900 worlds!

  Another milestone in the demise of the ActiveWorlds program was acheived in the pre-dawn hours today, at about 4:43 A.M. VRT.  As much as people try to tell you things are going well, and that they think they'll be around for a long time, ActiveWorlds continues to die.  Hee hee hee

  Even though it'll probably go over 900 again for a short time here and there, it's going to eventually drop down below 900 and stay there.  I'm just so thrilled to have been able to see this milestone in the demise of one of the 3D chat programs that helps people like the goreans promote their illegal lifestyle on-line and even sells them worlds to do it in, which makes the program so attractive to serial killers.

  Delenda est activeworlds!!  WEG

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