The Gor Hub

Age phrasing indicators

2010-03-08T10:45:00.004Z

You can tell most things about someone who causes trouble by their second line reply Knowing what you're dealing with is useful.. This might not be 100% accurate but it is close.

To the question .. "Hi,.. What were you doing ?"

Age 12-14 "F*** off you F*tard C** "

Just a knee jerk response. The key point is the question gave no indication that they were under attack but knowing that they were 'being bad' they lash out not thinking they could talk their way out.

Age 14-18 "Oh F*** off. Ban me if you want " Or " Don't worry I won't be back here" ( making it sound like it was their choice to get banned )

Only teenagers do the ' I don't care/whateva ' sulk. Over the age of 18 people feel less invincible and become aware of the limitations of burning all bridges. ( 'Ban me I don't care' can be an indication the person is drunk. Alcohol takes away peoples fear of consequences ) After the teenage years people focus on achievement and ego replaces angst.

Age 18-35 " I wasn't doing a F***ing thing. they attacked ME !!!!! " Or "They had no sense of humour I was just having fun' Or even "That was RP F***tard"

Common phrases used my trolls. The feeling that they have a right to do what they do is self delusion to sooth feeling of inadequacy.An inflated sense of 'entitlement' is the root of most problems which you will never se in anyone younger. Be cautious of anyone using multiple exclamation marks ..This is a recognised indicator of mental illness.

Age 35-100 " Oh sorry it got out of hand,

Trolls have realised apologising can be a good smokescreen to allow them to continue. But generally 99% of people who apologise never do it again realising that you only asked to find out the situation overall.

As people get older their sense of themselves as the center of creation slowly fades until you find old people see themselves as part of the background and not the star of the stage.

You have to take a long view as to whether you ban a person but most of my decision is based on the second line of reply. Truth is if a person come in all fists and fury the best you can do is calm them down with assurance but they can't stop themselves doing it again. If you talk in reasonable terms then a ban is overreacting.

The hub doesn't really have rules or mods.. Rules are never read by people who break them and are unnecessary for the majority people who know right from wrong and would only feel patronised by rules.

The MM board bubble bursts

2010-03-07T16:33:00.002Z

Pop !..

I've been tracking the progress of the mm board groups as they game traffic using huge numbers of MM boards. I think this was the unforeseen consequence of banning campers which opened the door to new forms of traffic gaming to replace them. ( and many scammers who saw an opportunity )
Sooner than I expected the numbers of people chasing them has collapsed. For whatever reason the traffic of the two top sims using large numbers of MM boards has fallen by between 60 to 90% .. from 27k down to 3k in one case.
This was always going to be hardest on merchants who paid rentals on stores in 'high' traffic sims not realising to what extent it relied on a continual stream of freebies and a mob of eager hunters.
I hope merchants learn the lesson... traffic that rises fast always falls just as fast. Real traffic not based of tons of freebs rises at a rate of 5% max a month whatever you do. The hubs traffic started at 4 people on the fist day and has grown steadily over the last two years at an almost un wavering rate. It frustrates me that people think it just happened over night.. Even the best of ideas take a very long time to get established. ( exept if you shout ..Get it here it's all FREEEEEE lol )

GH 10

2010-03-07T16:21:00.002Z

With the coming of the new hub I thought I'd use the blog to keep people informed. Notices get lost and telling people one by one .. Ugh

In brief .......

The New hub will be on the SAME SIM ( but on the ground )

It will feature a very different market which works in a totally new way
The map will be bigger and I'm going to allow sim owners to add their own LM and info
I'm adding a homestead sim next to the hub to take some traffic from it
The New hub will have far fewer prims and considerably fewer scripts ( less lag )
Many new features are being added but I'm not going to list them here.
March 20th is the date I hope to open ( this might slip )

Back at the Blogface

2009-08-11T14:45:00.002+01:00

Yes I've been away from the blog mine for many a day without so much as a whisper but reading my last few enties you can understand why I left it for a while..

The Hub has survived griefing, bad landlords, good landlords, well meaning helpers and people saying "OMG the laaaag" while sporting the the lag dispencer (health meter)
Pfft .. And as for Fabs,.. best not to mention her. ~cough~

I'm nor sure if Gor is in rude health or crawling through a desert of apathy in search of the lost fountain of traffic. The hub seems more and more like a watering hole in the Savannah these days The beasts all come from the wilderness to find other beasts who would normally avoid each other but needs must when the devil tampers with search.

The Hub remains 'Mature' despite the regulation which on closer examination appears to have been all hollow gesture.. The Lindens who could never be so concerned to ban the pervert at the telehub are unsurprisingly indifferent to following this 'gesture' through. Nothing has really changed in SL except the increasing use of bad language.. The Lindens are concerned for the adults in PG sims while the kids are flooding into the 'Adult areas'. Maybe when all the kids are safely watching porn in the 'Adult' zones the adults can get on with being adult in the rest of SL.

perhaps.

The Poll and 'Migration'

2009-05-02T17:07:00.007+01:00

In amongst the obvious questions is one that I think will determine the future of Gor.

"Would you prefer to RP on private sims and not get verified ?"

Already many have chosen to RP in private homes rather than join Gor sims. So if the migration away from designated 'Adult ' sims is accelerated by a significant number of Goreans who will not want to be verified where will that leave 'Adult Gor Sims' ?

The impact is not obvious but very serious simply because of available traffic. A non adult sim is open to all. An adult sims will have restricted access ( lower traffic ) . So where are the Merchants who subsidise Gor going to buy space ?.. If they sell non adult goods ( clothes, furniture etc ) then not in Gor because the traffic outside is going to be almost double.

As for RP only sims without a market. If you are with a group and one isn't verified do you stay outside or say goodbye ?

People are underestimating the significance of private homes but you might find many 'personal groups' of friends might grow larger and meet in private rather than have to get verified. How much of a shift would it take to force most Gor sims desperate for traffic and income to go out of business forever.

I have to view the Hub now as a Market and a resource in separate terms. The Market has little chance of surviving with the severely restricted traffic of an 'adult' sim. So I'm going to have to look at ways of saving both but separately.

The important thing is that if I just had a small parcel of 'mature' ( Not adult ) land and called it 'the RP hub' or even 'fabi's house' then ALL Goreans could still meet there and non adult Merchants could still reach a decent level of traffic. Possibly more traffic as many non verified people would have fewer options of where to go.

I can't avoid the map being classified 'adult' because it promotes 'Adult' activity ..So it has to remain in 'Gor' but the 'landing' is perhaps worth keeping outside.

The end ?

2009-04-28T16:47:00.014+01:00

"First and foremost, Regions, groups, and event or classified ad listings that employ search tags plainly suggestive of adult behavior or content will require the respective Adult designation, and not be viewable to Residents who are not account verified."

Linden Labs

If Gor is classified as 'Adult' then it will be invisible to all but verified users .. importantly they are banning anyone advertising ar mentioning Gor outside Gor .

The problem with this is as I see it is why would you bother getting verified if you came into SL for a look and found a sanitised wilderness populated by club goers and shoppers. So sadly I think excluding alts and people who can't or won't bother getting verified the population of Gor will go down to a level that couldn't keep any market going for long.

Markets sell most of their goods to new people and to existing players equipping alts; the very portion of the population hit the most by these new rules.

Interesting thought .. If I called the hub my 'home' and kept it private ( group only ) ..could they stop me .. Even if I have 1500 friends .. I'll find out .. maybe.. but no market allowed.

"Will you store my personal information? Will it be kept private?

Absolutely no personal information that is supplied for age verification is stored or otherwise retained by Linden Lab or its verification partner Aristotle-Integrity. We keep only an indicator that tells us whether there was a positive match for the information you have provided.
Thus, this information will be used only for the purpose of verifying that a Resident is an adult, and will not be transferred or retained unless that is required by law, i.e., pursuant to a law enforcement investigation and proper legal process."

Linden Labs

???? so ..you won't be keeping any info but if asked you'll give the information you don't have to the Law ?? ... riiiight..

The plan.....The GH7 building

2009-03-28T10:26:00.003Z

I'm off for a good break from SL and then I'll replace the Hub .. The New Hub is more or less finished and ready to go but I'm so punchy I need to step back in order to add the final touches ..
I expect to demolish and replace the Hub ( GH 6 ) between the 8th April and the 10th .

Many merchants have asked about reservations but I'm not taking any. The new hub is not built in the same way as all the previous hubs so vendors need to be placed. I'm hoping into groups. The huge advantage of the new hub is that almost all the stalls have equal exposure. Although smaller than previous I've sacrificed scale to gain exposure on the principal that the thing everyone wants is to be seen by every visitor.. Better a small store in the flow of traffic than a huge store in splendid isolation.

While I build the new hub (actually I'm just rezzing it on site ) I'll divert all traffic to a large room above the Sim .. Advertisers who have boards will loose three days exposure while I rearrange them but most will find themselves better off as a result.

Fixxes..

The 'wall' effect of ad boards around the landing has been diminished greatly.
The impression of 'This is just a big Mall' has been designed out.
The new Hub is far simpler and less confusing. 'land above the map, walk down'
Prims used in the old hub around 1200 .. New hub only 450 prims to reduce lag. 95% of them phantom.
Texture lag will be greatly reduced with 'shielding'. Textures far away that you couldn't read anyhow are eliminated reducing lag further.
All new hub building textures are low rez and made specially for it.
The new Map is square to make the northern sims more evenly noticeable and less squished .
The Landing is larger and is designed to separate groups rather than herd a mob into a certain portion of the landing.
The proportion of seating has been reassessed to make just enough is provided for the numbers who use it and people sitting can look out towards the landing.
The new hub is smaller and all the stalls closer. When traffic hits 1000 a day in late May then the less people have to walk the better.

There is is little more to the design than this but these were most of the main issues that had to be sorted out in any new design..

GH7 'sigh'

2009-03-13T18:00:00.003Z

GH7 is almost done ....or it was until I realised i needed to completely redesign it .. I did like this design and i'll incorporate certain features into the next one but it's got to work. Nothings ever easy is it ~shlump~

'Mini hubs'

2009-03-13T08:07:00.006Z

This first of 'Mini hubs' has been set up to test the concept. The Silk market will only sell Silks and camisks.
The advantages.

Almost no lag and fast loading of textures.
All products are easily found without missing a single one.
Easy and quick access to main stores from easily found map teleporters.
A merchant grouping when large enough should become a first port of call for anyone shopping for a specific product.

The Idea of grouping merchants has of course been tried before. I first realised the advantages two years ago. Unfortunately all previous attempts have either not been able to isolate a single group well enough and resorted to filling the market with just anything to make up the numbers or were part of a larger market so were lost in bad directional signage or lagged to oblivion.. I've come to believe the whole idea of a huge successful market is flawed by the simple fact that you can never have the volume of 'general' traffic on the same sim as 'general' merchandise. IE .. you need to get 50 avatars to find one person who wants to buy a eg,. a collar. Better as in mainstores to direct the right person to the thing they actually want to buy.

I have the volume of people coming to the hub already ( and traffic despite the lag is still rising ) so the challenge is simply to get people to the right market. To do this I'll make 20m wide showcase boothes right next to the Hub landing to advertise the various markets with a tp to them. I hope to include actual examples or in the case of the silk market 'models'. maybe who hand out notecards or LM's. With the huge prim saving and script reduction at the hub we can create far more interesting promotions .. 'roon sets' etc for furniture.

With the lag hurting sales in the market I'm moving this forward as fast as I can. This would not of course be remotely possible without the huge support of Hub Merchant group which is what makes the hub possible at all. I can sometimes hear the groans as I post another change but I hope everyone looks back and sees that together we've all come a very long way from where we started. I tried focused markets before over a year ago but couldn't get the numbers. I got 7 silk vendors after a week.. This time I got 19 in 4 hours. Good ideas have their time I guess and having them to early never works. When I first tried advertising I got blank looks 'advertising ? you mean ..make a graphic ?... to advertise our sim ?....oh "

it'll never catch on.......

Adding landmarks

2009-03-09T19:10:00.006Z

Lartorvis Sweetwater has taken over the job of adding landmarks to the map. When the last map updater left I was left trying to cope with the market, the hub, the map and three new building projects..I can't do it all. I've told her she must add her tip jar to the map which she's agreed to but will give all the money to charity. The map desperately needs someone to focus on it as I used to be able to.

She couldn't have come to my rescue at a better time either. I missed an application for a landmark from last month and had two attacking me this morning. They've now taken it on themselves to mount a smear campaign against the hub, Salaria and most of the 'Disney' places on the map. This hateful, pissy place will not be added to the map any time soon not for any insult to me but to think they have a right to call the rest of Gor Disney. "You should learn Gor 'lil one or you will always be Disney Gor like places on your map " I didn't hold back from pointing out that 'lil one' is an onlinism from BDSM and BTW..I'm not the slave you seem to think I am to you... pffft

Lartorvis Sweetwater ironically had the same issue of not getting her landmark on the map but realised I was in trouble and instead of sneering and throwing peanuts from the gallery she stepped up to help.

The hub is free to anyone who wants to visit. It is whatever people make it and I suspect that's why many come.

GH7 under construction

2009-02-28T13:44:00.009Z

Just to update everyone and assure you things are moving despite various problems; I'm showing you pictures of the build site. The lag eased yesterday so I can get back to it properly. I try endless possibilities around basic principals..as you can see in the pictures above ..I'll try anything once ..~cough~In a week or so I'll invite all tthe merchants to see it and give feedback This time these principals are ..

No store should be more than 15 m from the landing and all either facing the Map or Landing. Exposure must come first..At the moment everyone loads textures from 1000 tiny pictures on vendors.

The design is going to be far simpler and smaller and hopefully very easy to understand.I admit the design of gh6 confused so many people although when I built it it really didn't feel complex. The Map will be directly beneath the landing so closer and easier to find.

The facing stores will all be autonomous. ( x 28 ) . This means you take over the space for a set price and you are free to sub let any of the space within or subdivide.

The texture loading will be severely restricted by the design. Your store sign will be clearly visible from most places in the hub but not all your vendors thus reducing texture lag considerably .

I'm adding more recruitment advertising. The demand is still greater than I can provide at GH6

The map is going to be replaced by a smaller square one. Sadly the round one disadvantages Torvaland as it's squeezed by the distortion. Added to that many have told me the old one was better. It was a nice idea but made very few northern friends. I'll replace all the landmarks with a new script which was donated to the Hub by a very generous scriptor.

I'm going the pack the new hub and rez it all at once so it should take about an hour to replace. Expect this to happen some time at the beginning of April

Thought

2009-02-27T08:40:00.004Z

Human problems always multiply to fill the space provided for them... I wonder how much we allow ourselves to simply become a container for our own troubles.. or even other peoples; when really we should bar the doors have a party.

hmm..... Jerry Springer eat your heart out X

Slow down

2009-02-26T23:22:00.002Z

The gridwide lag is seriously ruining my plans. I know the lag is gridwide as I'm trying to build on an empty sim but it's near impossible now. Added to that Fabi can no longer get to the hub to do updates or anything else. I've received IM's from two other people unable to get there too so It's not just me. I hope this gets fixed fast but as if that wasn't bad enough my time online will be severely limited as of today.

"You need help Fabi"

I did get help with the map.. the girl who was very good set up a system for adding landmarks and I set up a payment system for her...unfortunately she left 6 weeks ago. Now I get all the application forms with a complaint she hasn't done it and could I do it instead but quickly. I ended the application form system 6 weeks ago and I'm STILL getting them.

The moral of this tale ..Almost everyone offers help but only 1% ever turns up the next day.. I've literally spent hours and hours and hours discussing how people will do a job for me only to find nothing happens the next day...and of the 1% ? .. The help they generally give though great short term leaves me with an even worse mess after a month when they.."need to attend to other things"

My short term helpers I've found do jobs do them very well and I'm very grateful but putting anyone in charge of anything at the hub has always created more work. I don't blame anyone for leaving.. How I've survived myself so long I'll never know.

200000+

2009-02-22T18:33:00.002Z

Anyone notice the visitor counter go past 200000 ? ..That figure just doesn't seem real does it ..the real figure is actually higher but still. I accidentally deleted the counter when I reworked the landing and had to dig it out of the bin. oopsie.

Man needs help.!

2009-02-21T23:01:00.004Z

A man came to me today desperate and very angry. Apparently all Goreans at the hub have been very busy using 'RP' as a cover for forcing men and women into real life slavery (because that's what all Goreans do he says, I've been playing SL Gor for 2 years and nobody has even asked me for my number..pfft ) . Knowing this he's extremely concerned that you don't do this to his wife who he's desperate to find. He couldn't tell me her username but thinks she's headed into Gor and has come to tell her she must not take orders from anyone and is free to do as she likes. I must admit to being a little confused when he eventually told me she does actually live in the same house as him and he might leave her if she doesn't do as he says if he ever finds her.
Please ..If you are engaged in forcing women into RL slavery at the hub please realise that this is strictly against the Hubs ethos and possibly the T' and C's of SL. To date I've never caught anyone at the hub doing anything remotely like this but apparently he caught at least 5 people doing precisely this yesterday. Sadly he couldn't remember their names.
I believe we're the last chance he has since to Lindens told him to 'go away'.
So please keep an eye out for a woman /girl who going under an unspecified name who looks as if she might be about to be forced into RL slavery while living with her husband. If you do you must make it clear that her husband will leave her if any Gorean Master/Mistress comes to the house for purposes of roll play enslavement which apparently is illegal in the states even between consenting adults.

You may think I'm making this up,.. but I'm not..

Just for the record.

2009-02-21T00:49:00.004Z

Although I mentioned the banning of Gor in SL in the same post as the Gor Grid post this was in passing. I discussed this weeks ago with some very senior people not involved in the Gor Grid and the consensus was that this is entirely possible.

The Gor grid was just a project I was asked to help start up. I am not being paid for it and have no vested interest in it's success apart from I wish it well. I find it really insulting that people have so stupidly suggested that I would welcome the utter destruction of all my own work in SL over the last two years. I've done nothing but try to help SL Gor and now I gave 2 days to the Gor Grid and people are suggesting I'm trying to destroy SL Gor ?

I utterly dread going back as Fabi now. I know I'll face the usual long line of requests but since I was told of the high level of support for a notice in the Gor Sim admin group saying what a bitch I am.. Who do I help now ? Who do I devote my free time to helping knowing that really behind my back so many despise me. Am I right to feel used now ? I got a complaint yesterday that the map was shoddy and why wasn't I sorting out 'Their' landmarks. "It's not good enough !"....After spending so much time and money on the recent update that did feel a bit ungrateful. I feel such an outsider and unwelcome after that.

I started the hub to help new people find good information on Gor and find all the sims not just the famous ones and give the smaller ones greater exposure. Some people even think I do it for money. If I'd continued with my stores I'd have made far more money and still had friends and I'd have time to RP. I'm torn between the half who love me and the half who despise me. Do I keep it open for the people who'd miss it or in defiance of people who think they could fill the hole it would leave. Gor has so many people who destroy great sims thinking they could do better only to find they can't and slink away.

People looking at the hub now forget that it took me 7 months of hard work to get the traffic to 3k yes THREE k ! .I danced around the day it hit that ! 10 months to persuade people advertising was actually worth trying for Gor sims and a month to gather all the info for 'newbies' when I started.

So Mina,.. thanks for the support and careless consideration. Assumptions ? how quick you were with yours * sigh*

The Gor Grid

2009-02-18T15:02:00.005Z

http://thegorgrid.com/index.php?page=create&btn=7&Itemid=55

I've put a few days in helping to set up the market and welcome center to the new 'Gor Grid' . This is an independent grid dedicated to Gor RP.

It looks entirely possible that the Lindens will ban Gor from SL in the near future. If the teen grid really is combined with the main grid as proposed then Gor will be one of the first go. If this happens expect there to be a stampede into these grids.

It's worth all merchants making at least a foothold in both these grids .Be warned though, the owners of the 'True Gor ' grid don't like merchants who just want to make money. If you are not a Gorean lifstyler you won't be welcome as a few merchants have already found out. The owner is a very nice Guy who believes all members should give their time and efforts for the love of Gor.It's a beautiful ideal and I wish him well but this might prove a death nell for many Gorean merchants. The Gor grid on the other hand is going to leave the market to it's own devices as in SL but contained on a single market sim to separate it from the RP.

If you want to set up a stall in the Gor Grid for a month or two free just join and let me know where you want your stall. This is pure speculation. It might work it might not. but can any of us afford to wait and see ?

Giving away Poop.

2009-02-07T09:32:00.003Z

All of a sudden Market owners think giving away endless freebies is a way to increase traffic. just for the record freebies DO NOT increase the kind of traffic that your merchants want. Good freebies are fine to a point but bad ones simply make your market look a bit crappy and ultimately damage the profitability of all merchants and markets.

But since everyone else is giving away a load of poop I'm giving away a free poo shooter to make use of it :) .. you can use it in the new arena..

Stall 84

2009-02-07T09:24:00.002Z

Yes I know it's empty .. 4 people a day tell me it is. The person renting it says they still want to keep it so for now it's empty until she decides to use it ..

I'm getting increasingly frustrated by how many people despite seeing that the market is full insist on IM'ing me to ask 'is there any space ? ' Fielding the barrage of requests for ad boards and stalls that don't exist is now taking up to an hour a day of my time and starting get really depressing.

The new landing...again

2009-02-04T20:34:00.003Z

I'll get it right one day. The rearrangement was to correct the dispersion and to bring the book back into center stage at the hub.. people in a 'dark space' naturally migrate to a dark floor and this was causing congestion in certain places.

The Hub Theater

2009-02-04T20:25:00.005Z

The Hub theater next to 'Search' will hold everything from dance classes to competitions , debates, etc etc. It's built so that a person in the middle circle is within chat range of the seating around. Most venues and arenas seem to overlook this obvious design restriction for sl. If yo want to use the theater look at my profile for contacts.. It's free to all to use for more or less anything.

SOOO much happening

2009-02-04T20:17:00.002Z

I've been so busy with the new 'search', The moving of the panther hub , the gallery, the theater , the dance groups, the RP groups, the freebie tree, the map update, rentals and a thousand other things that I've had no time for the blog .. But I'll make time to keep this going as it's so useful as reference for the hub .. X .. Fabi

"C#nt b#tch no 2"

2009-01-24T15:07:00.003Z

Funny thing I've just realised. All those people who tell you they know what 'Real' Gor is all use the 'C' word and 'F' word in every sentence of there IM's .. Can it be that to really understand Gor you must clear your mind of rational thought and adopt spotty boy speak. I can't imagine the Guru Norman on top an high mountain giving them the true enlightenment with the words. "Now go forth spotty c#nt face and tell those disney f#cktards to stop being so f#cking Disney'
Is there any hope for the people who simply read the books and want to live the simple life without seeing it as our duty to harass those who don't agree with us. I hope so.. In the mean time 'C#nt bitch no 2' (thats me apparently ) will continue banning them from bothering the adults and spilling there inadequacy's onto the hub landing.

The new landing and GOR SEARCH

2009-01-24T14:59:00.003Z

I designed the new landing to incorporate the 'Gor Search' .. ( a system that sorts alphabetically all the landmarks of Gor, capacity around 1800 landmarks.. ) A very useful thing that people have asked about since the hub began. "Hey you know what you need ...etc"
Unfortunately ...Sigh ..the landing of the hub is just too busy for the complexity of this system. It will run but very very slowly. It was built on the new Hub Islands sim which is thankfully lag free.. So this will be where I'll put it for all to use.. I'll add a teleporter to the circle..

"Princess" the very definition ( rant warning )

2009-01-23T19:12:00.006Z

Princess ( Princessius poutii )... Easily identified by their drab plumage, obnoxious imperious attitude and frequent chirping of the word 'princess' to describe anyone they feel superior to ( just about anyone ) . The Male of the species struts in a his mating dance and follows his 'princess' warble with a droning "Disney Gor ,... Disney Gor " chant which induces involuntary yawning in most females who fly away to find males with a more interesting call and a proper set off balls. Female princesses are rarer but combine a heady blend of self righteousness with a smug condescension which oozes out to destroy the good atmosphere of even the happiest sim.

If you are a 'real' princess and waft into the hub to inflict your self righteous belief that you know Gor better than everyone else thereby giving you the right to call any bystander a "F#cking princesses" .. Be warned.. I don't like princesses either but not being one myself I don't stand around calling other people 'Disney or Princess" which is the very definition ..of a princess ( more commonly known as stirring bitch'. )

I've been in Gor years but haven't ever heard the phrase 'princess' or 'Disney' used by anyone but those who so aptly fit the title themselves. Like the word 'F#ktard..have you ever heard anyone but a real 'looser' using it to describe someone else ?

A new landing

2009-01-19T23:07:00.002Z

I'm replacing the landing for a new one which incorporates direct teleporters with the capacity for about 2800 landmarks ..This should give sims more free advertising and fast track movement to all the best stores, information sources and sims in Gor. At last teleporters are easier to use. I always keep an eye on new ones but very few are that useful.

Events advertising boards

2009-01-19T22:52:00.002Z

All events advertising is still free as it always has been. Not many people know this but it is . If you have a board just pass it to me.

I've been a bit annoyed at people recently saying the Hub is 'to commercial'. huh ?. The stores support the hub so I can keep the map FREE despite being continually asked how much to add landmarks. The landmarks on the landing a free also. The ethos of the hub has always been to provide a free service to give ALL sims in Gor an even chance to advertise for traffic. I give about 8 hours a week totally free and donate about 20 000 l$ a week to keeping Gor alive which I must add I never get a chance to RP in..... *sigh*

The Freebie tree, Free advertising

2009-01-16T10:27:00.005Z

Following the amazing success of the Freebies under the Christmas tree and the long overdue need to sort the Freebie area at the hub I’m making a permanent ‘Freebie tree’ at the hub. All you need to do is put a freebie , Mainstore landmark and a Notecard ( optional ) in one of the ‘Larma's’.Change the floaty text or delete the script ( max 14 letters ) . Then just add it under the tree at the hub ( not ON the tree,. lol ) . Oh you can add your logo texture to the leaf too.

I’m making a second larger tree on another sim but more of that in a day or two. After a year of trying to sort the freebie area at the hub I think at last this is the most elegant solution. Good store advertising, close to the landing and free. Can’t be bad.

Max 1 Larma fruit per store or Sim and for the hub I might have to limit the number.

((You can get a free Larma to add by touching the lowest Larma on the tree ))

LAG FREE !!! TRAFFIC FREE

2009-01-16T09:42:00.006Z

I'm just a bit annoyed and bit amused at the GMC's new slogan "The gmc always strives to be lag free" which is clearly meant as a slur on the hub.. In the context of it's new site the 'noobie center' I find this a bit funny .. The Gor Hub is lag free when it has only 10 people or less there but all popular places get lagged by avatars carrying weapons and scanners. Although the hub is built to be as low lag as possible (even the textures are custom ultra low files and only the floor is non-phantom.) successful sims will always be laggy at times. An empty market is always totally lag free yes but is the GMC really striving to keep its markets empty ? ..I started sim advertising and Noobie information at the hub over a year ago now and it's an incredibly difficult thing to get right. I do hope they manage to find something new and unique to bring to Gor beyond offering the same as the hub in what looks to me like a cynical attempt to copy an established business.
Of course if the day dawns when they have 55 people there lag-free I'll apologise on my little knees in the dust. (this offer only extends while SL cannot support that many lag free...hehe I really look forward to the day it can )

The Gorean dance/arts studio

2009-01-11T00:06:00.003Z

For some strange reason in the last week there has been a gathering and alignment of ideas and like minded people. Some ideas hang in the air, people try them and they fail not because they were bad ideas but the time wasn't right. I've long hoped the hub would be a place to promote the arts of Gor ; Dance music and pictures ..but you can't just say .."I'm going to build a dance studio and people will come." SL doesn't work like that. You need a group of like minded people and then create a home for them. Now it seems we have the people ,the talent, the need and momentum, and the backing to make it happen.
River, ( a very talented and impressive roll player) started a group of hub girls. In turn she showed them how to dance and they suggested lessons..I suggested making space for them at the hub. At the same time I was asked if it was possible to hold lessons at the hub in RP by another organisation. Added to all this I have a few other great dancers and artists who all seem to have chosen now to suggest ideas.
The old Gor hub site is a relatively lag free location for a setting. If the Hub is to laggy for dance competitions and concerts. So maybe there.
If you are a dancer, blogger, photographer, story teller or just want to improve your RP skills then please get involved. There won't be forms to fill, rules to read, meters to find,open rez open again and wear or fees to pay. In fact none of the usual cold water that gets thrown over people who arrive in RP sims these days.
I'll make further announcements here soon and in groups ,,TY

Arrears

2009-01-10T11:17:00.005Z

Merchants please be aware of the continual monitoring of the rent cubes by Merchants trying to find a stall in the market. Until yesterday I didn't think anyone would be embarrassed about going into arrears as it happens for so many reasons. Either forgetfulness ( that was always my excuse ) , unforeseen storms, power cuts, hospital, etc etc . I've always tried and warm people but just be aware that the limit is 5 days and there WILL be people who'll stand for hours by your rental cube waiting for it to expire. If it gets that far of course; recently a few serious merchants have been willing to offer 5 figure sums as finders fees on good stalls.. none of which I've taken.

If you can't get to the hub to pay just let me know and I'll lock it ..

Thankyou again to everyone for your support yesterday. Fabs X

Traffic for GH6

2009-01-08T20:20:00.003Z

( Touch picture to enlarge )
The graph shows traffic levels of unique avatars that visited the new hub since it opened. in the middle is Christmas day only 10% down.

Red line = average traffic for GH 4

Blue line = Average traffic for a full sim with a 20 to 25 k rating. ( The hub land is actually only 2 thirds of the sim it's on so if it was a full sim the average daily would be about 45 k. )

Green line = Highest average for the last hub GH5. As you can see the new hub in footfall alone is up by 25%..ish

Polls so far >

2009-01-08T17:53:00.004Z

"Should the hub be full RP? " >> 135 people replied

66% NO

34% YES

Showing more or less the same result as before when I asked. Most think its fine as it is.

"Is it rude for an OOC Kajira to stand ? >> 167 people replied

56 % YES

44 % NO

Trick question perhaps and not as simple as it seems . It shows how many people do not recognise the concept of RP / OOC
To many 'Goreans' the whole concept of 'RP optional' or even 'RP' simply has no meaning at all. This is a major rift which is often overlooked by pure rollplayers and lifestylers alike.

Moderators

2009-01-05T12:19:00.008Z

After endless discussion about what to do about force collaring by bullying masters who tell a girl "Put that collar on you now belong to me" only to claim after "That's not force collar ". I've decided rather than changing the rules I'll appoint experienced 'moderators/ guards' with the power to ban anyone who can't understand that the 'Force ' referred to doesn't refer only to a simulated act of physical violence.(( Don't try arguing that point with me buster. Intimidation and threats are the 'force' I want to eliminate. )) None of the moderators will have titles so nobody will feel 'watched'. They are just there for emergencies and peace keeping.

Most of the time the RP optional works just fine because the majority of Goreans know how to behave without rules. The biggest mistake any sim owner ever made was to make endless patronising, confusing rules to control people they should have simply had the backbone to throw out.

NEW RP rules

2009-01-03T12:04:00.001Z

I'm working on a set of new stricter RP rules for the hub so please vote to give me feedback on general opinion TY .

Busier and busier.

2009-01-03T11:55:00.002Z

Yesterday the Hub had the highest number of visitors ever recorded at any hub and today looks set to beat that record by at least 50. Of course this brings lag and problems of its own but getting the balance just right is not easy. What market owner is ever going to discourage people from coming. Even if i put filters on to block noob avays you could argue that these are the people who most needs the market and map. I may ask that everyone removes scanners after 40 avatars on the sim. not easy one this.

New 'Vote' units

2009-01-03T11:43:00.004Z

The 'yes/ no' vote units were a collaboration between myself and the maker of a more complex unit. I thought a simple 2 option post style voter would probably be better than complex options so this is the result. I love it ..Easy to understand and very easy to set up. If you want one just contact me. Ideal perhaps for a quick poll on an RP dispute.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

2009-01-01T13:24:00.004Z

To everyone who visits the Hub and all my friends..2009 will be a good year ! I believe in the Chinese idea that it is all the same year/ month/ day/ hour. It's really all down to how we use it and see it.

Merry Christmas !

2008-12-25T11:04:00.004Z

Happy holidays to all of you and yours :) I hope you all get what you wish for .eeps. ( and i hope you don't get a spanking for getting it ..or maybe that's what you wished for ooOOo >;).Twas the Hubs second Christmas. The 'Gifts under the tree' idea has been a great success, Thankyou so much to all who left gifts I've been so impressed with the standard.. An idea that can certainly be expanded :)

Party party

2008-12-22T12:39:00.002Z

Wow !.. Thankyou to all who organised and attended the GPR launch event at the new hub yesterday. Gorean Portal Radio has been part of the hub since GH3. I'm very happy to see this continue well into the future of GH6..

The new hub is OPEN !!!

2008-12-21T10:37:00.004Z

Not totally finished ..there are still the freebies to set up, the photo studio , the remaining stalls to place, the interconnections, the map move, the teleporters, the ..the...... It's me birthday btw :)

Moving the Map.( landmarks )

2008-12-21T10:34:00.002Z

The map will move in the next few days as soon as I have enough clear time.

Paying for stalls

2008-12-21T10:10:00.004Z

Please follow the instructions in previous posts in the blog. It's really very simple :).How to pay @ the new hub

Thankyou to those who've paid and will be paying for their stalls. I never take this for granted and always try to live up to the faith people have in the market. Without the Merchants of the hub, there would simply be no Gor hub.

Thankyou all for making the Hub market the best in Gor. ( not that I set out to make it so, It's just that I'd never sleep a wink taking all that money for a bad market. So I do the best I can and hope it's enough ) Fabi X

erm.....

2008-12-20T22:23:00.004Z

At one point this evening there were 34 people at GH 5 and at the same time 16 at GH6 ..making 50 in total.. Far from shift in traffic from one to the other. The old hub is remaining just as busy ..and the new is catching up fast. More a case of a larger space provided being filled by demand for it; which has proved one of my suspicions. That a sim fills to the point at which lag persuades people to leave. Just goes to show nobody can truly predict SL traffic. Of course following that through logicly before long both hubs will be running at full capacity.

I'm hearing from a few merchants that sales have started coming in at GH6 which is encouraging since its not actually been launched.

New hub, new traffic

2008-12-18T23:25:00.002Z

Despite grid wide laggggg the New hub received just over half the traffic of the old and the old hub traffic remains curiously unaffected.

Signage restrictions

2008-12-16T23:10:00.006Z

To reduce texture lag and to retain the look of the Hub I'm setting a maximum signage dimension.

For a single stall a maximum dimension of 8m wide x 3.5 m high

For double or store a maximum dimension of 9m wide x 4m high

No signage must be above either the top of the stall or above the lower edge of the roof above the Map stalls.

Massive high res' signs not only cause massive lag but actually ..most never even load so never even get read.

The Stalls at the new hub are actually BIGGER that the ones at the last hub to accommodate better signage but because of all the visual trick optical illusions used to make the hub look smaller the stalls look smaller than the last. One of the wonderful things about having one dimension viewing is you can distort perspective in this way to compress space. Many have asked me why I used a smaller map but its exactly the same size. The illusion is created by stalls on the upper tier and the width of the gate. Another reason for controlling signage size is that a large sign in the wrong place will make the walk look... too far to bother with.

Closing the old hub: When ?

2008-12-15T20:10:00.004Z

For a few weeks the new and old hub will run in parallel. The map will move on the 21st and will be removed from the old hub.
A week or so later I'll demolish the area around the map; however the Market around the landing will remain in place for some time to come.

I must keep the old hub landing in place to ensure people get the message that the hub has moved. But when to remove the market ? .. big question !

When to close the old hub has got to be based on traffic and commercial advantage. The traffic is currently averaging around 700 individual avatars a day (22 k /28k ) I don't expect that to suddenly disappear so I'll keep the market open in a reduced state until the traffic falls ( in individual visits ) to a level which makes no sense to keep it open. There is a chance it may never do that as Fabi has a great idea to keep traffic coming... shh ~wink ~ I'll leave it up to the individual merchants to decide whether they think keeping a stall there is worthwhile. The old hub even in reduced state might still be getting way over the average market traffic well into next year.

So basically what I'm advising is if you can afford to keep both stalls then it might be well worth you doing so. Anyone wanting to close their stall at the old hub will of course be fully refunded.

BTW,.. The traffic at the new hub is already averaging that of GH3

Advertising at the hub: Rules

2008-12-15T16:49:00.008Z

Simple rules for advertising at the Gor Hub:

1, The advertising MUST relate to a Gorean theme. ( not much point in it not being really )

2, Commercial advertising is allowed but only one per store and you must be selling goods of interest to Goreans.

3. No advertising for so called 'Kajira' escorts or BDSM slave auctions. The Hub is a resource for Gorean rollplay. Most Goreans are insulted by the cynical use of the word 'Gor' to attract customers looking for sex. A practice which in most cases does nothing for peoples idea of what Gor RP is.

I'll refund anyone who uses the boards for inappropriate use.

Pricing for boards will remain at 175 L$ around the landing.. I've seen 600L$ charged for boards in places with not even 1/2 the Hubs traffic. I actually found the average was 200 L$ a week and thought that was too much ..silly me

IMPORTANT !!.. If you pay accidentally for a board already rented by somebody else I CANNOT refund you. ( Why ? because there is no way i can say for certain you aren't an alt of the person who's renting it.... )

Paying..not yet

2008-12-15T14:19:00.004Z

I changed the rented texture from red to orange .. far nicer. I can't ask you to pay until I've numbered all the stalls and I can't do that until I get everyone settled, the build complete and the rental boxes added.

( yes it says rented on it in case some merchants are color blind.. which is why all the stalls must be individually numbered and not color coded.. )

Just hold on the the money for now X.. TY

Back to building

2008-12-14T12:33:00.002Z

I'm getting so many enquiries about available stalls .. I won't know what I have until I finish building and I can't finish building until I stop having to answer questions about when the build Will be finishes. The answer I guess is when i take time out from telling people I don't know and I don't know because people are asking me. Confused yet ?

So please give me a chance to draw breath and finish the building of the hub.. Only IM me if it's really urgent please.

If you are one of the endless people who IM me to ask me how I'm coping under the pressure of so many questions please consider carefully why you IM'd me ? I know the intention is kind concern but it stresses me even more to either be forced to ignore you because it's not urgent or can't answer you with anything more than a brief sentence. Worse still in reply to " Fine thanks but I have no time to talk right now sorry XXX" .. I get .."You don't seen to want to talk to me any more, why not ? Have I done something wrong ? "....'Can't' is too often misunderstood as 'won't' ... When I really do mean "can't though I'd love to"

XX Fabi

Nice idea !?!?!

2008-12-13T20:24:00.004Z

Merchants .. If you're giving away freebies this festive season why not add them in a parcel under the New Hub Christmas tree ?. (gift wrapped ,.. of course ) please no big floaty text but you can add your logo and landmark inside :). Max size 1.5 m cube. I'll announce it ( when I've added a few more ) in all the groups .

Return of Markers

2008-12-12T09:08:00.003Z

I'll be returning most of the reservation markers in the next few days. This is to reduce lag and tidy up. Only panic if you get a note from me. :)

Advertising boards @GH6

2008-12-11T19:04:00.004Z

To the cheeky man who joked in the merchant chat I'd be issuing a message which goes "you will each relieve a marker" I think it more likely he'll now be recieving a message which goes... "Your object 'reservation marker' has been returned to lost and found from parcel The Gor Hub by Fabein DeSantis' >:)

I'll add the rest of the ad boards soon but not being as sophisticated as the rental cubes they can't be reserved by name. I'll name a day closer to the opening on which you can rent them . A cube will do if you haven't got a reservation marker( your name is in properties ) .I never thought people would want to pre-book them like that but since a few have started ..why not.

The few who have been rented were refunded up to the 21st as charging before the hub is open seemed unfair but if you think i'm going to spend 15 minutes for every board right now ... pfft. (its not the doing its the greetings and the farewells anf the well wishes )

SHaKe oUt weEk

2008-12-11T10:20:00.006Z

The picture was taken the moment before 58 + people teleported into the new hub creating a lag fest. It wasn't pretty and certainly not much fun but after weeks of thinking around the problem nobody could think of a better or fairer way of doing this. I placed all those wanting 100 prims or more ahead thinking there would only be about 6 but there were far more than anticipated. Allocating everyone a stall was never really realistic. Some Mercharts refuse to be next to rival stores. There are over 100 stalls, 270 merchants wanting them and no time to do it in ..(many don't seem to realise as well as organising stalls I'm building the new hub , maintaining the old, sorting disputes, negotiating contracts, designing graphics and making them. configuring security, rental boxes and teleporters, writing notices, blogs and inviting entertainers to group etc etc etc.

In the next week I'll try to work out how to fit in a few more larger stores but there is no way I can make enough for the demand. Having done this 4 times before I did keep space reserves for adjustments so please don't panic ..yet. I did think of just making only double stalls which would be more profitable but then again renting the whole landing level to advertising would double my profit such is the return. So in the interests of keeping the hub 'diverse' I wanted to keep as many single stalls as I could afford to without giving away to much margin.( I make a loss of 200 L$ PW on every 'single' stall at landing level ) The Hub is a destination market meaning it trades on being a 'fun' place to shop. Boring 'through' markets don't inspire anyone to return.

Long term..

You'll be happy to know I have no plans to ever move again !.YAY !. Moving the Hub from Hunters will be very expensive in many ways. I need to keep the hub in the same place now and build up traffic for at least a year. I expect to have traffic up to 30 k by March if not before ( or more significantly 1000 unique avatars per day ) The hubs rise in traffic is incredibly consistent and steady so this will happen. Yesterday GH5 was at 27 k !

Thankyou for all your good wishes and remarkable patience.. Fabi D

How to pay @ the new hub

2008-12-10T14:00:00.009Z

( Since this post the telepoter has a new texture )

How to pay for your stall at the new Gor Hub

The New Hub will not have rent boxes in the stalls .. I’ve built a separate ‘rental hall’ at 700m above the hub market. Each stall/store will have a number in front of it Once you know the number of your stall/store. Take the blue teleporter set into the pillar to the right of the entrance to the map ( see picture, touch to enlarge ) In the hall you’ll find all the rent boxes clearly numbered. Pay the one with your number below it.

There are huge advantages to this system....

It tidies up the look of the stalls leaving holders free to put signage wherever without obscuring the box making it hard to pay

Makes checking the rentals easier for me and you and people hoping to rent.

Reduces lag from the scripts

Eliminates boxes which move ( yes I have no idea why but sometimes they move by themselves spooOOOooky ) these don’t .

It means I can add info or gifts for you to see with notices you might miss actually in the hall.
No fighting the lag on busy days to reach your stall.

I know it’s a little extra effort to start this system but once in place the advantages are huge.

The offline jungle

2008-12-09T14:41:00.004Z

( Touch the picture it's funny ) I start with about 20 offlines and get a new IM on average every 20 seconds.( no idea if there is a limit but even after at least 40 they keep getting added ) Please if you get a short reply excuse me being brief. I don't mind most questions but '~ sigh ~ yes this is the new hub not the old one shutting down'..."no,. you can't take the big store there for 20 prims at 180" and.. No,. if you pay two weeks in advance I won't let you pick any stall before everyone else (asked at least 20 times ) I've lost count how many times I ask people to read the blog despite them being in the Merchant group and receiving endless notices asking that they do so.. calm ...calm.....

I'm getting complaints about the time for Europeans.. I'm UK so I have to be online and it had to be later than 8 GMT or the Americans would stand no chance . So 11:00 GMT is about as good as it gets.. Can't please everyone I guess. Believe me I'd be richer and happier if I just put out rent boxes and stood back.

Reservation Wednesday

2008-12-08T10:42:00.006Z

Here is the schedule for reserving stalls at the new hub on Wednesday ( the 10th dec )

I'm closing the sim to all visitors an hour before 3:00 pm SL time ( 11:00 GMT )

At 3:00 ( precisely ) I will open the new Gor hub to the Hub Merchant group ONLY. This means you MUST have your title active to teleport into the sim.

When you arrive you can rez the reservation marker in any available stall. If it has a pink cube in it then I've held it either for myself or somebody paying for 100+ prims or because I might need it later to make an entrance.

Please leave the sim as soon as you have reserved. If everyone arrives and starts setting up or chatting then some merchants might not be able to get to the hub.( There are over 100 people renting at the hub ) Perhaps not likely but lets not risk it please :).

You can set up any time you like from the 11th.

NO NEED TO PAY ANYTHING until the 20th !.. I'd be a lot richer now if I'd accepted the many offers to pay in advance but no. I'm making a special rental hall where everyone can pay separate from the hub to make life easier and tidier for everyone and isolate the scripts to reduce lag.

please watch for further announcements on this .

Thankyou all for your patience and i hope you get the stall you want. There are no stalls so out of view or so isolated to be worthless. The new hub is very carefully designed to be flown around easily and mostly within a 76m minimum draw distance from the landing.

2008-12-06T11:23:00.003Z

Its a year !..since the visitor counter was started for the hub.. It took until April to get to 2000 ( the Hub now gets more visitors in four days than the first, second and third hubs did combined over 6 months ) A sobering lesson for anyone wanting their sim to be an instant hit. The only way to build real sustainable traffic is to start small and grow steadily with a strong simple idea which is easily understood.

Reservation Markers ?

2008-12-02T10:41:00.004Z

Dear Merchants of the Hub

If you remember the last move you'll know my 'online status reservation markers'
I'm personally issuing special no-copy markers to each stall holder at the hub to ensure everyone gets a stall at the new hub if they want one.

When you get the marker DON'T delete it ! or else ..

If you have 2 stalls you'll get 2 markers.

I'll be doing this in the next week ( nobody has one yet ) ..oh ..except me :)

Charm,.. pfft

2008-11-30T13:20:00.008Z

If you want a landmark added there is a board to get an application from near the landing. I sometimes add them myself but right now I'm trying to build the new hub , organise 200+ Merchants and negotiating contracts,. I'm under serious pressure with very little time and no break. So charming IM's like ..

"I've sent you the new landmark Fabi.. I'll be back tomorrow to check it's done."

Won't get you speedy service.. I really should charge. The strange thing is the nice people donate and the people who expect you to jump never give anything. With charm like that I can only wonder if the landmark I add after three days will need removing another three days later. Sims are built, rise and fall on the personality and the personal charm of the owners.

"Oh yes but sim owners are always under such pressure"

Yes.. and that's when they need it most.

Maybe the truest Gorean is one who stays in when the rest of Gor moves out..... nuff musings, back to work...whoooooosh

Reservations and payment

2008-11-29T20:53:00.004Z

If you are buying 100 prims or more from me at the new hub you can reserve a store NOW. ( You must contact me though not just place a prim in a space ) I won't ask anyone to pay until December the 20th.

Everyone else must wait until the December 10th at 3:00 SL time ( 11:00 pm GMT )
any markers put down prior to that will be removed sorry ..I'm trying my best to be fair.

I have by best friends in SL asking to reserve and it hurts to have to say no..

The book arrives

2008-11-29T12:14:00.005Z

I've placed the book at GH6.. If anyone would like task of updating and looking after it please let me know.
Around the base I'm adding teleporters to the best Kajira schools and info centers like Heimdal.
(Kajira schools not Slavers calling themselves schools as a front to attract unsuspecting merchandise )

New stall prices for the Gor Hub ( GH6 )

2008-11-28T17:00:00.019Z

There have been quite a few people who've told me I should charge more or seem surprised that the stalls aren't more when they finally get one. It would be tempting to put them up but no I'm not. If anything I'm reducing them..gasp ( silly me )

For stalls at the landing level ( not around the map ) L$ 200 for 20 prims per week

All other stalls L$ 180 for 20 prims (same as GH5 )

Extra prims up to 80 are charged at L$9 per prim per week.

25 = 224

30 = 270

35 = 314

40 = 360

50 = 450

60 = 540

70 = 630

MAPSIDES :

Upper level mapside stalls are all L$ 314 for 35 minimum.

Mapside stalls are all L$ 700 for 80 minimum.

EXTRA PRIMS beyond 80 :

After 80 prims I'm now charging a lower rate of L$ 6 per extra prim ( you can buy any number as long as I have them to sell )

So..as a guide per week

L$ 840 for 100 prims.

L$ 1140 for 150 prims

L$ 1440 for 200 prims

L$ 1740 for 250 prims

L$ 2040 for 300 prims

This is the pricing for the new hub ..All prices remain unchanged for the old until it closes.

Of course I reserve the right to adjust these. I think 180 for 20 is a reasonable price. I think charging 300 for 50 on a small unit is a con if there is no way a merchant can use them..Most use 20 which is why I start at 20 prims. ( if you need to use 21 that's fine. )

IMPORTANT !..

Almost all stallholders recently have asked for two or three group invites for 'friends' to use the same stall. I've been generous and allowed it until now as 99% of Merchants are entirely honest.
. One merchant per stall sorry. There are many split profit scripts you can get to help your friends sell their things on your stall.

The New hub under construction

2008-11-22T18:30:00.002Z

Touch the picture to enlarge ..If you want to visit please feel free but try and ignore the builder :)..LM unmarked in green on the map shhh....next to the warning sign.

(Yes it is next to Saleria but NOT part of it ..the Hub is independent and the owner of Olni agrees it should always be that way )

The NEW Hub

2008-11-21T16:41:00.013Z

The New Gor Hub ( GH6 ) will open on it's own sim in one months time ( December 21, Solstice and my SL birthday ) The old one certainly won't shut for some time but will continue at about half the size. The Map will be moved to the new hub.

The present Hub was built in 3 days and has suffered from the usual adaptations in the design to accommodate the rising traffic, change of use and the greater demand for advertising. The new hub is taking 5 weeks to build and design from scratch.

Things that need fixing ..

The need for enough advertising space close to the landing.

The landing needs to be bigger to accommodate more people .

The sofa's need to have more single sit anims

I need to collect all the admin info to one place, contacts, applications etc and clearer.

All the freebies need collecting together an displaying better. I have many donated that need to be put out.

I want to add a free-to-use photo studio. These are expensive just for occasional personal use so I thought this could be a useful resource.

The tavern needs to be with the hub and private rooms added.

A gallery would be good.

The existing hub has to many floors. I'll reduce it to 3.

There is a limit to how many stalls and stores you can put on a sim without some being to far away or the lag too crippling. So I'm not going to expand the market by any more than 10% if that. The choice comes down to wanting to be the biggest or the best.. I want every stall to have an even chance of doing well by design and genuine traffic.

I'm going to seperate the rental cubes from the stalls and number them all to make life so much easier for everyone looking to see if stalls are available and paying multiples etc..

Slave chain posts have been suggested for the landing ,.. and a cage.

~~~

I'm bringing in some of the best scripters and builders in SL to help me sort these problems and keep the hub number the enduring resource it's become. I hope you like the result.

Husky's and Nubian Angels are joining as large store neighbours.

MERCHANTS !

All hub merchants will all be issued with a special no copy marker to reserve a stall on the 10th of December to ensure everyone is guaranteed a stall. ( If you can't be there you can give it to a friend to place but make sure they're in the GH merchant group ) Last time I had people in the group inviting their friends or reserving them for friends and this upset many existing merchants. ( I don't blame them it's just something I never predicted ) This system makes that impossible to do.

Thankyou for your patience and continuing support :) Fabi

Odd Hub facts..

2008-11-19T20:09:00.003Z

just a few odd things you might not have known about the hub.

1, Of the 70 Gorean places marked on the first map only 4 are still on the map.

2, The only landmark I can't get to put on the map is the very first Gorean sim which is private.

3, The Map was originally thought up as a feature for an auction house. The auction house never opened due to lag issues so I built a stand alone version of the map over Tevah. 3 weeks after I thought to add a market..

4, The current landing area of the hub is almost twice the size of the first map.

GOR LIVE group rules

2008-11-19T20:05:00.001Z

This group is for informing people of events in Gor just as they are about to start.( within 30 minutes of the start if possible ) Perhaps for people who missed the notice in the events group or forgot the time. I don’t want this group spammed with commercial advertising; that is not why it was created. Spam notices seriously annoy most people.

The rules of this group are ..

EVENTS only .. An event is a special gathering of people to perform a task, competition, discussion, lecture, class. It is NOT the launch of a new product or an offer of free goodies nor is it a ‘yard sale’ . Yard sales are mostly for a good cause unfortunately some merchants abuse the term to promote their business. So please no yard sales..a sale of any kind is only described as an event in sales promo’s to make them sound fun and not a regular thing..

No recruiting notices .( Sim opening events are allowed of course!)

Only ONE notice per event ..The closing or last day of anything is not an event..

Map update completed

2008-11-19T19:52:00.006Z

You may have noticed the little green cones sprouting on the map. These were placed to mark dead landmarks for checking and removal. In all I think we found 30 or so but this job has been long overdue so no reason to think Gor is declining. Far from it. I still get at least one more to add each day and rather than close down many places have relocated to new sims. For some reason many have headed north..

Open space,. phew

2008-11-19T19:49:00.003Z

From the SL blog

"1. We are going to retain the Openspaces product at its original price point and its original intended use (forest, water, etc.). We will have technical limitations to help regulate their use, initially avatar and prim limit restrictions, eventually event, classified and script limits. Those of you who chose to use the Openspaces as intended may stay at the US$75 rate, but will need to contact the concierge team to do so."

I hope this diffuses the panic in the Rp community and saves Beek..

Busy busy busy

2008-11-16T12:00:00.002Z

The hub had its busiest day ever yesterday at around 700 visitors.. (individuals ..not visits ) Which is good news as I haven't had time to be there myself much as I'm working on the new Hub. For some reason a few have found themselves there early .No idea why,.. It shouldn't even be in search..ack.

HELP !

2008-11-11T22:36:00.002Z

I need a few volunteers to check the landmarks on the map. I don't mind paying somebody if they want the job of finding the bad landmarks on the map.. Just IM me TY

The Auction

2008-11-11T22:32:00.003Z

The Auction is ended and another is about to begin. I'm working hard in RL and on designs for the next hub to open in the new year so excuse the lack of blogging.

Video

2008-11-09T09:12:00.002Z

http://www.wegame.com/watch/The_Gor_hub/

This is just a test but easy to do.. I need an editing thingy i think.

Auction

2008-11-07T14:24:00.004Z

The silent auction will run 5 days. The girl is new to Gor so untrained. Very nice personality and with a good attitude and to be honest I'd prefer that to a well trained girl with a bad attitude. The sale is perm.

Refunds: as she is new I'm holding the money for 2 weeks in case for whatever reason she decides her new life is not for her. I will of course refund the bidder in full if she leaves before the two weeks is up.

Just one landmark of 300

2008-11-06T12:33:00.003Z

I checked the 'Farnacium market' marker on the map.. I landed in Minus..> I returned to the hub and deleted that one and looked at the Minus LM's ,..there were 2 > went to the first it was the same as Farnacium now called 'Minus village' so I returned to the hub ...>> and replaced it ..then the 'city of Minus' ?.. Tied it ..'no location found' .. This is the short version as I had to delete old ones from my inventory too .All done in 15 minutes. This is a fair demo of what It takes the map team to keep the map up to date.. don't hold back tipping them personally for their efforts :)

Election result.

2008-11-06T08:49:00.002Z

Just think of the money you Americans could have saved if only you'd asked Fabi. hehe. I'da given you the same result for only a few million lindens. Congrats to Obama, He'll make a great president...won't he ? ..backs slowly out..

The Panther Hub

2008-11-03T16:01:00.005Z

THE PANTHER HUB

I’ve created a new hub just for Panthers and Panther merchants. On the samer basic modal as the Gor Hub but more compact and specialised. If you are a member of a tribe please give me the name of your tribe and landmark to add to the map. All tribes will me marked, not sims as such.

Why do it ? ..

A,. ‘Panthers’ are a very large definable group and merchants selling to panthers need a more focused traffic of ‘Panthers’ rather than being isolated and dispersed in standard Gorean markets where there are almost impossible to find.

B, Most panthers seem frustrated having the wander endlessly to find what they need. So a one stop Panther market will work to everyone’s advantage.

C,. To provide effective recruitment advertising for ‘tribes’ as groups rather than the sims they happen to live on.

D,. To provide better information and a common neutral ground for Panthers to meet.

~~~~~
The new Hub will be advertised at the landing of the Gor Hub to direct wandering panthers directly to it.

I hope to see you all there :)

New Tavern.

2008-11-03T12:27:00.003Z

I agreed to add this strange sky tavern to the map. 'The friendship tavern'. Some might think it doesn't match their idea of what Gor should look like but hey. Gor is an idea, not a set.

'Does it look Gorean ? . Perhaps that could make for an hours friendly discussion with the very friendly landlord and the start of a few goodly friendship. If there is one thing the Hub market has proved is that Gor travels well enough within it's people.

Female fighters poll

2008-10-30T17:21:00.010Z

The red column is to 'ban them' .This was the second poll I did on the same subject to gauge how attitudes had changed with the increase in interest in by-the-book Sims. Far from showing the more people were against FF's it showed the opposite. The last poll finished 50/50 . This one was much the same until the likes of M Goodman and his merry men rescued the female fighters from oblivion by charging in with their 'opinions' which only succeeded in persuading many people who were indifferent to give there full support to the FF cause..

Of all the arguments and opinions expressed this one seems the most interesting and worth considering ..

'Ok. it can be said that female fighters did exist in whatever guise and were not tolerated in the books being enslaved or killed if caught. Why not go with that in the rules.'

If there's a female fighter in your tavern with no mask looking like Ninja Barbi, she's there because nobody stops her.

As there are fewer femail fighters in Gor than Kajirus then why is such a small group seen as such a threat. People who don't play by the rules or cry 'invalid' are far worse ..I know a few female fighters who don't play by the rules but it's not that they RP female fighters that makes them cheets.

I wonder if banning female fighters is just a way of avoiding applying rules that are already in there. Easier to ban Master Gruff's girlfriend than to shoot her down in front of him and so much safer than risking getting capped,.. by either.

erm..

2008-10-29T14:00:00.001Z

Internet link < yes i do realise it's not working ..I'm on it X

EXPO and the 'L' word

2008-10-29T13:47:00.002Z

Thank you so much to all those who displayed their artwork at the hub. I'd loved to have kept it up longer but the lag in SL is getting worse. I suspect it may have a little to do with the 15/20 campers so close to the hub on Hunters 4. I went to have a look yesterday only to find a small group leaving because of the lag there, ironic perhaps but I haven't been anywhere in SL recently free of lag so maybe it's the version or the 70k online. *sigh* I'll reduce all my scripted items at the hub to an absolute minimum for a while and may have to pack away the tavern.

Adding Landmarks

2008-10-28T11:30:00.007Z

The new application system set up by Alayni Axelrad to add landmarks seems to be working well. I hope we can establish this as a system. She's done a great job of managing the hub while I took some time out and I hope she continues well into the future. I love her new Sofa's on the landing (check out her store :) ) We need to tweak the anims to allow more people to sit on their own I know.. We're on it .

Just to clarify a market only sim will never be added to the Hub map. The reasons for this as i've said before in the blog are..

A. To discourage profiteers from calling their markets 'Gorean' to expliot merchants who need space. This whole concept takes much needed funds away from RP sims. In the poll I did almost all said no the adding 'market only sims' to the map.

B , If I were to add Markets why not the 500 or so 'out-of-Gor stores too ?

C, The Gor Hub is set up to aid RP sims and the navigation between them . If I added 800 0r so landmarks to the map and only a few were RP it would be useless as a resource.

The idea of putting an RP 'area' in a market won't get around this rule sorry.

Gor is unique in RP in that 95% of it is not a mall.. Try looking for steam punk , medieval, Gothic, Vampire etc etc RP.. You'll be lucky to find anything but endless Malls cashing in on the 'Brand'..The dilution of the 'Gor' brand is more far damaging than people imagine. I have every sympathy with people desperate to pay a tier or wanting to make a profit but please don't ask me to help put an RP sim out of business to the advantage of more shopping.

LIVE Group spam

2008-10-17T22:39:00.003+01:00

My only intention was to reduce the spam from notices. I only failed to talk to one of the 4 or five I removed from the group and I let all back in. Unfortunately the one I didn't manage to talk to due to RL dragging me away took it upon herslf to attack me using my own group. My intention was to create a group to help people. I make no money from it.

I'm no Nazi. I'm just over stretched and continually under fire for not having enough time to deal with things as people would like. If I had the time of course I would IM everyone first. I haven't.

I'm sorry... I tried.

Gor Hub 6

2008-10-17T13:05:00.004+01:00

I've started seriously designing GH 6. No need to panic though it won't be opened until the end on Jan 009. For people who think leaving things as they are is an option I heard the same thing for GH 2 when traffic was about 3K. however GH6 will probably be slightly more compact with maybe fewer stalls. Better organised stalls which are easy to find and get to is the main priority. Also advertising for sims in a good position close to the landing is essential.

I must confess I underestimated how much Sims want advertising space. Of course the demand has increased with the traffic but still. An ad board at the landing is now seen by 4 times more people per week than the membership of even the largest 'events' group and it targets exactly the right people to; those looking for new homes.

Please please don't IM me about reserving space or stalls. I've made so many good friends in the merchant group and it puts me in impossible position.

The state of the slave trade

2008-10-15T17:55:00.004+01:00

I think my slavers have found selling slaves at the hub is like selling snow in a blizzard. I wonder what general impact the continual supply of free slaves at the hub will have on the slaves for L$ trade in general. Only time will tell I guess. Either the increased and convenient supply to the traders will encourage it or the freely available supply will keep the high prices restricted only to exceptional Kajira who become the target of rich Masters desire to possess them.

Internet link

2008-10-15T17:45:00.003+01:00

Above the landing I've added a URL library of websites, blogs and homepages. you just touch it . choose from the menu and it takes to straight to the page ( like a favorites list ) Anyone has any ideas for ones to add just send me the URL .. :)

Ack! ..Ad' boards on the landing

2008-10-14T20:40:00.002+01:00

yes i do know it should be one ad' board per sim around the landing. I turned my back for a second :( .. I never expected three people to take all of them. stoopid of me.

The demand for these way outstrips the number I can allow. People have been asking for months. So i will sort this *sigh* if its not one thing .....

Collar script.. full perms

2008-10-14T20:38:00.001+01:00

http://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=504542

At your own risk,.. the commentary is funny though.. wierd

The New Landing

2008-10-13T17:14:00.002+01:00

This was just a redesign and streamlining of the old one but with new square Sofa's and cushions with bear skins in front. The 'dance pits' were resized and the design improved. The tip cup is now a tip bowl; far nicer. I hope you like all it. I think it's now far more in keeping with the map and the tavern.

Yikes, change of plan

2008-10-12T10:38:00.002+01:00

I changed the TP landing yesterday for an hour to see what would happen. The landing was averaging about 1 person a minute so quite high ( yesterday was the busiest day so far recorded at the hub btw ) I learned so much about traffic flow in that hour. So many of our assumptions about traffic flow are wrong for reasons you couldn't guess at until you try things like this. It doesn't flow as people think or believe it should. Anyhow after watching for an hour I returned the default landing to the main landing.

Thanks to all the people who took part in my little experiment last night I now know what not to do *sigh*.

Moving the landing to the tavern

2008-10-11T23:00:00.002+01:00

This is only for Sunday as an experiment to see how it affects flow of traffic, lag and how the hub is used . I hope to do this one day a week for events but lets see how it goes . If nothing else more people will know where the tavern is.

Anyone wanting the market and map can simply TP up to it and hopefully enjoy it with greatly reduced lag, but lets see.

Since the Hub is about navigating around Gor it must be easy to get to the map and so i can't see how this could be permanent but once a week i hope will enhance it as a destination. All feedback would be useful.. TY

Naked dancers

2008-10-11T09:39:00.002+01:00

I was asked if it was permissible to dance naked at the hub. Of course it is but I'd prefer you went to the tavern. If you are doing a personal dance it's by far the nicest setting for RP.
The dancer of course has the right to refuse to do it. The hub is not and never will be a 'kajira brothel' but anything within gorean rp is fine with me.

The Hubs only general rule is that I expect everyone to act like adults with respect for others. So far it's worked remarkably well. The SL T's and C's cover most things anyhow.

Waiting list for stalls

2008-10-08T12:04:00.003+01:00

I do NOT have a waiting list sorry.. I get at least 2 requests a day for stalls so any list would by now be so long it wouldn't be worth adding yourself to.
So its law of the jungle ..If you can find one available or more that 3 days in arrears .It's yours.

I did do a waiting list but all I got was nagging, pouting and hate mail. This system is fairer by far to me and you. It's only until you try running a list do you realise why.

The Hub Tavern

2008-10-07T17:25:00.008+01:00

I'm putting the finishing touches to a project that started 8 months ago. To build some kind of tavern at the hub. When I first thought of doing it I hadn't enough prims and so the idea got shelved. A few people have suggested the idea since as something needed but it wasn't until I came up with another idea that a tavern became worth doing.

So here's the idea that makes the difference. For a day or at least a few hours the default landing point of the Gor Hub will be moved to land everyone directly into the tavern ( with TP to the market and Map close by of course )

This will focus enough traffic to be able to stage events like dance competitions, games of dice , product launches etc,.. recruiting exhibitions can also be staged.

It's been a sad fact all the time I've been in Gor that almost all event have thrown away at least half their potential traffic by being awkward or near impossible to find. Some events advertised don't even give out a landmark and unless you know where it is you'll be expected to use 'The Force ' to locate it .(be honest , how many peopler find events by looking for a crowd on the map.. . signage pfft .. whats that ..*sigh*

I'll open it fully this weekend but if anyone want to see it before that there's a teleporter ( blue cube ) behind the pumpkins on the landing stage.

The road to boredom

2008-10-05T18:43:00.010+01:00

I wonder if many Kajira are bored out of choice without realising it. Subs are naturally risk avers and habitually look for the safest path. Unfortunately safe, understanding and caring men are not that exiting as a rule. Being a Kajira should be like a leap into the dark, not a fumble along a well worn path. Shouldn't it ? Being to careful in choosing 'Master right' can be the fastest road to boredom.... just a thought.
I've met so many Kajira and the ones who accept whatever comes their way always seem to find the wildest times. Boredom is after all probably the worst that can happen.

Having said that aviod these like the pox :

Guys wearing huge axes on their back. A sure sign of mental problems and feelings of inadequacy.

A Master in a completely different timezone. You'll never see him

One with too many weapons and bling (he's probably 16 or with a mental age of 12 )

Anyone who hides all groups but the... 'All groups hidden kthnx** ' Group... Oh dear ...so close .. yet so far from cool.

Traffic. The ins and outs

2008-10-05T14:02:00.003+01:00

The traffic counter and visitor counter have confirmed a daily average traffic of just over 662 visitors a day . The 'official' 23 k traffic is very misleading .If people didn't stay so long the same number of people could register 16 K; which on occasion it has. But the traffic only varies in number very slightly each day.

From Kalana traffic figures I know that a whole sim with a 25k traffic rating will get around 280 individuals a day. RP sims are misleadingly higher due to sizw and the time people stay there Merchants should remember that at least 2 thirds of those visitors tp direct to the ground to aviod the market.

The ship

2008-10-05T13:58:00.002+01:00

The ship was removed to reduce prim use (276 ) and lag. I'll replace it with one of fewer prims when I get the chance.

I DON'T NEED THIS !

2008-10-03T14:59:00.005+01:00

Please understand that if you want me to advertise you sim free of charge by adding it to the map I would expect you not to demand I drop whatever I'm doing instantly to do it .And if I ask you to help me find it on the map, telling me you have no time for 'Stupid people like you ' isn't really polite when I'm doing you a favour.

Most are very polite so please ..I don't mind the polite ones and I'm more than willing to help.

Please also ..don't lie to me about a sim you don't like being 'Not Gorean any more, you must remove it now !' ..I check it out. ( oh yes that really happens )

Also . if you have a market you've opened and called it a name that already exists ..I'm NOT going to remove an RP sim with the same name just because you insult and threaten me.

The Hub is rapidly going from a pleasure to do free for the good of everyone to a nightmare I'd rather wake up from. I get pissy aggressive comments almost every day from people now who think because I can't give them enough time I deserve some abuse for not keeping up.

"I'm telling you again, add my sim ! why don't you add us ?" 'Please' would be nice and maybe even a landmark to add ?. gawd forbid that you might donate something pfft.

Maybe if I charged abusive people 1000 $ they would at least show me some respect instead of taking the hub for granted. hmmm

Auction no 1

2008-10-02T18:24:00.002+01:00

Yesterday auction at the hub was a great success. Thankyou to all who attended ..Sadly for my auctioneer his merchandise failed to materialise,.. so I sold him.. ( didn't want to disappoint the crowd ). Sadly for him he was bought by his own FG. You couldn't make it up :)

Creeve Town

2008-10-01T22:50:00.004+01:00

This is a must-see Sim selling strangely Gorean style clothing in a beautifully built 'steam punk' setting. Builders prepare to feel small.

11 out of 10..