Memorial for ComCat Fenstalker

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Saturday June 13, the people of the Meli's Maniacs Relay for Life team held a memorial service with ComCat Fenstalker, whom passed away last month. It went from about Noon to 2PM SL time. The event was held much like a wake. There was a memorial stone and picture of her, and a few flat pictures of cowgirls were around.

yes it promises to be a sad event but it needs to be done
Memorial for Comcow  @ Clubs Amarantha
DJ Jenneh Thursday and Host Violet
 there will be no contest, its not why were gathering, and Jen's own beand of musical madness.
so come as you are or dress like a cow, and come laugh cry and most of all Remember.


There was no contest. Nor were any tips taken, people instead invited to contribute to the Maniacs' RFL kiosk. People had a number of things to say about Comcat. "I have many memories that CC has left with me, and I'm thankful for each one." "I didn't know her as well as others here. But from what I do, she is a loving soul with a great sense of humor about life." At one point, Violet Solano commented, "This song Cc wanted to do a skit with me at the Blue Moon Burlesque, we never got around to doing it." "CC had that squirrel av, I thought that was so funny.. she was at your feet one second, on your head the next (laughter)." "Yes she was was awesome with the different avis and how she got to play with everyone."

"I do not think of her as gone, merely transformed into another form. I feel she is watching us now and grinning from ear to ear." "I would like to think CC is watching on as a full on cow now where they are." "Love this song. Can't hear it witout thinking of CC." "My daughter just came to look see what I was dressed up as. First she called me a sheep?!?! She as now made up a song about a purple cow which goes, 'purple cow. purple cow, purple cow you are a purple cow'. I have bribed her to stop singing by giving her a chocolate bar - great parenting skills (laughter)."

One person arrived a little late, "I am so sorry I'm late, I didn't know this was happening today until I just woke up and looked at email." Dusk Griswold was there for a time as well, "I decided to remember CC's sheep side, which was displayed a lot." Someone told her, "Yes I will forever remember her saying 'beep beep I'm a sheep.' " Dusk responded, "I'd say 'Noodle noodle I'm a poodle.' "

"I loved how she always just wanted to make people happy and have a good laugh . Always ready with a link to find something you were looking for, ( tree avatar) or a good pun, didn't we all spend a whole show one night making bad spice puns because we had too much Thyme on our hands?" "I remember cc have me a tail spin animation and were over spinning on our tails as giant kaiju on another sim." "Or all the running battles she and i had with my dubstep gun and her push shout." "Some of those times made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe!"

There was some additional fun with a spanker at one point. There were also gestures played such as the "Beep beep, I'm a sheep," one and "Moo... Are you happy now???"

Eventually, people had to go, "This is a wonderful memorial and I wish I could stay to the end, just want to make sure to thank you for putting this together in CC's memory."

Bixyl Shuftan

How To Maintain a Community in Second Life

By Cyfir

Over the course of my time in Second Life, I got the opportunity to lead and maintain a couple of communities that I was a part of as a sim co-owner and sim manager. I never actually wanted these positions, but at the time I believed in the community's efforts so much and put so much time and energy into them that the main owners gave me the positions. However, I learned a lot from the experience about what to do and what not to do in these positions. I hope to pass on what I’ve learned here so that others won’t make mistakes I’ve made or have seen time and time again from others.

Know Your Community       

Don’t treat the position like you’re above and removed from everyone. You are just as much a part of the community as anyone else. Get to know everyone. Be friendly. Be compassionate. Make friends. Only then will you truly understand everyone and get to know your community’s needs.

Don’t Fall Into The Tribe Mentality

It’s perfectly natural for humans to group up and become an “in group.” Before there was the Internet; and modern electronics for that matter, humans grouped up in tribes for safety and security. However, this can keep your community from growing. If others walk in and find that it’s hard to break into the group, they’ll go elsewhere. Welcome everyone. Invite them into your conversations. Make them feel like they belong.

Don’t Talk Behind Others Backs In Private Staff Chats

Unless it’s an obvious troll, talking negatively about other people in the group will eventually get out; even if it’s in private chats that the person isn’t in. This can cause massive amounts of drama that will make your community look bad. It may be tempting to blow off steam about someone with friends, but do that elsewhere.

Don’t Go Beyond What The Whole Of Your Community Wants

I’ve seen sim owners introduce things randomly that just end up making community members upset. For instance, one sim owner introduced a parcel area just for a group that liked to role play as children. This did not go over well with a large majority of the community, and the sim disbanded within a week. The sim owners just saw this as a way to make a certain group happy, but ended up causing drama for themselves.

Be Transparent

It’s natural for people to be apprehensive of those in power from time to time. A way to deter this, aside from being down to earth and friendly, is to be open about why you’re doing the things that you’re doing.

Don’t Treat Staff Like Employees

This isn’t real life. People have real jobs and don’t want to come home to another. Staff are volunteers and real life comes first. You will find that you will have a constant rotation of staff if you treat things like a real business, even if you pay your staff in Linden Dollars.

Have Fun

Life, especially now, is too stressful to worry about Second Life as a make or break project. Have fun. Make friends. Be yourself. People will come if it’s a cool place to hang out and the people are nice. This will never be a permanent gig. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Cyfir