“Pro Tip: Don’t Lend Money in SL”
I'm sure most of you know about Second Life thanks to the My Ponies Hate You incident. So here's a sample of SL drama that, for a change, has nothing to do with furries or pixelsex.

One of the draws of Second Life is the ability to create content that can be bought and sold for Linden Dollars (L$) which can, in turn, be bought and sold for actual cash. Clothing design is a large enough industry to merit an entire network of Second Life fashion blogs such as Shopping Cart Disco. And, face it, where there are fashionistas, even virtual ones, there's going to be drama.

Meet Brinks Lemmon. [WARNING! Embedded music player--switch off speakers or scroll down to the bottom to shut the damn thing off if you click that link.] She introduces herself thusly:

Hey guys my name is Jessica, but I go by Brinks Lemmon in secondlife. I started this blog since I love fashion in secondlife and I am always trying to create that " cute " or " hot " outfit. I started this so I can post outfits that I have created, for the secondlife public to enjoy. I will be posting all different styles of outfits since I shop at many different stores, so I hope you enjoy what I will be posting!

P.S. I would very much appreciate your feedback on the outfits that I post!

Note she's not even talking about clothing that she's created herself, but 'outfits' composed of other people's designs. No biggie. Lots of SL fashion bloggers do that. Some even acquire 'review copies' from designers looking for exposure. However, begging designers for review copies is pretty bad form. And when somebody calls you out on it on SLSecret (Secret #5), you know you're starting to piss people off.

Then Ms. Lemmon goes from begging for free clothes to begging for free money. Shopping Cart Disco posts a teal dear chat transcript with someone she hit up for Lindens and never paid back. (The name of the lender has been redacted to "Avatar.")


[2008/06/14 11:52] Brinks Lemmon: My CC isnt working, and the bank is insisting that there is a malfunction on the card.. * what ever that means.. * so I cant pay my tier, etc.. without my car so I was wondering if you could loan me 4000L$-5000L$ just until I can pay you back in like 2-3 days [L$5000 is about $20 USD]
[2008/06/14 11:52] Avatar: i will on this one occasion, OK?
[2008/06/14 11:53] Avatar: but i obviously will need the money back
[2008/06/14 11:53] Brinks Lemmon: You are a life saver..
[2008/06/14 11:53] Brinks Lemmon: I have had some RL problems lately, my mother is in the hospital she just got into a car accident and stuff
[2008/06/14 11:53] Brinks Lemmon: SO I am running around trying to get things done and stuff
[2008/06/14 11:53] Brinks Lemmon: Really hectic atm
[2008/06/14 11:54] Avatar: ok, np
[2008/06/14 11:54] Brinks Lemmon: You are such a life saver Avatar, tysm
[2008/06/14 11:55] Avatar: it’s OK
[2008/06/14 11:56] Avatar: pay me back in a week or so when your card is working ;)
[2008/06/14 11:57] Brinks Lemmon: Definitley, thanks again!

And, as we could safely predict, our Miss Brinks promptly paid her back the moment she had the money blew off her benefactor for over a year and eventually used the Mute function to keep her from contacting her.

The day after SCD posted the chat transcript, Miss Brinks posted a tearstained apology [SAME WARNING AS BEFORE!] which also mentions something about her selling gift cards for Sugarcube which may have been hacked, and which resulted in the designer shutting down the store to fix whatever glitch that entailed. (I'm pretty sure the designer in question is Japanese, and thus her blog isn't too clear on the details.)

The comments in the SCD post let slip one interesting bit of information . . .

Well, here is where I can tell you all something that myself and a friend decided to keep quiet because it’s their choice but NOW screw that! She is not a she, she is a he. A he who doesn’t know that their voice thinga ma jig wasn’t working and was totally exposed. He continued on with the I’m a girl thing so we just went along, then we figured it out that he thought his voice was still being disguised. Then even goes as far to tell me he is preggo in RL. I thought wow this guy is pretty hard into the fantasy but ya know whatever flips your switch. I was nice, helpful, giving to this person as I will be with the next because that is me, but don’t mistake it for stupidity, naive a bit probably but that is slowly being chiseled away. But then I read all this, and all these people he has taken advantage of, lied to, stolen from and dammit I am pissed. F U BRINKS DO NOT EVER TALK TO ME AGAIN.
AND YOUR NOT A GIRL GET OVER IT

Second Life has voice chat--not everybody uses it--and people can use filters if their voice doesn't match their avatar of choice very well. But, apparently, it doesn't always work. Guys with female avies (or, for that matter, gals with male avies) are nothing unusual, but guys with female avies who claim to be pregnant in real life? That's . . . extra-special.

So, not a huge drama, but all the classic wank elements in a single lemony slice for ya.