Your2ndPlace

Readers likely remember that Delicious Demar Enterprises (DDE) was one company entangled in a mass delisting after WSE CEO Lukeconnell Vandeverre (RL: Luke Connell) froze and liquidated ("delisted") several companies due to their congregating en masse without his approval to discuss key issues pertaining to their future on the WSE. DDE itself was not delisted, but the company's namesake and CEO, Delicious Demar, felt compelled to voluntarily delist.

Last week, Delicious Demar announced that Vandeverre had locked her account at some point just before the WSE's "reopening." Decrying the act as a theft of her shareholder's rightful assets(reportedly 234,000L$ PLUS share holdings), Demar summarized Vandeverre's decision as being due to her having

...an opinion that isn't popular with the owner of the WSE - i.e. that it is a highly risky endeavour, and the owner has shown himself to be without honour. In his megalomaniacal mind, that justifies the theft of OUR assets.

Since my own account was locked due to what Vandeverre has phrased "fostering a negative opinion of the WSE," I've no doubt that Demar is correct. In the months between the WSE's abrupt trading halt and reopening, we've seen more than a few instances of frozen accounts, delisted companies, and disappearing announcements.

Appearing at the end of that blog was a comment left by Ivan Halfpint, former advisor to WSE-listed Fund Second Life(FSL)-rebranded "Fund Virtual Shares(FSV)" due to copyright issues- who left due to conflicts with FSL's management in their decision to remain listed at the WSE. Halfpint provided a log of an encounter with Vandeverre, which, while excerpted, would appear to be nothing new, save for the clarification of Vandeverre's position:

(Posted with Ivan Halfpint's permission)

You=Ivan Halfpint

I have tried to stay away from the security issue, not because I don't think it's important but because I didn't want to spread panic when I only have half the facts.

Linden Lab have neither confirmed or denied these rumours, however there's now a thread over at SLUniverse discussing the serious security allegations.

There appears to be an issue. Konner McDonnell had earlier reported the statements from Cocky Dagger which generally caused people to say "He runs an exchange, how can you trust him"? However it seems that this might be bigger and deeper then we'd all like.

However I do wish Linden Lab would at least say something, either "We've got it under control" or "This is a load of old bollocks". The silence is deafening.

Now i've been fed information by a couple of trustworthy sources, we'll call them deep voice and dark throat (As dark voice and deep throat would just sound wrong) as codenames. They both pretty much confirmed this security flaw, especially in terms of ATM's, although I'm reliably informed that SLX is safe. Phew!

General advice seems to be to make your items no copy for the time being, pass it to an alt and pass it back then hopefully you're not going to have your hard labour ripped so easily.

However, now, the conspiracy part, how the bloody hell did anyone find out about this exploit? Allegedly this isn't a staring in your face exploit.

For all of Linden Lab's transparency, there are times when they simply aren't transparent and whereas I can understand their reluctance to talk about this issue, it really is time for a statement.

Being naked is often the best choice!

This evening, Bart Heart sent me an offline IM with links to three announcements posted by Second Life International Business(SLIB) CEO Tyrian Camilo. Please click here for the main announcement page.

While I'm not one to jump when a CEO throws me a few links, I had to make a note of this. How could I not?

When Camilo acquired WJUV, a company owned by the now-delisted Atlas Venture Capital(AVC), the owning company had been halted by VSTEX pending an investigation. As I've noted several times, I was the de facto chairman of the AVCIC, the committee appointed by AVC shareholders to investigate potential wrongdoing by then-CEO Monkey Canning. In the AVCIC Final Report , I criticized the transaction as fraudulent on Canning's behalf and where Camilo and Intlibber Brautigan where concerned, a decision of questionable integrity.

But Camilo, who has reportedly dabbled in the notorious 'ad farm' method of selling land at extortive prices, is learning: You play with fire and you get burned.

Based on the announcements, Camilo's request for the domain transfer of WJUV's website, WJUV.com, was met with a request by our ol' pal Frank Corsi (former SL: Jasper Tizzy): Pay me for my 50,000 WJUV shares, first.

Whether Corsi owned any shares is unknown, but Camilo was quick to announce that his 'lawyer' had been contacted. Some six hours later, Camilo posted a third announcement to report that the website had since been sold to Valentine Heart Inc (VHI) CEO Bart Heart, despite Corsi's offer to sell it to Camilo for $30 USD. Camilo decried this transaction as unfair and, again, alluded to a possible litigation.

This was originally going to be a comment posted in Sarah Nerd's SNE article. But I've hijacked her thread enough and I think what I have to say needs to stand by itself. I'm also going to take this opportunity to make something clear about myself and other writers who deal with these issues, which you can find at the conclusion. I have struggled with how best to handle this for some time and I've finally reached the point where I can't justify holding back.

So here we go:

Sarah Nerd has decided to stay with the WSE. Do I agree? On principal, no, of course I can't. But it's real easy for a writer with 0L$ invested and well-documented contempt for the WSE to inject his personal opinion into Sarah Nerd's business decisions. It's easy for nameless critics to do it too. Sarah Nerd hardly needs the likes of me to 'defend' her, but there's an issue here I think people need to consider:

Being a GOOD CEO isn't fun and games. Like Bart Heart has said, I dunno, 800,000 times, "this is my RL job." Sarah Nerd has done good by her shareholders since she started at the WSE. I've researched Sarah and I'm fully convinced the woman doesn't play around. If she's staying with the WSE, she's doing it because she thinks it's the best move for the company. If you don't think she's thought it through, think again. If you disagree with the decision that strongly, take the buyout offer.

Please see below for the announcements published by Ford Edelman.

announcement #1

FED with Gratitude and Respect.
Submitted by: Ford Edelman Designs (FED)
Date: May 28, 2008

Ford Edelman Designs will he delisting from WSE effective immediately per a majority of the shareholders request.

We wish the World Stock Exchange much success with their future endeavors and thank them for a wonderful working history.

Shareholders will be notified of our future plans via group and individual notification.

Shareholders seeking information regarding Ford Edelman Designs can contact Ashleigh Wade.

announcement #2

FED requests delistment
Submitted by: Ford Edelman Designs (FED)
Date: May 28, 2008

Per our previous announcement, a majority has requested FED delist from WSE. We will be relisting, and will notify shareholders via group announcement and IM over the next few days.

As per usual, updates may be found below

Etopia Island Company (ETC) posted an announcement notifying shareholders of their intention to delist from the WSE and pursue a future as a private company. Since announcements such as these have a tendency of disappearing without an explanation, I've provided it below:

Goodby WSE
Submitted by: Etopia Island Company (ETC)
Date: May 23, 2008

Dear Freinds,

It is with much sadness that we say goodby to what seemed to be a good idea.

Etopia Island Company has been taken private and we will work with our shareholders to make up for any losses they have experienced because of the perpetual closure and inactivity of WSE.

For those who are still holding out hope that Luke will resurface and reopen the WSE, I wish you all the best of success.

Respectfully Submitted,

WilliamThewise Goodman, Founder
Etopia Island and Etopia Prime

WilliamTheWise was not immediately available for questions, but I'll happily include any additional statements he cares to provide in an updated version of this article. Further, I'd be willing to use my resources on Y2P to help facilitate communication between William and his shareholders, if needed.

Up to this point I've failed to keep a comprehensive list of all companies that have delisted or have been delisted from the WSE. If someone would care to send me a notecard (or post a comment) with that list, the date of delistment, and whether it was the company's decision or LukeConnell Vandeverre's, I'd be extremely grateful and will acknowledge your contribution in a subsequent article (unless anonymity is requested).

Update

Real life is still happening all around me at a frantic pace, so I haven't been able to do as much as I would want within Second Life. Ciaran Laval notes the unfair marketplace practices, which is true on the Linden Lab side of things - but 2 things, as noted in the title, are quite simply not happening.

First of all, WSE remains closed - now for 4 months despite promises and platitudes. I'm fairly certain that the only people surprised at this point are a minority that LukeConnell Vandeverre has assuaged into staying or threatened with having them lose their work (or something in the middle?). However that works, it quite simply doesn't look too awfully good.

And SLCapEx's SL Wallet is beginning to be doubted severely, with prices dropping despite 2 buybacks in the past. Arbitrage Wise posted that a shareholders meeting is supposed to happen this week, but I strongly suspect more people are wondering about the buyback. Full disclosure: I've got shares there, trying to compensate for my losses when JT Financial became SLWallet. However, I am not day trading - I am being bullish with spare change.

It begins to be a little disturbing when I mention WSE and SLWallet in the same breath, but there it is. There is absolutely no evidence to support SLWallet at this time, and even with promises of a shareholder meeting... things do not look well right now for WSE Live and SLWallet.