It's gone too far.  Now I'm being wished death, yay. I've taken my skins down and am taking some time away from the game.  I may be back, I don't know if the skins will be.  On the one hand, this is heartwrenching because I've worked really damn hard for the last two years to make a successful business for myself, but on the other it's just not worth it. I'm tired of being stolen from, bitched about, made a public joke of.

So, congratulations to the people who set out on the smear capaign. It worked wonders. The facts and truth are all twisted and somehow I am to blame for everything that happened to Torrid.  So bravo. *claps*

Bye. ,|,, >.< ,,|,

Turning comments off since anonymous fuckwits just can't resist the lure of a text field and a chance to agree with themselves.

Comments

[Joannah Cramer]

I can only say here pretty much what i said on Torrid's departure; i really really hope you won't decide to leave for good, and that you will come back eventually. It'd be a shame if the asshats that can't be arsed to think for themselves but are happy to hurt without a remorse managed to drive away people that actually make SL a better place :/

[Zoe Llewelyn]

I echo Joannah. I am beyond sad to see what is happening, and I pray that both you and Torrid will return when you are able. SL would be much less without you Starley. When talented, wonderful people leave SL, we all lose. Best of luck and I hope you reconsider.

[antonia marat]

I'm tired of this crap, and I'm not even involved. I can understand your need to take some time off SL. So much drama lately!Sorry to hear that you're taking a break, and sorry to hear Torrid is doing the same thing. I see both sides of the story; I think what was done by the Midnights was wrong (not asking for permission), but it's gotten way outta hand.

Come back soon!

[Willow]

I can only say what others are saying, this has all gone WAY too damn far and gotten so out of hand it's unfooking believable.

I love you to pieces, as does everyone I damn well know and I so hope this break does you well, but that you want to come back to us.

You have my yahoo, use it if you EVER need it <3<3<3

[Nightravyn]

It's horrible how something go so bad so fast. Having been in a few online communities that had their own share of blow-ups, insanity and hurtful things being said, it's completely understandable for everyone to take a time out and get away for a while. That said, I think SL would be the big losers if you both left for good.

:;offering well-wishes and peace, tho they might be from a relative newbie::

[mis]

I don't want you to go, from beginning to end I still like you. we've talked privately about this already, and I wish it would have stayed private. That's why I never named anyone in the blog :( --- all of which is removed.

I'm so sorry this is all happening.

[Sol]

Hugs Starley. I understand where you're coming from. Obviously I want to keep you around in SL for selfish reasons since you're one of my very best friends I've ever met online and I don't want you to leave. Even so, I'll support whatever you do. I hope that with a little time away and some distance that you'll have a change of heart and come back even if it's in a different way. Sigh.

[Lash]

It's good you'll get some rest from this. Clear your mind. BUT do consider coming back. Everyone involved is stronger than this. And it should've never been brought to public. And it's sad to see the ones directly involved are the ones being driven away and hurt than the ones who fueled the fire just for the hell of it.

[lost]

:( !!! Im really sad to see you go. Your skins are amazing and will be missed too. :( Please do not consider this perminent. Facts and thruths have been twisted for sure... Well enough of the pointing fingers and escalating drama. Enough is enough. Hopefully all of this settles down and we can move on, even if some do not feel the need to resolve it privately. :\ This got majorly ugly, comments made by some people are unbelievable. Nice job people for trying to turn this shit around.

[Lizbeth]

Starley, I like you, and I love your skins, but you and Torrid are acting in True DIVA style atm, and it's just plain sad.
Get OVER it. It's SECOND life BULLSHIT. and this too shall pass.

The price you pay for being famous in any life is that your life will be in the public eye. You didn't ask for that, but no one famous ever does. Move on, make the most of the publicity and do what makes you happy.

Somehow I don't think leaving SL is going to make you happy...

[Ninja Petion & Zoey Pinkdot]

It saddens us so much to see what is going on in Second Life right now. Jealous sad excuses for human beings are disguising themselves as alts and doing everything they can to take down those who are doing/succeeding better than they are....I guarantee in the hopes that you all will leave and they will prosper because of it. Its sad and disgusting. We have not had the opportunity to really get to know either you, Torrid, or Starley...but I, Zoey, have asked both of you many times on tips or suggestions for things that I may have wanted to make or find. And both of you were nothing but absolutely generous, kind, and giving with your information. Its hard not to let harsh words get you down and in the midst of it..it all looks grim. But trust me...more people know that the rumor spreaders are mere jokes than those that actual believe it. So take a break for your sanity...and come back with your head held high and your ideas bursting. They may think they have won...but often times it only takes a small break to bring out the best ideas/creativity in a person. You and Starley will both come back hard hitting and ironically be able to thank those that caused you to leave. You WILL prosper in the end. Until then, anything you need...feel free to contact myself or Ninja and we will do what we can. We look forward to your return. We're gonna post this at Starley's blog as well. It applies to both of you as you both are truley talented and beautiful individuals.

[Ninja Petion & Zoey Pinkdot]

Meant to say we were gonna post this on Torrid's as well.....made a general post for you and Torrid...felt you both should read it as it applied to both of you. Sorry for the mixup.

[Kalia Meiklejohn]

Even though I don't know you personally Starley, please know I think you're a wonderful designer, one of the best! I hope you realize that people who say horrible and untrue things about you only do it to make themselves feel better. I don't want you or Torrid to leave. Most people don't believe the stuff that is being spread around anyway, and it will blow over.
Let's leave whatever happened to be sorted out by the parties involved!

[elika]

Lizbeth,
Let me first say...
Being shaken because someone wished death on you is not diva-ish. Whether or not it's a bunch of fucktards who can't distinguish their ass from a hole in the ground....hearing the words "I'd wish you die" is a fucking eye-opener...that SL is not worth this kind of torment PERIOD! I'm actually quite pissed that anyone would call Starley or Torrid a diva. If they feel shaken up enough to leave...that's their perogative..don't you think? SL is not worth the stress of this. I'm not sure how many people know what it's like to have your IM's flooded everytime you log in with vileness and crap...after a while it eats at you. And I truly understand Starley's decision....as we've had many conversations about this whole fiasco.

I do wish Starley the best...and I hope you do find your way back to SL...because I know deep down inside you love what you do...and hopefully that's enough to bring you back.

In the mean time....spend time with that beautiful daughter of yours and CTRL-ALT-DELETE and reboot. Gonna miss you Starbutt!

[Canimal]

Starley, I love you so much. Youre the most beautiful generous giving talanted funny loving friendly cool creative caring & just amazing person!! I consider myself so lucky for having someone like u as my friend. I realy hope you'll come back cos I wouldn't be able to stand SL w/out you. You so don't deserve any of this.

[Lizbeth]

Part of being famous is taking the crap with the recognition, dealing with the petty jealousies and rising above it.

People made death threats? I thought they just said, wish you would die...or other just as rude/awful things.

People say all kinds of crappy things when they are anonymous. So what? It's a fucktard hiding behind their anonymity.

Tucking tail and running only makes them the winners. It's Diva-ish the way this whole thing has gone down. Sorry to offend, just my opinion, right in there with everyone elses. And I do appreciate your opinion, you are a friend of Starley and it's normal to defend a friend.

[Violet Xingjian]

I'll continue wearing the skins I've gotten from you! You and Torrid will be very missed. Come back sooooooon...

Alts are arses x.X;

[Lola Marquez]

Starley,

As others, I have not had the good fortune of knowing you personally. However through your beautiful designs and heartwarming contributions to the community, I have seen how wonderful of a person you are.

I hope you find happiness on your break, and come back revived and refreshed. We will be waiting.

Love always,
Lola Marquez

[Camie Cooper]

This is bull shit, I am sorry, this is utter fucking BULL SHIT.

No one other than Starley, Torrid, Mistress and Lost should have had ANYTHING to do with this subject. Now I am only guessing here, but I am pretty sure none of them are the ones that said anything to Starley to make her want to leave, which means somone else did, somone else who had NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF THIS did.

It's a load of crap, how can somone go out of their way, somone whom it's none of their buisness, and make Starley, and Torrid for that matter, feel they need to leave a game, a game full of friends and admirers. I am so mad at this, this game, the people, the fuckers who invented the GL hack thing, EVERYONE. It's all turned into a damn soap opra, and it's not going to change. If things keep going this way, I can see a lot more people leaving, including me!

Starley, no matter what drama you and I may have had in the past, I love you, I respect you and I am thankfull that I got to know you. I think what has happned to you is well, crap, and you don't deserve any of this. In time, things will get better, I hope, and we will see you again. Untill then, keep your head up!

[Starley]

Thanks, Camie, let me make that totally clear!

Neither Mistress nor Torrid had anything to do with my decision!!!

I apologize for posting in haste, I think the entire thing took me about 17 seconds to compose. As evidenced by my well thought out and awesomely designed emoticon man at the end.

I am not saying goodbye to SL forever, it's just NOT somewhere I want to be right now.

I already have six books here I want to read and I just ordered five more, plus two video games, and a new cd and I added the Battlestar Galactica series to my netflix queue, so we'll see how I feel when all that is gone through.

I just want this to blow over, sorry if some people feel that having "fame" means I'm not allowed to have feelings. But if I don't, I sure did a bang-up job of pretending they were hurt. I even managed to squeeze some tear like fluid from my eyes, illiciting both a hug AND a grilled cheese sandwich from my husband. All the while, my inner diva cackled victoriously. Note: that was sarcasm. Of course my feelings are hurt and I am upset. When you see your name trashed on every SL website and so many people wishing you ill or death, then how about you decide what's overreacting, ok, Lizbeth?

As for skins: they're just more trouble than they're worth anymore. I am so happy that so many people enjoyed them. Unfortunately, their popularity has also made them a frequent target for theft. I've been sick of dealing with it for a long time now as it seems to crop up about once a week. Well if I don't sell them, they can't get stolen. If they don't get stolen, I can't get sad/mad/angry/upset.

IF (and that's a big IF) I do decide to venture into skins again, I guess they will be handled totally differently. Especially since some asshole alt passed me a demo he'd intercepted and wiped the demo marks off of. Hey, score one for fair use!

So: demos will be a thing of the past, which makes selling skins a lot suckier. I guess I'd make a new line, priced cheap enough that either people wouldn't want to steal them or cheap enough that I won't care so much when they do.

Anyway, I'll see you all when I get through this massive stack of media. :)

[sickNtired]

Awww. boo-hoo. Just leave already and quit your bitching. Do us all a favor and take all of these ass-kissers with you.

[Jolie Lumiere]

Starley,

I came to SL about the same time you did from There.com, I was uber thrilled when you started making your beautiful skins and other creations here. I've always been a huge fan, you've always been so helpful and sweet. Never forget when I boo hoo'd to you about wanting the "old ass" on my Passport skins and voila! you made them for me YAY! I'm sad because I wear your skins 95% of my time in SL and there won't be any new but I'm MORE sad because this drama bullshit that always seems to creep up between designers has chased you out of SL. You're going to be missed like crazy!!Take care of yourself, destress from all the bullshit and I pray you'll be back to brighten all our days!! :)

[lost]

"Awww. boo-hoo. Just leave already and quit your bitching. Do us all a favor and take all of these ass-kissers with you."

fuck off dude; what's up with the shitty comment

[Tiger]

If your going to act like a child who can't handle pressure it's better that you quit sl.

Grow up or get out.

[Kimberly]

...

[Twiddler]

Starley,

Please don't listen to the haters and fucktards. You are an incredible artist and an awesome person. You constantly inspire me. I know we've had a couple ups and downs in the past, but you've always been a true wonderful friend. The internet will always have forum assholes...try not to let them get to you.

*hugs and love*

[Twiddler]

hey fake, crook, bastard, anon, alt-loving, I can only post when I hide, fucktard...why do you hide if you have such important things to say?

Andy Dunn
aka Twiddler

[Cytra]

Hi Starley,

I'm sorry to hear about all this drama. I am sad that you took down your skins and hope to see them back up soon, because despite the thiefs you still do very well for yourself. You are an inspiration to the rest of us who see the potential of Second Life, and I am looking forward to seeing you continue leading and guiding the community with your cheerfulness and helpful tips. Unfortunately, both online and in real life, people feel like they need to take strong people down to get off on their power trips. What have these other people contributed to Second Life that give their comments any weight? Hardly anything commendable. You are Starley, and they are not, and they therefore have every reason to envy you. They don't even come up to your ankles, so smear their names out, not yours! By listening and reacting so much, you are giving people who don't contribute anything but negativity a voice. I hope this all works out soon, and I also hope to see you in world when you've collected yourself together again. I wish you a wonderful vacation!

*Hugs*

[KimberlyCasanova]

Ahh. Not that it matters too much because I know you're not too fond of me, BUT I noticed someone posted an ugly comment using the name Kimberly. I just wanted you to be aware that's it's not this Kimberly!

Wish you the best.

[KimberlyCasanova]

Guh. Typo. My bad. That it's not*