Updated September 8, 2008
Overview & Operating Philosophy
The Commonwealth Islands are home to a progressive activist community of organizations and individuals using the Second Life platform to promote progressive values and social change. Designed at ground level as carefully crafted open space ecosystems to encourage community through exploration and shared experience. We create parcels only when absolutely necessary.
The Commonwealth Islands are owned and administered by the EnviroLink Network, a foundation dedicated to helping progressive organizations adopt emerging technologies.
There are two levels of affiliation. Commonwealth Group members within Second Life receive notice of Island events. Resident organizations enjoy a range of space and build permissions depending on their need and capacity. Apply for membership here.
Benefits of Membership
Members are provisioned with a negotiated amount of space on one of the Commonwealth Islands. You are expected to keep it within the design schema of the surrounding area. Residents with a ground level presence use one of the building designs pre-approved by the Commonwealth Islands management, or submit a new design for approval. Sky Islands are floating platforms with more lenient design constraints. Commonwealth Island management will provide you with one of several buildings for your sky island, or you can build out on your own.
Rules of the Commonwealth Islands
The following are meant to support the Commonwealth Islands as an enjoyable place for residents and visitors to live, work and play:
1) NO BAN LINES: No ban lines, period. While you can not use the land setting access list or the ban by payment type options; you may however ban specific people if they violate the operating rules of the Commonwealth Islands.
2) GROUND LEVEL BUILDS must be approved by Hayduke Ebisu or another authorized representative of the Commonwealth Islands. The general theme for the ground level of the Commonwealth Islands is, within the limits of Second Life, semi-realistic natural ecosystems. The goal is to have well constructed, simple structures that fit within the natural ecosystem.
3) SKY PLATFORMS are available to Residents. There are no design requirements for sky platforms other than that they must not interfere with other Residents' builds and must remain within all prim and scripting limitations. Sky platforms will be created by Commonwealth managers and may not have their altitude changed without express permission. In general, unless there are complaints that relate to these rules, Commonwealth management will not interfere with activity in the sky platforms.
4) USE THE RESOURCES OF THE SIM IN A FAIR WAY: Scripted items are fun and a basic part of life in SL. Poorly designed scripted items suck up the bandwidth of the entire sim. From time to time, Commonwealth Island managers will do a scan and find that an item is in fact causing lag for then entire community. When this occurs, the item owner is generally contacted and asked to remove it within 12 hours of the notice being sent. If the resulting disruption to the sim is extreme, Commonwealth Island managers will return the item to the owner without talking to them first.
5) BE NICE TO RESIDENTS AND VISITORS: Disrespect among the Residents and/or visitors of the Commonwealth Islands is unacceptable. The use of weapons, offensive scripting (those used to attack or inhibit other avatars) or other forms of harassment will not be tolerated in any form and are grounds for immediate banning.
6) BUSINESS ACTIVITIES: Many non-profit organizations are members of the Commonwealth Islands Community and it is expected that they will undertake activities to promote their mission. For profit enterprises are also welcome on the Commonwealth Islands, as long as they are in sync with the mission of the space. The EnviroLink Network and the Commonwealth Islands managers have the right to prohibit any business activity deemed to be unaligned with the mission of the space. All types of business activities must be approved by the Commonwealth Islands management in advance.
7) PAYMENTS for land "rental" will only be accepted in US Dollars through Paypal. All payments can be made through the following web page: http://www.commonwealthisland.org/payment Please make sure to select the proper subscription level for your organization (individual organization or sim-wide lease).
8) PROPERTY BOUNDARIES/OWNERSHIP: The Commonwealth Islands management group retains ownership of all land. Parcels may be subdivided by Commonwealth management in order to accommodate an organization's inclusion in search results and/or to create separate media settings for the Resident. In general, all land on the Commonwealth Islands is considered to be PUBLIC space and is not considered private property. Residents are expected to help strike a balance between their needs and the needs of the community as a whole. Residents MAY NOT resell, sublet or otherwise rent the space provisioned by the Commonwealth Management.
9) BUILDING RIGHTS will be strictly controlled by the Commonwealth management in order to protect against griefers or any other disruptions. A special level within the Commonwealth group has been established to allow members to build on any of the sims and access to that level will be controlled by Commonwealth management. No exceptions will be made to this rule unless deemed absolutely necessary by the Commonwealth management. Residents may not change any parcel settings to allow building by others.
10) TIER PAYMENTS: Tier is the fee that all land owners pay to cover the cost of running and maintaining the servers that host a specific region. When you rent land on a private sim you do not pay Linden Lab directly. Instead you pay the EnviroLink Network which in turn pays Linden Lab. You do NOT need to be a premium member of Second Life to rent space on the Commonwealth Islands.
11) TERMINATION DUE TO PAYMENT FAILURE: Residents who do not pay the tier due at the end of each payment cycle, are contacted though IM and email to request payment. If payment is not received within 48 hours, we will be forced to clear your land and reclaim it. If this happens, you will not be entitled to a refund of any fees already paid. There there will be no exceptions. If you will be leaving town on holiday, we suggest you make sure you are covered for the time you will be gone. If you are not able to log into Second Life, please contact Hayduke Ebisu via email. Make a note of this email address and keep it where you can get it if you are unable to log into Second Life: websupport@envirolink.org
12) TERMINATION DUE TO COVENANT VIOLATIONS: Warnings will be issued for all covenant infractions. Grave or repeated offenses against our covenant may result in immediate and permanent bans. Should residents be banned, their objects will be returned to their inventory. Please be sure that you understand the covenant, as there will be absolutely no refunds for land purchase or tier payments if you are banned.
13) VOLUNTARY TERMINATION: Any Residents may relinquish their Resident status on the Commonwealth Islands. There will be no refund of the tier already paid if you choose to leave.
14) GRID OUTAGES AND BUGS: Please understand that the Commonwealth Islands, the EnviroLink Network and the Commonwealth management have the same problems as you do when it comes to bugs, update down time, griefer caused grid outages and any other problems that make the Commonwealth Islands either slow or unavailable. No refunds or compensation to make up for these inconveniences will be offered.
15) PAYMENT
Individual Organization Membership: All organizations/individuals who wish to have space on the Commonwealth Islands pay a minimum fee of $30 (US currency) per month through the EnviroLink Network's Paypal account.
Sim-Wide Lease: If your organization wishes to lease an entire sim, the fee is $150 per month (the actual cost to EnviroLink from Linden Labs) through the EnviroLink Network's Paypal account..
We have set up a convenient subscription payment system at the following URL: http://www.commonwealthisland.org/payment All transactions are final and there will be no refunds under any circumstances.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have further questions or comments about these rules or the Commonwealth Islands in general, contact Hayduke Ebisu.
Overview & Operating Philosophy
The Commonwealth Islands are home to a progressive activist community of organizations and individuals using the Second Life platform to promote progressive values and social change. Designed at ground level as carefully crafted open space ecosystems to encourage community through exploration and shared experience. We create parcels only when absolutely necessary.
The Commonwealth Islands are owned and administered by the EnviroLink Network, a foundation dedicated to helping progressive organizations adopt emerging technologies.
There are two levels of affiliation. Commonwealth Group members within Second Life receive notice of Island events. Resident organizations enjoy a range of space and build permissions depending on their need and capacity. Apply for membership here.
Benefits of Membership
Members are provisioned with a negotiated amount of space on one of the Commonwealth Islands. You are expected to keep it within the design schema of the surrounding area. Residents with a ground level presence use one of the building designs pre-approved by the Commonwealth Islands management, or submit a new design for approval. Sky Islands are floating platforms with more lenient design constraints. Commonwealth Island management will provide you with one of several buildings for your sky island, or you can build out on your own.
Rules of the Commonwealth Islands
The following are meant to support the Commonwealth Islands as an enjoyable place for residents and visitors to live, work and play:
1) NO BAN LINES: No ban lines, period. While you can not use the land setting access list or the ban by payment type options; you may however ban specific people if they violate the operating rules of the Commonwealth Islands.
2) GROUND LEVEL BUILDS must be approved by Hayduke Ebisu or another authorized representative of the Commonwealth Islands. The general theme for the ground level of the Commonwealth Islands is, within the limits of Second Life, semi-realistic natural ecosystems. The goal is to have well constructed, simple structures that fit within the natural ecosystem.
3) SKY PLATFORMS are available to Residents. There are no design requirements for sky platforms other than that they must not interfere with other Residents' builds and must remain within all prim and scripting limitations. Sky platforms will be created by Commonwealth managers and may not have their altitude changed without express permission. In general, unless there are complaints that relate to these rules, Commonwealth management will not interfere with activity in the sky platforms.
4) USE THE RESOURCES OF THE SIM IN A FAIR WAY: Scripted items are fun and a basic part of life in SL. Poorly designed scripted items suck up the bandwidth of the entire sim. From time to time, Commonwealth Island managers will do a scan and find that an item is in fact causing lag for then entire community. When this occurs, the item owner is generally contacted and asked to remove it within 12 hours of the notice being sent. If the resulting disruption to the sim is extreme, Commonwealth Island managers will return the item to the owner without talking to them first.
5) BE NICE TO RESIDENTS AND VISITORS: Disrespect among the Residents and/or visitors of the Commonwealth Islands is unacceptable. The use of weapons, offensive scripting (those used to attack or inhibit other avatars) or other forms of harassment will not be tolerated in any form and are grounds for immediate banning.
6) BUSINESS ACTIVITIES: Many non-profit organizations are members of the Commonwealth Islands Community and it is expected that they will undertake activities to promote their mission. For profit enterprises are also welcome on the Commonwealth Islands, as long as they are in sync with the mission of the space. The EnviroLink Network and the Commonwealth Islands managers have the right to prohibit any business activity deemed to be unaligned with the mission of the space. All types of business activities must be approved by the Commonwealth Islands management in advance.
7) PAYMENTS for land "rental" will only be accepted in US Dollars through Paypal. All payments can be made through the following web page: http://www.commonwealthisland.org/payment Please make sure to select the proper subscription level for your organization (individual organization or sim-wide lease).
8) PROPERTY BOUNDARIES/OWNERSHIP: The Commonwealth Islands management group retains ownership of all land. Parcels may be subdivided by Commonwealth management in order to accommodate an organization's inclusion in search results and/or to create separate media settings for the Resident. In general, all land on the Commonwealth Islands is considered to be PUBLIC space and is not considered private property. Residents are expected to help strike a balance between their needs and the needs of the community as a whole. Residents MAY NOT resell, sublet or otherwise rent the space provisioned by the Commonwealth Management.
9) BUILDING RIGHTS will be strictly controlled by the Commonwealth management in order to protect against griefers or any other disruptions. A special level within the Commonwealth group has been established to allow members to build on any of the sims and access to that level will be controlled by Commonwealth management. No exceptions will be made to this rule unless deemed absolutely necessary by the Commonwealth management. Residents may not change any parcel settings to allow building by others.
10) TIER PAYMENTS: Tier is the fee that all land owners pay to cover the cost of running and maintaining the servers that host a specific region. When you rent land on a private sim you do not pay Linden Lab directly. Instead you pay the EnviroLink Network which in turn pays Linden Lab. You do NOT need to be a premium member of Second Life to rent space on the Commonwealth Islands.
11) TERMINATION DUE TO PAYMENT FAILURE: Residents who do not pay the tier due at the end of each payment cycle, are contacted though IM and email to request payment. If payment is not received within 48 hours, we will be forced to clear your land and reclaim it. If this happens, you will not be entitled to a refund of any fees already paid. There there will be no exceptions. If you will be leaving town on holiday, we suggest you make sure you are covered for the time you will be gone. If you are not able to log into Second Life, please contact Hayduke Ebisu via email. Make a note of this email address and keep it where you can get it if you are unable to log into Second Life: websupport@envirolink.org
12) TERMINATION DUE TO COVENANT VIOLATIONS: Warnings will be issued for all covenant infractions. Grave or repeated offenses against our covenant may result in immediate and permanent bans. Should residents be banned, their objects will be returned to their inventory. Please be sure that you understand the covenant, as there will be absolutely no refunds for land purchase or tier payments if you are banned.
13) VOLUNTARY TERMINATION: Any Residents may relinquish their Resident status on the Commonwealth Islands. There will be no refund of the tier already paid if you choose to leave.
14) GRID OUTAGES AND BUGS: Please understand that the Commonwealth Islands, the EnviroLink Network and the Commonwealth management have the same problems as you do when it comes to bugs, update down time, griefer caused grid outages and any other problems that make the Commonwealth Islands either slow or unavailable. No refunds or compensation to make up for these inconveniences will be offered.
15) PAYMENT
Individual Organization Membership: All organizations/individuals who wish to have space on the Commonwealth Islands pay a minimum fee of $30 (US currency) per month through the EnviroLink Network's Paypal account.
Sim-Wide Lease: If your organization wishes to lease an entire sim, the fee is $150 per month (the actual cost to EnviroLink from Linden Labs) through the EnviroLink Network's Paypal account..
We have set up a convenient subscription payment system at the following URL: http://www.commonwealthisland.org/payment All transactions are final and there will be no refunds under any circumstances.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have further questions or comments about these rules or the Commonwealth Islands in general, contact Hayduke Ebisu.