The Review and You

Another Wednesday, another Safari. Each time, the group is different. Sometimes there are loads of us, sometimes people trying the tour for the first time, sometimes it's a more intimate group of regulars - and what you might define as the 'regulars' has also morphed and evolved over the years, with familiar faces disappearing and new ones taking their place, a bit like the constant ebb and flow of opensim itself. It's not an exclusive group, anyone's welcome, for as often as you choose to join us.
Our plans changed at the very very last minute, which is why it's so handy to meet ahead of time at the Clubhouse so you don't miss anything. Here's what we got up to...

Ayla Alvarez: hi gang

Thirza Ember: hello lovelies

Taarna Welles: Heya

Alex Salamander: Hello Thirza :-)

Thirza Ember: it looks like the first destination may have some big last minute problems

Taarna Welles: O dear,  Can we switch to the second?

Ayla Alvarez: the second hour is having problems too?

Thirza Ember: no, the second will be fine, but I'd like to do something different with this first hour

Jupiter Rowland: Hi everyone!

Ayla Alvarez: here comes the bunny again...

Yara Eilde: Hallo Jupiter

Ayla Alvarez: oh...there are two bunnies

Jupiter Rowland: Three even.

Tina Bey: hola a todos!!

Ayla Alvarez: I bet there are more, you know how rabbits can multiply

Alex Salamander: Hallo Dings

Ayla Alvarez: hello Tina

Thirza Ember: just making sure I joined the translator

Dings Digital: does the translator work?

Ayla Alvarez: I think google changed the translator address a couple of times

Dings Digital: translator didnt work yesterday... Google is improving the internet experience

Jupiter Rowland: Oh snap!

Translator: Translation Enabled

Translator: You are added to Translator HUB for [en]

Translator: We're sorry... ... but your computer or network may be sending automated queries. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now. See <a href="https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/86640">Google Help</a> for more information.

Thirza Ember: oh I see the translator is not working. sigh So I will speak clearly and slowly LOL

Jupiter Rowland: Hehehe...

Thirza Ember: Our first destination cannot be reached today due to a last minute problem. But I want to tell you something about Inworld Review... do you know Inworld Review?

Alex Salamander: No

Jupiter Rowland: I do, yes.

Ayla Alvarez: no...tell us!

Thirza Ember: It is a talk show on YouTube it's about Opensim

Ayla Alvarez: cool

Thirza Ember: Inworld Review began about 13 years ago, Mal Burns was the host. Over the years, I also became a host, and later Tosha, and Petlove, and James Atlloud is the cameraman. We still make the show, with some small changes in the format, the studio and so on. If you look on the wall you will see the youtube page, if you can't see it,  here is the link https://www.youtube.com/@inworldreview. Jupiter has been a guest on the show... Jup can you tell us about being a guest?

Jupiter Rowland: Well, if you've got something interesting to tell about OpenSim, or if you're kind of influential in OpenSim, it's likely that you're invited to Inworld Review sooner or later, I guess. It's 100% live, and it's done via voice, this or that way.

Thirza Ember: that's right. If you would like to see the place where we film it, we can jump there

Dings Digital: good idea

Taarna Welles: In which show are you in Jupiter? Oh wait - I found it

Thirza Ember: This is the studio building. The main structure was originally made by Jimmy Olsen, I modified it a bit and of course, we are on the same sim as the Expo, if you cam out you can see it. The next Expo is planned for the spring of 2027 

Alex Salamander: nice studio

Dings Digital: can I greet my family?

Jupiter Rowland: I don't think we're on air.

Thirza Ember: as you can see the sofa for the guests and the hosts... if anyone wants to be in the audience they can come here, these seats are for the audience

The bench where the public can sit during Inworld Review

Jupiter Rowland: And the kitty is still here.

Thirza Ember: we make the show using the voice from Discord most of the time, because it is 'more reliable' than Vivox... the show was every week on a Sunday when Mal was alive... for reasons of RL convenience, now we do a live show  2 times a month on a Sunday at 8pm in Europe - that's 11am SLT. It's the second and fourth Sunday each time. I know, it's hard to remember an appointment on the second and fourth of anything, so of course, you can also watch the show after the live broadcast. But if you watch Live, you have the advantage of being able to chat with us in Youtube.

Taarna Welles: Is there a discord group?

Thirza Ember: yes, there are several Discord servers - one for Inworld Revue, one for HG safari and one for HIE the Hypergrid International Expo. The studio is on the same region that we use for the Expo.

Typical Facebook Event for the Safari

Thirza Ember: this is Inworld Review Discord Server   this is HIE Discord Server - those invites only last one month, if you would like to join after that time, just let me know. On the HG Safari Discord server and in Facebook also, I make an Event to show when there is a HG Safari tour and when there is a new Inworld Review show

Taarna Welles: Done :)

Jupiter Rowland: I think the episode with me was the only one that was done with in-world voice. Took a while to get going, but it worked out in the end.

Thirza Ember: the shows when Mal was alive were on a different Youtube channel MalBurnsMetaworld   Since then, our show is on the dedicated Youtube channel Inworld Review. For example, this week, our guest was Dr Dave from Groovyverse, the man who made that train in the desert going to Reno, and on each show, I do a segment in the show called 'Hypergrid Happenings' talking about upcoming events

Dr Dave on Inworld Review

Dings Digital: the show is good, and the segment, too. so important for opensim. and a nice way to get some news and insights from different perspectives

Taarna Welles: Mal... I miss him still

Thirza Ember: yes! when Mal was alive, the show was sometimes very long...  so now, we do just 1 hour, no more lol

Jupiter Rowland: Yeah, I had one eye on the clock all the time. Good thing I didn't start rambling.

Taarna Welles: Thirza, what do you prefer. MeWe or Discord?

Typical Discord event notice

Thirza Ember: I check Discord much more than Mewe because so many Opensim people are there. The FB group for HG Safari is even bigger - it has over 500 people, and on Discord, there are 138 in the HG Safari server, and 117 on the Inworld Review server - many are on both servers. That makes it more efficient to post info about events on social media, but apart from the convenience, I don't like any social media very much.

Dings Digital: discord is the worst

Taarna Welles: Why is Discord the worst?

Dings Digital: discord is overloaded and loud and attention fiasco

Ayla Alvarez: I know...its a drag :-(

Taarna Welles: Lol Dings

Tina Bey: I hate discord

 While Discord can be a lifeline for some who wish to connect with friends and send emojis, memes, and gifs, I work hard to keep my Discord servers free from a lot of chat. Why? because it is annoying, and people Mute annoying channels, which means they also Mute information about our events.

Thirza Ember: the Inworld Review now  has a new extra feature/format... on occasion, in the weeks when there is no Live show, we will be showing shorter  programs, called Inworld Review Update or IWR Update for short  like the one with Lone Wolf, explaining his new Viewer...

Thirza Ember: ...this Sunday a new episode will drop with Gundahar Bravin of Neverworld, explaining his new Event website, it's a bit like opensimworld, but with no chatting/trolling 

Taarna Welles: I have to check all the latest shows

Ayla Alvarez: have you used the viewer and are you happy with it?

Thirza Ember: Alya, they are all a work in progress,  I'm not sure any are perfect, but they are all interesting. Inworld Review tells the story of opensim going back to the 2010's. Most of the episodes are on Mal's Youtube channel, but everything made in the last year and a half is on Inworld Review channel... we are always interested to have new guests, and to do interviews in languages other than English, so if you know someone who would be a good candidate to come on the show, send me an IM any time

Tina Bey: eso seria muy bueno

Thirza Ember: I am still hoping to get Tina to do an interview in Spanish, with Xirana Oximoxi... lol eventually we will succeed!

Taarna Welles: Or an interview in Dutch? Maybe Forest is interested? I can ask her?

Thirza Ember: I would love that Taarna, Forest has been a guest several times on the show, but in English

Taarna Welles: I had a few interviews too, long time ago

Jupiter Rowland: I think OpenSim has enough Dutch users for a full Dutch spin-off.

Dings Digital: good idea. and French and Italian

Thirza Ember: hey why don't you all try out the couch?

Jupiter Rowland: Don't invite Juno. She might pay more attention to the kitty than to the show.

Ayla Alvarez: that would be my job

Ayla sitting in the central armchair

Thirza Ember: where Alya is sitting is the chairperson's place. We usually swap around who does the introduction from week to week.

 Ayla Alvarez: GRINS

Thirza Ember: usually I sit around where Taarna is, then i change the pictures behind on the screen for the segment Hypergrid Happenings

Ayla Alvarez: so I am in the chairpersons seat and everyone else is in the couchpersons seats

Thirza Ember: it's just a different way to inform people about opensim. And in Youtube, you can add subtitles in your own language

Taarna Welles: That’s true.

Dings Digital: and it is good to get to know a bit about the people

Thirza Ember: I think we have had about 300 guests since I have been associated with Inworld Review it's not just grid owners, it's all kinds of people, and you are all invited to be on the show if you wish

Jupiter Rowland: Hey, when I was here, I didn't even have my own sim.

Dings Digital: and it makes you rich and famous

Thirza Ember: famous yes, rich, maybe not

Dings Digital: I watch (nearly) every episode, and usually comment, with my alt...  as YouTube does YouTube things - being the most *intelligent* company in the world - it not always reminds when the show is on

Thirza Ember: I try to put a Event in discord, and in a few other places, but it's not easy to reach everyone

Tina Bey: creo que en Facebook, es lo ideal

Ayla Alvarez: some people are unreachable

Thirza Ember: OK well, I thank you all for your patience, and I hope you will share the info about Inworld Review with people you know... I just spoke to our hosts at Mexico Lindo... they say, please come early!

Jupiter Rowland: So everything has got enough time to rez. Ourselves included.

Ayla Alvarez: ╔═╦═╦═╦══╦═╦═╦══╦╦═╗

Ayla Alvarez: ║═╣║║║╠╗╔╣║║╚╬╗╔╣║╔╝

Ayla Alvarez: ║╔╣╦║║║║║║╦╠╗║║║║║╚╗

Ayla Alvarez: ╚╝╚╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩═╩╩╩╩╩═╝

Ayla Alvarez: it sounds wonderful, Thirza....Thankyou for your role in creating such a community resource for us all :-)

Tina Bey: Yes, thank you so much, Thirza! We don't feel alone in OpenSim, hehehe