Linden Lab blinks

As you would know by now, Linden Lab recently changed policy on the resident-run Second Life fifth anniversary, essentially switching from a role of donating the virtual land resources for the event to an active management role, overriding the organizing committee and excluding certain community groups, switching the whole event from a predominantly mature event to an entirely G-rated occasion.

Linden Lab's representatives told those involved that in the current political climate they feared a potential partial or complete shutdown of Second Life through legal avenues. Some organizers quit publicly, others simply hunkered down and quit operating silently, and some groups pulled out of the whole event.

Now, it appears, Linden Lab has blinked.

In a post today, Everett Linden has announced a partial reversal of the policy, while studiously avoiding any specific mention of the groups that had been excluded. This is the first official statement of policy on the matter by Linden Lab, and it contradicts direct statements made to users by Dusty Linden and Everett Linden (Update: and also Robin Linden -- see below) through unofficial channels.

So, either Linden Lab has blinked and changed their minds, or those earlier statements did not constitute Linden Lab policy. At this point, it is difficult to tell which.

It's clear, though, that Linden Lab is the top of the totem pole in for this event. The post hasn't left any doubt in our minds that it has adopted editorial control over the fifth anniversary -- a departure from previous years.

The whole event this time will be PG (for the USA and many other countries that is the equivalent of a G-rating in film terms) rather than the predominantly mature event that was originally planned.

Linden Lab is extending the event from one week to two, and tellingly is extending the deadline for submissions. The most obvious deduction to make is that too many groups pulled out of the event, or being very mature communities were excluded by the change in content policy -- or both.

What reasons does Linden Lab officially give for the changes? These two:

1. The increasing complexity of these events requires more staffing and infrastructure than an all-volunteer organizing team.

2. We are responding to calls by Residents to take a more active role in improving the quality of life on the Mainland.

We're not sure how the second one is even relevant. Maybe this accidentally got copy/pasted from a post about Bay City. Gentle readers, what is your take?

Update: (10:35PM SLT) We've just been given word that at least two SL Kids builds have been approved.