Two weeks ago, when I started paying close attention to Ginko (full coverage here), a Second Life blogger (who I won’t name) emailed me this:

Ultimately, all do-gooders like yourself have to ask yourself what can be done *when Linden Lab itself will do nothing.*

That sounded like a challenge, and one that was worth taking up. And the answer to that question, it turns out, is “quite a bit.” Ginko is no more.

I’m certainly neither so stupid nor so proud as to think that the end of Ginko is my doing, but it is the doing of thousands of virtual world citizens who dragged the issue right out in front of everyone and refused to let it go, and I am proud that I was one of them. It’s dozens of posters in the official forums. It’s a few brave depositors asking hard questions on Ginko’s boards and getting pummeled for it. It’s hundreds of customers at Ginko ATMs who wouldn’t stop insisting on answers. It’s Ginko’s volunteers, who often provided information honestly and without pretense even when management wouldn’t. And it’s the persistent comment posters on every site who wouldn’t let the apologists, the pretenders, and the shills win.

In short, it’s community action at its very finest. And I’m glad I’ve been part of it.

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In a recent press release that claims it is “the UK’s first virtual law firm” (actually, Field Fisher Waterhouse was first, by my math, but this is interesting nonetheless), a firm called “Legality Solicitors” announces that it “has recently provided advice to BJL Group Limited, the largest independent advertising agency outside London, on the legal issues surrounding the creation of ‘Mancunia’, based on a famous part of Manchester, in Second Life.”

VB passed a mini-milestone a few weeks ago and I didn’t realize it until a reader pointed it out: July 21 was the site’s six-month anniversary. Hardly an eternity, but it’s nice to be past the infamous “six month wall.” That makes now a good time to implement a few changes I’ve been planning.

One change is the removal of “Snap Shots” (the little popup link previews that showed a mini version of the linked page). I’ve read some good arguments for getting rid of them, and a couple of readers complained about them too. For those who like the feature (which I, personally, do) there is now a multi-platform browser extension available, so you can get the option on all sites, not just ones where it is enabled.

I’m also streamlining the features here. I’m getting rid of the collections of unrelated short items that were running as “Quicklinks.” I’ve learned that they’re hard for other writers to link to, and I’ve also noticed that they never generated good discussion in comments, likely because there was no focus to the feature. I’m also getting rid “Reader Roundtables.” Readers have found the comments here now and use them regularly, so who am I to say what people should talk about? I’m also giving “Three Things” the boot (and I bet you didn’t even know about that one). I periodically — okay, twice — ran thematic “Three things…” lists, but it always felt pretty gimmicky, and, like Quicklinks, was difficult for other writers to link to.

It’s not all taking and no giving though; there are new features on the way.

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VB’s coverage of Ginko continues to attract a lot of attention. Although I’m not running new stories on the subject at the moment (mainly because, from a legal perspective, there’s not much left to analyze right now) I want readers visiting the site for the first time to easily be able to find these articles.

To that end, here is a permalink directly to all of VB’s articles on Ginko, dating back to February. This link will be automatically updated to include any stories added going forward. You can also find these stories under “Ginko Financial” in the “Virtually Blind Series” category, on the right sidebar.