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by Trichelle Rivera Hello everyone, this article is actually quite personal. And I'm doing this to get the opinions of others on a matter that has evolved into a war between my former partner and I. Aside from being a freelance writer for SL Reports, I am also a shape-maker. For those that aren't familiar with what a shape-maker does-- I create shapes that provides avatars with a distinct look to compliment the skin of his/her choice. I haven't found a place yet to market and promote my shapes, but I'm in the process of doing so. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll accomplish that. Well, to make a long story short, my partner and I broke up for numerous reasons. That aspect I wish not to go into, as I respect his privacy and think that it would be unfair of me to do such a thing. However, when things suddenly turned for the worst, in a fit of rage and vindictiveness-- my ex requested that I no longer use the name (which I will not mention lol) to represent my business. As you can imagine, I was absolutely outraged. When we were together, he was fine with me using the name. I guess you can even say that our separate businesses became a union because of this. I became the Baby Phat to his Phat Farm, for lack of a better example.
Initially, I wanted to think of a name for my business on my own. However, he insisted that it was fine to use the name because he wanted to create a logo and ad for my business. And so, I went along with his suggestion-- and what was once a nameless business, finally had a title of its own. Therefore, I must ask for the public's opinion on this matter. Must I change the name of my business simply because he requested that? It was his suggestion to use the name, and in my opinion he should've consider the possibility of this problem arising. Recently, I've been warned-- even threatened, that if I don't change the name of my business, he will contact Linden Labs to enforce that I will do so. To be honest with you, I could care less for the name. It's not as catchy or appealing as he may think it is. I actually have a name in mind I would love to use. However, changing the name of my business would put me way behind schedule and may even affect my sales. To create one ad takes way more work than you can imagine. Due to the fact that I work with demos skins, I would have to go through the process of editting them all over again, not to mention creating the actual ad. I think its unfair that I must be the one to start all over again because of his immature behavior and mistakes. This incident reminds me of those Court TV Shows. There's always an angry individual that requests to get everything they gave to their partner back because the relationship ended. However, they always end up losing because if you willingly give something to someone, its unethical to ask for it back. And in this case, its unethical for my ex to ask of me to change the name of my business because he's upset. What's in a name anyways?! The reputation and quality of my business does not depend on the name of it. I believe it is the hard work and effort you put into making it blossom, is what represents a business. I'm confident in the quality of service I provide for all of my clients, and I refuse my business to be defined by a name... A name I don't even care for. From my perspective, he should continue on with his business of building homes and I will continue creating beautiful shapes. After all, none of our clients care to know any information of our business' name. I know some of you may be thinking that this matter is pitiful. To be honest, I feel the same way. However, we see situations like this occurring everyday in real life when partnerships go splitville and turns ugly. For some, a name is everything-- Tina Turner requested to keep the last name of her ex-husband Ike Turner because it represented her as a music legend. Kimora Lee Simmons held onto the name Baby Phat despite her divorce from Russell Simmons because it is the name her fashion empire was built on. And as for me, I will keep this name because I refuse to start over and will continue to move forward in pursuit of my SL success. So now I ask of all of you to shower me with your comments. Whether you think this feud over the name of a business is ridiculous, or if you agree with everything I've said-- I'd really like to hear your opinion. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, it is greatly appreciated.
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