I love holidays. So many awesome designers release freebies. I've collected the locations and info of some of them for you. Most are available through the end of today, so get busy!

Freebies:

• Refuge - Freebie Halloween tee and Radiant Ruthie costume
• The Body Politik - Freebie Sculptie Witches Hat
• Little Rebel - Freebie Halloween tee
• Skin 2.0 - Freebie skin
• Canimal - Free Halloween HUD frames. To get them, join the Canimal group and it will be in the notices.
• Stellar Designs - Free Halloween layered tee
• AQUA - Free Pumpkin Pie Schoolgirl costume as part of a pumpkin hunt.
• Violet Voltaire - Free Spider Cameo Set
• Battered Boudoir - Free Halloween Lingerie
• Sae Luan - 12 Limited Edition freebies in Haunted House
• DEKA Designs - Free Halloween Outfit
• Sinistyle - Undead Inside tee
• Adam n Eve - Free Halloween eyes
• Port Seraphine - Pumpkins stuffed with goodies are hidden around the sim.
• Minnu Model Skins - Free male and female Halloween-themed skins

Cheapies:

• Nicky Ree - 50L Halloween Web Dress
• Alienbear Gupte - 25L per pumpkin, each containing a piece of jewelry, with 20 pumpkins in all. This is a scavenger hunt.
• Here Comes Trouble - 50% off of all costumes today.
• Catalyst - 10L Ribbed Vertigo dress in orange.
• Caliente Express - Halloween sale
• Total Betty's - 1L Trick or Treat Nightie Set
• Gritty Kitty - 1L Witch Hat & Scarf
  
• Tete a Pied - 50% off of the Drow, Gothique, and Marie skins
• Corduroy - 1L each Halloween leggings (Haver, Sera, and Mina)
• Lico Lico - There's an entire section with kickass freebies and cheapies!
• artilleri - Halloween Hunt - Each skull is 1L and contains a variety of artilleri items in orange.

Did I miss anything? Leave it in a comment!

Nestled in next to A White Dove (if such a large store can be said to nestle) is The Free Dove, a place of free (as in a free lunch) goodies for human avatars only; there are no non-human goods available, and non-human avatars are not permitted on the premises at all (This is not stated on the rules board, but is mentioned in the information sent to each visitor as they arrive).

Avatar parts (skins, shapes and eyes), avatar attachments (primarily hair), clothing, and a range of accessories can all be had for no cost. Some common freebies are represented, and some which I have not seen elsewhere. This is a great place to kit out a human avatar, male or female, although, as with all stores, women's accoutrements well outnumber those for men.

In my last post, I discussed creating and refining your avatar. One of the main points of that post was to mention my belief that it's best to find friendly, helpful faces before tinkering too thoroughly with your appearance. Certainly, your mileage will vary, depending on your personal acumen and temperament. However, if you do decide to follow my advice and search for help, there is one place in particular (besides the official Help and Welcome areas) that you may want to visit: The Shelter.

The Shelter is mainly run by Travis Lambert, who resembles Family Guy's Brian the Dog. Travis is kind and generous, and fun to be around. Here you will find a big pile of freebies, a dance floor with a line-up of residents dancing in-sync, a second floor upon which many events and games are held (see previous posts here and here), and most importantly, newbie-friendly residents who love nothing better than to help you get started on your Second Life. I well remember the confusion I experienced when I first logged in, and the daunting task of figuring it all out. I think I can safely say that had it not been for the help and kindness shown by the amazing folks at The Shelter, I may not have stuck around long enough to realize the potential of SL.

That's my recommendation, and I'm sticking to it. Part of what keeps SL a fun place in which to play is the continuing efforts on all our parts to treat newbies well, and educate them on proper behavior; The Shelter is the first place a new user ought to visit. Next Newbie Tip: Exploring the Inventory.

P.S.: although it's obscured by a big table, the bottom part of the large sign on the back wall reads 'Welcome Home'. See? That tells you everything you need to know.

Spent a very long and interesting day searching through the yard sales in the events menu. I wasn't too surprised to find freebies for sale ... mine! I was surprised to see that some people feel it is right to charge double the new price for their items in a secondhand store.

Just for the hell of it, posted an event, "Scambusting" and drew attention to the fact that the "bargain" prices in some of the events were no bargains. The event for the double-price second hand store mysteriously vanished from the events listing.

I found the good, the bad and the trying hard in the trawl I did around SL.  The good was a marketplace now called "The Yard" and run by Till Pierce, Southy Buckenburger and Min Ixtab.  A couple of months ago the Yard Sale (as it was then known) was at the centre of a fake goods controversy.  Someone had been photographing the boxes from Simone Stern's clothes, and then sticking those on a box and sticking anything they could lay their hands on into the box.