For those FashCon members 
who have been living in a glamourously decorated cave, the Fashion Consolidated Cafe group is a subsidiary group to Fashion Consolidated, free for all to join, which allows you to “opt-in” to chatting with your fellow FashCon members who like a good blab (like me). Implementing this via two groups is a workaround until LL implement my JIRA at SVC-2820 to allow us all (and anyone on SL) to choose whether to participate in or mute group IMs without leaving a group – probably scheduled for implementation in about 2055 the way things look. So the Cafe exists as somewhere where you can talk fashion freely with very few restrictions if you want to.
When I set up the Cafe aeons ago, I confess that I thought it would just be an exhaust valve for a few people who were frustrated that group IMs were forbidden (for practical reasons) in main FashCon. What actually happened was that 1000 people joined, meaning that it turns out that 10% of FashCon people love a good natter. And what also happened was that it turned out to be a lovely community of itself.
This preamble is to explain to baffled newcomers what “the Cafe” means whenever people in FashCon refer to it. To join just type “Fashion Consolidated Cafe” in the Group tab for Search, click the group name, click “View Full Profile” and click “Join” (yeah.. I’m thinking “One-click” too). What follows under the cut is a seemingly unnerving rare notice I sent to the Cafe today to ensure that all remains harmony and light, and you don’t need to read it unless you’re a member. Don’t let it put you off – the Cafe is a lovely place. Try it and see!
All FashCon Cafe residents, please note the following reminders:
(1) Flaming and abuse won’t be tolerated, in any form. Regardless of if you are provoked, hear idiocy or disagree violently with what someone has said, don’t response with abuse, name-calling or anything you wouldn’t say to your granny. If you do you will be removed from the Cafe, regardless of why you did it or how much I love you. Politeness and courtesy (even in the face of ridiculous behaviour) are a hobby of mine, and there are plenty of groups where you can have a slanging match, but the Cafe isn’t one of them.
(2) Please be careful about negative comments about designers. Constructive criticism is good, but unsubstantiated or careless opinion can ruin someone’s reputation as it quickly becomes received wisdom. If you wish a designer would draw more, or make more skirts, then that kind of fact-based opinion is good; simply saying someone makes rubbish or is ugly is not. Please be extremely careful at spreading rumours, even from blogs – see (1) for what may happen to you if it starts a slanging match.
(3) Be considerate of others. Try not to start a party-for-one conversation, dominate the flow or take what you know in the back of your mind may be uncomfortable for some people too far. I’m not the moral majority type, and will never say that specifically that X is not a topic for conversation or allow a minority view to ban topics, but please be considerate. I just marked the group “Mature” instead of PG for some of the topics discussed, but please bear in mind that I won’t be marking it “Adult” should that option ever appear (as it will remove everyone who doesn’t age ID).
(4) None of the above comments are aimed at anyone in particular – seriously! If you are reading this and about to contact me and say “hey was that about me?” don’t! The answer will be “nooooo don’t worry”. They’re general comments to keep the Cafe a happy place.
(5) I am aware that a person or persons is being occasionally disruptive to Cafe harmony and am working on that. Please don’t think I don’t care or am not aware of this. Working on it!
(5) 99.99% of you will be thinking “wait, what??” – don’t panic! The Cafe is a lovely surprise to me – I only set it up as an exhaust valve for the few (I thought!) who wanted to FashCon IM aside from the no-IM policy in the main group, and am amazed and delighted at what a lovely place it is – thanks to you-hoo. This is just me wiping tables.
Waitress Honey x
