MOlly's First, Last, and Only Comment on the RUNWAY Debacle

I believe we are all pretty sick and tired of this RUNWAY magazine fiasco and personally I wish to put this down as one of the memories I have of Second Life and move on.

In a hope to put an end to this, I am posting MOlly Dench, former Managing Editor of RUNWAY magazine's first, last and only comment she made to her personal blog she made to post this. It was posted as a comment to the previous post but since it was only a link to her blog, I have personally decided to print the whole statement.

And this will be my last post about this unfortunate incident and I will move on, go back to styling and writing about what I enjoy in Second Life.

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M0lly's First, Last, and Only Comment on the RUNWAY Debacle.

Those of you who know me well - and there are not many of you, I am extremely private - would know, that I do not get involved in SL drama, and I do not post randomly or without being aware of the facts. I do not bad-mouth anyone (unless they have an ARC of over 5000 at the Hair Fair) and I do not get involved in public comment and dramas until I am confident that I know what I'm talking about. I am not a public person and I am not interested in any one's opinion of my morals or motivations.

I was not planning on making any comment at all on the RUNWAY debacle. This too shall pass, I thought, and sad, and messy, and ugly as it has been, it will be over. We will move on, and the talent and creativity of those at RUNWAY will be put to other uses and will live on in other ways.

However, the latest Final Post by Maggie was really too much for me. Enough is enough, and it is time to put This Issue To Bed.

A Final Post is just that. So Maggie, please stop. No more. Leave. Enjoy your RL. Get well. And stop posting. It's over.

The comments relating to Thalia's failure to pass on information, and willy-nilly handing Runway over to BOSL are factually incorrect and must be refuted. I cannot begin to understand why Maggie would email Thalia and post on the blog at the same time, knowing that Thalia is, like myself, in Australia. This means that by the time Thalia even SAW the email and the blog - she does have to sleep, like the rest of us - the IMs, fingerpointing, hysteria and general SL drama was well underway.

However, these I know to be facts:

The minute Thalia saw the email, she cut and pasted it into a notecard inworld, and sent it to everyone that needed to be involved. There was NO withholding of information.

That Thalia, EmmZ and Vera met with Frolic, and that the prime motivator was the assumption - be it incorrect or otherwise - that there were unpaid staff, advertisers out of pocket, and a magazine that was the pride and joy of many.

Their desire to see these obligations met is only to their credit and should not now, or ever, be used as a weapon against them. It speaks volumes that these women decided to try to do the right thing in a mess not of their making. All power to you. Not everyone would behave as well as you tried to do. My respect, ladies.

This sorry train-wreck needs to come to the end of its line right now.

Everything that happened here is because of Maggie's misreading of the situation.

The lack of communication with those who believed in her was unacceptable, and after the amount of time we have all spent in SL, laughable. There is always a drama when something like this happens, this is NOT a surprise result, and as many, many people have said, had there been a real desire to pass RUNWAY on, meetings with trusted associates should have taken place prior to the announcement and a seamless transition could have been effected. Even the sale of the business would have been acceptable. This was poorly handled and the fallout has been people hurt and confused by the events that transpired.

I know, with every fibre of my being - both SL and RL beings, I might add - that EmmZ, Thalia, and Vera especially, acted as they thought best in an horrific, sudden, and overwhelming situation, with IMs and notecards flying and information, good, bad, and ridiculous, pouring in on all sides. It is a deluge, and exhausting when it occurs.

All of these women are known to me personally in RL and I respect and like each one.

So - time to stop. Thalia, EmmZ, Vera, and everyone else associated with RUNWAY, behaved as best they could given the information they had at the time and whether their decisions were right, wrong, or indifferent, were forced upon them by the actions of Maggie and Ocean.

And the rest - can we please say - is now history.

From me, there will be no further comment. Except to say - I loved my time at RUNWAY, and I am proud of what we did. And Thalia, Vera, and EmmZ? Rock on, girls. You behaved impeccably. Thank you for your moral stance, and your belief in people, the magazine, and even Maggie - right through to the bitter end. It makes you better people, not worse.

M0lly Dench
Former Managing Editor
RUNWAY Magazine.