What is Showcase?
The Showcase section on secondlife.com is an editorially-controlled area that highlights some of the best inworld venues and locations that might be of interest to new and existing Residents. This is the place to go to explore and discover some of the exciting user-created locations in Second Life.

How did you determine the categories for Showcase?
The existing categories for venues were chosen based on existing traffic patterns of Resident activity within Second Life. However, we will be monitoring usage of these categories for possible refinement in the future.

How do you determine which entries will be included in the general venue directory listings?
The Showcase venue directory is not meant to be comprehensive. For a more complete listing of venues, we suggest that Residents use the Search function within the Second Life client. Showcase is different than Search because it aims to feature only a limited list of venues that we feel will be of interest to the general Resident population.

In order to keep the Showcase directory streamlined, editors will only choose a few venues for inclusion at a given time. In general, we are looking for locations that “showcase” the best of Second Life. We anticipate that many of those viewing Showcase will be existing Residents, but there will also be many potential Residents exploring the Secondlife.com Web site before they decide to join. We want Showcase to be a place where we can show off some of the most exciting Resident-created content.

When reviewing locations, our internal editorial staff considers several factors. Here are some of the criteria:

• Has the venue been included before?
• Is there something unique about this venue?
• How is this venue of interest to the general Resident community?
• Is the venue compliant with the published community standards?
• Does the venue demonstrate a positive implementation of the Second Life experience?

While not implemented at launch, it is possible that there may also be some paid placement opportunities for these spots at some point in the future.

Can I submit a venue for the showcase directory?
Not at this time. However, we are looking into the possibility of adding a venue-suggestion feature to Showcase in the near future. We encourage all venue owners to review these guidelines on getting your presence maximized using inworld Search.

How often will you update your listings?
Showcase submissions will remain on the site for only a limited period of time. Our goal is to keep the Showcase area fresh so that visitors will be encouraged to return frequently when they are seeking new areas to explore within Second Life.

Is there an opportunity to buy prioritized placement in the directory?
Linden Lab is occasionally approached by Residents and companies with requests to purchase high-level promotional placement on our Secondlife.com Web site. While there are not immediate opportunities for prioritized promotional placement within Showcase, it is something that we are considering. Currently, the best place to guarantee exposure for your venue, event or business is through your listing in Search or Classifieds.

Can I submit a video or blog topic?
You can submit press releases, blog topic suggestions and machinima video links to Second Life Editors. We do review all suggestions and comments, but please be aware that we are not able to respond personally to each editorial inquiry. Before submitting your suggestions, please review the following guidelines:

Submission guidelines for video links:
Our Photos & Machinima section in Showcase highlights some of the best Second Life videos found on YouTube. If you have created a video using Second Life and would like us to consider it for featured placement, please send us the link. However, please do not submit links to other people's video creations. Our site aims to comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), so please ensure that your video does not contain copyrighted material. This includes use of unlicensed music and images. You can find out more information about DMCA here.

Submission guidelines for blog topics:
If you have a blog post idea or press release that you would like us to review, please be sure to include the following information in your correspondence:

• Clear description of the topic and its relevance to Second Life users
• Suggested blog category - please include in e-mail title, if possible
• Your contact information so that we can reach you for more information
• If applicable, the SLURL for any inworld locations referenced in your email (What is a SLURL?)

Currently, our Showcase blog offers posts in these categories: Arts & Culture, Fashion, Hot Spots, Music, Photos & Machinima and Tutorials. Our editors will review submissions for possible inclusion in a future blog post. Please note that many blog posts tend to focus on larger themes or topics, rather than specific venues or one-off events. Correspondence that resembles spam will be filtered and discarded. Please refrain from using the e-mail submission address for suggestions that might be better suited for our events or classifieds pages.