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CNET hack severs ties with Second Life CEO after Reg probe

Off resume but still puffing

Ashlee Vance Thu 19 Oct 2006 // 16:08 UTC

Proof has emerged this week that making too much of your Second Life can have very real consequences on your First – rather more real – Life.

CNET's chief Second Life correspondent Daniel Terdiman has removed a reference from Second Life parent Linden Lab's CEO on his resume after being confronted by The Register.

Terdiman has spent years puffing up the Second Life online game with breathless coverage and grew close to Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale as a result. Now, however, the relationship may look too close on paper with Terdiman deleting all Rosedale appearances from his online resume, although the cached version of the site still shows the ugly truth.

But despite fixing some appearances, Terdiman continues to heap happy press on Second Life, and Rosedale in particular. Just hours after pulling Rosedale from his resume, Terdiman posted an interview with the CEO.

As Teridman has remarked in other interviews, his Second Life publicity has driven CNET to embrace the game, which lets penis and furry avatars play together without pain.

"We were covering it constantly (at least constantly from the perspective of a mainstream publication) so I slowly began to pitch it to my bosses, who only got Second Life a little bit," Terdiman said in an interview. "It took some cajoling...trying to convince my editors why we needed to be covering SL in the first place. But…they got on board with that pretty quick.

"Especially after I did five feature stories in the first couple months I was there. After a couple months of pitching this project, I finally got the go-ahead."

And CNET then opened an office in Second Life.

Our hat goes off to Terdiman, who used to work in public relations. Not even a Second Life insider working at CNET in the guise of a reporter could likely have pulled off such a feat. ®

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