New Ownership of Coopersville and Size Changes

[Koshari Mahana]

Greetings,

I wanted to update everyone about the future of Coopersville. It will be taken over by Elspeth Sorrelwood, who has an interest in preserving what she can. She plans to reduce it to a 4x4 region, starting from the southwest corner and expanding north and east.

This new layout will include the main town, the yacht club, and the horse trails. It will not include the amusement park (for now — we will rebuild it on a platform later). Unfortunately, it will also not include the rental islands. Four Winds will no longer be at Coopersville either.


To the visitors:
Elspeth will keep the main parts of Coopersville that she preserves open to the public. You’ll still be able to enjoy the woods, trails, pool, ride cars, horses, boats, fly planes, and shop in the downtown and free store. Keep an eye out — the amusement park will be rebuilt on a platform.

To the island renters:
I’m so sorry. We’ll extend the date by almost an extra month from what I told you last. You then will have time to save what you’d like and find a new location for your home. The deadline will be Monday, May 19th. Many of you are already paid up — please do not renew. Those who have paid beyond that date will receive a refund. I’ll contact you individually if I don’t hear back from you.

To the residents in the free houses:
I will contact you individually to ask if you wish to continue using the free houses. The deadline for letting me know is Monday, May 12th. If I don’t hear back by then, your house will be cleared, and the new owner, Elspeth, will decide what happens next.

To the merchants in the free stores:
Nothing will change. You will be able to keep your stores. At some point down the road, the new owner may reach out to see if you’re still interested in keeping your store. If not, she will look for new merchants to fill the spaces.


I have loved being the creator and caretaker of Coopersville all these years and greatly appreciate everyone’s visits, involvement in activities, and the people who chose to call Coopersville home. I am forever grateful to all of you.

Best wishes,
Koshari

[Chris Namaste]

warm sincere thankyou's koshari♥

[Elspeth Sorrelwood]

Greetings!

Coopersville is a remarkable, beautiful and cohesive world created by talented and dedicated individuals, especially Koshari Mahana whose vision it chiefly is and who has developed it over many years. I did not want to see it disappear at the end of April 2025, which is why I contacted Koshari in the first place. We discussed options and possibilities, and came up with the plan outlined by Koshari.

Whatever happens to Coopersville, it needs to be financially sustainable by whoever takes it on. Virtual worlds is a hobby for many, as it is for me. I knew I would not be able to afford to keep it on a Mega World, even with the kind offer of Kitely to grandfather-in a discount, and with hoped-for income from island rentals (I was part of a group that tried that in SL a long time ago - it's scary and we found it very difficult to make it work).

But a Kitely Advanced World is potentially sustainable, it has a decent prim allowance (120,000) and will enable the meaty 4x4 SW corner of the current build to continue into the future. Over time, Koshari is hoping to rebuild the funfair as a skybuild, so that won't be lost either.

This is a compromise solution to a pressing and urgent problem, and will probably disappoint many. I'm sorry the islands will be disappearing from Coopersville, but perhaps someone else could develop and support an offshoot World for the islanders to continue. For example, a separate 4x4 Kitely Advanced World would work, and would even give the islanders a bigger prim allowance! But it's not something I could offer to do.

I'm looking forward to becoming Coopersville's new caretaker, helping it move on, with the help of Koshari and others, to a new chapter in its history.

Do say "Hi" if you see me in world.

Elspeth Sorrelwood

[Elspeth Sorrelwood]

An update is due given that the deadlines in Koshari's original post have now past.

First, many thanks to the current renters of houses and islands who have been most understanding. Several of the house renters have asked to stay, which is testimony to the community Koshari has tried to build over the years. A few of the islanders have moved into the other houses, so they can maintain their links with this beautiful world.

The island deadline has been extended a couple of days to the 21st to give people a chance to pick up the builds they want to keep (RL was getting badly in the way, as it has a habit of doing).

So on the 22nd May, Koshari and I will be asking Ilan and Oren to help us move to the next stage with a change of ownership of Coopersville. This will need Oren's technical expertise. Whether it would be better to resize the world before that process takes place, I'll follow Kitely's advice. It's good to know that Kitely makes excellent backups of all our worlds!

[Kimm Starr]

I'm happy you are preserving Koshari's labor of love. It truly is a beautiful world she created and we were all very lucky to be part of it all these years.

[Elspeth Sorrelwood]

Quick update on progress: At the Sunday meeting Ilan asked me to start the process by creating a blank Megaworld; I called this Coopersworld I [capital letter 'eye']. When that was done, Oren could clone the current Coopersville into this blank world, retaining all creator and ownership information in all the objects. This was successful.

At this point, I changed the world size from 8x8 to 4x4, as shown in Koshari's original post in this thread. Coopersville I will become an Advanced World at the start of June.

I'm keeping the world closed at the moment while all these changes and necessary checks take place. But be assured, the new Coopersville I will be open to visitors and residents before Koshari's Coopersville disappears at the end of this month. In the meantime, do enjoy Koshari's original!

[Koshari Mahana]

Thank you to Elspeth for taking this on! I really appreciate it.

Thank you to those of you who had property on the original Coopersville; you are what helped make it a great place to be!

[Elspeth Sorrelwood]

The transferred Coopersville is now open for visitors. I'm in the process of testing the teleport signs so there may be some items that won't take you anywhere -- please let me know if that happens so that I can repair it if possible. Landmarks will be tested next.

Most of the attractions and activities of Coopersville are still accessible. Just four areas on the big teleport boards are no longer available: the beach, a fishing area, the dance pavilion and the fairground, indicated by the darkened signs. But all the other destinations are working very well indeed.

Ilan and Oren, you have worked wonders -- thank you so much for the hours, care and skill that enabled this transfer to happen.

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Edited to add: Teleport boards have now been rearranged so that they are symmetrical again – there's a LOT to explore. Do visit if you can.

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