A reasonable question.
Here are some possible answers:
1. Prokofy Neva writes a controversial, much-viewed and frequently updated blog called Second Thoughts that is bot-fed to forums and linked on other sites. Prokofy Neva used to write for the The Alphaville Herald. Neva's writing is...colorful.
2. Prokofy Neva is an avatar, an SL "oldbie," landlord, writer, political activist and some would say "conspiracy theorist," "troll" and "fuckwad." Prokofy Neva actually makes money on Second Life.
3. Prokofy Neva is also the subject of many searches, posts, discussions and harassment and stalking efforts.
4. Prokofy Neva has profile pages on Encyclopedia Dramatica, SecondLife.Wikia.com and Urban Dictionary.
5. Prokofy Neva has been interviewed by major news organizations such as The New York Times and Wired Magazine.
6. Prokofy Neva has a pretty impressive ban record (forums).
7. Prokofy Neva is or has been involved in multiple lengthy, high-profile (in the virtual world) and virtual-earth scorched feuds that have captured the attention of many netizens.
8. Prokofy Neva reportedly popularized the term "Fetid Inner Core (FIC)."
9. Prokofy Neva is reportedly a vocal critic of communism, human rights abuses, excessive influence and posturing of child avatar and BDSM groups in virtual worlds, griefers, lack of voting on JIRA, Linden Lab, the open source movement, Wikileaks and Woodbury University.
10. Prokofy Neva has attracted the attention of many people including those that want to read Neva, argue with Neva, support Neva, find Neva, play with Neva, copy Neva or spoof Neva.
Do you have interviews in The New York Times and Wired Magazine? Do you have profile pages on Encyclopedia Dramatica, SecondLife.Wikia.com and Urban Dictionary? That may be why Prokofy Neva is famous.
Excerpt from Wired Magazine online article called "Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers, the Sociopaths of the Virtual World" written by Julian Dibbell in 2008:
"People laughed at those attacks, but for Prokofy Neva, another well-known Second Life real estate entrepreneur, no amount of humor or creativity can excuse what she sees as 'terrorism.' Prokofy (Catherine Fitzpatrick in real life, a Manhattan resident, mother of two, and Russian translator and human-rights worker by trade) earns a modest but bankable income renting out her Second Life properties, and griefing attacks aimed at her, she says, have rattled some tenants enough to make them cancel their leases. Which is why her response to those who defend her griefers as anything but glorified criminals is blunt: 'Fuck, this is a denial-of-service attack ... it's anti-civilization ... it's wrong ... it costs me hundreds of US dollars.'
Of course, this attitude delights the terrorists in question, and they've made Prokofy a favorite target. The 51-year-old Fitzpatrick's avatar is male, but Goons got ahold of a photo of her, and great sport has been made of it ever since. One build featured a giant Easter Island head of Fitzpatrick spitting out screenshots of her blog. Another time, Prokofy teleported into one of her rental areas and had the 'very creepy' experience of seeing her own face looking straight down from a giant airborne image overhead.
Still, even the fiercest of Prokofy's antagonists recognize her central point: Once real money is at stake, 'serious business' starts to look a lot like, well, serious business, and messing with it starts to take on buzz-killing legal implications. "
Excerpt from Encyclopedia Dramatica:
"So many people have ordered pizza for her without her consent that all pizza parlors on the East Side of Manhattan now call her to confirm orders are valid before delivering."
JLU BrainiacWiki on Prokofy Neva:
"An outspoken and often contraversial writer and critic for the Second Life Herald. Her views are considered extreme by many, though she generally supports the notions of peace and order within the metaverse. Because of this, she is the target of much taunting and mockery by griefer groups, the most recent being the Patriotic Nigras.
Prokofy Neva is a SL resident running the land rental business Ravenglass Rentals. She is also known for posting controversial viewpoints on her blog (see links) and various Second Life-related forums."
Dale Innis on Prokofy Neva:
"Prokofy Neva is a well-known Second Life Resident, landowner, and weblog author, with a long experience in the world, strong and strongly-expressed feelings on various subjects, and good writing skills. He is one of the founders of the SL Public Land Preserve, among other interesting and worthwhile things in the world. He is also, unfortunately, prone to posting long and vicious diatribes against other Residents, full of profanity, name-calling, accusations of hidden malicious motives, and elaborate conspiracy theories."
Here on Youtube at about 3:00, Prokofy Neva is described as "arguably the clearest thinker of the virtual world, never too tired to hold the Lindens' feet to the fire."
Prokofy Neva posting on Broken Systems:
"The fundamental problem with Second Life is arbitrary abuse of power. When it becomes more just on a whole number of fronts -- when it stops hiding statistics, or banning critics, or favouring one business with windfall advertising or giving some people special deals, then it will do better. What I write about isn't crazy; it's absolutely normal stuff. The sort of stuff that all the anonymous zealots here who always beat up on me would want for their own real lives, even though they curiously never want it for their games."
Note that Prokofy says,
"To get to know me write dyerbrookME [at] juno.com rather than google witch-hunting me : )"
Links:
http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/
http://secondlife.wikia.com/wiki/Prokofy_Neva
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=prokofy%20neva
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/prokofy-neva/2/353/710
http://twitter.com/#!/prokofy
http://wiki.sl4.me/index.php/Prokofy_Neva
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/technology/19virtual.html?pagewanted=2
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/business/yourmoney/09second.html?pagewanted=
http://brokensystems.com/showthread.php?189-Second-Life-Community-We-REALLY-Fear-Change&p=3247#post3247
http://alphavilleherald.com/2010/12/prokofy-neva-vs-robert-wright-the-video.html
http://virtuallyblind.com/benjamin-duranske-on-prokofy-neva/
http://www.vintfalken.com/benjamin-duranske-vs-catherine-fitzpatrick/
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.ch/Prokofy_Neva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_A._Fitzpatrick
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/second-life-safari/shiplog-uss-prokofy.php
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2005/06/feted_inner_cho.html
http://gwynethllewelyn.net/2007/12/19/prokofy-nevas-predictions-for-2008/
http://getasecondlife.net/2008/04/second-life-geral/another-side-to-the-issue-prokofy-neva/
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=prokofy+neva&aq=f
http://wb.gemnetworks.com/8/Periwink-whatmall/default_098.html
https://www.economist.com/user/3226509/comments
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prokofy-Neva/278069566320
http://prokofywatch.blogspot.com/
http://thelistsl.blogspot.com/2011/02/prokofy-neva-catherine-fitzpatrick.html?zx=d716eb47926aee11
http://alphavilleherald.com/
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