Open letter to the owner of slstats.com

Came someone please explain to me why this is so bad? Is it because someone can see who you hang around with? If so, why aren't you all complaining about god mode still, which can still track people?

As ive said i havent got ne problems with him and i wish him every success with his venture all i am doing is adding my experiences to the debate and i smell a rat as would any sensible person when reading all the material available on this subject it smacks of baby spammers getting in early to mine data while the guards are down before SL goes OS. NOT NOW NOT IN 6 WEEKKS, but it will happen!!

We had this annoyance when this new technology (The WWW) was in its infancy some 25 years ago and spammers started mining e mail addresses and data from the news groups same thing here will happen here if its not talked about now and safeguards put in place.

But then thats just my opinion based on on all the threads and posts ive read today

Where does it say that on the website?

There are people in SL who have been stalked by other users, IRL, and threatened over their associations *in* SL.

Listings of who has been seen around who *do* have the potential to cause some users problems.

Besides which, I personally just plain don't *like* the idea that someone's compiling a list of who I'm seen with and publishing it on the internet. I don't use "power buying cards", I don't give stores my name or phone number when I pay in cash, I don't like people map tracking me in SL, and I don't like this. It's just plain *rude*.

If it doesn't bother you that's fine, but the people who are bothered by it shouldn't be forced to go along with it if they don't want to.

You're missing the point that he'd still have to *go* to court, which is a burden in and of itself.

It is great, isn't it? Not quite as good as mine, but still damn impressive.

Because it's not just friends, it's people who you pass when out shopping or who fly past or whatever.

Any frineds of mine who are wearing this will be ex friends if they wear it in my presence.

Why would it take an hour to pass someone in a mall?

Lag.

Actually, it seems to do just that...at least with the blogging feature, I think, but I'm not entirely sure. Some winner gave me shit about being auto-punted "five times" (which is, uh...kinda dumb; most would catch a clue on the first failed try) from my work skybox -- from which I had "liveblogged" to SLStats earlier in the day. Each blog entry has a nice little icon on which someone can click to go where that blog entry was entered.

This, to me, is a problem in an otherwise harmless-seeming service. I'd rather be able to turn off that capability if I'd rather not have random SLStats users dropping in on me.

I read this in another thread.. about this check al about my life system..

Where Mark write this.. a short part of a long text...

****

”I put the implementation of opt-out and hiding the friends list at the top of my to-do list and am looking to have it put in by the end of today.I do work full-time and won't get around to actually work on this until 7ish EST tonight, however. In the meantime I'll just have to watch the hate-mail come in. I also posted a brief response on the slstats blog.

Mark”

*****


Mark - Why must I connect and do this.. use my time to do this.. and IF I have not seen this at forum I had no idea that this system collects as much as possible data about me.. and who I meet and how I spend time to meet.. and.. and,..???

And if so without my knowledge the system was running as you want it... collecting, collecting, collecting.. as much as possible about me... and is its secure to log on to beg to be let out of the system?... what will be logged if so? my IP adress .. of course.. more to collect...more info saved...

It should not be use of my time to take care of not be in this (your) control system.. who do you work for? NSA, CIA, SÄPO, MI7 or?))) Or Walmart, KFC or CocaCola?)) Or one of the worlds largest DirectMarketing companys?

/Tina

PS As Mark uses him name at forum... I use his name....

This remark is a prejudice threat and I demand that this thread be locked now!

IF so why lock all thread - take away that post.....

Its NOT necessary to lock a thread that discuss a huge problem in SL because one post that maybe are wrong,.,,,

/Tina

But that's how resmods do things around here.

Seems like if you don't like a certain thread, all you need to do is go there and have a fight with someone or have an alt come up and make it ugly and boom.. LOCKed.

How many locked for review threads have you seen unlocked?

How lightly you talk about grieving. I am actually grieving right now and mostly not around. I have been in-world a few times to exchange a few words with people and, just once, I went to a concert for a while. I just chanced on this thread and spared some of my reduced brain power on reading it through in its entirety, just to be fair.

I'm not sure if I could tell you what I think of this experiment and its Catch-22 approach without appearing to be at war with Torley, which I'm not. I'd like to put the onus on you to imagine what I feel on knowing I now have one less little place of comfort to visit.

Actually, I think Torley should revisit this. She likes to learn how people see things, and this thread may be an eye opener. Not only do people express how they feel about the site, but people who are familiar with the industry are also explaining WHY they feel the way they do. Even if it does not change Torley's opinion, she will still be more enlightened regarding the feelings of the residents, and may understand that it's not just "noise". Which is the main thing - everyone is entitled to their opinions, and all opinions should be respected. This is something we all have to learn, myself included.

I don't know if someone else already mentioned it, but I found this to be an interesting side effect of the tracking. SLStats.com is itself being Googlefied. When I do a Google search on my avatar name, entries at SLStats.com come up in the second page of results. I suppose this won't happen any more now that a login is required to view the stats, but I thought it was an interesting benchmark of how quickly machine processable information propagates these days.

In my opinion thats not correct. And yes I am a tech - I am a SysAdmin for a large college. It is certainly true that this is data mining, but that doesnt stop it being spyware too.

Spyware collects information about you without your permission - it doesnt stop being called spyware simply because you know about it. If I find out that a site has been publishing information about my activities online it doesnt stop being spyware just because its not kept secret that it is dolng so.

Most people would consider the GAIN suite to be spyware (or at least adware and somepeople consider both to be the same) - but its not unknown.

hmm i think maybe i got lucky or something, but i googled my avatars name and didn't find it on slstats at all... so maybe its just you old avatars.. lol

This is how I discovered slstats.


Edit: While searching for my name, not yours.

I dont shop at those stores and I make sure they know it. I have a local store that doesnt require a card for the sale stuff, and its always busy and a lot of people there feel like me. We make sure the store knows that if they start to require a card, we will take our shopping elsewhere. SO Prob the reason you dont see it... are you shop the other stores that require cards and with people that don't care.

Ofcourse you say this as a "person" and not as a Lindenlab representative?

Please: If you have a problem with Torley then dont use this board to state that (hidden in your message:"without appearing to be at war with Torley, which I'm not". You as a Linden representative should know better then bashing Torley in public. Why not have a normall conversation first with her/him (and mabey the rest of LindenLab) and then fight it here in public?

Dont you Lindelab employees have company rules about this?

Worse yet, I have a friend who recently had to leave SL for good. Her ex-husband was planning to use her associations, groups and other information from SL against her in a custody battle. This sort of site and information makes that sort of harrassment, manipulation, and abuse all that much easier to do.

There are as many reasons why someone would not want their social network tracked and placed on a public site as there are people. All the concerns are valid. In the majority of cases, yes, these stats may be mostly harmless, if annoying to those who like privacy. But this is also information that is very useful to people wishing to stalk, harrass or otherise make life hell for some people too. In a system that most do not even know about, can not even opt out of or object to because they have never even known they were being tracked...it stinks of something Orwellian.

I personally couldn't care less what the site says of me or my social network. But many people do care, and have very, very valid reasons to care...many of which can even be serious real life concerns. Harrassment and stalking by spouses, former lovers, and other such situations is far more common that you may think. Dismissing those concerns is foolish and insensetive.

My own personal reason for disliking this "service" is the attitude of the owner, the attitude Torley expressed in her statement about it (which I found dismissive and offensive. There are a million reasons one might dislike or disagree with this site Torley and not a one has anything to do with being "unfamiliar with technology", and the attitude of it's supporters.

The world id far less black and white than so many want to believe. Try not to stumble too much in your blindness to the existance of other points of view...

I don't think this was Hermia's intention at all. I read it as showing respect for Torley and not wanting to argue over a difference of opinion - but wanted it known that there IS a difference of opinion. This is the farthest thing possible from a "bash", I think it was very civil.

And I still think Torley should revisit this thread.

Indeed!