Money tree harvesters?

Just wondering if anyone's been seeing a trend of a lot of similarly-named folks with empty profiles running around to each money tree, sucking the money dry, and then teleporting away.

I'd hate to get itchy with the blacklist feature, but I may have to; too many of my "regulars" have the same names, same start dates, and same empty profiles. I smell alty mcaltersons.

LF

I haven't really paid much attention to names, but I don't think I have seen anyone NOT do what you describe...

I do it. Thats how i can afford everything =) Thank you guys!

Wouldn't doubt it.

Actually i found something even better. I Found it while at a mall today. Basically it pays you 1L for every 300 seconds you sit in this chair.. i call it a dwell chair lol im suprised people have such things of course i got a kick out of it.. 1L for 300 seconds.. i mean what you sit in the chair for 24 hours and you get a whopping 288L if my math is correct.. LOL

And this is why I /don't/ have a Money Tree.

I'd much rather give to one or two newbies personally than watch my money to go every yahoo on the grid, 2/3rds of which are alts of said yahoos.

Even then... How do you know it's not an alt of said yahoo? hehe

Yeah it's quite often the same few people, but if they really are that sad, let them be. Can you honestly say it's worth the time to tp around the grid and fly to money trees all fscking day to cherrypick a couple of cents at a time off a tree? If that's how they want to spend their Second Life, I say let them. And take pity. lol.

well at first i was all for the money trees.. the more and more i hear and see people taking and running im starting to think otherwise. Plus dont they get money on orientation island or whatever its called? I think the trees somewhat stiffle the creativity.. i know when i first started i wanted to make money and not getting hand outs forced me to start my own bussinesses.

You should know, alt boy!

Actually, these days if you do every task on orientation island, you leave with a cool 220 linden, I believe. So no, not really enough to bother mentioning.

Oh i thought it was more than that. I havent participated in orientation island since i first started.. every time i go there i just tp out asap.

I see you asking for handouts all the time... so what has changed sicne then?

How do i ask for handouts?

Nope, not anymore. The Lindens stopped that practice of giving money (like from the parrot) a few months ago.

As to the harvesters, Yes, I've noticed "harvesters" running to my tree, then quickly teleporting away. If they are alts of the same person, I would look very unkindly to such a practice. But we have no way of really knowing. /me shrugs.

*ahem*

/invalid_link.html

heh you missed 2 more kris =) lol but i dont really expect these people to give me the stuff.. i just enjoy their answer.. plus i wanted to see if sensual would actually look it up or keep making comments and try to skirt around it.

It's a dishonorable shame when generosity is abused. It puts those who would find such aid beneficial, at a disadvantaged position in regards to the offered help. I frown upon it.

Billy you do it all the time, and besides the one Kris pointed out, there is another one where you ask for something else so you can give it to your girlfriend when you find one... I am sure there are more, but that was the one that sticks... I thought to myself... how fucking disrespectful can someone be?

I have one because I have had a lot of people come back to me lately and say how much the original money tree helped them 6 months ago.

Sure, you are going to have jerks - but it really is pennies/hour that they could earn abusing this system. By the way it only costs $9 a month. Not a great loss in my budget. In the end, it is up to each owner. I feel it is a good thing because some of the newbies will benefit from it and in turn give back to SL themselves.

This isn't even considering the economic benefits of the tree. Originally it helped to offset the shock of the rating stipend cut and offers a bit of trickle down economics. Most of these newbies are going to spend these few dollars on products and services we all make. You reap what you sow.

Just to put this to rest once and for all - here is the math:

Approximately 30 trees right now
Generating L$2,160 / day in stipends
Possibly generating an additional L$7,920 / day in donation payouts

Total L$10,080 / day at the absolute maximum

Lets say somebody wants to dedicate 16 hours of their day to running from tree to tree picking the maximum of L$25 per alt. av. Lets also assume they have 5 alts to beat the 'Last 5 recipients' limit. So now they have to logout/login after each circuit of 30 teleports.

First, you have to understand that there will be real newbies competing with our potential hacker. So they won't be able to gather all of the lindens. Let's assume they get 50% at best.

We also have to take into account those owners that blacklist repetitive alts. So lets say that blocks an additional 25% of potential payouts. This percentage would definitely grow over time as more owners block the hacker. This would necessitate creating new alts and incurring US$9.95 each time. If they decide to only use the 7 day trial account, they would ultimately be limited by the number of credit cards they have since trial accounts have a 're-trial' time limit for each credit card.

Now our hacker is garnering 25% of all tree payouts at best.

The trees spawn every 20 minutes and the timer is based upon when the tree was rezzed. So it is impossible to be at every tree when it spawns.

L$10,080 * 25% = L$2,520 / day

Lets use the current GOM exchange rate of US$4.00 / 1000 lindens.

That adds up to US$10.08 / day.

Or in other terms our hacker is spending 16 hours a day teleporting to 30 different locations then logging out / logging in another alt and repeating the cycle.

Our hacker is working a 16 hour day for US$0.63 / hour.

Our hacker also spent a minimum of U$49.75 on his accounts which he needs to earn back. That will take him 79 hours just to reach break even.

I really hope this puts this to rest. If you don't want to own a tree - fine. If you do - fine. If you just want to debate the merits of the idea - fine.

But, don't put it down because a few people might abuse the system to make 1/10 of minimum wage. And definitely don't put it down because the local forum troll has nothing else to do today.