Freebie Abuse?

Maybe this is fairly rampant but I came across a store that sold a lot of freebies for a considerable price. I would have message the owners of the items but just about all of them are listed as <nobody>. I did was rate the store owner negatively. If it was my freebie items I would be furious. I guess maybe I'm posting this to vent. Grrrrr.....

Can you let us know the sim and X / Y location of the store where this is happening? I'm sure some of us would love to pay a visit.

Just don't post the person's name and you're fine.

-Flip

Unfortunately this happens all the time, even with items that haven't lost their creator tags. My fingers are crossed that the new revamped permissions system will help put a stop to it. In the meantime when you see something you suspect is being sold without permission and it still lists the creator, send the creator an IM and let them know.

I've had it happen to me by certain members of a group notorious for doing it. It really is annoying when it happens; I usually plant the free version next to it, then neg rate the people concerned, as well as write their names down for later.

-Adam

Just right afterwards, I looked over and saw a nice shopping area at FEAVERED FALLINGWATER (Hooper 253,242). All their stuff there is legit. You should check it out.

I've wondered if there's room for an ebayish kind of feedback system in SL.

You can leave feedback for (or against) someone in a public record somewhere. Naturally, there would be room for anyone to comment on or dispute their feedback.

It wouldn't be so hard to implement at a simple level. Like, just get some forum software. Leave feedback by posting a thread. It's left to the discretion of the buyer how to interpret the feedback.

Big thanks to Michael Linden!

My man was on the ball and took care of this within 5 minutes of abuse being reported!

Oh my goodness! Someone needs to put up a sign forwarning people or something. Not everyone reads the forums Unbelievable the nerve of some people.

I just went there.. the build, if I'm not mistaken, has been taken down.

Guess I was too late to erect an angry sign.

LF

I wanted to see it

You know, I did see a place too, in a mall in Loon, AGE if i'm not mistaken, and it was selling things like Mini Mokes for a bit. I think the Mini Moke was 100L. I think it was a newbie who didn't know the rules though, and thought he could mkae a quick buck.

Things like this are much more rare than in other games though. I remember in Runescape, i met someone selling half-newbie swords and things for the starting gold a player gets. I'm glad that kind of thing isn't as common here.

Happens so much I simply stopped caring and pulled 90% of my free stuff out of the world.

For the record -- Superhottub 1.1 (you'll know it if you see it - big square low prim number - 3 buttons for steam, water, and jets) is FREE.

If you pay ANYTHING for it, you are gettin ripped off.

Siggy.

And ANOTHER assclown rears it's ugly grease painted face.

This sort of thing only happens out of n00b ignorance.

We have Mentors and other experienced residents hanging out in Welcome Area most of the time, and with what Awakening Avatars do, and with the "land buying for dummies" notecard that the Avatar formerly known as His Grace wrote up, I'm not sure how else we can try to correct n00b ignorance.

As long as there are the ignorant who are willing to part with their L$ for ripped off stuff, there will be those who are willing to cater to them.

All we can do is bitch about it, and abuse report it when its seen. I guess there are some people out there who have no self-esteem or pride in themselves.

'tis sad when you think about it...

- Ace

You know Fran..having some sort of rating for merchants is something I've thought of before. I suppose a way of having our own BBB in SL lol. I for one would love to see info or feedback about a particular store, company, merchant etc. I know alot of people hate the ratings system but I think feedback on what you buy and maybe on customer service would be kind of nice. Now someone reply and blow this idea out of the water because I probably have no clue what I'm talking about lol.

Sorry, but no. I know of players of extremely high profile with a year plus standing that engage in this sort of practice. It's not (just) noobs. It's people with no morality, ethics or conscience and a selfish view of 'the perms let me so I will', when we all know perms are broken.

The n00b ignorance to which I refer is the buyer, not the seller.

The leeches who engage in this practice have to have a little bit of savvy. No self-esteem or pride in self, but a bit of savvy.

- Ace

Heh. Well my comment still stands... I know buyers who will part with cash for goods they KNOW weren't made by that seller and know they're not supposed to be selling it.

Maybe a way to solve the 'free items being sold' problem would be to have a way to submit it to a specific Linden, who then makes it available in the 'library' of stuff each AV has access too?

Sorry, but I don't agree with that either. Even on my first SL day, the thought of selling some freebies grabbed in Luna or wherever else was already looking like a fishy action to me. I don't consider myself the most intelligent, witty and ominiscient peson in this world, so if I can realize this, logically enough, other peopel should too.

Being new ISN'T an excuse. Unless the person's mental age is of a 5-years old. That's a matter of ethics and somewhat of common sense, and has absolutely nothing to do with being new to SL, or to any other game.

I agree completely. People know the difference between right or wrong. If I get something for free I know it would be wrong to sell it.

Right. So why do so many SL'ers jump for joy and then distribute it to all their friends like its Christmas?

I just created a free-to-copy avatar ghoster - kind of in protest at someone who was selling them for L$500, which again is praying on ignorance - and decided that the cross they would have to bare for having a free (and more functional that the paid for version ) version was that the initialization message IM'd to them on startup says 'You may freely distribute. Do NOT sell for profit.'. I dunno if I'm the first, but I bet I'm not the last who decides to take that kind of approach.

any freebies in my mall that I placed are set at "free to copy" just like I got them, I will never attempt to turn a profit off something I aquired free in SL. You may verify by going to my mall, its located in Bragg . Please feel free to double check my work, lol I may have missed an item and didnt set it free to copy...

side note please tell me how the christmas decorations look to ^_^ spent alot of time setting it all up, and feedback is nice lol.

Nathan Klein.

Well if people want a ebay-like ratings system, do you want me to make one? basically you would have a "voting machine" at your shop, where people can either pos or neg rate you shop with a reason, and then that data gets agregated into a website?

Shouldnt be that hard to do, but time to do it on the other hand is an issue.

If I'm not mistaken, Cyrus Apollo and Juro Kothari and some allies do have a sort of group dedicated towards quality workmanship of this magnitude. There is not an extensive ratings system I'm aware of but it's to promote brand name familiarity and trust. I forget the name of this group, but it's printed at Cyrus's stores, complete with a logo.

Second Life Better Business Bureau? Hmmmmmm *ponders*

It /would/ be very cool though.... I bet they'd be a hot item.