There and Spam

OK so it started with someone posting a thead on There forums with their referral link. I thought this was pretty cheap and I know other SL players did too. A lot of Thereians got pretty pissed about it.

Today I get a There club email, that was sent to all members of group Euro_There, this time from someone saying they had made a move to SL and providing their referral link. Now to me this is SPAM. I play both games, and I resent people making the SL membership look bad by sending this crap. I have only ever given out my referral link twice and that was to good friends who I knew would be interested in playing, and when the 1000 free accounts were being given out. I'd never think of sending out my referral link to hundreds of There players who I did not know. (I have never met this person in There or SL and didn't even know they were a member of the club.)

It's one thing posting if you are moving to SL and want people to be able to look you up. It's another thing when you are so obviously profiting from it. Thereians are not stupid, as it is now with this having happened several times now they are under the impression SL sends users to recruit, and it makes the membership here look bad.

Larissa

I would like to make it clear that Linden Lab has not encouraged any members to recruit on the There forums or through There club emails.

If you want to invite your friends from There to join SL, we will welcome them (and help them get started with a discount). But please be sensitive in how you approach There citizens.

Thank you Robin I appreciate that and I know that to be the case. Unfortunately a few members are spoiling it for the rest of us and those are the ones that Thereians tend to remember.

Larissa

I agree that just makes everyone look bad.

Really only thing you can do is hope people realize that not everyone can be like that.

I don't think having your link in your signature or profile or something is bad, but spaming people with it is just rude.

I don't recall if I've actualy ever posted my own referral link anywhere...

LMAO, The Lindens make it VERY clear at every opportunity, that Ninja recruiting practices are welcomed! Why else would you PAY people to post links and referrals to the game?? Why else would they provide at no cost, links you can use on your websites to recruit?

Spam is deplorable, at any level, but SL is about freedoms. Freedoms of expression, speech, politics, style. Now we are seeing the "politically correct" Linden. The irony of Robins post is inescapable.


Oh, Robin? If Linden Labs wasn't into recruiting Therians, then why did the home page of SL have a "Welcome Therians" announcement?

I'm trying Oz. I'm really trying. Unfortunately this has happened so many times lately with people posting referral links on the forum and now this email spam, there does seem to be a backlash against SL and its players...and for some diehard Thereians they seem to take this to mean we are all out to poach their membership and it is somehow organised.

Larissa

Hmm I've played other online chat programs (eg TSO and There) as well as SL and they do all seem to have a system whereby if you have someone quote your name in their signup then YOU get money. There has it, I used it when I signed up for beta, in beta it was advertised that if you quoted an existing player's name in your application then you would get into beta faster. Once the game was released you actually got signup bonuses as extra Therebucks for new players signing up using your name. I don't know how much it was as I never used it outside of beta. I'm pretty sure TSO has something similar too. It's a marketing thing aimed to get you to sign up your friends. I've not got a problem with this, but the way it's been abused by some players makes us all look bad.

So yeah, nothing new. But at no stage does it mean the all clear to SPAM people with it!!!!

Larissa

Larissa, as I said, I find it deplorable, my point is, if you post a recruiting link, then people WILL use it. To then castigate people for using the tool you gave them, is hypocrisy, that's all.

Cashmere, you've completely missed the point of a referral bonus. It's for getting your friends to join, not for going off to another game and irritating the hell out of them with spam. What Schw-- er... the person in question did was pretty dumb and riled up a lot of people. Why would LL need that?



You seemed to start saying something there, but failed to make any sense. Why is it ironic? It's a statement of policy and the wishes of LL. Essentially they mean, "Don't go pissing off people in other games while claiming to represent SL." Makes sense to me.



Er... because lots of Therians started flooding in on their own? Because There Inc. announced that they weren't fixing any more bugs and may phase out There? Do you suggest that we kick 'em out? I'd rather welcome them, myself. They're a good bunch and we should be happy to see them.

it wasn't Schwanson this time. I don't know if I am allowed to post the person's name that is doing this.

Larissa

IANAL (I am not a linden), but I don't see what TOS rule you are violation... They did it in a public (ish) forum, as a mater of public (ish) record. It wasn't like it was a private IM, and besides which, it didn't happen within LL's jurisdiction.

Diederick Rebus is the person's name. The email with the referral link was sent to all members of Euro_There which totals 222 Thereians at present.

*edit - this was not the only club it went too - uber_sexy also got the same email so I suspect a lot more people got spammed than I was previously aware

Larissa

I just want to point out, Linden Lab has taken the "Welcome Thereians" thing off the front page. Not sure if it is related...

I don't think its related, I noticed it was gone earlier last night.

LL only posted that after some people started coming in from There, so its actualy really nice of them to try and help people out and offer a discount. I know there were pretty many Thereians who were really happy about the offer.

It does say on the referral link page:

Include it in your email signature file
Post it on your personal website or Second Life fan site
Post it on your favorite online forums and discussion boards

However it doesn't say to *spam* people, theres different ways this can be taken to mean.

*********CAMEO APPEARANCE ***********

very bad, schwanson! very bad!!!