show auction bidders

i understand that bidding ids were originally hidden because people were spam iming and such during unextendable auctions.

the current atmosphere, however, forces barons (i use that term with warm love and affection for lack of a better one) to look like mean gits for outbidding newbies just trying to buy some land.

given that i trust most people are kind, good natured and willing to help new people to settle onto the grid, i believe that everyone would be better served being able to see bidders' names, while auctions are in progress, so that the barons can back off of ids they recognize to be not one of their own.

I once read that in the beginning auction names were public until the system was abused for griefing. People targeted certain individuals and bid against them to drive up their prices or prevent them from buying land they needed.

As it is I could imagine several scenario for griefing, especially against people who rely on proxy bidding. And I actually don't see any other use of bidder name being public, other than for discriminate people.

Mmm, and even if nobody would intentionally abuse it, just imagine all the whining and bitching of person X complaining to person Y about bidding her up. Many honest people would simply feel threatened and scared to bid on a parcel somebody else has a bid on, because of the possibility to be accused up bidding against that person. The smart and evil faction on the other hand would simply use a few alt accounts...

In the real world, (Ebay, et al), all bidders are public.

We should follow this model. If someone gets griefed, they should report abuse, and it is Linden Lab's job to suspend / ban.

Also:
- All land sales should be public record.
- Any person turning down a winning bid without good reason should have their bidding priveledges on that credit card banned indefinitely until a time they pay a fee (maybe $25) to have it lifted and sent a written email promising not to do it again. Second time offenders should be banned from bidding.
- Plots sold at auctions should have a 7 day freeze on subdividing, or a tax on subdividing within the first week / month as an alternative.
- Plots should have a tax on resale within the first month after purchase, inversely proportional to the time since purchase, to discourage land barony.

compared to people being unable to win auctions for the land they need under the current system?



that's true. i suppose it is better for everyone to just give up and not bid against the few smart (i won't say evil) people, and their alts, because that faction will just win anyway, then have to resell at higher prices for having been bid against. why do people force you to charge higher prices i wonder? why don't they just stay out of your way?

People who refuse to take possession of auction land are already imposed a fee. I know this because I bid on an auction, and declined to follow through. I paid the Lindens a relisting fee, and that was the end of the story. Sometimes people make mistakes, or act impulsively. I don't think that makes them as evil as Hiro seems to, but I'm obviously biased.

If someone is repeatedly bidding on auctions and refusing purchase, then action should be taken. But an isolated incident should not preclude you from bidding on auctions.

I don't like the sound of the term "relisting fee".

It makes it sound like the Lindens don't automatically offer it to the next person. A "failure to pay fine" would make sense, but the Lindens don't SERIOUSLY re-auction a piece of land automatically, do they?

As far as the original feature request? No.

I made some suggestions. If they seem like good suggestions, and land barons evil by fact that they don't want these good suggestions for their own personal gain at the expense of many people unable to purchase reasonably priced land, well then that's your opinion, not mine.

Ardith,

I didn't realize a fee was already administered. Might I trouble you to divulge how much it was?

Further, and I'm not saying you didn't have a legit reason to cancel the purchase, i think if a person cannot justify why they renegged on a purchase, they should have their priveledge to bid revoked. =)