[Idea] Rent a Linden

Okay, well maybe not exactly rent an actual Linden, but more of a volunteer program to aid the online Liaisons with basic mundane tasks.

Here's the concept:

The Rent a Linden program would allow dedicated SL members to lighten the load of the more mundane tasks the Lindens must endure. Such as answering questions, verifying bugs, and minor member squabbles.

While the RAL members would not have access to the same grid administration tools as the Lindens they would be able to provide basic support when asked by a Liaison to assist or IMed by SL resident.

In a way it's sort of like being a gopher working behind the stage in theatre, go for this, go for that, only on a purely volunteer basis.

RALs would have a separate account from their main SL membership used while they are volunteering, they would not be allowed $L on the RAL account to prevent boosting of one's funds, but have access to all other SL tools (minus grid/administration tools).

RALs would submit a report for their time spent volunteering of activities/tasks they have completed and report to their "Assigned Linden(s)" any violations of SL's conduct policy along with chat logs and snapshots for further investigation by the Lindens.


Well, that's all I have for the Rent a Linden idea.

Not too bad an idea. There cant be enough people helping out. The Mentor group is fairly active and I think *most* of them would not mind being sent an IM if there is something they can help out with. I personally dont mind questions from strangers needing help.

There is a group named, Bug Hunters. I have showed bugs to a couple of those members when a Linden has not been available. It felt rewarding to show a bug I discovered to someone that was interested enough to join a group with that name.

Vin Fiz is a pretty helpful group. It gets a small bit of spam, but it is always from those seeking help and looking for advice, never just random invites to parties and such.

Awakening Avatars is another group of new and old residents that join up because they are willing to help each other out.

People asking for help might be put off if a Linden tells them to just talk to so and so average resident about their problem. But, I wont dispute the fact that there needs to be more accessible help available.

Good idea in the works. There is help out there for new folks, it just needs to be easier to find. Maybe a group named, Help Advice, would be a decent idea so that group and members would show up if those terms are searched with the FIND tool.

Touchy subject. Conflict resolution is better done by a paid staffer, IMO. It would definitely be uncool to give RALs any authority at all over other users.

I know it sounds strange to hear, but this is illegal.


"What??????" you ask.


Yep. Ultima On-Line, AOL, and some other on-line services had unpaid volunteers doing this very same service. Someone sued, probably bitter over getting "fired". If I recall, UP called it the Mentor Program. I don't remember what AOL's program was called.

The courts said something to the effect that if you're not paying them minimum wage, that you're breaking labor laws. Even though the people voluneered to do it for free, they were basically acting as unpaid employees. The fact that they were receiving free "special" accounts to do this underscored that fact.

So basically, it's against the law to work for a business for free. Churches and charity organizations can do it because they're non-profit. Businesses can't.

However, nobody can stop you from forming your own organization to do this, but you can't be assigned work duties or hours by Linden. In fact, Linden probably can't offer you any assistance or consideration,.

But I'm not a lawyer. I'll be that a real lawyer could give you more detail on that.