Second Life® Forum General Guidelines
Welcome to the Second Life Forums! These forums are here for you, the Residents of Second Life, to discuss your ideas, questions, and projects and to share what you’ve learned. The boards have been divided up into several sections:
Linden Forums: Find announcements and news, information, economic and land statistics, and discussions with Linden Lab about new features in development.
Classified Forums: Post announcements when you have a product, service or property to sell or rent, or when you need some help with a project.
Discussion Forums: Share your ideas, ask questions, debate policies, and advocate new features with other members of the community.
Group Forums: Create a special place for your group discussions. Forum Archive: Search past forum discussions.
Purpose
The purpose of the Second Life Forums is to promote discussion and education about Second Life. We believe in an honest and open free exchange of ideas, and in always maintaining a respect for the opinions and positions of other people.
Moderation Policy
Linden Lab provides these forums in the belief that promoting discourse and the sharing of ideas leads to a stronger, better informed community. We allow full freedom of expression, within the limits of the Community Standards. Generally we will not delete whole threads, except in special circumstances as noted below. Any editing or locking of threads will be accompanied by an explanation, to make our moderation decisions as transparent to Residents as possible.
Specifically:
* Hate speech and revelation of other people’s real life information are prohibited and are grounds for suspension or removal from the forums and Second Life. These threads will be deleted.
* Self-regulation of forum posts is the ideal. Posts should conform with the Terms of Service and the Community Standards. However, moderators will have the option of:
o editing aggressively offensive personal attacks to remove those statements that violate the community standards (with an accompanying statement explaining the violation and reason for edit), please note language, such as "fraud, liar, cheater, griefer, troller, jerk, scam artist" etc is strongly discouraged, but will not be removed.
o locking threads with explanation in extreme cases (e.g. although posts have been edited and the parties asked to cease, the attacks don’t stop. There’s no obvious constructive discussion going on).
o A system of warnings and suspensions (see description below) will ensure that Residents who repeatedly violate the CS in the forums lose their posting privileges.
Your Role In Helping To Moderate The Forums
There’s a significant amount of traffic to the Second Life Forums, and it isn’t possible for us to read every thread. You can help keep the forums constructive and useful with the following tools:
* Report Posts – If you see a post that you think violates the Community Standards, is posted in the wrong forum, or in some way requires review, please report it by clicking on the /!\ icon to the left of the post. We’ll take a look at it and will take any action necessary.
* Ignoring – If for some reason you and another individual never see eye-to-eye you can choose to ignore that individual rather than respond negatively. To ignore people, click on the name of the person who posted the message. This will pull up their public information. Select "add to ignore list" at the bottom of their panel to ignore all posts by that person.
* Volunteer - If you're interested in being a Second Life Resident Moderator (ResMod) - post here.
Discipline
Be respectful. Please challenge opinions, state your own and enjoy the discussion, but do not cross the line into personal attacks and insults because you will risk having your Second Life account suspended or banned. We believe that in-world and forum behavior are linked and behavior carries across the boundary. This means if you are suspended or banned in-world you are also suspended or banned from the forums, and vice versa, if your account is suspended or banned from the SL Forums, it will also be suspended or banned from in-world. Violations are evaluated on a case-by-case basis depending on the severity of the offense and past history of violations. The following types of disciplinary action are possible remedies for inappropriate posts.
* Deletion/editing of offending material: The material that violated the rules may be edited or deleted without warning. In addition, threads that are no longer productive may be locked from further posting.
* Informal warning: If the offense is not severe enough to warrant a formal warning, an informal warning may be issued. An informal warning is a private correspondence between Linden Lab and the violator, advising the violator of the offense and what (s)he can do to correct it.
* Formal warning: If the offense is severe enough or an informal warning has already been issued, Linden Lab may issue a formal warning. The formal warning becomes a permanent part of the poster’s record. Several warnings can result in suspension or banning of your account.
* Suspension: A suspension is the temporary deactivation of a violator’s posting privileges from the Second Life Forums and from in-world activities.
* Ban: A ban is the permanent deactivation of the violator’s account with the Second Life Forums and from in-world activities.
Alternate Account Abuse: When an account is suspended from the SL Forums, alternate account misuse will cause an increase in suspension time for both accounts. For instance, if Jane SecondLifer is suspended from the forums for three days and comes back to the forums on the second day of her suspension as an alt and breaks the Community Standards again, both accounts will be suspended from the SL Forums for seven more days. Every effort will be made to take into consideration the general feeling of the forum, but Linden Lab has the final say.
Recourse: If Linden Lab takes disciplinary action against you that you believe was unfair or inconsistent, you may appeal the decision. An appeal is an e-mail explaining your situation and why you believe you should not have been disciplined. Appeals must be sent to [email]abuse@secondlife.com[/email], and must follow this appeals procedure, or they will not be considered. You may submit only one appeal per disciplinary action.
Basic Forum Policies and Etiquette
* Private discussions – the forums are a public area for the Second Life community’s use. Individuals who have a dispute with each other have other channels of communication to discuss their differences or communicate – private messaging, IM within Second Life, or chatting within Second Life. Also, threads that are addressed to a single individual or group are inappropriate on the forums, this includes slander or "naming names" in a posts title, starting polls about a particular resident or group, etc.
* Think before you post – sometimes in the heat of a passionate discussion you may be tempted to say something that on reflection you will regret. If your words do more harm to the community than they might give you pleasure in the short term, reconsider posting.
* Flaming, Spamming, Trolling – Flaming (posting a message that is intended to incite anger or directly attack a person or persons), Spamming (multiple posts of the same topic or discussion), and Trolling (a post with an intentionally contrary opinion written with the intent of inciting or getting argumentative opinions) are strongly discouraged. If you think your post might be over-reactive, or that it might fall into one of these definitions, please reconsider posting.
* Reposting – If a moderator removes your post, do not repost it elsewhere. Do not repost threads that have been locked or deleted and do not repost content that has been edited or deleted by a moderator. Furthermore, please do not post a "why did my post get removed" post. Send any further discussion regarding post removals to [email]abuse@lindenlab.com[/email].
* Post in appropriate places, for appropriate reasons – The forums are split into separate topics. Please do not post discussions into forums that are clearly designed for other discussions.
* Advertising - Advertising is not allowed on the forums. Posts containing Spam, real-world commercial advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are expressly forbidden. Also, please do not post any affiliate or referral links, or post anything asking for a referral. Such posts will be subject to removal. This includes using the forum private message system to spam other members.
More Information: You may also be interested in reading more about Netiquette - "Netiquette" is network etiquette, the do's and don'ts of online communication. Read more about the Core Rules of Netiquette here.
Group Forums
New group forums aren't being created anymore. Learn why here.
Please note, Group Forums which go unused may be deleted and will not be reinstated.
Welcome to the Second Life Forums! These forums are here for you, the Residents of Second Life, to discuss your ideas, questions, and projects and to share what you’ve learned. The boards have been divided up into several sections:
Linden Forums: Find announcements and news, information, economic and land statistics, and discussions with Linden Lab about new features in development.
Classified Forums: Post announcements when you have a product, service or property to sell or rent, or when you need some help with a project.
Discussion Forums: Share your ideas, ask questions, debate policies, and advocate new features with other members of the community.
Group Forums: Create a special place for your group discussions. Forum Archive: Search past forum discussions.
Purpose
The purpose of the Second Life Forums is to promote discussion and education about Second Life. We believe in an honest and open free exchange of ideas, and in always maintaining a respect for the opinions and positions of other people.
Moderation Policy
Linden Lab provides these forums in the belief that promoting discourse and the sharing of ideas leads to a stronger, better informed community. We allow full freedom of expression, within the limits of the Community Standards. Generally we will not delete whole threads, except in special circumstances as noted below. Any editing or locking of threads will be accompanied by an explanation, to make our moderation decisions as transparent to Residents as possible.
Specifically:
* Hate speech and revelation of other people’s real life information are prohibited and are grounds for suspension or removal from the forums and Second Life. These threads will be deleted.
* Self-regulation of forum posts is the ideal. Posts should conform with the Terms of Service and the Community Standards. However, moderators will have the option of:
o editing aggressively offensive personal attacks to remove those statements that violate the community standards (with an accompanying statement explaining the violation and reason for edit), please note language, such as "fraud, liar, cheater, griefer, troller, jerk, scam artist" etc is strongly discouraged, but will not be removed.
o locking threads with explanation in extreme cases (e.g. although posts have been edited and the parties asked to cease, the attacks don’t stop. There’s no obvious constructive discussion going on).
o A system of warnings and suspensions (see description below) will ensure that Residents who repeatedly violate the CS in the forums lose their posting privileges.
Your Role In Helping To Moderate The Forums
There’s a significant amount of traffic to the Second Life Forums, and it isn’t possible for us to read every thread. You can help keep the forums constructive and useful with the following tools:
* Report Posts – If you see a post that you think violates the Community Standards, is posted in the wrong forum, or in some way requires review, please report it by clicking on the /!\ icon to the left of the post. We’ll take a look at it and will take any action necessary.
* Ignoring – If for some reason you and another individual never see eye-to-eye you can choose to ignore that individual rather than respond negatively. To ignore people, click on the name of the person who posted the message. This will pull up their public information. Select "add to ignore list" at the bottom of their panel to ignore all posts by that person.
* Volunteer - If you're interested in being a Second Life Resident Moderator (ResMod) - post here.
Discipline
Be respectful. Please challenge opinions, state your own and enjoy the discussion, but do not cross the line into personal attacks and insults because you will risk having your Second Life account suspended or banned. We believe that in-world and forum behavior are linked and behavior carries across the boundary. This means if you are suspended or banned in-world you are also suspended or banned from the forums, and vice versa, if your account is suspended or banned from the SL Forums, it will also be suspended or banned from in-world. Violations are evaluated on a case-by-case basis depending on the severity of the offense and past history of violations. The following types of disciplinary action are possible remedies for inappropriate posts.
* Deletion/editing of offending material: The material that violated the rules may be edited or deleted without warning. In addition, threads that are no longer productive may be locked from further posting.
* Informal warning: If the offense is not severe enough to warrant a formal warning, an informal warning may be issued. An informal warning is a private correspondence between Linden Lab and the violator, advising the violator of the offense and what (s)he can do to correct it.
* Formal warning: If the offense is severe enough or an informal warning has already been issued, Linden Lab may issue a formal warning. The formal warning becomes a permanent part of the poster’s record. Several warnings can result in suspension or banning of your account.
* Suspension: A suspension is the temporary deactivation of a violator’s posting privileges from the Second Life Forums and from in-world activities.
* Ban: A ban is the permanent deactivation of the violator’s account with the Second Life Forums and from in-world activities.
Alternate Account Abuse: When an account is suspended from the SL Forums, alternate account misuse will cause an increase in suspension time for both accounts. For instance, if Jane SecondLifer is suspended from the forums for three days and comes back to the forums on the second day of her suspension as an alt and breaks the Community Standards again, both accounts will be suspended from the SL Forums for seven more days. Every effort will be made to take into consideration the general feeling of the forum, but Linden Lab has the final say.
Recourse: If Linden Lab takes disciplinary action against you that you believe was unfair or inconsistent, you may appeal the decision. An appeal is an e-mail explaining your situation and why you believe you should not have been disciplined. Appeals must be sent to [email]abuse@secondlife.com[/email], and must follow this appeals procedure, or they will not be considered. You may submit only one appeal per disciplinary action.
Basic Forum Policies and Etiquette
* Private discussions – the forums are a public area for the Second Life community’s use. Individuals who have a dispute with each other have other channels of communication to discuss their differences or communicate – private messaging, IM within Second Life, or chatting within Second Life. Also, threads that are addressed to a single individual or group are inappropriate on the forums, this includes slander or "naming names" in a posts title, starting polls about a particular resident or group, etc.
* Think before you post – sometimes in the heat of a passionate discussion you may be tempted to say something that on reflection you will regret. If your words do more harm to the community than they might give you pleasure in the short term, reconsider posting.
* Flaming, Spamming, Trolling – Flaming (posting a message that is intended to incite anger or directly attack a person or persons), Spamming (multiple posts of the same topic or discussion), and Trolling (a post with an intentionally contrary opinion written with the intent of inciting or getting argumentative opinions) are strongly discouraged. If you think your post might be over-reactive, or that it might fall into one of these definitions, please reconsider posting.
* Reposting – If a moderator removes your post, do not repost it elsewhere. Do not repost threads that have been locked or deleted and do not repost content that has been edited or deleted by a moderator. Furthermore, please do not post a "why did my post get removed" post. Send any further discussion regarding post removals to [email]abuse@lindenlab.com[/email].
* Post in appropriate places, for appropriate reasons – The forums are split into separate topics. Please do not post discussions into forums that are clearly designed for other discussions.
* Advertising - Advertising is not allowed on the forums. Posts containing Spam, real-world commercial advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are expressly forbidden. Also, please do not post any affiliate or referral links, or post anything asking for a referral. Such posts will be subject to removal. This includes using the forum private message system to spam other members.
More Information: You may also be interested in reading more about Netiquette - "Netiquette" is network etiquette, the do's and don'ts of online communication. Read more about the Core Rules of Netiquette here.
Group Forums
New group forums aren't being created anymore. Learn why here.
Please note, Group Forums which go unused may be deleted and will not be reinstated.