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Is this a scam, or extortion, or for real? |
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Ann Launay
Neko-licious™
Join date: 8 Aug 2006
Posts: 7,893
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08-10-2008 15:32
I know there were some different membership/land options for early adopters...if you believe this is an error, put in a support ticket or call the Billing number to talk to a live person.
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~Now Trout Re-Re-Re-Certified!~
I am bumping you to an 8.5 on the Official Trout Measuring Instrument of Sluttiness. You are an enigma - on the one hand a sweet, gentle, intelligent woman who we would like to wrap up in our arms and protect, and on the other, a temptress to whom we would like to do all sorts of unmentionable things. Congratulations and shame on you! You are a bit of a slut. |
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Peggy Paperdoll
A Brat
Join date: 15 Apr 2006
Posts: 4,383
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08-10-2008 15:44
I know there were some different membership/land options for early adopters...if you believe this is an error, put in a support ticket or call the Billing number to talk to a live person. That would be my approach. Whinning in the forums about it won't solve the problem. Plus, it really gets me how some people are so willing to speak of personal matters in a public forum. "I got this email from Wal-Mart today telling me I had to reapply for the card I've been using for the last 2 years......damn them!!! All they want is my annual fee. That's so unfair!!" Not much difference in my eyes.  |
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Moleculor Satyr
Fireflies!
Join date: 5 Jan 2004
Posts: 2,650
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08-10-2008 15:48
This is not me whining for a fix in the forums, this is me verifying that yes, this isn't a scam or extortion thing.
The rules, so far as I have known from my own perspective, have never been anything close to requiring premium for mainland land. I've filled out a ticket, but as I'm not a premium member, I get that ignored unless I wheedle my way into the phone folk's good graces. I've done so, and I'm expecting nothing more than a "Oh, uh. Yeah. You fell through the cracks because you're so old. Start paying." Which means I need to seek out 512m2 more to buy up. _____________________
</sarcasm>
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FireEyes Fauna
Registered User
Join date: 26 Apr 2004
Posts: 138
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08-10-2008 15:50
There was the lifetime account that you could purchase for like...$200 or $300 or $500 or some large number of US$.
That would entitle you to a L$500 stipend and 4096 tier for the rest of your life. But I think that ended near the end of 2003. I'm going to go with the 'its a bug they fixed' solution. I'm guessing if the OP went to adjust the amount of tier they were paying for it wouldn't allow them to. It's probably an odd sized parcel, since when dropped down to basic it would remove 512 of your tier allotment. Since the additional purchased tier covered the amount of land, nothing caught it and it's gone on for 3 years. |
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Porky Gorky
Temperamentalalistical
Join date: 25 May 2004
Posts: 1,414
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08-10-2008 15:51
I know someone who purchased about 5000 sqm on the mainland in May 2004, they had a permium account at the time. They downgraded to basic in Sept 2004 and kept up tier payments on the land although they lost their 512 sqm allowance that come with premium. To this stay they still pay tier for it but only hold a basic account. he didnt take advantage of any offers available at the time and we have allways assumed he was able to continue due to a glitch in the process somewhere.
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FireEyes Fauna
Registered User
Join date: 26 Apr 2004
Posts: 138
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08-10-2008 15:53
I would ask your friend if he's received a similar e-mail
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Moleculor Satyr
Fireflies!
Join date: 5 Jan 2004
Posts: 2,650
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08-10-2008 15:54
There was the lifetime account that you could purchase for like...$200 or $300 or $500 or some large number of US$. That would entitle you to a L$500 stipend and 4096 tier for the rest of your life. But I think that ended near the end of 2003. I'm going to go with the 'its a bug they fixed' solution. I'm guessing if the OP went to adjust the amount of tier they were paying for it wouldn't allow them to. It's probably an odd sized parcel, since when dropped down to basic it would remove 512 of your tier allotment. Since the additional purchased tier covered the amount of land, nothing caught it and it's gone on for 3 years. No, I have not attempted to alter anything related to my account, land holdings, etc, for months, if not years. The email arrived just randomly all of a sudden. _____________________
</sarcasm>
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Yumi Murakami
DoIt!AttachTheEarOfACat!
Join date: 27 Sep 2005
Posts: 6,860
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08-10-2008 15:57
There was the lifetime account that you could purchase for like...$200 or $300 or $500 or some large number of US$. That would entitle you to a L$500 stipend and 4096 tier for the rest of your life. But I think that ended near the end of 2003. Just as a clarification, at the time it was sold, the Lifetime account only entitled you to _access SL_ for the rest of your (or its) life. At the time, *every* user had to pay a monthly subscription; *every* user had a L$500 stipend; and there was no tier system - you could own as much land as you could afford to buy with L$, for no extra monthly fee. The 4096 tier for life was to compensate lifetime members when the monthly tier fees were introduced. I believe there was some similar thing where, perhaps when Basic accounts were very first introduced??, it was possible to hold mainland while not being Premium, on the basis you would pay tier from 0sqm up and would get only the Basic stipend (L$50 at that time). But it's hazy.. |
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FireEyes Fauna
Registered User
Join date: 26 Apr 2004
Posts: 138
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08-10-2008 15:59
Someone else, who was in your similar situation, probably tried to change their tier amounts lately and when it wouldn't let them they called for help.
Then Accounting Linden probably did a WTF?! and ran a query on how many mainland landholders were Basic members. Now everyone who owns land that is a Basic member is (most likely) getting an e-mail like yours. It may also be initiated by Jack Linden and his Mainland cleanup thread. I didn't have the patience to read through all the posts, but something might have been mentioned in there about basics owning mainland. |
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Yumi Murakami
DoIt!AttachTheEarOfACat!
Join date: 27 Sep 2005
Posts: 6,860
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08-10-2008 16:11
For anyone who is interested, now that the loophole I found has been closed: I don't want to give exact details but the basic idea of it was, to modify the client or tamper with the network protocol to allow you to "edit" the price of a classified, in the same way that you would edit the name or description of one. If you edited the price, you didn't get charged, because you don't get charged for editing a classified.
And why did I find it so quickly? I looked on the SL protocol wiki and noticed that the network packet sent for editing a classified is the same as the one for creating one, so it was a natural first experiment which turned out to work. |
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Darkness Anubis
Registered User
Join date: 14 Jun 2004
Posts: 1,628
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08-10-2008 17:06
I've been in SL since April of 2004 and you've always had to be a premium member to own land on the Mainland. Nothing has changed. You pay the $9.95 a month and get 512 tier included with it. Then if you want to own more than 512 you pay additional tier. Sorry that you've gotten away with it for 2 or 3 years. Just be thankful they're not asking for back payment! I know that if you stop paying tier there was an automated process that would reclaim the land, but they've probably just gotten around to creating an automated process that checks to make sure the owner of the land is premium. Next they're probably going to create an automated query that checks to make sure groups have enough donated tier to support the amount of land they own! I Have been in SL since JUNE 2004. At the time I signed up there were 3 plans avaiable. the Lifetime memebership deal. THe premium deal (9.95 a month + 512 + 500L stipend), and Basic (9.95 one time fee, 50L a month, no free 512 but you COULD indeed own land if you paid tier). Several of my family did own land back then and were NOT premium accounts. Far as I can recall when they started changing all the basic accounts a few years ago there was some question weather or not the old style basic account would continue to be able to own land. Guess LL made up its mind.  _____________________
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Osprey Therian
I want capslocklock
Join date: 6 Jul 2004
Posts: 5,049
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08-10-2008 17:16
Moleculor! Welcome back!
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Osprey Therian
I want capslocklock
Join date: 6 Jul 2004
Posts: 5,049
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08-10-2008 17:20
Just as a clarification, at the time it was sold, the Lifetime account only entitled you to _access SL_ for the rest of your (or its) life. Wrong. _____________________
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Colette Meiji
Registered User
Join date: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 15,556
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08-10-2008 19:05
At some point, there were some "transitional" users who could hold land without being a Premium member. I'm not sure exactly how or why but it did happen. (They still had to pay tier on it though - US$5 for 512, since they didn't have the "base" 512 for being Premium.) Thats right and his account age would put him in that bunch. So sounds like they revoked this privilege either intentionally or maybe the Linden didn't know. Theres also a lot of older accounts that get 1024 with premium instead of 512. |
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Colette Meiji
Registered User
Join date: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 15,556
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08-10-2008 19:06
Wrong. Yeah there was also 4096 free tier thrown in wasn't there? |
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Colette Meiji
Registered User
Join date: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 15,556
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08-10-2008 19:07
Someone else, who was in your similar situation, probably tried to change their tier amounts lately and when it wouldn't let them they called for help. Then Accounting Linden probably did a WTF?! and ran a query on how many mainland landholders were Basic members. Now everyone who owns land that is a Basic member is (most likely) getting an e-mail like yours. It may also be initiated by Jack Linden and his Mainland cleanup thread. I didn't have the patience to read through all the posts, but something might have been mentioned in there about basics owning mainland. I really wonder if the Linden was just too new to know about people who had the older, legacy type plans |
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Travis Lambert
White dog, red collar
Join date: 3 Jun 2004
Posts: 2,819
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08-10-2008 19:10
Molecular - you're not crazy... I used to do exactly the same thing.
 It used to be that you could have a basic account, and ala-carte pay tier. So - say you owned 512m of land: Instead of paying 9.95/month to have 512 included in premium, you could pay $5/month on a basic account. Cheaper monthly cost, but no stipend. I went my first 2 years in SL on a Basic account this way, paying for my tier ala carte. At some point, Linden made it mandatory that you had to be premium to own land... although I think they grandfathered the ala carte folks for quite a while & didn't enforce it. _____________________
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The Shelter The Shelter is a non-profit recreation center for new residents, and supporters of new residents. Our goal is to provide a positive & supportive social environment for those looking for one in our overwhelming world. |
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Moleculor Satyr
Fireflies!
Join date: 5 Jan 2004
Posts: 2,650
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08-10-2008 19:27
See?
I'm not crazy. *twitch* Crazy. *twitch* Crazy. *twitch* Crazy. _____________________
</sarcasm>
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3Ring Binder
always smile
Join date: 8 Mar 2007
Posts: 15,028
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08-10-2008 19:28
See? I'm not crazy. *twitch* Crazy. *twitch* Crazy. *twitch* Crazy. to be fair, those of us who don't know what the heck we are talking about should not be talking about things we don't know heck about. |
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Yumi Murakami
DoIt!AttachTheEarOfACat!
Join date: 27 Sep 2005
Posts: 6,860
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08-10-2008 19:42
Yeah there was also 4096 free tier thrown in wasn't there? My understanding was that lifetime memberships were offered before the concept of tier existed, and the 4096 free tier was added to compensate existing lifetime members when it was added. Apparantly I'm wrong, but that's ok, I'd like to know what the actual original deal was.. please, Osprey? (Or other oldbies?) |
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Colette Meiji
Registered User
Join date: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 15,556
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08-10-2008 19:49
My understanding was that lifetime memberships were offered before the concept of tier existed, and the 4096 free tier was added to compensate existing lifetime members when it was added. Apparantly I'm wrong, but that's ok, I'd like to know what the actual original deal was.. please, Osprey? (Or other oldbies?) If I remember right (some second hand though) it was *Prim Tax *Prim Tax protest *Tier *Charter Accounts available *Payment on file Premium accounts 1024 tier with premium $1000L stipend (later cut to 500) *Payment on file Premium accounts 512 tier with premium ($500 L stipend) *$10 Payment on File Basic accounts with a $50L stipend (limted per user) *Free Payment on File Basic accounts with a $50L stipend (limited per user) *Payment on file Premium accounts 512 tier with premium ($400 L stipend) *Free Payment on File Basic accounts with no stipend (limited per user) *Free no payment info on file accounts, No Stipend. No practical way to limit. *Payment on file Premium accounts 512 tier with premium ($300 L stipend) |
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Gordon Wendt
404 - User not found
Join date: 10 May 2006
Posts: 1,024
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08-10-2008 19:56
Molecular - you're not crazy... I used to do exactly the same thing. It used to be that you could have a basic account, and ala-carte pay tier. So - say you owned 512m of land: Instead of paying 9.95/month to have 512 included in premium, you could pay $5/month on a basic account. Cheaper monthly cost, but no stipend. I went my first 2 years in SL on a Basic account this way, paying for my tier ala carte. At some point, Linden made it mandatory that you had to be premium to own land... although I think they grandfathered the ala carte folks for quite a while & didn't enforce it. That was called something like "basic plus" right? I think I remember that but I think even the grandfathering on that went away quite some time ago although I could be wrong. _____________________
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SuezanneC Baskerville
Forums Rock!
Join date: 22 Dec 2003
Posts: 14,229
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08-10-2008 20:11
I'm one of the "one 9.96 sign up fee, get to buy land forever" sorts, and I just got billed five bucks for my 512 sm. There's no message like Moleculor got.
To Moleculor: Howdy n00b! _____________________
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So long to these forums, the vBulletin forums that used to be at forums.secondlife.com. I will miss them. I can be found on the web by searching for "SuezanneC Baskerville", or go to http://www.google.com/profiles/suezanne - http://lindenlab.tribe.net/ created on 11/19/03. Members: Ben, Catherine, Colin, Cory, Dan, Doug, Jim, Philip, Phoenix, Richard, Robin, and Ryan - |
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Yumi Murakami
DoIt!AttachTheEarOfACat!
Join date: 27 Sep 2005
Posts: 6,860
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08-10-2008 20:30
If I remember right (some second hand though) it was *Prim Tax *Prim Tax protest *Tier *Charter Accounts available Really..? That's interesting. I'm sure I've seen one of the old Linden news posts with a message saying something like "if you want to go Lifetime, do it now, because there's a big change coming" and the big change was tier. But it's only a vague memory and I can't remember where I saw it. I had thought lifetime accounts were available right from the beginning, as a way to raise starting capital and personal investment. |
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Osprey Therian
I want capslocklock
Join date: 6 Jul 2004
Posts: 5,049
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08-10-2008 21:46
There were Lifetime memberships that aren't "Charter." There was a brief time after beta and into the tier period when Lifetime memberships were available.
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