Can any harm come from accepting things?

OK, so ever the bright-eyed SL ingenue, I was borking around stores looking for pink flowery pretty things. I saw a woman wearing a great pair of jeans. I IMd her and told her how great those jeans looked and asked if she would mind sharing where she got them. She gave me the name of a store that I recognized. She seemed friendly enough, told me the jeans came in several colors. She asked if I wanted a lm, and I said sure, and I accepted it.

This lm had a perfectly legitimate looking name, in fact it's the exact lm of the store if you looked it up. I clicked it, tp'd, and was cheerfully waiting for things to rez. I started to become aware that I was not seeing things that I expected to see. In fact, I didn't know what I was seeing, but it seemed to involve blood. I looked up at the top bar of the SL window and saw that in fact I was in "Sinner's Rest Kidnap & BSDM Roleplay."

I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to find pink flowery things there. Not even the jeans. I'm still not sure what I WAS seeing; I just tp'd the heck outta there. I then tp'd to the legit store after doing a search on it, and there were the jeans. While there, I opened the IM window I'd had open with this woman and belatedly clicked her profile. I then understood why she would have a lm to Sinner's Rest, but I didn't understand why she would have that mislabeled as a jeans store. I IM'd her, "That lm you gave me took me to a kidnap & BSDM roleplay." She did not respond, but just a moment later SL locked up and actually closed on my computer, which I've never had happen before. I have been able to get back on since then, though she never did reply.

I recognize that that was probably just a coincidence, but it got me thinking. Is there any way accepting anything could compromise me in any way? I know not to get bit by a vampire, but what about accepting other stuff?

I must correct myself. The lm did not have the same location data as the store's current lm. It's possible that the lm she gave me was an old, outdated one, that now leads to Sinner's Rest. In fact that's the only explanation that makes any sense.

I still wonder about my question, though, of whether or not accepting things can do any harm.

I don't recall offhand that simply accepting something can cause harm or distress.

Rezzing a scripted object from a stranger can cause problems.

If you want to rez something you aren't sure of the safety of, rez it in a place where scripts are turned off. Then you can at least look in the contents and see what they say. If you rez something with an appearance that doesn't match its name that would be a clue that it might be fishy. If you see scripts inside with names like "Grief" or other obvious troublemaker implications that would be a sign you might want to at least investigate further before you let the script run.

You might want to make a folder with a name like "untested untrusted objects" so you can stick it there for testing when you have the time and inclination.

Objects can have scripts inside them to do most anything, so accepting and then rezzing an object from an untrusted source is not wise. Other items like textures and system clothing and landmarks are relatively harmless, although a picture could certainly be offensive and a landmark might lead someplace unexpected as you experienced.

There's nothing that can harm you by simply being in your inventory.

edit: Ms. Baskerville was too quick for me.

I'm not 100% clear on what rezzing an object means. If someone were to give me, say, a t-shirt, not packed in a box but just a t-shirt, and I accepted it, could that do any harm? You are talking more about things like unpacking boxes, right?

No, accepting an inventory offer cannot do anything to you at all. You have to attach something or wear it for it to do anything to you (or rez it, i.e. drag it on to the ground).

Things like clothes, textures, landmarks (LMs) are completely safe. They can't contain scripts and won't do anything to you at all.

There are some things an attachment you put on can do to you:
-animate you, however it wants
-move you (i.e. rocket you into the stratosphere)
-spy on your local chat
-a lot of other things

Once you take that attachment off, all this stuff stops. Worse comes to worse (like you get launched into the stratosphere), you can always relog and everything will be fine and dandy. For the most part, no permanent harm will come to you.

The only caution I would give you... is that it is possible for an attachment to steal your lindens... BUT a large, very obvious window will pop up to verify if you want to allow this. Obviously, you can click no and take off such items.

Sometimes you will be prompted if an object can animate you, or take control of you, that sort of thing. This happens automatically if you wear/attach it, but you will be prompted if it's just sitting in the world and trying to do it to you.

Simple answer. You are fine, go wild, and the stuff that could really mess you up you have to give permission for first.

So somebody could give me a t-shirt and I could wear it and it could be allowing them to do things w/o me knowing it? I want to be clear on this because I have accepted things from people like, in one case, even hair. I have to confess that I do not know how he gave me the hair because when this hair is sold from the vendor it's "no transfer" yet the hair he gave me has that property removed.

I suppose a clothing item might cause distress by being transparent when you expected otherwise, or having words on it one finds offensive, or something like that. Or even worse, an outfit could have non-complementary plaid and stripes mixed up together.

"Prim hair" is made of prims, which can have scripts in them.

"System hair" is made of a texture, and can't have scripts.

You are probably fine with a t-shirt. Those don't contain scripts. Some outfits have "Prim" components (like shirt cuffs) that make them look so they aren't just "painted on". These look like little yellow boxes in your inventory. One of these "prim" components could theoretically contain an annoying script, but I'd say that's a bit paranoid. You are probably just fine not worry about such a thing.

Hair could theoretically contain bad scripts too, but if you buy it from a vendor, you are mostly guaranteed that it's not malicious.

Just look out for random strangers giving you strange things.

Any harm that might come and be undone.
Don't give anything permission to debt your lindens.
Other than that. Have fun. When I first joined SL I was traumatized several times from sitting on everyone poseball that was around. But my avatar survived being beheaded, stretch into weird shapes and stuff into a washing machine.

Be wary of any object that request debit permissions as mentioned by others. There are legitimate uses for it, such as setting up store where you're using a scripted vending device but read all dialog boxes carefully before clicking yes in particular the yellow warning boxes. This is what it would look like:

/me makes a prim and puts a script in it. A script that, when the object is worn or rezzed, will create many copies of itself in-world that immediately fly off and offer themselves to other people, hoping that they will accept it and rez or wear it somewhere. You won't see it. You won't know it's happening. Maybe I'll put a "howdy!" and some fortune cookie stuff in it so that it looks harmless.

Here ya go, AK!

DON'T TAKE CANDY FROM STRANGERS!1!!

And only prims can do such things - not clothes or skins or shapes. Only things that you can drag to the ground from your inventory. If it's got a box icon in inventory, it can be scripted.

"Can any harm come from accepting things? "
Would that pro-acceptance view be stoicism? Buddhism? or what?

"May God (or FSM) grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference."

I'm still waiting.

There is an object 'owner unbeknownst' that is called 2lifeshop. This object if accepted and rezzed will steal you're money and land if you own any. So just be careful what you accept and enjoy Sl.

I believe that was a false rumor floating around the grid. I could be wrong. Either way, it's impossible for an object to steal your money unless you explicitly grant it permissions to do so. Additionally, there is absolutely no way for anything to "steal" your land.

A thought just struck me

Do LL run a kinda Anti "Prim" virus checker through their asset servers?

You know, so say someone creates a grief script that's harmful to others, can this be identified and removed from the database once reported in the SL world?

How do you find it the place that you're rezzing boxes has scripts on or off?

SuezanneC, ha! And I'm into Buddhism! Hey, what is "FSM"?

Flying Spaghetti Monster: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

Oh yes, ty, the flying spaghetti monster.

Look at it this way: the thing ends up in your inventory regardless of whether you click Accept or Decline. Decline moves the item to your trash, and Accept does nothing besides sends an IM I think! So the chances of an exploit specifically requiring you to click 'Accept' are lower than low

One other suggestion I might add is that you shouldn't let this thread get you too paranoid as a reasonable amount of caution will serve you just fine in Second Life. The two biggest things I would warn you about is to keep your SL password strong and secure and being aware of what the debit permissions dialog box looks like as I showed you before. You'll find many total strangers that will give you things in order to help you out and I would say 99.99% of the time they will be totally fine. It's part of the SL culture to pass along helpful things for most people. There really isn't much that I'm aware of that can cause you any sort of permanent damage that a relog won't fix. Perhaps be extra vigilant in places like sandboxes or infohubs, but for the most part I think you'll find strangers will give you lots of useful stuff when you're new. There are also urban legends or myths based on half truths or old information you might hear along your travels but you can just post here and it will likely be verified or debunked quite quickly.

When you are in a no-script parcel, there will be an icon next to the parcel name that indicates as such. This icon (I believe) looks like a tiny script with a circle and line through it.

OK, time for a little refresher for AK and the other newcomers.

WHAT CAN PEOPLE GIVE ME?
- clothes (items that have little symbols of clothing next to them. Jackets, T shirts, pants, underwear, etc.)
- shapes (has a little spreadeagled man symbol)
- skins (has a little flesh colored blob symbol)
- system hair (a little head symbol)
- system shoes (a little shoe symbol)
- animations or gestures
- soundfiles
- textures or pictures
- notecards
- landmarks
- invitations to join a group

and of course, prim objects. These all have a little yellow box symbol in your inventory, and can be anything from a beautiful wig to a piece of jewelry to a great big gothic castle. You can attach a prim object to any of the nearly 30 attachment points on your avatar (right click and choose Wear). If the land you are on allows you to, you can "rez" these objects on the ground next to you ("Rez" means "create an object in the world or bring it into the world from your inventory".

WHAT CAN IT DO TO ME?
Now...is any of this stuff dangerous? Clothes, shapes, skins, system hair, and system shoes are all safe. They are only textures that "paint" themselves onto a layer of your avatar's mesh (except for a shape, which actually changes the mesh). The worst that can happen is that you will wear an item that makes you look funny, at least until you replace it with another item.

(Oh...I did hear of one item typically called "nice pants", which, if worn, will distort the shape of your avatar hideously. This is one form in which this practical joke is passed. If it should happen to you, you can either take off the item and relog, or get a free "undistorter" object that you can touch to recover your appearance)

Animations MAY be OK. I was once given one called "Superdance" that turned out to be a distorter. Someone may give you an innocuous sounding animation file that, when played, will make your avatar hump the nearest object like a dog. Gestures can contain animations, so the same caution applies.

Lots of these these little practical jokes can be fun. I have one called "Onigokko". If people are wearing this item, and anyone in range says "onigokko", the wearers start to run around waving their arms, while a goofy little kazoo version of the Lone Ranger theme plays. Everyone runs in circles until someone says "stop".

Soundfiles, textures, and notecards are all safe to accept.

Landmarks are safe to accept...but you can find, like the OP did, that the LM takes you someplace unexpected. This may not be malicious. SL is always changing, and someone can give you, in good faith, a landmark to "Fairy Garden"...which has since been sold and is now "Demonic Lunchroom".

Invitations to a group are OK. But be aware that some groups charge a fee to join. You may want to do a Search on the group first, and look at its information.

Prim objects (that is, everything else) can be a problem. This is because objects can contain scripts, that is, programs that do things. Mostly, these are good things. Scripts make doors open at a touch, make vehicles move, let you re-size clothing items, and make the diamonds in your necklace sparkle.

The two biggest malicious things that objects can be made to do are:
1) listen to your open chat and send that information to someone at a remote location, and
2) take linden dollars from your account (If, as other posters have said, you first grant it permission to do so).

You can get "bug scanners" that can find objects that are "listening". Note that these can give you lots of "false positives", as there are many objects that have legitimate reasons for listening to chat.

If you are suspicious of an object, you can accept it (simply accepting it does no harm). If it's transferable, you can give it to an alt (the name for a second SL account and password...you may have several) with no money in its account, and wear or rez the object using this "safe" avatar. Or you can transfer your money to your alt, or to your XStreetSL account, before rezzing or wearing the suspect object yourself.

You can generally see that there are scripts in an object, by right clicking it and selecting Edit, then looking in its Contents tab. You may not be able to actually read the code of the scripts, if they are No Modify.

Objects can NOT:
- steal your land
- steal your SL password
- hack into your computer
- give your computer a virus
- delete your avatar
- get you pregnant (well...except for those tummy talker things)