Spam

I'm currently the target of a spam campaign. At sporadic intervals someone is sending continuous repititions of the same word in green text over and over. It fills the screen and can last for up to 90 minutes. I've sent numerous Abuse Reports to Linden but they do nothing. Anyone have any advice as to what I can do about this ?

Is there some reason why you can't mute them?

The message must have an identity of the person or object that is sending it - mute the person ot the object and you will not receive the messages.

Tried that. The object is called "DRUNK" (and the text btw consists of endless repetitions of that word). I've muted "DRUNK" and " DRUNK" but it didn't work.

You should be able to click on the message in the Chat History window and select Mute.

Take a look at the KB at:

https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417

If you don't have 'IM to email' enabled (Preferences > Communication) then check it, and as soon as the next attack starts, log out of SL. Hopefully you should get at least one or two of them sent to email (you may get a flood, but it might be scripted to attack only when the victim is online). If you *do* get an IM to email it will tell you the name of the object that's sending the messages to you, as well as its owner's name and its location. Mute the owner (that should stop the spam), then AR them.

Tried that Deira but the "name" clearly isn't a real name (it's in green like the rest of the text) and clicking on it doesn't bring up the Object Information box.



Thanks for the tip Skell. I'll try that. Here's hoping................

This is one place a Mystitool comes in handy. It does have a script that will ID the owner of an object that is talking.

Another good idea. I actually have a Mystitool but didn't know it could do that. Which shows how technically proficient I am...............Thanks Chris.

assuming the object is using open chat and not llInstantMessage... which both look exactly the same to the victim

Hmm, it IS using IM. I know this because it sometimes occurs when I'm logged off & my IMs get capped as a result.

switch on that IM to Email, and then cut and paste the email from it into the abuse report

Not quite sure whether this is IM spam or chat spam Pete - but either way you could reduce the number of text lines displayed in the preferences - cut it down to about 3 and then you won't have all that guff scrolling up most of the screen whilst you try to sort it out.

If it's IMs, then Skell's method will help you find it.

It sounds like a spamming griefer object - is this happening only on one lot? (But there are also ones that can send a message to you from anywhere. Those are not always made for griefing but can be misused that way.)

If it is on one lot, turn on Ctrl Alt T so you can see invisible prims. (The prims will be red.) Maybe it will show up. Also if it is your land click the objects tab on about land. See who owns what.

Or if everything on the land is set to your or your group's name, then turn on auto return to get rid of the thing.

I had scads of such things on my land, they spammed me when I walked/flew past them. Auto return and they went goodbye.

Also you might want to go to preferences in edit and change your text so only a few lines at a time can show up. At least it won't fill up your screen.

It looks like normal object chat Deira (ie. there's none of the usual IM indicators, eg. warning sound and separate window) but I believe it's using the IM system, else why would my IMs be capped when I'm logged off ?

It can, and does, happen anywhere Clarissa. At first I thought it might be something on my person, so I changed everything, including skin and shape, but it did no good. It's coming in from somewhere else.

Someone can make a box and script it to do this. Maybe think if there is anyone who might either do this as a prank or griefing.

For sure send an AR (Help/Abuse Report) put as much pertinent info as you can in there. Only problem with that is you need to choose a resident's name. :/ I wish they had an AR for when you don't know!

If you are premium you can file a ticket. Anyone else know how he can get help for this if he isn't premium?

Oh I believe I know who's responsible, proving is another matter. And I've sent 12 ARs in so far without any response of any kind from Linden. In truth that's the aspect of this whole matter that angers me the most. You'd think they'd home in on this like a guided missile, if only for the sake of their long term future, but they don't seem to care. Perhaps because I'm not premium.

Just fyi they do not respond personally to AR. If you watch the page that they give you a link to when you click to file an AR, it might or might not show up there but there are no particulars on the reports.

Basically it is like that for everyone - you know when you see the results. Otherwise they don't comment. That's partly I think, due to the privacy laws over other people's accounts.

Not being premium doesn't have a bearing in it as far as I have ever heard.

Don't forget to lessen how much text can show up on your viewer if you haven't yet.

Unfortunately, it seems like the object that is spamming you could be anywhere on the grid. If the person who you think is responsible actually owns the object, then muting them will also mute the object. You could mute them to test and see if that stops the spam - but, of course there could be Alts.

I hope you can catch them by having IMs sent to your email, Pete.

Good luck.

happening same to me from a chair lol..following all these hints maybe i can get rid of it..fingers crossed

I was subjected to this several years ago, and here is the EASIEST and best way to stop it...

Like they said... send your IMs to email... after the first couple emails hit you, mark them as spam so they don't fill up your email also. Then open one, take the slurl and copy that into your chat window in SL, tp to the object, right click it and mute it, then report abuse, including the chat, the location and a screen shot. Also, if it is on someone other than the object OWNERS land, send a message to the land owner, requesting them to return the object for you. Once the object it out of world, the spam magically stops.

Not sure if you were around in 07 when the Zebra's were attacking folks on the grid, but i got targeted then, and spent 3 days trying to deal with this before a Helpful Linden gave me the tricks here to stop it. Good luck to you

~brie

Progress report for anyone who might be interested...........

Using the excellent "IM to email" tip (great idea, but why can't owner and location info be acquired inworld ?) I found the object owner & location and TPed there. By pure chance the owner logged into that very spot as I was standing there. To cut a long story short, it appears she is a new member (I loathe the word "newbie" and all its derivatives) and was taken advantage of by someone pretending to be a friend and mentor. After I explained all, and before I could stop her, she trashed everything she had, which wasn't much her being new, and the spam ceased.

Assuming she's genuine, and she appears to be, what a dirty trick to play on a novice.

Anyway, all relevant names have been sent to Linden so that they can ignore them, just like they've ignored all the previous ARs I've sent.

Glad you got it sorted. Mean people suck.