Group owner gone?

One of the groups I belong to has been getting more and more spam for sales and events that have nothing to do with the group (like if a naughty poseball sale IM was sent to a group of celibate scripters). I was going to contact the owner of the group to report a specific spam when I discovered the owner is NOT listed in the People Search.

So.

Is it possible for a group to exist even after the owner has left SL? I've tried to leave a group I started, but it asked for a back up owner, so I'm guessing that is how this happened. Maybe if you simply bolt/abandon SL, LL doesn't remove you from groups?

Or has the owner entered a false alt name? Can that be done?

Since there is no other owner, and the members do not have the power, no one can kick spammers/other goofs from the group. Other than me leaving the group, what's a groupie to do?

Hey I think I know that group!

Anyhow, the group can still easily exist without the creator/owner existing for some reason. You might want to put in a support ticket about it, see if maybe they'll make an exception for you, and hold a vote or something for a new group owner? It's really doubtfull, but maybe you'll find Compassionate Linden or something

Instead of using Search to try to contact the owner, you may be able to get to thier profile from the Group Info page. Find the owners name in the members list, and double click it. If the group owner isn't showing up in their own group, then you may be out of luck.

The founder/owner could have left before LL changed the group system.

Or the founder/owner could have been suspended/banned/cancelled their account in which case the group will end up "owner-less".

Much more important question:

Who was having the sale on the poseballs??

When I saw the title of this thread I thought it might be about Brenda.

All that is required for a group to continue existing is for it to have two members. I was once part of a sim owner's land group, after the sim owner themselves had left SL for good. The only other group member was inactive, as far as I could tell (hadn't logged on in 6 months or more). When I left that group, after repeated attempts to locate/contact the former group owner or the only other member, it was disbanded 48 hours later.

It is also possible for someone to choose not to be listed in search even though they are still an active account. Try getting to them through the group members list.

I went back to the group info and although I found the founder's name right below the group name on the first Tab, when I went to members and roles, there was no owner listed at all. No officers either.

Can I IM someone if they don't show up in Search or the roles section of the group info?

If someone doesn't show up in Search / People (not Search / All) then they're suspended/banned/cancelled their account.

In the first case they should come back in 1-2 weeks at the most (although I saw someone mention in another thread that people who are suspended continue to show in search? ), in both other cases they're unreachable and the group is owner/officer-less to stay.