Why We Hate Adfarms--A Gallery

The land buyer could then buy the 16m plot for L$2000 - that's the price that the perp has on them. That's a mere L$125 per sq.metre.

Is this a new tactic of sticking a 16sqm inside a 512 like that? wow thats going to catch so many people out I am not bothered about the bots to be honest, its the new players buying land for the first ever time that will get caught out.. Thats bad

Thank you Carl for starting this thread. Sadly I don't see LL taking any action on the Ad Farm issue :\

Boycotting doesn't work because they don't know you are boycotting them.

Now, sending a notecard to people ...

Naturally that needs to be co-ordinated and needs people to give a damn. I'm very keen on sending SOMETHING to the person who has a floating ad way up in the air (shapes - something I can't make out what it is - escorts (yes cos SL needs adverts for prostitutes, they are SO hard to find) - yes I'd like to give her something. What I am not prepared to do is give her $90 US for 172 sqm.

SEND A NOTECARD to complain about the sign and advise that you will specifically not be using their store because of the sign. Advise that you will enlist as many people as possible in this and make sure everyone you tell ... will do the same.

Anyone with any sense will respond to this because I bet they are not getting sales from it. Opposite me is a slustler vendor. The guy I bought out for a favour went through the sim buying up adfarms ... guess what? Now the adfarm plots are all for sale again (the ones made after he bought up so much) at these dumb prices because they think they will get money.

It is GRIEFING and extortion and should not be allowed to persist, any more than landbots should be allowed to persist.

I've stated now in a couple of threads my interest in starting a group residents can join. We could send out a regular list of advertisers so that residents can send them note cards telling them exactly what you are saying. Now, I'm wondering if we did so, would we then be AR'd for spamming?

Well you could argue that if a politician in RL receives 1000 letters from the community complaining about the same thing that that would be spamming, so on that basis I would say No it's not spamming, only spamming if the 1000 note cards came from the same person, now if that same person had 1000 alts, then thats the gray area

OK I admit it I am a little slow. What is the land facists? Are they referring to those of us that want to stop adfarmers? What does 2 + 2 = 5 mean?

I seriously don't get it.

"CX"

On all the property I own I only have one adfarm nearby. Of course my mall and my skybox rental land has a rotating sign does that count?

After a thread was posted here in the forums, Relay for Life received negative feedback regarding the ad space there he donated. When they saw it they asked him to take it down. Immediately after taking down the RFL ad he put this up on the same cube. I can only presume saying we're fascists because we don't like ad farmers. His way of saying we want to tell him what to do with his land. Whatever.

2 + 2 = 5 is from George Orwell's 1984. If everyone believes in it, does that make it true?



This is a picture of the other side of the same cube I showed above.

Ah now I get it... I actually read 1984 in the 70s.

Thanks for cleating that up. I need to go read that book again.

"G"

Isnt surprising an adfarmer would call those who dont like ad farms "land fascists" though,

Since they will want to do anything they can to keep their extortion scheme running.

Right, and you cited the CS#6 clause that's most often invoked as justifying ARs against adfarms, and that's the clause I expect to be used by LL to deal with adfarms when they get around to it--a prospect Jack Linden mentioned (abstractly) in the recent Public Works blog comments. The challenge LL faces is to craft a coherent policy (or "enforcement guidelines" about this, one that's effective but doesn't invite "noise" ARs that are just about ugly neighbor builds.

I also expect they'll eventually provide parcel-to-parcel muting, perhaps with the next IDV attempt. They just really have no choice about that, unless they want the very same PR fiasco that forced them into IDV in the first place.

While the prospects are very promising, we do have to keep up the pressure on all fronts. The attention span of a Linden is (understandably) short, with many competing claims to priority, so it's gonna be necessary to help them retain focus on this. Protesting adfarms and reinforcing how they're hurting LL's bottom line is very useful, but I think it's even more effective to voice support for LL taking action, at each opportunity to communicate with a Linden.

And now would be a very silly time to buy a 16 from an adfarmer--at any price. It's just not gonna be necessary.

Yes, I do see using that vague clause in the Community Standards could open a nasty can of worms and shuddered a little at my own suggestion. I'd hate to see this fantasy world turn into the same kind of litigious quagmire that RL can be.

It's the same kind of issue as trolls in newsgroups, those people who openly try to destroy everyone else's enjoyment of the group. You can't respond to them - that only encourages them. You can't violate their freedom of speech. You can only ignore them -- which never proved very effective either. And darn it! It goes against human nature to simply ignore.

I look forward to whatever LL can do to help.

I put my gallery of adfarms up here: http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/gg128/Puppet_Shepherd/Ad%20Pollution%20Name%20and%20Shame/

Yes, by all means, we should be boycotting the businesses that advertise on these lots, and we should let them know why. I'm a bit reluctant to start a full-scale organized movement because I don't want to be a lone target for the adfarmers to retaliate against, or get hit with a bunch of ARs for harassment or spamming. These people have resources and money because other people keep paying their asking prices! Linden Labs needs to make a statement discouraging these adfarming practices, because whatever any of us says or does, these assholes know they can keep doing what they do and profiting wildly from it.

Sadly it is not new. I learned about it a year ago from the Knowledge Base, in the "how do I buy land" article.

Of course, since that time LL has made using the Knowledge Base much more difficult by hiding it inside the "support" portal.

I understand - and loathe - the idea of putting up massive nasty ugly rotating ads to goad neighbors into buying small plots at extortion rates.

I dont' understand putting a single rotating "for sale" ad over a property that is NOT for sale. Someone will be tempted to suggest "reent purchase - the new owner hasnt' removed the old sign yet" but that doesn't explain many that I've seen.

One of the interesting ones I've seen is a single rotating "FOR SALE" sign, the big white with red text one we've all seen so much, over a plot that not only wasnt' for sale, but it was Linden land, and not listed at auction. I don't get it. From my experience Lindens dont' put signs up on the Linden auction land anyway.

An interesting thing to ponder in the internet age, especially since that's precisely the premise behind things like Wikipedia.

Don't know for sure, but suspect uglifying a "Not for sale" plot might be done to see if someone will come forth, approaching the extortionist with money in hand and desperate to "persuade" him to sell - at almost any price.

Might give him a clue how high he can price other parcels.

... and the CBS evening news...

I think I passed there, or someplace similar. Ya know, i dun care what floats anyone's boats (within certain logical limits, of course), but yeesh. Jes tacky and tasteless.

Mari

Believe it or not, they can be even worse.

It would have to be on a personal basis, I believe, because otherwise yes you yourself would be well open to AR. Just sending someone feedback in a notecard is not abuse.

Besides, some people have paid agencies for advertising space, not necessarily understanding what this means. That being said, once they do realise ...

Yes, but the group would just make people aware of which advertisers were using ad farms. It would be up to each individual to then make the choice to send feedback to that advertiser. It's a technicality, yes, but I think it's legitimate. Either way it'd probably get no more than a slap on the hand or be worth trying and get a 3 day suspension.

[EDITED]

Just a lovely little peace of heaven that I stumbled upon today. At least now I know where to go if I want a sex partner TONIGHT!

Part of me toys with the wisdom of keeping this thread alive with new photos from all you brave photo ad farm journalists out there. The forums do get frequented by new people quite a bit and I think it's important for them to be aware of this issue. On the other hand, would it scare them away?

*ponders deeply*

*then ponders Bradley's insta-date source* *winks*

Yes, it might scare new people away.

But that is no reason to pretend they don't exist. If people don't want to pay money to look at adfarms, they should learn about them before they put their money in.

It is, however, a good reason for LL to DO something about adfarms. Adfarms scare away their potential customers, and make existing customers more likely to leave.