Griefing Again

OK, no me this time, but a good friend is very upset about some griefing she encountered this morning. She won't say what it was, but given that she is a very outgoing person, not fazed by things, it must have been unpleasant to have affected her so much.

She warned the s*%@ that she'd make a report about his behaviour, but he shrugged it off with the comment he has been reported "hundreds" of times before.

She has asked me what the success rate is in terms of complaining about griefers. My guess is that pretty much nothing is done. But is that the case?

It was a she. case closed. Someone probably said her skin was noob.

With so little details, it's hard to say anything. I would say that just "mouthy" behavior and nasty comments are hard to AR? The old saying about "Sticks and stones..." still appear and muting before they get really nasty is often best.

Maybe it's too late to say, but if you need to fill an AR make sure you include snapshots. You can go to "snapshots" and "more" and choose "show HUDS", that will show nametag of the offender and the screen text. If it's several avatars there, note down their names and ask them to AR the offender too. The more AR LL gets, the more likely they are to do something.

Depends on the nature of the griefing. I just spent a half hour or so tidying up after some clown dumped big prims all over a sim where I have rental parcels--not worth reporting; that guy will get banned for something else if he hasn't already, but this little annoyance wouldn't much hasten his departure. On the other hand, if the griefing is blatantly intolerant (racist, homophobic, etc.), or (these days) obscene, it won't take many reports to get the griefer's account deleted.

Of course, making an alt is easy, and the more organized griefer groups spread the word on how to circumvent IP bans, so LL is pretty ineffectual anyway, until they involve ISPs and the RL authorities. And that's unlikely unless the offence can be couched as serious (e.g., theft/denial of service, suspected money laundering, etc.), in which case the offender may have lots more to lose than an account and civil damages.

She got his name, but not snapshots: just wanted to get out of there quickly

I get the impression it was obscene. But am not certain.



Yes, that's what I thought. I've told her the best thing is to shrug it off. Not much else she can do.

"Mute and TP home" or "Mute and ban/eject" are both your friends.

Unfortunately there are always going to be a percentage of a-holes in any world, but the advantage of SL is you can TP away and you can mute. NEVER be tempted to even respond to a griefer - that just feeds their ego and gives them satisfaction. If you feel its worthy of an AR, then do it, but don't bother telling the abuser you're going to do it - just DO IT, put 100% focus into giving LL a clear and concise screenshot of the chat window (stretch it out to the max before you click "Abuse Report" and it will be readable in the screenshot).

But even if the AR results in removal from SL by LL - which is unlikely, and again, the griefer receiving a warning from LL will only feed his/her need for attention - they will just create an alt.

Remember this is only a virtual world, and just be grateful the grief doesn't live next to you in RL! And pity them; what a sad life they lead that they have the time to go around griefing folk.

The thing about name calling and ranting, is if the person doing it believes what they are saying is true it isn't liable, slander or defamation... As I have no idea what the person did or said I don't know if this applies.

Yet another, "It wasn't me, but a friend thread."

Regardless of how obscene or whatever, it was only words. Ignore works really well. If someone works themselves into a tizzy over words, they need to work on their own self control.

click mute. *shakes head*

Pretty-much what I've told her, but thanks for confirming it.

FFS. I just knew someone would waste their time posting something like this. If you bother to check my other postings, you will see that I have no problem with saying when something happens to me. This incident really did occur to a friend, not me.

Does stuff happen to you a lot?

The vaguely ironic thing is that if she did curse at the griefer (ie, the s*%@ part), the friend might end up in more trouble than the griefer. Depending on various situations. Like being on PG land, or in group chat, or talking to a Linden in Conceige chat, etc., etc.

Don't be so silly.

Unfortunately, you are right! Thats why its extra important to realise its all happening inside a PC and can be walked away from easier than a real life situation to "regroup". But sometimes - and I know I've done this before now - its like a reflex action to respond to a griefer attack. Maybe part of a newbies orientation should be a little program on how to deal with griefers, because for sure most of us are going to experience someone unpleasant in SL that might even cause us to act a little out of character.

That was rather pointless and mean. This person genuinely showed concern for a friend and asked for constructive advice.

It wasn't me but a bot I know.

OK

You've been reading my scripts? lol

I know, it happens all of the time.

Of course, the best advice is pretty much to use common sense. No one was physically or financially damaged. No real or virtual property was involved.

Save the drama for yo' moma.

OK Phil, I promise to be nice again (hope Santa isn't reading this thread).