Banned?

I would like to know if a name has been banned by LL. Obviously it is also possible that the owner has deliberately deleted it. Any suggestions?

You can't know for sure. If it doesn't come up in search, it could be that LL deleted the account, or the owner could have cancelled it as well. LL does not not make their disciplinary actions public. I believe , however, it takes a couple of months for a self cancelled name to stop showing up in search. This allows you to recover it if you wish to reinstate your account

I canceled Emer Fitzpatrick (or was it Fitzgerald? I can't remember any more) over a year ago and she still shows up in search. Maybe it's because she left some stuff laying around my place before she Left The Grid.

The flip side of that... I had an account back in Beta days that still shows up in search but LL tells me it's not retrievable. Not banned or anything, just too old and inactive for too long, or something.

/random

Too bad we can't know for sure if a name has been banned, I think it would be useful, but never mind.

If there was a list of banned names, it'd only be inviting kids & griefers to come up with variations to it

Can someone explain how an av who doesn't exist, can own land? The plot of land next to mine is owned by someone who just doesn't exist in search. How can this happen?

Jack probably hasn't gotten around to reclaiming the land yet. It doesn't revert to Governer Linden automatically. It either has to be abandoned by the resident or claimed by the Lindens.

unless the land was the reason for a ban they might not reclaim it untill tier has ran out for a few months

The way I THINK it works is like this...

1. Open up the People Tab in the search panel (don't use the drop down menu from the ALL tab).
2. Type in the name of the avvie you are interested in.
3. If the avvie's name shows up in the list below then the account is active. If you get a "None Found" it could mean 1 of 3 things. 1) the account was banned. 2) the account was suspended and will reappear in the search after suspension. 3) the account was canceled and finally out of the People Tab search data base. Note: It takes 30 or 60 days to get an account canceled by the account owner, in which time the account can still be found under the People Tab until the 30/60 days are up then it goes into "None Found."

Notes:
1. No matter if the account is canceled, suspended or banned, it will still appear in the search ALL Tab (even under the People drop down menu option).
2. If the first name of the avvie is short (3 or 4 letters) then there is a good chance you will get hits on many names similar to it with the same last name whether or not its "none found" or is found.
Example:
Neko Karu doesn't exist (yet) but when you search for it under the People Tab you will NOT get a "None Found" instead you get a dozen or so Neko-something Karus.

Hope this helps

Unless I'm mistaken, isn't there a way for an individual to elect to not have his or her profile show up in search? Or am I thinking of something else?

Yes, I believe so. I know of a couple of people that don't show up in searches even if they're standing next to you.

Kitsy
^.^

That's usually when your drunk standing next to a mirror and you've just searched for iranaman tik

Yes and no

If you edit your profile, on the first tab, at the bottom is an option to "Show in search." If you uncheck it then your profile WILL still show up in the ALL Tab search but if anyone clicks on it they will get a message, "this person has chosen to keep their profile private" or something like that. However on the People Tab search the profile will show up and you can look at completely even if the person has unchecked the "Show in search" option.

Remember, there is no real privacy in SL. Only the delusion of secrecy and even that is fleeting should you tell more than one imaginary friend