Bye bye adfarmers?

Does this mean 10,000L spinning grass is art?

All the ad farms in Moran are still there and as bad as ever, just no longer for sale. Hm.

I wouldn't be too concerned. The ad farmers own so much land they had to quickly change over their land to prevent being AR'd and possibly banned. They are probably waiting until LL's official definition of what is allowed which I believe the blog said is coming out today. Then I suspect they'll put them up for sale at whatever they are allowed to.

I haven't seen any definition. The KB article is almost word-for-word the blog entry yesterday.

https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/security.asp

This is big news. It means that LL made a stand on a social issue. It's great if it's a first step.

Here are some reasons more steps will be necessary:

1. Do the math. A 16sqm parcel cost under five US cents per month in tier, or about L$13. "They'll be stuck with tier" is not a realistic hope. At this price a parcel can sit for a very long time and still be profitable when it sells. A 16sqm parcel that's on the market for a year only has to sell for L$260 over the ad farmer's price to break even. That'd be in the neighborhood of L$400. I doubt if LL will crack down on L$400 16sqm parcels.

2. 16sqm parcels are still useful as a cheap way to place an ad in the places tab of search, and if they're also for sale at only slightly confiscatory prices, then that's doubly useful. The only way to fix this is to make parcel listing cost L$50.

3. A parcel can be made quite ugly without any advertising at all, and it doesn't even have to be offered for sale. Give me three prims next to your pretty build and I can make you want to buy me out.

That currently is what U.H. is doing. I don't recall him ever having ads on his cubes, but now he has changed them all so they have grassy textures and is calling them art. This is one of those times I have full confidence in LL. Yesterdays blog was just an introduction. I expect when they give the full definition that items like this will be covered.

Sorry to sound as if quoting myself.. but did you see my post #150.. do you think he helped our voices urge LL into doing something?

Yes, absolutely I do. I think without a doubt he was the straw that broke the camels back. His over the top behavior and the outcry from the residents reached the point that LL couldn't ignore it any longer. We should all thank him actually.

I did go back and read the blog announcement from yesterday and there's something that I'd missed. While it emphasizes ad farms, it does not restrict itself to ad farms. There is this line:

Using content, particularly advertising, to deliberately and negatively affect another resident’s view so as to sell a parcel for an unreasonable price, will be deemed unacceptable and dealt with as a violation of our community standards.

By stressing "particularly advertising" they are also saying in effect "not limited to" advertising.

And that is why the now green things spinning at the border of my partners sim has been Ar'd from lil me! Ok so he is only selling them for L$4951 a steal where he is concerned..but I had to try...

Hey, I'm AR'ing 16 sq m plots I see for L$1000. I'm sorry, that's not a reasonable price for 16 sq m in my book. Maybe LL will and if so they can choose to ignore it.

I kinda doubt we will ever get a full definition

They will just ban stuff belonging to people who thought they were following the letter of the rule.

If they limited themselves to advertising H@x would have been exempt as extortion is all he was doing. None of his black boxes advertise anything.

Your right. Coming out with a full definition makes it too easy to create loopholes.



Yeah, so I don't get what his deal is with changing them all to grassy cubes. Is it desperation? What's his motive? I just AR'd one of his 16 m plots that was for sale for L$20,000. If he thinks by having grassy cubes rather than black cubes makes it ok, then I don't know what universe he lives in.

It doesn't matter, it's not necessary that the griefing has to involve advertising, or anything specific at all for that matter.

Something you all may want to consider doing.

You may not have ad farms that directly affect you but your friends may. I sent a group IM to my friends advising them of the new policy and most of them did not know of it. I then was busy being TP'd around as I walked them through the process of how to AR the ugly ad farms bordering their land. They were very grateful to be informed and relieved to know that something might be done about it.

good idea.

A lot of people in world seem quite oblivious to changes in the rules of Second Life.

Colette you could have stopped at the word "oblivious"

Well, you need to *finish* doing the math. When they have US$200-US$1000 in tier from thousands of these parcels, a grid-wide boycott on them will have a significant impact on their continued operation. The last thing an adfarmer wants is to have to SPEND money to keep his illicit operation afloat. Probably because he/she doesn't really have all that much money to begin with. Once the revenue from those "giving in" dries up, they WILL bleed to death from tier.

The fatality is not from a sucking chest wound from any one 16sqm plot, but instead a "death of a thousand cuts". In the end, it amounts to the same thing, though: they are dead.



I'm not worried about legitimate uses of 16sqm plots, just the extortive uses.



There's nothing in the new policy that says that it *has* to be an advertisement. Any kind of nuisance build where the intent is to "make me want to buy you out" falls under its purview. A simple AR, and your efforts poof with a warning. Do it again, and your account will be forfeit. I love it!

I agree. Legitimate uses are fine. I am very happy with the way LL wrote the policy. I'm not the least concerned with all the Ad extortionists trying to convert over to legitimate ad farms. How many of these can SL actually support? They'll choke each other off in due time.

I am seeing 16 sq/m plots with for sale signs that the plot is no longer for sale, but the owner's/group's profile hints at it being for sale if asked about.

It will be interesting to see how that's dealt with. Someone already mentioned to be sure not to use voice when you speak with the owner so that you have a record of the conversation.

I think it's the next step in the issue that LL will have to address one way or another. We'll see.

That's grass? I thought it was runny green vomit.

I checked one of his that's selling for L$2,147,483,647. It's penned in by screens, but if I owned the land nearby I'd certainly AR it.

Ugly for spite is EXACTLY what this issue is about.

My goodness, Senga. Read his profile. It's art. Are you some kind of heathen?

It's all well and good to be able to AR the overpriced 16sqm plots with ads, but what about all the ones with ads that are not for sale? I want to AR those as well.