Is Paying for Links in Profile Picks Cheating?

The debate continues about various ways of manipulating Traffic and whether some or all are cheating, fraudulent, or unethical. I don't want to stir up that one again.

I did suspect that any system used to replace traffic would be manipulated in much the same way. As traffic is minimized now in search results, one of the new ways of determining Search ranking is by counting links to places placed in the Picks tab of avatars' profiles.

I figured that someone would find a way to buy Picks like they bought Traffic. And more than someone has. I don't know the technical details of how it works, but now I have seen advertisements offering people payment for carrying a particular place in their avatar's Profile Picks. I've seen it offered by raffling prizes (gift card to a store), raffling Linden dollars (chance to win Lindens if place is in Picks), and flat out payment (a certain amount of Linden dollars per week/month if place is in Picks).

So what I am wondering, particularly from those opposed to paying for Traffic, is whether paying for Picks is ethically different from paying for Traffic?

(I don't intend this topic to go back to the debate of whether paying for Traffic is right or wrong, a topic which has been well-covered. The issue on which I hope this thread would focus is what is different, or similar, between the paying-for-Traffic tactic vs. the paying-for-Picks tactic.)

No. It's both paying for a better placement in search results. It's what a lot of RL businesses do with Google. *shrugs*

Are you a merchant Amity?

Slightly OT, but businesses cannot pay for better search placement with Google. They can pay for sponsored ad slots at the top of the page, but those slots are not part of the search results and are clearly labeled "Sponsored Links".

I have never used traffic bots or camping chairs to increase traffic. However since the inception of the new search 'all' i noticed that traffic generated by my classified was partially reduced. So i have now diverted some of my classified funding into paying for picks which solved the problem. whether or not it is ethical I am not sure. I guess I am gaming the system but I don't think it is on a par with camping bots.

No it's not cheating, it places the emphasis on whether to participate or not on the individual avatar and there are extra factors involved that mean some picks don't count anyway.

Ethically it is very similar to paying for traffic, they both involve moving money around, they both involve the onus being placed on the participant.

The emphesis on the avatar isn't whether or not the place deserves to be put into one's picks, but whether or not you'll get your lindens for doing so. This negates the usefulness of picks as a measurement of popularity - since what's being measured isn't the popularity of the place, but the popularity of getting paid for having that place in one's picks.

Since search should be about relevancy, not popularity, its just as much cheating as having a bunch of bots camping in the doorway. :/

I would suggest letting your customers voluntarily add you to their picks. If your stuff/stores are appealing then hopefully they will add you.

Alternately You could ask your friends or members of your stores update group. Perhaps with the bonus of a free gift for adding your store.

No I don't think paying to people for picks is bad... but maybe it's a bad practice.

When faced with ethical questions like this, I ask myself "What if everyone in the world(grid) did this?"
In this case of pick payment, it could render that part of the new google search useless. So it fails my "if everyone" test...

What on earth has popularity got to do with the price of fish? Picks aren't about popularity, picks are about what a location means to an individual or what a person means to an individual.

Picks are pointed out to matter to business owners, it's in the knowledgebase, there's no mention whatsoever in the business owners section on picks that they are supposed to only be used as a measure of popularity.

I pay for advertsing on links sites for our RL websites in such places as Link Referral etc. that helps me get better Back Links for google and other search engines and therefore helps my PR in google etc. so its no different if people pay for Back Links (read picks) here. its about being seen then its up to people if they want to stay once they get to our RL website or our website here in SL

Unless you're getting *paid* to have the pick in the profile, which is what the conversation is about. Thanks for playing.

edit: OK, it dawned on me you might not be aware - picks in profiles are an influence in SL search relevancy. Think of it as links to a web site from other websites. When paid linking - think PayPerPost - started paying for links, it inflated the importance of certain sites in Google's databases because it made them look more popular (when, actually, they weren't). Links - or in this case, picks - aren't everything, but they are a part of the search system in that way.

It doesn't matter if someone is getting paid, if it's a friends location, if it's your own location, I'm surprised someone hasn't complained about parcel owners having the audacity to put their own parcel in their own picks, how rude is that hey, the cheeky biased beggars!

People put picks in their profile because they want to, for whatever reason. It's about choice, it's staggering that people object to people having a choice in the matter.

the real question is .. do you have the product to back up huge traffic - do you have new better stuff oozing out of every pore? I found that listing links to a store from SLX brings many times as much traffic as the in world searches. Even though many keyword searches put me on the first page they will not increase the amount of potential customers. there are only so many people on SL ... and so many that are not already someone else.

I would pay for more traffic but I am not going to beg people to put me in their picks. If they want to they will.. I even had to be asked to put my own store into my own picks so people can find the store when they see one of my products that they want to buy.

Just to comment on your edit posted some 8 mins after my post at the end of the day its about exposure on the internet or on here, what people do when they get to the sites, well thats their choice, stay or go or spend money in our RL store, but amongst all the competition out there its nice to know at least some extra people get to see our sites because i have paid for a better placement to show our wares or services to others. In the business world you have to ensure your service is seen especially when you have projections to reach and you have only got the tools that we are given to work with.

PS: We don't sell anything here we just promote our free profile website BTW

To justify it I see it as the equivilent of paying someone to walk around with my logo on their T-Shirt, or letting me put a poster in the window of their house. All I am doing is paying individuals for advertising space.

I don't consider it "cheating" in the same way as traffic bots. Bots are deliberate deception that take resources away from the public commons of a sim. I do consider paying for picks very tacky though and it's not something I would do personally. I also wonder why people are willing to sell their picks. It's no different than strolling up and down the sidewalk wearing a sandwich board in the real world - a job so lowly that it's generally only the homeless that will take it. No one here is that desperate for money. If they are they really have no business paying for broadband in the first place. Wouldn't people rather use them to display places they actually like? Is there anyone left in SL whose integrity isn't for sale? It's a lot more difficult for honest people to get ahead in SL these days. Everything is dominated by greed, tacky gimmicks, and outright fraud. I think it's tragic.

This is true, but getting you into the store is key - and if you appear at the top of the results, just like in any other search engine, you benefit from additional traffic. The more people come in, the more sales you will make. This is why influencing the numbers of picks is an unfair advantage; it does not reflect the numbers of people who put you in their picks because they like you, it reflects how many people want to get paid by you for doing so. The search engine, however, does not know the difference.

and.. until there is a way that you can verify or see how many people have you in their picks.. paying for it is out..

Yes its cheating.


Its roughly the same thing as running camp chairs if you are doing the traffic comparison.

Actually, if your are paying for them, you have a transaction history that will tell you exactly how many people have your paid pick in their profile, since the payments are handled via a script.

Chip - just like camping, the poeple who sell their picks run multiple accounts. Sometimes i see 40 - 50 avatars all with the same style names get pick payments one after the other. So obvioulsy one user cycling through the log in process for each account get their pick payment, pay it to a main Av then log out. They maybe score L$1000 from me, takes them 10 -20 mins. If they have 9 other picks with similar payments, all paying out a decent amount. I can easily see someone making L$10K easily if they use loads of alt accounts (obvioulsy against TOS). So I disagree that these people are the equivilent of the Homeless in RL.

Would you like to earn L$10K for a few hours work every 2 weeks?

It's enough to keep the noobs in prim willies or whatever it is they spend their L$ on.

I am part of a network. All picks are checked regulally. If picks are removed before the agreed period then the AV is banned, not just from getting pick payments from me, but from the whole netwrok. Not in the payee's best interest to delete the picks.

I 80% agree with this. Not as bad as bots as at least the noobs get something out of it.

And if that guy has his own shop, those 40-50 avas also have his shop in their picks, influencing his shop's importance in the search results. If you cannot or won't do that, you're competing against the falsely inflated popularity of these stores for placement in the SL search results.

Chip a lot has change since 2003, i rezzed then saw the charter offer at the time but had to leave with RL work commitments in the Middle East at the time and then rejoined in 2005 to a totally different SL and again nearly 3 more years in game more changes, not all for the good mind and i agree with you but i think everything that is happening here is because LL wants SL to be the next 3D internet and they will do whatever it takes to achieve that eventual end.

I think almost gone is the real community spirit i remember unless some of us try and re create that spirit again, for me i take a more altruistic view on SL but then i can get most of my SL costs written off against my RL business as advertising costs, but i want to put something back into the game i love whenever i can and if that means using the money tree, giving money away in the money ball or offering people a chance to earn a few L$ by having us in their picks then maybe i am helping the next big creator or scripter get a start because their RL financial situation allows them maybe broadband and a PC but they haven't got other RL cash to spare in game but have the talent to get on here.

Just my 2 cents my friend