Account Creation Petition ****PLEASE READ****

This is a start of a long awaited attempt to change Linden Lab's policy on account creation. For the longest time. I cringed at the sight and sounds of griefers, trolls and immaturaties of some users that leave me to question. This, I believe is a new policy that will ensure a a deterant to most present griefers (unfortunately not all, but it will most), trolls and other what not of those type of users who ruin the experience of Second Life to be what its meant to be. The finest platform to date and still to date to create and imagine how you might want your life to be. However, these people have a different thought process of enjoyment to try and ruin the experience for others, Not only are they costing Linden Labs money on both bandwith usage and accounts, they are also hurting the economy. To date I can estimate these users to be at 2000 a day at any given time on Second Life. Granted, this is a small percentage compared to the overall population, however it is still far too great of numbers that can cause internal damage. For years, I have watched the grid crumble and half the time its the fault of these users. NOT Linden Labs as we think. Where as I value freedom of speech dearly I cannot accept it as a tool to ruin the Second Life experience and I will not let it continue to be abused.

My goal is to collect 30,000 signatures. By signatures I mean 30,000 notecards stating your name and your agreement with my proposal in hopes that this will Petition Linden Labs to change its policy regarding account creation.

My proposal: To get rid of ALL free accounts and change the startup policy back to where it was with the 14 day trial. AFTER the 14 day trial if the account user wishes to become a basic account he/she would pay 10$ for for a one time activation fee.
each account with a LIMIT of 5 accounts MAX.

For those who wish to participate in this petition, simply read this and point others to this link. If you agree make a new Notecard named 'Account Policy Petition' state your name in the notecard and youre agreement with the policy. The reasons why will be optional.

The reasoning for this proposal is clear. I am hoping it will be enough deterrance for Second Life to become enjoyable again while remaining open access with a cheap activation fee.

Signed,
Einsman Schlegel

The current policy works just fine.
While its not perfect, it does open the door to new player, who may someday be content creators and land owners.

Nothing will stop those determined to grief others.

Na most of my best customers have free account.. rather them spend the money on me and other builders/creators then pay LL any day

I asked Phil in a Town Hall when the unverified and free accounts would be ending. He told me it was not likely. His dream is for everyone to have access to the grid. There were griefers when everyone was paying 9.95 a month back when. ARs are the only real way we have to prevent that, as well as mute.

You'll need to clarify whether "free account" means "no payment info on file" basic only, or "payment info/used" basic as well.

You can get a million signatures and it won't matter. If it makes sense for the current user in SL and gives the loyal, paying customer a better experience, they won't do it.

I don't think you'll get much support for your proposal, in it's current form. "Free" accounts spend money, rent houses, sell goods etc. and are some of the best original content creators in SL. Lose these accounts and lose a large chunk of SL.

If you want to rid SL of riff-raff, petition LL to completely remove land traffic figures from search. Although I have nothing against "real" people earning a few L$ by camping, the use of bots, and such, are making some locations completely lagged and unusable.

NO, NO, NO and NO!!!


Terrible idea.

I too yearn for the days when the gates weren't wide open, but I think it can't be fixed now.

USD$10 might seem like a small amount to you but it is more than $30 in my currency. You are forgetting that not all SLers are from the US/UK or other countries where the foreign exchange rate is favourable.

Also, if SL had been offered on a 14-day free trial basis I would NEVER have signed up for it.

Do i get a prize?

<----

I'd suggest running this up the JIRA flagpole.

(I personally won't cast a vote for it, but still... that's the better avenue, IMO)

sorry not gonna happen and i sure wont back it
i may not be a premium member but i spend just as much in sl as the majority of people and input into sl just as much as anyone else does ...my $L goes to others and it ends up back in LL hands eventually

i was a premium member but there were no benefits to it

I too have to say that I won't be backing this petition.

Whilst greifers and the such annoy majority of us, I do not see the fairness in targeting free accounts because of a few bad seeds. I think tougher discipline should be made for greifers.

Not all free members are bad, actually majority of free account holders I know do more for secondlife and the economy then alot of premium account holders.

As a premium member I despise all the limitations the have been put on free account holders. we have enough prejudice and taring groups based on status in the real world, can we please leave it out of our virtual world.

Nat

I never ever run into griefers or get hassled. Maybe you should hang out in places other than the ones you are hanging out now.

there is no way to enforce having people pay for every account...some people are dishonest. some good people won't join who may be asset to community if they had to pay right out.

My guess is that the benefit of the free accounts far outweighs the additional griefers when it comes to Linden Labs's bottom line.

The raw numbers are highly important to Linden Labs in terms of marketing. Linden Labs thinks that being the biggest in terms of numbers will help it survive competition from future virtual worlds.

I don't have access to Linden Labs's financial records, but I seriously doubt that Linden Labs makes the big money on the premium account fees. In the mix of income streams, it would be my guess that the premium account fees fit in the "small but steady" category.

Plus, I think the sad fact of the matter is that, without the free accounts, the vast majority of current residents with free accounts would not be upgrading to premium. They would either turn to other forms of free entertainment, or choose to spend their money on entertainment that gives them better bang for the buck.

I may be premium but my partner is on a basic account and she contributes at least as much, if not more, to the SL economy as I do. And I know a whole lot of other on basic accounts that make SL a much nicer place to be than many premies do.

If I was to support your petition, I would lose some of the best people I know in SL including my partner.

Sorry, there is no possible way I could support you on this.

QFT and I'd vote for it.

hahahah RIGHT. Yep, it is Friday.

This is rediculous. It is elitism at its worst, and implies that basic/free accounts are worthless. Basic accounts are a very important part of the economy for just about everyone. They allow anyone to see what SL is like and experience it fully.

It is also knee-jerk reactionism. You guess that there are 2000 "griefers" (which you do not bother to even define) on the grid every day, but don't say how you come across this number and it is surely bogus and its inclusion only harms your argument. It reminds me of the US' current "war on terror" and the absurd things done to "prevent" terrorism.

Sorry, you get no sympathy for me. Good luck in getting even 100 signatures, much less tens of thousands- you'll find little support for your idiotic idea.

I should think it'd be sufficient to put payment info on file. Then, even though they are free accounts, the creators can be traced and prevented from creating new alts once their original account has been banned/suspended/whatever.

Be honest that would not stop the asshats..Me and Rebel came over from RLC and you would be suprised at how many had VIP accounts($20 a month) and did not care when and if staff would ban or block there account..some just get off from being and acting like a loser.

We have not had one problom in the 3 months we have been here like we had in RLC within 3 days...but speaking from XP the best way to handel then is to bitch slap them as hard as you can the first time..that way they go cry to mommy and leave ya be

Missy

Maybe it is time for you get off the Drugs (specially the pot!), or quit SL and Join the Military so you can defend something more useful, valuable and more important than your oppinion..

Do you Ever think that you are the reason why your Experience is ruined? If you run around life with this kind of attitude, you will get picked on a lot.

Signed,
VonGklugelstein Alter