"For Sale" signs now forbidden?

First: I looked all over the Forums for the proper place to ask 'officially' about this---the Feedback about Linden Blogs sounded right, but there's no thread about the September 12 policy posted by Jack Linden (that I could see, anyway).

So I'm kinda asking you guys about that, as well as about my main question:

I got a Warning about my For Sale signs.

Now here's the odd thing: my For Sale signs have ALWAYS been in compliance with the new policy, even before the new policy existed. They are the words "For Sale" on a flat box, attached to the ground. They never have floated or rotated and their height has never been over 1 meter (most have been 0.05 meter). They have never emitted particles, given notecards, IMs, Landmarks, or anything else. They have never had Glow or sound or light sources or sound or ban lines or on-rez content.

But------there has been one-per-parcel.


Is THIS now the new rule----if you have more than one parcel up for sale in a sim, even if the parcels are at opposite ends----only one of them can have a For Sale sign?

If that's the rule, I'll comply.



(But if so, it seems.....nutty.)

Yup they're in the advertising class and you're only allowed one per sim and no more than 50 altogether.

Yes, up to 50 ad thingies total (gridwide), and no more than one on any given sim.

The people decided your speech isn't worthy of the grid. Mob rule is the name of the game now.

Yes, that's the new rules - one ad per sim per person - and Jack specifically said that the rules apply to For Sale signs.

Personally, I have every intention of ignoring it for For Sale signs, because it's so stupid. One per parcel will do for me. In fact I've already done it.

So let me get this straight - there's a new policy that For Sale signs have to be flat on the ground and/or not rotating up in the air?

If that's true gridwide....I've got some ARing to do on my sim!!!

I don't know what the actual rules are beyond the basic 'on the ground, no rotation, smaller than 8m,' but you had (have?) several consecutive 512s for sale right near me and the number/size of signs did seem a bit excessive. Not anything I would personally AR, but enough to make me shake my head a little.

Wow. I am really surprised by that. And frankly, most people with parcels up for sale probably wouldn't identify with the Official blog entry that talks about "Network Advertising".

Surely they have let themselves in for a flood of protests by calling it "Network Advertising"----doesn't that imply that you are putting up ads for someone else's product or location?

Instead of just making clear that you have a parcel of land up for sale?



Wouldn't they save themselves a lot of trouble by just adding 'this policy applies to For Sale signs, too---one per sim, fully compliant, and no more than 50 altogether' to the Blog entry giving the policy?

Yes Czari for sale signs have to fit in with the advertising policy of being no higher than 8M blah blah blah.

Now, see, I agree with that. I've NEVER used floating signs. All mine have been flat to the ground---and so, not obtrusive to people living in the sim.

Q. Does this policy include signs advertising Parcels for sale?
A. Yes it does.

http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/09/12/more-information-on-ad-farms-network-advertisers/#more-2638

They don't have to be flat, they just can't be taller/wider than 8m. They do have to be on the ground and stationary.

There are no restrictions on the horizontal dimensions, other than the parcel dimensions, of course, but the sign must be on the ground, and not more than 8m high. That can make for some *very* big signs, of course.

Great news!! I don't mind the ground signs at all...but there are several in the air spinning ones on my sim that have been there forever. The sim as a whole is very pretty (as mainland goes) but those spinning signs have been annoying.

If he said it in an Office Hour or such, that's nice----BUT WHY NOT PUT IT IN THE WRITTEN POLICY?

I mean, I'm not lacking in basic intelligence, but I wouldn't have considered myself a "network advertiser". I've never put up an advertisement for a product or location, or for anything other than the words 'for sale' about the land the sign is sitting on.






But aren't you courting Account Termination?

I agree that NOT permitting one fully-compliant sign per parcel is kind of.....lacking in common sense.

But can you get away with defying the rule if it really DOES apply to the kind of thing discussed here?

The rules are stated in the blog - Ciaran posted the URL for it.

Yes, it's courting penalties, but it's so stupid that I don't care. Imagine having several, non-adjacent parcels for sale in the same sim. What sort of stupidity is it that says you can't put a sign on each of them.

But as noted, all my signs are on the ground, and don't violate the rules in any way. The fact that there's one per parcel is just to alert people that there are several parcels, not just one, up for sale.

If what some are saying is true, if you have a 512 up for sale at one end of a sim and another 512 at the other, you can have only one sign.


Personal message----I'm chagrined to have caused you upset, but the fact is I have to go to my RL job and won't be able to work on this until tonight. Eventually I will get to wherever you are--apologies for causing offense.

By written policy, do you mean the blog? If so, he did. It's in the Q&A section.

http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/09/12/more-information-on-ad-farms-network-advertisers/

Ah, I could have sworn I'd read every bit of that. But, thanks.

Are the rules posted in the TOS?

Was I notified at log-in that these are the new rules, where to find them, and did I have to acknowledge my agreement with the new rules/TOS.

LL doesn't have a leg to stand on, if they think "Office Hours" and the Blog are a proper way to announce policy changes for the people that pay them money.

Katt, Linden isn't this YOUR job?

Worst company I have ever seen, for communicating policy.

I just found out about this (through the Warning email) about an hour ago, so I'm still processing the information.

But I guess what's most upsetting is:

All along I've made conscious decisions based on being considerate of fellow-Mainland residents: I decided against using the big spinning ads, even though they might have resulted in more sales for me. I took care to make my flat ads very simple, with no obtrusive graphics or any of the forbidden things like particles or glow---long before the new policy appeared.

Yet I'm being told, in effect, 'you are being a jerk'.

It just feels like an unfair accusation.




edit---and yeah, yeah: it's not that gigantic a big deal.

But I think LL made the whole thing needlessly unpleasant to people like me who were genuinely trying to behave responsibly. (gotta go....)

I'm not offended...hell, you should see what the neighbors get up to. It just seemed like a lot of signs in a smallish area. *shrug*

accually the have all the legs they need, it's there game and there rules also i think the blog is exactly where such an anouncement would and should be made

I think the 'one for sale sign per sim' rule should only apply to parcels of less than 512 sq metres. I think it that over 512, you should be allowed more, as long as they are small and unobtrusive.

So after reading this thread, I went in world to AR the ONE spinning red For Sale sign that has been on the sim as long as I can recall.

It's gone now...

...HOWEVER, my neighbor has now put her land up for sale. Apparently it is a combination of 512 & 1024's she is selling individually and here is my new view:



Not only does she violate the "in the sky rule" - but there is one for EACH parcel (a total of 6) in that one little area. Wasn't sure if I should AR each parcel or AR for the "more than one sign" issue. Decided to do a little of both, then sent an IM to one of our friendlier neighbors to ask them to do the same.

Apparently these folks with the yellow & black signs didn't get the new info.

(ETA - This smacks to me a bit like adfarmers...except she's actually selling "normal" size parcels of land, but still, just sayin...)

(If anyone is feeling bored today...please be my guest and head over to Warbluster to AR this mess. )