Would you buy from someone who is 'Gaming the System'?

Only if they were the only place I could find with what met my needs. I don't mind one or 2 models, window washes etc, but massbotting in cages is just blatant cheating NOT gaming.

I buy from stores I can FIND. So yes, I probably do buy from stores that use all kinds of tricks to make themselves easier to find.

i just buy stuff i want. i don't worry about what efforts the store owner has gone through to get me there.

Sorry if this seems petty, but I don't shop if there are obvious bots around. I do all the above mentioned tricks too, like skipping to the second or third page of search results. But lately I don't even bother with search unless I really need something specific in which case I'm likely to use SLX or whatever it's called.

There are other things that will make me turn around and TP home as well. Being hit with a notecard and then immediately with a landmark and maybe even an offer to join a group before I can move out of the TP area just makes me look rude. I usually like to clear the TP area, but these blue pop-ups things keep me from moving, it seems.

I'm kind of that way in real life too. I don't shop at the big Wal-you will be assimilated-Mart or at McMediocre's either.

On the other hand if I see something beautiful in my wanderings I'm likely to buy it even if I don't need it, so I do like to reward creativity when I find it especially if it's not all hyped in my face. I guess I'm just an old idealist.

QFT Bradley!

With both my stores I do get in the top 5 of the keywords I am aiming for, and they are pretty general (low prim plants for one, low prim furniture for the other). So you could assume that I just have to be cheating to get there. Well guess twice, I do not. No bots, no campers, no other cheats. Just implementing some good keyword optimalisation.

Would I buy from a store that uses "gaming" with bots or camping for example? Well I do not shop that much, but when I shop I could not care less about bots and camping as long as it does not influence my experience (ie: lag). For me is it quite simple: as long as a store operates within the boundaries set by LL, why should I care? No, I do not approve of traffic bots, but as long as LL does not act, why should I? If they sell quality stuff, I would not hesistate.

Really, really good point. I go out of my way to buy from people that have helped me and others on the forums more than I go out of my way to not buy from someone who has bots et al. On that note, though, if the camping/bots are in bad taste (fit in no way with the surroundings and have no sense of creativity or function other than to up traffic) I usually leave. The worst I think was already mentioned, if I do a search and find that a listed item isn't there I'm out of there like a shot.

I never said I assume all of them are gaming something, only that most who DO game those things seem to be contained within the first page or 2. I skip those first pages because I hate places with keywords for stuff they don't sell, don't care for malls or mass-market BIAB content, and simply dislike weeding through all that for an actual hit... especially as slow as SL has been lately.

If they feel the need to game the system then their product is probably crap...

1 User agrees

Ding! QFT

A problem with buying from people who game the system is that this is rewarding bad behaviour. It encourages the behaviour to continue and to spread.

It's the same with email spam. The only reason that spam continues is that enough people buy.
Most anti-spam activists are probably aware of the Boulder Pledge.


Buying from search-gamers is the same thing as buying from email spammers.

I've seen no decent evidence to back this claim up. If the product is crap it simply won't sell.

Bollocks - and probably wishful thinking

This.

You know...I just have to respond to this.

I don't use traffic bots, but do occasionally leave my alts on my property. Why? Because I run a mall - with high quality products in it - but so do a few thousand other people. Those alts being online may boost my traffic enough to get me ahead on the 4th page of search instead of the 20th. Well, not yet, but it could happen!

Competition is TOUGH in SL...I'm not going to fault anyone for trying to get on the first page of search.

Agreed

By all means disagree with what I say or do, but no way are you going to remove my right to say or do it.

If I TP into a store or club, and the place is almost empty other than a large visible cluster of AFK campers, or if I can't see anyone but see a huge number of green dots that apparently are piled up in a hidden location, then I am out of there, NO SALE, no matter how good the merchandise looks. The only time I might make an exception would be if I really wanted a particular item, and there was simply nowhere else to get it. I have yet to see an example of such a place. And so far, I haven't seen a single one of those sites that I could honestly even say had merchandise or a venue that looked the least bit more interesting than hundreds of others who do not game the system.

One or two lucky chairs or camping chairs in a large store, and/or a couple of "live model stands" where one can see actual clothing on an avatar (usually one of the store owner's own alts), I won't be bothered by. It's the dense clusters of misleading green dots that will result in a NO SALE response.

Well for intrest quick random TP around World Map 10 sims av 40 to 90 Av

results only 2 had real people

Rest well look sky and usual found a nice box with lot of alts or bots


So what is the true traffic on Sl the bot seem to be the only growth in reality


As for search i shop at places know return

if Search use i look at end as for me is new places that may offer something different

intresting .

But maybe my style shopping not usual when looking new prefer look at new shops


Am intrested to know what real traffic is but doubt linden would dare answer that.

Have to agree with you Arch, thats why I voted No.... there's simply to many places that have the same quality, if not better, than bot infested places.

BINGO! You hit the nail on the head. I would be at the top of the list because of keyword optimization also. That does not mean I used keywords for items that didn't even exist in my store, which is an act I consider deplorable. I just used the tools I've learned. I hate that I would be penalized for running my business in a strategic, yet honest, way.

I've studied this extensively...

http://greendots.typepad.com/

My conclusion was that about half the concurrency numbers are bots. Conservatively. And that was months ago. It's probably gotten worse.

Agreed, 100%.

Even if the store has decent products, if they have to resort to cheating to "get the word out", then their products can "rot on the shelves", as far as I am concerned. Generally-speaking, many who game search either don't have the products in categories they claim, or the products are nothing more than BIAB clones, scams, ripoffs, or just plain crap. It's not a universal rule, but it is more than frequent enough to keep me away. Why risk it?

It is the principle of the thing that matters to me. I would rather pay more for a substandard product from an honest, understanding businessman than to reward one who cheats. I probably would even help said businessman make his products better, so he can compete better against the cheaters.

The whole reason people have and continue to support companies like Microsoft and the big financial megacorps is because mitigating their short-term pain is more important than any long-term gains by choosing ethics over profits/greed/sloth. Thus, we reap what we sow, in ourselves and others.

I won't buy from stores running "copybot protectors" either.

But Talarus....how are you going to find these honest, understanding (of what?) business *people*?

You won't find them in search because they're buried...unless they take steps to elevate themselves.

This is the thing that all of you are seeming to miss....it's not that anyone *wants* to cheat the system. It's that LL has created this situation because they should have killed traffic, when they killed dwell.

LL missed an obvious "cheat" to the classifieds system, which has now been resolved, but how many of those honest people went out of business before they did?

Phil has been stating for as long as I can remember that LL needs to discontinue traffic. I run a nice Mall, very reasonable rent, recently remodeled, with nice tenants (some forum members). I can't afford a million linden for a classified. I optimized to the best of my ability and I gave up trying to find my mall after page 6. So how are we supposed to let the public know that we're there?

When you can answer that question...ANY of you...I'll be more than happy to listen.

I'm sure I have made a purchase from a mall with Bots.. But a vendors "Main" store with bots? no.. Ova and I get our traffic honest.. Sure we have a few models.. but no bots.. I don't see the need for them honestly.. If your products are good and marketed properly and you offer good customer service.. the traffic thing really doesn't matter.