um well here's a question... could you add my place to your profile picks please??

that is, when everything's all working again properly and such... i know, i know, this is a stupid question, and i will probably get this thread removed for it, but i have to ask. :\ and i hate to do so... but if you would please lend me your ear first...

punch 'bodyoil' into search, and in the #1 spot you will find a persnickety texture thief of mine (or actually, he's thrice removed now from the original account, but it is most likely the same person - any case, what is purchased is the original thief's work, via the -second- thief, via a now third persistent account). :\

although untoward and against my own grain, i have lately been trying various 'search spamming' techniques to try to defeat his listing - to paraphrase 'the untouchables', i feel i am having to resort to 'the chicago way' while the lab tries to catch up with my dmca filings. i -think- they are responding properly - they have emailed some positive responses before, and yet still, the original thieved wears persist, and continue on thru two 'alts', i presume. i do not know exactly why 'three strikes and you're out' does not seem to apply here, other than maybe something mangled in my filings, but by now i'd had enough feedback, i'd thought, to have everything in order.

this is a story too long to tell... and i know, not -all- of ya are fans of my work lol!! that's okay - you know how it goes, 'better to be loved -and- hated than simply ignored', in the marketplace... but my original work is genuine, and i can't describe how pleased i felt when my bodyoils took off when they did. i had kept up enough reading the forums by that time to know that texture-thieving -was- a big prob... not like i didn't 'expect' it, if i had something worth stealing i guess. still, the current situation is intolerable.

i am a big big personal fan of sampled work - even unapproved sampling for fair use and parody, but this 'for profit' thievery is neither reporting, criticism, or parody. s'kinda like someone offering all the beatles' work digitally for sale online (before their catalog is even offered legitimately), by some crackpot someplace saying 'hi!! i'm ringo and i'll sell you all my great music digitally!!' but in this case, that's a distinction many newbs in here will just not know the difference. :\

i dunno... a bit depressed, as i know this impacts my sales, and that is plain unfair. i have been filing dmca's continually on these thieves, and yet i am not certain why the lab has not 'stomped' these pitiful creatures out of the grid as they should. i was about to upload a new sign for my place to encourage visitors to add me to their picks (as many places do anymore) - i just try to avoid doing the obvious, i guess. :\ i like to innovate, and want to keep innovating... i -have- been withholding work just to try to fight these thieves. :\

so, again, i would ask... if you appreciate my work and my bodyoils - for good or for ill - would you please stop by my store, and add me to your profile pick? i greatly appreciate it... thank you all -soooo- very much!!

... if there is any useful advice or feedback any of you could offer me, please do so (here in forum, so that all can learn from it)... thank you sooo much again; hope y'all have lotsa slipp'ry fun

now back to waiting for the grid to come back... 'lindens only' now huh, but i'm-a gonna try to dance the night away right here.

p.s. ooo hey post #969... that's gotta be some naughty lucky number.

*deleted message because it's none of my business.*

I agree with raymond, I am sure you could have spammed the inworld folks, maybe via your group (if you have one) or friends list etc

if one person does this and it is a "hit" for them, then everyone will try it too, and it will become a huge spam fest in here (all over again)

:\ sorry... i understand that, lol and expressed expecting maybe that kindova attention. thing is, i would -like- some 'moderation' of this problem... it's gone unresolved, even with proper dmca filings. :\ grid's down, and i couldn't even upload my sign to try to start my campaign...

sad thing is, nothing any of us can do about the issue
your personal ones or the grid in general

I am sorry if my post seemed harsh, it is just that with the grid issues and real life stuff, I am a bit on edge

I wish there was something we the residents could do to fix the grid and remove the thieves

Actually, I'm with Nyoko on this one. It isn't the normal route, admittedly, but Nyoko is hardly a spammer. She's contributed a lot to this forum, and is understandably frustrated that someone who's ripped her off is being promoted by the SL search engine to a higher ranking than the original product. That would make me see red, too.

Phil Deakins had a similar problem with rankings recently - not due to spammers, but because of the bizarre way that the search engine behaves if you happen to combine two parcels. Nobody complained about him asking if we could help by adding him to his picks if we liked his stuff; I did like his stuff, and I did add him to my picks.

So yes, Nyoko. You have a really good product at a sensible price, which I use and am very happy with. If SL ever get the grid up and running again, I'd be happy to add you to my picks.

Even tho I'm a furry ya I will add your place if ya could im me the name of the thief to... no I wont say what I'll do

Body oil on a furry? Could work - think of it as a glossy coat

it is not a matter of "that person is not a spammer so they can spam for something like this" it is a matter of if one person can do it and it is ok, then everyone should be able to
There are a lot of folks who contribute to the forums, should they all start threads asking for folks to come and add them to their picks?

this picking and choosing who can spam and who can't is just plain wrong
either it is ok for everyone, or it is not ok for everyone

I do not spam here, so is it ok if I start a thread and ask for ppl to add me to their picks?

I like nyoko's work, have one set of body oils myself, but that doesn't mean I would choose to say they can spam while another person whom I might not know or purchase from can't

and yes it is spamming, to come to the forums and start a thread specifically to ask folks to add you to their picks is nothing other than spamming. (no matter what the reason behind it is)

just understand where I am coming from... one.. should we let everyone do it, or no one? there should not be a pick and choose
and two it could be a thinly disguised ad (which I do not think it is, but it could be) and advertising is a no no in here.

Edited to add... I did not see the thread by Phil, if I had I would have made the same comments I made here.

to defend phil's thread (i read that one too, and it was -extremely- good advice while i was reworking my parcels lately) - his was so non-spammy, it's not even funny. lol -my- thread however, i -did- name spammily... somewhat for feeling that if i named it any more clinically or less controversially, i wouldn't get much fieldtime over the issues underlying. (after all, 'let this one die' now has -140- pages lol!! omzod... it's about as dead as elvis and jim morrison combined. well if ya want some attention to a subject, don't soft-pedal it like pbs does. :\ y'know that's a fact... i -am- sorry for that - but there are a lot more questions in my post than just my initial thread titling.

1) traffic/searchterms aside, is simply parcel area defining now how far up a search hit goes?? (my thief has lousy traffic compared to mine, nor seems to have any more searchterms than mine - the only thing they have going for them is parcel size - which seems to be they own their own whole -island- for chris' sakes :\ ) is this maybe why the lab is reticent to serve them final notice?

2) if it is instead that i haven't been filing dmca's properly, where is the 'field guide' to completely, properly filing a dmca that nips these issues in the bud, before they become issues that need taken out into discussion? (recently the lindens blogged about making the process more explicit... what's the update on this??)

3) slEx and onrez take emailed pdf's for dmca's, and respond quickly and properly to such notices; why not the lab?? :\

4) why will the lab -not- remove items/objects 'belonging' to slex/onrez, even when their server boxes are being used to store illegal wears?

and, well 5) why would the forums be better moderated (self or by lab) than dmca takedowns? i can get pos/neg feedback here in minutes if i step on toes that are only for decorum, but not for copyrighted for-profit issues.

i do have a group to 'spam' - which i did just now, now that the grid seems back in line - although the group is so very new (only started it just a month ago), it has very few members compared to the number of customers i'd had in the past - and i never intended to start one in the first place, for any such 'advertising' purposes (the population is very advertisement-resilient, as i am too!! so i never really intended to start one, either for spamming releases or such 'personal' requests as this is. this isn't something that any RW company has to commonly beg attention for... i am greatly humbled to be posting this request, whether via forums, or in-world... both are equally 'embarrassing' to me, from an artistic standpoint. :\

as i've said, i've already (and am right now as i type this to you) taking steps that i wish i did not have to take. i understand if you don't have a good answer to any of this... you don't even have to post a 'sympathy' post for me; i understand!! (but ty to all you kind ones having done so; i did feel the need for some 'warm fuzzy' right now lol prrrr... btw bodyoil is 'conditioner' for furries lol!!

and i -do- understand if you took umbrage at my way of positing this all off. to be honest, yes - it -did- all start with that thought... 'gee i need lots more profile picks to get my search standing up'. gee do i need alts? or lots of help from all my good previous customers, who are not going to be members of my new group? :\ and shoot -why- should i have to resort to this sort of thing to sell legitimate, original wears in this world? -i didn't want to do this.-

thanks -soo- much for your time and attention. if you made it all the way thru my verbiosity.

p.s. oh and yes, lindens be sure to get all your rack updates and such posted to 'status' instead of just 'blog' now please!! i wanna know exactly where to clue visitors where to go to make sure grid status is okay before shopping. i'd only just changed all my 'visit the linden blog' kiosks to 'visit the status page' recently...

the only issue I had with the post is that if one does it all will do it

I have nothing against you personally, do not know you to base any kind of personal like or dislike to

as for the let it die thread, it was supposed to die, fall down the page, I did NOT make that thread with the idea of ohhh if I make it say let it die they will never let it die...

that was the furthest thing from my mind, so I thought ok, if I say let it die, they will... let it die

boy was I wrong on that one (and now know better)

as for the issues with the grid and exactly how search works, I have a feeling even the lindens are a bit lost on those things.

also if those questions and concerns were what you mainly wanted to ask. you could have done so very easily just by putting them as you did in the post above this one, and leave out the please add me to your picks part of it.

*shrug*

just voicing my opinion, much like everyone else does it
(you will notice I do not play favorites, my best friend could do something like this and I would voice the exact same opinion as I did this time)

Useful advice: Don't write posts like your OP. Write posts like the one above. I'm surprised at how civil people have been the OP was such spam.

I'm sorry this happened to you, but as the others pointed out, this sets a precedent I would hate to see followed here in the forums. It gets nasty and hostile enough around here without a War on Spam.

I think the "spam" criticism is a bit harsh in this case. It's not like it's a normal situation. Nyoko is being ripped off and the thief is even beating her, with her own products, in search. Everyone here is dead against the thievery, and I think that people should be against it to the extent of helping to beat the thief in search. I imagine that people here *are* against the thief to that extent, so I don't see why this sort of help can't be requested of the community, by one of the community, in such circumstances. It's not spam, imo. It's a request of the community, by one of the community, because of unusual and very wrong circumstances.

I'll log in and add your place to my Picks, Nyoko.

/me gives Puppet Points to Nyoko for having the balls to ask.

Too bad my imaginary Puppet Points aren't worth anything. Sorry to hear this happened to you. I hope LL responds to your DMCAs soon.

I read your "add to Picks" notice Nyoko. If it were me, I wouldn't have mentioned thieves in it because it could cause people to wonder if they can get the same things cheaper elsewhere, and you effectively tell them how to find the alternatives. Just a thought.

:\ yah, had wondered that; not wanting to 'advertise' them any more than they do themselves - but i'd done so on the advice of other designer friends who suggested it would be sort of like some rw shop-owner showing off returned checks under their register counter - 'these people are busted; watch out for them/don't you dare try it yourself' kinda thing. i do also feel compelled to generally keep my customers and vendor hosts informed of these things, instead of covering it up...

also funny is, some other thieves out there have priced -up- my stuff more than i do - so seems i -am- competitive at least with my low prices. but this one simply mimics my pricing and even at one time used my very own product pictures!! (i don't so freely post my product pics in my info notecard anymore because of this; hafta make them full-perm to do so of course)

y'know something else i didn't mention before - this new search thief (while the same alt as busted before) achieved #1 with this brand-new location only weeks since their last takedown at another location just a month-and-a-half ago. so i think 'obviously' they are using future alts to pump their listing immediately - which means of course, as soon as the next filings may remove the two main associates, they're already ready to go with their next vending alt/s. :\

yah, it is super-frustrating - i feel like i'm working harder and harder at it all the time, only to see this brand-new listing pop right to #1 within just weeks of thinking i'd finally dealt this alt his 'death blow' lol...

While I agree this could be a bad precedent, I know of a similar rip-off that simply destroyed the business of a promising new creator. So, I'll be over, and send all my script testing alts, too, to add Picks. (They have payment info on file and are in-world buyers of stuff--*my* stuff, but their Picks still seem to count.)

By the way, I love this product. Yes, sometimes my toxic swamp has a layer of oil on it, so after a refreshing dip, a coating remains on the skin. (Now, if only I could find really *slimey* body oil, with bits of decaying hazardous waste labels. )

[Edit: Just was reminded that there are multiple locations for this product. I'm thinking that's probably not helpful for getting any particular one of them to the top of Search. I picked the one listed in the OP signature, so it's just an observation--and kind of a question about what other merchants with multiple locations are thinking about this.]

rather, add mine to yours.

Would you all add me to your picks? I don't have a store or any kind of venue, but it would be cool to see my picture in lots of people's picks -- I can even supply a few nice pics for you to choose from.

hmmm yah - that's possible; would multiple parcels in search dilute their standings?? i don't remember coming across talk of that in the threads on new search... i've certainly now 'spammed' my listings about as far as they could just a few days ago, to find it ineffective for this prob...

lol and your toxic waste idea is pretty kewl! (in an 'ewww neat' kinda way maybe i could jimmy that up in a day or two.

and thanks to you all for understanding - or at least putting up with me on this one. i certainly don't want to see it be a trend either... as i say, it was the initial question with a whoooole lotta backstory and other questions underneath...

I'll do it on the condition that I can write something tender and moving like:

OMG my sissy Lil. She da bomb! Mess with Lil and I will hunt you down without pity nor conscience. And be warned, you don't want me coming after you, 'cos hell will be coming with me. Capiche?

Only then will I remove Bear Infohub "THE gathering place in all of SL - get your asses down here pronto and loiter like a good 'un!" from the exalted list of Herzog picks.

OMG - I love it !!! I'll be laughing for hours now.

You will not help Nyoko by changing the parcel description.

It only takes a few days to get a new place up the rankings if enough people add it to their Picks, the parcel's Name and Description are optimised for it, and the items are also optimised for it. Taking a few weeks was going a bit slow.

Having different parcels for the same stuff doesn't dilute anything as such. What it does is spread the Picks around the parcels, which means fewer links to each one. Each parcel stands on its own, so as long as your efforts to get Picks are aimed at one parcel only, then that will get the benefit. I did as Qie did - went to the place in your sig to add the Pick. You should be aiming at improving the highest ranked place for the searchterm where the thief is beating you, so if you need it to be a different place to the one in your sig, let us know.

ohhh yes - i'm sorry, i forgot that you'd asked that! sorry - feeling a bit blurry having stayed up all night talking it out.

yes, my sig is my main store! - ty for the 'dilution' explanation; that's a -big- help then, it sounds like! i have errantly placed a few too many extra signs out then... i will correct this shortly. ty vm for the explanation!

btw the original search sticky is awesome good info i'd done some basic searchterm stuff before with website design, but taking it to this level is just a bit new to me (and normally pretty distasteful lol too - i'm sure to everyone just the same). thanks for all the help folks!! really so appreciate it...