A Word from Blue Linden

Hey >.>
You are teasing me now!
What I was trying to say is how can you miss something you know little or nothing about? How can you take a nice blog saying "I want the grids to merge" from a teen and expect them to know what they are truly asking?

I've heard a whole lot about the after life...Sounds good from what I've heard.....

You don't see me running off to join it now do you?

Well some adult regions might actually be PG, it all depends upon how the island flagging is delivered.

That is certainly true, however this is mainly about ML and the new AML

Oops.

I thought I had read that age verification was to be a part of the sign-up process overall, after things were set into place with the AO stuff. My bad. (I read most of this stuff the first time ... I swear I didn't see that link to the FAQ page the day the blog post was published. O.O)

Maybe this is something to push for, then. Realizing no system is perfect, and also recognizing that the Europeans have some special issues when it comes to age verification ... mass numbers of unverified accounts bring some unique problems to SL, age-related content only being one of them.

Ghosty when the first free accounts hit the grid I was one of the vocal ones against the whole idea. The writing was on the wall then for what SL is going through now. Unfortunately you cant stuff the genie back in the bottle. All they can do is try and control it all to some extent. Free accounts are not going to go away. I do think however we are going to see more and more restrictions on them.

Me toooo.

*don't put a bomb in it, plz plz*

No, I agree, the free accounts are here to stay. More restrictions on them have to happen, however, and the first restriction has to be on how many a single person can operate. But this is almost a separate discussion than where this thread was headed ... a stink to raise elsewhere, I think.

At least the grid merge thing can be given a rest for the time being.

Yeah, I couldn't ignore this, either.

I have posted this point before about free accounts but in a different 3d chat you can be a free member for 10 days. In that time you have free access to all the program except places individuals choose to lock you out of. When the 10 days are up if you choose not to become a member you are limited to where you can go and what you have access to.
I feel this is a good idea as in RL dont you have to pay to be a member of a club?

I don't criticise my colleagues.

Pep (except in Communiications and Human Resources)

If someone isn't abusing their free accounts, why should there be restrictions on the number of avatars a user can have?

I think I'm a very positive person, not cynical, tend to give people the benefit of the doubt... and I'm not given to bashing LL or the Lindens.

That said, I can't say that your conversation with Blue Linden means anything at all to me. It doesn't register as information.

I'm sorry for that, I really am.

I've been thinking for the past day about why it's so.

I don't have any bad history with LL, have never met a Linden, but I don't believe what they say about the merged grid. I'm convinced that they have every intention of merging the grids.

It bothers me that I can't believe them, and I've tried to understand why I don't.

There is something about the way they say things... it reminds me of a job I had long ago, when a merger took place. One of the big executives came down to where we worked and told us that none of us had to worry about our jobs, that there would be plenty of work for everyone.

The minute he left, my friend turned to me with a white face and said, "Oh, God! Time to look for another job!" I had the same impression, and it was correct.

I mean, he said all the right things. He didn't hit any false notes. He sounded completely sincere, and at least half the people there spontaneously applauded when he was done speaking. But none of what he said was true.

I guess it was because none of what he said made sense. LL just keeps walking toward the merge and saying they're not walking in that direction.

If you want to tie all free accounts to their user, have one main and all alts are connected to it, fine. But the throwaway griefer alts need to stop. It also could be a revenue generator for LL..give free accounts say 5 alts..premiums get 10..and any more can be added for a small fee. Plus some people, in good faith create alts and forget about them. How many never used accounts are sitting there, what impact does that have on the database? free accounts were a good idea that as usual, LL bungled upon implementation

The idea is not to police each individual resident for possible abuse of the system, but to create a framework for everyone to abide by equally. Since the greatest abuses (traffic bot farms, griefing, etc) come from individuals who have dozens of free accounts, limiting the number of avatars an individual can have (by establishing a single verified account for all of them) reduces the possibility of those types of abuses continuing - especially if a ban goes against a user's account, instead of a single avatar account, which would be ideal.

No, no, I can't swing with that. Griefing and traffic bots now become the privilege of those with money to burn. I say 5 alts, period. There's plenty of other perks to give premium members, I'm sure.

Yes , but if those alts are tied to a verified account, there is someone to go after for misbehaving alts. Of course this is predicated on LL actually investigating AR's properly and standing by their rules...a big IF, I know.

Exactamundo. Very good point, though. That only works if action is taken against the user, instead of the alt.

Inactive accounts: Are purged. No problem here.

Bot Fams: Is there a policy against them? When there is, you can AR them and have the G-Team shut them down. No problem here.

Griefers: Punish infractions. Griefing has not become such an overwhelming problem that policing infractions rather than the potential for infraction is impractical. No problem here.

There's no need for a limit on user accounts.

Are they?

According to slnamewatch.com LL has purged at least a couple million accounts as of Feb. 23.

Inactive accounts aren't the issue.

Bot farms are a misuse of resources. They can be AR'd.
https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417

Griefing has been, and continues to be, a continuing problem in newbie areas and at HIP (although it's calmed down at HIP quite a bit). "Policing infractions" only means banning an alt, which is meaningless as the griefer returns 10 minutes later with another alt, and can do this as much and as often as he likes.

There is every need for a limit on user accounts.

Thanks.

If there is a problem with bot farms unfairly using region resources, then AR them. You don't punish everyone because a few people are violating the TOS.

Griefing is not a widespread problem in SL. I've encountered less than half a dozen instances I considered AR-worthy. A couple of them were dealt with before I even got the form filled out and submitted.

How has griefing calmed down in HIP without a limit on user accounts? Obviously there is another solution to the problem.

I want to be able to make a new avatar when a cool name becomes available. I am not concerned enough about bots or griefing to give that up.

The overwhelming majority of residents are not griefers or resource hogs, and there's no reason to punish everyone for the actions of a few.

That seems to standard LL SOP. Why change now?

Right. While we're at it, we'll legalize casinos and banks again and rescind the rules on spinning ad boxes. After all, you're not a griefer, you should be free to do those things, right?



You obviously don't hang at HIP or other newbie areas. I do. I'm there, and I see it most every day. Newcomers are favorite targets.



I think it's the lag. The past few days, it's been so bad one can hardly fly around the area, and that's in the dead of night with only 15 or so people on the sim. Soon as connectivity picks up again, the griefing will also do so, I'm sure.



You do not need to grab a sweet name every time new surnames arrive. You can leave those sweet names for new people, who would also like a sweet name.



A five avatar limit per account is hardly punishment. You may have a hard time convincing anyone of that.