Are some people really so stupid as to expect privacy in SL?

I know this has been talked about before but are people really that thick or out of touch?
I have bought a small plot on mainland and have found that one of the plots adjacent has got ban lines up. This is a bit annoying because I like to fly around and have to manoeuvre around her plot. She has nothing at ground level and just shows 6 prims used. She has another plot on the same sim with a house and stables on. I sent an im to ask why she had the ban lines up and she replied that she wanted a “bit of privacy”.
Just to prove a point I cammed into her house and wrote on her black-board and sent her another im complimenting her on some of the pictures she has around her house. I have not had a reply but the ban lines are still up.

Why do they do this?

Depending on how you define privacy, it is possible to have privacy in SL, and no, it is not stupid to expect it.

Case in point. You have a home rezzed on your own land, and you're inside your home minding your own business, when some yahoo who's learned how to use the map sees some green dots on the map so teleports in, and lands right in your living room, citing some lame excuse of wanting to invite you to a university-sponsored discussion on unethical practices inside of Second Life. Is this how you want people to treat you when you're inside your own home? I don't, and I've had this exact situation happen to me. There's only one way to make sure such things do not happen. Use ban lines. No, I don't like ban lines either, but a security orb properly configured will not keep these people out.

Ban lines will always remain a necessary evil until such time as people like that piece of work actually start using their brains. Same with the people who march right into people's houses and decide that this is now their home, and when the true homeowners show up they give them hell about the fact that "their" home is being invaded by these unwanted folks. Ban lines ensure it can't be started in the first place.

Her apparent lack of neighbourliness aside, Del, this actually seems more than a little creepy, and, more than anything, makes it clear why privacy is to be desired, if not necessarily easily attained, in SL.

What next? Are you going to emulate one of those teen slasher flicks, and IM her while she's at home, describing what she's wearing or doing? I get that you are trying to make a point, but some women -- or men, for that matter -- are likely to take these as the actions of a stalker. Don't do it anymore.

Did you know all of this by your first or second day in SL?

Some people jump in quickly, without appreciating the learning curve. People who've been in SL for some time before buying their first parcel may appreciate it even less. Ban lines, in particular, are non-obvious. There is no "erect ban lines" check box, nor will the parcel owner see the ban lines.

So don't call it stupid, just inexperienced. There may be some good articles out there to explain things, but at a minimum you should explain to her how it affects you and why you care.

Also, privacy doesn't necessarily mean keeping people from seeing in. I may not care what people see, but may not want them close enough for me to hear their chat or see them in my scene.

Because they paid for the space, they can do with it as they please. I like to fly, too, and get frustrated when I hit them. What do I do? I fly around them and move on.

Yeah, maybe it's stupid to expect privacy, but what you did wasn't exactly mature behavior either. I'd cease that behavior before you get AR'd for harrassment.

Agreed with Scylla on this. Del, how do you know this person has not already been the victim of SL stalking? We all *know* that privacy is an illusion in SL, but illusions can be powerful, especially to those that are very visually-oriented.

Example? A house with an open door may make some visually-oriented people feel unsettled. As soon as the door is closed, they feel a little 'safer'. Don't knock the way some people experience SL by calling them 'thick' and 'stupid'.

Camming in as you did and invading her personal space, writing on her blackboard and proving to her *in IM* that you've been looking around her home *is* stalkerish and creepy. You could have freaked the poor woman out no end; did you even think of that in your desire to make your point?

Fly around her parcel and be done with it. After all, if people are 'stupid' enough to put up banlines, then people getting unnecessarily annoyed at having to fly a little way around those banlines must also be stupid. Both are over-reactions, right?

No Scylla, I do not intend doing any more "Stalking" as her lack of reponse shows that she is not in the least interested. My main concern was with the EMPTY plot with the ban lines.



See above response Rock. I am not complaining about the ban lines around her house but around the emplty plot that is not easy to spot from the air and so is not easy to avoid.

Buy the place next to where the BanTard Lives and put some of these:

However you also deliberately characterize people who desire privacy in SL as "stupid." Such a desire is far from stupid. That's not the same thing as the specific example you were citing. Odd behavior putting up ban lines to "protect" a mere six prims, but would it also be stupid to have ban lines up around her property that is an actual residence? Your particular topic makes it clear that you view all attempts at trying to gain privacy as stupidity, and that topic is what I'm really referring to. It's far from stupidity, no matter how odd the one specific example you illustrated is.

I treat my sl homes as if it is my rl home and I pretty much have the same level of expectations in sl as I do irl. I lived in a rental where I had no control. People with lms prior to my renting was popping in or occupying my rental when I wasn't there. Imagine trying to explain away some guy in your bed when you arrive with some else that is supposed to share your bed at least for that night with you.

I have security orbs on one of mainland residences and on my sim. My other mainland residence, no one is hardly there. If that becomes a problem, I will address it.

I know folks can cam in and that doesn't bother me because I don't "know" about it. But someone just standing there in my home uninvited, now that would bother me.

So no OP I don't expect the level of privacy in my sl home as I would have in my rl home. But I do expect the same level of respect and consideration.

I did not say that people who WANTED privacy were stupid but those that EXPECTED privacy where. And no I do not think it is stupid to put ban lines around a residence but in my opinion is not very effective if you want to be able to conduct your actions in private; ie. out of sight and earshot of others. IMs cover the earshot part but nothing gets in the way of sight in sL.

I don't expect privacy. But I do hope for courtesy.



This is not courtesy. And I would not reply to an IM like that, either.

What point were you attempting to make? If she was a noob and did not understand, an explanation would be in order. If she doesn't want you standing in her living room, you have "proven" nothing except that you can be a poor neighbor.

Asking the neighbor specifically about the unused parcel and whether it's possible to have those (and only those) ban lines removed would probably have been more effective. After your behavior, I would personally consider removing the general ban lines from the outlying parcel but leaving you banned. Ultimately, though, it's her parcel to do with as she wishes, except for Zindra-qualified stuff, of course.

Ban Lines are stupid and I can't understand why people use them, but I do agree that residents have the right to privacy.

I totally agree, 100% ...and a security orb correctly setted yes keeps people away, i have two..one day i switched it off by mistake and 10 mins later someone was in my bedroom Oo....

It might go over better next time to ask for neighbor access. That way, you can still fly around the sim without bonking the ban lines. If access is turned off, you only hit ban lines up to a few hundred meters. However, if you are specifically banned you hit the lines for a few thousand meters up.

The ban lines might still be up, but at least she didn't ban you and make it harder to go around. I wouldn't have blamed her if she did because then you can't touch things either.

Go into view and turn off being able to see them.

Another thing.... when I did have ban lines up at one of my mainland residences, my neighbor sent me an IM asking that I would allow her access to my land because she used it as a short cut to get to hers. She didn't gripe about the ban lines, she just simply asked for access and explained why. She was granted access.

OP I believe had you not been so "clever" in proving your point by writing your "compliments" on her blackboard rather than sending her a notecard with that along with a request to have access to her land and explain why, she may have given it to you.

If you had done that to me, I either would've not acknowledged or written you back saying although I appreciate your compliment, you violated my home. You vandalized your neighbor's home and that is so not cool.

ban lines when flying are only a problem if you fly low (unless you have been banned by name) unless it is in a mountain area you can still see the builds when you fly 50 meter above ground level, yes I have been hit by ban lines when doing a low sweep move trying to land gracefully but because I know ban lines can happen at low altitudes I just shrug it off, pluck the plane out of the banline and try again.

I live for almost 2 years on Avion Raymaker' SIMs; on my first apartment I had a couple of neighbor’ friends that use to visit him and than come to my apartment and enter without knocking and use my furniture, on the first couple of times I asked my neighbor to tell them not to do it anymore but since they didn’t follow my request I simply used my eject power and bummm they were gone After that they started to do it with another apartment and now they are simply banned from the SIMs

It’s true that we don’t have privacy unless we are talking on private chat but we must all learn to build invisible walls around us and around others, it’s a matter of principles

I have main and some times i put the lines up and why? Well on day my partner and i were laying on the bed hugging when this guy appears and sits on the end of the bed. We ask him to leave and he sits there and says "Im just waiting my turn".

I put them up if i am doing something and dont want to be disturbed. My land I pay my choice. You want to watch us using the camera go for it it reflects on how sad you are not me

Congratulation on behaving like an A, you just got yourself banned on multiple parcels, and anyone who cares the LEAST bit about privacy will without doubt do the exact same thing. Both to you, and to other smartypant egocentric residents.

If someone wants to put up banlines, then that's his or her choice. Yes, it is possible to cam into such a parcel, but the banlines should make it rather evident that the owner is not interested in people invading their privacy, and thus do not want you to cam in either. Even less write on their white board.

I don't see any difference between someone doing that, and someone camming in and IM-ing me when I'm inside my house. If anything, that's creepier, and you can't stop it by ejecting and banning him individually.


You brought that one up before and I still don't believe it happens often enough for anyone sane to care about.

That works for most planes (though not all gliders and HABs), but not for unaided flight. Unfortunately, unless you sit there tapping on the "up" key you normally sink below 50m. And if you're on a laptop where page-up is Fn-up that's not even an option.

Yes, some people do expect privacy...and are annoyed when they find they can't get it.

And yes, people do stupid things like put up ban lines...and then put up a skybox above the protected zone.

But...what you did is not what I would consider neighborly, and is not very likely to win the person over to your point of view.

I would have put all my arguments into a very politely worded notecard and sent it to her.

I love people visiting my properties in sl - in Chaska and Mimas. If they fly to 1500 metres at Chaska they can see my galleries. I am NOT private but don't be so shocked by my art or what I might be doing.
Check my profile and visit - you are welcome.

This.


And this.

This woman had explained to you that she wanted "a bit of privacy," and your response was to violate it as thoroughly as you could?