Bandaid

Some have said "bandaid" others think this is the answer... I'm only afraid it will infringe on an individuals rights simply because some (albeit a majority) of people are fed up with the practices of a few individuals. I used to run an ad campaign utilizing 16m2's (you'll still find the ad's here and there but I'm no longer active with it). Anyways, onto my concerns.

Let's say an individual instance of an advert (despite the size of the lot it resides on) is worth 8.00 usd in potential sales over the course of 1 month. Suddenly this lot is valued higher by it's owner than anyone else. Now, let's assume the advertisers will restructure they're prices to accommodate the new policies. They can either simply set they're parcels as no sale or set them at a "reasonable" price. That's the issue, as soon as they are set at a reasonable price they (the 16m2) fall prey to people buying them only to get the ad out of they're sim.

Oh wait, that's what everyoe wants right? What about the guy/gal who is trying to earn income off they're ad campaign? This may force all ad owners to set they're parcels as no sale and will make it impossible for people to rid they're sim of the ad's. I'm not saying that LL should do nothing; What I'm saying is... We need both zoning and better educated land buyers.

Zoning would be handled by LL themselves or another 3rd party under rule of LL. Another concept to possibly go along with zoning would be "commitment levels". Let's say suzy owns her very own dance club. Ok, let's say suzy is provided something along the lines of surveying services where a legitimate, LL appointed team/company comes and asses her lot. Once the assessment is done/recorded she is asked what her commitment to the area is. For example "Suzy, do you plan on staying on this lot for a year minimum?" Suzy says "yes I'm planning on staying here AT LEAST that long". Great "would you be willing to put your money where your mouth is?" This is how it becomes monetized and hopefully keeps people honest. Let's say a 1 year commitment is 10,000 L. Wait you say, why on gods green sim would Suzy pay that much for a "commitment level"??? Because after a year if she is in fact still on the same lot she would either be offered a full refund of her money or to renew her "commitment contract". Let's say Suzy broke the contract and decided her land would be better suited as an adpharm... Sorry Suzy you don't get your 10,000L back! Ok now onto the land buyer...

Joe goes to Suzy's sim looking for a parcel. Joe is an informed land buyer (how's that? Because LL gave him the info needed) Joe is looking around at available lots and comes across a nice 512 that is adjacent to Suzy's land. Joe says to himself, "darn I don't know if i wanna buy this 512 cause Suzy just might sell off half her land tomorrow and it'll be ad city next door." But wait, Joe looks on Suzy's property and notices it has been assessed/surveyed and that Suzy made her intent very clear that she is committed to being a Club owner and not an ad cutter. Suddenly Joe feels much safer about his potential land purchase and decides to buy the land adjacent to Suzy's club.

Ok so maybe this idea is pure rubbish (please go easy on me if you feel this way). I might add that I don't think this "commitment contract" should be mandatory by any means. It should be encouraged such that informed buyers could make better decisions.


Thank you for your time.

I think that the Original Post would be much easier to read with paragraph breaks.

The general consensus is that LL and most residents consider that asking people to pay to have advertising removed is simply not a legitimate business model.

The idea of asking people to put down deposits to indicate their commitment to a covenant on mainland is quite a good one, though.

trying to read this is making my head hurt. I think I'll have a lie down.

Pardon my ignorance, but do people actually LOOK at the ads in adfarms (I know I don't) or are they intended to simply annoy the neighbours and force them into some action they normally would not?

In the first case, I can't see why anyone would advertise their product in such an annoying way, since it's surely counter productive. I haven't even once bothered to look at them closely enough to even try to figure out what they're selling.

In the second case, why not put up something really revolting, like some garish, humungous rotaing sculpture and call it art? Is that because would interfere with LL rules regarding interfering with others' enjoyment of SL? Then how are those ugly ads any different?

I guess I just don't get it.

Collette, I think your right, i just spit it out so fast! Sry. Yumi, I respect everyones views on the subject but there are 2 sides to every coin. Instead of asking to pay to get rid of the ads, the advertiser is insuring they're ad's will not go poof along with they're exposure. Now, they're only choice will be setting the parcels to no sale. I'm glad you like my commitment contract idea tho!!!

and another reason islands are better, a bit more expensive but I cant recall if I have ever seen an ad farm one. oh im not paying for no survey either....is that what this is about?

btw I had to use my finger to the screen to read this and now i have smudges on my screen. im thinking that its all the Lindens fault and also GW Bush. whos gonna clean this mess? I dont think i should have to clean it because after all if it had not been for the ad farms this would not have happened...

Paragraph structure would be really helpful.

If you make your money in actual advertising, then what do you care about selling the land? If that spot is not profitable for you and you want to unload it, what difference does it make if it's bought to remove the advertising? The plot is no longer yours. Why should you earn ridiculous price per square meter for something no one wants around? If it's for sale at a reasonable price (which is easily determined by looking at the market rate), there should be no problem with unloading the land, especially if they will be happily bought up by the neighbors to get rid of the lots. You have no logical argument. You think the ad plots sell faster by being priced at 593L/square meter?

The commitment contract is unnecessary and is a hindrance toward purchasing land in the first place. Considering that the only thing that is being outlawed is harassment as an inducement to extortion, this whole worry about ad farms falls apart.

Yeah, I can't read that. I tried the first couple of lines and, although I was impressed to note that the OP actually used punctuation - which often doesn't happen with these block posts - I couldn't get any farther than that.

I don't bother to look at them, cuz the chances of them actually having something I would want are virtually nil.

Mari

still wondering what is worse, no paragraphs, adfarms or no paragraphs about adfarms

oh god the headache...

To be fair, Treacly is making at least one reasonable point.

What happens if an ad farmer moves into a spot, ruins the view, does not put the land up for sale, and then when asked if he wants to sell the land, simply says "no"? Eventually, people become sick of having their view damaged, and since it's cheaper than moving their own build, someone offers the farmer a price far higher than the market rate for the land and now he accepts. But he still claims it isn't extortion, because the buyer offered.

Or will the Lindens _force_ him to sell the land at the market rate? That could open a colossal can of worms.

A "commitment" payment? You're kidding, right? A freakin MARRIAGE in SL lasts 2 or 3 months. Who would ever commit to owning land for a year?

As far as I am concerned he can screw off and choke on tier. I don't allow those things to get so far under my skin as to buy them, but if they were at market rate, only then would I consider it.

Nobody looks at the ads, that's what I learned. That's why I killed my campaign. When I thought it was a good idea awhile back, I used to set my parcels slightly above market value as a statement that I'd prefer to hang onto the lot so the advertising exposure continues but if your really offended; You may purchase it for "more than it's worth" which would hopefully make up for the loss of exposure.

If they have to respond to an IM or Note card each time someone wants to buy a plot of land it significantly reduces the amount of land they can manage in order to extort money out of the other land owners.

I don’t mind some ads, however I think everyone (who isn’t in the land extortion business) will agree that this has gone waaay overboard.

Thank you Yumi. To others, I'm sorry if my ideas and/or lack of paragraphs are getting you hissy. That was not my intentions.

He or she who understands the value of the concept and hopes to get they're money back one day.

Didn't get me hissy.

Just kept losing my place while reading it.

Hahaha, I am long time reformed cutter and I don't think I will be choking on tier anytime soon. Matter of fact I do believe I fall in the 10 or 20 percent of income earners in SL. I haven't given LL a dime in quite some time (that i didn't earn in SL). It's too bad you are taking this to heart in such a way that you should wish me harm. Try Paxil.

You got it. I've had this idea for a long time now.

Your wall of text impresses me... Now what does it say?

Sry

It is not necessarily the ads that are the problem.

Some of the worst offending extortionist "farmers" are not advertising anything at all, other than the ability to pay them ridiculous rates so that they can profit from others' misfortune to have to look at their junk. The fact that some idiot will actually pay them a few cents on top to use their grief-cubes as adverts, and the OP's realisation that ad's don't work as a business model give the lie to this.

Ads = fine. Might be ugly, but then so much else is.
Silly prices for land = fine. Good luck to ya.
Grief-cubes + Silly prices = Extortion.


Deu.

I would hope LL would cap how expensive a parcel can be set for. That way they could ease the load of checking up on AR's.