ToS violation inquiry

Had a incident with another club owner and while I find the other persons comments hard to swallow in belief, however, I thought I'd inquire anyways.

Long story short; I gave one of my staff a notecard and a few tele markers to freebie areas to go hand out said card at those places which was a invite to my clubs grand opening. A little while later I get a PM from another club owner (who does not like me to start with but never told me why she has a issue with me) throwing a fit that my staff member went to her club and solicited someone. I tried to explain that wasn't my direction to her and if I knew she'd do that I would have told her otherwise. But the other other club owner was more interested in hearing herself threaten me then resolving this in a rational manor. She claimed I violated the ToS by sending her to her club and shes going to file a AR on me to ban me. As she was just ignoring what I was trying to tell her I got fed up, told her to stick her club where the club don't shine and put her on mute.

I fairly confidant no such ToS aspect exist (not that I feel at fault to start with as I have logs showing what I told her to do vs. what she did) but thought I'd run it by the vets here in case this will come back to haunt me in some way.

Thanks for any input.

don`t worry 1 tiny bit

It's not a ToS violation but it is a bit rude to go to somebody elses place and advertise for a different place without their permission..

I do believe it is against the rules to send unsolicited notecards out to promote your business. If this was an acceptable practice then all of us would be inudated with 'junk mail' every time we log on.

*blink*

You mean I don't HAVE to get all these unsolicited group invites, notecards, etc?

Nope you don't. You can AR the sender and mute them.

i guess im mean cuz i report everyone that sends me unsolicited group invites, notecards, landmarks and anything like that

if i wanted to know about their place/business/interests id ask for it or visit it

Yep, it's naughty to do that.

In ToS, it's in 4.1, we aren't allowed to "upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, or promotional materials, that are in the nature of "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation that Linden Lab considers in its sole discretion to be of such nature". In CS, we can get in trouble for "repeated transmission of undesired advertising content".

Hence why I would have told my staff member not to if I knew she was going to do such.

For the record if handing out invites in freebie and related public areas is against the ToS then theres a whole queue of people that need banning/warnings. My first day here while wandering various freebie places I got at least half a dozen note cards and group invites to clubs and such over the course of the day exploring these places. If I was wrong via ToS to send my staff there to do the same then so be it, I now know. However, my point is enough places send/hire ppl to do it where it seemed to me as SOP for clubs, malls and such thus why I did the same.

There are LEGAL ways to announce your club events. Join the open enrollment groups set up for that purpose: ANNOUNCE IT!, Clubbers Guide, Events Parties Raves, Indie Music Lovers, Gothik, Party People of Second Life, UpAllNight, Urban Music Heads.

And musch more - or even start your own newbie friendly event group and give away freebies in the group to attract more members.

If your employee gets AR'd they might get hit with a TOS violation, probably just a hand slap, but I have never heard a third party (employer) getting punished for something another person did. Hmmm, is it legal in SL to hire someone to do your dirty work for you? A lot of unsuspecting newbies could get caught up in something like this.

If thats the case then all the places I go to that a script auto sends me a notecard or/and landmark is in violation since I didn't ask for such? If thats the case about 50% of SL clubs, malls, stores are in violation and subject to closure?

These people here who seem to make it their job to file AR's all day ('AR crazies' as I call them) better get to it then, they are slacking... *sarcastic grin*

That issue aside for the moment, getting back to my main point, I shouldn't have much to worry about this other club owners AR on me (assuming she wasn't just talking out of her arse?)

The club owner who threw the hissy fit claimed she filed a AR against ME. She was hell bent convinced I sent my staff to her club even though I tried to explain otherwise (and had the logs to prove it). Not sure if she did file one against my staff member or not, if she did she didn't admit to such to me.

"Everybody else is doing it." is not an excuse that makes an action ok to do.

--Hugsy

I saw a "Chain Letter" dispensor.. I hate those things in RL.. I sure don't need it here.

"G"

Auto greeters that send notecards are not AR-able unless they are spamming you to death every few minutes or sends notecards to people on adjoining parcels. Going to other people's parcels and dropping notecards on people is a TOS Violation.

There's a big difference between visiting someone's land and having the landowner (either personally or via an object) hand you a notecard versus just wondering around in public and having some random person jam a notecard at you.

--Hugsy

the difference between going around to OTHER places and handing out unsolicited things and getting notecards when you land at someones business is huge

when you go to someones shop or club or land you are going to there parcel and have already shown some sort of interest

but going to other peoples places and handing out info for you club or business that no one asked for is spam to me

not to mention to me its just tacky to go to a competitors business and solicit for yours guess im one of those crazies

No kidding. I thought since I saw people doing such it was SOP and thus not against any kind of ToS. If you going to nit pick my error a better argument would be 'you should have verified it in the ToS and not assumed'

aahh I see, thanks for the clarification.

You spam notcards or lms on somone elses land then you are in the wrong. On your land you can do what you want but to go out to clubs/welcome areas and spaming a landmark just shows some desperation in a club owner in my opinion. If you needd to sucker newbies into your club then there is something wrong with it. Don't be surprised if people treat you like a telemarketer when you start sending junk mail and doing cold calls.

Ah ok. I do recognize the difference between thinking something's ok because a lot of people are doing it versus knowing it's not ok but doing it anyway (because a lot of people are doing it). It seemed to me you were arguing the latter.

--Hugsy

Again, thanks for the clarification.

I don't consider going to a freebie/newbie area and handing out invites about a club opening 'competition' in any way. Unless freebie areas now have a live DJ, hosts and dance floors I think were to very different mediums. Perhaps thats just me. Once again I did NOT tell her to go to another club and if I had known she was going to told her not too.

As for the 'AR crazy' comment, I simply think you either have too much free time on your hands in SL and need to find something fun/interesting to do or its simply a ego trip for you. Either way not my concern but my opinion of such actions. As the previous posted said 'live and let live' and if you don't like a place just don't traffic there. Simple concept.

Think of real life where you're walking down the sidewalk and people keep trying to hand you leaflets. Annoying right?

What you're doing here is pretty much the same thing in SL. I believe it's also considered spam and against the TOS.



It doesn't take much time to fill out an AR. In situations like this, it's not like people go out looking for things to AR. It's more like I get spammed, then I AR.

--Hugsy

If you spam people to death within your own walls, that's a little different because they came to you. Likewise, other people who get permission from the land owner are probably going to be in good shape. People at least get the option not to visit your space if they don't want to look at your notecards and landmarks. It follows that an AR is going to have more weight if it is the landowner who complains.


That anyone will get banned over this happening once is just a fantasy on the part of the other club owner. A warning, maybe, but even those aren't handed out often for this kind of thing. They turn up really infrequently in the blotter at all.