Anonymity vs personal safety

A scenario for you to consider...

If a resident is a Premie, one would suspect that the billing department of LL have name and address contact details on record. This is to be expected if someone is making a credit card payment for tier on a monthly basis... I have a friend who is indeed Premium registered who has a smallholding on the mainland. They have been subject to severe moodswings of late, and via IM has admitted to self-abuse and contemplating suicide... well - last time we spoke, all and any conversation with them had a definite air of finality above and beyond anything I've had from them before. And now, since the last time we spoke, they've been rather ominously offline. The main issue though is that I have no RL contact details; and despite being close friends for over a year, I don't have an RL name, hometown or ANY identifiable information about them (which, truth be told, I prefer) All I do know is they live alone.

My question, I guess, is this:

Is any system in place within LL for this eventuality? Can a Linden, on a tip-off, raid the billing info database and alert the authorities - or is there simply nothing that can be done?

(Apologies for the nature of this one... I'm prone to panicking...)

This issue has been brought up before.
LL will not help you.

It is suggested you exchange contact info with friends with whom you are "particularly" close.

/Troll on


Do people have the right to die?


/Troll off

Naughty 2k...

Has the land been taken yet? If a person dies,the credit card company will freeze the card. Not really much you or LL can do at this point. I hope your friend is okay and just taking a much needed break.

Thought it had but couldn't find the thread to necro... I'm guessing LL would set themselves a dangerous legal precedent if they were to get involved, even once. And besides, it's an issue "between residents".

Regarding issuing contact details in RL... I guess it comes down to choice... you do or you don't... I don't so I guess this is the drawback.

The land is still there, but the timeframe is still a short one. I guess I'll just have to watch it unfold.

And thank you.

The situation of the OP friend if in real life is a very sad one, but SL is a role playing game, as such I do not let SL and RL to merge. I keep my RL well and truely out, if someone is getting too close I drop them quickly. By this I meant wanting my e-mail or 'phone number, or becoming demanding of me in SL. I would be most upset if Linden gave out my contact data to anyone.
A hard decision for OP to be made, but in my case I would have broken this off a while back. In RL I'm a very nice careing person and would have got help for a RL person in trouble, but not within a game. You will never know if the problen is real or just part of thier role play.
Love
June

You say that like it's an absolute truth. For many people SL isn't about role play. It's 3D modeling program with an incredibly annoying messenger feature and crazy little 3D bastards that sit on your 3D models while you're trying to build them.

Role play means nothing to me and anybody that enters my 3d modeling program with "Hail, I'm Princess Luxella from the planet Zorg" gets my 3D foot in their ass.

So you just keep your role playing on the forums then?

Yes, I play an annoying human on the forums but I'm really a cow.

MoooooOOOOooooo

I think some on here already thought that LOL

Only two people in SL have my phone number and that was because of an event and I do trust these two.

I don't often give out my RL info unless I know someone fairly well and for a long time. I have seen people leave message boards or just take a break. I have seen others track them down,send police to their house for welness checks etc... While I understand the concern,I don't understand the intrusive behavior. I would be livid if someone I barely knew online hunted me down. Good intentions or not. If I wanted you to have my RL info,you would have it.

So where do you live?


btw, I haz got lotz of cheesecake:

I do it the other way around. I gave a close RL friend who doesn't play SL and will never play SL my SL details. In case my account needs closing. they have instructions on how to make group messages, IMs etc.

You're crazy. I once gave my SL details to a RL friend and she stalked me in SL for months. I'll never do it again. EVER!

well obviously I trust this person with my life, so SL is rather low on the list compared to that.

Pics, or it didn't happen.

A 3D modeling program? Nuts to that. I have better 3D modeling programs available, and with no annoying little bastards to interrupt my work.

We do make good friends here. People we feel close to. I haven't given anyone here except LL my RL contact info, and haven't asked it of anyone...and I accept the downside that someday I or one of my friends will vanish away and there will be nothing that can be done.

The possibility may arise that I might want to exchange RL contact info with someone I met here. And that'll be OK too.

It's a case by case decision. Just be very sure that it's YOUR decision. NEVER give RL info to someone because they ask for it. "A gesture of trust". "If you loved me, you would". "I'll show you mine if you show me yours". "I'd love to meet you in RL". Could be sincere and honest. Could also lead to big problems. So be sure.

Aren't us Annoying Little Bastards the reason a lot of people, not all of course, make stuff in that 3D modeling program?

I have never given anyone in SL my phone number or anything beyond an e-mail address. even my e-mail address i give out is used especially for SL.


To the OP: I do hope your friend is ok. LL won't get involved, because:
a) it is confidentiality and stuff
b) it could be a hoax
c) it is a resident thing.

The only real way to know if if you contacted her yourself in RL, but as you have no info, the only thing you can do is sit and hope im afraid.

never give out your information..the most i give is maybe the country and state i live in..My close friends in sl i give my real first name but that is because we may be talking on an outside messenger also..it's not a lack of trust that i don't give them my information ..i don't give my banking information to my close friends in rl i sure wouldn't give more than anyone needs in sl..

and suicide in sl..if i could count how many people around the time summer comes around or right before they quit or take a break that have told me in the past they were gonna commit suicide..
people that are going to commit suicide don't talk about commiting suicide..they just commit suicide..if they are talking about it then it is a cry for attention..
i'm sure LL gets many calls about someone about to commit suicide..look at the drama that goes on..
i have bee on a break from sl for like a week now and after the first couple of days was already seeing just how caught up i was and not really realizing it until then..

if someone says to me i am leaving or whatever..most times they end up on alts just taking a change or break from the other avatar and thier friends list hehehe

I'm sorry but this is simply not true. It may be true for some,but not all. I use to work at a mental health crisis center. Many did talk about it before hand, and did end up doing it or attempting to. Any talk of suicide should be taken seriously.

Even if it is just for attention,then they need professional help to understand exactly why they wanted that attention in the first place. Mentally healthy people do not talk about killing themselves,whether they really intend to or not.

OP, contact LL, they would never give you info they have but then it is up to LL to follow up. Doing that you have done all you can. Dont simply not let LL know in the belief they will do nothing.

SO the OP couldn't find a necro thread with this - so 2K Necro'd his moo cow RP joke for us

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LL has a Privacy Policy - when you sign up they agree not to give your details away.

How could this mesh with asking them to give out details?

I think the best thing to do if you have someone that has no RL support structure that you are concerned about is to exchange telephone numbers and possibly contact info.

Also anyone that is that close to you you would wish to become involved if something RL happened.

Of course many of us would prefer to advise said person to re-establish contact with their RL support structure. Which ultimately, short of one of you pulling up roots and moving; will do that person more good anyhow.