Absentee Landowners and Neglected land.

I put in my first ever JIRA the other day, about the following:

Around my home there are several pieces of disused land with various seemingly random objects rezzed by landowners who joined as Premium ages ago and then left.

For a lot of people, their credit cards automatically renew each year. If they're not in the habit of checking their card bills each month, they might not notice their unwanted SL renewal going through.

I think it would be a good idea if LL were to not automatically renew subscriptions of Premium residents if they have not logged in during the previous 12 months. Of course, there would have to be warning emails and IMs first, to be fair.

I know its a nuisance but its revenue for LL and I cannot see them canceling accounts just because the owner hasn't logged in. Time Warner were good at that with people that had automatic renewal left on, you got people calling 3 years later to say why is my card being billed as I moved 3 years ago.

If people don't check their CC statements then more fool them although maybe LL could clear the plots or make them look not so much an eyesore, that would help a bit, but I doubt they want to lose that revenue stream until they have to and it is the customers responsibility to mange their money not LL

Just my opinion though

My alt is a prem member paying yearly, it got an email about a week before the payment was due out.

If they own the land they are also paying fees monthly so you would hope they notice that coming out

There are even some people who got an SL for life subscription, including some land. And yes, a couple of those residents haven't been online for over three years. But I don't see this as a problem really, it's one of those things that actually add some flavour overall. Besides, they're actually part of SL history now. Maybe not as grand as that Linden Manor, but it's part of history.

However, if you don't like the neighbourhood: don't go live there. As you said, those residents haven't been there for ages. You knew what you were getting into when you moved in, since nothing has changed on these lands since before you bought it. Complaining about the neighbourhood after moving in is like buying a house next to a hockeyclub, and then complaining about hearing the pucks hit the backboard of the goal on sunday afternoon. (Something which some idiot in my hometown actually DID sue an existing hockey club for)

I like where I live, I don't want to move. At the end of my garden is a small plot with a giant domino and a big black and white photo of a man with a beard. It's been there over 2 years and I've never seen the owner, whose profile is blank. I don't really mind this, it adds a sort of surreal absurdity, but scaled up grid-wide, the sum total of wasted land is blighting the landscape.

God, I wish I made enough money that *I* never notice these pesky little details!

Just because you don't see the owners at the land, doesn't mean they're no longer coming online. If they've got land scattered in numerous sims, it's possible the owner has forgotten about that particular block... it's easy enough to do.

Whether you're thinking of buying the blocks, or just want the "garbage" removed, send the owners a polite IM. If they don't respond, send another IM a week later, then another, and another and so on. If, after all this, you don't receive any response, log a support ticket for abandoned land. LL will look investigate and try to contact the land owners, themselves. If they determine that it is abandoned, they'll clear the blocks and, eventually, put it up for auction.

Two things to remember... be nice in your IM's and expect it to take a month or two to before you see any changes.

Didn't we beat this to death using the same words a few weeks ago? How about if someone is stationed overseas and can't log in for a few years due to active duty? If I want to own land and neglect it (tier could be covered by my premium account so I wouldn't see the money anyway) it's my right to do so.

They'd have to miss the email as well. I suppose that could happen.

I've got a couple of plots like that I'd like to see gone, but when I check the owner's groups I can often find one I can join, then I can see the last time they logged in. They always have a last time within the last few months. I suspect they are active but simply forgot they owned land.

Not if it's 512 square meters or less.

I always get an email also, but some people use an email address that was specially set up for SL and so they may not be checking it anymore and it may not be forwarding to their primary email account.

Ideally after a dead year, LL would ring them? To much to ask, eh.

Whether or not we like something, this is really what it comes down to.

Too many of us will scream about wanting the freedom to do as we please, but when someone else's freedom of expression irritates us, we want to squash their rights.

Hell no. If I was a business and did my obligation of sending an email a few weeks before doing an auto-charge, then I have done my duty. As a business, it is not my job to babysit every idiot that might not want to be responsible for their email accounts or finances.

Well yeh, they'd loose money if it was for no reason, but if they had received a support ticket from a prem member saying that the land was dead could they try and help a land buy go through, what's the harm in a little extra service...

But yes, that kinda attention to detail is often to much to ask of big biz.

Good luck talking a company out of $72 a year guaranteed money. Times infinity.

Some people don't check their emails either or use an email to sign up that they later abandon or rarely put to use. (Whatever happened to snail mailing anyone anyway?)

I tried two years running to cancel premium, and it would still be billed the next year. I finally gave up and stayed.

Ain't that the truth?

What's more, it's often the very same "someone" screaming both sides. Amazing, isn't it?

I do understand their frustration. A parcel near mine has a plywood half constructed house that's been sitting there since who knows when, and the owner of the land seems to have been beamed home. Guess I have to stare at it for all times. Lol

But yes there isn't a workable solution at the moment. If construction was parcel returned after some months away that could unfairly penalise a lot of people who were away from SL for reasons out of their control. And it could take down some good builds as well as some eyesores.

Parcel level object visibility muting?

How?

Well, let's see, probably something like this: you'd right click on the parcel, while standing in your parcel, and select "Mute parcel". And then nobody on your parcel would be able to see anything on that parcel any more.

It would be more profitable and cheaper for Linden Labs to implement than for them to chase down all the lost parcels, anyway.

Argent, is this something that one can do now, or an idea?

I understand the basic concept.