Extortion..alive and well in SL

Ive been in SL since Dec 06..ive own three parcels of land..my first parcel, was 384..which i had a few months then sold to a neighbor.

I go and buy a 512, and lo and behold, right after that, everyone buys up stuff around me, it gets all congested, and i just abandoned my land.


Now, i own a 1024 for my business, and a parcel away are these rotating ads, tall and ugly that promote reading email for a $5 entry fee..stuff like that. They're on tiny parcels, like 16 sq m, and are for sell from anywhere from 150L to 1k L. I saw another parcel with two spinning things in it, that wasnt even 20 sq m, and the asking price was $299999!

I believe that the people who buy these little plots, do so to irritate other landowners, so that their plots are bought and they make money...it's done on purpose...it's pure extortion.

I just wish LL would do something about this..it makes me not want to own land anymore.

You are 100% correct on the motivation. LL will not get involved in this matter. There have been some very spirited "conversations" on this matter here on the forums. I suggest you do a little reading on them.

yes, thats why many people are leaving the mainland and taking up residence on Private estates. There the sim is managed and such activities are not allowed. And more often than not, you will end up paying less as you don't have to be premium to rent land there, as you do when renting from LL directly. Of course I would be remiss if I didn't mention some also buy whole mainland sims and manage them equally as well. There are good and bad points to each scenario, I'd be happy to go over the points of each with you if you would like. Send me an IM in world.

what actually makes me laugh about this, (not at your expense at all). is that linden labs states in their TOS that if it effects the gameplay for others its a violation of TOS. I dont' know about you but these signs are just that case. I'll see if i can find the actual wording directly from the TOS or if someone else knows it or finds it before me. This why the huge reason behind me purchasing my own sim. as my store was laggy as all hell before i moved to my own sim. actually before i even bought my own sim i rented full sims from a couple other places. it really sucks. and the worst part is, mainland land isn't cheap to start with.

TOS will not cover it. A spinning sign on a parcel of land dose not effect game play. Just an eye sore. Effecting game play is losing functions or control of your avatar. People can do what they want on their land and that is the way it should be. A few people take extreme advantage of the liberties available but that is the way it works everywhere in RL and SL and any other virtual world. Just have to deal with it. You can build in the air in SL. If you don't like whats around you then raise it up a few hundred meters and be creative.

Also I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see Private Sim Land sellers responsible for a lot of this. They can profit off making main land crap in 3 ways. One by the ads they put up, two by selling the land at high prices to people and 3 by driving people away from mainland to buy private sims.... They can easily hide their identity by using alts for the dirty work.....

If SL was conducted purely as a game I would agree with you. But when there is a functional economy complete with rising and falling land values and people purchasing property are watching the value of that property plummet because nobody will buy on sims festooned with gaudy ugly revolving signs, gameplay as defined in SL is most certainly affected. How is this any different than dumping garbage on a lot in the middle of Beverly Hills and forcing the neighborhood to buy the owner out to get rid of it?

As far as private estate owners doing this through alts is concerned, it is certainly possible and fairly easy to do.

The point is that if LL is going to lean on the existence of a functional economy and real estate market as a selling point, then then need to police it. Otherwise, it's no different than the SEC shrugging its shoulders in the face of complaints about people like Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky.

All it takes is the landowners on all 4 sides of that 4m x 4m plot each giving up a few prims to cooperatively build something completely *around* the plot that is *not an eyesore*!

Make it phantom, and make it alpha-textured on the inside (surfaces facing the 4mx4m eyesore), and make it tall...not the perfect solution, but it is non-confrontational, and so long as it's both non-visible from the 16sqm plot and does not block the owner's access to his 16sqm plot, it isn't impairing/affecting his/her SL experience, so there's no basis for an AR.

It does completely remove the visual blight from your sight, and if done well, actually ads land-value to your lots in the sim...and I bet that 16sqm sells to one of you REAL quick, and not at 29,000L$ either.

it is extortion, and i noticed there are some new players like robo, who do totally brainless land divisions ruining nice linden road sims, and most likely wont make any money any time, unless he has the luck to find someone who would pay ludicrous amounts.

i know there is a jira proposal to limit the land-for-sale listings based on sqm, it would slow the re-sale. but not the extortion, i was thinking maybe there should be a small-L$-fee, for each parcel owned (small enough to not hit the renting bizz, but big enough to accumulate on a sh%t-load of 16-96sqm's ?



lol ...2nd time i see a sentence like this..

where can you rent land from LL directly ? , if you rent on mainland it usually means you rent from a private investor ? , also without paying premium ?

Best solutions to these sorts of problems are usually community-based. This problem has existed for too long to expect any policy change on LindenLab's part. The sign is only ugly if you can see it, hide it and it (and it's dumbass owner) goes away. The last thing you need to do is pay anything, to anyone (including LL), at any point, to validate this kind of asshat behavior.

Why would u just abandon a plot, why not sell it, even at a loss, it's less of a loss than just walking away..

Also, you started with an extremely small plot, moved up to a tiny plot, and now sprawl out with 1024 sq meters... I own nearly 9k sq meters of land, partially to have the prims, and partially to push myself away from my neighbors. There were a bunch of ad lots next to the initial 4096 I started with, and I bought up the cheaper ones (the most I paid was about 3k for one or two of them). I've got them down to 2 outragously priced lots, and cover the banners up with the tallest linden trees in the inventory. Your best bet is to go island rental, or buy a large enough lot such that you can push your neighbors farther away from you with your own land.

The first property I ever bought in SL was a little 1024 square meter parcel in Hillhurst. It was surrounded by large builds on either side, not really a wise choice on my part, but I figured I could make it work. I put in a sky house far above, and at ground level, installed a prefab "tree village" with mega prim tree trunks that put the tree house well above the large structures on either side.

I put in one of those "black box security" units in the tree house and in the sky house, to keep out interlopers without blocking access to the parcel itself.

Yesterday, I got IM after IM informing me that my security had repeatedly booted the owner of the parcel next door. I went "home" to find that my tree house, which previously had been up so high there were clouds floating through it, was now nose-to-nose with a hideous rastafarian building. It was so close that the owner next door was moving into range of the security system and getting booted. Why he didn't contact me I don't know, but I contacted him and he confirmed that, yes, he had recenoty built his structure to that dizzying height.

Figuring the serenity of my little tree village had been destroyed, and needing the 1024 meters available in order to max out the land space (and thus prims available) to Philstown, my combat center, I simply abandoned the land to the Rasta neighbors.

In my case it worked out great; I was hanging on to the original parcel for sentimental reasons but didn't really need it, and was in no mood to wait for it to sell (it wasn't that expensive, anyway). The experience underscores just what we deal with, however, when it comes to neighbors.

Around Philstown I kept finding neighboring 512 meter parcels with giant spinning for sale signs -- I think the person selling them realized I was buying contiguous parcels and wanted me to see them. Eventually I ran out of tier room and don't want to go up, but I've established good relationships with one of my neighbors and have erected mega prim walls around the rest.

lol I hope you brought your tin foil hat. I can't speak for others, but I know I'm already barely making profit on renting my private sims. If i were to go out buying mainland, with the associated tier that comes with that, id find any possible gain of new renters eaten up from this ad-land. And then the people I worked so hard to get to leave the mainland, would probably head to one of the other 1000 odd Estate renters, and i'd get no benefit at all. The whole scenario sound incredibly far fetched and unlikely.

I myself have done just the opposite, buying ad plots and turning them over to the Arbor Project. I can't afford to do this as much as I like, but for a sim that one of my friends lives in, I did. I don't think any reasonable person likes ad farms.

The people who do this ad farm spinning air ads lack all decency and creativity. Look at the other side of Verbier snow sim for a classic example of how stupid greedy people have created a nightmare of aerial gross ugly adverts and ban cage plots. Luckily my Silk Waters Peak which covers the peak of Verbier is protected from these monkeys with their floating blocks. I myself bought many of them and turned them over to the ARBOR PROJECT to plant trees.

In my opinion such practices should be banned and Lindens dont care but SHOULD care as this kind of moronic and totally value-less behaviour only blights the land and ruins the view. It serves not merit.

IF YOU ARE AN AD BLOCK SPINNING FARM POLLUTER SHAME ON YOU AND YOUR LITTLE BRAIN !

IF YOU ARE LINDEN LAB WAKE UP AND DO THE RIGHT THING AND BAN THESE PLOT USES

I bought up all but three of these eyesore spots in Yudasin and tried to clean the place up best I could. I put up a forest so I would not have to see one of the three remaining ad farm spaces (and only one is in use). Both of these ad farmers are selling the little plots for $2k to $9500, even $15k!!!! So of course the one that is $9500 is active, and the guy put up pictures of Rudy Gulliani. Now, I just didn't want to have to look at Rudy's puss the whole time, so I put up more trees. So Mr Ad Farm makes his ads higher. I build more trees. Mr Ad Farmer puts it up higher again. So I figured if he wanted to promote photos of Rudy so much, if I couldn't lick'em, I'd join'em. I went online and found photos of Rudy in drag, real photos, not Photshopped,and I put up a nice big wall on two side of the Rudy ads with pixs of Rudy in drag. Yudasin 53,229,85

From the sounds of things, ad people are the devil. But since when has trying to make a buck been such a bad thing? Listen, the people that do this are not evil. They are driven by a desire to succeed. We are not all Rockefellers... we do not all possess creative attributes.
I recently purchased a chopped up piece of land. Originally there were two 512 sq m. I have now gotten the piece to an entire 1024. When I got there, this land had been divided into eight pieces. And the ad boys had one of em. Some data collection people had two of them. Another fella, needing prims, had a 256 of it. I contacted all of the owners of the land pieces. Talked to each one... and worked with them. The data collectors were more than willing to move to another location in the sim. Which I happened to have an ideal spot for them. The man needing prims moved as well. The last hurdle I faced was the ad-devils. Their listed price was 7995L for a 32sq m plot. Through explaining to them what I wanted to do for the neighborhood, treating them like an individual who does want to make a profit, and exposing tactifully their strategy of turning a profit by extortion- the ad man sold me his land for 7L per sq meter. Not all of them have horns on their heads. Treat them with respect, as you would any other business person. They have rights here too.
Protect your neighborhood by knowing your neighbors. Do not let land, land in the wrong hands. Someone broke up that plot of land... and it tooks weeks for me to get it back together. Respect your neighborhoods by selling land to not the highest bidder, but the one who is going to use the land right.
I encourage you all to visit Malyshkin... we are a beautiful mainland sim. Ad sign free!!

Well, the new continent is being bombarded by these tiny plots and annoying ads. I bought land about a month ago. At that time the area around me was mostly empty. It was beautiful. Legitimate users came and bought their plots and did their thing but slowly and surely the asshats have come and are dividing the small 512 sqm plots into smaller ad farm plots and jacking up those plots from $1500L to $10K. Pathetic.

I understand completely what they are doing. The are trying to extort us legitimate land owners to buy those smaller plots. But, it's not going to happen. I will enclose my plot completely and create an insular world. This is the only recourse I have.

I just wish LL would allow us the ability to disable objects from view. I should, from my land, be able to click on objects outside of my immediate area and "turn them off."

We all have a right to unharrassed time while we are in SL. I am a paying premium member. I rent two properties on a private estate and I own my own land. It pisses me off that LL does not provide the good users who follow the rules with some kind of way of dealing with these ad farms. It seems that no matter how much money I give to LL, they are just another company in it for the profit and no longer innovating. No longer really interested in protecting its legitimate users.

I wait patiently for the next virtual world to come.

To be honest with you, I don't mind the ads. Fine. Divide up your plot and place your ad. But do they have to stack the ads all the way up to the sky's normal limit? At that point, I consider that harassment. Make your buck but respect other people's right to exist and enjoy Second Life.

There is nothing wrong with trying to make some honest money but putting these ugly things right in the middle of a sim and charging outrageous amounts to get rid of it is extortion plain and simple.

They have zero regard for the community of people that live in those areas, and they know exactly what they are doing. I doubt they will ever find very many sympathizers amongst the land owning community in SL.

My group bought some of the lower priced 16's on our sim to fill up our 10% group prim bonus. I feel kind of bad about it, but the prims are welcome. The 512 they were on had 16's ranging from 100L to 4999L , right next to each other. The higher priced ones had ugly spinners.

I got a very um ... direct (wouldn't call it polite) note from Tanika Goodspeed asking me to remove some mega prims I'd put up in our region. Seeing as I'd parked them on non-auto return 16m parcels next to hers I shifted them.

It took her about 2 months before she bothered to come check her precious 16m plot. And sorry neighbours. We did have a nicer looking sim for a while! (I know one in particular who is now going to have nice floating ads right back outside his plot).

But what bugs me is I made her a very decent offer to buy 1024m of my land in the same sim for the obviously reasonable price of 640,000L$ (She sells 16m plots for 10k apparently). And she didn't even have the decency to reply!!!

Some people have no manners!

Hehe! I love that! I have had tree wars with ad vultures spinning cubes too, that's how my property got it's name "Flying Tree" It looked sort of funny seeing an English oak floating up there but it was better than the full bright cubes. I have battled ad farmers tooth and tong and have cleaned my regions up pretty good... you can walk about at night and enjoy the darkness and the moon (I love to do that, it is so peaceful). I agree with the person that said the land cutters/adfarmers are violating TOS, I personally paid quite a few thousand US dollars for my property and the ad leeches DO run down property value.

Side note... I found this conversation by accident, looking for a clue how to box things for a yard sale

OH, PS, the person that said they suspect island estate rental people could be behind some of the ads is correct, see GOA cubes twirling hundreds of meters high just to get in peoples faces on the mainland and there is a pretty vulgar one telling us to take a peek that I didn't go check out.

Well, I think Linden Labs is also behind the extortion. Since the only choice I have is to buy a humongous plot of land to keep the ad nazis away, I have to spend much more money on a monthly basis to live in peace. So, in the end, LL profits from this misery. They profit by more people buying private estates and bigger ML parcels. In the end, all the money funnels up to LL.

Again, I patiently wait for another virtual world to come along and do things right. Give people more power over the environment around them. LL, are you listening? Thank you very much!

I take it you and the ch. Fassbinder who owns a 16m² ad parcel next to my land for sale for 9.5k L$ are two different persons? Or just utmost irony?