Feedback on Ad Farm post

They are. It's already been discussed that zoning is only for new sims, and MAYBE specific existing sims where all the sim owners agree to it, but that is not in the current plan yet.

Yeah, I know you're an old-timer, too. Just dunno why you seem to discount my efforts out-of-hand.



Simply because I don't agree.

I DO agree that plot size limitations from a technical standpoint are probably not going to work. There ARE legitimate uses for small parcels. However, from a social/policy standpoint, there needs to be some way to mitigate the abuse of small parcels to extort/abuse/harass or otherwise obstruct other people's enjoyment of SL, and "parcel muting", though a valid and useful feature which I support, doesn't address them all to my satisfaction.

There has to be more.

That's why we want it clarified.

Again, to Jack and LL: WHAT IS THE PLAN FOR THESE LICENSED ADVERTISING DEALS?

The fact that there is so little info about it smacks to me of a last-minute-addition which has not been fully fleshed out.

I was assured that this was THE solution, by you yourself, Jack. Either spill the rest of the beans, or tell us that it isn't.

Don't piecemeal this; it's FAR too important to blow it at this point.

Good managers don't fly by the seat of their pants; not when it is critically important.

This refresh might help

Great tool~ I do sorta wish it provided a SLURL for the various plots. I assume it is still processing? I noticed a lot of mainland sims weren't on the list, including the ones have land in

I read it over several times already, thanks.

It still does not address the specific questions we have asked.

Specifically, in the vacuum of info regarding WHAT land will be used for these licensees, a certain adfarmer is ALREADY cutting MORE land in preparation to sell to these new "licensees".

Personally, I think he's pulling an Umnik, just basically thumbing his nose up at LL before they just outright ban him forever. However, we really need to know now for many other reasons as well.

maybe they don't have enough 16 sqm plots to get the full stats of the mainland

I assume at least some of them are alts or friends of the ad farmers. I've noticed the one-posters a lot on other blog->forum posts, though.


I suspect that ad farms that actually show ads are not updated manually - they probably get updated via scripts and web servers which tell them what to display and spam.

Step 1 adverts-very good - but Step 2 still gonna have land cutters - how you gonna deal with them? Still gonna have those who hold parcels for ransom!!!!!!It happened to me and it happened to you - maybe a tier charge for every parcel under the FREE 512m in the same sim? Folks - notice who is panicing here.....

Jack

NUMBER OF BOARDS

I would like to see around 4 advertising billboards allowed along each side of linden road only in one particular Sim, this would allow 8 Adboards in a sim with one linden road way maximum.

BOARD SPACING

The spacing between bill boards should be centre to centre 64m between each one along a road side, as this would mean any 1024sqm could only ever have a single bill board beside it ever.

Bill boards on the other side of the road should be offset by 32m so that a good even level of spacing is maintained between all bill boards.

First bill board should be centred 16m into the Sim.

To give a picture of these placings as we enter the sim along a road after 16m we see our first bill board then after we have travelled 48m into sim on the other side of the road we come across another bill board and so on.

ALLOWED BOARD FEATURES

These billboards should be allowed to have changing textures and be allowed to be set to full bright on the side facing the protected road only.

This would mean fairness for the Advertisers as their Adverts could never be covered by disgruntled neighbors and fairness for the community as a whole by preventing the textures being forced upon and lit up at at night on the side facing peoples property.

No other scripting other than facility to remotely upload AD Textures should be allowed.
CHAT and any other form of lighting glow etc, should be allowed but the full bright option for night time visual.

BOARD SIZE

I think the maximum size of a billboard should be 8m x 8m and must be of a billboard design not cube.

BOARD PLACEMENT(see Board Spacing for further detail)

I think under no circumstance should Adboards ever be allowed any where but against Linden roads, rail tracks or info hubs and should be made to match the theme of the roadway or Linden building in that area.

All boards should be ground based only.

Hope this covers everything

Thank you very much for your proactive attitude about ad farms. I, since in St Lion have found many of these ad farms very obtrusive to my properties. Thank goodness over much time and effort on my part trying to pick these properties up to join them and replace these ads with landscaping and creativity in order to make St Lion and SL more enjoyable for all who may pass through.

Like almost everyone I hate the ad farms, both in style and, more often than not, content too. Sure lets kill the small plots... that makes some sense. But I wonder if we might not be missing a separate agenda here. That of Linden Labs selling (I mean licensing) advertising space on the mainland for a profit.

With all those wonderful Governor Linden parcels and maintenance land for roads and defunct railroad lines there's a prime opportunity for billboards selling anything. And I really doubt that in the long run we are talking about SL world marketing. It's more likely to be a push by corporate advertising media into the virtual world.

Soon you'll see that Dell, IBM, Toyota or Cisco advert as you fly past the Welcome Area!

Implementing this would prevent us from creating smallest-size possible parcels to manage access controls for specific purposes. For example, if you want to set up an SLX terminal in your land, you have to either give SLX group access to your entire land or, much better, create the smallest-size parcel to fit the SLX terminal and grant SLX access only to that small parcel. Similarly, management of other legitimate 3rd party involvement in one's land could be significantly curtailed if this idea is implemented.

-DK

I don't think LL have a plan as to what land will be used thats what they asked us to provide for them at the beginning read my proposal above see if you agree please.

Maybe I am being to generous on the number of Ad spaces allowed?

The area I propose is on the edge of protected roadways railways only.

Maybe these ads should be on the protected area itself though to ensure previous cutters who have targeted these areas are unable to profit from having done so?

Gavin this was posted on page 11



Lets not be to distrustful they also promised to make a more hands on approach to tackle the other issue of extortion

Advertising spaces on land or even in search I think is joke.
How many of you are going to wander around certain Sim to read advertising?
How many of you have tried to advertise or find something in search and only
found endless of advertising in wrong place, misleading or worse no response at all?
Personal and Event section is example of how people's greed to be noticed use
Events like yard sales, business, and other really non-related services that shouldn't
be there that are there.
LL needs to be clear what is allowed and what isn't then do their jobs to enforce it in whatever
means at their disposal, it shouldn't be our jobs to be enforcers.
Some problems LL own policy creates instead giving the communities who reside in sims of abandon land first choice at them, they allow the bidding system take over so anyone who doesn't care about the sim can move.
I think it when comes down to it just about greed and profit.
If you permit certain things, certain things happen, the average Resident doesn't have the controls over certain things that has been allowed to happen.
We can complain, we can report, we can discuss until we are blue in our faces but it won't make you guys see how certain actions or policy allow certain activities to go on.
Either you want to continue to gain profits from certain activities or you want to draw a line in sand and say okay let's not profit from certain activities
When I want to buy something its usually I have stumbled upon something really great and I need to check out who the creator is.
Be it beautiful tree, interesting design. If it is really good I want to know who made it.
Perhaps I am the only one who is like this?
There is got to be better way to get those designs to be seen in world by large number of people and create interest in that doesn't involve the current methods.

Bad Ads!
Sincere Apologies for our Signs that have done or do offend - we are upgrading them constantly. I do enjoy all the wonderous things SL affords the Designer. We now use Clever Zebra ground signs which are modified to suit the occasion.

I refer to Lindal Kidds' suggestion of a Business Model comprising of Roadside Advertising and such. This is exactly what we do - our Group sponsors vARTS on Second Life and other virtual worlds based on this model.

Pleading 'Guilty' of slow rotating cubes (displaying art) - we have progressed to offering the Client use of the PARCELs' utilities more than placing overt SKYAds. We too use promotional Gear, Landmarks and Notecards to inform and engage Residents who show an interest by Clicking.

Adding the Parcel to SEARCH for L$30 is another feature we employ to promote our Client along with dedicating the MEDIA and RADIO advantageously (is that a word?) to them. I even went to the extent of starting up a SL Radio Station in the event someone wanted their music and such heard. (Work In Progress : )

We are also linking a clickable object (not a SIGN) to virtual world websites - purposely built for this service. Some kind of suitable object is required, like a Bench and Lamp Post or sample ARTWORKs. This is a great advertising device in itself and avenue for revenue offworld. We sometimes leave plots bare or in the hands of previous tennants if they are selling their own Designs.

There are many advantages to Licensing, it could be a good way of defining who are real businesses offering real services from the role players engaging in fun. Nothing wrong with fun tho! : ) Licensing could also be a good tool for Residents (who often represent an education establishment or business) to decide if the Services and Products offered are compatible with their requirements. I.E. mainly Budget constraints and following a TimeTable!

As a small business we actively promote both our offworld Clients and inworld Talents & Creatives. But on many levels we 'play the game' too so it's all good!

I would say get rid of all the advertising except signs in the confines of a area such as NCI, malls or other shops and builds. The ads should be set towards the inside of the area. Also one sign on a build for that build only. There is no need at all of other advertising. No licensing. It could be realitively short work then LL could concentrate on the many attempts at land extortion.

I am very happy to hear of this change. I have a parcel of land that had a for sale sign on it, was not for sale, and then a for sale in the air with ads on it. I talked to the owner and it finally did go up for sale so I bought it just to get rid of it, but there are many many more behind it.

I think advertising is postivie. I think that very small pieces of lands for ads only hurts.

As far as I understand from reading you can advertise on your own land (store / club ) - just no ad farms. Yes?

Jaca

I agree with another poster in the fact this sounds like a way to game the system. I already have walls around my sim(s) to block this person's ad farms, so I look forward in earnest to Oct. 1st when I get to see his ads disappear, and I get to remove my walls blocking his and other ads. Liberation is right around the corner

Was this issue of Ad Farms not banned a couple months back ???

Linden Lab did not do to much then but lol, I guess it was not "Gambling"?

Zero credibility

Censorship 125% - the Lab ranks right up there with China!

Thank you Jack, for listening to all sides of the situation and making the best decision. I and probably everybody else in favor look forward towards your no-nonsense approach towards the way Mainland should be. My most sincere wish is that LL remains engaged and follows through in maintaining and enforcing the wishes of the majority.

Thank you Maggie Linden, for inspiration and the reason behind the group "Virtual Knitters" - open to anyone (especially ad farmers) who wants to sit on their 16sqm and knit!

And, Thank you especially to all those who persisted, insisted and constantly tried to make this virtual world a better place, like it was in the beginning. You know who you are and what you have done to mark this occasion as a significant landmark towards restoration of the way it should be. There were a lot of serious sacrifices make as well as time spent to attain this summit.

And, thank you stinky ad farmers - your continuous obnoxious detail and sneaky rule bending activities to ruin our virtual lives is coming to an end at your own accord. I am glad to see your demise and wish you the worse.

And yet your post is still here..

Ok, it's pretty much impossible to read the whole thread at this point, but I read the first 300. Here are my thoughts.

Dont:
Disallow small plots. There are many good reasons to have small plots. You might want a spot to rez a car next to a road or something to raise you to the full limit for your tier level and get the extra prims you're paying for. You may also be the person who has a 400 meter lot on one sim and a connecting lot of 400 on the next sim.

Do:
Licenses:
1. Allow one license per person with at least one premium account and not more than one license. *
2. Allow no more than 25 ad lots per license, maybe less.
3. Base the number of licenses on the number of available ad lots divided by the number allowed per license (see below for ideas on availability of ad lots).
4. Charge only enough to pay for Linden upkeep/management costs or only the rich will be able to afford them and this is unfair to owners of smaller businesses.
5. Draw names from applicants to determine who gets a license and exclude anyone with multiple violations of community standards from multiple players. After six months, the license expires and new names are drawn that exclude the previously licensed individuals unless not enough applications come in to cover the available licenses. Allow previously licensed people back into the draw after 6 months.
6. Allow multiple businesses to be advertised under the same license.
7. Draw names from the people who just got a license to determine who gets first pick of available ad lots. Allow that person to choose 5 locations, move to the next person, and after everyone has gotten their first 5, go back to the first person to choose 5 more.

Do:
Ad Lots:
1. Allow a maximum of 8 lots per sim
2. Have all ad lots owned by Linden Lab (with no ban lines, and not for sale).
3. Disallow all scripts. No spinning, spamming, particles, spies, texture changers (no one stands around waiting for them to change anyway); disallow lights, glow, floating text (but do allow fullbright and the ability to "buy" for free a notecard and/or landmark.)
4. Place lots along Linden land so they are not able to be blocked off on all sides.
5. Strictly enforce "no mature content in PG sims"
6. Limit the size to a small real-world billboard, such as 5 x 4 x .5 meters.
7. Allow more than one ad per sign, but only one sign (such as 2 side-by-side textures or a texture that combines 2 ads).
8. Force them to be attached to the ground by a pole, non-ad wall, or their own base, but not allow the top of the sign to be higher than 5 meters.
9. Allow other objects on the lot or place other objects on the lot that are beneficial or non-disruptive. For example, these objects must be unscripted except for sitting scripts, and could include a park bench, a rock, and a small plant.
10. Define an ad lot: Disallow ads on privately owned land (or group land) that is smaller than 150sm unless it is not visable to the general public, such as allowing an inside wall to be covered in an ad that's at a small business, or is less than 2 x 2 x .5m. Disallow signs larger than 3 x 3 x 3 on any size land if they are visible to the passing public. (Otherwise it would be impossible to prevent someone from putting up a bunch of signs and a couple of for-sale objects and calling it a store.) Venders count as signs and would have to follow the above rules, but you could still put actual objects that are for sale in view, such as a couch or car.

Do:
For Lots that are For Sale:
1. Disallow scripts in for-sale signs and limit them to the guidelines listed in #10 above.
2. Disallow ban lines on lots that are for sale.
3. Disallow scripts except sitting scripts on any lot that is for sale (for any object, so no noisy, particle-spewing, texture/shape changing fountains or anything else that could harrass the neighbors or passers-by.
Yes, you may try to complain that the map doesn't update with sale data fast enough, but that applies to everyone else, too.

For anyone who patiently read all of this, I thank you for your attention
And to the Lindens involved, good luck, this looks like it's going to get complicated.

*note that this says per person; this means per human, not per av

Um, that's actually my point.

We don't have a good advertising method in SL.

The current system of having crap on prims in the middle of nowhere isn't effective, but it does serve as an excuse to have crappy prims blighting the landscape. Perfect for so-called business owners whose business plan is to get something for nothing.

Get rid of the excuse that it's legitimate business. Then go after what's left.

If you want one great, huge, perfect solution to everything, start holding your breath now. Solutions like that don't exist, and whenever anyone claims they've found one, they're wrong.

Edited to add: By identifying the advertisers as RL individuals, LL would make it very easy to hold them accountable for their actions. Even if one slinks back in after a permaban, their behavior would betray them. The problem isn't ads per se, it's people with poor business ethics.