Feedback on Ad Farm post

Proposed Licensing Requirements
(I stole some of these ideas from the Ad Zoo meeting today. However, I'm not affiliated with them, nor do I speak for them.)

1. Not currently the owner (or alt of an owner) of an existing adfarm network.
2. Premium account holder or island owner.
3. One license per person; alts don't count.
4. No significant past abuse record.
5. RL credit card and address information on file.
6. Significant US$ deposit requirement--forfeited if rules violated.
7. Public comments period for any potential licensees before licenses are issued.

What do you all think?

There's a newly paved linden road in Clemence with small road signs marking a rezzing area, so this idea is already in the works inworld.

I like this. Very much. The ad locations are designed into the new sims. That will work.

Looking through the chorus of attention and almost universal acclaim for this policy, I just realized the downside: Expectations are very high. Really, LL just cannot afford to drop the ball on this one. In fact, this is a PR make-or-break situation.

And one thing that will break it, without question, is the award of a license to any of the existing advertising networks.

Until reading this thread and a few blogs on the subject, I'd somehow always assumed that one (and surely only one) of the TAG members would get a license, and a couple of other (non-TAG) outfits with ad-towers in-world today. But I realize now that this is simply not an option for LL. To come out of this with any credibility at all, the Lindens just have no choice but to shut down everything that's out there now, and to find brand new advertising licensees.

However it's worded in the criteria for obtaining a license, that really must be the effect. Otherwise the charges of favoritism, insider information, ineffectiveness, and collusion will make a PR disaster of what should be M's chance to be out in front of a hugely popular win.

I don't care so much for #6 Carl. I don't think that only big money should be able to advertise their shops or services in SL. If this is meant to be a deterrent to abuse, I'd much rather see LL do the job that they are promising to do and simply remove the offending account and allow someone that can and will abide by the rules to take that slot. If you take away the ability of the little startup to advertise and compete then this entire thing is a joke. SOME deposit could be required, perhaps but I do not think that exorbitant fees would encourage growth or retention. If you take time and energy to develop a good product and suddenly find that you are up against the wall when it comes to marketing your things against an elitist community, why would you want to stay in Second Life? It may as well just be a sandbox for you and you can certainly build much nicer 3D models in other programs if all you want to do is build.

Dirk Talamasca

I have a friend who bought a parcel of 2048m2 and needed another 512m2 to max out. On 3 sides it is already owned and on the forth.. well... small little parcels of 16m2. She contacted the owner and told him she would like to buy out 512m2 of the property and said she would even be willing to pay 10k for the 512m2. Mark you, that was way over the going rate. He had the audacity to tell her he would take no less then 20k for the 512m2. Now if that is not extortion... tell me what is!

PS: She declined his offer
PSS: **edited**, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Oops, so sorry I said his name. MY BAD!!!!!

I think it's really the most essential that LL have the real life identity information of each of their licensees, to ensure that alts aren't being used to game the system. One real life person = one advertising license.

The existing advertising network holders are going to be unhappy, but I also think it's important not to allow them to continue business as usual with a license, for the integrity of the system. They can always sell their advertising systems to licensed individuals. (Not the land - just the scripted systems.) Besides, I think most of them have significant past abuse records for their ad extortion.

I don't know about requiring a US$ deposit that would be forfeited on violation - that could open up a big can of legal worms. And public comments might slow the whole system down. Maybe appoint a panel of mainland residents to help?

I think it's everyone's personal choice what to see. For you it might be a bunch of pixels, for other people it's more.


Apparently you don't know what this discussion is about. It's not about "nice neighbours" posting an ad sign "accidentally" in your view!


I actually LIVE on a private SIM, but although I care about what's happening on mainland. There are beautyful places on mainland without any doubt, but they are hard to find. I would be happy if MOST of mainland would be a nice place to live.

This is great! And Lindens, how about some tiny little boat docks so people can launch boats on the Linden waterways? There are all kinds of good things you can do with abandoned roadsides.

I'm simply in awe seeing well known ad spammers/farmers/cutters come in here, claiming 'legitimacy' and that they are 'looking forward' to working with LL and getting licensed. Well, they have all been 'legitimate' advertisers up until now, but that doesnt mean they are not still spamming, extorting and otherwise making the majority of residents miserable with their excessive advertising antics.


The fact that they are already planning and scheming their next moves openly is frightening. They have lost one way to take your money, now on to a new way.

And these are people who are going to get licenses???????

WHY do we need to have open air advertising at all? Why cannot it not be kept contained within malls, clubs, etc. Where the mall owner will benefit and can use it to continue providing services to shop renters, club owners, etc.

Seems thats where we go when we want to shop and would be more open to ads.

WHY would we want people who claim to be legit and 'fair, to continue making money by getting their hands on one of potentially few licenses?

Below are photos of one of these 'legit' advertisers. I can see her ** 2000+ meter high particles ** that spew off her FULL GLOW ad boards from ANOTHER SIM. I just today realized it was the above quoted person. Its very sad to see such a lack of community spirit in these ppl that they rather fight to continue doing something that is clearly unwanted and offensive to the majority of residents. Greed does seem to overrule conscience.

She claims to be looking forward to working w/ LL, yet she is publicly mocking and complaining about them on one of her ad towers.


On another, advertising for non SL websites... is that needed/desired in SL?

http://www.slprofiles.com/pictures/211322.jpg?8786

http://www.slprofiles.com/pictures/211326.jpg?5568

http://www.slprofiles.com/pictures/211325.jpg?350

http://www.slprofiles.com/pictures/211330.jpg?9101

http://www.slprofiles.com/pictures/211351.jpg?9611

http://www.slprofiles.com/pictures/211352.jpg?9376

And yet another well known who now has a group claiming to be the "Licensed advertisers leading supplier"

Its just sad... I don't know any other way to put it..... Certainly not what I thought would find when I joined SL. Its heartbreaking to watch all this.

Its also insulting to have these people come in here and act like we don't know who they are, what they do, or how much they don't seem to care about anyone but themselves.

I can only hope LL knows the history of all these individuals and is very careful about who they allow to advertise...and more importantly... where.

LOL

You seem to have had great fun winding everyone up in here.

But you might actually have hit on a good idea here.

But lets change the ratio a little bit 99.9% for normal residents and 0.1% for all the adfarmers.

But with the condition they have to stay in their 0.1% and never leave it.
Then they could compare adblocks, even run competitions amongst themselves to see which one could create the biggest ugliest pile of cr*p.
Residents could go visit watch them bickering amongst each other and have a laugh before returning to some semblance of sanity.

Anyone think this is a winning idea, vote for it

Ashamed he should be paraded up and down the roads of SL, virtually tarred and feathered, before being given the boot once and for all.

A thief is still a thief in the virtual world, and should be treated as such.

I measured the one that used to be next to me beyond 3000 meters.

Before any license is handed out verification of the person themselves is necessary, RL details should be a minimum requirement.
An honesty deposit also, as it is surprising how reasonable people will act, when they have something tangible to loose.

They are worried about some of that financial investment they made, while destroying the areas around them for the rest of the users.

Watch them slither around, hissing out claims of legitimacy because the party is coming towards an end.

Well I would assume the Lindens keep records of transactions, complaints that have been filed that sort of thing and no doubt Chlamydia has been the focus of a few complaints.

So I hope a little delving into the past will be done prior to any licensing taking place.

It’s very simple, Advertising shouldn’t be allowed AT ALL outside Commercial Properties e.g. Malls.

To prevent “16m2 micro-malls” a minimum size of 2048m2 (or even 4096) must be mandatory to be considered a Commercial Property able to “support” Advertising.

512m2, 1024m2, etc, Commercial Properties would not allow Advertising apart from self-advertising.

Do you want to have an Ad Network? Simple, have a Mall Network

That, certainly, will not scare Serious Advertisers and Marketeers

If you want to see one of the worst old world cut-up with ad farm sims, I nominate Fishii. It has what looks like at least 5 cut-up 512sqm sections of add farms, ban lines, extortion plots and so on. It is in my locality, and visible from the other sims near - such as Mocis, Zale, Lunata, Crumbi, Sylvia and Bhaga. It has both SLRR and Linden Roadway running through it.

When it is October 1st, this is the first place on my target scope to report ad farms.

I applaud the decision to try to stop the egregious ad farming. I have had legitimate reasons to split a couple of 16m chunks off a 512 so a tenant could test her scripts ...but I didn't set it for sale.

Maybe LLneeds to have a "blight commission" that can check out

And a "eminent domain" commission that would take care of the 16m plots that are cleverly concealed and then set for high prices ... take it, give the extorter a warning and let the owner of the surrounding plot buy the hole for the same price as the donut.

After a couple of warnings, buy them out and cancel the premium membership.

Dytska, I nominate Cortina, please go and see it. It's educational

Carl -
The ads at the classroomsin NCI are like ads in a club ... they are not 40m tall, and spinning, blinging, notecard-spewing, ban-line wielding tools of extortion.

About understanding certain leeches reasoning (if one can call it reasoning) I find it useful to read the “leech’s” profile and following any and every lead supplied.

It is enlightening LOL

Oh My! That is very bad! Cortina gets first place!

After reading EVERY post in this discussion (some of them reminding me of personal experiences, with the exception that when I complained back then, even my supporting neighbors told me there was nothing I could do or say), I think there is only one thing LL should do to solve this problem:

CONFINE ADVERTISING TO THE CLASSIFIED ADS AND SET NEW RULES FOR THEM, because so far people with more money, who are almost always the same ad farmers and extortionists we see in-world, always get the most exposure.

Any other idea would tantamount to a concession for more delinquency.

Besides, I don't know how many people do that, but the best kind of advertising in SL is YOUR NAME in the ownership information for the objects you create. If I like something (homes come to mind, my favorite item), I immediately edit it, locate the profile of the avatar who created it, and 99% of the time I will find his or her store in the picks tab. If I don't, I will contact him or her to send my appreciation and 99% of the time I will get some form of feedback. That is the way smart people advertise in SL.

Another thing are signs. Signs identify a store, identify a place, warn about road dangers, send information which might be worth reading, etc. I have noticed they are generally created with common sense, but some of the current ad farmers may decide to annoy people with gigantic signs giving any sort of useless information (like their ads). That would not be advertising but still cause a problem. That is why I believe there should also be a set of rules for signage in SL.

The more I write about this, the more I think that zoning and covenants should be the next step to ensure we live in a better mainland.

The first step being a TOTAL BAN ON IN-WORLD ADVERTISING except for classified ads.

Sandor

Good point. And the reason for it is that residents who sit on their 512 or 1024sqm for ages are not interesting for Linden Lab at all. Businesses creating revenues are. Statistics looks better - amount of land sold and revenue streams generated by such residents. Nevertheless, mass hysteria of public park lovers can eventually force LL to introduce price regulation, which is my main concern. Virtual communism is a real threat.

BEWARE THE HORDES OF PUBLIC PARK LOVING RADICALS!!!