Oh Noes! I'm a Hardcore Killer Now!

Found this amusing little gem in my forums PM box this morning...

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XXXXX XXXXXX

Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 0

SL Killer Application
Hello Velox,

Over the last two months or so, I have been working on a patent pending virtual world application which I believe will redefine entertainment in general use, 3D virtual worlds like SL.

This application will create a whole new entertainment
industry within SL. I am trying to build a small group of
highly talented (motivated my money and glory) SL aware programming team to form a virtual company that will
midwife this new industry. Each member of the founding team, will be given a stake in the company.

I would like to invite you to join our team. As you would appreciate, secrecy is the operative word here irrespective
of filed patents. Secrecy before launch, provides the company with TIME advantages (first line of defence) over potential imitators.

To this end, I am asking potential team members to sign
a simplified one page confidentiality agreement in order to receive a presentation about the application.

I appreciate that people use the term killer application loosely.
However I can assure you that this application cannot be
described in any other way. I hope you will take us serious
and give yourself the opportunity to evalute the applications potential.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards

XXXXX XXXXXXX

Note to self: Velox Severine obviously can't be trusted to keep anything quiet.

I mean, really, this just paints you in a bad light for running and re-posting a private message to the forums

...I can't honestly bring myself to care. Rather, I find it amusing.

^ Um, yeah. Private being the key word.

I thought naming names and reproducing PM's without permission was not allowed?

Anyway... once you've made contact, be sure to send your money so they can process the paperwork and give you your share of the L$50,000,000 that belongs to a dead african general stuck in a safety deposit box from oil trading they went to move out of the country that they need your help with.

Lewis

Yeah, it's pretty obvious that you don't care, but if somebody's taken the time to approach you because they think they'd like you involved, it doesn't say much for your trustworthyness or morals to just come running and post it publicly, does it.

Whether you care about this or not, doesn't really matter. You never know, there may be something that somebody wishes to talk to you about in private that does matter to you. Now, can they trust you when you've done something like this? I know I wouldn't.

And before anybody asks, no this project has nothing to do with me and I haven't received a similar PM (just in case some people think I'm saying what I'm saying because I'm involved - I'm not).

Come now, Moopf. Unsolicited stuff like this doesn't terribly impress me is intimate communication. No more so than the urgent requests of the kindly Nigerian fellows who would like for me to help them get their lost father's fortunes out of Sierra Leone and into Swiss accounts.

Doesn't appear to me that the PM is asking for bank details though, is it. If it was, sure, absolutely agree with you but it isn't.

On a lighter note, I received this wonderful spam a month ago:



Though seriously, don't betray private messages, unsolicited or not, unless they're obvious spam. It's just not cool.

Spam enough for me. Sound more like a 419 scam or ponzi scheme than a serious job offer. I have removed names, but I left the message.

"Invest L$15k into us and we'll guarentee a return of L$120k within the next few weeks!"

Honestly, most places that immediately ask for something (NDA, money), are.

And, name removed, the message is now fair game in my book. Even if I'm on the fence about whether it's a serious offer or not.

Meh, maybe I'm not instantly cynical enough I guess

For what it's worth, I had the same knee-jerk reaction. I think, though, that this is one of the few instances "naming names" was the perfect thing to pull.

Because the message itself really doesn't say much.

Also, Join Date (April 2006) drops the PM sender's credibility about five points in my book.