Stop hating the foobies.

*An army of unverified alts readies their weapons.*

Search "Alliance Navy and Garage", it should be around Tethys; I haven't seen any griefing at all, and if I do, I'm dropping in a instant. I do, however, see very clever scripting, very interesting designs, a very welcoming bunch, and a healthy hate for every group of griefers and idiots I've encountered in the sandboxes. They have a fairly good record as well; They had a flight demonstration at the 3rd Anniversary (with Torley Linden having a few pictures of it such as this), a very interesting article in the Second Life Herald, and a followup in the Herald a year later.

I'm not fond of keeping much debt after family issues; I only have my debit card and the bank I chose and stayed with for some years is, frankly, quite idiotic with anything involving plastic. However, my loans are with them and the interest is good. I might consider applying for something like a American Express soon; Hopefully my credit is at the level where I can get something simple for affairs like this.

Everyone? Careful with that big-ass brush you're using. I'm one of those who do NOT need to take a step back. I happen to think that the crop of unverifieds includes a large number of good potential SL residents once they figure out how to make a little money and participate in the economy. Meanwhile they're curious, courteous, willing to learn and some are even fun to chat with.

That said, my personal experience with griefers (which is pretty concentrated since 6/6) is that a very significant percentage of them are freebie unverifieds. Not all of 'em by any means, but enough to create a cause for concern.

If you keep banning people whose forum posts you disagree with, where will your customers come from?

I'm not defending anything, but there is a point here that might be missed. If someone has no payment info on file, their spending cash is most likely nil, or close to it. They probably wouldn't be shopping anyways.

With all due respect, you are not just like me.

Many free unverified accounts are honest players who can or will contribute to SL in some way, even if its just by their presence. But unfortunatly, the free unverified accounts are now an opening for anybody, new or old, to cause unnecessary grief to anybody without any sort of accountablility.

I joined a little under two months before the change in verification. I initially toyed with the idea of changing my name, so tried to register a new account. Due to some security settings with pop up blockers, I was not able ot complete the process. After several abortive attempts, I was able to complete the process, only to find my new account was rejected as having too many accounts on one CC due to the incomplete registrations.

The very concept of not being able to create a new account on the fly made it all the more important to treat the account you play with as something of value, something where a reputation take time to build but a second to lose.

As an experiement, I've created several free accounts. It takes literally a few minutes to create a new one now and get to the mainland.

So you are not like me. My account is not expendable. Old style non premium accounts were not expendable due to the caps on new accounts. But new free acounts are.

And while the OP may be a very good player and may wind up contributing to SL greatly, the new free accounts makes it impossible for any other player to tell the difference between players like the OP and players who make hordes of accounts for the sole purpose of causing trouble.

That is the difference.

Welp, I've had a fair number of new accounts come up to me, and so far, none of them has been any kind of a problem at all.

I always say hiya to whoever comes up to me, and that may deter any bad activity right there.

There was ONE - just one - made my radar go up. After I said "hiya" he said, "wanna buy a gun?"

Being as how I was standing there in my Tiny German Shepherd AV, wearing a little plaid skirt, I said, "No thanks, I use my teeth!"

He laughed and left.

coco

Yep.

I don't even know if LL has the ability to provide the information, but I'd like to know how many new accounts created ARE submitting payment info. There aren't a lot of upsides to adding payment info as far as I know (someone wanna enlighten me?), so I'm guessing most new accounts aren't bothering.

You get 250 Lindens if you provide credit card information I think.

Actually, the way it seems to go is, I see someone wandering on my land, I walk over, I say, "Hello," I get shot.

I generally try to be nice to legitimate newbies, and I'm generally willing to help out with advice, some free clothes, impromptu building lessons, directions to stores or whatever.

Unfortunately though, unverified accounts are *the* avenue of choice for people who want to grief because they're completely disposable.

Also unfortunate is the fact that you can't tell one from the other until you're already sailing through the air, at which point it's a little late.

Banning newbies just for being newbies is not a good way to show off SL features to newbies. Most people try SL for free before giving out their credit card numbers--I know I certainly used SL for a day before giving them my credit card number. I'm glad I didn't do too much exploring my first day to the places that ban unverified accounts, or I would never have given the Lindens my credit card number and would have stopped playing SL altogether.

Maybe the Lindens should disable free accounts.

I don't know about you, but I don't need to stop hating the foobies...I will love foobies forever!

http://www.foobies.com [NSFW]

I am an unverified newbie. I heard about SL months ago, but couldn't join because I've always avoided getting a credit card (hate debt of any sort)

I'm trying my best to avoid stepping on anyone's toes and being an "obnoxious newbie". I am joining some interesting groups and trying to integrate myself into SL as politely as possible.

I like what I see so far, and am even considering getting a credit card simply so I can buy some lindens. But if it wasn't for the unverified accounts I never would have joined. I can see why residents with info on file feel somewhat uneasy about unverifieds...as it would make accounts more "disposable". But to me it just means I have to work that little bit harder to show people in SL that I am not a potential griefer or troublemaker, and that's fine by me.

Where I live in SL i don't run into the problems of newbs griefing, because its a private island sim and set so only members of the group can enter it. I stay in the island most of time

I think LL is just testing the waters right now, although a line is clearly being drawn. The real test is yet to come. I suspect LL sees accounts without payment info on file more as trial accounts that will gradually see more limited access to some of SL's features and attractions (just like demo software). Some of those features, as we have already begun to see, are ones that residents can either turn on or off themselves. Thus, they are essentially putting the vote in the resident's hands before taking the next step.

Accounts with payment info on file may eventually be asked to go through the same kind of verification process that some banks presently use for thier account holders. Those that find it impossible to use the more popular methods of payment may be asked to provide better identity verification through a process yet to be disclosed.

I have no problem with verifying my RL identity with a service provider and paying them for use of that service, but I have a huge problem with loopholes and exploits in the service. I will not pass judgement on LL's actions yet, nor will I place my own limitations on unidentifyable accounts yet. It's too early to tell what the final outcome of all this will be. But, the minute a system goes into place that holds all verified accounts responsible for thier own actions and limits the damage unverified accounts can cause, I'll cast my vote.

but I do have to say all of the griefing and getting blowen up i've run across when out, has been by free no payment info accounts.

I also assume the no payment info accounts are under age people or greifers or both under age and a griefer.

So if your a free account and no payment info and 18 years old + its best if you get payment info on your account.

Found this in the archives, thought you might find this interesting...

/120/90/24803/1.html

At least in the U.S., you can get a debit card on your checking account that functions just like a MasterCard/Visa for purposes of online stuff. So, you don't have to have established credit.

As for griefers - we've had more incidents since the unverified accounts were instituted. We haven't decided to close Chaos so far. We've been able to deal with griefers one-on-one. One tactic is to loose one of our residents on the griefer. He dresses up in women's clothing and humps the griefers leg, etc. until the griefer flees in terror.

Chaos may not be the safest sim to attempt to grief. The people there are known to do things like ride giant, bouncing penises.

It's a little like going to an insane asylum to pick a fight.

Giant... Bouncing... Penises.

Siggy? If so, they're screwed.

This is not a bump. This is a post which contributes to this thread in a constructive fashion. Really.

I AM NEVER BUYING A CREDIT CARD, I AM NEVER GETTING A CELL-PHONE, I WOULD NEVER GET A TEXT SERVICE THT I WILL NEVER USE FOR A CELL-PHONE I WILL NEVER BUY, IF I WANT TO "TEXT" MY FRIENDS, I USE WHAT IS CALLED A "HALF-ASSED BEEPER THAT REQUIRES NO PAYMENT AND NEEDS ONLY A RETRACTABLE ANTENNA"!

Now please do not ask me to shell out money for things I will never use so you can have some idiotic measure of "Security" In-Game, You want security, get a shield and a Tri-Shotgun/other freebie that is pretty damn good and then upgrade it with shield-breaker capabilities!

Or we just ban unverifieds from our land and ignore you. After all, its your own fault you remain unverified.