How are you surviving the Altocaust?

So true.. I feel really for bad for the genuine new people trying to test out this game and being given the cold shoulder because people are just sick and tired of alt-mania and all the spazzes. I remember when I started this game.. I was at the welcome area and a couple of people were talking saying things like " all these freaking noobs causing all this lag.. blah blah" and it really made me feel like closing the game right up. I am so glad I didnt but I can just imagine what things are like for them now.

I don't know what we'd do without you, Oni. Your patience throughout this whole thing is remarkable.

Every day I'm terrified that one of our precious volunteers is going to snap from the stress levels.

It just needs to be said: thanks, Oni

Through my own choices, I spend much of my SL time in an area that is both popular with newbies and also a frequent griefer target. It's been my experience that the majority of new people are not here to grief anyone, they're simply curious. They're also open to advice and my well-worn folder of newbie landmarks (eg, I send them to Travis ). I've spent more time walking newbies through "how to edit attachments so they are positioned correctly" and "what's the best range for head and shoulder size on your appearance sliders" than I have in fighting griefers.

But still, it's the griefers who stand out because encounters with them are so unpleasant and take my time away from more fun things to do. One or two griefers per day is a lot, but in numbers not equal to the dozens of nice folks who are arriving in SL. They just stand out more.

I've found that, lately, I spend much more time sitting on prims when I'm chatting.

I've spent more money on defense systems, like Psyke's Personal Security HUD, Burke's Multifool and Moopf's anti-push. A dear friend of mine said I was the most security conscious person she knew -- but she hasn't seen me sit through a firebombing either.

I'm more suspicious of newbies who make their avatar as grotesque as possible and adopt names that cry "alienated from society" than I am of regular newbies who have the newbie walk, newbie skin and names like "Molly Smith". Even then I try not to jump to conclusions -- last night I watched one guy born on 6/21 whose avatar looked like a short, fat cross between Jerry Garcia and a toad. I kept waiting to see if he was going to annoy any of our members but he sat very quietly, listening, said a few polite things and left. So much for stereotypes.

When I need a break, I go back to my secure skybox and make shoes. Making shoes is 10x as stressful as riding herd on newbies

I snapped doing Live Help. Hence the weapons for sale.

Well said.

So far, I have not encountered one that look like or acted like a newbie. It is sad but what else can we do?
I will be nice to them but will block them off of my land if possible. It is call the right to protect ourselves from children, griefers and lawsuits! Why do I have to baby sit America's children?

i think you used googles spell check, and forgot to turn it off before submitting the post

Sometimes the best way to ensure an attack is to build a castle....

Troy

Oh I so know what you mean , with my new hair newbies program .. I have been dealing with so many rude jackasses lately .. I almosted abandoned the whole program because of it.. but then met a couple of really nice people that reminded me of what its all about. Just sucks that these griefing dorks are ruining it for all the other new people.

Oh, maybe, probably. Odd, I never had it happen before on a vB. This one's awfully sluggish too.

I have mostly tried to keep busy with my work as a builder. I've been staying largely on private estates and island sims, in places that are far away from the preferred 'target' sites like The Shelter and Luskwood. I've pretty much given up on exploring or using public sandboxes. Fortunately, I have private places available to me where I can build in peace and quiet, away from the insanity I keep hearing reports of. So I don't need public sandboxes and the like...

I've stopped doing casual shopping. No more wandering through a mall to see what's there. If I go shopping any more, it's search for a type of merchandise in Find, TP directly to the store, locate and purchase as soon as things rez, and TP home as soon as I can.

I'm hardly even considering going to clubs any more. The few I liked have all been targets of griefers at least once in recent weeks. I've heard from friends by IM that they were at club so-and-so, and there was a griefer attack in progress there... I've heard from friends that are club owners about how much more frequently they are having to ban folks. *sigh*

The last time I went out dancing, I was treated to some obviously immature jacka** who stormed into the club and was ranting about wanting to see the b***h that banned his other account 5 days earlier. The club owner had do come to defuse the situation. (The man had apparently been banned for being severely disrespectful of the club's staff, and for being disruptive). Didn't erupt into violence, but it was very unnerving just the same, and largely ruined my evening.

I made a new, verified alt, intending the avatar to primarily be a building assistant to help round out my land group that I use for terraforming contracts. But I find I am hardly ever logging in with that account. I tried, wandered around a bit, and just sighed and logged off again. I was constantly expecting to be attacked, and yet at the same time was encountering sim after sim that was empty and deserted... I was afraid to leave the Linden road I was walking along. Afraid to even attempt to fly at random, cross, country, just looking for interesting stuff.

"Afraid" pretty much sums it up. It isn't fun.

In a way, this is almost like watching the TV News reports of a disaster area that is bring flooded. You watch the news, and you get the impression that entire cities are neck deep in muddy water. And yes, there are certainly areas where that is true. But you drive through the same area, and you realize it's only isolated pockets that are terrible, and that for most of the region, it's "life as normal".

Except for the fear that when you turn the next corner, you'll walk into a firefight.

So which are you: Noob, alt, greifer, scammer, or fucktard? I myself like fucktard, but really despite time spent in SL, I am still a noob. Besides noobie rhymes with boobie, and that is always a good thing. Of course you my be some combination like a noob alt fucktard greifing scammer. Who knows how to interpret this post?

See, this is what gets me so upset about these boards.... this is the reason why griefers grief: To cause reactions like this! By being afraid, by not doing the things you love, you are doing EXACTLY what the griefers want! Instead, what I do is simple. Go on as normal. Don't let them get to me. I have fun, once in a great while I get flung across a sim, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't even matter if you lost one minute of productivity! Just relax, enjoy yourself. If you get griefed, get griefed. but remember... you can not be harmed by a Second Life griefer in real life if you don't let him get to you.

At least Burke's out there trying to do something about the problem, including the development of an information-sharing network that helps landowners identify and deal with griefers as they deem appropriate.

The trouble is that fighting back can't be distinguished from assault as far as the Linden's Abuse Team forensic tools are concerned, so it's not even a question of ethics - it's a simple technical problem. In a lot of cases, if they can't tell who started it they just don't do anything. Moreover, LL does know about efforts like Burke's, and simply views it as an intriguing idea for self-governance among the citizenry, not griefing or scamming.

Somebody wants to sell me a device or a service that'll help cut down on the griefing I have to endure, I'll be in the long line waiting to buy it.

"If you don't go about your Second Life normally, the terrorists have already won."

Although I concur. I wander about all kinds of public places. I haven't run into these kinds of problems, but I don't stay in one place long as a matter of habit anyway.

I completely sympathize with the veteran members ready to throw their hands up and spend the rest of their SL days in makeshift bombshelters, but at the same time I'm really glad not everyone has reached that point of zero-tolerance. Could just be the naivete of youth speaking, but there sure seems to be a heck of a lot more good in SL than bad. Griefing instances are frustrating annoyances, but until LL gets their act together to limit the infinite-alts or make good on prop 1503, they're annoyances I'm willing to put up with.

/me snaps.

oh wait that was just my knee popping. whew 8D

six, a lot of the good newbies really do appreciate your hair. know how you feel tho.

I'm not afraid. I'm just annoyed. I haven't been greifed yet in a public area (raucsh and sanboxes don't count) except in my home sim, in which the greifers were strung up and locked in a room with crazed, half-starved bananaphones.