What can we do?

Today someone informed my partner that the eyes she sells in our store are being sold at a "yard sale" and this person was even using our poster just covered up the logo. Now yes my partner accidentally didn’t change the perms on the eyes so it was copy/trans but we went to her "yard sale" and there are a ton of freebies! How can we as a community stop this? Will Lindens do anything? It’s sad someone would make a buck off something that was donated for newbie’s. My partner did confront her and all she had to say pretty much was "oh well" "if it was copy/trans I can do whatever I want".

For now the only thing we can think of doing is to set these eyes in the store for free! Here is a picture, the store is The Glitterbugz Boutique in Shiner and if you want the name of the “yard sale” just IM me and I’ll gladly give it out . We also added in the box the note cards with the list of freebie places so ppl don’t have to go to so called “yard sales” to get some affordable clothes!

If anyone has any idea how to get rid of this scum please share

Sadly...if you ask LL your response will be something along the lines of "there is nothing we can do" and really is true, they cannot do anything. But, luckily there are websites out there devoted to exposing these sorts of things, and I know there are some people, myself included that are advocates of getting these yard sales put together on a list of places NOT to go..


I'll IM you in game, sorry to hear about this :/

-Addi

It is sad someone has to try and make a buck that way...anyway, enjoy the eyes everyone

Sadly, nothing can be done about it.

You're just mad because it happened to you.

You didn't care when it was somebody else.

Oh well.

Not saying you should, not saying I would...

You *could* offer some griefers a chance to do their hobby, and make a few bucks.

Just a little illegal thought. Probably illegal.

Inform inexperienced players that issues like this exist.

I was thinking about this recently.
Lets say that this was happening in RL in your community, here
in mine they would be on the local news with data on address
and pics of their place and consumer warnings.

Back before the days of media locals would put on small shows
and performances ridiculing the practice or the person.

I was thinking of doing an art piece of a thief in a black and white striped shirt out in front of bunch of junk selling freebies
with some easy to interpret sign or caption.

But in short I think the answer is the SL public media and arts.
I read in a post somewhere that new people should
be given a warning to take a short class on these common
scam practices.

Even if it were not offered as part of the official orientation,
perhaps signs could be posted at major malls directing people
to these sources of info. Some of us might be able to
provide some art that may become common symbols of these
negative practices.



Lets encourage all to possess a sense of SL Honor.

"Now yes my partner accidentally didn’t change the perms on the eyes so it was copy/trans"

Solution: don't accidentally grant people the right to copy and resell your products if you don't want them to.

You are right though: freebie resellers are scum. Fishermen who sell the fish that nature provided for free are scum. The old ladies who pick the blueberries that grow wild and free near us and sell them at fetes in jam are scum. Hell, I myself am scum for selling the things in sl that didn't cost me anything when I made them. Scum scum scum!

I don't resell freebies, and don't particularly support it: but if you grant them the right to copy and resell, you don't really have any ground to stand on when they do just that.

Musuko.

PS: Just a thought: the people who are concerned about freebie resellers might find it useful to station yourself at the welcome area and inform new players of this practice, and help guide them to places where freebies are free. Yadni's place comes to mind.

Musuko.

The issue here isn that she sold our stuff because of the mistake, we know there is nothing we can do about that, the issue is she is selling all kinds of freebies stuff put out by lindens for newbies.

How can you asociate nature with items created for a purpose in a game...

And yes I do care when it happends to other ppl Cow Hand you have no basis for that statement, did I ever come out and say I dont care because it happened to you...no....I do what I can inworld to inform newbies and wanted to bring this to the forum to see if anyone else had ideas and to keep bringing to attention so maybe just maybe lindens will see this as a problem. I maynot post much here but its because of ppl like you that I dont bother most of the time.


Thank you all who have given your support.

People make mistakes, the get forgetful. Pointing it out to them when they already know is always so helpful.


There's a difference between something provided by the earth around us and something provided by another's efforts. If the fishermen are fishing in my backyard pond then yes they are scum. If the old ladies are picking blueberries from someone elses land cultivated and grown by that person, then yes they are scum.

Hire a newbie who wants a job to picket in front of the yard sale, just off the property so they can't be banned. Paying someone to picket beats paying them to sit around in camping chairs or on dance pad, and performs a public service.

Hire a newbie who wants a job to picket in front of the yard sale, just off the property so they can't be banned. They could give out landmarks to the locations where the original product is available, sold or free.

Paying someone to picket beats paying them to sit around in camping chairs or on dance pad, and performs a public service.

I can't see how it would be illegal, they would be committing the griefing, not you. No way to be sure they will perform as desired though, unless you go along to witness it.

In response to the comparison between little old ladies, fishermen and free selling scam artists.... For your information my grandmother tromps out into the forest and works hard to pick those blue berries to sell, to feed her 25 cats, those fishermen risk their lives out there to bring us fish so I can have my swordfish steak on the barbi' and still have time to play SL. I don't see any correlation between people who are actually working to make money and people who take advantage of items that the Lindens or others have created for the benefit newbies or less fortunate Av's for free. I have never sold an item that was free, does that make me a better player than some? No, It makes my game playing experience better because I know where my money is coming from; items that I thought of, I created, and I sold.

I have to agree that inspite of it being an overwhelmingly popular opinion, at least on this discussion board, that freebie sellers are scum. It is not immediatly obvious to most people that there is anything wrong with resellling goods that you acquired legally. You can do so in RL. So it stands to reason that those values would hold true in SL. The reasons why many people are opposed to it in SL are subtle and contrary to our common understanding of the universe. If an item has permissions allowing resell/transfer, then most people would reasonably believe that this is an allowed and and accepted practice.

I am not promoting the resellling of freebies, but I think it is a loosing battle to re-educate the masses of new people coming into SL everyday. If you don't want your freebies resold, then don't allow resell/transfer.

I know all of the reasons people hate the reselling of freebies, have heard them over and over again, and don't need to hear them again, thank you.

Teaya, "Does is make you better than some?"

Actually it does.

"There's a difference between something provided by the earth around us and something provided by another's efforts."

Forgive me for saying so, but isn't a fish provided by the fish's (and its parents') efforts? Ditto with the blueberries.

"I don't see any correlation between people who are actually working to make money and people who take advantage of items that the Lindens or others have created for the benefit newbies or less fortunate Av's for free."

Those fish spent years and years working hard to survive and bulk themselves up. Those blueberry plants spent the whole year growing and storing energy, preparing to make fruit that'll propogate the species. From nature's point of view, us humans DO just take advantage of the work of others without putting much in ourselves.

Here's a unique thought: perhaps freebie resellers DO put work in: gathering freebies together in one place, paying overhead (land tier/rent), and advertising so that newbies are exposed to the cool content and are given the opportunity to obtain them. The price that they charge is like a finder's fee. You may think the price is extortionate, but that's not up to you to decide: prices in a free market are set by what the purchaser is willing to pay.

It's very, VERY simple: if you give someone an item with permission for them to use that item in a certain way, you can't then complain when they go ahead and use it in that way. If you want to hate someone for reselling one of your freebies, go ahead, but they can say (and quite rightly), that you gave them the go-ahead to do it.

Musuko.

I know everyone is tired of hearing about this but if we stop complaining then LL will never change it. We need a new catagory for freebies in the perms but unless we post every time this happends they will never do anything..LL needs to crack down on this make newbies aware and take down the resellers...

There are a bunch of items floating around because of a mistake or bug with full perms (celestial skin being one that i saw at this yard sale) and to just turn the other cheek and say oh well cant do anythign about it is wrong, we need to speak up every time we see it and maybe it will get enough attention that LL will want to address it.

When I was very new in SL, I fell into this paying for a freebie at a yard sale. I have since avoided all yard sales.

I know not all yard sales are crooked, but having been bitten once, I do not wish to be again.

Maybe you could form a boycott.

In relation to using another person's labor and creativity for your own profit...... ... reaching a bit?


It's very, VERY simple: What many of us are saying is the the permissions system needs to be changed to allow us more options so that there will be fewer problems like this.

"In relation to using another person's labor and creativity for your own profit...... ... reaching a bit?"

Not really. A fish does all the work to survive and make itself big and fleshy, then fishermen come along with a drag net and sell the fish as a result of their own work.

"It's very, VERY simple: What many of us are saying is the the permissions system needs to be changed to allow us more options so that there will be fewer problems like this."

I agree. The permissions system could do with some extra options. But until then, don't grant people permission to do things you don't want them to do.

Musuko.

I'd like to see a change in the perms too. A breaking up of Transfer/Give Away. With Transfer, I'd like to see renamed to Resell, because that is what it will allow. Give Away, you can't set a price on, but can give away as a freebie.

That would help a lot of the problem with reselling freebies.