07-08-2003 14:01
Once in a while an abuse report comes in that makes the Blotter smile, just a little bit, while meting out swift and remorseless justice. A resident with plastic flamingo dangerously impacting his bowel? A woman celebrating the Fourth of July clad only in a Sparkler? These things violate the Community Standards, certainly, but there is a small amount of entertainment value.

Mostly, however, the Blotter deals with harassment. Be it verbal, physical, scripted, or proclaimed to the world on giant floating orbs, harassing others seems to be a habit with some. It the same behavior, and often the same perpetrator, time after time. The Blotter doesn’t like to judge, but I’d offer up that residents who engage in this kind of behavior might be serving to prop on their own fragile egos by projecting their character flaws onto others. Just a theory, really.

Not only do the same forms of harassment appear over and over again, but same ‘justifications’ surface again and again. “I was on my own land, so its OK that trapped him a pink bubble” “Well, she was being a jerk, so I had to shoot her” “The sign was just my protected right to express my opinion”….. The Blotter isn’t really interested in justifications – only actions and consequences.

Is there, perhaps, a lack of understanding as to the meaning of the word harassment? The Blotter would direct you to this entry, easily found in the nearest dictionary: To irritate or torment persistently. In the Second Life Community Standards we’ve encapsulated it as “Any behavior that singularly or persistently targets another resident in a way offensive to that resident.” What does this mean? If your 30 meter high wall of ‘art’ was erected specifically to torment your neighbor, it's harassment. If your eye for landscape design keeps telling you that there needs to be a tree directly in front of your neighbor’s door – regardless of how many times he moves it – it's harassment. To take this concept to its most basic level, if that little voice inside you (listen carefully, it might be buried!) tells you that you really shouldn’t be doing something – it's harassment.

Don’t make me tell you again. I’ll stop this car…I’ll turn right around and we’ll all go home!

Statistics: Nine complaints of harassment, intimidation, or vandalism, nine complaints about assorted rule violations, five instances of inappropriate content on a PG sim, three underage residents, and two complaints of an undisclosed nature. As a result of these complaints and our subsequent investigations, five residents were suspended and 11 warnings were issued.