Grr... "neighborly fun" in Second Life...

This is probably my greatest concern about Second Life right now.

I own an apartment complex. EZ Money has informed me that he does not approve of my apartment building. This image is the result.

Bah Aiko Thats terrible - I don't know EZ Money, just met him once briefly (and his land was all public yesterday btw), but I can't believe someone would do that.

I live right by you and our area is pretty much a hodge podge of people's buildings thrown up wherever. Your building helps make more of a nice city feel and less of a random whatever feel (My future 'office building' is behind the pine tree)

IF this is still up, its an eye sore to me as well as you, and both of our customers that I hope will come soon, but don't know what can be done about it.

Call the lindens!

Welcome to the club Aiko. We run an advertising business, and have several signs, which we work hard to make pleasant on the eye, and spend a lot of money in taxes to maintain. So what do people do? Oh let's see, well, I can't even go into Hawthorne, ever, as the "residents" there have so many scripts set up that even crossing the sim border gets me teleported home on the best case scenario. What else? Oh about twice a week we have a new object which is moved on our nobuild land to completely cover the signs. People buying up land around the signs to block both us from reaching our own land, and to entirely block the sign.

And are you ready for the best part? Oh yes, people get all their friends to mass negative rate us for the signs, including the people who we are advertising! That's right, not only a negative bahavior, but negative appearance, and negative building. Why? Because they dislike our signs.

I've submitted.. probably.. hm.. 10? abuse reports on various problems. Been about a month or so now since I could actually enter Hawthorne..

Unfortunately, I don't see this going away soon. The Lindens are spread too thin to handle this, and how do you report such behavior? It's hard to do as it happens. And I can't be around 24x7 at all of the signs to police them. So, we go along our merry path, fighting the battles as we can.

On a side note, your apartment complex is beautiful, and a credit to architecture in SL.

I just went and checked it out -- as well as rented an apartment for myself -- and it doesn't look like an attack on you; it just looks like a monument to stupidity. I've seen EZ Money around before, and his idea of a good time is to parade around in a bra and disrupt events.

Agian, if he is becomeing a neucence, call the lindens and have them do something.

mean people suck

Heres the issue on this... I happend to see this just before I read the post BTW....

Since the eye-sore is on his land, then they will probably tell you, that they cannot do anything. Which is rightfully so. But your correct. It does constitue harrasment of sorts and is completely wrong, and defiantly creates an eyesore in and otherwise very nice community.

Well I originally bought up all of rose in hopes to have a quiet retirement getaway, but of course we all know even being high in the leaderboard doesnt support 27k in tax

Thats about what a full sim purchase costs in tax.

So I then tried to see if some well established builders who are known for respectfull builds would like to move there.

The unfortunate thing is the "well established" part, as most good to great builders are already set in other areas, that was a fruitless venture.

I then tried to list the property for sale in 16x16 plots at a markup comparable to the "expensive" new sims.

Only there were 2 buyers. So I then just said heck with it and released the land. With hope that it wouldn't turn into a garbage heap like some of the sims that have random builds.

For the most part the builds there are nice, creative, and neighborly friendly.

But all it takes is for one person or small group to make a good sim turn ugly.

Now here is a question for the Lindens.

What would it take to set "rules" in a fresh open unpopulated sim if one is able to grab most of it, and then open it up for settlement? So far we see that only Linden recognised Themed sims can be restricted to what eyesores can and cannot be built.

What about private themes? I tried in Kissling....failed, Tried in Roe....failed.

We need some kind of incentive and/or user controlled guidlines for sims also to make our own organised themes, since tax for total sim ownership (currently the only way sims can be user moderated) is a bit overburdening.

This is not a plea for reduced tax for the well off or rich. Just a plea for majority land ownership of new/yet to come sims. Rose doesn't count in this as I released land before asking for this.

Perhaps we could try a old folks sim as determined by you SL age. Where you have to be in SL for afew months to buy land there. So the idea is that only people that have some experience in building can build there, and hopefully the annoying people won't last that long.

Humm, interesting idea...

Very good idea. I like it!

Hey hey I resent that but I think your heart's in the right place.

I have just been here a week but I spend all my time making my stuff look nice and be as real and acurate as possible. I wouldn't want to be surrounded by hooligans for 2 months hehe

Just gimme my Postum and we'll play dice for your Geritol.

Just so everyone knows, its been deleated so the eyesore is no longer there

Ive also heard that ez moneys account has been suspended from a friend, to futher fuel this motion he came in under another account "Blake rogers" he logged off after i pissed him off throughly

Right before everything out there got deleted, I went and spoke privately to the leader of the group responsible for the 'art', as they call it. He was civil, but unsympathetic. I ended up with a loose agreement that if I could find somplace with elbow room for them to play in, they'd consider moving. Then they posted a banner to the effect, "It's official. kohne Kato is a nice person. But the art cannot be stopped." It even had my picture on it. (kinda flattering) So I forwarded the pic and log to the Lindens to let them know the realm of neighborly discourse had been exhausted. Then they came and swept everything away.

The remainder of the group (which calls itself the "Homeys" is still very keen on the land though. It's a cause for them, it'd seem. One of them told me that they'd be watching the land for the moment it was no longer Linden-controlled and then the prime harassment would continue. This worries me. I still love my view from my apartment! So, here's what I propose...

It's a nice big chunk of land. If someone wants to build something pretty and not terribly tall, then they should talk to the Lindens about securing that land. You'll have PLENTY of neighbors with all the ppl living next door.

I'd much rather see something pretty out my front door than a hotly contested wasteland forceably owned by the Lindens!

#1, "checkerboarding" is not kosher behavior per the SL Police Blotter. Buying up land for purposes of screwing with other residents is not tolerated and usually leads to two days in solitary.

#2, the Lindens already have experience handling these issues. For a long time, the Outlands wall at Jessie was absolutely thick with political signs. One party would put up 20 signs, and another party would simply build bigger signs and use them to completely cover the opposing signs. Eventually the Lindens went in and deleted all that crap.

#3, this downvoting behavior, which is called "pack rape" in another online community (http://www.everything2.com, which is a collectively filtered database and is about as addictive as SL), is inevitable. However, unlike Everything2, Second Life is a paid service and the proprietors are not tolerant of this activity. Don't be surprised if they audit their logs and suspend/cancel every last person that did this.

#4, I think there should definitely be a way to set up community standards. For example, no building huge structures that ruin other residents' vistas on the surrounding landscape. (That would apply to apartment buildings as well as other things... you can't have your cake and eat it too!) I used to hang out at Chip Midnight's a lot, and he had this fantastic view off his pier. Then some guy came in and built a huge phallic lighthouse (I am not kidding, it was close to anatomically correct in several ways, even if not intentionally) ten feet away from the dock. Perfectly within his rights, but what about Chip's rights? Tough situation. Community standards might do something to ease the inevitable tensions that arise from this kind of thing.

I think Bill and Ted had it right... just be cool to each other. Downvoting someone else on all three areas is nefarious. (Unless you are trying to teach a class and they wander in and start yelling and shooting and attaching giant objects to themselves... then they are fair game. )

Do you have a screenshot of them saying this? That is a really bad attitude on their behalf I think. Why are they so hot about crusading against this apartment?

For anyone who might be taken in by the Homeys' little two-man peace march and the shamelessly silly shouted slogans, I'd like to bring a point up. Peaceful protest only makes sense when a non-empowered group is being trampled by a forceful group who fails to sit down and talk reasonably about the other party's needs. So who is that force?

The Lindens? Heck no. As far as I know, they gave ample time and opportunity for a resolution between the apartment dwellers and the Homeys to be worked out. I'm guessing that when they found out the leader was simply a reincarnation of EZ Money, an already-banned SLer, they swept him and his little project away. (I think he's back though as PopPop Money. What a rube. Sit-ins do not include private property like my apartment. :/ )

Aiko Wu and the apartment dwellers? Well, there's been some childish heckling on both sides, to be sure. But the Homeys seem determined not only to do their 'art' (which is not the problem), but to do it right in the way of our view. Keep in mind that they are not forced to do it there because of shortage of land, but merely preference. It is because of this preference that they refuse to negotiate. Absolutely silly.

What it boils down to, I think, is this:

If ya wanna protest peacefully and shout PG slogans (PG sim), you go right ahead. But coming into my apartment is not only violating the TOS, but pissing me off. Even if you're playing like it's some sort of sit in, I will run to the Lindens and file harassment without the slightest pang of guilt.

I have something to say here...

I moved out of the apartments today because Charlie and Lynnix moved I moved there to enjoy the peacefulness of their beautiful home the landscape and the flat in which i resided. I had hoped that this would be my final home a place to get away from it all and just relax. Rose turned into WWIII last night and like Charlie and Lynn I too decided to leave. I just want to have one place not associated with any projects I am involved in a place where there are no demands on my time no politics and no hustle and bustle.

I dream of living in a neighborhood type of setting a small town a village of sorts. I want my creativity to spring from me in full force and I want to see one home finished from begining to end. I do not want to live next to a big ugly box I dont want sounds blaring and pounding from every direction.

Nieve?? you bet but if not in SL to fulfill these dreams then where?

I ask with an open mind and a hand out that the Lindens hear the residents like me who ask in a gental manner....

"Help us, Help you"

We cannot have a community if anarcy is free to do as they please to what is suppose to be a beatiful peaceful place that at least some of us which to have. This is my dream.

To make this a reality is very simple indeed make a sim like bordman give us a chance at a decent piece of land let us earn the power to self govern let us show you the gardens and parks we can build. Dont restrict us to a plot of land no bigger than the box you expect us to live in. Restrict some terriforming fine with me restict the height to a reasonable level again fine with me. Let us show you our talents let us show you what we can accomplish. All you have to do is give us the space in which to do it.

Eutopia well why the hell not this sure isn't 1st life, is it?

Cat

I rented yesterday spent a lot of the day and money decorating. Then last night as I am working my downstairs neighbors show up. Playing music over and over and discussing things like sex toys and such in public chat. I asked them politly to stop it only caused them to do it more. I will be moving out today.I have looked so long for a peacful place to hang my hat and t never works. I have never said "Lindens" do this but please please please make a sim where those of us who want to play and live in harmony can.

This is a great read (for players and Lindens alike):
http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html

The preference the Lindens show toward formal groups can be understood in the examples this guy shows from earlier online communities. If you want to create a peaceful atmosphere you'll do yourself and the Lindens a big favor by organizing an in-game group to do so.

Perhaps I have one solution, not the solution for all but perhaps for some

May I have an island please ;)

Just to make things straight.....

The peace part of the demonstration was only me...silently protesting against both arguing sides...casue they were all acting like 5-year-olds.

(I was the one handing out those peacesigns)

Did you also, perhaps, consider joining a project sim? As the building there is controlled, perhaps it's more what you seek, and still allows for the Lindens to properly use resources.