Land not to buy

If a prim land parcel costs 30$L/meter and has an offensive object on it, don't buy it. These people are trying to manipulate you into paying too much for too little. Even if it is actual prims you want, you can normally get a land seller elsewhere in the sim to carve off prim land for a much cheaper price from parcels they are selling. As long as the land is in the same sim, you get more prims.

If you are trying to get rid of the offensive material, you should realize there is only one way of getting rid of these people. Don't buy from them. They have to pay a teir cost. If they are buying up thousands of 16 meter plots like some people are doing, this teir fee will hurt. Every time you buy from them, you give them the means to buy up more land and start the cycle over again. If they realize they have to pay teir and no one is buying from them, they will eventually leave the sign/exploit/land scheme they are working to save their own pocket books. If people pay them huge amounts of money for their land to get rid of them, they are going to cover more and more of SL till all you see is 10 meter spinning signs.

Totally agree. What should we do about people that spam IM you about land for sale.

Sell them land, so they don't need to IM you anymore, lol.

you are totally right dark,theres that type of situation were i live in sage/mesede,mainly sage,there was 2 - 16 meter lots right on the corner were my land is and ,in the 1 section theres an annoying movie advertisement and the other was for sale,for 500 lindens,my partner doranda butler and i thought long and hard about it,but we bought it ,not so much for the prims,but just to get them outta there,and as far as the other 16 meter piece,we put some trees to block the ugly movie advertisement,cause we both love what we did there,and we,re not advertiseing for this person..but your a right,dont buy from them,eventualy they go away..

Well, it is hard to tell sometimes whether the person is trying to be exploitive or not as well. I know of both people you speak of. The one with the movies does not sell his land, and I have talked him into buying a plot on the edge of my properties before to get him out of the middle of land I buy around him. He doesn't buy land that sells near him, but he does seem to want his movies in many different sims. I don't consider this exploitive. Many people consider it ugly, but he isn't doing it soley to manipulate you into paying an outrageous price for a tiny peice of land.

The other person I thought might be similar, when he only had one sign each in a small handful of sims and like the movie guy wasn't selling his land. I thought perhaps he was passionate about his political message, and just wants to tell others about it with signs. He has grown though. He buys up all prim land people try to sell at a decent price, and he covers them with as many spinning signs as he can cram onto the property overlapping on to other people's property as well. He is charging outrageous prices for the land, and comments I hear from others seem to be that people eventually give in and buy from him. At the prices he is selling at, he will be able to explode all over SL if people keep funding a larger teir for him to fill up with 16 meter2 plots.

It can be annoying to have these signs next to your property, but there are things you can block them with: trees, walls, flowers, build high, etc.. If you want to skirt the boundaries of abuse you can fight fire with fire, and cover up the signs from your property. Be warned something like that will most likely turn into a abuse report war, however. I'm not sure what the Linden position is if he is on your property, and you are on his and his signs get covered up in the middle. Block your view of the things, don't buy them. If the person just has ugly things on his land, in the end that is their right, but when the situation is someone trying to annoy you into paying them money; the best thing to do is not pay them money.

Sorry to repeat myself, just rather agitated about it today. Found all my prim land bought by him. I had one person who is wondering if I am " in cahoots with him", because he is popping up next to my land, and on top of that I'm hurt by the whole thing myself as now the bigger plots I try to sell don't just have one political sign next to them but instead have fifty rotating signs hovering over the properties I'm trying to sell. It is now starting to get harder to sell the more of these signs the guy puts up. I am thinking about not selling prim land anymore, but prim land itself is such a large part of sales it would be hard to do without it.

Oh dear, I sympathise. I once sold a small plot in a corner of a sim, thinking the buyer wanted prim space, but they then erected a shouting spamming box which made the plot next to it very hard to sell and upset the neighbours thoroughly - I even got triple negrated while flying about elsewhere by one of the neighbours and received several abusive IMs about it. The funny thing (as it seemed later) was that these people never once took a short trip over the boundary to check the facts, all the while having their own shouting spamming messages!

I had property on 3 sides of the sign his spinning box did overlap my land. I filed abuse report nothing happend, so we built a nice waterfall feature to hide it and he raised his sign. I then built a box with the prims over my land and encapsulated it. I received a nice Negitive rating from him and was told by lindens to remove the box.. he then made it a single pane sign and angled to remain in his property line. I made a high three sided wall and blocked it from our view. Later he priced the 64m @ 2000L and my neighbor bought it to remove offending sign. I felt for her and gave her 500L twards the price as I was happy it was gone. Legal Extortion is what it was. Can't do anything about it.

In order to even want to become a premium member, one has to try to learn what all the terminology is concerning land, buying, building...etc. How to deal with honest and dishonest people here...and actually what areas are the best to buy for a new member.

Where should I go to find this out?

If we are all thinking about the same person with signs all over I have some news. I was very frustrated about the signs and have moved 3 times to get away from them. Only to have them end up next to me again. This time a contact him very upset. But he let me in on some good news...

*You can turn off the signs for 20-60min by clicking on them. Give that a try!

Wow. That's good to know!

Lucky us.

I believe Lissie Livingston has a plethora of land knowledge for anyone who asks.

Willy I extend to you the same offer I make to anyone who contacts me about the 16 meter streaming parcels I setup. If you are interested and find the micro Movie Station in your way I'll be happy to trade you the current 16 meter parcel for another in the same sim. I realize that for a lot of people it's more of an issue with a ruined view than directly in the way but more often than not I pull off a swap ending up with a better location (like roadside) and farther away from their builds and views, got to love win/win situations.

As for how ugly the movie signs/screens are blame Neal not me... "Cheap, nasty franchises all tend to adopt logos with a lot of bright, hideous yellow in them, and so Alameda Street is clearly marked out before him, a gout of radioactive urine ejected south from the dead center of L.A. Jason aims himself right down the middle, ignoring lane markings and red lights, and puts the hammer down. Most of the franchises are yellow-logoed, wrong-side-of-the-tracks operations"

Unfortunately, the 'scheme' is I suspect still profitable, even factoring tier:
Napkin-math calculations say:

4096 Tier + 512 Premium = 288 sqm plots
Tier Price: $25 + $9.95 = $34.95
Linden Exchange Rate: $3.90 - 3%, + $5
Extortion Price (single 16sqm): L$1600
Assume 5% are sold in one month.

14 Plots Sold
14 * $5.9 = $77.60 (after LindeX fees)

After Tier: $42.65

Quite sickening really.

Ahh wish I never saw these figures, makes it even worse to think about.

I suggest the following:

1. Reduce all tier payments by $1/month.
2. Add a $1 / month surcharge for each sim you own property in.

This would be cost-neutral to most of us, a couple of dollars/month more for a few of us, and $100's of dollars more for the 16m2 barons.

Don't want to punish people who own lots of land and are paying lots of tier (which this would).

Better to simply say if you own land in a sim, it charges minimum 256 tier for that sim.

So owning less than 256 m2 in a sim would cost the same as owning 256 m2 in that sim.

Hasn't it occurred to you folks that he's a genuine political activist?

It must be a heavy burden to single-handedly campaign for the removal of President Bush in these dangerous times, to say nothing of the tremendous financial burden which this citizen must bear monthly in order to finance his Voice in the Wilderness. If his prices are a bit high, he's still honorably offering something of value in exchange for a few paltry funds to let him continue his lonely crusade.

Rather than harping on him, you could try working on the basis that he's trying to do something fairly important, here. Taking him at face value, I'd say he could probably really, really use some quick, concise, periodic and sincere IMs of encouragement in his stance against President Bush.

And if the IMs are prerecorded, randomly selected from a notecard, and delivered by proxy, it's still the thought of a cheering section, standing in the shadows while the more noble spirit does the work, that will encourage him to go on. I know it sounds trite, but it's the thought that counts.

Just please, please make sure they're enthusiastic and sincere, and that no one admirer delivers them (or causes them to be delivered) too terribly frequently. That might irritate him, and he needs to focus. It's a fine line to walk between encouragement and harassment. But overall, given the visibility and focus of his campaign, how could he possibly not appreciate hearing from you?

Are you happy with the Bush Administration? If not, speak to him from the heart! Speak often! Forget about his piddly land dealings and let him know how right he is!

HE'S ON A MISSION IN SL, AND THIS IS NOT A TIME FOR SNARKY GAMES

-- jj

"Virtue is to be feared more than vice, because it's excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience"

- Adam Smith

Do political activists do it for the cause or their own ego?

Chrischun Fassbinder: I see you've become a land extortionist. Your new approach looks like something Dick Cheney would admire.
That Guy: What? You want to buy some land? Make me an offer. I've got tons.
That Guy: Who's Dick Cheney?
Chrischun Fassbinder: Heh, not at those prices. But at least you're stirring up some waves in the forum, doesn't seem to be anyone cares about your message though.
/130/7c/70914/1.html
That Guy: What's a forums?
That Guy: My message? I get about as much pro as con. I started a group. Want to join?
That Guy: Do a find on Impeach Bush
That Guy: I've got about ten members.
That Guy: Oh, and who are you?
Chrischun Fassbinder: My stance on the current state of things is this is all inevitable, doesn't matter whose the figurehead be they Democrat, Republican or Independent.
That Guy: Oh goodness. Don't bring politics into it. Bush is just an evil war monger. Who cares what party he's in? Johnson and Kennedy were just as bad with Nam, and they were democrats.
Chrischun Fassbinder: Who am I? Just someone who finds it odd that someone else would spend so much of his time trying to influence just 80,000 people.
That Guy: If I can influence 1, I'm happy. (There's more to life than second life) I am active in RL protests, TV, Radio, Web, and other media as well.
That Guy: Thanks for the feedback. I've got to run. I have volunteer work at the local shelter tomorrow morning, early. Take care.
Chrischun Fassbinder: Sure ya do That Guy, sure.
That Guy: (Family shelter, BTW, we accept all denominations, ethnicities, and political affiliations. Even have some Nicagurans whose families were wiped out by Regan's death squads.)
That Guy: Buh bye.
Chrischun Fassbinder: Read that forum link before you crash, I'm sure it'll give you an ego boost that people are actually paying attention to you. Given it's not about your cause just your land extortion, but I doubt you deep down really care, If you're honest with yourself
Chrischun Fassbinder: you know you just want attention.
Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
That Guy: Thanks Dr. Phil. It seems you started the conversation.
That Guy: Why is my need for attention any business of yours any way?
That Guy: Must be half of the US, the half that didn't vote for the greedy lying murderer, is just looking for attention. You know, like me.
Chrischun Fassbinder: So why are you selling the land at highly inflated prices?
Chrischun Fassbinder: Looks like extortion to me.
That Guy: So that it won't sell. Look in the land finder. That's how it's done. Oh, and if you want to buy at those prices, feel free. I'll reinvest.
Chrischun Fassbinder: Reinvest how so?
That Guy: You see extortion in this silly game, but you don't see extortion in the US's role in world politics. You're funny.
That Guy: reinvest...erm...buy more land?
Chrischun Fassbinder: I never said anything about the US being an extortionist or not.
Chrischun Fassbinder: Now you're just putting words in my mouth.
That Guy: Use the finder, sort by name, scroll to Impeach Bush. YAY ME!
That Guy: Chrischun Fassbinder: So why are you selling the land at highly inflated prices?
Chrischun Fassbinder: Looks like extortion to me.
Chrischun Fassbinder: But to reinvest one would have to be expecting some kind of eventual payoff. What's your payoff in the long run?
That Guy: Who didn't say what about extortion now?
That Guy: Payoff is getting the message across. Isn't that enough?
That Guy: Chrischun Fassbinder: So why are you selling the land at highly inflated prices? Chrischun Fassbinder: Looks like extortion to me.
Chrischun Fassbinder: I never said if I did or didn't see extortion in the US's activities.
That Guy: OOps, there's that extortion word again.
That Guy: Well, I'm glad I got through to you. That's important to me. At least you're thinking and not just playing "Barbie" like the majority. Good for you!
Chrischun Fassbinder: How did you get through to me?
That Guy: You ARE thinking, aren't you? Bravo! At least you have an opinion. You should be very proud of yourself. (and you're a damned good psychoanalyst)
That Guy: I really have to go. It's an early day tomorrow.
Chrischun Fassbinder: I inititated conversation to you because I'm trying to figure out why you're doing what you're doing. Doesn't make sense to me. If you wanted to really get people talking and get your message out you'd tackle it from a push and pull standpoint rather
That Guy: I'm gonna mute you for now so you don't fill up my mailbox with IM's. Take care, and thanks for the feedback.
Chrischun Fassbinder: than a singluar push one. In other words, cause people to talk among themselves. Instead you're pushing a one way message/sign on people.
Chrischun Fassbinder: Once they see it a couple of times it will be mentally ignored.
Chrischun Fassbinder: You option to spread a message, I option to contribute to a paradigm shift. Which makes the difference in the long run?
Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later. ▄

Impeach Bush Guy IM's me today while on my little 128 sq m plot in Hennepin tonight.

Impeach Bush Guy: Want to sell that plot?
Weedy Herbst: sure 5000L
Impeach Bush Guy: OK.
Impeach Bush Guy: What about the one next to it?
Weedy Herbst: its not mine
Weedy Herbst: all set
Impeach Bush Guy: I didn't realize this next one was only 895. I'm good.
Impeach Bush Guy: Unless you want to be more reasonable?
Weedy Herbst: ok, 4000
Weedy Herbst: same price as yours
Weedy Herbst: thats reasonable huh?
Impeach Bush Guy: Thanks anyway. Nice talking with you.
Weedy Herbst: not buying for 4000, but selling for 4000? is that reasonable?
Impeach Bush Guy: Thanks Wendy. I'm good now. Enjoy your Second Life.

By his own admission, $31.5L/sq m is not reasonable.

Impeach Bush Guy has singlehandedly crippled the market on small plots.

No. Or if he is he's of that sort that don't actually care about real people. I tried to engage in a conversation with him, I really did, but I might as well have been talking to an answering machine. His opinion of people who buy his land, by the way, is that they have more money than sense. Charming.

I bought a parcel today from that guy.

He went apeshit nuts on me.

I have never been talked to like this guy talked to me in 2.5 years in SL.

Can you say potty mouth?

If I buy a parcel and the seller tells me it was a mistake, I ALWAYS sell it back to them. I nearly broke that rule today.

This guy didn't bother to say "Hey, I didn't mean to sell that.", (bear in mind the parcel was set to 2.8L$/m2 when I bought - not totally unusual - I have found many parcels legitimately priced in that range). Instead, he just went off on a Tourette's like raging diatribe. He called me every name in the book before I could even reply. In the end, he did apologize, after a healthy lecture from yours truly. So I gave the parcel back. Now, given all this other crap I am hearing, I am wondering if that wasn't a mistake...

Any political activist, no matter how blinded by his cause should normally have the understanding that by annoying people you form an opposite opinion. If anything ever makes me a bush voter, then it might be this guy. However i don't believe it has anything to do with opinion, it is about inflating land prices and annoying the neighbours so they buy it off him, which of course no one would admit - do i guess bush is a good thing to use for pretending, since every halfways intelligent person hates him anywise.

I will annoy back and ban this person and any known alt from my land everywhere. The more people do this, the better

I agree the problem is totally irritating. Whether it's a money scheme or just people with no respect for neighbors that come into an area and then build huge clubs/malls/ugly weirdnesses right on the doorstep of otherwise nice regular houses and gardens - cutting off the view and spoiling what was once nice. I wonder if the Linden's ever thought about establishing minimal zoning requirements. I know you can't regulate against general ugliness and bad taste, but just as the sims are rated PG or Mature now, might it not be possible for a general rating of "non-commercial" to be placed on a sim? This would insure that those who buy there won't get something totally offensive put next door sometime down the line. I know that "more rules are bad rules" and none of us like that, but a general guideline could perhaps save a lot of grief down the line.