Griefing Diminishment

I realize much has been ranted about the griefing problem already; and I honestly think we've all heard enough about the specific incidents as we can take.
I've been waiting for some of the fixes LL is offering landowners; being a bit cynical about them, I'll still try to give them a chance.
It seems obvious to me, however, that the only real solution to minimizing the griefing problem is to once again require a credit card # for all new accounts. I understand LL wants to increase the # of new residents, but is an exponential increase really necessary? This flood of potentially underage, irresponsible, bent-on-mischief account holders is ruining the quality of life for adult, paying members (and yes, even the adult, non-paying ones who are just trying out the game). Landowners, and especially business owners, are being plagued by griefers who cannot be banned, as they have numerous free accts under different names--so they are untraceable by LL. Others are extremely concerned (rightly so) that underage newbies are buying porn, engaging in sexual activities with adults, or are generally exposed to inappropriate language and behavior. What about the adult resident who finds him or herself being prosecuted by someone's parents for engaging in said activities with that minor? Do you think LL could survive the lawsuits that would surely result? Will it take a Nightline exose to prompt LL to do the right and responsible thing and require more adequate proof of age for it's new residents? Cuz that's probably just around the corner...
I've heard the the CC -not-required issue is to enable more non-US folks to join the game. That's a wonderful, if inadequate, reason. Call me a little naive, but I'm pretty sure credit cards are used all over the world. Perhaps not quite so conspicuously as in America, but what's preventing LL from being able to verify a foreign CC? Expense? What about requiring foreign potentials to offer some proof of residency, then they can join without a CC? That would cut down on the griefing situation, if not eliminating the underage problem (well, the lawsuit thing would be alleviated, too lol). Americans would still have to provide a CC #. I'm American, and I for one don't mind the double standard.

I just think these issues are very very serious, and providing residents with scripting tools to prevent non-paying residents from buying their porn is soooo inadequate to addressing the fact that these underage and/or sociopathic individuals are here at all. Just chalk it up to an experiment that failed, admit your mistake, and please please stop letting these people in.

Dear Beatrice
Before you start posting about availbility of credit cards outside of the US, please take a moment to talk to someone who is not in the US, for example me.

In the country I am in getting a credit card without being a millionaire is nearly impossible. I have gone through Hell and then some to get my own card solely so I can play Second Life. I understand that for you, americans, 100 USD is not that much but for me it's almost half of what I earned in a month at that time - and that was how much I had to pay for my credit card.
I can name you at least a dozen other countries where situation is same or worse.

It's not the price to verify foreign card because the price happens to be the same. CC companies don't care about where the card is, only if it exists, is not expired and has a name on it.

Don't get me wrong, I am all against open registration but posts like yours make me a bit... angry.

No offense was intended in this post

Merged these. This issue has been thoroughly discussed on the forums; please search if you're compelled to learn about further history. Please also see Be The Change for more info.

We have already added a number of effective anti-griefing tools, and we're far from done. We're focusing on better Resident control of your experience instead of coming up with billing hurdles.