Extremely Offended by Group Name Change

Hi everyone, it's me again, the famous SLPD Chief of Police... or, now, PD Chief of Police. Now, I don't want this to become a flaming topic as my last one, so I'll cut to the chase.

Last night, the SLPD's name was changed to PD. I finished some new vehicles and badges last night, and today I noticed that the name was changed.

I am *extremely* offended. I got no warning, no notice... not even a call from a Linden about anything. Now we have to change our tags, badges, nametags (physical), vehicles, logos, base, all of our own files, etc.

SLPD - SL = PD. What's wrong with Second Life in our name? Search SL or Second Life in the group search, there is tons of stuff. There are more dangerous groups than us:


That is an exact quote from one of the groups I found. In our description, it clearly states that we do no shooting/griefing and that we have no affiliation with LL, SL, or employees.

Now, I want everyone to know that this action was completely unneccesary. Police Dept. is almost the same thing as Second Life Police Dept.. I mean, really... changing our name does nothing.

All I'm asking for is that Lindens notify the owner of the group about the issue so that they can change it before the Lindens take drastic measures.

I just wanted it to make it known to everyone in SL that Lindens are doing something wrong here that, in my opinion, needs to be fixed.

Now, just for the record, something like this happened before: the whole dang group was deleted. Every single division, along with the main group. I am thankful that didn't happen again, though, so Lindens are doing better now than before.

But something has to be done differently here. One last question: was this a "hate crime" towards SLPD? Because as far as I know, we are of no threat to Lindens, but maybe this particular Linden disliked us. I am contacting LL about this issue immediately.

The TOS specifically restricts players from falsely representing themselves as having a relationship or association with other players, groups or Linden Lab.

A Second Life Police Department sounds pretty official. I know that the NYPD is sanctioned and operated by the city of New York, so it would be reasonable for someone else, particularly a newbie, to assume that your group is operated or sanctioned by Linden Labs, which I don't believe they are.

Don't be too upset. I got dinged when the TOS was amended to prevent naming accounts after copyrighted/trademarked entities. This was a darn shame, as I REALLY wanted to create a character named "Burger King Bling" who would spread joy throughout SL by handing out free hamburgers to anyone in sight. We all have to suffer occasionally in order to get by in this game.

hmm really weird yes me to... i'm very up set it said nothing in the TOS about it... and we Clairify that we have NO RELATIONS WITH LINDENS!

Dude I think you take you lil police rp group waaay to seriously but I do agree that changing your group name is kind of harsh.

In all fairness they should change the names of other groups with SL in there title or just not worry about it.

I am deeply concerned that people who see the group name 'Second Life Communist Party" will confuse it with the official Linden Community Party.

No, but really... it's kinda harsh to change our name without warning. In our group description it says this (an exact quote):



That's what it says at the very top of our description. It is pretty clear that we are not affiliated with LL and that we are unofficial, but I guess the Lindens don't really care about that. They were just offended by the name. It would be really helpful if I could get a Linden in this thread to clear things up for me, I have emailed support and the person responding said they "cannot explain" why the name was changed...

...

I think that this is a pretty clear case of not wanting their name associated with something.

Fair play to LL.

Phee

If I was LL, I wouldn't want my company associated with organized griefer groups operating under the guise of 'police' who have no authority and no power, either.

Probably more of a Marketing issue than anything else, this name change.

It pains me to constantly see posts with real issues regarding LL, however, the responses are in no way relating to the issue.

And this issue being, LL without notice, deciding to change a 'resident based creation'

This is one step away from a dictatorship with censorship.

LL NEEDS to communicate before they decide to stick their hand in resident's business.

I am not a Linden, and therefore am in no position to qualify their actions but I'll just ass my 2 cents for your consideration.

There are many groups in Second Life that have the term SL in their name. Sl Musicians, SL photographers, SL tringo addicts, SL Famiglia, SL Underground, the list goes on and on.

That said, your SL police group is very different in that it could potentially (Regardless of group disclaimer) mislead people into believing you are an appointed figure with some type of Linden authority, and, just for the sake of full clarity, a group member could possibly abuse that misconception.

It was not an action taken to inhibit your group or your intentions as a group, it was done for both your convenience as well as that of the common player. (Not everyone reads profiles or group descriptions.) Any individual or group that presents themselves as having the right to excersize authority over another citizen... as in real like Police Offers do, will have their name changed to.... you know.. protect the innocent

I can understand LLs concern over the initials SL being attached to a police force -- honest concerns about potential confusion for novice residents. However, it seems like it would have been nice for them to contact the group officers, discuss the situation and come up with a solution together. I know I'd be irritated if one of my group names were changed without any advance notice.

(On a related note: I *wish* we could change our own group names! I'm involved with some groups that, over time, have evolved and a new name would better suit the purpose. Indeed, the group could be abandoned and we start over, but that is a pain to organize and communicate. I'd happily pay another group start-up fee, just to change the name... ah, but I digress...)

They are concerned about what in terms of marketing? That people will come into sl and find themselves in a state of shock upon coming across role players and run quickly away?

Seriously, what is the downside? Even if some individuals don't catch the groups' disclaimer and believe that they are an arm of LL? Exactly what have they done that would make LL look so bad that this issue has somehow managed to even get their attention?

They just up and changed the group name without letting you know???

That boggles the mind. I've known a few SLPD officers, they were polite and friendly, never struck me as griefers or anything. Sure, they may look official at first glance, but what's that hurting? Having a citizen-run public police force that reports abuse to the (rather prickley and hard to approach) Lindens strikes me as a good thing.

Awww. You'll always be the king to me cutie.

This brings to mind SLexchange, SLBoutique, SLUniverse, SL Herald, and so forth. Couldn't those be mistaken for LL run branches (by newbies) of SL as well? Wasn't there an SL fire dept. a while back?

Those aren't in-world groups.

Well, two of them have ATMs in-world. Are you sure they don't have groups that those atms are under?

At any rate, I really don't see the difference whether or not they are in-world, they may still be mistaken as official outlets, especially by newcomers or people who happen across the websites.

I agree that an even-handed measure would be to ban anyone from identifying themselves as "SL" or "Secondlife" -anything.

It might be even-handed but it wouldn't be fair IMO; as you yourself point out, there are implications to having someone think a group is an official Second Life Police Department that simply don't exist with the Second Life Parrot Defenders, or Second Life Pie Devotees.

I'd rather be the Pope to you. But one of the Borgia Popes. That way I could declare myself infallible and win all the arguments, but still do that dirty thing you like so much.

You know....


The thing. With the bungie cords, the postage stamps and a sheep?

Don't try and pretend that you forgot, you naughty girl.

Could be and are... Live Help gets some of these every week.

That said, there is a world of difference, as already mentioned, between "Second Life (law enforcement)", for which I constantly hear complaints and questions about in Live Help, and "Second Life Purple Gerbil Appreciation Society".

Maybe its the 'police department' issue in addition to SL in it.

SLexchange indicates a company..slpd indicates official police to a newbie.

Yes, it's true most of the new Lindens lack the Flavah of the old time Lindens. They were all dearly loved back then... We only have a couple like that now.

And when you get Torleyfied you'll know that some Lindens can be a treasure