The Good Neighbors™ Sign Subsystem 1.0
The Good Neighbors™ system is a single script, which can be retrofitted into any sign system as a copy/no tranfer version, by the sign owner...for billboards, sale signs, real estate signs, etc. It allows for the sign owner/advertiser to truly be a good neighbor to those that own land in the general area of their signs.
The system is designed to attempt to help folks get along together in Second Life™ by compromising...not everyone has the same goals or desires, and this is our attempt to help everyone maintain more cordial relationships while dealing with the volatile subject of billboards, advertisements and for sale signs on the mainland. The land sellers and advertisers that use the Good Neighbors™ system will have a reputation for BEING good neighbors.
We are all aware that there are restrictions on the number, type, size and density of signs and billboards that any one advertiser can place on their own land on the mainland. One sign per sim, no taller than 8m, etc...but...between real estate companyies and multiple advertisers, there can still be a large number of signs in view of any residents home...there are restrictions, but there is not a total ban on signs and billboards on the mainland, nor will there ever be. The high density ad farms may be a thing of the past for the most part, but all it takes is one sign or billboard to ruin a view. This engenders animosity between advertisers who are just trying to run a business, and landowners that want an unimpeded view over land owned by the advertiser. I can certainly understand everyone's point of view. The advertisers own the land they are advertising on, and dont want someone that doesn't pay the tier for that ad land to dictate what they can do with it....the neighboring residents feel they have an expectation of an unimpeded view...over land they dont own...it's always going to be an emotional issue.
Once the script is installed in their signs, the sign owner can distribute Good Neighbor™ equipped signs and billboards anywhere. The system allows the mere presence of any of the surrounding landowners, when the landowners are in residence on their land, to make the billboard invisible. If only landowners are within the range (up to 96m)of the billboard, the billboard remains invisible. If a potential viewer of the ad comes along (someone NOT in the neighbors list) the billboard will turn visible for the duration of that person remaining in range of the sign, and then the sign will revert to invisible when they have left.
When none of the local landowners are in residence (within range of the sign) which will be a majority of the time, the billboard will be visible, since there are no neighbors to offend with it's presence...Sounds fairly simple, right....but here is where it becomes truly unique.
Obviously the sign owners can't be expected to run around all day, adding names to the neighbors list in their various signs. So we have created a way for the local landowners to be able to proactively and selectively add names to the advertisers signs with the Good Neighbor Landowner Module™, simply by standing on their own land, rezzing the free module (the module will check to make sure that the owner of the module and the owner of the land it is on are the same, so if on group land it must be deeded), touching it, and chatting a name. They can chat their own name, or the name of a visitor(s). The object will communicate to every Good Neighbor™ equipped sign within 100m, and will add that avatar name to the neighbors list. This Good Neighbor™ list is dynamic and will retain the names of landowners until the script is reset, and will retain the name of non-landowners added to it by the landownerfor 48 hours.
This allows land owners to have visitors over(someone not on the neighbors list), and still maintain their unimpeded view. The land owner can leave the object rezzed out, adding names as they wish. In the event that the Good Neighbor™ script in the sign is reset, it polls any surrounding Good Neighbor Landowner Modules™ for their lists of names.
The Good Neighbor Landowner Modules™ are universal, in that any module will work with any Good Neighbor™ equipped sign or billboard in the vicinity, and can either be distributed by the billboard/sign itself...or the sign owners can send them out to anyone that requests one. They will also be available for free on Xstreet™ and in the Temporal Gadgets™ Stores.
The module can be anything, it can look like a potted plant, a tree, anything that can contain a script. The caveats are that the Good Neighbor Landowner Modules™ can only be used by land owners and are only effective if the owner is in residence ON his or her land. This prevents griefers from gaming the system to cause advertisers issues. The entire system works in world, doesn't require any out of world resources...and is simple to use and is exceptionally low lag.