Linden response to racist incident in Ahern Welcome area

I knocked him out of the WA with me lightsaber ^.^...


ok that in its self is an offence.. but everyone cheered!

I am new here, so really am fairly clueless, but I do know this, if I had logged in for the very first time to that, it would most likely caused me at the very least to reconsider joining. However I also think that the almighty iggy is a smart and wonderful tool, as is the kill em with kindness mentality. The TOS is important, and the situation could have been handled better, but when you have a small handful of people running a 200,000+ community it is difficult.

First, welcome to SL Valorna Edgeworth It's not all argument and strife, honestly.

Second, I do feel that of all places on the grid, in terms of LLs profits to say the least, the most important are welcome areas. Now I know that verbal abuse is harder to deal with and make judgements on than physical and I agree with the earlier post that verbal abuse in itself can fall to being low priority as it can be dealt with using the mute function. However, I think that abusive behaivior *in the welcome areas* is something that LL ought to have a crack at trying to bring down. (I don't pretend to know the fineties of anyone's personal experiences any further than what I've read, which isn't the whole thread tbh)
It seems a little odd that there isn't a strong (dare I say it?) enforcer (phew, hope I get away with that one) presence in the welcome areas. It is of the utmost importance to LL that new starters have a happy ride in, so that they can be blown away by the ground breaking parts of SL and not *sent* away by the silly little griefers.

I spent all of about 3 seconds in the welcome are when I joined because the intro excited me to the point of wanting to explore immediately, I mean, YOU CAN FLY?!?!?!?! WOOT! so off I went . Other folks spend time there though (a huge number as far as my recent backtrack visits have shown) and they NEED support, from someone, anyone, doesn't matter. I was helping out new players quite a lot back when I was online more often and I really do care whether or not a person gets to see how awesome SL is.

What's the solution then? The mute button works a treat and I've used it myself, but doesn't address physical abuse. The Lindens are pretty swift (In my experience, YMMV) to slam on physical abuse though so I'll let that pass.
The problem with trying to mute a griefer is when the people being griefed (is that a word?) don't know much about SL, a la welcome areas. Which leads me on to:

Thirdly, I play a pretty darned good online golf game, and if you get caught (and I believe it's automatic and some pretty nifty AI) swearing or being abusive, your right to chat is taken from you for a certain amount of time. I'm REALLY not trying to suggest that anyone's right to free speech should be forfeit to the whim of LL, honestly, but how about an area moderator, a trusted welcome area helper, whatever, being able to impose some restrictions on (or suggest to the powers that be that restrictions be place upon) someone who is blatantly being hateful. Probably totally unworkable but I'll put it out there. Please don't bash me for suggesting the removal of free speech, as that's not really my intention. Or if it kinda is, a little bit, then it's more of a "lesser of two evils" scenario.

Thanks for listening and I apologise if any of this upsets anyone (I seriously don't mean to).

Btw. I normally talk these issues over with the missus, then end up not posting because she's made me see sense about it. She's out though. Nuff said.

Dave

Oddly enough, she came back just as I was previewing. She read the post and agreed that I should post it. Whether she agrees with the sentiment I can't say but there it is.

Not to be argumentative, but I don't think a policy of avoidance helps anything. A griefer is a griefer, he may get bored because a person avoiding him doesn't present a target, but he'll soon find another quarry. Avoidance only shifts the problem to someone else.

And you're right, lives aren't at stake, and the grid is in no technical danger. However, griefers do threaten SecondLife's ability to bring in new, paying customers. That may be something to take into consideration.

I think this thread also brings up something else to be aware of: The current state of the Welcome Areas, in terms of behavior taking place there, is deplorable. I used to enjoy visiting those places, offering my help to new residents or just seeing what kind of interesting people would stop by. Lately, however, the WAs have seemed little more than an anarchist free-for-all. Just the other day I went to help a couple other mentors out, and I ended up muting about half the residents present. Unfortunately that didn't stop those disruptive folks from pushing my avatar (and others) around with their own; it didn't stop the avatar with the giant prim head from whipping me and others about with his giant flexi-tongue. It was chaotic. I found myself wishing for a squad of Linden sharp-shooters. (Hehe, yeah, I know that's absurd in lots of ways, too.)

What Ben Kenobi said of Mos Eisley could now be said of the WAs - "...you'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany." May the fault is mine, and I've just been picking really bad times to visit the WA, but I don't believe in coincidence like that.

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say it would be nice to see some active deterrance on the part of the Lindens on our behalf. Incidents like I've seen as well as that offensive Klanner are unacceptable and should not be tollerated under any circumstances. I believe something should be actively done to disuade further behavior of that sort.

Dave, I'm in total agreement with this idea. We're not alone either. I'd volunteer to be part of Second Life SWAT if it came to that .

There are other ways to help this problem, too, I think. Currently, just about anyone can make a free account. I think all you need is a valid email address to start up. I think a valid credit card number should be supplied as well (without charge, of course). I have a feeling that there are too many kids sneeking into our grid, and making it a little harder to get a free account could help that problem. It might also weed out the folks who aren't interested in anything beyond heckling and harrassing others.

At any rate, though, something needs to be done.

-Phedre

It isn't just the new kiddies griefing the welcome areas with their mommy's cc details. It's folk who have nothing better to do with their time. Now, I don't think greifing can be removed in one fell swoop but greifing in welcome areas should be a top priority for the extended growth of SL. See above post for details.

Well since the new Non cc signup..............This is not the case anymore with using a CC....After HI being attached by brainless boobies. This is a strong as to being back CC ID signups. Atleaet they have to work at it to get in the game. instead of just walking in as it is now.

There are also weapons and they should have been applied liberally here by the owner of the land. If this was an incident on Gov Linden land the it is their responsibility, if not it is the owners. I don't want Lee dictating my sl experience. If you want pointers on how to protect yourself from the assholes, I would be happy to oblige with free materials....

I have had reason to call on Live Help when there was a person being very racist in his comments. I was not at the land at the time it started but as it is my Partners land I was IMed to be told what was going on.
When i arrived i asked this person if they needed any help to be then told a few things ill not put here. I asked him to leave a few times, also at this time i contacted live help, yes i was told to fill out a report which i was doing. within about 5 mins max Lexie Linden arrived and took care of the situation.

This is not the first time Lindens have helped me and i have nothing but praise for their help in these matters. I was wondering thought why not give the rights to ppl on the land owners access list to boot or to add to the ban list on an area. I am not talking about making an area group owned. Another idea why not allow partners that right ?

the welcome arear is a scary place for "noobs" racial attacks and offensive behaviour by "residents" should be unexceptable and warrent imediate removal. and the evidence should be gathred an email send to the offendeer within 2 day's inviting him/her back with behaviour modifications or stay out of the game. If someone makes a new avie he or she will be quickly recognised.

It should be easy (for Linden Labs) to find IP Adress and time in the Log Files
and report the Person in Question to the Autorities.
The Internet is not a Place of Anonymity, it's very naive to believe in that.
A 'Metaverse' or 'Virtual World' or 'MMORPG' is still a place where the Law is valid.
Verbal Abuse, Racism and so on gets punished in many Nations.
I assume the US is one of them - or not ?

Hate to say it, but follow the money trail like aways...I've seen Lindens show up in clubs on private sims multiple times for FAR LESS shameful things than this AND THEN HANG AROUND for 10+ mins to 'make sure the griefer or his groupmates didn't return'. The key here is, MONEY! Those sims are $$$ to the lindens and get Cadillac service for a hangnail annoyances...the WA are newbs and volunteers....they get the Yugo service in the case of emergency.

Capitalism carried to extremes is how SL works and it shows up in how LL enforces the TOS. Yes, it makes SL look real bad (can you imagine this in a magazine instead of the usual puff piece from King Phil?) but solving the problem doesn't make them bucks...sooo....

Nah... thats not right at all. I have had a few incidents in SL and have found that the way that the lindens respond to problems seems to relate in the following ways:

1. the seriousness of the problem
2. how many, if any, Lindens are available to help you with your issue.

Take for instance problems with Lag, if you were to message a Linden about lag... at a time where the whole grid was in meltdown.. perhaps you might be ignored or at best responded to by suggesting another form of complaint.

If on the other hand... Lindens are sitting around on their collective behinds and twiddling their thumbs... and an issue comes up regarding an "overhanging prim" you might receive an immediate response and fix.

Remember, SL is not a game made especially for you, or me...and we should/can not expect that every issue should be dealt with at the drop of a hat. Sometimes we have to deal with issues ourselves... sometimes, we just have to wait for help.
I completely disregard the suggestion that the amount of $$$$ at stake is the method they use for response...and would suggest that if, as "frank" suggested there were 30 newbies at the Welcome area...and there was a problem, then that would be a fairly major financial drawcard...being that 30 newbs could...in all seriousness amount to a possible $300 US worth of subscriptions...maybe even more.

I also tend to think that SHOUTING and swearing at the Lindens or Live help would get a lesser response. Honestly...calmness is essential with dealing with issues and problems...not hysteria, demands, shouting and more abuse.

I think it was probably a fantastic time to show a newbie how to teleport... (you could have even teleported one, then got them to teleport another) out of the bad side and into somewhere nice and a quick but thorough explanation of the best way to deal with greifers.


alice

Just ignore it, its juts text and graphics on a screen, your not being hurt physically.

This is hilarious!

That is a fairly assumptive, insensitive and irrelevant thing to say. I, being caucasian,
would be a offended by what happend in the W.A and you wouldn't be able to accuaretly judge how much so or for what reasons. Don't perpetuaute the problem, however well intentioned your statement was.

A.P

Wow, are you guys using an internet forum to have a long, tedious argument about racism? I've never seen *that* before.