Public Orientation Island

I've been hanging out at orientation island quite a bit lately. I've noticed that a lot of " not so new" members tend to hang out there as well. Most are helpful, or just there to chat. However, there are some who bring their combat and anti-combat items with them, and deceide "what fun" it would be to try them out on others. Some also use the landing pad as a dance floor. This is just a few of the things I have observed. Personally I think that dancing with a sword in your hand in the middle of a crowd of "newbies" is harrassment. However, when I brought this to the attention of a mentor who was present, he informed me that this wasn't a violation of the TOS. Come on folks, is the TOS open for individual interpetation? The action I described above is a violation. It is harassment. A gentle reminder may have redirected this paticular resident. It seems that orientation island may need to have a Linden based security service in place to insure order is maintained and that "newbies" can benefit from the different stations without being intimadated or harrassed.......just my 2 cents

Ianna

Ianna, I spend a lot of time there, too. I agree that the "mini-griefers" clutter up the place, and can make it hard to communicate with the newbies by spamming the chat and audio channels with garbage.

Like campers, I don't understand what these people get out of coming back again and again to this one rather uninteresting spot...unless, of course, it's because they're pretty sure they'll have an audience.

But I have to agree with the Mentor you talked with. Merely brandishing a sword, or an M-16, isn't a TOS violation. Scripts don't work on OIP, so they can't do any actual harm. Now, when somebody starts brandishing a Cadillac, or a whole log cabin, it can get pretty close to a TOS violation, because you can't see anybody due to the large object waving about all over the arrival clearing. Or if they unleash an obnoxious particle poofer. Or if an avatar is deliberately pushing and shoving another, that's a TOS violation. Or persistent nudity, or "broadly offensive" (e.g., blatantly sexual or racist) remarks or behavior.

Tip: Sit on top of the "This Way Out" sign. It will give you a better view, let others see you, and prevent people from pushing you.

You have to be awfully tolerant to be a newbie helper. This is where the obnoxious people congregate, along with the newbies.

And...thanks for helping out. SL needs all the volunteer helpers it can get, official or unofficial.

I"m not an official helper by any means but I like to go to Help Island to see if there is anyone there who needs assistance...just last night I helped a new girl with some landmarks, the newbie kit and 50L...just trying to be a good citizen of SL by making new residents feel welcome.

Those who come to Orientation Island or Help Island with the intention of harrassing newbies are the ones who think this is a video game where you get to the next level by shooting as many people as possible...wish there was a next level (corn field) to send them to!

Ianna - couple comments...

- I'm sure we would all agree (well, those of us with a brain, anyway) that someone "dancing with a sword in your hand in the middle of a crowd of newbies" is annoying. Just like walking in a circle (intentionally) bumping into people, repeatedly playing annoying sound effects, etc. And, yes, there are people who seem to get enjoyment out of harassing others. Much like in Real Life.

- While there *are* people who will respond better when a Mentor asks them to behave, there are also many who will either ignore the request, or will become *more* aggressive, just *because* it is a request from a Mentor.

- While Mentors are "official SL volunteers," we have no special powers or authority. We are all simply residents like yourself.

- Mentors are *not* the Second Life Police... we do not receive special training or detailed descriptions on what is, or is not, a violation of the ToS / CS (Terms of Service / Community Standards).

You might already have guessed where I'm headed with these comments... ANY resident can take the following course of action when witnessing something that appears to be harassment (or other ToS/CS violation):

Ask the person to stop. In the "dancing with a sword" example, ask the person to *please* move a few meters away, to allow other people some space. If the request is made in a friendly way, there *is* hope that the person will say OK and that's the end of it.

If the person does not respond, or responds in an ugly manner, go to Help -> Report Abuse... Do NOT threaten to file an Abuse Report... that almost invariably results in a confrontation and an argument, and serves no purpose.

A common misconception is that an Abuse Report from a Mentor carries more weight than one from a non-official-volunteer resident. This is most definitely NOT true. Mentors are (flawed) human beings... we make mistakes, we get in bad moods, we might have hurt feelings and want to "get back" at someone...

All reported abuse is investigated by the LL Abuse Team, and reports from all residents are treated equally. This is, in my opinion, how it *should* be.

Now, I do not know the internals of LL's system, but there *has* been discussion related to giving some priority to Abuse Reports generated on Orientation Island and Help Island (as well as the 'official' welcome areas), since these are areas where one expects "newbies" to be... and it would not be a bad idea for these areas to be - well - perhaps a bit "safer" than the rest of the world.

Thanks for listening... Don

Thanks Don - It was good to get a Mentor's perspective. I realize that Mentors don't have special authority to inforce the rules outlined in the TOS. I did, however think that a friendly request from a Mentor would have made a diffference. Perhaps I was wrong in my assumption. It has been my experience, thus far in SL, that Mentors are pretty well respected. Given that, I guess my point was simpley , that this was a form of harrassment. Anyhow, the incident was reported, and I believe a warning was issued. I agree with you 100% about residents reporting abuse when it happens.

Ianna