The Second Life Sellers Guild Frequently Asked Questions
By FWord Utorid
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Below, behold the solution to today's Seller's Guild problem, and also behold my rant. I've typed alot thus far, and it has all been my perspective. I'm now looking to get away from that, to stop dealing with the Seller's Guild on the lower level which I'm forced into when dealing with it in realtime, and on to the better goal of offering something beneficial. I will answer the issue which was brought forth today and perhaps when the opportunity arises I will add more, although I may lose interest in benefitting a group whose existance and practices I cannot condone. I hope I help someone.
Turn this attempt to help others into an assault on my character and I will call you a fool, mock you, and rightly so.
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The tone here will be matter of fact, because I am attempting to present facts. If you do not like this tone, that is fine, but I believe this information to be accurate and helpful to resolve two problems recently encountered.
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Q. Someone is in my store and they rezzed invisible prims around my vendor. They are misrepresenting that they work for me. People are paying for items, not receiving them, and blaming me for the problem.
A. Turn off building on your property.
Retort Q: But... people want to unpack their boxes.
A. Your first priority is to protect yourself from fraud -- or you will not have a business. Break off a small area of your parcel into a separate parcel where people can unpack. No one can unpack anything if they can't buy from you because there are invisible prims around your vendor. In fact, if there are invisible prims around your vendor, people may inadvertently be purchasing griefing objects, and rezzing them may cause additional problems.
Retort Q: But... I rent my store property...
A. Communicate with your landlord on the issue.
Further: Invest in security or a greeter that will monitor your location. This can be a real person with an avatar, a scripted object, or a libsecondlife bot. The bottom line is, protect your business, protect your investment, protect your livelihood. While not the intent of this document, for a fee I can provide you with any one of the above.
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Q. "Carl SoandSo" is in my store doing bad things.
A. I do not know you. I do not know Carl SoandSo. It is simply not appropriate for you to accuse Carl SoandSo of something without proof. It is doubly wrong for you to do so in front of a group of people who may try to punish Carl SoandSo. It is even MORE wrong if you accuse Carl SoandSo of wrongdoing without giving Carl SoandSo the opportunity to defend himself.
This does not mean that I assume that Carl SoandSo is innocent, that I condone possible behavior, and that you do not deserve 'justice'. It simply means that you are not pursuing the correct remedy for resolving the matter with Carl SoandSo.
A. Bring the problem up WITHOUT naming names. For one, if Carl SoandSo is *bad*, having everyone ban Carl SoandSo will only further the BanBot objective ( http://www.angelfire.com/droid/banbot/ )
Further: You may ban Carl from your property, and communicate with your landlord on Carl related issues. You may pursue filing an abuse report with Linden Labs. This will be a lot more effective than broadcasting your accusation of Carl to the Seller's Guild.
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In it's own words: "The Sellers' Guild is a resource to strengthen the reliability and ethics of Second Life business. It relies upon the creativity and cooperation of its members to help achieve this goal -- not just for the Sellers' Guild but for the Second Life Community as a whole."
If this were the actual result of the existance of the Seller's Guild, it would be a noble purpose. In truth, the Seller's Guild is a group I can only liken to the villagers that chase Frankenstein with torches and pitchforks (while calling what would ordinarily be a gentle giant the monster), is a fundamentally flawed collection of individuals that spread accusations, fear, and ban people who may or may not be guilty of actual transgression, at the drop of any particular hat. It's been my experience, if something new or questionable happens in Second Life, the Seller's Guild will be on the trail to instantly demonize it.
The tactics and events that occur there are of no benefit to anyone. I've attempted, unsuccessfully, to educate those individuals who go to the group looking for answers to issues related to IP theft, Second Life griefing and technology misuse, among other things. Unfortunately, the communications breakdown that occurs when dealing with so many people simultaneously, a large number of whom have hostile attitudes, fear of the unknown, uncertainty about the future; and a lack of understanding coupled with no apparent desire to learn the facts of selling virtual commodities, has on too many occasions caused me undue frustration.
I've expressed this frustration in a number of ways, some of which were likely to be as proportionally inappropriate, yet necessary for one individual in a crowd who sees group behavior as clearly wrong. Essentially, everyone is trying to cope with their surroundings in a way that makes them feel comfortable, and in that respect no one is truly alone, but in the group environment what results is chaos, a lack of useful information exchange, and isolationist tactics which essentially render such groups ineffectual in their mission. From my perspective, it's impossible for one person to defend their character against hundreds simultaneously, and I've needed to redirect the anxiety that comes from standing alone against a collection of wrong, back at the group, in various forms for self preservation.
Today, that expression resulted in my being forcibly removed from the group, which will in no way benefit or free the Seller's Guild from harm, and in fact will harm others. This, of course, in and of itself is an objectionable practice, removing someone from a society where freedom of speech should be encouraged, for merely pointing out society's ills, is an egregious, uninformed, thoughtless process, and likely a sign that the group mentality is lacking.
As it has always been my intention and desire to actually help others to realise that 'the sky is not falling', that there are recourses to protecting intellectual property, and that there are better ways to resolve differences, this maneuver will actually only benefit me, by enabling me to relax and enjoy a world without the voice of foolishness interrupting my daily activities.
That said, the Seller's Guild has one less member, and I suspect at some point there will be another participant who will wonder if they should express their distaste for what occurs there. If you find the activities of the Seller's Guild to be harmful, I encourage you to say so, freedom of expression is a right paid for in the cost of human lives, and as such an obligation to anyone who feels the need to do so.
This event presents me with an opportunity to break away from the masses and their harmful collective behavior, and do something I would have done to begin with had I not found it necessary to defend the Frankensteins of the world... Providing information that will actually help other people.
So, with an alt account, I will silently monitor the Seller's Guild, and I will use the data obtained to add information and thoughts to this document which I believe will be beneficial in assisting others to manage their businesses within Second Life, or perhaps even to cope a little better with the difficult world in which we all live.
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(C)opyright 2007, Fword Utorid, All Rights Reserved.