Watch out for "land bots" ban this, ban this, ban this!

Maybe LL should put a 48 hr grace period before it sells the land so you can be sure

They'll probably do this, not to protect people from accidentally selling to bots, but so anyone who sells land at the end of the month gets shafted for another month's tier.

Introducing a transfer land option, most of these issues arise when people are trying to transfer land.

For someone who has never sold land before and does not know about landbots, this is an easy mistake to make. I've read it here before. I'm not a fan of landbots.

This is like the 15 billionth time I've seen this, it clearly states what you're doing by setting it for sale to 'ANYONE' in capital letters. The set for specific avatar feature is there for a reason, if you didn't use it, it's your fault, just like everyone else who's learned the hard way what a land bot is.

Hm. No wonder you have problems, you don't pay attention.

First, it's "Lindal" with only one terminal L. Not Linda, not Lindall...Lindal.

Second, giving the new owner "notice" sounds like you gave him a piece of your mind. That is not what I suggested. I suggested a POLITE message or notecard explaining what had happened and ASKING them if they would be so kind as to return your land.

Why would you "just move on" if you are so upset as to create a (useless and ineffective) group against landbots?

You are taking the wrong actions to resolve the problem, Art. Forget the group, forget the rants, forget submitting an AR and demanding that the Lindens "do something".

Deal calmly and rationally and politely with the bot runner. It's the only way.

Here, I'll even write it for you.

Dear Landbot Owner,

On (date) at (SL time), I was setting a land parcel at (coordinates and sim name) for sale to my friend. Because she has a difficult name to remember, I set the land to sell to "anyone" at $L1. Before my friend could buy the land, one of your landbots (insert bot name here if you have it) snagged the parcel.

My intent was to give this parcel to my friend, and I was surprised and dismayed that your bot got it instead.

Although I have been told that there's nothing I can do legally, I would like to respectfully ask you to sell the parcel back to me. I am willing to pay you (insert a reasonable tip here) for your assistance in helping me to correct my mistake.

Sincerely,
artandalottaotherstuff Avatar

Believe me, there's more frustration to be had from trying to adapt people to a system, than from adapting the system to the people.

Personally, I'd favor a nominal (say 10 minute) "cooling off" interval for land at purchase, during which time the buyer's money would be held in "escrow" and the seller could still "Cancel" or "Confirm" a sale. Only after that interval passed or the seller confirmed the sale could the buyer actually do anything with the land.

That's a nice idea... but I think if that was the case you would have sellers repeatedly canceling their sale over and over again until they found out where the upper level is for a bot buy.

I don't think any special 'cooling' period is needed, and I do think it would be bad for people in general. All that's needed is what Jack said would happen - that land doesn't appear in search for a short time after it's set for sale. Five minutes should be all that's needed. People will still make mistakes but LL can't do *everything* for us.

It's all a matter of percentages in the end. No matter how intuitive the UI; no matter how vigilant the warnings or detailed/clear the instructions; no matter how many safeguards you put in; SOMEONE will drive right through ALL of them into personal disaster.

At some point, you just have to say, "live and learn".

Selling land incorrectly in SL is a very inexpensive lesson, compared to many in life. People need to get some perspective.

Personal responsibility; it's what's for breakfast.

Introducing a transfer land option, most of these issues arise when people are trying to transfer land.

Make it more troublesome to sell to anyone than it is to sell to a named avatar is another option.

Believe me, there's more frustration to be had from trying to adapt people to a system, than from adapting the system to the people.

In this particular case, I'm more concerned with what's "bad for" sims than for people. See, if I were in the land-flipping business and Search listings were delayed by five minutes, I'd have a flock of bots like the grid has never seen, checking every Mainland parcel just as fast as they could, trying to find land for sale at or below the price where my competitors would buy once the listings hit Search. Sure, it could be throttled, but consider how slow About Land is now when the grid is lagging even slightly.

I like Ciaran's transfer idea. Of course it really exists already, but if there were a Transfer BUTTON next to the Sell button...

Selling to a named avatar is the transfer option, what does help and some viewers already have is a way to select avatars that are near you, making it a no type no copy paste action.
If people still manage to sell their parcels to a bot at 1 L$ with all that it is pure lazyness.