random invitations and IMs?

I'm very new to SL, so this is really just a question out of curiosity. Recently, I've gotten IM's and/or invitations to join a group or visit an establishment, but I've never met the sender. I'm wondering how to respond. I would be turned off if I thought that these were just mass spamming, but I don't want to just delete if there is a reasonable chance a friend gave them my name or something. So, not sure whether to delete or follow up.

Is there a way for people to spam with IMs and group invitations in SL?

Hi Lilliput! Welcome to SL!

I cannot state with 100% accuracy that these are random IM's and group invites (read=spamming), however I do know that I've gotten several of them (including TPs) from people I know I have not met and groups I'd have no interest in joining.

You could ask the person how they know you, or check their profile to see if they seem familiar. Do you recognize any of the names of the group members where they could have gotten your name from?

Respond however you feel to be the correct way. It's rather inconsiderate to IM or invite someone to a group you do not know without some sort of heads-up or introduction.

Just some thoughts...but you're not alone.

Enjoy!

Best,
~Ari

Thanks, Ari. Yeah, I looked into the names, profiles, groups, etc, to see if anything looked familiar. I've just been deleting them. So far, they haven't been completely out of my range of interest, so I'm not too sure. I suppose you're right about simply asking. If it's spam, I'll get no reply or a snotty reply. If it's legit, I'll get a sincere reply.

Haven't had group requests or anything like that but I've had a lot of teleport requests. I've cancelled them but then been unable to teleport anywhere. Been forced to log out and back in again after cancelling a teleport request. It's annoying to say the least.

if you dont know the sender I just delete them im sure is a form of spam
or advertising.
-LW

I am member of just a small number of groups.

Random invites (or TP's for that matter) I always cancel.

When I join a group I do for a certain interest in the group. So mostly that means I must have been talking to someone belonging to that group or I have must looked it up myself.

Morwen.

Well, if I can tell about my experience, usually group owners do ask if you would like to join their group.

The only time it didn't go like that is when I was over at the Phat Cat jazz club. While dancing with a friend, I got an invitation to join the group. It was uncalled for, yet the place was cool and I decided to join.

The good thing is that you can leave a group anytime. As long as I'm not spammed to hell I don't mind to be invited "out of the blue" into a group. If I don't like it, I leave it.

Some groups tend to be massive (and lame) chat rooms. The very first group I joined was the one of the Bad Girls club. My own recommendation, stay clear from that. The Odds & Ends group has strict rules and it's used only for communications from the staff. I like that. No spam.

Morning Samantha!

A question within a question:
I get general chat in some group threads. I close the IM but it often reopens. Sometimes a line pops up, 'soandso has left the session'. What does this mean? Will 'Bilbo99 Emu has left the session' appear on every group members screen when I repeatedly close that IM window?

I think I may have to cull my groups. Some have a policy of no general chat but, surprisingly, many group members don't understand what this means!

It means they're hitting the Close button in the IM window. You should too if you want to stop seeing IMs from that session.

Spam from group chat is such a pain. I once complained about people spamming me in one group I was a part of, and got a lot of nasty replies. From that I learned it's just easier to leave the group.

Thanks Johan, leaving is probably the best thing.
It seems then that if I'm IM-ing friends at the time, that I'm going to get this constant barrage regardless of my closing their tabs

Make sure you always pay attention to any listed group fee, if you're seeing a invitation for a group you know nothing about that has a fee, it's likely to be one of those "get rich quick" pyramid scheme groups.

If you can be bothered and you're quite sure it's spam and not just an honest mistake, you can fill out an AR as well for unwanted tp's or unwanted invites.

LL needs to fix the fact that whenever someone in a group leaves the session... it gets announced to everyone. Whenever I log in I get at least one or two of my group chats popping up with 'so and so has left the session'. I don't even get to hear any relevant discussion. So what do I do about it? I close the chat and probably cause a little popup for everyone else.

If I'm not mistaken, the little "TinkerBell Smith has left the session" only occurs if that person has actually said something. If you close it without responding, no one gets the annoying pop-up stating you've gone.


I suppose it's good to know who has left after they've responded. That way you know no one is there if you choose to respond to them

Best,
~Ari

Thanks for all the helpful responses. I've spent a little time and tracked some of these down. I think I may have at least one idea about what happened, in one instance. I went to two live music perfomances at the same venue, on the same day, and was subsequently sent the invitation a few days later. I'm guessing that the owner of the venue is able to look at a record of all the people who attended an event, and later use this record to send out invitations to join the group?

Just to be clear, I'm not bothered by the ones I've gotten, particularly since they seem to be things I would normally be interested in anyway. I was mostly curious what the mechanism would be for someone to generate a mailing list, and, I suppose I was wondering about the potential for abuse.


EDIT: Well, actually, I've changed my mind. It's starting to to be a problem continually declining offers I don't want while I'm busy doing other things. I'm upgrading from "interested" to "annoyed."