If you have any potentially "broadly offensive content...

If you have anything potentially broadly offensive I suggest banning anyone in the official Voluntteers group since they now seem to be the police of second life.


And of course I have two questions, first who made them the policing force since apparently the lindens didn't mention them in any blog post I've seen, and b) who is watching the watchers (original latin of that phrase can be found in my sig)

hmmm if this is true that they are turning people in for content in mature areas this is an issue.

However without more detail to go on, its kind of hard to dicuss whats happening.

The article on it from the Herald (gives away free grains of salt) is at http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2007/07/child-porn-raid.html


NOTE:Everything, espcially at the Herald, doubly especially by Prok should be taken with a grain of salt (and yes I can use Prok's name since he uses it as the author of this article and that's what I'm referencing).


But even beyond the article that is very disturbing if true and means that the volunteer group has been corrupted from it's original purpose and I dare say it should be disbanded again if these accusations are true.

Prokofy is absolutely insane sometimes in the comment discussions, but apparently very dedicated to discovering such things.

i agree that their are mentors and such that i feel are out of control

there have been numerous arguements and discussions in mentor chat that i dont agree with and i do know some mentors that go out of their way to find things and report them i have argued many a time that what a certain one is reporting is not offensive he only finds it offensive because he does not agree with it but i get cussed at or ignored by him

it is part of the reason i am not playing much anymore and do not go to most mentor events ill still help people and stay in the group to hear about actual important things to sl but i find far to many of them love witchhunts

BUT please do not judge all the volunteers by the way a few act

Wow, that group chat transcript in the article has the most asinine statements in it, very entertaining!

yep... reminded me of some of the discussions in THIS forum... although the ones here did tend to be a little more hmmmm... less (!) knee-jerk

{edits out potentially offensive simile....}

Disturbing to me is dat it's a sim I know (Nemo) being discussed, and it's not a sexual ageplay location.

Mari

Be frightened people....Be very frightened.

Ah found it by going to the main page, that chat log is frightening.

The chatlog is indeed disturbing. Thanks for the link. "A parking offender! That's against the LAW! Call the police, immediately!!!1! What, they're still not here after 5 phonecalls?!?"

But there are also some voices of reason, who seem able to tell the difference between reality and roleplay in a virtual world. I'd leave the Volunteers group if I was one of them, to avoid being associated with the AR-happy Gestapo types.

/Edit: It's often like that with people who desire nothing more than being in an official position. Give them a little power or at least status, and they'll try to make up for their lack of success and acceptance in RL by "doing important work", in a way that everyone has to notice how frig'n important they are. "Hey, listen to my latest heroic deed, people! I filed 6 ARs today! C'mon, someone pat my back please, I deserve it!"

To find these miscreants crawling around looking for cartoon porn while they should be squatting on a camping mushroom totally offends me. I seem to have this recollection from somewhere that there was a difference between photos of five year olds performing sex on old perves, and poser pics of 'decidedly young looking pixies' just sitting around. WHATS THE MATTER WITH THESE PEOPLE, THEY JUST BORED???? Let them impose their moral sensibilities somewhere else. GET OFF MY LAND YA SISSIES, BEFORE I SIC MY SHEEP ON YA!

This is not a official policy of the Mentor or Volunteer group. I am a member of both groups. This week someone started to yell about something they found offensive and the group members that responded to her basically told her to shut up. We are not the Linden Police Department and do not wish to take on that role.

Quite the contrary, I think what's needed is for people like you to join! Which probably means me too, and others who've posted on this thread.

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The Herald seems to have decided to squash the story.

Go to the main herald page, it's still there.

Volunteers have recieved no instructions or special powers to police content in Second Life.

One person happened to find the content, and because they were a Volunteer themselves, decided to use group chat to ask the other Volunteers if they should AR. This was simply a request for help; volunteers do tend to help people who ask for it and the reporter took advantage of the fact, as a volunteer themselves, they could use the group channel.

To say that this incidental group chat somehow reflects an agenda for the Volunteer group is a complete misrepresentation.

I have been a member of the volunteer group since 2005. Perhaps I logged off for a hour and missed all of these new directives OR this is a load of crap. Fact mixed with fiction with a huge dose of supposition and spite thrown in for flavor. Entertaining to the masses.

I am a Mentor and Instructor and 2 days ago another Mentor spammed our group chat saying that he/she had just seen a "pregnant child av" and got a few ugh responses but also got some mind your own business responses and stop spamming responses. Being a Mentor is in no way being a policeman and people who abuse the Mentor group by spamming such garbage need to be removed from the group, in my professional opinion.

Is it just me or did those mentore almost seem to get off on ARing these people?
damn it like the hitler youth in mentor land
I think people should go around banning mentors from their sims because they are broadly offensive

While I appreciate those mentors that have come here and let us know that the group is not being used as a "police" force, Robin Linden's response *does* give me pause. I know that there will always be some that self-endow themselves with broad powers, and it appears that the Lindens have not suspended any avs, I'm still concerned that the use of the term "broadly offensive" opens the door to mob justice and vigilante AR as result of assumed responsibility.

I think it's fine for anyone to AR something that rises to the level of abuse - but to do so essentially because you have taken upon yourself to be a mentor to newbies is a step too far. I have no worries, as I do not engage in "broadly offensive" behaviour. However - what if someone else thinks that I do? What if a rather friendly moment is overhead by someone who TPs to my land and is standing outside?

I was *really* hoping not to read stories like this when I first read the blog posting in May. But I suspect that this won't be the last of these stories....

The story still exists, you're only missing one letter of the URL (html, not htm).
Here's a clicky:

Well, as the chat transcript shows, there are enough mentors who keep a clear head and try to calm down the AR-happy ones. It would be wrong to ban the whole group.

However, I took note of some names in the chat transcript (since no one complained to the SLherald, I assume it's legit), and will ban the trigger-happy participants. Not because I have anything to hide; a Linden can visit and check on my sim anytime. Simply because I'd like to spare my customers and visitors from self-righteous vigilantes, where no one can tell what they might find offensive.

Good idea... spread common sense from within but I doubt I'd be mentor material. I mean, that is still their job I assume... helping newbies, not denunciating people.

Actually, tell the "watchers" (whoever they are) to keep watching.

Why?

Cause eventually the rest of the community will ahve enough of these panties-in-a-twist, holier-than-thou idiots and will ahve them banned from most of the grid that they find so "broadly offensive".

I stand by the statement "If it bothers you, LEAVE STUPID!".

~Jessy