anti-griefer / security groups in SL

Okay, true...just wondered if anyone has had a similar experience. It was my first incident with griefing, so I just thought I'd ask.

Thanks so much

Mine didn't try ta be "class" about it, they just came into our Land w/ Flower print shorts & Giant Flexi (yeah, yeah, PG wording) "Flexi Penises", and used the uh...how do I say this in PG?

The "Have Sex With Other Avatars' Head" Griefer object. Without consent they just jump on your avatar and simulate ... well take a wild guess. Hate it. That object is all over the place too.

So we ejected & banned 'em, then they came back & left Poseballs of it around our property. A.R.'ed multiple times, no response. Sent in screen shots like I always try ta do. I report ALL enemies, and up til now my Reports got a response.

I think LL is too busy upgradin' ta worry about A.R.'s like this for right now.

I see this a Lot, and i Just have to Ask, What sort of response do you Expect to Get from an AR?

I've read the AR procedures and nowhere in it is written "...And the Wrath of God shall Descend Upon them with Great Fury, and Nasty Teeth!!".

All I get is an E-Mail saying it will be Investigated, and a short time Later another one stating it has been resolved. The AR procedures State VERY clearly that the Person Making the AR will NOT be Informed as to What action will be Taken. Sometimes, Later i've Noted with some satisfaction that the Offending Av is No longer a Part of our Happy Little SL Family. IF you want to know what action CAN be Taken, read the rest of TOS with regard to it's Violations, that gives you a Fairly good idea of what Can Happen. It is also Possible that All that was Deemed Necesary by the Investigating Linden was a Warning. That's Not going to show up in the Police Blotter, But If the same person ends up with a Few too many, they May be suspended, or Banned. That could be Hours, Days, or Weeks Later, so you will never equate the AR you made with the eventual article in the Blotter.

Unfortunately, As the Offended Party it doesn't fall to you to decide IF, or What Punishment is Required. That's someone elses Job, so if you are expecting your AR to result in the Griefer in front of you Exploding in a shower of Incandescent Cinders, and Flaming Gore, You're going to be Disapointed. If However this person thinks a Warning means "Hah! I got away with it." They are Just as wrong. It all Catches up eventually. That's why we see threads in these and other Forums Titled "WTF" Followed by the header "All i did was >insert minor infraction here< and i got Banned!!! "

So,, Once more, the AR process as stated in TOS does Not, and Never Has resulted in Summery Execution. and Just because you Can't See what has been done, Doesn't mean Nothing HAS been done.

Angel.

Ladies and gentlemen, you may now applaud this excellent post.

Very, very well written and well said, Angelique.

These abuse reports do work. They may take a lot of time to work, but they work. Recently, a very large and troublesome group of individuals were permabanned by Linden Labs due, in part, to the tremendous number of abuse reports they had been earning over the past six months. Yes, it can take that long - but it WORKS, and these people have been summarily and completely removed from Second Life, and may never enter again, not even as alts.

Thank you Kalel.

Angel.

For me the Bottom Line is, is there a group we can call on the remove griefers? I know the Abuse Reports do nothing. Is the only option to keep banning griefers from my land and store? I am not interested in having weapons right now but, it is starting to look like weapons maybe a good idea Also reguarding weapons, I have been on my land (on the mainland) when someone a few parcels over set off "nukes" and crashed the sim
Do I report this or do I just groan and complain with my neighbors. Will the lindens do anytthing to land owners who crash the sim? Can their land be taken if/when they do this on a daily bases?

I see some good folks here that share the similiar goal as mines.. preventing griefers and educating new members. My PD was very proactive and we often patrol around newbie's area and assisting anyone that may request some information or how to use shield and how to report abuse and so forth.

But I also am unhappy with some of those using ABSOLUTE words such as " All the time.." " always.." " never...", just remember.... there may be many bad officers but there ARE a few good men like my PD and its officers. Many members need to stop sterotpying us officers/ security/ anti-griefers... use your judgement case by case and avoid using hasty generalization.

Our PD is now gone, probably based on someone and/ or Linden's discrmination... and all of our good works is now gone. There is no one at this moment,patroling the newbies' areas and making newbies feel welcome and making SL a pleasant pleace to visit and to stay.We don't break ToS, we don't abuse our power, we don't break owner's rule, and we turn to AV and Help Request as needed. We don't carry weapons as except wear it as a sign that we are working,keeping SL as pleasant as possible. We don't wear SWAT uniform. We do wear police uniform but those that come across our path, discovered us as a respectable people. We are proactive, freindly, community oreinated and gentle policing community.Now this is gone, my goal and an excitment being in SL is hard to find. My sole purpose in SL is to help others. All of this PD building and the inventory that goes with it is COMPLETELY gone and I really do have a hard time taking back the joy I had in SL.

Beside,in my RL, I am deeply embedded in police culture and it is MY way of life. Im not a RL officer but I have worked with them for many years and presently incollege for criminal justice. I see it as a big part of my life and it is MY culture. And this is NO different going around insulting people about their culture. I embraced diversity of cultures and religion and am looking for them to help me design mypolice memorial garden. So... please respect my life as a part of LE community.


So next time, when you see anyone that help protected our SL society, do not be so haste and label us as a bad guy.

B.S.

Anyone who uses Griefer tactics to combat griefers are griefers themselves.

there has not been on police group in SL that has not done this.

If you're pulling out orbiting weapons and turning shops into combat zones when they do... then you're not better.

Period, end of story.

And there is no other way to fight the griefers... other then freeze/eject/ban and security devices that ban when someone uses a push weapon or cager. And the owner of the land can decide when that happens or if he uses them.

that is for no one else to do.

Agreed.... I have yet to see any "anti-griefing group" that wasn't composed of at least a majority of griefers, if not entirely.

Recently we had one of the representatives of "ATS Security" show up in our sim and start using Ownage or some similar stupid thing, yelling that if we had chosen their protection racket this wouldn't be happening.

Sad thing is.... If we *had* paid their protection racket fees (services which were never even offered, I would like to add), I don't believe that we would be safe from them coming in and orbiting people, nor same from other people doing the same thing.

Anti-griefer groups seem to be to be people looking for an excuse to shoot people, *at best*.

Well, since there are enough people in RL , whether from predisposition or personal experience, with bad opinions of the 'security services', why expect SL to be any different?

And to add a little anecdotal evidence of my own; I was in a club on Christmas Eve, when we got a visit from three 'police officers', 'investigating a complaint' of 'public indecency'. Well, needless to say, they found some that fit their definition (a reproduction of a Victorian photograph hanging on an interior wall, and not visible from outside), and decided to slap the owner with a 'fine'. The owner, to their credit, declined to contribute to their Christmas party funds, and sent them packing, without recourse to weapons. I wonder how many other clubs and individuals got the same visit that day? I just hope no newer, less experienced players fell for this extortion scheme.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few 'military' and 'police' type groups that claim to be anti-griefer, but are really just looking for an excuse to orbit someone.

ALL the "military" groups I have encountered in SL have caused me problems.
One I donated a script to I later found out was a covert griefer group.
Another that moved into the sim next to mine annoyed the heck out of my residents.
I've been hearing bad reports about others...

The 'police' groups are also problematic. It seems from what I have heard that many of them are protection rackets... or simply private security companies pretending to be "police".

Fortunately, there are also a few very good anti-griefer groups, ones that use only ToS-legal means, and really do make a difference to SL in a positive way. Kalel Venkman's "Justice League Unlimited" is one such group. They have a strict policy against weapons use and they primarily combat griefing by reporting abuse to the authorities (Linden Lab, and via BanLink), and by being "at the scene" to provide moral support for residents.

Similarly fortunately, there are other groups of landowners and estate admins who share information amongst themselves and can make a BIG difference in stopping 'griefers on the rampage'.

Over time, I've developed a checklist to tell a 'legit' security group from merely a 'griefers in disguise' group.

Legit groups :
* have some endorsement from the owner of the land on which they are operating
* use land admin tools (eject, freeze, ban, banlink, tp home, etc) INSTEAD OF 'guns'
* file abuse reports where it is helpful to do so
* work on the basis of co-operation for mutual benifit
* have members who are well known and respected in the SL community

Groups which are not legit :
* go to whatever land they please, without concern for the wishes of the owner of that land
* use guns / scripted weapons to attack griefers
* don't work with LL - they consider *themselves* to be 'the law' because they are in uniform
* often work on the basis of 'help us or you'll be sorry'
* have members who are usually unverified, under 3 months old, and unknown in SL

In SL, and in RL, the only legitimate police forces are associated with recognized authority. In SL that would be Linden Labs, and in RL that would government municipalities.

LL has its police force in the form of in-world Lindens and they have granted landowner rights for defense as well. RL government has sworn officers.

If you want to help "police" SL, then become part of the Mentor system or apply for a job with LL.

Anybody who tries to act like an SL cop without that legitimate authority is exercising very poor judgment. Wannabe cops are vigilantes, no matter how pure their intentions.

Plus some amusing pixel sumo matches at Second Convention. Batman beat Superman..but Harley came in second place overall.

There are however cop groups as part of rp sims and areas..one such type is Dark City Police Department. They do not exist to enforce TOS or sim rules, but the 'laws' -within- the roleplay. They also have to arrest and even get warrants (by talking to members who portray judges).

suddenly has a mental image of Sylvester Stalone as Judge Dredd, saying "I -AM- the Law"


giggles

*grins* Or worse... as Robocop...

Ohh... finally got the complete picture.... he storms in as Rambo and spreads blood and terror..... then arrests them as Robocop.... to finally to speak law as Judge Dread..... Owwiiaaaa....



Morwen.

Sounds like a "High Scores" table for griefers to compete on for top score. :}

A few random thoughts that come to mine while scanning this thread.

"True" griefers will stay within the ToS and find ways to be infuriatingly annoying. They are masters of taunting the less 'clever' into violating the ToS, and some even enjoy ARing their victims after doing something awful in the hopes of getting the victim banned.

No in-world police force is going to deter them from being annoying.

What an in-world police force WILL do, however, is mistake the "Boisterous Newbie" for a seasoned griefer. Boisterous newbies do one of three things: (1) Tire of SL and leave, (2) find something they like and start to adapt to SL, or 3) become seasoned griefers.

If you treat boisterous newbies like regular griefers, you just encourage them to take on that role permanently.

They want attention... they may be excited about dreadfully trite SL cliche's and want to "play" with them. If you can steer them in a good direction everyone wins.

--
"Please do not shoot my UNARMED guests. The rest are fair game!"

I wandered along in SL for quite a while thinking I recognized griefers when I saw them. Then I met a true griefer. Now I am no longer bothered by boisterous newbies. I think of them like puppies who like to chew slippers. If you beat them and treat them harshly, they'll grow up to be mean junkyard dogs. If you offer them something appropriate to chew on while they are still young, and give them a little latitude, you could end up with a champion show dog.

Soooo, you still think of griefers as dogs, regardless?

<ducks, runs, hides>

Haha reminds me of a site called "hacker news" back in the day that posted articles about everytime someone hacked an important government/corporate web page complete with pictures of the actual "vandalism". The page claimed they weren't promoting hacking web sites but were trying to make security people more aware of the situations. All it did was give hackers something to shoot for!