Another one of those stupid/pointless things that I need to rant about (Pic included)

Oculea. A low-traffc quiet sim nearly 1KM away from the nearest telehub. The few builds the sim does have are fairly realistic and well constructed.

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/1026/rudeneighbour8gn.jpg

Then someone purchased a few parcels and threw these signs up. I see no point in why they are there, there's nobody to convince, just a few angry neighbours, maybe.

What do you guys think? I'm just curious, myself - I get angry when I see a peaceful sim disrupted with something like this.

Questions, comments and flaming are welcome

Unfortunately, SL contains all kinds of people, for good or bad. The sentiments expressed in the signs change (sometimes they have particles and sounds too).

They're there to be big, bright and annoying. If you look, then, chances are, you'll see the land is for sale at an extortionate price. Basically, they want you or your neighbours to pay to remove it.

Sorry it happened to you.

Well you predicted that dead-on.

Lazarus Divine. He's asking 4500 for a plot of 128. The level of immaturity he is showing disgusts me..

I say, let him choke on his tier.

Build a screen to obstruct the offending image and let him rot.

Tell your neighbors to do the same.

Whatever you do, KEEP YOUR MONEY TO YOURSELVES!
If he sits there, paying and paying, eventually, he will decide that his little message is more expensive than he was bargaining for.

This prat is engaging in a double edged business model. He is parading his "Message" (And believe me, I am no friend of the current regime, but this is an unacceptable platform on which to spread the message, since it only infuriates EVERYONE, not jus tthe Bushies), but he is also banking on someone buying his little plot so he can go do more of the same elsewhere. If you pay him, he will double the blight. And then he will double it again. Like a virus, it spreads. I have seen it myself in my own lands. And like any other kind of blackmailer, he is never truly bought off... he just comes back for more of the same, since his business model works.

Let's ALL prove to him that this business model is unacceptable.

It's unfortunate that there are people in this world who operate that way.

Aaah, Lazarus Divine. Yeah, we got two of those between my land and my boyfriend's. RIGHT IN OUR FACES every time we logged on. I PM'd him and politely asked him if he could move them - My fella did the same and got a really rude reply. At first we thought they were on unpurchased land, because there's a fair bit around us and a lot gets dumped and isn't returned, but we spotted the two tiny plots he'd bought. Annoyingly enough, one was a square my boyfriend had just sold so he had enough land permission to get a different plot.

We did buy the land back, and it was stupidly expensive. He's got himself a nice little earner there, but I couldn't cope with those signs. Have your political opinions, great, but DO NOT shove them in my face, please. I wasn't aware of it being such a widespread problem, otherwise we might have thought twice about fueling it. But hey, the next week I head over to the mall I have a space in, and what do I see out of the window? About five of these, most of them 4 10x10 squares. ARGH.

Does this not in anyway breech the code of conduct? I looked at it quite closely when we had the problem in case it came to it, but I've lost the text doc I kept the paragraph in. Something about offensive and distracting advertisment. Meh, anyway. He's not making himself many friends. It saddens me to think this is probably why some people keep alts.

hmm,

I think you can't mention names of people or avatars in forums specifically, but SOMEONE WITH AN EXTREMELY SIMILAR NAME as the one previously mentioned used a push script to keep my boyfriend off his land for hours one day. So, we and all our neighbors banned this person from our land, which surrounded his btw...and he sold at a very low price Not a perfect system, but it works if he doesn't have home set there, and if he's trying to get out of paying tier on all the small plots he owns. BTW, he's still on the ban lists on all our land

oops.. where's the edit button?!

Good work though, btw

EDIT: Oh darn, that's why there's no edit button, I'm logged in as my boyfriend. Oops. Now, where's the delete button?!?

Erin

I'll do the same as far as banning. People like him are not welcome on my land

I have to chime in here. There are too many people who think that this guy is just being political. Most of us know he's not making any political statements, he's just a land speculator who puts up ugly signs on 16 m2 of land in order sell them for minimum $L 500 - because no one wants to look at the ugly signs and will pay ANYTHING to get them down. Oh, there is an option to click on the sign to turn it off... but it will turn back on in 20 minutes.... BFD.

Nothing like a resource hog who has nothing better to do than buy up very small parcels of land - just to annoy and harrass the neighbors. Too bad LL lets him get away with it, because I thought harrassment was a TOS violation. Guess that's what I get for thinking.

I do love it when a plan comes together. (If you own land in the sim in question, just give me a holler and you can have the plots at-cost.)

I agree (millions for defence, not a cent in tribute)

This guy has popped up in Sugarloaf too on a corner adjasent to my property. He's got a 16m square plot and is charging something like 5000 for it.

He's got the same thing up in Moen --next to my property in Takalo. I have no intention of buying up his land. Let him choke on tier.

I didn't read all the posts so slap me if I am repeating somthing *working on minutes here* and I'd have to check in world, but I think the USA flag may be flown wrong.

I'd need to get in a check directions, but if it is, that makes this idiot just that much dumber. Anyways, I do have to salute them though .|..
And request that they move somewhere where they might be welcomed, like France, or better yet, my place *loads shotgun* (no offence to the few french I have met that are actually nice)

Pleasant day to all!

It's obvious this a**hole is using a political message to extort money, not for political reasons.

So why don't you all keep filing Abuse Reports in world every hour of every day until the Lindens start acting on this? Not just the people who live next to these offending signs, but anyone who happens to fly by and see them... I'm sure if Linden Lab starts receiving 1000+ AR a day they will wake up and pay attention!

Bullies are always defeated when the community shows a common front and get their act together...

I believe that if policy is not adjusted that tier fees for business owners be altered to compensate for lost revenue. For example, a landowner that pays tiers for 1/2 region should be given some consideration. As in any business, this would not be tolerated. It is extortion. In the middle of one of my lands (over 11k) there are three 64 sq. m parcels set to sell for 20k. The signs are at angles in which I would have to set back considerably a wall or whatnot, therefore lessening the true available area than what I am paying for. The anti-extortion kit is a nice tool, but it does not solve the problem. I have sent a formal notice that I will take action if my tiers are not adjusted if this problem persists. It's either Mr. Divine adjust his price, policy is changed, or suit is filed. I practice law here in the United States and I know that no matter where the business lie, in cyberspace or three blocks down, there are laws that protect business owners. It is not a political standpoint on my behalf whatsoever, I am not even from the United States. It is not even a moral standpoint. It is an ethical one. As a successful business, Linden Labs should understand this. Of course Mr. Divine has the right to do whatever he wishes with his land.. however, if it causes loss of revenue, disturbance or distress to local residents or business owners, tier fees should reflect this. Why pay a full tier for a land that part of is unusable due to walls and trees, etc.? It undermines the creativity and visions we had when we bought it, in short, misrepresentation of sale in question. Since this liability does not lie with the original land owner, it can only trace back to one source which is Linden Labs. Don't get me wrong, I love Second Life and Linden Labs is an incredible company to do business with. The next 'bug' they should fix would be to either change policy or to adjust the tiers if ALL of the owned land cannot be used due to these signs and banners. Remember, we are paying real life currency for these tiers. It should be given the kind of time and attention as any other bug in world. Compensation could come from addition prim land, also. For the prims to put up a wall spanning from 2k long and 100 m high... it is not just to put that type of strain on residents. This isn't just an annoyance, it is a real issue that need be addressed.

Ugh, I've ARed the guy a couple of times.. response: it has been resolved.... ok what did they do? As far as I can tell... NOT A DAMN THING! Just went to one of the places he's got his garbage on... 16 for $5000. Still. After ARs. Why don't they tell you that they either are not going to do anything about jerks like this or what they did to "resolve" the issue? GRRRRR I think I need some good drugs now.

I agree with the sentement of the signs, but maybe a tasteful yard sign would have been better.

Simone

Same here.


I know how the original poster feels though. I had a little home and hotspring built on top of a mountain. Nice and peaceful. Then one day someone decided that the lot ajacent to mine was the perfect place for a big ugly neon red porn shop with a revolving sign. Talk about spoiling the view.


The owner turned out to be basically nice though, so I couldn't bring myself to gripe about it. So I'm stuck living beside this big tacky thing.

If the sign is encroaching on your land, you should damn well be able to return it. Or if not (I haven't had that problem, so I haven't tried), you should be able to get a Linden to come and return it for you.
That's really weird. OnArt buy and sell land... why would they do something to reduce its value?

people who said let these guys choke up on the tier I mean prem account that can pay for its self if hes pays like 3+ months can hold 512/16 = 32 of them ad plots.

now if hes like most who buys tier extra lets say 8192 for 40us + the 512 basic = 8704/16

Gives him 544 Plots of land all over the sims..

So all I can see is it getting worse then better. So I decided to solve the issue around me and buy the land around me to stop it but hes already got this massive one like 4 signs in 1 with a massive usa flag infront of my 6k sized lot.

I had the "giant boxy porn place" problem on my first plot of land. I had a nice PG mountain top, and right over the sim border appeared this awful place. AT first I was upset, but then I realized that these places always go broke and close pretty quickly--which it did.

The sign problem can be solved by surround the sign with a lovely landscape texture. If if his plot is only 16 sq m, just build a nice wall or waterfall. I suppose you can't technically surround it, but you could build on two or three sides and hide it from your home.

Better yet, put up a big sign that says "we won't pay your extortion money."

I am not a land owner but i do rent a store in a fairly large mall, and behind this mall is about 15 of thoes same signs, i dont have any political views myself but i do think things like this should not be in second live it ruins the enviroment and makes the offender even richer, it does not have anything to do with SL or anyone in SL so it should be removed. this is not right we need to take a stand against this sort of thing, it is happening everywhere on a very large scale, could possible be an orginised type of scheme, anyway lets hear more oppinions on this.

[left]The reason people like this get away with things like this is two fold:[/left]


[left]1) Folks don't officially complain often enough, and they back down too readily.[/left]
[left]2) Linden Lab doesn't step in to such matters unless it is seriously brought to their attention. With vigor.[/left]


[left]The TOS clearly states that any user doing something to intentionally lessen the enjoyment of the game for other users is in violation of TOS. The TOS doesn't state "unless the user has a political statement to make". The legality of this is established: freedom of speech does not include the right to stand in my front yard and spout political propaganda.[/left]


[left]In our elven sims, if someone steps over the line, we, the landowners, step in and say, "Listen, this doesn't really subscribe to charter. Could you fix it?" In all the time we've had our elven sims open, only one user gave us grief with such a request. That user is no longer permitted on our sims. Living in our sims brings a certain responsibility to community standards, standards that we, the landowners, set for the good of the community in general.[/left]


[left]Linden Lab is the ultimate landowner. They have a "charter"... the TOS. All users are expected to follow that TOS. If they do not, Linden Lab has every right to step in and say, "This really isn't acceptable behavior"... and the boot that user if the user cops an attitude.[/left]


[left]The only reason Linden Lab might do so is if a local landgroup gets together and petitions to have such things handled. If that fails (and it often does), then sterner measures might be taken to catch Linden Lab attention. Users are not totally without power or rights in such matters. If a matter is major enough (and those ugly floating signs all over SL might be considered such) and if you're vocal enough, you can accomplish things on this system. There's also a support telephone number. Have about 20 neighbors make a phone call-- you might wind up getting some attention. [/left]


[left]Bottom line: Linden Lab has a TOS. It works two ways: they have a right to expect users to live by that TOS, and we as users, have a right to expect Linden Lab to enforce it. When a user tries to extort people into buying his land in such a matter-- that is undeniably against TOS. Treat him like the criminal he is and take stern measures to handle the situation. File multiple abuse reports. Call Linden Lab. Taking it to these forums was a good step. [/left]


[left]Simply put: don't stand for it. Take every measure necessary to put a stop to this person and his mafia-tactic approach to Second Life.[/left]


[left]A suggestion: don't just do this for your area. Ask Linden Lab to shut this guy down all over the grid. He's obviously in the extortion racket. There is nothing wrong with Linden Lab removing all his lands and future land rights. [/left]

[left] [/left]
[left]Handle the whole problem and establish this user as a warning example to others.[/left]

[left]Just my 2c worth. [/left]