Jack Linden Says Camping Bots to be Banned

On the Second Life blog post on Thursday April 23, Jack Linden stated the following:


“Almost everyone agrees that using Bots to manipulate traffic (and therefore Search rankings) is unfair. Not only with respect to Search itself but also due to the load on Mainland Region resources and how that can impact other Residents in the area.

"Therefore we are setting policy that attempting to gain an unfair Search advantage, by the use of Bots to inflate the Traffic for a parcel, will be considered a violation. This policy applies to both Mainland and Private Estates as both are represented in Search.”

Jack Linden posted that residents would not need to report violations, but next week Linden Labs would “routinely look at the Search results” to look for camping bots. Where they found clear cases, the owner would be given a warning, followed by “an account suspension or removal from Search if it persists.”

He went onto reassure users of other bots, “We will not be banning or removing Bots from Second Life. There are many amazing and useful ways to use Bots and the fact that in some circumstances they can be misused should not impact the more constructive users of Bots. We wouldn't remove Scripting because it can sometimes be used in bad ways, and Bots are no different in that respect. ... ”

Of land bots, Jack Linden stated they would take no action against them for now, except when overused, saying people would later be able to buy and sell land on the website.

Read the full post HERE

Here!

Torley Linden has outdone himself again!!! He has created a new site for the enjoyment and enlightenment of all sl residents that you must visit to appreciate.
You can fly high to see the fabulous builds and enchanting scuptures.
You can settle down comfortably to watch his tips videos in world.
You can listen to his piano music at the piano.
There are fun games to play alone or in competition . We played a game in which you will shoot bubbles at a fish to make it climb a “ladder”.
After the game you an relax on a raft in the pond .
All of Torley’s textures are available for free download along with a few other freebies.
Be sure to stop and read his lovely poetry which you will see on the walls of the sim.
The landmark is Here 45 , 95, 34 .

Who are you living next door to?

Do you know your neighbours? Check our Explore section for a sneak peak.

The TP Chain Bazaar

Sim Hop for Charity...details in our Events section.

Mannequin Model Search part 1

See what Dashwood Dayafter has to say in our Events section

An Extraordianry Artist

Paparazzi swarm SL artist Cienega Soon. See why in our People section.

It happened to a friend of a friend of mine...

Can you turn your back on yourself? Check out our Explore section to understand what is up with Dashwood Dayafter

Giving a Clue to the Clueless

I could only snicker when I read this piece from Wired titled How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life. It gives some credibility to the idea that its writers are better at buzzwords and superficial looks at technology than actual depth.

The poor man paints a broad, negative and mostly superficial picture of Second Life, without having a clue of its inner workings. He says it is empty with nothing to do and that big brands such as American Apparel and Coca-Cola are failing here. Let's help him to understand a few facts.

The grid is not empty. Sure, the total number of users is inflated, only active users should be counted. That's one thing. But anyone who took a bit of time to discover SL knows better than a feeling of emptiness (in human presence) and of nothing to do. In RL, people come and go from home to other places. A place that's empty right now will perhaps be packed in an hour. It applies to SL.

If the guy took the time to learn anything, he would have known that it is possible to build, create, dance, broadcast, meet people, etc.

The point where he fails the most is about business success. He takes the example of a few multinationals such as Coca-Cola and says that they are not getting traffic. That's for sure. I remember going to the sims of American Apparel, Adidas and Armani to find them empty... but also BAD.

Companies that throw money at a sim in SL often think that being present with their flagship products will help them succeed. They do not realize that they often do not adapt them well, such as designing a quality texture to replicate the quality of their clothing. Make me choose between a bad replica of an American top and a gorgeous, well-crafted one at Mischief and I'll buy the latter.

And then, RL brands fail at promoting their activities in ways that are easy to reach within Second Life.
I found the Adidas sim by typing the sim name. My numerous searches in the search engine failed miserably. They didn't even care to buy a L$50 classified, which would have been easy enough to find! How can you attract customers if you do nothing to reach them?

In short, brand power does nothing if you don't have product quality and do not learn how to fetch people. Did Coca-Cola and Adidas build their RL brands by sitting on their butts and waiting for people to come to them? Of course not. Why would they expect it to work in SL? Nonsense.

If companies want a presence, they have to find meaningful activities to make their sims compelling and market their efforts.

Is that too hard to understand?

Winter Fun for Charity

Lace up your ice skates and join in at the new rink
Read up in our Explore for more.

Mannequin First Show Flop

See our Events for Dashwood Dayafter's coverage.

Weekly Business Review - 2 December 07

2 December 2007

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, both in the malls and the markets. A relatively controversy free week was this last one, but still plenty going on. Read away.