Ad Farmers Face Game-God Induced Drought!
by Jessica Holyoke on 17/02/08 at 11:02 pm
Resident urged to conserve ads as abuse reports fly!!!
Visual Spam cleanup – or ban on unreasonably land value increases?
by Jessica Holyoke
Jack Linden announced a new ban on Ad Farms this past week. While advertising is still allowed, it will be an abuse reportable offense when “it crosses the line into harassing behavior or visual spam, where the intent is purely to compel another resident to pay an unreasonable price to restore their view – then this will be covered under Harassment in our Community Standards.” After studying Jack Linden’s dispatch, the consensus in the newsroom is the Lindens will now use their highly developed aesthetic sense to improve the state of the metaverse. This new program seems to be off to a fast start, as Patch Linden reported receiving 500 abuse reports regarding Ad Spam as of 9am the morning after the policy was announced. Let us hope the game gods are up to the challenge now that the fallout and possible motivations of the new policy are becoming more visible.
After studying the report formerly known as the Police Blotter, I went to Sallow to try to deduce which Ad Farms were being warned regarding being spam. None of them were the Umnik Hax scheme, but rather a combination of ad towers, some of which had advertisements, some of which did not. Some of the plots were for sale at approximately L$46 per sq. m. and some as high as L$520 per sq.m.
The following day, both Tyrian Camilo and ROBO Marx were warned against violating the Ad Farm policy via e-mail from Harry Linden. The alleged ad farmers were given until Monday to remove any visual spam/land sale notices, lest their accounts be suspended. The location of specific plots where the advertisement network would be considered spam was not provided, perhaps so that residents would not be tempted into second-guessing the Linden game gods’ infallible judgment.
Former Ad Farm – now property of Governor Linden
In response the to impending Ad Farm drought, IntLibber Brautigan, CEO of Ancapistan Capital Exchange (ACE), organized a protest movement starting in the new Mainland branch of the ACE. He called upon every resident to AR every advertisement or For Sale sign, whether spam or not, in order to flood Linden Lab with abuse reports. IntLibber pointed out an Ad Farm next to the exclusive Linden Village community, that as of Saturday was not removed. Many of the participants questioned the responses of the Linden Lab staffers to Ad Farm abuse reports and whether or not the ban was a targeted strike against two major land advertisers.
In speaking about Ad Farms, IntLibber had this to say:
“Prokofy Neva and Shaun Altman both say its about the view but also feel that its extortionate that they shouldn’t be able to easily eminent domain their neighbors to achieve a good view. Its the force that is the problem. They think they have the right to take someone’s property at a price that only they want to pay. That iss government thuggery mindset at its core. People have a right to do whatever they want on their land provided they don’t cause a nuisance to others. Do you own the e-view from your e-land that you really don’t own anyways? What we are selling isn’t land, it is web server space. {This policy is} dictating the content of someone else’s website. The fact is if you don’t like an Ad Farm, you can always wall it in, put up some pretty pictures on some prims, and you are done with it.”
IntLibber did admit that the walled garden approach to dealing with Ad Farms was defeating the purpose of the farmers, but so long as the blocking is done on your own land, it is a land owner’s right to further balkanize the metaverse. In contrast, in this picture of Minerva from the original AVIX lobby, you can see one of five pillars from a neighbor directing people to teleport up to a store’s new location. That parcel has been AR’ed for harassment and visual spam. As IntLibber pointed out, the nuisance of Ad Farms is about both the potential of paying for overpriced land to claim back the view but also the risk of devaluing your own land when it is time to sell.
Tyrian Camilo, President of Mainostaulu Advertising was present as IntLibber Brautigan was kicking off the new protest. His interpretation of the new policy was that anything that unreasonably increased the value of land could be banned under this policy. So while giant pictures of Rudolph Guiliani maybe considered under this policy, so too could trees that might unreasonably increase the land’s value. IntLibber agreed with the basic theory of capital improvements being judged as Ad Farming due to them possibly unreasonably improving a plot’s value. Tyrian admitted that his parcels are considered unreasonable to many due to 30% mark ups on his properties.
As an aside, Tyrian Camilo owned Second Life Investment Bank which is now Second Life Investment Business. As a European, he was also caught up with the effects of VAT being added. When asked why he is still involved with Second Life after getting hit three times in the last twelve months, he responded with how he is a true entrepreneur and a true entrepreneur keeps on getting up from any and all losses and failures, and stays enthusiastic.
Tyrian does not consider himself an Ad Farmer, but feels that the policy as written is too broad and vague. Tyrian Camilo: “Bottomline is that I have done everything possible to be an honest ad network, and nice to neighbors and do what I can to support arbor, do what I can to stop ad farms from appearing (yes, I’ve bought A LOT of land on the sole basis of preventing ad farms!)”
In discussing the policy at the Protest Kick Off, it was brought up that people like Umhix Hax, who does not sell the corners with the ugly content, but rather the interior sections, would still be allowed to operate because of the lack of an extortionate price component on the land containing the ugly content.
Tyrian Camilo: He buys a 1024sqm, splits it into 16sqms, set some of then under market price, some insanely high with his ugly spinning stuff but that’s mild from him. He might buy a large plot, and make really odd cuts he sells for cheap, and in middle of the larger parcels are 16sqms with very high price and the ugly stuff or he might buy a strip of roadside, cut it into 16sqms, and put the ugly stuff on each parcel and price it like average 3000L$ / 16sqm. His sole intention is to grief and cause land values to drop. At least in [Sim name withheld], {they did.} Umnik probably also caused this policy. [Sim name withheld] is the Sim where Robin Linden lives, or so I hear, and Umnik made spam there close to Robin’s place … That’s the rumour.
I raised the question of whether this new policy is a land sink, a way to reclaim land and server space to keep land prices down. In response, Tyrian Camilo stated that “ultimately, this might again be one of the Lindens’ plots to keep land prices down. Stupid lindens think they can keep land prices down it’s not possible!” IntLibber Brautigan responded that Linden Lab can confiscate lots of land from people nobody likes, then auction it off and boost the Lindens’ bottom line this quarter.
Will LL allow this sort of thing to continue?
While the next step after a warning is a suspension, the precise number of days of that suspension is not known which leads to the point that the Ad Farms that advertise products and services are direct competitors to Linden Lab’s classified system. Garret Bakalava, editor at SLNN, mentioned how the Classifieds helped diminish SL reporting and now the Lindens are trying to direct advertising dollars to the Linden Classifieds.
In comparing the Linden Search with an ad network, Tyrian provided this pitch “Reach no matter if they searched for any of your keywords, effective branding and increasing brand awareness. Even if they won’t touch the ad, they will recall the ad if they see your place of business. {This includes} visibility in a lot of areas in SL, new users for your services.” Exact numbers and touch rates were not available for the campaigns he oversaw.
Tyrian was able to rez a billboard for comparison with other signs to show that he was not an Ad Farmer.
With the policy being vague and an argument that capital improvements could be Ad Farming under the policy, the presentation closed with the reiteration that abuse reporting for Ad Farming could be used as a means to bully land seller’s prices down for sale.
Cai Pirinha
Feb 18th, 2008
Typical, the sophists are creeping out again. The Linden Lab policy against ad farms is probably the single most laudable policy announced in a long time.
There is absolutely no reason why it should be tolerated that a few people are making a profit by ruining the fun for all others around. And none of the “smart” arguments from people like IntLibber will change this.
But, you know, if the principle the Lindens have introduced is not clear enough for your simple minds, I’m sure we can push them to introduce stronger policies to stop ad farmers ever better.
Talwyn Mills
Feb 18th, 2008
If the last picture is a representative example of Tyrian’s plots, I don’t really have much of a problem with that. What I think annoys a lot of people is the mile high stacks of cubes with everything from triple-x photos to religious symbols, particle spew and (in rare cases) sound effects. Cutting up plots and leaving add squares in the middle at extortionate prices. Setting up huge add farms in new sims hoping, I guess, that someone will buy all the plots to get rid of the nightmare.
Ever walked down a “road” on the mainland recently? In the new sims, where they havn’t laid any surface, the only way to follow the roads are to follow the add towers. Its an eye sore.
I was looking to buy a small area of mainland recently and I could not find a plot that met my needs that wasn’t blighted by this type of spam (If anyone knows of a 512m2 plot without adds, let me know). How many people aren’t buying land simply because of this? How much money are these people loosing LL?
Personally, I’d like to see a totally zoned continent with areas for residential and commercial setups. But this should be in addition to the current chaotic mainland.
But for the current mainland, while I agree that people can and should be allowed to build what they like, but it should not be acceptable when their only intent is to annoy or exploit other citizens. Lets be clear here, the mainland isn’t like the web. If I don’t want to see triple-x pictures on the web, I just don’t go to the site that hosts them. In SL, someone could plant one right outside my window and, before this new rule, there would be nothing I could do about it.
Corona
Feb 18th, 2008
A more sensible way would have been to establish some sort of defined rule – like a max square m of ad boards per sq m of owning plot – at least then there would be some sort of numerical value to mark the line of what is allowed
rjs
Feb 18th, 2008
Seeryez buzinutz
-rjs
Bob the Tomato
Feb 18th, 2008
I have a zero tolerance policy for advertising crap, and despite the spin put on it by Tyrian, I won’t “recall” seeing an advertisment if I see the store, except if I do then it’ll be in a negative context.
The sooner this sort of view-busting junk gets finally booted, the better.
Alazarin
Feb 18th, 2008
Why don’t the ad farmers set up their own ‘Free-Enterprise’ grid to fill with adverts to their hearts’ content?
y’
Because there would be no-one except themselves to abuse and exploit.
Ad farmers are parasites in SL. And just as the medicine is unpleasant, so is the new policy….. for the ad farmers. Sorry, I really can’t shed as much as a tear for any of them or their apologists. Arividerci… and don’t come back.
Nobody Fugazi
Feb 18th, 2008
Tyrian’s an ad farmer. He just doesn’t like that the policy agrees with the many people he has ripped off in the past.
http://www.knowprose.com/node/17496
Intlibber can protest all he wants. People don’t want the crap. Get rid of it. K Thankz Bye!
Spankubux
Feb 18th, 2008
Wow, that’s some massive protest I’m seeing in these pics.
How can the Lindens ignore such an outcry?
Prokofy Neva
Feb 18th, 2008
I hope the Lindens ban Intlibber for misusing the abuse report system to flood it with fake reports to jam the system. That’s a serious offense.
What alt does Intblub use for his ad empire?!
Even he concedes, “People have a right to do whatever they want on their land provided they don’t cause a nuisance to others.” But this IS a nuisance. Living on islands with his rentals empire and stock exchanges, he just never sees the blight and the deliberate malice.
Let him try to buy 4 sims on a 4 corners and thousands of real US dollars a pop and begin to sell them, and see the entire purchase devalued as one ad farmer buying one parcel blights the view on all sims. That isn’t about “paying for your view” which is what the snarky extreme Randians and anarcho-capitalists say, it’s about being able to run a land business without being extorted or held hostage by somebody’s “ad” business that has no ads on it.
The claim that Umnik has no corners for sale is false. The corners are priced at $4951, and the insides are priced at $200 to $500 precisely to encourage other cheap adfarmers to come in and flip and make the entire mess even worse. It’s the most nefarious and malicious scam I’ve ever seen in SL, worse even than the Bush Guy, who would buy and hold. This guy buys, extorts,and flips to other extortionists to free up his tier to lather rinse repeat. The Lindens need to remove every single tower of his, as it is extortion, without ads, and has no true business function whatsoever.
The idea that there is an absolutism to being able to do what you want on your land is one of the grave fallacies of SL.
Yes, you have that right. Buy an island. No, YOU buy the fuck the view, asshole. Buy it on an island.
Don’t do that on the mainland, where you live *with other people* who have rights too.
This absolutism and extremism espoused by Intlibber belongs to extremist political “libertarian” philosophies that are anything but libertarian when it comes to dealing with other people and not at all part of any mainstream libertarian party, but just kooks. It’s like the corruption and misuse of the Masons and Shriners in the way that Ancient Shriner and Chrischun Fassbinder blight and extort all over SL (the real-life organizations do not act that way, but are good citizens).
I also think it’s a corruption of the term “eminent domain” to imagine that individuals can practice it, or force governments to practice it on their behalf.
There are all kinds of painful view situations in SL that people have to live with or move, their neighbour favours giant lime-green prim lawns, the people next door have an ugly flashing badly built Goth castle with black clouds over it, whatever. Those are the kinds of things that you cannot reasonably do anything about on the mainland.
Signs that are extortionist, spinning, ugly, cutting up land, forcing themselves on the view are an obvious different case. The Lindens’ policy is far from perfect because they’ve boxed themselves into dealing with only a narrow segment of this griefing population and they should have merely stated simply that they were using existing Community Standards No. 6 to deal with ad farm menace, by their interpretation, and if anyone felt it was unfair, they could appeal, but the Lindens were moving forward with removing situations such as those created by Umnik Hax for the good of the public — and the public supports this.
Ancient Shriner is totally hypocritical in trying to parody people who demand they taken down these ugly towers as being “fascist” with his Orwellian posters about “We will tell you what to do with your land.”
Because in fact, this aggressive fuck is telling *us* what to do with our land: a) not use it satisfactorily b) not be able to rent it c) not be able to sell it.
I fail to see why an asshole holding 4 sims hostage with shit like that can claim we’re the fascist. He’s the fascist, holding the view hostage so that no one else can conduct business or live or work normally. The stuff sold off these ads is his own coding services, and people should boycott them until he stops this unethical practice. He also, along with Fassbinder, sells the cheapest low-life sort of stuff on the Internet, anonymizers or surveillance equipment or junk like that. Unfortunately, the Lindens do not make it a crime to sell this equipment, they only will take action when it is caught being used.
mymy
Feb 18th, 2008
Dear, dear, such language is not suiting for a gentlemen, mister Neva O.o
I must agree tho, an adfarm to extort people into paying insane prices for land is something completely different then simply having no taste and building something you like.
The fact that LL saw the need to make another policy for this I find odd, as it states in the TOS they dont *need* any reasons to get rid of players they dont like in their game, so they could just ban these adfarmers and reclaim the land they disgrace without problems.
I would find that idea a little scary myself, even tho it’s been in the TOS like that since I came to SL. Pissing off a Linden even without knowing it can cost one one’s neck on SL, but I trust the Lindens enough to not worry about it. Perhaps I shouldnt who knows
Artemis Fate
Feb 18th, 2008
“Tyrian Camilo, President of Mainostaulu Advertising was present as IntLibber Brautigan was kicking off the new protest. His interpretation of the new policy was that anything that unreasonably increased the value of land could be banned under this policy. So while giant pictures of Rudolph Guiliani maybe considered under this policy, so too could trees that might unreasonably increase the land’s value. IntLibber agreed with the basic theory of capital improvements being judged as Ad Farming due to them possibly unreasonably improving a plot’s value.”
I wonder if they needed a rope for that jump in logic.
NinaA
Feb 18th, 2008
What assholes, ignore them. People are still free to build the most hideous buildings ever full of adverts, they just can’t do it with the sole purpose of getting thousands above the usual value from the neighbouring parcels.
Anonymous
Feb 18th, 2008
Looks like Prokofy Neva is becoming more Rabid by the day.
Hurry, see a doctor before it is too late! I can hear the slobber hitting your keyboard from here.
Tyrian Camilo
Feb 18th, 2008
Nobody Fugazi is a known griefer and extortionist against him, he’s been busted many many times over already for that
He still continues for some reason tho :O
some of the commenters hate all advertising. Advertising is something necessary for businesses.
That really is a true representative of our billboards, and we’ve always honored ourselves by having the nicest billboards you can find, furthermore, we have some quite interesting advertising clients
oh and it was SL Investor’s Bank not Second Life Investment Bank, and we are now SL International Business
IntLibber Brautigan
Feb 18th, 2008
Prok,
I don’t own any ad network on any alt whatsoever.
Unlike self centered slanderous sleazeballs like yourself, I stand for things on principle. Your PTA-Fascism is completely diametrically opposed to the spirit of SL, which is based on unfettered free market capitalism. Dont like it? Go to some socialist virtual world.
I oppose the adfarming rule not out of personal interest, but because allowing it is a slippery slope of busybody asshattedness where everybody gets to decide what you are allowed to do on your own land. Thats one of the reasons RL is so messed up, but y’all want to make SL suck as bad as RL, then nobody will see a point of coming to SL.
IntLibber Brautigan
Feb 18th, 2008
Seems I have an imitator myself now I suppose I should be flattered.
I will repeat this again Prok, cease your slander or I will set up a nice adfarm on McFizgig’s land right next to your “tenants”. You will be able to stare at the nice ads all night and day.
I said I would do so and what you pass as your blog and it bears repeating here.
Cocoanut Koala
Feb 18th, 2008
SL sucks WORSE than RL when it comes to land, billboards, and the like, Intlibber (or Intlibber’s Impostor). You just want it to stay that way.
Nobody’s “rights” are being abrogated here. You can sell your 16m for whatever outrageous price you like. Just don’t put signs on it. Or, go ahead and put your signs, just don’t put the land for sale.
Flooding the abuse system – isn’t that a TOS offense right there? Are you doing this yourself, or just recommending others do it?
coco
Prokofy Neva
Feb 18th, 2008
If you don’t have any ad networks under an alt, Intlibber, than it’s no strike against any of your interests, and your rabid zeal over protecting the ability of these people to extort is completely insane. An understandable position might be an expression that such Linden policy might go too far and begin to affect any build, or any expensive land, and then people could support that interpretation.
But support of extremist, malicious ad-farmers like Umnik, who are not even selling ad space, but are just holding the population hostage to a psychotic scheme and profiting from it, only exposes you as an extremist yourself.
As for claiming that you can tell people on the mainland to “buy the view” — you don’t have a case, as I explained above. And I speak as someone who has bought more view than even your huge ass could cover.
Buying the view is an option — on islands. There, it makes sense. Those that want to put up ads and tell people to “buy the view” can do so on…their own islands, on their own continents where buying the view is a reasonable option.
The mainland is a shared space, and no one should be Shanhaied into “buying the view” as an extortionist tactic. It’s crime, not freedom. “Buying the view” shouldn’t have to mean buying a 16 m2 visible on 4 65336 m2 sims for $99,999 or even 9,999 x 32. It’s not reasonable. It’s not about freedom to do what one wants on one’s land: it’s blackmail.
Once again, Intlibber is trying to strike here with his fake claims of “libel” — and Uri is MIA and not “eliding”.
I asked the pointed question of whether or not he has an ad farm network because his rabidity in this subject simply begs the question. I didn’t say he had an ad farm network: I said this: “What alt does Intblub use for his ad empire?!”
It’s the right question to ask — and keep asking. If he doesn’t, he can refute this on the record, and now we have a record to hold him, and if we ever see evidence to the contrary, we now have a statement of accountability from this freak.
The real question to ask then is: if Intlibber doesn’t see anything wrong with ad-farmer, *why doesn’t he ad-farm*? Chicken? Not enough tier?
It’s like his claim today in Metanomics that I am “libelous” about simply *reporting his own words* here on the Herald and inworld about how he hired griefers in a mistaken belief that he would “straighten them out”. He didn’t. It was stupid. He was exposed in this. He imagines that if he word-salads this and Haskells the statement, it will somehow work to his advantage. Instead, he looks chronically stupid and nobody in a public meeting can understand why on earth he’s behaving like a rabid beast and essentially going off topic.
These griefing groups that Intlibber falsely claims have nothing to do with the Patriotic Nigras are in fact infiltrated and cooperative with them, something we know not even from Herald reporting, but from the absence of these people from Second Life due to permabans. So he’s the one who is making misstatements if he claims they have no relationship — that is false. It is demonstrably false, and all Intlibber does with this is play a game, a kind of role-play: he and his amen-corner of griefers think that if they shout really loud and pretend they are innocent, or griefers, but not THOSE griefers, that they can get people to believe it. If they feign indignation loud enough, and pretend that Woodbury in SL is “a university with legitimate students” people will believe them. But it’s fake.
Why does Madelina Rossini, a former employee of Intlibber, invite Blak Hax, a chronic griefer of the most awful sort, whose avatar picture is a minstrelsy blackface (!), into the Woodbury group?
Why does MC Fizgig have a picture on his avatar of himself in a black 1970s Afro (he’s white in RL) marching in a parade with the PN style?
Why are there other members of this group using PN style, lingo, memes, names, etc.?
Please. Let’s not be children here. We all know what’s up, and this furious indignation and furious claim of libel are all fun RP games, but they are fake.
For a charge of libel to stick, it has to show that a statement is false, and that it was made with malice — that is, not “ill will,” as is often mistakenly believed, or “vengeance,” as is mistakenly believed, but deliberate knowledge that something is false. If anything, the knowledge that something is deliberately false is on the side of Intlibber and the gang. I make my statements in good faith, in an ardent belief that they are true. Why? Because I open my eyes, watch what people do griefing me, look at their avatars and their get-ups and their memes and their antics, and I figure it out — duh.
Finally, a statement would have to be demonstrated to cause economic damage. The only economic damage caused to Intlibber is caused by him hiring griefers and taking their side and sticking up for vicious ad-farmers. He should attend to that piece of his business image, and not froth that it comes from my statements.
If that’s really Intlibber making a threat to ad-farm me, it will be abuse reported, along with the threat to show intent, and I’ll take action against it.
The Herald, and the Woodburies, are understandably furious about being exposed in their lies on my blog, by the simple bit of investigative reporting that was done calling the real-life university and asking some questions and getting some statements.
To continue making false charges of libel against me, and to continue threatening me and also griefing me inworld, is about trying to silence the freedom of the press, pure and simple. I would think such action would be beneath the dignity of an anarcho-capitalist.
Mr. Wiggins
Feb 18th, 2008
Isn’t it always funny when swaggering, egomaniacal sociopaths cry ‘freedom’ when their victims finally get enough of their sick bullying and decide to shut them down? Then, suddenly, they weep and wail and put on a hair shirt, shrieking that the ‘fascists’ and the ‘socialists’ are taking away their precious ‘freedom’ to ram their self-aggrandizing psychoses up the collective asses of their neighbors whenever they feel like it, as long as it brings them money. Because everyone knows that in a true, libertarian paradise, *I* have the liberty to get rich, and *you* have the liberty to starve. According to the ad-spammers, one person being a parasite on their neighbors and extorting outrageous land prices is a rugged, forward-looking, entrepreneur… but if the six people bordering this admirable paragon of the free market decide they’ve had enough of their asshole neighbor, and get the rules changed to put a stop to their neighbor’s bullying… well, those people are ‘fascists’.
Yeah, we’ve heard this whining before in rl… at least a million times. Don’t argue with the ad-spamming bullies, don’t try to reason with them, just shut them down and walk away. Their kind crave money without effort, they think other people are just objects to exploit, and they don’t give a damn about anyone’s ‘freedom’ except their own. To hell with them…. thank you, Lindens, for finally taking down these misery-feeders.
IntLibber Brautigan
Feb 19th, 2008
First they came for the Gamblers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Gambler.
Then they came for the Bankers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Banker.
Then they came for the adfarmers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a adfarmer.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Prok, the reason I don’t adfarm when I dont see anything wrong with it is the same reason I’m not a stripper or escort, was never a casino owner, or mainland land flipper with land bots. Firstly, engaging in certain businesses may be undignified (such as, being a slanderous, libelous, foul mouthed, lying demagogue blogger who fakes at being the worlds worst fake transgendered reporter and doesn’t even know how to use the SL voice controls) but there is nothing wrong with them per se, however I choose to not engage in undignified businesses.
There are also only so many types of business I can be involved in. I’ve chosen my path, which is distinctly different from the poisonous toxic bullshit you emit on a constant basis about anybody who thinks you’re a fool or doesn’t buy your paranoid conspiracy crap. You’ve become the griefer you claim to hate, and for all your mocking of immersionists, you are the most immersed of all because you take yourself so damn seriously and hate viciously anybody who does not take you seriously.
Rebel Television
Feb 19th, 2008
Where was IntLibber when the ageplay policy came into effect? I certainly didn’t see him here screaming “don’t stomp on emergent gameplay!” No AR letterbombs from him reporting every store that sold something possibly wearable by a lolita avatar.
Pretty good chance he’s covering his own self-interests. If not, this is a pretty lame attempt at being a virtual Guy Fawkes.
wtf
Feb 19th, 2008
“First they came for the Gamblers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Gambler.
Then they came for the Bankers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Banker.
Then they came for the adfarmers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a adfarmer.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.”
I lol’d hard, shows what intlubber is made of
the bankers and adfarmer and gamblers will protect all of us from LL!
scams and theft are a good price to pay amirite?
Ciaran Laval
Feb 19th, 2008
There is a danger of the mob mentality and busybodies dictating what is a suitable build and LL need to stand firm in the face of the pitchfork waving seekers of truth and justice.
I also believe you can be AR’d if you completely block access to someone else’s plot.
However the policy is rather clear, setting your land for sale for an extortionate price with the sole aim of reducing the value of the land around you by “advertising”. If LL stick to their guns then nobody but extortionists will suffer. There are examples in your article of AR’s, but how many of those AR’s were followed through?
Cai Pirinha
Feb 19th, 2008
“First they came for the Gamblers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Gambler.
Then they came for the Bankers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Banker.
Then they came for the adfarmers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a adfarmer.”
… and your point is?
“Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.”
See, the issue is not that there is “no one left” to speak out for you. It’s just that nobody shares your opinion.
btw, if you really think that you need to compare your precious e-rights in a stupid video game with the fate of the holocaust victims, you are blatantly insane.
Jim Schack
Feb 19th, 2008
“I’ve chosen my path, which is distinctly different from the poisonous toxic bullshit you emit on a constant basis about anybody who thinks you’re a fool or doesn’t buy your paranoid conspiracy crap.” – IntLibber
Umm….nevermind. I’m not even going to point out the irony in this.
Jim Schack
Feb 19th, 2008
“But support of extremist, malicious ad-farmers like Umnik, who are not even selling ad space, but are just holding the population hostage to a psychotic scheme and profiting from it, only exposes you as an extremist yourself.” – Prokofy.
I agree with the postilion that LL shouldn’t bother with adfarms as well. I think anyone who has to look to Mommy “government” (in this case Linden Labs) to solve their woes are a lazy protectors of wealth and intellectual sloth. There’s plenty of ways to combat adfarms that doesn’t have to use force or arbitrary rules that end up controlling everyone’s behavior down the line.
Now there is a speck of truth to the Martin Niemöller parody poem. But at the same time it’s a disgusting parallel when we’re talking about rules on someone’s (Linden Labs) private property (Second Life’s Main Grid) instead of a totalitarian government or a government on the path of totalitarianism. Even so, Lindens arn’t shoving these adfarmers in ovens quite yet. So perhaps this version is a little more accurate;
“First they came for the Gamblers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Gambler.
Then they came for the Bankers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Banker.
Then they came for the adfarmers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a adfarmer.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
So I cashed out and played a different game.
Prokofy Neva
Feb 19th, 2008
>First they came for the Gamblers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Gambler
Gosh, I’ve always thought Gamblers bore a striking resemblance to uh…communists, eh? And are we to follow the odious Umnik Hax’s mandate and infer that ad-farmers are the Jews for whom they’ve come now? Please. It’s disgraceful. And truly a defamation of the victims of the Holocaust.
>being a slanderous, libelous, foul mouthed, lying demagogue blogger who fakes at being the worlds worst fake transgendered reporter and doesn’t even know how to use the SL voice controls)
I’ve yet to see any evidence of any slander or libel, this is just posturing.
Why would you be a fake transgendered reporter just because you’re in a virtual world? By that definition, Intblubber is a fake banker and fake businessman.
My voice controls were set perfectly, even double-checked with the organizers, and even tracking with the importunate Chance Abbatoir who pushed instructions on me. If I put the sound down any further I couldn’t hear a thing, and it was already very light. I imagine some computer set-ups are out of sync with SL Voice. You can keep trying to fiddle with dials and harmonize it but it doesn’t work. Perhaps I’ll buy new new headphones, but using the Voice controls in SL is dirt simple, and knowledge of them isn’t the issue when they don’t work.
anonymous
Feb 19th, 2008
They did this because most people dont even want to touch the new continent because it’s nothing but ad farms, you may find one or two genuine builds in a 4 sim area, and the rest is ad farms and vacant land. I saw one set of plots that was like 20 ads all grouped together.
On top of the sims looking ugly as hell with the whole “Barren Rock” look. ads make them just outright shitty. The Lindens start the whole public works project, look at areas that need to be all dolled up, they go to the new continent which has no roads or any features to speak of, and are greeted by millions of worthless ads that go for $20000 a parcel that no one can ever hope to buy.
Then suddenly, ad farms are declared illegal.
Prokofy Neva
Feb 19th, 2008
>they go to the new continent which has no roads or any features to speak of, and are greeted by millions of worthless ads that go for $20000 a parcel that no one can ever hope to buy.
>Then suddenly, ad farms are declared illegal.
Bingo. They only understand force, and when they are hurt in the pocket-book. And even then, it can take them 2 years to have this epiphany.
Brendan Cale
Feb 20th, 2008
Anonymous is completely correct, I brought mainland on the Atoll, the second continent I believe(?) and it has less ad farms then the new continent. Since no real people are buying from it, it’s hurting LL as Prokofy said in the big ol’ wallet, and when that happens, things change.
LL don’t care about it’s customers interests as long as they are making expected revenues.
Marc Woebegone
Feb 20th, 2008
In fact, I love griefing so much now, that I’LL PAY 100L TO ANY GRIEFER THAT SENDS ME IN GAME A PHOTO OF THEM GRIEFING SOMEONE ELSE W/SOME COMMENT BACK FROM THE GRIEFED YELLING AT THE GRIEFER!!! AND…. 1,000L TO THE BEST GRIEFER PHOTO EACH MONTH… MAYBE EVEN MORE DEPENDING ON HOW WELL THE GRIEFED HAS BEEN GRIEFED… and of course I have a hit list… anyone that sends me a photo of Profky Neva’s avatar being seriously griefed, I’ll pay 1,000L.
Marc Woebegone
Feb 20th, 2008
that is, for as long as supply lasts… lol…oops, wrong forum…
anonymous
Feb 20th, 2008
I love how people like prokofy (okay just prokofy and her sock puppet, cocoanut) derail the topic and turn it into a spiel against Woodbury university. Every single fucking article turns into a tirade about griefers and Woodbury University, This article has nothing to do with this.
Take a deep fried fuck off the mortal coil please. people like you not only waste bandwidth, but precious air and resources.
If the whole woodbury university thing is guilty of anything, it’s probably them doing subtle things to piss you off, and laughing at you as you go apeshit because you take it all seriously. The rest of us sure are laughing at you. You pathetic sack of shit.
On another note: I find your SL land preserve signs highly annoying and ruin the view (isnt the point of preserving land keeping it clutter free?) your signs are just another thing for me to load. one more thing that attributes to lag, one more thing that makes it slower to load.
Anonymous
Feb 20th, 2008
The billboard pictured isn’t really representative of what most of Tyrian Camilo’s network looks like.
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/2196/snapshot001tc6.jpg is a typical example of an advertisement board… it used to be much smaller until just before the announcement, then it massively increased in size, as half the plot was sold off.
Kahni
Feb 20th, 2008
The simple solution to this is to avoid mainland entirely. It sucks.
Get land on an estate, and get to know your landlord.
Problems solved.
hahaha
Feb 20th, 2008
This is just capitalism at work. It’s funny listening to Prok about how capitalism is the end-all, be-all of how the world works, until it’s used against her. Then it’s the fascists at work. Prokofy was stupid enough to buy land in the no-mans-land that is the mainland, and then bitches about someone taking advantage of a no-covenant zone.
SqueezeOne Pow
Feb 20th, 2008
It’s always disheartening when you agree even partially with Prok because it makes you wonder if you aren’t wrong.
I will say that the pro-ad farm protesters interviewed in this (comparatively well-written) article are full of shit. They’re not a victim of LL wanting to squash competition with their search functions and paid ads because most people (as the comments show) don’t look to ad farms as a way to find products. We all hate them because they’re ugly and retarded. They are 3d pop up ads that we can’t find the “x” button on to make them go away.
They’re not a victim of LL wanting to keep land prices low. All LL needs to do to fix that is add more land or “print” more L$ and just buy those plots off you fools and put them back up for auction once they had enough 16m2 plots to put together at least 512m’s worth of land. Since L$ isn’t real and actually only has the value LL gives it this would be no big deal to them.
What they are a victim of is LL’s enabling. If LL had used some foresight they would definitely have seen this coming and would have put together simple zoning rules that would have made this a non-issue long before I ever joined. Then they wouldn’t have gotten into this routine and wouldn’t have helped make the mainland as ugly and tacky as it is today.
I have no problem with advertising and would welcome realistic billboards along the roads or on top of buildings with regulation just like we have IRL today.
Unfortunately people have cried to LL to have them save us from ourselves and what we get instead is more “broadly offensive” rules that will most definitely be executed with a retarded, heavy hand if not outwright abused. Good job, Prok! (she takes credit for this silly policy on her funny little blog).
A more simple and easier to enact fix to this problem is visual muting of objects. When you mute objects they’d not only stop interracting with you but they also disappear. You’d still be able to run into them but otherwise they aren’t there.
Another good function would be to set it up so the owner of the object being visually muted would be notified whenever someone mutes it. You’d also be able to see a count of how many residents have muted this object. This will let these assholes know how ineffective their “ad network” is.
It could have been as simple as that. No extra influx of ARs to ignore from Prok and others and no wasted employee time going to each site reported to determine what the deal actually is. Instead we get a dumb policy that will be enforced and potentially abused for a few months then will be forgotten.
I’d almost prefer the ad tards!
Faerie
Feb 20th, 2008
Can someone please tell me why people are allowed to divide land into less than 512m?