Anything I Can Do About My Neighbor's Ugly Signs?

[Rufferta]

About two weeks ago I bought a small parcel in what seemed like a quiet neighborhood. I just went back to do some landscaping and saw that over the water, my neighbor  has put up two ugly signs.

I'm still pretty much a newbie, but I know that this sort of thing is pretty much standard and probably nothing can be done. Unfortunately, I paid more than I should for the parcel and now probably won't be able to re-sell it. 

<MODERATOR: Sign Information removed>

Any suggestions? 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2017 by Dakota Linden
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Community_Participation_Guidelines

[Dilbert Dilweg]

Well for one you should remove the residents name from your post. That kinda thing is not allowed in ther forums

But read up on signs and ads policy and determine if you can file aN ABUSE REPORT

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Policy_on_ad_farms_and_network_advertisers

 

Or use a viewer than can derender the ugliness

[Aurelia Lionheart]

Some things you could do:

* buy privacy screens
* check if her placing advertising is in violation with the lands convenant, if so file an abuse
* If you bought it the parcel but the sim is owned by someone else: contact the land owner.
* talk to her 

[Cerise Sorbet]

First, it would be a good idea to remove the erroneous accusation. The sign is not on Alexa Vavoom's land, and the sign does not belong to her. It is on a different parcel in the neighboring region.

It is not even ad farming, the sign is for a store on the same parcel as the sign.

How to deal with it: don't buy on regular mainland if you want something with zoning/covenant.

 

[Chronometria]

---

Cerise Sorbet wrote:

First, it would be a good idea to remove the erroneous accusation. The sign is not on Alexa Vavoom's land, and the sign does not belong to her. It is on a different parcel in the neighboring region.

It is not even ad farming, the sign is for a store on the same parcel as the sign.

How to deal with it: don't buy on regular mainland if you want something with zoning/covenant.

 

---

Cerise is right, it is in an adjacent sim called Vari and belongs to a group that isnt related to the person you mention (she isnt in their group membership).

 

I`d strongly suggest turning on land boundary lines in your viewer, to avoid these sorts of mixups in future. This is also why using names in posts is a bad thing.

 

Interestingly, the worst thing about the sign is the fact that it spins way too fast for anyone to even see whats on it.

 

 

[Chronometria]

I`d be more worried about the car and trojan horse that are hovering over the water than the sign i would say :matte-motes-smitten:

[Rufferta]

You are all quite right, I should not have acted in haste and I am sorry.  I thought I had finished most of my "stumbling around" in SL, but I guess I still have a lot to learn.   

I have edited the post, and flown over to the neighbor to IM them asking them if they could tone down the signage. I also figured out that if I re-orient my house a few degrees and put in a large tree I won't have to look at them. Oh well.

[Theresa Tennyson]

A number of third-party viewers have a feature called an "asset blacklist" - I use Dolphin, which has it and I believe Phoenix and possibly other viewers do as well. It allows you to click on an object and permanently erase it from your view. Other viewers such as Firestorm have a "derender" function that will temporarily erase things but they reappear after you log back in or teleport away and then back.

[Pussycat Catnap]

---

Cerise Sorbet wrote:

It is not even ad farming, the sign is for a store on the same parcel as the sign.

---

 

That is not a correct read of the adfarm policy.

 

If that sign is spinning, and is more than 8m tall - AR it. From the image and what was said in this post, that would appear to be the case.

 

[Amethyst Jetaime]

If this is an ad above a store, then an AR will not work  The restriction for rotating signs or signs larger than  8m applies only to networked advertising.  In the policy FAQ that directly follows the restrictions you mention it specifically states:

 

I have several mainland store locations with signs above them; am I affected?

No. This policy change is not aimed at personal advertising of this kind.

 

@ OP

This is why I will never buy mainland, particularly for a residence. Other than blocking the view with something or asking the owner of the sign to remove it or tone it down, there is nothing you can do.  I doubt you'll get any cooperation from the store owner.  They probably bought mainland exactly so they could do what they want as the majority of mainland has no zoning or covenant restrictions. 

No matter what it looks like when you buy most mainland, you can have this kind of visual spam - or worse!- turn up at any time in any direction. People can and do erect some of the ugliest things suddenly right next to you.  A friend of mine owns most of a mainland region and someone moved into the next door region, after she bought her land,  that constantly builds HUGE ugly things right up to the sim border that dwarf her builds.  They are so big that there is no way she can block them out without using tons of her prims up building a huge wall over 100m high, except to derender them or block them viewer side.  But that doesn't block them from from sight for the visitors to her land  She has complained many times to LL about it but they refuse to do anything since there is no covenant.

Don't believe peoples claims that a parcel is next to protected land or water and so your 'view' or water access is protected either as the mainland guidelines specifically states that so called protected areas that LL owns are NOT guaranteed to remain protected.  LL can sell it or add land where there was once only water anytime they please.

If this really bothers you, I would look for land in an established, well run private estate that has a covenant that includes zoning guidelines. A good estate owner will strictly enforce these even if it means evicting someone that violates them.  You can get a lot that is on a sim that is residential only and has no sims next to it in any direction.  Many estates only require that you pay the first weeks tier in order to 'buy' the land.  Just be sure to read the entire covenant and ask about anything you need clarified before you purchase the land to be sure it meets your needs.  You do not need a premium account to buy land on a private estate. 

[Pussycat Catnap]

I would be careful about reading that bit of the FAQ you quoted as a blanket exception to the entire policy. I have successfully AR'd signs above shops before when they were in violation of things like size, glow, distance above, spin, and so on. Particularly when there were multiple such violations.

The only thing it really seems to apply to is 'multiple signs' around / above your shop - an exception to the rule of 1 sign per sim. But its also really a so-called exception not because of that, but because a shop sign is not an advert, but informational. Context. As long as its not over-the-top that is.

 Some lindens might read the policy as 'let abusers get away with anything if they can fit themselves within some narrow clause or exception'. Other lindens will look to the intent of the policy - and you can spot someone trying to 'get away' with abusing it pretty easily... Depending on who responds to a filed AR, results can vary.

 

[Dirtnap Mumfuzz]

AR's are useless time wasters.

Just derender the thing via the radial menu option available on most third party viewers.

 

No conflict, no arguing, no hard feelings, no problems.

[FaintOutline]

It depends on how one views the structures on the mainland.  I see them as virtual and therefore I can choose what I do and do not want to look at.   If I derender a structure it is not there, unless I change it back to rendered.   As far as I am concerned it is completely gone.  

However, if one's mental construct of SL, is that its an actual place, and one believes that avatars really live there, then there will be a nervous feeling that despite a structure not being rendered it is actually there.   This feeling is almost religious in nature, and demands control over the other resident's building habits.

Newbie -- ha!  10 years at least.

Edited September 3, 2017 by FaintOutline
typo

[Alwin Alcott]

44 minutes ago, FaintOutline said:

It depends on how one views the structures on the mainland.  I see them as virtual and therefore I can choose what I do and do not want to look at.   If I derender a structure it is not there, unless I change it back to rendered.   As far as I am concerned it is completely gone.  

However, if one's mental construct of SL, is that its an actual place, and one believes that avatars really live there, then there will be a nervous feeling that despite a structure not being rendered it is actually there.   This feeling is almost religious in nature, and demands control over the other resident's building habits.

Newbie -- ha!  10 years at least.

look at the date.... this thread is kinda dead after more than 5 years....

[Prokofy Neva]

On 6/4/2012 at 4:20 AM, Rufferta said:

About two weeks ago I bought a small parcel in what seemed like a quiet neighborhood. I just went back to do some landscaping and saw that over the water, my neighbor  has put up two ugly signs.

I'm still pretty much a newbie, but I know that this sort of thing is pretty much standard and probably nothing can be done. Unfortunately, I paid more than I should for the parcel and now probably won't be able to re-sell it. 

 Any suggestions? 

 

 

Here's my system:

Day 1 -- I check to make sure that I have the right owner and that the sign is indeed their property.

Day 3 -- I let it age -- many things go away in a few days.

Day 5 - I send a note to the owner asking if they can take the signs down because they are blighting the view, preventing my land from being rented etc.

Day 7 - Another note if there's no answer.

Day 9 - A big sign of my own goes up facing them. I have one called BE BACK SOON that is infamous. Other signs like SOMETHING THERE IS THAT DOES NOT LOVE A WALL and other situation-specific quotes.

Day 11 - Still no answer or take-down? The sign goes on glow.

Day 14 - Put up giant glowing atomic nuclear reactors everywhere

These techniques usually work - people often respond to a taste of their own medicine if they don't respond to anything else.

Don't put your land to sale, it weakens the struggle for all of us.

I find most things in SL go away or at least change within 30 days. Those things that don't may not change ever.

PS Put clear textures on your side of the sign you put up.

[Prokofy Neva]

23 hours ago, FaintOutline said:

It depends on how one views the structures on the mainland.  I see them as virtual and therefore I can choose what I do and do not want to look at.   If I derender a structure it is not there, unless I change it back to rendered.   As far as I am concerned it is completely gone.  

However, if one's mental construct of SL, is that its an actual place, and one believes that avatars really live there, then there will be a nervous feeling that despite a structure not being rendered it is actually there.   This feeling is almost religious in nature, and demands control over the other resident's building habits.

Newbie -- ha!  10 years at least.

The SL viewer doesn't enable de-rendering and I refuse to use anything but the SL viewer. I don't like the idea of de-rendering because it goes against the original concept of SL as a shared space. Philip Linden used to talk of his vision of people living as good neighbours on the Mainland. Of course, he sold a lot of private islands because they couldn't...

The Lindens seem to have this same philosophy as they've never put de-rendering in the viewer. When it seems as if they must, they will, but right now its absence may help them sell islands.

[Prokofy Neva]

On 6/5/2012 at 3:58 AM, Amethyst Jetaime said:

This is why I will never buy mainland, particularly for a residence. Other than blocking the view with something or asking the owner of the sign to remove it or tone it down, there is nothing you can do.  I doubt you'll get any cooperation from the store owner.  They probably bought mainland exactly so they could do what they want as the majority of mainland has no zoning or covenant restrictions. 

 

But you had an office on the mainland for years. You closed it?

[Prokofy Neva]

On 6/4/2012 at 10:38 AM, Chronometria said:

Interestingly, the worst thing about the sign is the fact that it spins way too fast for anyone to even see whats on it.

 

 

I have never known a spinning sign to help sales. If someone can prove otherwise, I'd like to hear it. They would only in theory lure fly-bys, and fly-bys are a small portion of traffic, as other people come from search, picks, and word-of-mouth, not to mention ads. Ditch the spinning nuisances. The Lindens should license the spin script for a high fee.

[Alwin Alcott]

2 hours ago, Prokofy Neva said:

I have never known a spinning sign to help sales. If someone can prove otherwise, I'd like to hear it. They would only in theory lure fly-bys, and fly-bys are a small portion of traffic, as other people come from search, picks, and word-of-mouth, not to mention ads. Ditch the spinning nuisances. The Lindens should license the spin script for a high fee.

not sure you realize but your talking to a 5 yr old thread subject

[Prokofy Neva]

On 9/3/2017 at 6:06 AM, Alwin Alcott said:

look at the date.... this thread is kinda dead after more than 5 years....

Nope, it's very relevant, always, a continual problem for SL.

[Alwin Alcott]

1 minute ago, Prokofy Neva said:

Nope, it's very relevant, always, a continual problem for SL.

forgive me i said that please.. my humble excuses... ( such long breaks show it's a huge very relevant thing)

[Theresa Tennyson]

On 9/4/2017 at 4:44 AM, Prokofy Neva said:

I have never known a spinning sign to help sales. If someone can prove otherwise, I'd like to hear it. They would only in theory lure fly-bys, and fly-bys are a small portion of traffic, as other people come from search, picks, and word-of-mouth, not to mention ads. Ditch the spinning nuisances. The Lindens should license the spin script for a high fee.

Here's where I would normally say that would be the equivalent of licensing the letters "s", "p", "i" and "n" in the alphabet, but a spinning sign script is so trivially simple it would just be the letter "s."

Here it is, in all its glory, straight from the SL library:

default
{
    state_entry()
    {
       llTargetOmega(<0,0,1>,PI,1.0);
    }

}

ARRR! I feel piratical just posting that...

[FaintOutline]

On 9/3/2017 at 6:06 AM, Alwin Alcott said:

look at the date.... this thread is kinda dead after more than 5 years....

You are still reading and responding to it.  LOL

[LittleMe Jewell]

42 minutes ago, FaintOutline said:

You are still reading and responding to it.  LOL

For many of us, any new postings pop up in our feed and we don't know the dates of the original thread until we pull up the new post to read it.

Responding to really old threads is sort of like talking just to hear yourself speak.  The OP is often not around anymore and in an ever changing SL world, the original question/comment and subsequent replies are many time no longer relevant.  Hence why many forums discourage necroposting.

[Ashlyn Lisle]

On 6/4/2012 at 3:49 PM, Theresa Tennyson said:

A number of third-party viewers have a feature called an "asset blacklist" - I use Dolphin, which has it and I believe Phoenix and possibly other viewers do as well. It allows you to click on an object and permanently erase it from your view. Other viewers such as Firestorm have a "derender" function that will temporarily erase things but they reappear after you log back in or teleport away and then back.

Thank you Theresa! I am an 11-year resident but was ignorant of this feature. I now have an unobstructed ocean view from my home. You have changed my life