Someone's messing with my business, can you help me stop them?

[OasisDesigns]

Okay so here's the situation.

I have a business just like thousands of other people in Second Life. I know my business isn't unique and I don't expect it to be. Nor to I expect people to only use my product. Obviously people out there are going to have a similar product, or see mine and try to copy it. No biggie.

I created a group for my products, a fairly common practice and I leave the group open for enrollment so customers can join it and ask questions and get help. None of this is my issue though. My issue is someone who has made a similar product, joined my group and began to IM my customers and give them a similar product unsolicted. Naturally I muted this person and then proceeded to ban them from my group.

My question is this. Can anyone help me find a specific section of the TOS, Community Standards, or anything else written by Linden Labs that gives me a legitimate avenue to persue and report?

I've considered Harassment from the Community Standards, but I was looking, and hoping, for something a little more form fitting to this specific situation. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

[OasisDesigns]

Okay so here's the situation.

I have a business just like thousands of other people in Second Life. I know my business isn't unique and I don't expect it to be. Nor to I expect people to only use my product. Obviously people out there are going to have a similar product, or see mine and try to copy it. No biggie.

I created a group for my products, a fairly common practice and I leave the group open for enrollment so customers can join it and ask questions and get help. None of this is my issue though. My issue is someone who has made a similar product, joined my group and began to IM my customers and give them a similar product unsolicted. Naturally I muted this person and then proceeded to ban them from my group.

My question is this. Can anyone help me find a specific section of the TOS, Community Standards, or anything else written by Linden Labs that gives me a legitimate avenue to persue and report?

I've considered Harassment from the Community Standards, but I was looking, and hoping, for something a little more form fitting to this specific situation. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

[TundraFire Nightfire]

It's only similar not copied from your product in any way?

 

[ZoeTick]

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OasisDesigns wrote:

 

Can anyone help me find a specific section of the TOS, Community Standards, or anything else written by Linden Labs that gives me a legitimate avenue to persue and report?

 

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Why do you need help? Are you unable to read those documents for some reason? Is English not your first language? Or do you have other problems understanding them? You are not alone in that respect.

[ObviousAltIsObvious]

recipients of the spam can abuse report it, spam is still technically a terms violation. be aware that LL's track record for dealing with spam can be charitably described as execrable, and residents who receive spam within SL should expect no timely response of any kind.

 

[Spinwilly Saiman]

I don't think creating a similar product then soliciting your customers is a TOS violation of any kind.  It may be unethical but nothing was stolen and no cirme commited.

Also, don't expect much support from LL on most legitimate TOS violations either.  It's kind of like the wild west here and we have to figure out ways to outsmart those who wish to screw us over.

[Vulpinus]

Hmm... nothing you can do, but this is a good example of something I brought up a while ago. The ability to prevent group members from seeing the username list of everyone else in the group. I.e. basic security.

A couple of people tried to jump on my head for that, effectively saying it was rubbish and things like this don't happen. If we had that facility though, then only people actively talking in the group could be targeted, greatly limiting the exposure. There are other reasons too why it would be a good idea.

I'm sorry that your misfortune illustrates my point.

[OasisDesigns]

Thanks for the replies. I read as much of the TOS And Code of Conduct pages as I could find. I didn't find anything specific to my situation and that's why I asked, since maybe there was something I could have missed, being an imperfect human being and all I'm prone to make mistakes.

The product in question isn't really relevent, their product is vastly inferior to mine (but I bet everyone thinks that of their own work). I'm mostly worried about customers leaving my group because of such behavior from a competitor. It is definitely a very unethical thing for them to do and sadly there's nothing for me to fall back on but simply banning them from my group when I find out which alt they're on this time.

Thanks.

[TundraFire Nightfire]

Probably the best you can do is ban them from the group, which you've already done. If you're worried about them joining as an alt and doing the same thing again, you might try joining your own group as an alt and as soon as you get an IM from the new avatar, kick them out again.

SL being what it is, most people have had run-ins with griefers and the people in your group probably can guess what's going on.

[darmid Illyar]

it is against the Terms of Service. http://www.lindenlab.com/tos#tos6 6.2(ii) - "Post or transmit unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, or promotional materials, that are in the nature of "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation that Linden Lab considers to be of such nature;"

People joined your group for product updates and notices about your products, from you. Not from someone else. Though LL does have a poor track record with abuse reports of this nature. But if this person is doing this to you, they may well be doing this to others and the more ARs recived from individuals the better. Hopefully it will stop them.

I get IMs all the time with unsolicited advertising and put on shop mailing lists just by walking past them on my way to another shop. Or my name is pulled from a group and added to a spam list. I AR them all. When I do, rarely do I hear back from the spammer. Coincidence or LL may be doing something about it. No idea. 

Never hurts to try an AR and never know... it might even work. Probably.... maybe... sometimes... doesnt it...?

[irihapeti]

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darmid Illyar wrote:

it is against the Terms of Service. 

http://www.lindenlab.com/tos#tos6

6.2(ii) - "

Post or transmit unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, or promotional materials, that are in the nature of "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation that Linden Lab considers to be of such nature;"

People joined your group for product updates and notices about your products, from you. Not from someone else.

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^^ that ^^

+

just need to put a ToC notice in your group. Something like: "Please do not post advertisements for other sellers products, or solicit for business please"

and then AR anyone who does. and  ban them from group

[ZoeTick]

You might also consider setting up a group called "Closing the stable door after the horse as bolted"