My account was compromised

[Arf Runningbear]

The person who logged on to my avatar deleted most of my inventory, leaving me just my gestures. I have been a resident in SL for almost 8 years, I had over 53 thousand items in my inventory. I have spent thousands of US dollars collecting these items, some of which I use for creating objects for the marketplace and inworld. That means loss of income and any possible income in the future. Some of these items cannot be replaced because the creators are no longer in business or on SL. Linden Labs has told me my inventory cannot be recovered. To replace some of those lost items, I will have to buy Lindens and purchase them again. I have two questions....

Why can't Linden Labs replace my lost inventory from their data banks?

Why should I pay the people that lost my inventory to replace what was stolen from me?

[Rolig Loon]

Wow.  That truly stinks.  I have been in SL a little longer than you and have a lot of irreplaceable items in my own inventory, many of which I have created, so I can easily imagine how devastated you must feel.  If Linden Lab says that they cannot recover your lost inventory, you have little choice but to believe them.  Unfortunately, if items are actually sent to trash and the trash folder is emptied, they are lost forever.  There's no list of what used to be in inventory, so the Lab can't wave a magic wand and bring them back.  The same thing would happen if you had stored files on your own hard drive, sent them to trash, and then cleared the trash folder.

As for your second question, I have no satisfying answer.  The person who "lost" your inventory was the miscreant who logged on and deleted it.  (That begs the question of how that person got your password, which I hope you have changed now, so that he doesn't also get your account details and do something even worse.)  Paying him wouldn't bring the things back.  Buying replacement items is your only option at this point.  The people who "benefit" from your disaster are the merchants that you pay for the replacements.

[Madelaine McMasters]

You have my sympathy, Arf. One reason I've never invested heavily in SL is that it has no backup plan. In my RL business I have a backup plan. I've had my website server crash, the business hosting it lost everything, even though they claimed they had a backup plan. Fortunately, my backup plan did not depend on theirs.

I've lost hard drives to both hardware and software failures. I had backups. I've lost power in the middle of a workday. I have a a backup UPS. I've lost power in heavy rainstorms, I have a backup sump pump. I've had computers and test equipment go poof. I have spares. I have insurance on my business, my home, my car, and my health.

There is no way to achieve that level of security in SL, so my investment here will forever remain relatively meager. LL absolved themselves of responsibility for caring for your investment in their Terms of Service. That explains why they won't replace your lost inventory.

I really do feel sadness over your loss. I am grateful to people like you who've invested a lot of time and money to make SL a wonderful place for me to explore. I wish there were a better outcome available to you, but there simply isn't.

[Monti Messmer]

Well, they could restore your inventory i bet, but it´s your fault. If things like the creating tools are that important you must protect them. No one in both lifes is helping you on that.

Police does not really protect your things, they wait until it´s stolen then act ;-)

"My landlord deleted all my stuff after rent was over, restore it."

"I accidently click delete instead of pick up, restore it" ....

LL would be covered in "restore it" questions from people so they simply ignore it.

 

Anyway, i think LL could offer such a service if people would be willing to pay - and they should.

Monti