Policing the Social Islands

[xxLOTHxx]

Observation:

All new accounts/users eventually arrive in a Social Island. The odds are very high these "noobs" will be harassed and or abused in some form or another. Is this the type of greeting awaiting the unsuspecting noob?  Many have decided at that point to quit. Seems like bad business practice to allow these new users and potential contributers to the SL economy to be subjected to these practices to the point of deciding to leave as soon as they arrive in Second Life.

Do not reply with the typical " Well those are known places in SL and you should just leave the area"

Sorry but how is a noob who knows nothing about SL and who is  sent there automatically going to know this?

Solution:

Of all the SIMS in SL - the Social Island SIMs should be heavily policed to give new users a chance for a decent new experience in SL. They don't know anything at this point so don't go on about all the tricks etc. to counter a griefer /troll - they are not you!  They are new! If you don't remove the weeds they will eventually take over the garden that no-one will want to visit.

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2017 by xxLOTHxx

[Lindal Kidd]

Hi Loth.  This is a resident-to-resident forum, Linden Lab won't act on suggestions or complaints here.  You could submit this idea as a feature request, but I don't hold out a lot of hope.  Policing the Social Islands would take a lot of Linden Lab manpower, and they have never been willing to do that.  Many years ago, there was an LL-sponsored and overseen "Resident Mentor" program in which Residents who had been vetted by LL and completed a training course were allowed access to the version of Social Island that existed at that time, while ordinary residents were not permitted.  This cut down on the griefers, but did not eliminate them, because they could still get access by creating a new alt.  The Resident Mentors could provide help and answer questions, but did not have any enforcement powers.  For a number of reasons which seemed good to them, LL discontinued this program.

LL DOES often have a presence on one or another Social Island.  I have often seen Kiera Linden there.  However, it's a very limited effort...pretty much one Linden employee, on one or another of the islands, part time.

There are also resident help groups, and individuals, who frequent the Social Islands and attempt to help newcomers.  Like the old Mentors, they are not empowered to eject or ban griefers, but at least they can explain to a newcomer what is happening and get them to a quieter, safer area.

One of the things that is sorely needed in the Newcomer Help arena is more foreign language help areas.  There are currently ones for Portuguese and Spanish, but that is about it.  The French, Russian and Italian help areas have closed, and I have never seen ones for German, Arabic, Chinese or Japanese.