Question about closing premium account and how long SL holds onto yourhome

[Lindal Kidd]

Hi Misha!

Wow, you sure are going over the SL rocks early on in your SLife!

Maybe some of the following will help you out.

First, "Bob" and the new guy who sounded like "Bob" were probably the same person, and he was indeed messing with your head.  Some people on the internet get a kick out of doing just that.  It's not unique to SL, but our anonymity on the one hand, and our immersion and emotional involvement on the other, make SL a fertile ground for this type of sick person.  The thing is, you can never be 100% sure that someone is playing you...I remember one girl who met a guy who told her he was royalty in Real Life.  She and all her friends were like, "Yeah, suuure you are."  But it turned out, he really WAS!  That's the exception though.  I try to take people here at face value, until and unless they prove themselves to be fakers...but I always reserve a small bit of skepticism, too.

Never give out your password, your RL address, your phone number, or your RL social media account information.  (If you have a social media account under your avatar's name, you can give that out.)

Don't upload RL pictures of yourself, and don't trust that pictures given to you by others are really pictures of them.  It's easy to download photos of people from the Web and say "this is me in RL."

Linden Homes, Premium accounts, downgrading, and closing your account:

• You CAN'T keep your Linden Home, or any land on the Mainland.  The system won't let you downgrade from Premium to Basic if you still have Mainland.  You have to sell or abandon it first.
• You can downgrade your account from Premium to Basic, once you've divested yourself of your Mainland.  Your other Premium benefits will continue until the end of your current membership period (monthly, quarterly, or annually depending on the plan you're signed up for.)
• You can close your SL account totally.  If you are Premium, all your benefits remain in effect until the end of your membership period, as ctjacobs said.  If you are a Basic member, the closure goes into effect much more quickly, although if you act fast, it's possible to change your mind and stop the account cancellation.
• Once your membership expires, even though LL holds onto the account information for a while, if you had Mainland or a Linden Home, it's put back on the market.
• If you are Premium and LL finds they can't charge your Payment Method (for example, your credit card expired), you will be "in arrears".  After two or three months of no payments, LL will cancel your account themselves.
• Basic accounts are never canceled by LL.  You can step away from SL for years, come back, and pick up where you left off.
• If you (or LL) does cancel your account, you can usually get it back by paying a $9.95 reactivation fee.
• Yes, you can change the name of your Linden Home or other Mainland parcel.