How do I find out about a place?

[Pombokom]

This question has two parts.

1 - Once I tp into a place, how do I find out about it? I do a lot of walking around. I enjoy dropping in somewhere unknown from the big map. A lot of places are empty. Some tell me to leave. Seems to me the owners will have a description somewhere but often there's nowhere to find it.

2 - Sometimes I seem trapped within a small part of the place with no clues given how to get out into the rest of it. Joining the group doesn't seem to change anything. So, again, what are the pointers to useful information?

Thank you. I have searched for these answers. No dice.

[Rolig Loon]

1. It sounds like you are doing a lot of blind exploration.  That can be kind of fun.  I do it myself every once in a while, but it can be a huge waste of time too.  It's much better to know where you are going. Decide on a destination because you have found it in a Search, or from the Destination Guide, or because you have followed a link from a merchant's Marketplace store, or some friend has given you a landmark ...    Then go there, using the landmark the SLURL, or your map view.  When you get somewhere, explore.  You can sometimes get useful information by opening World >>> About Land and seeing if the landowner has put anything in the parcel's Description field.

2. Every place is different, and there are no rules to tell a landowner how much information to provide, if any.  Business places may display a map or have a teleport board as a convenience, but most often do not.  

[Lindal Kidd]

Hi @Pombokom!

The key fact is this:  Almost every place in Second Life is owned by another resident.  There are very few really "public" places, those being the LL-owned Infohubs, roadways, and waterways.

Residents do all sorts of things with their places.  A lot of them are commercial ventures...rental lands, stores, clubs, airports, and marinas.  Most of these welcome visitors, of course.  So too do a large number of places set up as parks, wildernesses, or other showplaces meant to exhibit the owner's vision and creativity.  But a lot of places are private residences, either ones directly owned by a resident, or places that one resident is renting from another.  When you teleport "in the blind", you always risk landing in one of these places.  You could get booted out by a security system, or by an irate homeowner.  It's a good idea to have a quick apology ready to go if you find you have invaded someone's privacy.

The other key fact is:  She who Owns the Land, Makes the Rules.  A land owner can kick you out at any time, for any reason...or even for no reason at all.  So it pays to be polite to the land owner!  (Since in many cases you won't know who the land owner is, it pays to be polite to EVERYONE!)

Sometimes, you'll teleport to a place that has a lot of green dots (avatars) on the map.  But when you get there, you don't see anyone.  To find where the crowd is, use your Mini-map.  Usually, it will show that the "missing" avatars are somewhere high in the sky above you, in a skybox.

You may not be able to teleport easily to another location.  The land owner may have limited teleports to a specific arrival point.  To get to another location, you'll have to either fly or walk.  If you can cam to an interesting spot, you may be able to get around a teleport restriction by right clicking and sitting on an object.

If the land owner has also implemented a No Fly policy, you can get around it with CTRL+ALT+V.  But be aware that if a land owner catches you flying around when they don't want you to, you could get booted or even banned from coming back.

[Anita61 Anatine]

Removed because Rolig already adressed it, I misread! 

Happy travels!

Edited May 11, 2020 by Anita61 Anatine
mistake