I am curious on the opinions of others about Russians who play SL and what if anything LL should do if anything?

[Magnus McGettigan]

I am curious to know if anyone thinks LL will start banning Russian IPs since they log in from the country that is invading Ukraine? I remember hearing stories in the past of other countries using SL for meetups to discuss things since it flew under the radar. While I admit i am sure not all Russians are for Putin invading.. but makes you wonder since this world is on a global scale.. I also wonder if there are any Ukraine groups where one can get actual boots on the ground updates. 

Just a curiosity of mine. 

[Lindal Kidd]

It may be purely subjective, since I have never kept any data for comparison, but it seems to me that there are more new Russian accounts showing up at Welcome Island lately.

I'm not sure how I feel about that.

[Marigold Devin]

I personally think Linden Lab won't have had any views about this issue, as I don't believe they are politically led. There is a heck of a lot goes on in our virtual world that could be seen as potentially facilitating all kinds of things, yes, no doubt, including warmongering. You could equally say there are other country's people gathering in Second Life to plot and plan the next plane strike into other tall buildings in the world. 

Do you think Linden Lab need to be randomly spying on the conversations of certain country folk? Hmmm. I don't know what to think at this moment in time. And against my better judgement I am about to submit this appalling reply.

[Arielle Popstar]

Should they then keep Canadian IP's out too because of the recent Martial Law  and the Trucking Convoy's protesting Vaccine Mandates? Where does it stop if they start on a Political path?

[Sid Nagy]

Ordinary people in Russia, people like all of us, have no say at all in the Ukriane conflict, just like we haven't.
They should be able to use SL just like we do.
What LL should do IMHO is monitor closely if there are no accounts used to spread propaganda or alternative news on these forums.
And for the rest, lets try to keep politics as much as possible out of these forums. Main subject should be and stay Second Life.
There are enough other news sources with discussion possibilities out there already.
That said: Please stay safe if you live in or near the war zone.

Edited February 24, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Blaise Glendevon]

14 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Should they then keep Canadian IP's out too because of the recent Martial Law  and the Trucking Convoy's protesting Vaccine Mandates? Where does it stop if they start on a Political path?

You mean the open Nazis clogging up transit and staging an occupation because they won't just take their medicine like decent folks? The astroturfed "protest" being funded by big money American MAGAts?

[Bree Giffen]

I think LL has some kind of policy in place to deal with situations like this...or they are making one now. The Russian military does employ cyberwarfare and Putin was in the KGB. I don't think LL is much of a target but it's always wise to expect the unexpected.

[Garnet Psaltery]

I don't pretend to understand the issue completely but I do know that human affairs are complicated.  That is all I want to say in this topic.

Edited February 24, 2022 by Garnet Psaltery
Second thoughts.

[Orwar]

   Absolutely not. It's not the Russian people that made this decision, it's Putin 'n Pals. Russia is very likely about to enter a very difficult period economically, and that's going to mainly hurt the civilian Russians who had absolutely no say in the matter - for LL to ban all Russians because Putin is a pr!ck won't help anyone or change anything. The Russian government aren't going to use SL for 'cyber warfare', that's not how that works, at all.

[Luna Bliss]

39 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

Ordinary people in Russia, people like all of us, have no say at all in the Ukriane conflict, just like we haven't.
They should be able to use SL just like we do.

Yes, we should be careful not to demonize and scapegoat all Russians, similar to what we did to Asians in WW2 (sending them to camps). Not all Russians believe in Putin's propaganda. 

[Sid Nagy]

And don't forget it is hard to hear something else in Russia than Putin's propaganda. He and his former Sovjet comrades are controlling all the main Russian media.

Edited February 24, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Kathlen Onyx]

47 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

And for the rest, lets try to keep politics as much as possible out of these forums. Main subject should be and stay Second Life.
There are enough other news sources with discussion possibilities out there already.
 

^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^

Can we please just stop making posts about politics! Nothing good ever comes from them and they get locked anyway. I hope this one gets locked immediately.

[Rowan Amore]

[Nick0678]

I tend to believe that 2022 Russian Intelligence and the army in general has a few better solutions than using Socond Life's broken Group chat and Virvox SLvoice for their operations..

[Istelathis]

I don't think SL makes for a great platform for military strategy or for use as a propaganda machine.  For propaganda, social media has a far further reach, and for discussing strategy I am sure there are more secure services that do not require a 3d environment.  If they really wanted to have the 3d environment, they could always just use opensim, then they could jump on the metaverse hype..  Banning IPs from Russia, would likely just impact the people who have nothing to do with the invasion at all. 

It is for those reasons that I don't think LL will do anything and shouldn't do anything.  

[Dakota Linden]

Greetings, All!

Linden Lab does not ban users from Second Life unless the person has engaged in conduct or content that violates the Linden Lab Terms of Service or the Second Life Terms and Conditions. 

If you are aware of any user, regardless of where they may reside, violating the policies, please file an Abuse Report against the user and the report will be investigated as quickly as possible. 

https://www.lindenlab.com/tos

https://www.lindenlab.com/legal/second-life-terms-and-conditions

 

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

2 hours ago, Magnus McGettigan said:

if anyone thinks LL will start banning Russian IPs since they log in from the country that is invading Ukraine?

I'm pretty sure that the absolute vast majority of people in Russia has absolutely nothing to do with the actions of their leader. Remember that they live in a dictatorship with little to no say in their country's policies. Consequently, they can not be held accountable for their country's policies. I feel it would therefore be wrong to ban people based on geography. That would be a blatant form of discrimination.

I've seen interviews of people in Moscow today, who abhor the military actions directed by that dictator, and who are very concerned for the wellbeing of their neighbors in Ukraine.

[Madelaine McMasters]

Imagine this conversation in Ms Petersen's kindergarten class:

Child: Miss Petersen, my daddy hits my mommy.
Ms. Petersen: Goodness, that's awful. I have zero tolerance for that kind of behavior. Pack your things and get out of this classroom, right now. You'll have to walk home, the bus driver won't tolerate that kind of behavior either.
Child: I don't think mommy would like you. You sound like daddy.

[LittleMe Jewell]

3 hours ago, Magnus McGettigan said:

I am curious to know if anyone thinks LL will start banning Russian IPs since they log in from the country that is invading Ukraine?

Why?  What does that have to do with SL at all? 

A large part of the world has issues with the governments of other parts of the world, but you don't see games banning the people because of it.  Some countries did a political boycott of the recent Olympics because they were being held in China and the Chinese government is horrid when it comes to human rights issues.  Should we ban all of the people that live in China because of that?

 

[Nick0678]

4 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Some countries did a political boycott of the recent Olympics because they were being held in China and the Chinese government is horrid when it comes to human rights issues.  Should we ban all of the people that live in China because of that?

Putting aside the SL nonsense and RP i must say that i worked with plenty of Chinese folks who were being trained for Beijing 2008 back in 2k's. They were very respectful people and it took great effort from me to have them stop acting like robots and relax a bit combining work with fun. Boycotting sport events is not the right approach and doesn't help the civilians in any way.

[Innula Zenovka]

4 hours ago, Magnus McGettigan said:

I am curious to know if anyone thinks LL will start banning Russian IPs since they log in from the country that is invading Ukraine? I remember hearing stories in the past of other countries using SL for meetups to discuss things since it flew under the radar. While I admit i am sure not all Russians are for Putin invading.. but makes you wonder since this world is on a global scale.. I also wonder if there are any Ukraine groups where one can get actual boots on the ground updates. 

Just a curiosity of mine. 

If LL start banning people because of what their governments do, then a lot of us -- certainly Brits like me, and also Americans, I think -- will be in trouble.

[Rowan Amore]

8 minutes ago, Innula Zenovka said:

If LL start banning people because of what their governments do, then a lot of us -- certainly Brits like me, and also Americans, I think -- will be in trouble.

Some of us might have been gone from 2017 until Jan. 2021 if that were the case.  😅😆

[Syo Emerald]

4 hours ago, Magnus McGettigan said:

I am curious to know if anyone thinks LL will start banning Russian IPs since they log in from the country that is invading Ukraine?

Hows that any of LLs business? They ban people based on ToS violations and logging in from an IP located in a country that engages in warfare is not a point covered under the ToS.

4 hours ago, Magnus McGettigan said:

I remember hearing stories in the past of other countries using SL for meetups to discuss things since it flew under the radar.

That would be news to me. I would be -very- suprised if any country is that incompetent and weird, that they would do anything in SL at all. Its really not like SL is super attractive or needed for that kind of stuff.

[Nick0678]

13 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

Some of us might have been gone from 2017 until Jan. 2021 if that were the case.  😅😆

Governments exist for one and only reason and that is "NOT" to serve the people.

[Maitimo]

It's ridiculous to ban users based on what their government has done. However it would not surprise me in the slightest if the Russian government starts blocking access to internet sites and services outside of Russia.

I hope that innocent citizens on both sides of the line can stay safe.