Strange random 'bot' following me message...

[Newdawn Darwin]

I was in a quiet region, just letting my inventory populate when I got a message that 'XXXXXXXXXXX resident' is following you',  they had some pretty weird stuff in their profile which kind of took me back a bit!   I have since made my profile private.    However I googled this avatar's name which led me to something that looks like organised harassment or maybe just organised griefing?  They seem to have a roster for it with plenty of 'staff'.  There is some language although it's mostly in Japanese that is translated on the site, some of it hints at policing the grid????

Not sure if I can include links but it's   [redacted by moderator]

 

Edited June 18, 2022 by Newdawn Darwin
link to external web site

[sandi Mexicola]

15 minutes ago, Newdawn Darwin said:

Not sure if I can include links but it's   [redacted by moderator]

Well, I guess that answers one question.  🤭

It's an interesting site, I don't know what to make of it.  

I am curious... you said you "got a message"... was that an IM?  And if so, was it from "XXXXXXXXXXX resident", or someone/something else?

[Newdawn Darwin]

No, it wasn't an IM, it was a notification from my viewer that this avatar is following me.

[Rolig Loon]

FWIW, that message usually just means that XXXXXXXX resident has added you to a list of people that she finds interesting.  There are two different sorts of "Following" lists.  One is right here in the forums. If you want to follow someone, all you have to do is open their profile and click the appropriate button:

Then, whenever the person you are following posts something in the forums, you get a notice. If it really bothers you to have followers, you can click the "Options" button on your profile and select "Don't allow others to follow me":

 

The other place where people can follow you is on your SL profile, which you can see in your viewer or by going to my.secondlife.com.  If you click on the profile's People button, you'll see who is following you.  My alt's profile, shows that eight people are following her:

Presumably, those people will know when she has logged in to SL (but not where she is).  Again, if you want to prevent people from following you, you have that option among the settings in your profile:

Personally, I couldn't care less who follows me, but it does make a difference to many people.  Your choice.

EDIT:   Oh, among the other things I could have said but didn't, you can remove an individual from your SL profile's list of followers easily. If my alt wanted to, for example, she could open the "Followers" tab that I showed in that last image and then see a list of the people following her, each with a button next to it that says "REMOVE":

Edited June 18, 2022 by Rolig Loon
Additional information and, of course, typos

[Rowan Amore]

2 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

FWIW, that message usually just means that XXXXXXXX resident has added you to a list of people that she finds interesting.  There are two different sorts of "Following" lists.  One is right here in the forums. If you want to follow someone, all you have to do is open their profile and click the appropriate button:

Then, whenever the person you are following posts something in the forums, you get a notice. If it really bothers you to have followers, you can click the "Options" button on your profile and select "Don't allow others to follow me":

 

The other place where people can follow you is on your SL profile, which you can see in your viewer or by going to my.secondlife.com.  If you click on the profile's People button, you'll see who is following you.  My alt's profile, shows that eight people are following her:

Presumably, those people will know when she has logged in to SL (but not where she is).  Again, if you want to prevent people from following you, you have that option among the settings in your profile:

Personally, I couldn't care less who follows me, but it does make a difference to many people.  Your choice.

EDIT:   Oh, among the other things I could have said but didn't, you can remove an individual from your SL profile's list of followers easily. If my alt wanted to, for example, she could open the "Followers" tab that I showed in that last image and then see a list of the people following her, each with a button next to it that says "REMOVE":

I believe Remove is from your friend list and not from them following you.  People who follow you don't have the same 'rights' as friends as to seeing if you're online.  People can follow you without friending.  The only way to remove anyone following you is to shut that off in the privacy tab.

[Rolig Loon]

5 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

I believe Remove is from your friend list and not from them following you.

Hmmmm.. You may be right about that.  The only people who follow my alt are her few close friends, so I can't test whether she can remove unfriends.  OK, so disregard that part until someone else can verify it.

[Rowan Amore]

Just now, Rolig Loon said:

Hmmmm.. You may be right about that.  The only people who follow my alt are her few close friends, so I can't test whether she can remove unfriends.  OK, so disregard that part until someone else can verify it.

I don't follow anyone on my friend list nor can they follow me but I have removed friends from there.  You can also toggle if they can see you online or not.  

[Newdawn Darwin]

22 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

FWIW, that message usually just means that XXXXXXXX resident has added you to a list of people that she finds interesting.  There are two different sorts of "Following" lists.  One is right here in the forums. If you want to follow someone, all you have to do is open their profile and click the appropriate button:

Then, whenever the person you are following posts something in the forums, you get a notice. If it really bothers you to have followers, you can click the "Options" button on your profile and select "Don't allow others to follow me":

 

The other place where people can follow you is on your SL profile, which you can see in your viewer or by going to my.secondlife.com.  If you click on the profile's People button, you'll see who is following you.  My alt's profile, shows that eight people are following her:

Presumably, those people will know when she has logged in to SL (but not where she is).  Again, if you want to prevent people from following you, you have that option among the settings in your profile:

Personally, I couldn't care less who follows me, but it does make a difference to many people.  Your choice.

EDIT:   Oh, among the other things I could have said but didn't, you can remove an individual from your SL profile's list of followers easily. If my alt wanted to, for example, she could open the "Followers" tab that I showed in that last image and then see a list of the people following her, each with a button next to it that says "REMOVE":

Thank you for your help.  I had already removed them from my followers list, as well as changed my privacy settings.   

However, this person or bot or whatever had an invisible avatar (not even an orange cloud) and was stationed in this particular sim where I was waiting while populating my inventory, this person is linked to an organisation that appears to be policing SL.   Now, I am not doing anything dubious myself and what freaks me out is what this 'organisation' has taken it upon themselves to do.   It is just plain weird.

[Rolig Loon]

11 minutes ago, Newdawn Darwin said:

It is just plain weird.

Oh, my.  That is weird. I misunderstood what you were getting at. Unless you really want to spend time in that region, maybe the best idea is to block that avatar and move on.