How do you know if a sim is owned? I was booted out of one for no apparent reason.

[Jwinz Mistwalker]

How do you know if a Sim is owned?

I was booted out of one on Cafe Lounge for no apparent reason.

I did not see any signs or indications that the treehouse I was in was owned by anyone!!!

I had logged out and after a couple of hours when I logged back in I was told by "someone" or "something"

that I had 15 seconds to leave or I would be ejected. 

Then I was unceremoniously kicked to the curb and yellow bars appeared around the area.

I am fairly new to Second Life Procedures.  Please let me know what to look for so I don't encounter this

same kind of episode in the future.

Thanks in advance for your help...

[Ansariel Hiller]

Every place is owned by somebody. And some people don't like if you enter their private homes. What happens to you is that you got ejected by a security orb that checks if you are on the list of allowed persons - and obviously you were not. The lines are banlines. People can also protect their land with banlines you cannot pass if you are not on the list of allowed people.

[Chic Aeon]

Just a little more info so that this will be clearer as you are new .

Except for places owned by Linden Labs (public hubs, sandboxes, welcome areas, abandoned lands now under "maintenance" and a few other public areas) the lands are owned by residents like you. Premium residents who pay a monthly or yearly fee can buy property on the mainland. Anyone can by plots from estate owners (it is more like leasing though). 

You will almost always be OK visiting shops and other areas which l look like open and public places.  But just like in real life, it isn't good form to just walk into someone's house. Many people will be OK with it, especially for new folks that don't know any better, but some will be upset and kick you out. In this case you were booted by a security orb. All of us who do any kind of exploring (or even just looking for land to buy) have been booted by one of these. It is not pleasant. Many of them give you a warning of 30 seconds or so and you can TP home; some very unfriendly ones are instantaneous.

If in doubt you can right click on the ground and read information in the "About Land" tabs. Some folks have a welcome to my home message, so you'll know it is OK to roam. When in doubt, I find it best to stay on the side of caution.

Welcome to SL. There is lots to explore. You might want to start out with places in the destination guide. http://secondlife.com/destinations

 

[Malate Banufong]

Just one more thing; privately owned houses or other proeprty available for rent will usually have big boxes outside them saying "for rent". Obviously it's OK to go and look inside them and hey, maybe you will like it and rent it :matte-motes-big-grin-wink:

[Venus Petrov]

The sim description reads:  Party dance and rent land to build you own home at Cafe Lounge. Great live music shows on our beautiful romantic beach and stage.

So, you evidently ran into a private home.  It is a lovely sim and, to be safe, you should keep yourself to the obvious public areas.  Assume that houses are privately owned.

ETA:  Spelling correction