What are the best privacy settings to use to avoid IMs from residents asking for $L?

[LadyPhreak]

I occasionally (3 so far) receive IMs from strangers who want $L. It can be rather annoying and upsetting. Upsetting because I feel for them and I really do want to help, but at the same time I know better than to open Pandora's box. I don't want to miss personal opportunities to make new friends by setting my privacy too high. I am barely 2 weeks old and it would be a shame to limit my options for meeting friends. I just don't know enough about the settings' effects to make good choices; with the long term results taken into account. Suggestions welcome.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

There is no setting to prevent anyone from IM'ing you.  Well, if you mute or block the person they can't but that's not practical to mute everyone you see.  It's easy to ignore the requests or even mute once the person makes the request.....and there is absolutely no need to "feel for them" (they are just looking for a hand out and deserve to be ignored and even muted).

 

I haven't had one of those requests in a very long time (I can't remember when the last time happened).  That may be the places I tend to hang out.  I generally avoid the traditional "newbie" places.  I do, occassionally, go to NCI (New Citizen's Inc) to see if I can help someone or just to see what's going on that's new....but that is not a normal "hang out" for me.  When shopping and sight seeing I never get those requests.

[LoveAngeL Lyre]

Hello LadyPhreak and welcome to SL Forums. You have no to change something under Edit profile --> Privacy tab in your profile in order to avoid other residents to im you. There you change options about who has access in your profile. For more details, please check out this link: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Profiles/ta-p/1101055 When someone asks you lindens you can deny politely saying that you are new and you have not. It is very good to say that you want to help, but you can't say always "Yes" in SL (like in RL). It 's up to you to help someone (btw you can help no only offering lindens) but you have no obligation to do that, especially if you have no incomes (like a job for example).

[Rolig Loon]

Begging is strongly discouraged in SL.  For example, you will find that people who beg for L$ in group IMs will often be dropped summarily from the group.  You can make your own personal decision about how to respond to people, of course, but I think you will find that most of us simply ignore such requests.  After all, nobody in Sl needs L$. You won't go hungry or be forced to live under a bridge for lack of a few L$.  There are loads of free clothes and other items in SL, and you can make many things at zero cost.  The worst that can happen is that you won't be able to buy something that you want, or may have to give up some pleasure that you have been enjoying.

People will give you widely-varying advice about privacy settings.  Personally, I have mine as restrictive as possible.  Nobody can post on my profile, nobody can follow me, and I don't indicate any interests or RL information of any kind.  I don't want random offers of friendship from complete strangers. My life is my own, thank you.  I have a long list of friends, built over almost 5 years in SL, and I talk with many of them regularly by IM or in face-to-face chat.  They are people I have met socially, had business dealings with, or have helped as a mentor.  They don't need my profile to tell them who I am, and I rarely look at theirs.

At the other end of the spectrum, I know there are many people who have very relaxed privacy settings.  They link to facebook and twitter profiles, and they post regular updates on their own and other people's SL profiles. 

Since you asked for advice, my own suggestion would be to start out with more restrictions than you might normally want, and then relax them as you get to know your way around SL.  But that's just me.  :smileywink:

[Marigold Devin]

Welcome to Second Life Answers, LadyPhreak

Most of us come across beggars, who will ask for cash in groups, and send personal IMs. Please bear in mind that anyone who has access to a computer is unlikely to really be that short of cash.  A computer is still a luxury item, not a necessity. 

Do not feel sorry for any of these people. Block/mute them, and put them right out of your mind.

If you feel the need to donate to a charity, do so only in real world, to a legitimate and registered organisation, or better still, donate your time or something more practical than cash.

Regarding limiting your opportunities to make new friends, please know beggars in SL are in the minority and most venues will eject those who do beg, so find yourself some places to go, music clubs, or parks or roleplay sims. I've made lifelong friends just by riding a bicycle down a mainland road, or by being a mermaid among the corals of the Blake Sea sims when sailors have happened along and not been too superstitious to take me on board their vessel.





[Ariel Vuissent]

I don't bother with privacy settings, in general. I don't share RL info on SL, but that's about the only "privacy" I concern myself with.

There are certainly people in SL, many of them, who choose to "earn" $L by begging for them. Some have developed crafty ways of doing so - "I'm trying to buy a new skin/shape/AO/etc. and am [insert fairly low $L amount here] short, could you lend it to me? I'll pay you back tomorrow/next week/etc." And variations of the same. I even had one person, carrying around a prim baby, ask me for $L to buy it medicine because it was sick. Most of the stories people concoct are designed to make you feel bad for them in some way, or to make you want to be helpful, or feel for them because you have been in the same situation. Some are honest, but most are not. Ignore them, or mute them. Remember that no one NEEDS $L to enjoy SL. If you want to help, try referring them to Linden Realms, where they can earn $L by playing; or to the "inworld employment" section of the forums to help them get a job of their very own.

[Chic Aeon]

Anyone that sees you around and about on the grid can IM you and ask for money. This is a long time scam and you should feel ABSOLUTELY NO GUILT in simply ignoring them or telling them to get a job. Giving them money only encourages them to pray on other folks. They are picking on you now because you are NEW and in theory don't know all this.

But hey, now you do

 

The good news is that this decreases over time. The bad news is that you really can't get away from it. Folks will also spam whole groups of thousands of people with "can I have $10 to upload a texture --- I promise I will pay you back" messages. They promptly get thrown out of the group .

 

Go forth. There is plenty to do and see and learn in SL. Being new isn't the best position to be in, but happily it goes away over time *wink*.

[Verena Vuckovic]

I've yet to come across a case of begging in SL that I did not either know or suspect was a scam. My advice is to immediately mute any stranger IMing to beg for money......whether in personal or group IM. Don't respond at all, just mute them.

 

 

[Lyra Blackthorne]

There are no privacy setting that work as filters

I just ignore beggers, you do not have to respond just because someone ims you. 

You could choose to mute them, which would prevent them from communicating with you in the future...likely they are not the sort of person you would wish to hang out with anyway