Sirius Selona

A group of severe griefers have taken over the Linden Lab Ferry Terminal and Infohub on Barbarossa sim in the Blake Sea. It is land owned by the Linden Department of Public Works. It's impossible to know for certain if this is a single individual, or several. Whoever it is, they use numerous alts/bots as followers to attach to other avatars. They use a form of spam that seems impossible to defeat. And they sometimes use huge multicolored things designed to crash viewers. I have numerous screen captures. I've AR'd the problem. So have other people. So far nothing has been done. I've asked for help from various groups asking for ways to defeat the followers, and now the spam. I even opened a thread on the SL forum asking for help. People have helped, but it isn't getting to the heart of the problem, which is that LL needs to clean this nest of griefers out of their InfoHub. The spam I received this morning. I clicked on the chicklets, but could not get any information. Finally, one of the moderators in the Firestorm group chat talked me through some settings in the viewer that might have helped. I was able to get this info in local chat: [10:05] Second Life: AntiSpam: Blocked 840074c2-c9d0-7b1e-fdfc-1b52e55c5ff6 for spamming a Sound (12) times in 4 seconds. [10:05] Second Life: AntiSpam: Blocked a0433a2f-9fff-d13d-c494-b61ba830ece8 for spamming a Sound (12) times in 4 seconds. [10:06] Second Life: AntiSpam: Blocked a3266701-2496-786a-7838-cd751a2224e3 for spamming a Sound (12) times in 4 seconds. [10:06] Second Life: AntiSpam: Blocked a3266701-2496-786a-7838-cd751a2224e3 for spamming a Sound (12) times in 4 seconds. [10:06] Second Life: Teleport completed from Murat (246,126,21) [10:06] Second Life: AntiSpam: Blocked a3266701-2496-786a-7838-cd751a2224e3 for spamming a Sound (12) times in 4 seconds. One of the follower objects the griefers use. It actually is an object worn by a bot/alt. The bot/alt is set to do the actual following. They also push constantly. I've tried everything people have recommended. Inspected the object to find the creator. Muted the creator. Derendered the object. Derendered and blocked the bot/alt. But even when you can't see them, they can still push you. Multiple follower objects/bots/alts Follower on me Derendered and blocked bot can still push Bot/alt inside a derendered object. This shows the bot/alt is actually doing the following. Possible bot crowd. Several of them are online there 24x7 piled one on top of the other. They seem to act as a means to notify whoever is behind this that "live" avatars have arrived or are nearby.

Pierre, I understand what you're saying. It's just so disappointing to have no choice except to let the bad buys win. I was hoping only to find a way to defend against a follower, but there doesn't seem to be any way to do so. Followers have a good purpose in SL. Pets are only one example. But when they're used as griefing objects, I was hoping there was a way to defend against them. Sad that there isn't any way. But oh well. It is what it is. :matte-motes-grin:

Good morning everyone, and again, thanks for the discussion. I gather from the discussion that there's no way to defeat a follower that's being used as a griefinig object. And yes, it is easier to just go somewhere else. Also, I have AR'd them using the bot that was attached to me last night. I know of other people who have AR'd this problem too. I think, for me, it's the principle of the thing. This is a Linden Lab Infohub and supposedly safe area. It's public land set aside for general use. Sort of the equivalent of a park in real life. And the principle is identical to a real life situation when a park is taken over by a gang. Do you let the gang have it, or do you go to the police and pressure them to deal with the situation? Fortunately, this is not real life and it is, indeed, easy to just go somewhere else. Especially since there's no way to defeat the bots and LL is not likely to do anything even though they have received AR's about the problem. And so, once again the bad guys win.

Hi everyone. Thanks for the tips and suggestions. I did try both derendering and muting/blocking, but those features did not work completely. I managed to get some screen caps to post here. But first, people who say go to another rez zone are right in that it's the easiest thing to do. But I wonder why I, or anyone, must be harrassed into not using an LL-provided public hub and rez zone by out-of-control griefers. I'd rather try to find a way to defend against them if possible. If I could figure out the one or possibly a couple of actual avatar/people behind this, I'd report it to LL with all the screen caps I took. But it's impossible to figure out who is behind this situation. Anyway, here's tonight's screen caps. These images and the ones I already posted should give people who read this thread a good understanding of what's happening. The follower objects. What happens is a bot/alt does the actual following, but they wear this object. Follower on me. Follower derendered, but bot that's inside it is still following me. I sat here so it wouldn't push my avatar giving me time to do the screen cap. A derendered and blocked/muted bot/follower can still push an avatar. Here one named "AlexKlingonClayton" is pushing my bf's avi.

Here are two screen caps of the possible bots or alts that demonstrate part of the problem. The first screen cap was taken last light around 10:30pm Pacific time. These two male alts or bots float in the same place 24x7, never moving and always right on top of each other. If you try to chat with them, you never get a response. This cap was taken this morning about 5 minutes ago as I type this. The island is now crowded. Same two bots/alts in the same place as last night. Many, if not most of these avatars are not operated by individual people. They just appear all in a closely packed crowd like this. Some are online 24x7 but are hidden underwater sometimes. There is rarely, if ever any chat going on. Somewhere in that crowd is the person or people who attach the followers. I couldn't get a screen cap of a follower this morning, but will keep trying.

I like to go sailing in the Blake Sea. Unfortunately, the last couple of months one or more griefers have taken over the boat rez dock I like to use at a Linden Hub island. At least one person runs continuous attacks with follower objects. I say at least one, because it's hard to tell for sure. There could be more than one actual individual, or it could be one individual running multiple alts and/or bots. Having been in SL myself since May 2009, I know how to getting rid of griefer objects by teleporting to another sim, or sitting on a prim, or non-physical vehicle, etc. But I don't know how to stop a follower object if I want to stay at a location like a dock with my boat. Also, people have AR'd about this situation, but because it's hard to know who the actual individual(s) is who causes this griefing, I'm not sure LL can or will do anything. Is there anyone on this forum who either knows of a defensive script or method that will stop a follower object? Or maybe even reflect or return the object back on its owner? I'm posting this now in hopes a discussion can at least get started, and tomorrow morning (Pacific time) I will try to get a screen cap of one of the offender objects/avatars/bots and post it here. Thanks to all in advance.

Hi. I'm from the Los Angeles area. Happy to friend anyone in SL from California. :smileyhappy:

Hi. I'm from the greater Los Angeles area, and I would enjoy making SL friends with others from L.A. :smileyhappy:

I am replying on my cell phone, so can't give detailed reply. But the problem is a bug associated with the hair base. Solution is to find a basic linden hair base in your library. wear that, then you should be able to rebuild your avi. Wow to you going so far as to erase your hard drive. Was totally unnecessary. I am continually astounded at how much of the burden for dealing with technical failures LL shifts to its users, who often flail about looking for answers on their own computers when the failure is in LL software and/or hardware.

Hi India, To your question of what the difference is between a covenant and a rental agreement, both are forms of contracts. However, their similarities end there. Both a covenant and a rental agreement can apply to real property. In Second Life a sim (land) is the equivalent of real property -- real estate -- in the real world. A COVENANT is used to specify conditions tied to the use of land. In Second Life, this would mean the entire sim or parcels owned by the people agreeing to the covenant. Such conditions might include whether or not a particular theme applies to the land. Who can put up buildings and landscaping, and what kind. Whether or not fences are allowed between parcels. How the roads, if any, are to be laid out. What kind of use the land can be put to: commercial, residential, mixed use, clubs, rentals, parcels subdivided for sale, etc. Also how you want the land to be rated: PG only, Mature or Adult. Also whether or not skyboxes and platforms are allowed, and how high they must be. Whether or not boats, land vehicles, planes and other types of vehicles are permitted. And so on. A covenant can also specify what happens if someone violates the terms of either the covenant, itself, or a rental agreement. A RENTAL AGREEMENT is used to specify the details of a single rental. How much the rent is, what the payment period is, whether or not proxy payments are allowed, and what use a tenant can make of the parcel s/he rents. In Second Life, it would also include the number of prims allowed for the rental. Whether or not a tenant is allowed to have a security orb, or to control any of the About Land features. If you construct your covenant wisely, one provision of the rental agreement would be that tenants had to abide by the land's covenant. Then the rental agreement could be more brief and tailored solely to that one rental property. I hope this helps.