Lindal Kidd

I am seeing a lot of new Gold Hunt group members lately. I'm not at all familiar with this system, but I have to tell you there are a whole lot of scammish "get free $L here" schemes going around, and this sort of sounds like one of them to me.

From what you say, it OUGHT to work. Go through the following steps to see if you can find where the problem is. 1. Windows audio settings. With your microphone selected as the input device, speak. Make sure you're getting a signal. 2. In SL Preferences/Voice Chat, select the same audio device for input. Do you get green bars when you talk? If not, the problem is in the firewall settings, bandwidth, your wireless settings, or your internet connection. I'm no expert when it comes to that area...I just push buttons until something starts working.

You can always see who paid you in your Transaction History. Your friend probably didn't know how to check that. You don't need an alt or payment history to earn money in SL. Of course, to get in on a sploder game, you must have a little money to put into the pot, but perhaps your friend was given some by a generous person. You can earn $L with various jobs. I don't recommend that; most SL jobs pay much less than RL minimum wage. You can earn all the money you need for SL with a little overtime work or a second part time job in RL, a lot faster than you can earn it in world.

Banning, or un-banning, is completely up to the land owner(s). You can send the owner a politely worded IM or notecard explaining that you meant no harm and ask to be un-banned. But if they choose not to do so, you have no further recourse. Fortunately, there are lots of other places to go!

I've had stubborn scripts before. You may need to pull all the animations out of your AO, rez a fresh copy of it, install the animations, and edit the notecard. In other words, set up another AO. Bummer.

If you have no idea who's proposing marriage, I'd at least want to meet the person before accepting. Unless you want to roleplay being a mail order bride.

Using SL is possible on an internet connection, but it's not guaranteed. But it sounds like your problem is even more basic...you say you can't get on the internet with your mobile modem? Can't help you there, you should contact a support forum for your mobile device.

If you are using a version of the viewer that has Basic/Advanced modes, you should see the mode switch button: 1. Near your password entry box on the startup screen, or 2. In the upper right near your $L balance when you are in world. If you don't see those, you are in the newer single mode viewer and already have all the Advanced functions.

Mark the message as "Not Spam" to move it to your inbox. Try again.

If you do not see a white dot hovering over your avatar's head, your Voice is not enabled. Go to Me/Preferences/Voice Chat and check the settings. You may also have to check your audio settings in Windows to make sure the input device is correctly set to use your microphone. Also, some firewalls will block SLVoice; check to make sure this isn't happening. When voice is properly set up, you will see green bars respond to your speaking into your microphone in the Preferences setup window.

The talk button can be set to only be active when you hold it down, or to lock in the On position until you click it again. This can be set in Preferences/Voice Chat. I recommend using the "hold button down to talk" method, because it's too easy to forget to turn it off. Then everyone hears your muttering to yourself, the TV in the next room, etc. You can also set a keyboard key as your "microphone button", rather than the on screen control. The middle mouse button is the default, but you can choose any key.

Many AOs override the tendency of the head and eyes to follow the mouse. A lot of poses do, too. Or, can you rez a prim and select it to lock your gaze on it?

An urezzed or partially rezzed avatar appears as a cloud. If you look like a solid egg, it's because you have Particles turned off in your graphics preferences. Look in Preferences/Graphics, check the Advanced box, and move the particles slider up to around 2,000 - 4,000. That will make you look like a cloud. See Rolig's answer for some ways to fix that part of the problem.

Have you sent an IM to the owner? Many people get IMs by email when they are off line, and this may be one way to reach the land owner and let them know about the problem.

I'm not at all sure what you're asking, but I *think* you want to make an avatar based on a picture stored on your computer. Avatars consist of two major parts, the shape and the skin. It's not too hard to design your own shape using My Appearance/Edit Shape. Just tweak the sliders until the shape satisfies you. Skin is another matter. Skin provides the fine details of your appearance and can greatly affect your finished look. Skin is a set of three texture templates (head, torso/arms, and lower body). The textures are painted in a program like Photoshop or GIMP and then uploaded to Second Life as a new skin. Producing realistic skin takes a great deal of time and artistic talent, and producing a skin that looks like a specific Real Life person is even harder. There is only one skin maker I know of who provides this custom service (Namssor at Second Skin Labs) and it will cost you several hundred $$USD. You might try this: 1. Import the picture from your hard drive, using File/Upload Texture. This only costs $L10. 2. With the picture open on your screen, use it as a guide to edit your shape until it's as close to the picture as you can get it. 3. Shop for a hair style that looks like your picture. 4. Shop for a skin that brings your avatar even closer to the look you want. ONLY get the demo skins at first, and try them on. When you find one that satisfies you, go back and buy the non-demo version.

As Rolig and Ariel said, squatting is not legal. You can DO it, but you have zero rights, and if the land owner catches you he can kick you off in a couple of mouse clicks. If you are determined to find land to squat on, I suggest you stick to the mainland, and look for parcels of Abandoned land. They have no special map symbol, so you'll have to actually go walk the land, checking "About Land" on vacant parcels. Look for ones that say "owned by Governor Linden" and "Abandoned". When you find one, check the object return time, which must be set to 0 or your stuff will get returned in short order. Then check to see if you CAN rez objects there. If all three conditions are met, the land is "squattable". I suggest only rezzing something that is 1) inconspicuous and 2) set up so that when it gets returned, it returns as a single or a coalesced object that will be easy to re-rez someplace else. A furnished skybox is one way to do this. Squatting is a very iffy proposition, and it's a lot easier on the nerves to rent legally. You can rent all sorts of land...vacant parcels, empty homes that you can furnish, or even completely furnished residences. I rent high rise condos, for example. My tenants can furnish their units with up to 300 prims. To find rentals, use the Search function, or look in the appropriate Marketplace or SL Forums.

By closing the window, you rejected the item. IM the creator or send them a notecard. Explain what happened and request re-delivery.

See the rigged mesh pencil skirts by Mon Tissu. They're great! And they are the first mesh clothing item I've seen that I can say that about.

This has been tried before. The problem is that such "watchdog" organizations always wind up favoring their "friends" and blacklisting people who really don't deserve it. The anonymity of Second Life makes it very hard for any entity to properly investigate claims of problems as well as to maintain its own credibility.

Or look in the Worn tab of your inventory

Chief, hm? Nothing like starting at the top.

How is it possible for someone to get married and not know how to spell it? Oh well...no, you cannot change your registration dates. You MAY be able to change your registered name, but you'll have to file a support ticket.

If it's your land, enabling damage is your choice. If you want to shoot trespassers, this is a fun option. Be aware that some trespassers may shoot back.

There are lots of ways to own or rent land in Second Life. IM me in world and I'll be happy to talk to you. No, you don't need to buy your own private region! The reference to "Homesteads" refers to a special type of private region, one that costs less, but supports fewer prims and avatars than a "full" region...not to homesteading in the traditional sense. Very short summary of ways to have land: 1. Rent from another resident on the Mainland 2. "Buy" (it's really a type of renting, but we won't go into that just now) some land on a private estate from an estate owner. 3. Get a Premium membership and get a free Linden Home. 4. Instead of a Linden Home, buy a parcel on the Mainland from another resident, and get free tier on the first 512 square meters. 5. Buy your own private region from Linden Lab. This is that very expensive option you talked about in your post. From what you say in your post, I think Option 2 would be the best for you...but you should consider all of them before spending any money.

Sometimes there are Issues with the registration servers. Try again please.