Phoenix Haight

I do feel like this really was a "I was today days old when I realized..." thing, but now I do know the tricks, and I'll remember that from now on, thanks! (The upside-down hemisphere worked and I'm fairly sure I moved the skybox rezzer up from the ground anyway, I just forgot.)

Okay, I'm trying that now, with the weird caveat that I'm also having issues building boxes... but hemispheres were no problem at all. It's a flat surface. I'll report back if this succeeds (though I have another odd workaround -- one of my items rezzed successfully on the actual land's ground. I surmise I could probably rez my furniture on the ground then edit the height to approximately where the skybox is, then fine tune from there).

The problem is basically this: I bought a parcel of land that's 1024 square meters and have a skybox that I placed, as I thought, dead center. I am now trying to place a couch of mine in said skybox, and I got the following: I own it. How do I set permissions so that I can rez stuff on my own land? Thanking everyone in advance, and sorry if this is an easy question, but my Google Fu has atrophied over time.

Okay, that helps. Thanks.

Oh... I know. It's just that I'd rather people just say it. I'm not a complete and total jerkass in reality but I do come across as one sometimes due to tone of voice and facial expressions, but it's frustrating when it happens in SL because I can't even blame THAT.

Oh, it's been a while since that happened... AND it was a bit 'adult' in nature. Flirting, encountering, "you're too tall" and she just logged. Tried flirting another time, she ended it abruptly, and apparently even she couldn't recall why she blocked me afterwards when I spoke about it, via an intermediary regarding a question about a sim she was admin of. (There are probably standards here, so you're going to have to take my word for it, it just did not feel like anything out of the ordinary for flirting or more-than-flirting. I just was not addressing her with the 'proper' amount of respect, apparently.) I just needed to vent about it and say that when the most recent case of 'am I blocked or not?' turned out to just be someone who gets her messages capped quickly, I was so relieved I cried. Because since the system doesn't tell me if I'm blocked, long periods of silence feel like I've been blocked when it could just be Second Life eating my messages, but as noted, it's actually happened, and I'm often not sure why.

But I need feedback. I legitimately do not know why I'm coming across as rude or horrible, and people keep on just blocking and moving on without telling me anything! I legitimately cannot figure out why she blocked me at all. I said and did nothing that I would consider rude or unreasonable, and if I'm wrong, I want to know it!

I'm just going to say that the presumptions of the previous people in this thread annoy me. As does the concept of blocking without making it obvious. I've been blocked without having any clue as to why, and the only indicator I got one time was when someone relayed a message -- and by that time she'd FORGOTTEN WHY. I've heard that sending a notecard is an indicator, but I'm not so sure.

I really haven't found a good match for this, so here goes. I saw a friend online from 'Jayla Clark's Dashboard' friends list, so I decided to log in to see her... only to not see her on my friends list in Firestorm. (Beta 4.5 at present; I'd seen her in-world before, after updating to said Beta.) I checked on Yahoo to find that yes, she was in-world, but didn't get my four IMs to her. I chose to send a screenshot of my friends list in-world via YIM to her... and she noticed from the local that someone was online from her friends list she didn't see either. I logged in with Viewer 2 (and automatically updated; it's been quite a while since I used it), and the problem persisted. Now, this is probably on her end in some way, but does anyone have an answer for what's causing that?

Okay, the L$50k was an estimate, but she was kind of a ridiculous perfectionist about SL. So many clothes, shapes, skins, looks, furniture... As for the severe addiction... from what I could tell, based on when I friended her 'return' avatar to when she got booted, her usage was far down from as Mich and Val. This probably has everything to do with my telling her 'you need professional help' and her actually getting it for six months or so. But let's be honest -- SL is about the best escape around. I'd bet a lot of people you know are at least a little obsessive about it, and ... I've had friendships from SL that, even with no RL interaction, I'd rate as top-five strongest friendships I've ever had. I can't blame the fact of her wanting to be here, just the level...

Just looking back, I wonder if I need to clarify: Her first instaban without warning was due to her credit card dispute on her primary (premium and verified) account. As noted, fairly stupid of her and fairly justifiable for LL to react as such. So no, I don't 'need to ask her' what caused it. I know. Problem is, that was thought resolved by her dropping the dispute. The full ban of her accounts that happened on August 5th was a tough one to figure out, she was so hysterical. Yes, hysterical. I had to walk her through everything... and also find out that she had panic-spammed the support ticket system and yelled at more than a few people in LL support. (I tend to suspect that her issue with being ignored by online support rather than disconnected... well, kind of rude, just dc her if you don't want to deal with her but I think she may have freaked out at them, as well.) So she got 'suspicious transfer of Lindens' in at least one response, though no one wanted to explain that clearer than that. (I'd like to know how anyone knows it's counterfeit laundering. I've never seen anyone with a Linden account define that term as such, or even comment on it. 'Disputed Lindens' got me to a court case where LL got raked over the coals on parts of the TOS that were thereafter changed, but no joy on the crime definition anywhere, even on this forum and ... were they Xstreet yet? I doubt it. Those forums didn't have any info either.) So, did she take large amounts of lindens from an account and transfer them to a NPIOF account? Yes, her own, actual money. Did she take payments from other accounts? Yes, she did. Though clearly not every account she took payments from got tarred with that brush, I paid her money for a gift that Valentine's Day, I think... So it seems to me that she ended up getting dirty money along the way or just looked like she was getting it, and acted suspiciously afterwards thus getting her no joy from support. But they never explained it out or gave her a chance on the original problem. She wasn't the best customer but she was a customer. That's the problem... she can't get past that and move on and I have trouble blaming her for it. So the big giant mess is this -- what was the original ban? They didn't ban her for the suspicious Lindens, they blocked her pending investigation. That investigation is either unconcluded or turned up a completely different outcome than they were investigating on (if that October message was the conclusion of the investigation rather than being unrelated to such; again, it's not clear. They cited paragraphs after saying the TOS was violated, and I don't recall seeing financial anything in those paragraphs). They did make the outright ban for attempting to skirt the block, and that message said nothing about appealing... Oh, hell. I'll talk her through a letter to write. And then try to introduce her to the joys of Star Trek Online while it's going through the mail. It can't hurt at all, can it?

Going to think this out here... but trust me, though the TOS has been reorganized, I recall clearly she was banned for 'misrepresentation of self with regards to creating an avatar'. There was also something about inappropriate content. I have no clue what that was about, but we were always in the same Mature sims, most of which are now Zindra. She went mostly off into her own Zindra sims after re-entering SL society as Kyra. They never gave her an explanation, solution, or anything about the original block. I extrapolated that her annoyingly kneejerk reaction to seeing the same charge on her credit card and Paypal accounts for purchasing Linden was what brought attention to her file. (She disputed the charge with both companies despite the fact that she clearly intended to purchase the L$. I facepalmed. I heard that her credit card was attached to the PayPal and nothing else, not even a bank account, thus... being the only possible place money could come from. I headdesked. I was too dizzy to do anything when she mentioned she never talked to Linden until after her accounts were originally blocked... but she cancelled the disputes with both Visa and Paypal and was allowed to bring one of her accounts back at that time.) Then someone noticed that she was getting paid a lot of money without a clear product in return to a NPIOF avatar. Tell you the truth, when she created Valerie I threatened to block her-as-Valerie for selfish reasons; I wish I'd followed through, considering I have such doubts it'd be as much of a red flag to her premium av (though she was keeping it separate for superheroine roleplay... anyone who laughs can slap themselves. ... ). She just never added payment information, she tells me, because she didn't see she needed it; she had a premium av to buy her L$ with, why put in the effort? This tips the scales of the mythical index and causes them to conduct an investigation. What bothers the hell out of me is they don't ask her any questions, they just 'conduct an investigation' and say 'we cannot comment on investigations'. Granted, justifying her interior design business is such a stretch, I bet if I hadn't heard her gush about her IRL work I wouldn't have bought it. Then again, there are rather a lot of people who make their living selling non-tangible product in many corners of Zindra these days. Iluminated by red lights. LL's not cracking down too hard on them last I heard, correct me if I'm wrong. The panic, well you'll have to trust me when I assure you it was real. Actually, maybe you don't have to. I just have my experience of always-in-control Mich spamming me with 27 badly typed lines in a row on YIM to go on. The mistakes in communicating with LL followed, the information that said she was doomed by uninformed people followed that, a legitimate attempt to make an avatar exist followed that, then two weeks later came the outright ban. I think going there to straighten it out in person might be the only thing she could do, but she'd better get Giants tickets and go on some trolley rides because she might end up going there for nothing.

She was not given instructions on how to appeal. She was blocked and ignored. She sent in a written appeal. That was responded to with a form letter. She shared everything with me and a mutual friend in the hopes I could help her. Every communication she got. She never got instructed on how to appeal. They said "sorry Val, you've been caught trying to come back so bye. Thanks for the 50 thousand lindens though." And a month later claimed to have a solution in an e-mail ... leading to the same explanation of why she was banned. Never commenting on the 'suspicious Lindens' to this very day. Please stop calling my friend a master criminal who has been playing me for all six years I've known her. She's just a severe SL addict who should've learned by now LL doesn't deserve her loyalty. I spent six hours one night talking her through the fact that she couldn't get to sleep because every time she closed her eyes, she was back on the grid flying in our sim. She did nothing wrong these past three years but exist.

God, I love coming here, I feel the love, you know? Fraud? Laundering stolen L$? She's an interior decorator IRL and decided to go into business in SL too, to pay for her perfectionism in her avatar. She did it with said NPIOF account. They gave her that message and never elaborated. Not one explanation. She did. Nothing. WRONG. You SANCTIMONIOUS .... I ... I'm sorry. She's just not a crook, she did something stupid that no one ever told her she shouldn't do... I can't take this. I just can't take this. They never completed that investigation, either, they said 2.6, 2.4, 4.1... are any of those monetary? No, they're avatar-related and content related...

That's what I wanted to know, if they have a standard, or if they just blanket 'forever-means-forever'. Seriously, I though the fact she went under the radar for so long meant they'd given up on her. Apparently not. I knew there wasn't much likelihood of getting any help here from an actual Linden, I just... there has to be something I can do... well, maybe all I can do is hand her the information and hope she can use it. I can't tell her what her problem is, though... I can tell her she was banned for the alts and she doesn't give a damn, she wants to know why she was blocked. She got red-flagged and ignored and treated like crap and I won't judge her for a second for doing what she did, I just wish she'd told me beforehand so I wouldn't have lost her forever.

It is that case, yes, at least the one cited in that block of text there by me. You can see what the problem was then, no one human gave a damn about actually writing like a human being and telling her what she needed to do, just giving her form letters that did nothing. She was continually suspended for disputed charges that were not disputed anymore. In response to the answers, thanks... I just wish I could convince her she'll get an answer this time. I don't want her going off trying this again without her actually being talked through what the hell she did wrong to begin with. In her mind she has every justification to try to come back, because she was never told what she did to earn the suspension, what it would take to get her avatar back, and how long it would take. She may try to figure out how to hide her location and try yet again (she really did consider that earlier, but I think she merely got Kyra up by waiting them out for a year), but I have suggested against that action, for what it's worth.

Never know... *sighs* though she should be at the point where they'll never take her money again. It's way too late for me to try and solve this for her, though. I do appreciate the responses, really... wish I could actually do something.

See, the problem is... she has no idea how to appeal the original ban. At all. She sent a letter, return receipt requested, to the address she found on LL's site, and never got a response. It was a heartfelt plea to explain what she did wrong beforehand, admission of what she knew she did wrong, and plea to have it overturned because of the goodness of their heart, or the vagueness of their answers. (I know, she sent me the copy before she mailed it.) As for the original suspension, she never was told why she was suspended in any way that made sense. "Suspicious transferring of Lindens" I seem to recall. She had no idea it was 'suspicious' to transfer lindens from a fully paid account to an account without verification, but she really never thought too much about the process of creating Valerie. Anyway, can you give me a hint as to what proper channels are? She can't access the support base by her accounts anymore, I don't think... she may never have put in an appeal properly, though. She was impressively worked up at the time. (Worked up enough to almost kill herself by accident -- had a lot to drink, still couldn't sleep because of the stress, and was about to take sleeping pills. ... I'm very glad she had to stay away from here for a year, it gave her perspective.) I do know that the ban was for, it was for returning with alts. Her original reason was to tell me and her other friends what's happening, but I tried to get her to delete that alt and stay with me on YIM... she didn't do it in time, that one was blocked via IP. She just could not stay away, though, and she has no excuse for that, and was banned with documentation citing what I said. She literally has no idea I'm doing this, by the way, I won't tell her unless I get any info about appealing properly. I ... just felt like I had to try to find out more... I owe it to her to try.

A friend of mine had issues four years ago with her account, did some foolish things in response, and got banned outright because of those foolish things. Not because of the original allegations, those were never cited by anyone, just her misrepresenting herself to get back online, fueled by an idiotic statement by a friend of hers that 'that's how they ban people without proof, they lodge an allegation and let it sit forever'. Her other foolish things were spamming the support ticket site out of panic, and yelling at people who couldn't answer her question, "When will I be back?" and "What am I accused of?" They never answered her. Not one thing beyond 'suspicious transferring of Lindens'. At the time I really did say she should get a lawyer and get all the money she put into the system back, but admittedly it might have been small claims, still... she went on with her life eventually, and we stayed in touch. A solid year later, she created another avatar, and went about living her life in Second Life. I wasn't aware of this for a while, and, because of her final attempt being found out because of associations with her friends, I stayed away from her in SL, just wanting her to be happy, and giving her the advice of, "Just have fun, don't run a business this time, and don't spend amazing amounts of money, okay, hon?" I figured she'd be able to last that way, and just have fun with her friends, because if she avoided financial anything's, she wouldn't be accused of causing trouble... A couple of weeks ago, after three years of no indication that anyone cared about her or had any idea she existed, she was suspended. She may have tried to come back again with multiple avatars... I heard as such but only after the fact, I would have told her not to... and just this week, it happened. She was required to verify her identity, and she did so. She then got a notice: "Due to the fact that you share multiple login locations of a known violator of SL's Terms of Service"... which is very funny, as she admitted when asked that she was said violator; "We regretfully must terminate your account permanently, to avoid risking any violators from having access." What I want, what I really, really want, is for some one among the Lindens to grow a set and actually take a look at the case of Valerie Tachikawa, and tell her what the bloody violation was to begin with that is so horrendous, so very horrendous, that they will track her down four years later and clamp down on her ... after giving them another three hundred or so dollars of her hard earned cash, that is. She doesn't know. She's never known. There's no harm in telling her now, is there? I mean, she's banned forever already, but they very, very clearly banned her for being associated with violators, and the only violation she ever was quoted was for misrepresenting herself to get back to SL while during a suspension, and I really don't blame her too badly for that, seeing as she was never told what the investigation was about, how long it would take, nothing. I will drop this after someone named LINDEN answers this post. If anyone deletes this post I'll never spend a single penny of my own on my avatars ever again in my life, unless they give me a clear reason for deleting it and, if there's a better forum to post this in, the location of said forum. I just cannot drop this, at all, because she's harmless, she's my friend, and ... she created the second avatar, Valerie Tachikawa, in the first place because... well, she said loved me, loved being around me and didn't ever want to be bothered by any of her friends list when she was with me. If she had stuck with her one avatar this would never, never have happened and I feel like it's my fault. I've since moved on, but it hurts me that she's not here and she never got an answer, not really, for why.