Skip to Content

The War for Mainland Independence from Land Extortionists

Timo Daehlie sent me this note card and seems very ready and willing to do even more to help stop spam lot dealers. You may know Timo from his land zoo project where he surrounded the nasty ad lots with a cute zoo like setting. Even with the new TOS rules on ad lot dealings it's still a big Problem. I thought it was worth sharing so here it is....

Greetings, friends.

For a long time now, we've suffered grievous insult and injury from people who fancy themselves as "entrepreneurs", but are, in reality, nothing more than opportunists willing to go to any extreme to make a buck, at our and our neighbors' expense. These people have no qualms with finding ways in and around the rules to take advantage of others' good intentions and goodwill.

I believe you all know of whom I speak. They are the ones who use land as a weapon to extort money from us. Most often, their tactics are to buy land at cheap prices, then cut some or all of it up into small plots, usually 16sqm ones. They then either hide the cuts, leave them not for sale until someone buys the adjoining plots, place adtowers, banlines, or other annoying content on them, then set them for sale for excessive amounts of money. To define "excessive", we shall say that anything more than twice current median market value for plots in the same area is a good starting point.

There's no need to name names; we all know them by their deeds, and by those who choose to associate with and assist them. Let's make no mistake here. These people are NOT our friends, regardless of how nice they present themselves or sugar-coat their aims. They simply represent the worst of humanity. They are parasites; leeches whose sole goal is to sow ruin at the feet of Fortune. They care not about ruining the rest of everyone's Second Life experience to line their pockets. They add NOTHING to our world, seeking only to take from it and from us for everything they can. Some of them even gloat about the damage they cause, amounting to nothing more than griefers who use land as their griefing tool of choice.

I know many of you have been patient while their adfarming/adcutting/small plot extortion shenanigans go on unabated. Linden Lab has made some headway with the adfarmer policy they put in place, but it is clearly not enough, as they continue to find newer and more insidious ways to skirt the rules and continue to ply their odious trade. Many of you are wanting, nay, demanding action. We have presented our concerns to Linden Lab, and will continue to do so. However, the prospects for an effective solution coming from them are dim at best at this point. So, now, it is up to us.

These bullies do not respect anything but superior force, if they respect anything at all, but at the very minimum, they respect their wallets. As such, it is now time to take the war to them. Their business models thrive on people willing to pay their exorbitant prices and put up with their antics, giving in by opening their wallet to the parasites, to get rid of them because they feel they don't have any other choice. WE know that is not the case. We know their weakness. Worse, they know we know it, too. However, we as a group are small, and they know that is OUR weakness.

The thing they also know is that if NO one bought their overpriced land cuts, they would have no income, and would have to either quit or find a more legitimate way to make money. In that knowledge lies our answer, and our salvation. It is clear what must be done. Knowledge and the will to use it is the power we must wield against them. In addition, we must spread that knowledge, and support the will to use it to everyone we can.

What this amounts to is that we must start a mass education campaign to all SL residents, most especially new residents as well as current mainland owners. We must show everyone not only why these people and their activities are bad, but also give to them the knowledge, tools, and strength of will to fight them alongside us. To that end, we are developing a campaign which will sweep the grid clean of these parasites once and for all. It will require a great deal of effort, resources, and time, and we want everyone who wishes for action to be a part of it.

What we will need will include:

1) People who will go to every mainland region and speak to the owners of land there, providing them the knowledge, tools, and support about the parasites, and teach them how to fight back within the SL ToS.
2) Developing tactics, advertising, information, evidence, tools, et cetera to be used as our weapons.
3) People to act as Liaisons to various in-world groups, as well as to large landholders, real estate businesses, and other large organizations who have an interest in a parasite-free mainland.
4) People to spend time in the welcome areas, passing out our materials to new players, and educating them about the campaign.

Enough is enough. Our mission and goals are clear. It is time to prepare, and time to act! We implore you to become a part of this change which will free our SL experience of this plague for good!

Contact Talarus Luan or Timo Daehlie for more information. Vive la revolution! :D

Reply

CAPTCHA
We're sorry. Despite being about virtual worlds, you have to prove your cyberpresence has a human base.
1 + 3 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.