The (not so) Ethical Side of Austin Hallard's Primlands Ad Lot Dealing
Now I don't really give two shits about Austin Hallard. He's just one of many scummy mainland cutters and ad lot sellers. But as I came across two 16 meter lots of mainland cut out of a center of a sim for $1495L a piece, I couldn't help but think about how he talked about how ethical of a business person he was at the June 25th Jack Linden office hour and I had to "laugh out loud".
[13:07] Austin Hallard: I operate Primlands, a successful company which buys and sells small parcels of land, typically called
micro-parcels. My business is nothing short of 100% ethical. I am a productive member of the community and
have never broken the TOS.
As you can see to Austin ethical doesn't actually mean "ethical" like most people think of the word. Ethical means he stays within the loose laws of the TOS. It's the kind of ethical that the bad landbots who take advantage of peoples 1l listing errors live by.
[13:07] Austin Hallard: I have found most people are completely
understanding, supportive, or simply indifferent to the micro-parcel
business.
We are talking about Second Life right? I see people angry and upset about the mainland being destroyed by people like yourself all the time. It's not just some small group. It's the majority of the SL community.
There is a very small group of people behind the entire anti-ad protest (the rest are just newbies
that joined under peer pressure, many not even knowing what these people are doing). Some of the leaders of
these griefers are just people who want my land for free.
Well I guess you call the majority a small group, because when I look at the main forums, other forums, jira suggestions for stopping ad lot dealers, and all of the in world groups working to end this mainland destruction, I'm not seeing a small group. I'm seeing a lot of people. And the leaders of these griefers just want your land for free??? Oh come on now. The largest group is the arbor project run by Xerses Goff who is one of the nicest kindest people I know. He believes in a non-threatning way of handling things and I know damn well how regulated and honest that groups set up is.
[13:07] Austin Hallard: Unlike me, these protesters break the TOS
constantly. Parcel encroachment, blackmail, harassment, intimidation,
and stalking are but a few of their crimes. A common tactic of these griefers is to drop a large object or tree
over my land and then try to blackmail me into giving them the land for a lower price or for free. Of course , I
never give in to these griefers and AR them immediately. Many of these griefers have rap sheets a mile long and
should be permanently banned from SL.
[13:08] Austin Hallard: The main argument of these griefers is their
claim of extortion. There is no extortion, I can assure you. I
have never used any type of inducement to sell my parcels. I buy land and I sell land, and that is all. If
they think the price is high, they are under no obligation to buy it. Simply having a price which someone
considers high is not extortion. Extortion involves some kind of pressure or denial of an essential service,
neither of which apply to this situation. There is no extortion.
First take a look again about my comment that just going by the TOS does not equal ethical. So whoever hands out cookies and stickers for following the TOS, please pass Austin one. I also have a hard time feeling sad for you because these people are fighting back against what you do to them. You can't honestly expect people to be happy that you cut up land in their sims and set it for sale way way above average market value. $1495 for 16 meters of land is 93.43L per meter in a market where Land is starting out at around 3.6l a meter and according to Jacks Office hour this week the average is around 7l a meter. Real "ethical" pricing there. You're trying to force people to pay insane prices if they want to save their area from becoming ad lot hell. Call it whatever you would like and say whatever you would like but we all know what you are doing including you. Extortion is just a very fitting word for the way the community feels about what you are doing. Honestly what reaction are you expecting from people? You decided to become something that the majority of the community see's as wrong and unethical, and now you're mad that people are upset with your actions and the reputation you have made for yourself. The only one responsible for that, and the only one who can change that is you. Maybe you should have picked a better path in SL, then you wouldn't need to bust your ass trying to convince a Linden at his office hour that your not the scum bag that you are. So when you're jumping around sl, buying lots in nice ad free sims, cutting off edges into 16's marked several times the cost of averge mainland, and then dumping the chunk left at below what you paid, go ahead and pat yourself on the back for following the SL terms of service. Just don't confuse that with being "Ethical", because it's far from it.
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