Socially|Mundane

So Jack updates us on the Lab's newfound, sense-making policy regarding BOTs across the grid, and throws-in some tidbits regarding camping chairs, too.

In one reply is a comment about [paraphrased] "how will new users makes any money if camping chairs are banished?"

My own reply was "it is sad that money tree have all but disappeared." And also in my reply I mentioned that they can also do what practically all of us (except the freebie-entitlement crowd) have done at least once: buy Linden Dollars through the Lindex.

I also mentioned that the day camping chairs become outlawed, I'll put up a money tree immediately that gives generously! In fact, I might not even wait. I think I'll go shopping for a good money tree tonight (can't even remember what happened to my old one and my money pyramid already is in use elsewhere.)

But the best comment in the thread so far is by GreenLantern Excelsior:

I would be interested to know why, if using bots to "game" the search statistics is now considered abuse and a violation, that LL doesn't want Abuse Reports to be submitted. It seems to me that 10 bots standing in a skybox at 800 meters would fit easily into the category "Disturbing the peace > Unfair use of region resources."

If Linden Lab has sufficient numbers of employees with nothing better to do, and they can afford to send them out to locate and tag all the bots on the grid, that's great. However, I don't believe there are that many Lindens around. So why not open up bot abuse and solicit ARs from residents? After seeing a blog somewhere that was all about bot hunting, I tried it and discovered that it's great fun! Can you imagine a bot hunting blog where people compete for a Champion Bot Hunter award? Each hunter could post a SLURL and a picture of themselves standing beside the pack of bots or group of camping chairs. The hunter gets a score of one point for each bot in the photo, and Linden Lab gets a whole stack of free Abuse Reports without having to send a single LL employee out to search.

[From Further Clarification on Bots and Camping - Land and Sea - Second Life Blogs]

This is a brilliant idea!

In fact, if I don't announce it here by Friday night, someone remind me. I think I'll have a contest in honor of this far-overdue LL policy about traffic bots. And it's really just for fun:

L$1000 up for grabs: L$1000, L$500, L$250 respectively for the top three picture counts. And the rules are just like GreenLantern says: a picture that clearly shows you amongst a slew of bots. The "slew" must be three or more obvious bot farms. Clothing models and the like don't count and a minimum of five (5) bots must be visible.

The count is not the number of bots. It's the number of different pictures you come-up with. The pictures must be uploaded directly to inventory (not allowed to save them to disk first) and must reflect the date and time and region in the comment field and have the "Photo Album" icon, not the "Texture" icon (as those are from your computer).

I will post an official contest announcement with rules and where to drop the pictures on Friday.

This is gonna be fun.