How Can I Defend Against Bad People?

I remember when I first started Second Life (SL). It seemed like I met some many nice people! I thought “how cool is SL, so many nice people!” Then I met some not so nice ones and my bubble burst. Have you heard of the expression “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”? Well, SL is filled with people – good and bad, just like RL. Not so much ugly though. You can fix ugly in SL, but you can’t fix bad!

There are a couple of simple rules to keep you safe. For example, keep your RL and SL separate. Do not divulge your personal information. And if someone comes to you and says they are one of the Lindens (who own SL), they are most certainly not!

Most troubles in Second Life are relatively minor. There are relatively minor nuisances and inconveniences. But you can also experience more serious problems, like the hacking of your account. The good news is, like most things in SL, we can learn techniques to avoid trouble, stop trouble and get out of trouble. I like to call is SL Kung Fu!

You have a few tools at your disposal to help you with troublemakers and trouble in general. The easiest and fastest is to walk away or even leave the location where the abuse is occurring. But you do not always want to have to leave, especially if you are enjoying yourself. After all, a trouble maker should not spoil your time here. So here are some problems that you might incur, and some tools you can use to deal with people who harass or otherwise cause you trouble.

Bumping and pushing other avatars is considered rude in Second Life, as it is in real Life. New people should work on controlling their avatars so they avoid this. Still, sometimes avatars will bump into you – accidentally or even on purpose. This can be due to inexperience, lag, large crowds, or just rudeness. Sometimes, you can stop it by politely asking the avatar to try to not to bump into you. If that does not work, look under the "Help" menu at the top of the viewer for a "Pushes and Hits" feature to help you identify who has recently done this. Remember, this can happen for all sorts of reasons, and often is accidental.

1. SIT – yup, it’s that easy. If someone is bumping or pushing you, you can avoid trouble merely by sitting. If there are no chairs around. Right click any object and select Sit from the pop up menu. If someone traps you in a cell or a bubble, you can rez a prim, then right click it and select sit. Once you do that, then right click the prim, select Edit, and use the arrows to move the prim to sa safe spot. You will find yourself free as a bird, one who can then fly away.

2. MOVELOCK 1 – you can get a HUD for free on the marketplace. You add the Movelock like you would an AO. Once your movelock is on, anyone who bumps into you will themselves be bumped away! Movelocks let you stand your ground and prevent you from being moved.

3. MOVELOCK 2 – Firestorm lets you set up your own Movelock. Press Ctrl-Alt-P. Then go to the Avatar menu → Movement sub menu and click Move Lock. You will see “Movelock enabled” or “Movelock disabled” in Nearby Chat, and you will hear a sound. If Move Lock does not enable or disable, recreate your bridge: Avatar menu → Avatar Health → Recreate LSL Bridge. You can control the Move Lock behavior in Firestorm 4.6.5 and newer via Preferences → Move & View → Movement:

• Always re-lock position after region changes > When enabled, Move Lock is disabled during teleport, then re-enabled it after you arrive. When disabled, Move Lock is not re-enabled after a teleport

• Lock and unlock position after stopping or starting movement > When enabled, Move Lock is temporarily disabled when you manually move your avatar, and re-enabled when you stop moving. When disabled, you will be unable to move your avatar while Move Lock is enabled.

• Also in Preferences → Firestorm → Extras, at the bottom, is Enable LSL-Client Bridge. This must be enabled in order to use Move Lock.

4. REVEALING INVISIBLE BUMPS - If you find that you are being bumped or pushed but cannot see the cause, it could be something invisible moving or bumping you. Most viewers have a feature that will reveal invisible objects: press and hold Ctrl + Alt + T to highlight transparent objects. Use the same keys again to turn that feature off.

Sometimes people insist on talking in nearby chat. There is no law against it, but in public, it can be annoying. My personal view on it is this: people are listening to the music or the sounds of nature and when other people just start blabbing in open chat, it’s just noise pollution, kind of like that rude person who insists on talking on their cell phone in a crowded room. The good news is that you have the power to turn them off.

1. MUTE - Look for the “Nearby Voice” button – it looks like a pair of headphones. Click that and find the name of the avatar that is noisy. Move the volume button for their name all the way down.

2. DISABLE VOICE ON THE PARCEL - If you have parcel rights, then you can turn off voice altogether. Click World on the top menu, then select Parcel Details. IN the alternative, you can right click the grounds and select About Land. From there, click the sound tab and uncheck "Enable Voice".

If someone (or something) is just to annoying and uncooperative despite your nicest efforts, it’s time to Block them. Block eliminates another avatar’s ability to see interact with you – no messages and no sending you items. You can Block other avatars or an object (some can be noisy). Some viewers give you tools to find the source of sounds. In the Linden Labs viewers, click World > Show > Beacons > Sound Sources. In Firestorm, click World > Sound Explorer. That will identify the source of the sound, be it an avatar or object. Once you find the source of the problem, you can block it or them.

1. BLOCK - PERSON. There are a few ways to block a person.

a. If they are visible to you, then right-click the avatar, and select "Block”.

b. If they are not visible to you but are nearby, you can use the “Nearby Avatars” list to Block people nearby you. The keyboard shortcut to get the list is Ctrl+Shift+A. Find the avatar on the nearby list, then right click on their name and select “Block”.

c. If the avatar is not near you, use Search to find their profile, then click the Block button on their profile.

2. BLOCK – OBJECT. To block an object (like a chatty bot), right-click on the object and select “Block”.

These are available in the Firestorm viewer and can be very handy. They will turn the offender into a puff of smoke and more importantly, they will not be able to see you. Right click the offending avatar, then on the pie wheel, select More and More again, then choose Derender. This turns the offending avatar into a puff of smoke and they can no longer interact with you. Derender is temporary. Once you relog they will no longer be Derendered. However, on the same menu, you can select Blacklist, which makes the Derendering permanent, or at least until you change your mind.

To rerender someone who you blacklisted, click World > Asset Blacklist and remove them from your Blacklist.

Unbeknownst to you (and I use the term “unbeknownst” because it’s appropriate but also because it sounds cool), object can do devilish things. A nasty script in a prim or sculpt can makes you send out messages to nearby avatars, transport you to parts unknown. That said an object will not have any effect unless it is worn or rezzed. Fortunately, there is an easy rule: never accept gifts from strangers, or at least not wear or rez them. We all get sucked in sometimes – get a seemingly innocent gift that gets us into trouble but, if you avoid accepting things from strangers, you can avoid trouble. Does that mean never accept a gift? Of course not! But accept gifts from reputable sources – an accredited helper, a store, etc. While we are on this, let’s talk about…

A few simple rules can keep you secure:

- never give out your password.

- use a unique password for SL.

- change your password from time to time.

- remember a simple rule: no one reputable, not even the Lindens, will ever ask for your password!

Easy, right?

This is a devilish trick you might come across from time to time: someone will post a link into nearby chat, a link that looks familiar like “http:\\marketplaces.secondlife.com”. It looks so similar to an innocent and often used website that we miss the fact that it’s not what we thought it was. You click it and next thing you know, you have a virus! Or maybe you get there and it looks legitimate enough but asks you for your name and password!

Always be careful of any link that is given to you. Make sure it comes from a reputable source. And if it looks familiar, look very closely to make sure it’s real. Be careful and stay safe.

If you own or rent a parcel, securing it from strangers or unwanted guests is very important. You, as the owner (that includes a renter), can control this through the Parcel Details. Click World on the top menu and then select Parcel Details, from the drop down menu. You now have the "About Land" menu up.

- Click Options. If you want privacy, you can uncheck "Avatars on other parcels can see and chat with avatars on this parcel". While you still show up on the world may, no one off parcel can cam into your parcel.

- Click Sound. Make sure you have a checkmark in "Restrict gesture and object sounds to this parcel."Also check "Restrict Voice to this parcel."

- Click Access. If you uncheck "Allow Public Access", there will be ban lines around your parcel, preventing anyone from entering. Also, you can Add a person to the "Allowed Residents" list so you can assure guests can come. Lastly, you can Add a resident to the "Banned Resident" list to assure that person(s) does not ever set foot on your property.

- Click General. Here, you can add a group as owner. The use of a group is an easy way to control who may come and go from your parcel. Create the group, Then Set the parcel to the group. When you want to permit someone to visit, just offer them a group tag.

Sometimes Griefers will cause your program to crash by overloading your video card through excessive particles. You can turn off all particles quickly by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Shift-= (the equal sign key). Use the same buttons in sequence to turn the particles back on.

You can also click Ctrl-P to bring up Preferences, click the Graphics tab and set your Particle Count to a low setting or even 0. You might never see fire again, but it will reduce lag and prevent you from getting “crashed”.

If you have asked nicely for another avatar to stop bothering you and they continue, or they are simply trying to cause grief (like overloading your video card to crash your program or acting is a seriously offensive manner), then you file a report with Linden Lab. Right click the Avatar and pull up their profile, then click Report. OR click Help > Report Abuse.

You will need the name of the Avatar, the time and date of the occurrence, a screenshot (if you can take one), and an explanation of the offense. Add a copy of the chat if applicable. Use a headline that is to the point and descriptive, not just a mere expression of frustration or anger. Use cut and paste from chat if needed. For more on Abuse Reports see:

https://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Filing-an-abuse-report/ta-p/700065#more_info