Reporting griefers: very detailed instructions

REPORT ALL GRIEFERS

A. Executive summary of this notecard:

To report griefing, go to Help at the Top of your screen. If you were shot or shoved or constrained, check Bumps Pushes and Hits to see who did it. Then, also in Help, select Report Abuse and fill out the AR (Abuse Report) form.

B. Details:

                    WHAT ARE GRIEFERS

Griefers are people who deliberately interfere with other people's legitimate enjoyment of an activity; or who pursue their own fun with wreckless disregard for negative effects on bystanders.

You can report abusive behavior to Linden Labs. Multiple reports lead to the griefer being suspended from Second Life for a time, or possibly being permanently banned.

                   USE THE AR (Abuse Report) TO  REPORT A GRIEFER

1) If griefers are pushing you around or shooting at you, quickly sit on the ground or on something belonging to you. Normally griefers cannot move you while you sit. If they are using malicious objects, hover your pointer over the object to see the owner's name.

2) Quickly write down your location (region, XYZ coordinates). If you can tell who the griefer is, write their name quickly on a piece of paper. Don't bother to engage the griefer in conversation or argument. It just gratifies them and delays your report.

3) Go to HELP at the top of your SL screen.

If you have just been forced out of your location or position, by shoving or with a weapon (scripted object), select BUMPS, PUSHES, & HITS. The abuser's name will probably be listed there. . Be careful -- there are many innocent bumps sometimes, from people who accidentally walk into you.

Also under HELP, select REPORT ABUSE.

4) On the AR (Abuse Report Form) you will see a small snapshot of your current field of view. If this snapshot shows what the griefer is doing, click "include screenshot" under the picture.

5) You will see a box that says "Select Category" and has a drop-down menu. You must select one of the categories of abusive behavior. Here are some examples to clarify those categories.

INTOLERANCE: Seeking to exclude a person from what should be a public activity or area.

Using extremely insulting and inflammatory language toward groups of people based on race, nationality, religion, or sexual preferences.

HARRASSMENT: Pressing for interaction with someone after being told to stop;

Pursuing, bothering, or repeatedly insulting a person. Debates and personal quarrels do not constitute harrassment, however. Those are consensual activities.

ASSAULT: Repeatedly walking into someone (not by mistake);

Using a weapon to push people out of a location where they have a right to be;

Placing a cage or container around a person;

Producing objects, particles, or sounds that are disruptive or interfere with your field of view, or which excessively consume server resources in your region;

Repeatedly playing sound clips or filling chat with verbage so as to disrupt other people's conversations.

INDECENCY: nude genital display, using obscene language excessively or repeatedly, or rezzing disgusting objects in an area where land owners forbid it.

PARCEL VIOLATIONS: Placing objects across parcel boundaries; using another person's land to place advertisements or malicious objects, or littering another person's land.

5) Abuser name

You cannot directly write the griefer's name in the "Abuser name" box. Click the Select button just to the right of the Abuser name box. It will open "person chooser".

In the person chooser, type the griefer's name or part of it. This will open a list of similar names. Choose the right name and click Select. That name will automatically be placed in the "Abuser name" field of the AR form.

If you cannot see who the griefer is (for example, you are assaulted with a lot of sounds and you do not know where they are coming from) use the name BLUE LINDEN. Blue Linden generously allows his name to be defamed this way, as a work-around. The AR cannot be sent with no abuser name on it.

6) Location of abuse

If you are still at the site of abuse when you begin the report, the report will automatically record the location and time. If you have gone to a different location to make the abuse report, you must use the body of the report form to state the name of the sim in which the griefing occurred, and preferably the parcel name or coordinates too.

7) Summary

Give a brief title to your report. Refer to the time, so that the Abuse Team at Linden Labs knows whether an immediate response is helpful or not.

Examples

"Here and Now, griefers shooting a crowd" or "Griefers 4PM, shot people, gone now" or "Harrassing me now, won't leave my house" or "Griefer yesterday left objects on parcel"

8) Details

Your abuse report will reach the Lindens with an automatic date and time stamp showing when it was sent. You do not need to give the date, time, and coordinates of the griefing episode if the automatially entered information is accurate. Just start the description with something like "Here and now" if the abuse is happening; something like "Here at 4PM Second Life Time" if you are reporting after the fact.

Example of "Details":

"4 PM today Rosebud 110, 30, 31 Ratsucker Hax shot 6 guests out of my shop. 4:04 PM he returned and covered my property with a large black object or cloud."

"9 PM Ratsucker Hax came to my party here, naked and wearing a giant penis. Ignored repeated requests to leave. Harrassed my guests. Chat excerpt: [21:02] You: This is my land and my party. Go away! [21:02] Ratsucker Hax: Hey BITCH this is what you WANT come and EAT ME NOW BITCH

9) REPORT ABUSE

Don't forget to click the Report Abuse button at the bottom of the report, to send it!

                                       REPORTING A GRIEFER OBJECT
                                       

If a griefer goes away and leaves a harmful or irritating object behind, you can use the object to identify the griefer and submit a report.

1) Right-click on the object

2) Select More

3) Select More again

4) Select Report Abuse

5) The Abuse Report form should open for you, showing the name of the owner of the object in the "Abuser name" field. If not, use the "Click the button, then the object" option near the top of the Abuse Report form.

6)  Fill out the rest of the form and be sure to click the Report Abuse button at the bottom when it is complete. 

                              WILL THE GRIEFER SEE MY NAME?
                                           

The Lindens will not tell the griefer the names of any people who reported him.

                              IF THE GRIEFER KNOWS I REPORTED HIM, CAN HE TRACK ME DOWN AND BOTHER ME?

Anyone can send you IMs, unless you mute that person. Then you will no longer received their IMs or see any of their chat text. People can tell your location only if they are on your Friends list and you specifically give them that power. There are spy devices that can look for you but they normally have a range of only 96 M. If you own land, you can use land settings to prevent objects from entering your land. You can also eject specific people from your land and ban them from re-entering.