Linden Lab Official:Forum Participation Guidelines

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Introduction

These guidelines cover Resident participation on our Second Life community pages, which include the Second Life Blogs, Forums, Answers, Bug Tracker, User Groups, and the Knowledge Base. They are intended to help all Residents have a constructive and enjoyable conversation.


The Second Life Forums is a place to discuss ideas, experiences, and questions, and to share what you’ve learned about Second Life with each other and with us. We want to foster an honest and open exchange of ideas on our forums; to do that, we want to encourage all participants to maintain an atmosphere of courtesy and respect for others at all times. Creating a constructive place for conversation will help us build a strong, better informed community in Second Life, and make both of our communication channels and our world a more supportive and engaging place for all.

Report inappropriate content for moderator review

Moderating a discussion site is a daunting task, our forums alone see in excess of 10,000 posts per week. While we have a moderation team of Lindens and Moles that work hard to ensure the guidelines are followed, we do still rely on you to help bring items to our attention that we may have missed. If you see a post that you feel violates any of our guidelines, please click the Report link that appears in each post, and let us know why you feel the post is inappropriate.

We moderate at our discretion

We evaluate posts on a case-by-case basis and take into account the severity of the conduct and any history of past violations. Although we will make reasonable efforts to take into consideration the context and general sentiment of the forum discussions, the actions taken (or not taken) by Linden Lab and our moderators are at our sole discretion, and we may act without a warning or explanation. We provide the discussion areas of our site as a service to Residents, and we will take the actions we deem appropriate to keep our site a productive and enjoyable environment for all Residents.

We would also like to remind the community that the forums, much like our ticketing system, live chat, and in world experiences are all part of the Second Life service. Your participation and interaction on the forums, reflects across your account as a whole and if action is needed to be taken on your account as a result of behavior here on the forum, it can impact your account across the entire Second Life service.

In addition to adhering to the Second Life Terms of Service, Community Standards, and Community Participation Guidelines, Residents must also refrain from the activities listed below. These activities are not permitted on the Second Life Forums and may result in action on your account:

No Discussions Not Directly Related to Second Life: Please keep all threads relevant and directly related to Second Life and Linden Lab. Anything unrelated to Second Life is subject to moderation. This includes, but is not limited to, politics, social issues, current events, and Non-SL discussion posts (Examples such as tell me a joke, make me laugh, etc). If the thread could exist on a non-Second Life Forum, that is probably a good sign it doesn’t belong here.

Note: Posts made before 7/29/2022 will be left open unless policy violations cause them to be closed.

No Spam/Excessive Bumping: Spamming is not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to, aggressive self-promotion, excessive topic bumping, and repeatedly posting similar content within a 24 hour period. Please be mindful of how often you are posting similar content on the Forums. Posts should remain in their appropriate section.

Note: If you would like to “bump” a thread, please restrict bumping to once per 24 hour period and no more than three times per week.

No Advertising: Advertising outside of designated areas is not allowed on the Second Life Forums. This includes, but is not limited to, advertising or promotion of specific Second Life merchants, Marketplace listings, products, services, Second Life regions, or in-world business. Do not reference other websites offering any product or service.

Note: It is OK to have a signature line with a link to your Second Life profile or information about your Second Life business.

Interpersonal Disputes or Personal Negative Commentary: If you have a personal disagreement, do not post about it on the Second Life forums. Residents who have personal differences have other channels of communication available to them -- private messaging in the forums, or through the various chat options within Second Life.

If you believe someone is in violation of the Terms and Conditions, please report the forum post in question or use the “Report Abuse” tool in the viewer, if the abuse is happening in-world.

No Vulgarity, Profanity, and Sexually Explicit Content: Name calling, using profanity/expletives, or any language that is offensive, violent, pornographic, sexually explicit, or containing hate speech will not be tolerated on the Second Life Forums.

No Flaming: “Flames” are hostile or disruptive posts, or messages intended to provoke an angry or negative response. Spirited discussion and constructive disagreement are welcome, but name-calling and airing of grievances are not appropriate in our discussion areas. We will also not tolerate any post that encourages others to violate any policy of Linden Lab.

No Nudity or Adult Content: All content posted on the Second Life Forums must be rated “General” per our Maturity Ratings. Keep in mind, this does not include content posted specifically in the “Adult Content Forum” section.

Harassment: Harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. Harassment can include text or images that contain racist, threatening, abusive or hateful material. Behavior that is offensively coarse, intimidating, threatening, or purposefully causes annoyance or alarm is not allowed anywhere in Second Life.

Disclosure: Sharing personal information of any kind about another Resident is not allowed anywhere in Second Life. This includes, but is not limited to, sharing one’s real-world identity, location (beyond what is provided by them in their user profile), contact information, private text conversations (chat, IM, email), and alternate account names.

Off Topic Content: Please keep your commentary relevant to the discussion. Content that is blatantly off topic is not permitted. Those participating in the derailing of a discussion will have their posts removed, and if continued, may receive disciplinary action on their account.

Abuse of Moderation or Moderators: Moderation decisions are made to provide you with a productive environment for conversations about Second Life. We understand that sometimes those decisions may not be the popular one, but we ask that you understand the moderation decisions are always made with the best of intentions for the community. We prohibit abuse of our moderation process, including the following:

  • Posts that discuss or re-post material that has been removed or locked by a moderator
  • Posts questioning a moderator’s decision
  • Posts that discuss the status of any Resident account (e.g., on hold, suspended, etc.)
  • Frivolous or malicious use of the abuse report feature