Improve the Block Feature to Fully Prevent Harassment
tracked
Worldsin Resident
I would like Linden Lab to improve the blocking system in Second Life. Right now, blocking someone does not fully stop unwanted interactions, and I believe the block feature needs to provide stronger protection for residents.
When I block another resident, I want that person to be completely unable to interact with me. A block should mean that the blocked person cannot:
See my avatar or track where I am.
Click on my avatar.
Bump into my avatar or physically interfere with me.
Interact with my objects, attachments, or activities.
Continue trying to get my attention after I have made it clear I do not want contact.
Follow me around or continue targeting me.
The purpose of a block feature is to allow residents to remove unwanted people from their Second Life experience. If someone is blocked, that person should no longer be able to disrupt, annoy, or harass the person who blocked them.
Other virtual platforms have stronger blocking systems where blocked users are effectively removed from each other's experience. I believe Second Life should consider adding a similar system so residents have a reliable way to protect themselves from harassment.
A stronger block feature would help make Second Life a safer and more comfortable environment for everyone.
Log In
SL Feedback
Merged in a post:
“Stronger Blocking: Prevent All Direct Interaction”
Worldsin Resident
I think Second Life needs a REAL blocking system.
If I block someone, I should be able to completely block that person from interacting with me. They should not be able to message me, follow me, approach me, interact with me, interfere with me, or find other ways around the block to continue harassing me.
I want the same type of blocking system that completely separates two users. If someone is blocked, they should be BLOCKED. Simple as that.
People should have the right to decide who they want to interact with and who they DON'T want to interact with. Nobody should be forced to keep dealing with someone they have already chosen to block.
And honestly, the people who do NOT want a stronger blocking system are clearly trolls. Trolls will clearly do anything they can to harass people, and a stronger block system would take away their ability to keep bothering someone who has already blocked them.
Second Life needs to give its users a block feature that actually BLOCKS people.
Draco Seraphim
If the amount of people saying no to this has had to deal with half of the issues some of us have had to deal with, they would understand why we would want this. When a vile person can use a deeded object to still send you harassing messages and you repeatedly report them and ask the lindens for help and get nothing, you will see why its an issue. Some of the vile scum on secondlife go above and beyond to harass you and there should be a way to stop it other than just ignore it.
Isobel DeSantis
Draco Seraphim then maybe what needs to be improved is LL's handling of abuse reports, which I agree is generally abysmal.
Narelle Brenner
Isobel DeSantis My friend's SL ex could not handle her decision to de partner and so her ex began a tirade of abuse. I should not but did try to talk some sense into him but he turned on me. I had told both he and her some private things that were going on so this personal real life knowledge he used against me. So began a couple of years of intolerable abuse. If we were at a club he would announce in local chat using my private details to humiliate me. I would report he would make a new avatar. Start again humiliating me and my friend in local. If I stood chatting with someone he would im the person I was chatting to. Yet his harassment spasmodically continues today. So much now I dont spend much time at clubs. My friend has had cancer and rarely uses SL. Me...my SL now is full of distrust and an avoidance to ask LL for help again. I know they are useless at protecting us. I just wish people like him who exhibit violent tempers would be able to stop and be stopped from harassing others to the point of real life health issues just cos someone is allowed to harass continually over years. This has been now 4yrs since it started and makes me laugh at TOS. It is so sad to see my friend and I withdraw into ourselves cos this guy and others like him flourish in using the system to hurt others knowing they control other peoples enjoyment using SL.
Coyote Enthusiast
Given this is tracked, I'll go ahead and say I'm opposed to the idea as well.
Blocks shouldn't affect another resident's experience. This can be exploited in various ways, such as cheating in combat regions, blocking moderators of regions, blocking people to say something bad about someone without their knowledge, etc.
I do think it would be a good idea expose blocklists to LSL so that LSL can check if someone is blocked, and throw away the interaction if so (EG: Through a function like llIsFriend, but instead llIsBlocked). But for all scenarios, it should be brought up with region moderators, use parcel / region access / moderation controls, or abuse reports.
Worldsin Resident
Coyote Enthusiast So you're judging it on the way it's being tracked? And you're the reason why a lot of people on this game quit because you allow harassment to keep on going. This is the solution to fix everything from being harassed. I don't give a damn about people cheating in a video game. It's about people enjoying their second life experience without being harassed.
Lucia Nightfire
Let's offer the options of, both, 1-way and 2-way blocking to the user doing the blocking. Let's also offer a means for scripts to know if a target agent is blocked by the object's owner, so apps will know if chat, dialog, perms requests, inventory offers, etc. will fail.
Worldsin Resident
Lucia Nightfire You've never actually been harassed, so it's clearly to me that you have no say in this.
Lucia Nightfire
Worldsin Resident
I don't recall unlocking the "You've gone 20+ years in SL without being harassed!" achievement.
Also, judging from your replies to everyone in this request as of today, you present yourself as insecure, immature or possess an undisclosed mental illness. I think that even if this feature was implemented, you would still suffer grief and anxiety in SL. I would explore other avenues of relief first.
Saz Ninetails
Block them and derender them, job done. How do you know they are targetting you if they are blocked? Use the movelock feature then they can't push you. They will get bored and move on. What harm will they do by clicking on you
throws up shocked hands
how can they physically interfere with you? I have been here over 18 years and if I block someone and they go to bump me I just use movelock and job done. If they want to run around making an idiot of themselves that's a them issue. If they want to badmouth me in local then they will probably get removed by an admin of that place for disruptive behaviour anyway. Please name these other platforms.Worldsin Resident
Saz Ninetails OK. It's clearly that you don't leave. Or hang out at places. Or you don't make friends enough but. It's not just simple as blocking them and de rendering them and job done. No, these people will continue to keep on harassing you, and it's clear to me that you haven't been harassed enough and you have no say in this. Just saying.
Lucifera Morningstar
I believe the block system could be improved but not necessarily to the degree you're suggesting. Preventing them from bumping or directly physically interfering with you I could see, as well as preventing them from interacting with your attachments. Also (and this has come up a lot in the past) prevent them from sending you money. That's a common tactic of people trying to get the attention of those who've blocked them: send L$1, then send L$1 again, and again, and again...
But beyond that, it starts becoming too much. Blocking someone controls your experience, but blocking their ability to see you starts controlling theirs, and that I feel is a step too far.
Worldsin Resident
Lucifera Morningstar It just seems to me that you have no say in this matter. And I understand why people are giving you a like when clearly you know nothing.
Lucifera Morningstar
Worldsin Resident Dunno where you get off being so obnoxious with your reply. The abilty to reply to people is so there can be a
discussion
, which may or may not involve opinions that differ from yours. And I know quite well what block systems across many online venues and games do and don't do. I've also recently had to deal with the tactic of "send L$1, then send L$1 again, and again, and again..." with someone I blocked. And if you hadn't noticed, I didn't disagree with everything you proposed - in fact, I explicitly agreed on a number of them. And before you try the ad hominem route and claim I'm a troll or griefer, I have never engaged in such activities. And if someone blocks me - regardless of whether or not I think it's a valid reason - I leave it alone, completely. There's nothing I can do to change their mind, so I get on with my SL.Zalificent Corvinus
This has come up several times, on the forum, and the result is always the same.
Some over entitled jerk demands the "right to control what other users see".
Then it's explained to them gently with only MEDICALLY needed profanity, exactly why they shouldn't have this power.
So, somebody says something you disagree with... You use your new Griefer-Block (tm) to stop them seeing or hearing you, then you proceed to make insulting and defamatory remarks, secure in the knowledge that your victim cannot see or hear the lies you are spreading about them, and thus cannot file an Abuse Report against you...
Your idea...
"Yeah Nah" as the Australians say...
"Let's not, and say we did"
Worldsin Resident
Zalificent Corvinus The amount of people that are disliking this, I can definitely tell that you people are trolls and you're trying to avoid this. It only brings out the colors. Because only trolls would deny this.
Beatrice Voxel
SL is built on residents interacting with each other.
Everything in SL hinges upon that single mission.
This kind of block would cause immediate, far-reaching, and extremely pervasive harm to scripting, purchasing, land management, and other functions in SL.
Use the Abuse function, or talk to an estate or venue manager if one is online. We don't take kindly to harassers and can ban them from venues easily, we just need to know about them first.
ladiablesse100bc Resident
I'm also going to say No to this. The motivation is sound, but because of the way SL works, implementing it would break things badly.
Plus, as others have pointed out, it'd become a griefing tool in short order.
If you are being harassed in SL, file an Abuse Report. With most viewers this is a context (right click) choice, either their name in chat, or their avatar in world. Abuse reports can be filed with land SLURL's for location or group SLURL's for people doing Bad Things in group chat. Many viewers also allow you to attach a screenshot (taken when you select Abuse Report but you can refresh it before you submit the report).
AR's are the best way to get someone off the grid, as it is how the Lindens ban bad actors or disruptive objects. The more people AR a griefer, the faster they'll be gone.
NeonEDM Neon
ladiablesse100bc Resident This might be the ideal, but in no way reflects the reality of ARs and what small percentage of them seem to be actually acted upon. Except for egregious examples of ag3pl#y, I have rarely if ever seen the results of ARs effective. Take, as an example, pornography. Both personal and groups profiles are required by the ToS to be PG-rated. An image of skimpy swimwear or lingerie is acceptable, full on nudity, especially pornography, is not allowed. But there are
hundreds
of groups and accounts in SL with explicit RL porn in their images and after years of ARs none of them are gone. There are even examples of illegal porn (think dogs) still visible in group profiles. So a mere griefer showering someone in particles and bumping into your avatar every two seconds? Not even on the radar, unfortunately. I find it funny that people talk about AI with such high praise. If it's that good, let it sweep the group image database and fix this problem.Shakeno Tomsen
If I could, I would vote against this request -- this seems like something that is extremely easy to abuse in the wrong hands. I can't really add much to what's already been said. A lot of games depend on others being able to see you; if you disappear from their screen, you will be unable to play the game properly. Being able to moderate a place requires you being able to see everyone and what they are doing. In fact, this can be used for harassment by defamation, as the person you block won't be able to know what you are saying.
A lot of items depend on interaction this suggestion intends to stop. The first example that comes to mind is shopping objects. Blocking someone can already stop them from seeing your store, or receiving an item from them if you purchase from theirs. This suggestion will make objects that are dependent on interaction completely break.
As it has been already said, if you are being harassed grid wide, this won't stop anything, as alts can be made. If you want to stop interacting with someone in a sim, the current blocking feature already works wonders, and if they are actually stalking you, you should take it up to the land owner, or submit a report to LL about the situation.
Load More
→