Apostrophes Break SL Web Map
Erik Mondrian
While trying to get a shareable SLurl for Ahab's Haunt the other day from the SL Maps site, I noticed something odd. As can be seen in the screenshots below, the site would return a different region name and SLurl that was
not
for the region I just clicked but instead matched that of another region nearby, often from a previous click.After doing some digging, I'm pretty sure the culprit is the apostrophe in the region name. I tested the maps site on all of the regions I know of that have apostrophes in them, and encountered the same issue. Whether starting "fresh" from https://maps.secondlife.com/ and manually scrolling over to one of those regions (without including its name in the URL, that is) or typing in the region directly, the map would give inaccurate results when clicking back and forth between the apostrophe-containing region and its neighbors.
I imagine it's just a matter of the apostrophe not being escaped properly on the backend? That's my guess, anyway. I should note that I tested on both desktop (Firefox) and on Android (Firefox and the DuckDuckGo browser), all with the same problem.
I also tested the Web map on region names with spaces in them, but those are fine, as are region names with hyphens (in Bay City, for example) and parentheses (like the Combat sandboxes). The only time I encounter this issue is when there's a region with an apostrophe.
I should note too that this issue doesn't present itself in the the viewer's inworld map window. It's apparently just an issue with the Web map.
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Arduenn Schwartzman
The Second Life Guidelines For Naming Private Regions, https://lindenlab.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/31000134545-guidelines-for-naming-private-regions (see screenshot) states the following:
"- Must be more than 2, but less than 26 characters (spaces count);
"- Must contain three words or less;"
"- Must use only alphanumeric characters (no punctuation);"
According to these guidelines, only letters, numbers and spaces are allowed. Apparently, some individuals with the ability to create/rename region names have successfully gotten away by violating these guidelines (maybe these only count for mere, paying mortals) and managed to include hyphens and parentheses. Clearly, including an apostrophe was a bridge too far.
If you want quick results, a renaming request through issuing a support ticket is probably the best option. '(Ahab's Haunt' to 'Ahabs Haunt'.)
If you want to keep the hyphen, you're in the hands of The Deciders, with, for now, an unknown outcome on an unknown timeline.