Can Update Groups and Subscribe-o-Matics Be Rude?

In the past few weeks I’ve declined a few group invitations and note card offers from Gwenny Fanshaw, the most recent of which was to join SLASH! SHOES & FASHION (gotta love the caps). It was followed by an offer of a note card titled Every Month 3 Exclusive FREE Outfits – NOT Freebies! Get YOURS, with the GroupInviter object being owned by Dig Dollinger.

Can you see the irony in the SLASH! group’s charter description?

This is the SLASH! Update Group to keep our customers informed about new releases, monthly groupgifts and new additions.

Please DON`T use the groupchat for chatting or spamming. Every Spammer will get kicked immediately and reported to LL. Please respect the privacy from our groupmembers. 

Thank you!
Dig Dollinger

Despite Dig’s inability to use the space bar to separate his words, what stands out to me is a group that advertises using spam is against spam in group chat – and he definitely doesn’t want any of the group’s 5,000 members talking amongst themselves about … well … anything. Why? Because I can only assume that that would be annoying. As annoying as being spammed by their GroupInviter bot, Gwenny Fanshaw. Do as I say not as I do?

I don’t mind being “randomly” invited to a group, since I can simply decline. I do mind the follow-up spam note card slap, because it signifies my being added to an automatic group inviter without my consent. Especially since clicking the subscription object doesn’t result in my ability to remove myself from the damn database list.

A friend who also received the notices quickly ranted, “I wish these idiots had a life instead of sending unsolicited invites to people.  If I was interested in their group or product I would be in contact with them”.

Fortunately, Second Life® generates originating SLUrls for inventory offers and messages from objects, so, a friend and I teleported to Tenochtitlan (14, 218, 752). I’d received a different spam ad (‘NameListInviterAndNotecardGiver’ owned by Gwenny Fanshaw) for Club Aztec on an alt account that never leaves the sim he’s in from a similar SLUrl hovering above the Tenochtitlan sim (oddly enough, Club Aztec has ancient Egyptian motifs featured heavily on the building structure).

Upon teleporting, my lovely photographer/assistant and I landed on a platform on which Ben Turas, implementer of this particular unsolicited automatic group inviter system, was hanging out with just shy of a dozen bots who were doing his bidding – Accapulco Joles, AyrumaBank Oceanlane, Eliana Constantine, Gwenny Fanshaw, helpbrasil Aeon, KeikeLisa Franizzi, Milan Forwzy, Nel Little, QualityCouture Bravin, Reesa Ashbourne, and ZagoskinUpdateGroup Magic. Each was faithfully doling out group invites for Accapulco Mall, Club Aztec, Free BDSM Sex Club, Fashion-R-Us groups, and others at Turas’s direction.

When we arrived it looked as though Mr. Turas was adding names to his database to be disseminated through the bots (check out the Classified in his profile for how it works). He was very friendly, then got less friendly as I began asking assholey questions.

[8:46]  Ben Turas: hi catero
[8:46]  You: hello
[8:47]  You: i’m kinda wondering why i keep getting spam messages from this location
[8:47]  Ben Turas: how much did you get catero ?
[8:47]  You: the point is, i haven’t consented to be included in any of the groupinvites
[8:48]  Ben Turas: I understand. How many messages did you get ?
[8:48]  You: enough that i decided to come here myself
[8:49]  You: what option do you have for people to take themselves off your lists?
[8:50]  Ben Turas: The note card you got is accompanying a group invite. If you got it more than once, there might be a system malfunction. Thats why I ask how many times you got it
[8:51]  You: how are you collecting people
[8:51]  You: *people’s names for this?
[8:51]  Ben Turas: I have gadgets for that
[8:51]  Ben Turas: as far as i can see, you only got the invite once
[8:53]  You: well, ben, i’m fairly sure that if enough people complain to linden labs – which i plan to – this will be shut down
[8:53]  Ben Turas: what is it with people like you, You receive a friendly invite to join a group, that gives you something for free. 2 clicks and its out of your face
[8:53]  You: i’ve been below. the groupinvite panels in the club do not have any option to remove oneself
[8:53]  Ben Turas: in stead you spent all this time to come here and …..
[8:54]  You: because you’ve created a tool that is colossaly annoying
[8:54]  Ben Turas: two clicks is colossaly annoying ?????
[8:55]  You: A. you shouldn’t be sending notices to people who have not consented to be on any advertising list
[8:55]  You: B. the retailer who sent me a notice had NO information on their note as to how to remove themself from the list
[8:56]  Ben Turas: in your communicate window there is a group tab. if you joined the group by accident, you can remove yourself from the group there.
[8:56]  You: i didn’t join the group by accident. and they are not sending me unsolicited notecards by accident
[8:57]  You: i’m glad i clicked the slurl and came up here to see for myself. good day

(Is colossaly even a word?)

Am I overreacting, or is he indeed “worse than those GIF ad pop ups that sell you domain/webhosting deals with smileys”, as one resident has commented? Whether or not, residents have the right to choose what they intend to be involved in/with or not. And sending marketing information in this manner to someone who has not requested it shows a lack of consideration.

In real life, marketing companies can glean your contact information from or through public record, marketing offers, charitable donations, answered surveys or directly through the telephone directory. In Second Life, as Ben Turas states above, he has “gadgets” (presumably visitor list bots) that scoop up your name and transmit your information into his system. 

Turas seems to have adapted the Cassini Creations tool (see: New in SL: Automatic Group Invite), originally intended for avatars to give consent by clicking an object to join, into his own annoying application.

In Canada, legislation was passed several years ago that prevents unsolicited (tele)marketers from contacting citizens without their permission (read: Canadians will soon be disconnected from telemarketers). The Do Not Call Registry that was born out of the initiative has very recently been put into place. Private residents can place themselves on the registry and have the ability to file a legal complaint against any non-exempt companies that contact them (by phone) for advertising purposes. (Tele)Marketing agencies can register to see who they are legally not permitted to contact and the onus is on them to know (they must pay a fee for access to the list).

I’m sure if enough people complain about this particular use of automatic group invite technology, article 4.1 of the Terms of Service or the Harassment policy in the Community Standards could be used to give Mr. Turas a slap on the wrist or something more binding.

But maybe I’m one of the few bellyachers in this respect.