Having been “griefed” now myself, I learned only after the fact how to file an Abuse Report. I wish I had known beforehand how to do this, as you can capture more about the perpetrator if you know in advance how to do it. Also, if you have a plan, you don’t stress about what to do in that situation, you do not lose time or information, and you may be able to ensure the griefing is as short-lived as possible.
Here are a few recommendations that I’d like to share, so others can benefit and be prepared (if ever needed) to respond and file complete abuse reports in real time (with photos).
IN ADVANCE:
– Record your chat logs so you can copy and paste information afterwards into the abuse report. Go to Edit, then Preferences. Click “Communication” tab and check the “Log Chat” and “Log IM”. Click Apply and OK.
– Have a “safe place” to escape to. This should be your “Home” location, which you can immediately get to by pressing CTRL SHIFT H. Otherwise, just be prepared with LMs to which the griefers can’t follow you. When I was griefed, a friend teleported me elsewhere on the island, but the greifer followed us and the griefing continued, so a “safe place” (like another island) is preferable.
– Know in advance about who has the power to ban griefers in your area. For example, there are the Dreamland Angels who can help ban residents in areas like NPC1. Since NPC2 is not part of Dreamland, make sure that Megan and Susan know immediately of any abuse (whether for NPC1 or 2). Therefore setting up a community protocol for responding to griefers is recommended.
DURING THE ABUSE:
Notify area residents immediately via the common channel (e.g., Non Profit Commons group channel). Everyone can read what’s happening and respond appropriately.
Immediately file an Abuse Report (Do not wait), even if the situation is stressful. Go to Help and “Report Abuse”. The minute you click on this, the abuse report registers an instant photo of the griefing taking place (so worth doing asap). Make sure you check the box that says “Include Snapshot”.
– Pick the Category of Abuse
– Select the Resident (Important). It lets you input the name and shows you a list of possible names, which you then pick. (Note only one resident abuser or griefer name per report, so do multiple reports if multiple griefers).
– Make sure the Location of Abuse is correct (e.g., if you escaped Home it will automatically enter the LM of your present location, so make sure it’s the location of the actual abuse).
– Enter Summary
– Enter Details. Make sure you include relevant IM/text as well as describe any audio (voice chat) you heard or visuals.
Make sure everyone who was greifed files a report for each griefer and greifing. The more reports the better.
Contact those in charge of the area being griefed to initiate banning and protection from continued greifing.
AFTER THE ABUSE: Make sure community residents are aware of the greifing, the perpetrator(s) and follow up, in terms of banning, etc. Check that abuse report log status to see what was done to follow up on the part of Second Life.
Anika Pastorelli
Written by: GCN