Blocked residents shouldn't be able to add me to ad-hoc/temporary/conference group chats.
Polyhistor Serpente
I know some unofficial viewers have the ability to block ad-hoc/temporary/conference group chats entirely but that is not what I am proposing. What I am suggesting is that no one should be able to add anyone to an ad-hoc group chat by a person that has them blocked. Doing so would leave ad-hoc group chat functionality enabled for everyone else you know but disable blocked individuals from initially adding you to theirs.
If you have someone blocked right now they can add you to one of these temporary groups and instead of the group IM opening from their initial text the next person to speak forces it open for you. People have exploited this to make tons of these groups just adding or removing a few people and starting a new one which essentially they can open infinite group chats for someone as a means of harassment and using others reactions to troll a person even if they themselves are blocked. This can range from being a bit of a nuisance to the level of entirely flooding someone with these.
There is a lot of things someone who is blocked can do to the person that blocked them still that surprisingly have been allowed to persist for over a decade and this is one of them I think should not be possible. This isn't a proposal to get rid of the feature entirely, just disable the ability for a blocked person to add you to one of those.
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Dan Linden
Hi Polyhistor,
Please provide a step by step test case so I can see the issue, and provide your viewer version.
Polyhistor Serpente
Dan Linden
Forgive me for posting this in 2 replies (2500 character limit)
This is re-creatable in Official Viewer 26.4.0.37384746592, Alchemy, Black Dragon, and Firestorm (unless you block literally ALL ad-hoc group IMs in Firestorm since it has that option) Literally all viewers since viewer version 1 till now.
Pre-conditions:
Resident A (Harasser)
Resident B (Target)
Resident C (Unsuspecting Third-Party)
Resident B has blocked Resident A.
Steps to Reproduce:
- Mass-Selection:
Resident A opens the Nearby People list with draw distance maximized, or opens a group member/friends list, and multi-selects a large list of residents (including Resident B and Resident C).
- Initiate Conference IM:
Resident A right-clicks the highlighted selection, clicks IM, and types an initial message into the created ad-hoc/conference group IM window.
- Initial Block:
Because Resident B has Resident A blocked, the incoming conference IM window does not pop up for Resident B when Resident A sends the first message.
- Infinite Group Chat IMs:
Resident A repeats Steps 1 & 2 as long as they want, slightly altering the recipient list (adding or removing a single person from Nearby / Group lists) to force the SL server to create a brand new, distinct ad-hoc group session ID. I've seen this step go on for multiple days at a time all day every day.
- Exploit:
In each newly created conference IM, various innocent people can serve as Resident C (who does not have Resident A blocked) respond to the chat typically asking "Why was I added?" or "Who is this?".
Polyhistor Serpente
Dan Linden
Expected Result:
Because the ad-hoc group session was initiated by Resident A (whom Resident B has blocked), Resident B should remain shielded from the conference chat session, regardless of whether other unblocked members (Resident C) type into it.
Actual Result:
When Resident C (an unblocked resident) responds, the conference IM window forces open on Resident B’s screen without Resident C knowing they are exacerbating the issue. Often even resulting in massive amounts of people Abuse Reporting the innocent Resident C as well by mistake.
Because Resident A can generate infinite unique conference sessions by slightly tweaking the member list, Resident A can bypass the block system. This can flood Resident B with unwanted conference pop-ups using third-party residents responses as the trigger mechanism.
Theoretically you could open conference chats with almost every resident logged in to Second Life using these methods, over and over. No telling how much of an issue that would cause. I've never seen anyone take it this far, but from how it works it seems like it is possible.
Proposed Solution:
Disable the capability for a blocked user to include the resident who blocked them in an ad-hoc/conference group chat session upon creation (or prevent session pop-ups/invites from resolving for blocked targets even when third parties reply).
Imbolc Sirbu
Very good idea indeed.
JoellaJean Resident
Can we also add a check/radio button to disallow people not in a persons friend list from adding them to a contact set? Pretty sure thats one of the ways they're doing this. Going through groups and pulling names to add to a contact set then starting the meyhem from there.
Caelan Whimsy
I would LOVE for this to be a thing. I had to deal with this for several days at one point. Some random person added me to a conference - no idea who they were or how they got my name. I closed it and it opened again. Kept closing conferences and they kept coming back. Blocked the person and was still getting their conferences. I did have the option to disable ad-hoc conferences in my viewer, but that caused problems talking with friends. It was beyond frustrating.
ladiablesse100bc Resident
I would go so far as to put Conference Chats in as a Group function, not per individuals. Meaning, Conference invites are treated like Group Notices - only to the group (perhaps limited to specific roles within the group), and those that choose to disable them simply don't get them.
It still invites spam, but would severely limit the amount of range someone has to harass others (and if they're not the group owner, misusing such a feature could get them removed/banned from the group entirely).
AAngel Braveheart
There been loads of this spammy stuff this weekend. A new way to miff off honest residents again!
Moon Haunting
This would be really appreciated as a base feature, conferences are highly frustrating loopholes to existing privacy/group/friendlist settings!
Velika47 Resident
Yes i like this a lot. I think it should be an opt in feature that is disbaled by default in all veiwers. personally i have only ever seen it used for spam and trolling. It has no benefical purpose to anyone besides spammers or trolls
Talvin Muircastle
Velika47 Resident I understand that you do not use it at all, but do not assume your experience is universal. There are a number of situations where a conference chat is a better option than a Group Chat, and people use that every day.
That said
, no, someone who is blocked should not be able to do this, and I have upvoted OP's request, here.Also, I do agree that the Vanilla viewer should offer some of the same settings for conference chats that some of the third party viewers do, including the ability to opt out of them entirely.
Caelan Whimsy
Velika47 Resident I often use conferences/group IMs when I'm out doing things with friends and we want to talk with each other without flooding local with our chattiness. So there are uses for conferences beyond spam.