Add a Report Button for Groups
Asher Nightfall
I would like to suggest that Second Life add a clear way to report groups directly.
Right now, residents can report individual people, but there does not seem to be an easy way to report a group itself. This becomes a problem when a group is being used for harassment, inappropriate content, scams, hate, impersonation, or other harmful behavior.
I understand that Second Life allows adult groups and adult content in the right places. That is not the issue. The concern is when groups go too far or are used for content that should not be allowed, such as sexualized age-related content, bestiality-related content, extreme inappropriate themes, or other rule-breaking material.
Sometimes the issue is not just one resident. It can be the group as a whole, including the group name, description, image, notices, roles, chat, or the way the group is being used.
Residents should have a simple way to report a group when the group itself is violating the rules or being used to cause harm.
This could be added as a “Report Group” button on group profiles, similar to how residents can report individual resident profiles.
Suggested Report Reasons
Possible categories could include:
Harassment or targeted abuse
Inappropriate group name, image, or description
Sexual content that violates Second Life rules
Age-related sexual content
Bestiality-related content
Hate or discriminatory content
Scams or fraud
Impersonation
Spam
Other rule violations
Why This Matters
Adding a report option for groups would make it easier for residents to report harmful or rule-breaking group activity without having to guess which individual person to report. It would also help Linden Lab review groups that are being used to harass, mislead, target, or promote content that should not be allowed.
Suggested Feature
Add a “Report Group” button to group profiles with report categories for harassment, inappropriate content, prohibited sexual content, scams, impersonation, hate, spam, and other rule violations.
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ladiablesse100bc Resident
As long as the offenses are already in the AUP, sure, why not?
But without LL's eye on enforcement, it'll just be a wholesale version of the Report Abuse form we have now. Shoot, "JOHNTIMBERWOOD" is still posting his racist screeds from alt account #10001, and as soon as one account gets nuked he makes another. LL isn't able to get rid of a known harasser with the tools they have now. >.>
Wicked Nightfall
Which would be nice as there are many Hate groups, and pedo groups flying free and without constraint.
Beatrice Voxel
While I can't say as I've found any groups that would be subject to the above, the fact that I haven't seen them doesn't mean that they don't exist, so yes, an egregious group should be reportable, just as someone would report an egregious sim build.
My question is, if a group gets reported as per the above criteria, what consequences would fall upon the group members? Scaled by role? All tarred by same brush? What manner of review / due diligence would be performed for EACH group member?
Also, how would LL customer service / policy enforcement verify a report's accuracy? Would there need to be a way for a CS account to 'stealth-join' a group? Or could LL simply grab all recent traffic logs and use it as evidence?
This is me playing Devil's Advocate. The idea is sound, but the implementation requires some very careful planning, and not all of it simply technical in nature.
Wicked Nightfall
Beatrice Voxel Sounds like something someone in a hate group would say
Beatrice Voxel
Wicked Nightfall Far from it. I'm pointing out where such policies will end up biting victims in the ass, because they didn't think before they implemented. The fact that you immediately went to "oh this person must be part of a hate group" tells me that you don't care one whit about group members, their level of involvement or even knowledge, or the process of verifying a legit complaint vs. a smear campaign. Do better.
Beatrice Voxel
Wicked Nightfall Let me give you an example of how such a blind-faith report button would function without any kind of verification or review:
A targeted harassment campaign would be dirt simple.
I look up your groups. I file a complaint against all of your groups, because I think they're all tasteless and prurient and oh yeah, this is personal. You've no idea that it's me doing it, only that for some reason LL starts banning your account for being "member of an offending group". But you did nothing wrong! you just joined this group or that and now they're all up for policy review, and the AI has been told "ban the members while we sort this out". You get your account back, with all the groups gone. you join new ones. I figure out which those are, and report them all again. Never ONCE did I show my cards to you specifically, but the result is the same - you're spending all your time trying to keep your account open instead of enjoying SL. At some point, you'd likely quit.
And then, being the vindictive and capricious teen (I'm not, LOL) I find someone else to torment, because they don't match my ideals or I'm simply bored and never learnt to play well with others.
So no. There needs to be some kind of guardrails. Even when it's dealing with hate speech. ESPECIALLY when it's dealing with hate speech. Otherwise, the very system you've asked to be put into play is used against you... by those people you want to see gone. They'll weaponize this kind of thing, they do that for FUN.
Asher Nightfall
Beatrice Voxel That’s a fair point, and I agree there would need to be guardrails.
I’m not suggesting that every member of a reported group should automatically be punished just for being in it. A report button should trigger a review of the group itself first — things like the group name, description, image, notices, roles, and whether the group is being used to organize harassment or promote rule-breaking content.
The goal is not to create a tool people can weaponize against innocent members. The goal is to give residents a clear way to report groups that are clearly being used for harmful or inappropriate purposes, instead of forcing people to guess which individual person to report.
So yes, I agree implementation matters. Reports should be reviewed carefully, false reports should not result in automatic punishment, and action should be based on evidence and role/involvement when needed. I still think having a Report Group option would be useful, as long as Linden Lab builds it with proper review and safeguards.