The Trust and Safety User Group is to provide a forum to discuss topics relating to safety and security in Second Life. However, please note that for matters of privacy and personal safety, the following will not be openly discussed by members of the team:
Reports of abuse, together with the outcome of investigations or actions taken in response; specific account information (including terminations, suspensions, warnings, etc.); DCMA or copyright issues; internal processes; ToS interpretations.
The meetings:
Are held on the 3rd Tuesday of the month, at 11:00 SLT.
For descriptions on all SL user groups and their purpose please refer to SL Official User Groups.
Trust and Safety Blog Posts Blog Posts
The Second Life Trust and Safety team shares regular community blog posts to help keep the community informed and educated on various topics. These blogs cover topics such as maintaining strong account security practices, tips and tricks, and helpful how-to guides.
Those who wish to receive the updates via e-mail can hit the Follow button on the page.
Going forward, Trust and Safety blog posts will be made on every second Tuesday of the month (i.e. the week before the Trust and Safety User Group meetings).
Updates from the Team
Since the previous meeting, the number of phishing attempts within Groups and IMs appears to have decreased. This is put down to:
Greater awareness among users, thanks to word-of-mouth and the Lab’s Phishing blog post.
Work the Lab has put into implementing measures on the back-end to more readily address the issue.
However, dealing with the problem is still viewed as an on-going effort, including addressing other areas of attempted scamming.
To further help combat phishing, it has been suggested that the use of a logo icon with official SL links is extended to include 3rd party sites where there is an established SL presence / use (e.g. Primfeed, Flickr, Gyazo) so that genuine links to these sites can be easily identified when appearing in chat, IMs. etc., and – if possible – in embedded links (those using [] to display them as a word rather than a URL).
There will be blog posts in the future focused on Abuse Reports – how and when to file, and what information is helpful.
There is also my own Abuse Reports tutorial, which has been submitted for further review by the T&S team (given it is now seven years old), and has been found to still correctly reflect the process of filing an AR.
Abuse Reports
There is a backlog of Abuse Reports that are being addressed.
However, incoming reports do still get reviewed for prioritisation. Every effort is made to address all ARs in a timely manner wherever possible.
In terms of disclosure of personal information – raised at the meeting – it was acknowledged that these can take time to resolve, due to the need to carry out a full investigation and make sure the situation is fully understood and the correct action taken (see below as well).
Offensive / hate-related graphics and symbols seen in-world should be subject to Abuse Report filing (with images of the items, if possible).
Land encroachment issues (particularly on Mainland) should be AR’d if they cannot be addressed through contact with the owner of the encroaching object(s).
A question was asked about Abuse Report categories and LL providing more information on them.
Currently, I have a breakdown based on information provided by the Governance team (part of Trust and Safety) – see: Abuse Report Category notes.
A reminder was given that while it may not appear that an Abuse Report appears to result in “no action”, this may not necessarily be the case: it is possible that the issue is still under investigation; or that action has been taken, but not in the manner anticipated when filing the AR; or that investigation failed to produce sufficient cause/ evidence for action to be taken; or (at the current point in time) the report is caught in the backlog
Even if previous ARs relating to a situation or individual, etc., appear to have resulted in “no action” filing further reports where the actions are repeated is worthwhile as they help T&S built up a pattern of behaviour which can be applied to investigations / actions taken.
Note that telephone support staff cannot assist with filed Abuse Reports, as they do not have access to the information, nor are they in a position to file an Abuse Reports on a user’s behalf.
Marketplace Reports
These are dealt with by Trust and Safety.
It is acknowledged that there are issues with MP reporting – lack of categories, mis-matching between categories and flags, etc.
T&S is working with the Web Team to try to improve this, and it is possible that Melody Linden from T&S could attend the Web User Group meetings to discuss there.
Disclosure of Personal Information
This is definitely against the ToS / Community Standards and should be AR’d.
HOWEVER it also requires forethought from users: whilst there is a “1st Life” tab in the Profile floater (which would perhaps be better relabelled to something like “Further Information” or similar and carry a warning about disclosure), people should take care as to what they place within that tab and be mindful not to put anything which might be used as personally identifying (or indeed, anywhere else in their Profile.
Where such disclosure goes beyond Second Life and presents the potential for harm, additional doxing, etc.), the matter should additionally be reported to local law enforcement.
Personal Data disclosure with external tools:
It was noted that there is a growing use of AI tools in relation to Second Life for the production of images, etc.
Whilst LL has no jurisdiction over such tools, a reminder was given that those using them should take the time to read any related terms of service, etc., particularly in regards to collection and re-use of personal information / personally identifying information.
General Discussion
A question was (again) asked on what is allowed within region maturity ratings – the clearest answer is via the Maturity Ratings guide. There is also the Adult Content FAQ.
There was a discussion on security orb timings, covenants and breaking covenants. This can be a complex subject (e.g. estate – Private and Mainland) operating covenants which specify how systems systems should be used (contact estate owner); Mainland areas managed directly by LL (e.g. Bellisseria) – raise an AR if the security owner refuses to address covenant violation; security systems that encroach public spaces / rights of way (e.g. waterways and roadways) – AR, etc.
The question was asked whether T&S work with third-party sites closely associated with Second Life (e.g. Primfeed), to address ToS violations. In sort: LL have no direct jurisdiction over such sites, and the likes of Primfeed tend to be very well moderated anyway.
However, if a post on Primfeed, Flickr, etc., includes an image directly related to something viewable in-world which is against the ToS / Community Standards, then this can be subject to an AR, especially if an identifying location / avatar name can be supplied as a part of the AR.
Use of bots / scripted agents / traffic gaming came up:
Traffic gaming can be reported via AR.
Bots not registered as scripted agents can be AR’d.
As it was noted that it is not always easy to tell an “unregistered” bot from a properly recorded scripted agent, therefore it would be useful to add a field to the agent profile indicating it has been properly tagged as a scripted agent, making identification instantly possible.
The subject of linking alt accounts to a main account was again raised “to allow blocking in bulk”.
This could be a privacy issue. For example: I might want to have an alt for a specific legitimate purpose in SL (role-play, research) or for business use, etc., and I do not wish to have that account directly associated with my “main” account.
Alt linking resulted in one of the most drama-laden situations in Second Life in the early 2010s with the user-created Red Zone “alt linking” system.
Obviously, LL have the means to link accounts for investigative purposes.
The Rusty Nail, July 2026 – click any image for full size
Busta (Busta Blakewell, and formerly known as BadboyHi) has over a decade or so, been responsible for many region designs in Second Life. He’s built locations both for himself and the enjoyment of others, and he has designed settings for others, some of which have been opened to the public as well.
I’ve been covering Busta’s work since 2016, including The Rusty Nail, a setting mixing public spaces with private rentals and which I first covered when it was located within a Homestead region (see: The Rusty Nail in Second Life). It has since moved to a Full region utilising the additional Land Capacity bonus, and that was reason enough for me to pop have and have a look.
The Rusty Nail, July 2026
The first thing to note about this iteration of The Rusty Nail is that while it does offer extensive parcels for rent, they are placed around the outside of the region so that each enjoys a waterfront view. This allows the interior of the setting to be left open to public spaces, the majority of which are separated from the rentals by the looping flow of a body of water cutting into the landscape, although a neck of land does extend out from the south-east corner to connect with the central spaces, also forming a public area of its own.
This latter space, whilst abutting some of the rental properties, includes some foreshore seating locations and a kind of garden space within the remnants of some ruins complete with a meditative shrine and a climb up to the region’s highest point where a deck-straddling lookout / retreat can be found.
The Rusty Nail, July 2026
The remains of an old church sits at the foot of the climb up the hill, now propped up against its own potential collapse, together with more remnants of the older ruins. The ground here is extensively paved to form the neck reaching out to the centre spaces of the region, whilst a path meanders out to a southern corner of the setting to present a quiet retreat looking out over open waters.
The main bulk of the public spaces sit on a long paved terrace running south-to-north from where it joins to the rest of the setting, and broadly split into four areas.
The Rusty Nail, July 2026
The first of these is a centred around a pond from which a Kraken rises, with seating available for customers of the Solace Bar and Café. A single pier extends out into the waters, rowing boats moored alongside together with a deserted houseboat
Through the gates from the pond is the main bar and events space. The latter provides room for dancing together with seating to one side under a trellis and a small wild garden. The bar is fronted by the DJ stage, also under an extensive trellis, and is an inspired use of Cory Edo’s Yara Treehouse design, copies of which have been neatly kitbashed together, with one element sitting to one side as a little coffee house.
The Rusty Nail, July 2026
The final area is given to the main café and a wine bar, the terrace space before them carrying with it Parisian flavours together with a comfortable range of seating, with a further very cosy seating space to the rear of the café.
The detail packed into these spaces very much bring them to life, and it is worth spending time wandering around and through them to see all that is on offer. Outside of them to the east, the paving takes on the look of a waterfront walk, complete with places to sit out over the water, a horse stand for those wishing to rez a horse and take a ride and views out across the inland waters.
The Rusty Nail, July 2026
Beyond the terraces, the land broadens out into a continuing paved area edged by places to sit by the water and dominated by huge metal frame of a former glasshouse, now forming the nucleus of one of the many wildling gardens cultivated across the region. This area is also home to the region’s Land Point.
Those exploring the wider reached of this area and around the west side of the bar and café terraces will doubtless come across slabs of heavy rock arrange to form broad, shallow steps leading down to the water, where flat-topped boulders provide the means to cross to steps on the water’s far side, where smaller public spaces have been cosied-in between some of the rentals, providing further places to sit and pass the time.
The Rusty Nail, July 2026
Sitting under the perfect EEP sky – do be sure to use the Shared Environment when visiting – The Rusty Nail is a gorgeous, extremely photogenic region, folding into itself as it does hints of the East, a sense of swamplands without their more claustrophobic elements (or alligators / crocodiles!) and smatterings of cosmopolitan necessities, all wrapped in an idyllic atmosphere and given a sense of tranquil age by the ruins.
As with the rentals in the original Rusty Nail, the houses offered here have been select to fit the environment, allowing them to blend into it rather than standing apart or appearing uneasily placed within the landscape. There is no rental office to clutter the place up – so anyone interested in renting one of the houses (there were at least a couple available when I dropped in), contact Busta in-world.
The Rusty Nail, July 2026
Should you require rezzing rights for photo props, these can be obtained by joining the local Group. As auto return is not set, please do pick-up your pieces afterwards!
The Simulator User Group meeting place at Longfellow
The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, July 21, 2026 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. These notes form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript. They were taken from the video recording by Pantera, embedded at the end of this summary – my thanks to Pantera for providing it.
Meeting Overview
The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas is held every other Tuesday at 12:00 noon, SLT (holidays, etc., allowing), per the Second Life Public Calendar.
The “SUG Leviathan Hour” meetings are held on the Tuesdays which do not have a formal SUG meeting, and are chaired by Leviathan Linden. They are more brainstorming / general discussion sessions.
Meetings are held in text in-world, at this location.
Simulator Deployments
As recorded in my notes from the the previous Simulator User Group, there has been a bug which has been causing some regions to fail to grant capabilities.
A hot fix for this was deployed on July 14 and July 15 across all simhost channels. This is described as “not a complete fix, but at least now we aren’t taking out an entire simhost at a time”.
Tuesday, July 21 saw the SLS Main channel server restarted without a deployment.
Wednesday July 22 should see the Mango update deployed to the simulator RC channels.
The next simulator release after Mango is Nectarine.
In Brief
Rider Linden has as been finishing up a first pass on the VS code integration and is looking forward to getting it out, although it will need to be coordinated with the next Lua release
Leviathan Linden:
Has cut a new pre-release of the game_control viewer, and acknowledged the assistance of user Wolfgang Senizen for submitting changes to help in mapping actions to buttons, and Horny nuzzle for the suggestion to use PromptFont for the game_control preferences UI (see my Leviathan Office Hours notes).
What’s new with the updated viewer:
You can map buttons to avatar movement actions.
The DPad is mapped by default to fwd/back and strafe left/right.
You can run if you tilt the sticks far enough.
The UI mapping is revamped, mapping actions to inputs rather than the other way around.
There is an improvements to show the raw inputs/outputs in the per-device axes options (offset, invert, dead_zone), another sub-tab that shows raw data being sent to the server.
There are some further server-side aspects to game_control Leviathan wishes to complete, but these will be as his schedule allows.
Following discussion of an issue he introduced into UDP messaging at his last Office Hours meeting, he now has a fix for the problem (which is related to avatars that stay cloudy on log-in).
Roxie Linden noted that:
Has been working on the WebRTC p2p IM bug where sessions fail to start, and is making progress. There is now a potential fix for at least some of the failures, and which should be going out “soon”.
Pepper Linden:
Has been “hacking away on a new test harness” which creates a “fake grid” with multiple real simulators and viewers, and which can be used to reproduce some of the more tricky scenarios that are hard to pin-down – in this case, region crossing issues.
As a result of this, Pepper has managed to put together some fixes which – all things being equal – should help out with vehicle region crossings.
These fixes include changes to hold a vehicle in a region until all passengers are “ready” before it is allowed to enter another region, with an extension to what it means for a viewer to be “ready”.
This means the hand-off will only be performed after each passenger/viewer has polled their new neighbour’s event queue and it’s been able to verify there’s a real circuit/session in place.
Pepper is willing to have these updates deployed to the Blake Sea region on Aditi (the Beta grid) for user testing.
Pepper also noted that there is still an open question of how to handle region hand-offs when an avatar is crossing into parcel to which they do not have access to, such as perhaps fining the nearest open parcel and deliver the avatar there , or simply “tunnel through” the blocking parcel.
Another issue area Pepper hopes to be able to look in to is getting caught in TP limbo.
Harold Linden (Lua):
Is currently trying to catch-up on a backlog of word after being caught up with a house move an all that has involved.
Given the majority of changes LL wanted to implement are now in the SLua 0.710 branch and are relatively stable, he plans to merge-in the updates from upstream Luau in the next day or so.
This was not going to include the Luau integer implementation, however, as discussion in the meeting which indicated that integers are enabled by default, classes are not, in the most recent Luau updates may have given Harold pause to consider swapping LL’s integer implementation over to the upstream Luau implementation first.
He also noted he’s very much like for classes to be stabilized before general release but will “see how that goes”.
Once merged, the updates will take a little time to reach release as he catches up on the pending definition changes.
General Discussion
Please refer to the video below for more on the following.
Pepper’s work on vehicle region crossing led the a discussion on banlines and providing better means for those driving / sailing / boating / flying to identify parcels they are not able to access before then come up against the banlines and encounter problems (being unseated, becoming stuck and having to relog, etc., losing their vehicle, etc) – such as by highlighting parcels where access is block on the Mini-Map.
This led to a discussion on security orb, warning, marking parcels with orbs in operation, etc.
A further general discussion on Lua ran through the latter 2/3s of the meeting, interpolated with the above discussion for part of the time.
The slight drop on crossing regions when free-flying was discussed among region attendees.
Assorted commentary and one or two gripes and some viewer-side requests with the suggestion they are referred to the viewer (open-source) meetings.
July 19th, saw the opening of Cica Ghost’s latest installation in Second Life, to which she kindly sent me an invitation to pop in and see. Entitled Visiting a Friend, it presents a bright colourful setting in keeping with the summer time, one mindful of a coastal region and memories of visiting the beach (or sea-side, if your prefer).
This is a place of grass and sand, where rowing and fishing boats bob on the waves and storks wade the shallows. Sand dunes rise from the grass, some of them topped by sand castles, and one by a row of brightly-painted sea-side houses reached by a ladder and home to some of Cica’s art, whilst overhead giant balloons (on which you can sit) float.
Cica Ghost, July 2026: Visiting a Friend
Watching over all of this is a – literal – blue whale complete with a little house on its head. The latter is a cosy little place with a comfortable bed and happy flower in a pot and a slightly curious cat-like pet. It appears to be the home of a little duck going by the picture on the wall and the little chap outside.
Also watching over the setting is a sand-built lighthouse atop another sand dune complete with the keeper’s cottage on the neighbouring dune, reach via a bridge. However, it is at the top of the lighthouse that accommodation might be found – albeit watched over by a toothy spider.
Cica Ghost, July 2026: Visiting a Friend
It’s all a happy scene, one not even spoiled by the presence of an erupting volcano given it seems more intent on throwing firework-like trails up into the air rather than bringing forth lava. All of it sits under a starry sky in keeping with the quote Cica has chosen for the installation:
Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they are there.
And who – or what – is the (good) friend(s) in question? Well, anyone who went to the beach during childhood likely has happy memories of those occasions; memories which are as much comforting friends as they are recollections. And like the stars in the sky, while we might not always think of them, they are always there, just waiting for us to remember.
Frogmore: Monet’s Pond, July 2026 – click any image for full size
I recently caught a new entry in the Destination Guide for Frogmore, the region and setting held by Dandelion Rabbit (or as she used to be known, Tolla Crisp) – something bound to get me reaching for my camera and notebook before doing the magical teleport hop.
Over the years, Dandelion has been responsible for a number of public regions in Second Life, some she has created herself, and others – as with the various Frogmore iterations – in collaboration with Dandy Warhlol Terry Fothrington), with most of them created under her Frogmore estate banner, and a fair few, past and present, covered within these pages.
Frogmore: Monet’s Pond, July 2026
A Full region leveraging the available Land Capacity Bonus, Frogmore has – at least during the time I had been covering it through to 2022 (it’s been a whole four years since I last dropped in!) – tended to take inspiration from the coastal regions of England’s county of Cornwall. However, for the summer 2026 version the inspiration shifts more toward France in terms of some of the architecture present, and takes the name Monet’s Pond in reflection of the use of colour throughout.
Which is not to say any of the dramatic beauty of the region has been lost, far from it; the rugged looks and the mix of both elevation and water continue to result in a place of visual and natural splendour.
Frogmore: Monet’s Pond, July 2026
Step into a dreamy summer at Frogmore’s newest chapter — Monet’s Pond. All the waters of the region have been freshly painted in the soft, shimmering hues of a Claude Monet masterpiece — hushed lilacs, misty greens, silvered blues, and warm golden reflections that dance gently in the sunlight.
– Frogmore’s Destination Guide entry
Frogmore: Monet’s Pond, July 2026
This is a place which genuinely feel much larger than a 256×256 sized region; just when you think you’ve managed to see all of it, the chances are you’ll find another corner awaiting exploration.
It is also a place where a degree of mystery and magic await discovery, and a sense of fantasy enters without ever feeling out of place. Indeed, the entire setting carries with it a feeling it is one step removed from the world in which we otherwise live, where the everyday happily resides with the not-so-ordinary.
Frogmore: Monet’s Pond, July 2026
Part of the reason the setting feels so big is that use of elevation mentioned above. Parts of the setting are set with high cliffs and escarpments rising to flat tops. These form an arc around the edge of one corner of the setting whilst points fingers inland the naturally intrude into the lowlands and serve to bot reveal and hide. The highest elevation of these uplands is taken up by the bulk of an almost-Norman-style castle and the houses of a somewhat medieval-looking town for which the castle may have once served as guardian.
Sitting between the two is a dramatic gorge, spanned by a bridge forming an excellent choke-point for any armies which may once have attempted to attack the castle in times past. The long finger of rock on which the village is set points its way north is one of the escarpment naturally splitting the land, descending through gentle tiers down to the lowlands and waters below.
Frogmore: Monet’s Pond, July 2026
Another promontory also extends northwards from the castle’s feet, pushing inland with steep slopes and walls of rock. Sheltered between the tall rms of rock and overlooked by the village, sits an inlet cutting deep into the landscape by way of the gorge spanned by the castle’s bridge.
With outlets passing under further bridges, the inlet gives way to wetlands and lowlands this inlet while the foreshores are beautifully set out (including possibly the best integrations of Marcthur Goosson’s Ma Maison farmhouse into a landscape I’ve seen). All of this, with its richness of colour, wildlife and coves and islands, remains largely hidden from the lands to the west.
Frogmore: Monet’s Pond, July 2026
The lowlands across the region offer a mix of architectural styles, with cottages and small hold farms rubbing shoulders with larger townhouse-style homes. A second, very different castle raises its bulk to the north whilst free-flowing waters and wetlands quite naturally break the land up, further helping to give the setting a sense of size and space, whilst bridges help to keep feet dry as one explores.
The bridges, paths and trails running through the landscape provide the means to explore it fully and in detail and discover all that lies within. Whilst some of the buildings to the west are understandably unfurnished, this is more than made up for the manner in which has been set out as a mix of farmlands and wetlands rich in flora and wildfowl.
Frogmore: Monet’s Pond, July 2026
In terms of the mystery and hints of magic can be found along the paths and steps of the village. It is here as well, that colour again brings depth and atmosphere to a wander between the shops, cottages and houses – all of which are decorated and furnished, adding to the delight of visiting this portion of the region.
One of the things essential for a visit is to use the region’s Shared Environment. This will really bring out the beauty of Monet’s Pond, including the reflections of colour across the waters when seen from the right angles which work with the hues of the trees and flowers and hanging lights to give the setting a feeling of being something Monet, had he been so minded, might have painted.
Frogmore: Monet’s Pond, July 2026
To be perfectly honest, to describe Monet’s Pond is an exercise in futility; it simply has to be seen for itself. There is so much to be discovered, and so much attention to detail, the use of a colour palette with flowers, water reflections, blossoming tree and amongst the houses and shops of the village befitting of a Monet painting, words simply made the place feel dry.
What I will say is, I’ve followed Dandy’s work in landscaping down the years – ever since he worked with Belle des Champs (Bridget Genna) to produce the BarDeco series of locations (2016 through 2021) – and watching his landscaping skill mature and refine to produce truly memorable locations for land-holder and visitors alike has been a genuine pleasure. With the latest iteration of Frogmore he has achieve something truly special.
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week through to Sunday, July 19th, 2026
This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:
It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy.
This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
Outside of the Official viewer, and as a rule, alpha / beta / nightly or release candidate viewer builds are not included; although on occasions, exceptions might be made.
Official LL Viewers
Default viewer – 26.2.0.25386466510, May 19 -“flat” UI and font update – No change.
Second Life Lua Editor Alpha viewer 6.1.0.23768336784, April 29 – No change.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 