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!
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 