Well, hell. Apparently I’ve been banned from Second Life. I have no idea why, and the notification I received doesn’t make any sense to me yet, but there you have it.
Me: Hey Linden Lab, some guy copybotted my stuff!
LL: …
Me: Angry that they don’t do anything
LL: You’re banned.
Me: WTF?
I am thankful that I have such strong support from the Combat: Samurai Island community : 
52 Comments
Wow. Which account? Or was it an IP ban? Was it the one that owns your vendors?
RobbyRacoon Olmstead, yeah, the one that owns the vendors.
I still have no idea why, and in the most brilliant Linden Lab fail yet, the address they tell me to go to in order to file a Support Ticket doesn’t work.
Wanna guess why the url doesn’t work?
BECAUSE I’M FUCKING BANNED!
Yeah, that’s pretty well thought out, isn’t it? Real comedy gold, there
And the really messed up part is that this comes right out of left field, right after some jackass copybots my Wave Katana and sells it in one of his outfits.
What happens to him? Nothing.
What happens to me? Ban-hammer.
Sigh.
sigh…..WTF?
I say good riddance. The only people who actually like DRM are greedy corporations and greedy corporation wannabes.
Not only did this person copy his stuff he was reselling it. It’s not about the DRM it’s about thieves profiting from stolen work.
Wow…isn’t there anything you can do to fix this? This just seems too weird. What happened? hugz Robbie xoxoxoxo
OMG, so sorry to hear this. I hope you get it resolved. Also, can a copy bot also get the scripts, or is it just a copy of the prims and textures.
Sooo, does this mean you have to copybot your vendors to get your stuff back
how ironic that would be 
I heard this information from guluco.
This is strange mysterious weird…. I believe that LL returns to senses sane.
I believe that your life returns peacefully promptly.
Too weird especially as you communicated with me just two days ago…now please take care of this with LL in a timely fashion and seek cooperation in resolving this…there may have been some miscommunication…as to the copy cat that fringes on copy inworld..(let’s fund the bugger) and unfortunately if my memory is correct, in past cases…legal actions were necessary out world…let us know how we can help on our end.
typo…find the bugger…in world copy cats that infringes on copyright…in past cases..action had to be taken out world via the legal system…
Really? Beside the fact that you obviously have no idea what DRM is, let alone my own personal feelings about DRM, what have you done for the world? What humanitarian endeavor have you spent your hard-earned cash and scarce time for? Surely, with a comment like that, you must be a true philanthropist.
Wanted to protect your intellectual property has nothing to do with greed, and you’ll find many examples even in the Open Source world. There are many valid and non-greedy reasons, but I suspect it would be a waste of my time to make that argument to a person who would make a comment like yours.
If you think I make a lot of money in Second Life, you are sadly mistaken. I make very little, and if you were to calculate the amount of time I’ve spent on not only my products, but other projects (most of which are completely free, by the way) for the Second Life community, it would come out to pennies per hour. Even with residuals, it comes out to be far less than any so-called greedy ‘corporate wannabe’ would consider justifiable.
So I hope people will understand when I call your comment out for the useless trash that it is, and further suggest that the person who made it is nothing more than some disingenuous Internet Dickwad who doesn’t even understand what DRM means, and doesn’t know the first thing about me :
i suggest to nailmail labs until someones takin care about it who got a little idea about what happend
seems to me only we can do this job for robby
first of we should send reports about this copying guy
ALL OF US
also we should send reports about unreasonable bannings
ill start now
hopefully happy rezin robby
No, copybot just copies the prims, and in some versions the textures as well.
What Mr. Anonymous Coward above doesn’t realize is that I’ve been a staunch proponent of the copybot technology, just not the use of that technology for theft. It does have legitimate uses, and I have used that technology myself to create offline backups of all of my own products, so that I would work on them offline in PrimComposer, as well as have some peace of mind that Asset Server and Inventory Server issues would not wipe them out.
I built the Taketori and Kodachi 100% offline, but thanks to copybotting my own stuff for backup purposes, I do have backup copies of everything else as well. I could conceivably bring it all back in-world on another account.
I’m not sure it’s worth the effort at this point, though.
P.S.: Anyone remember Aang, my C:SI combat bot? He was made from copybot code, he just never copied anything. The same technology that enables CopyBot was used to create a more community-friendly bot that could use weapons and other scripted items, navigate the world, and engage in melee combat. That was a fun project.
.
Takuan,
Please give us a list of where these copycat vendors have set up…in fact..to all members of csi, your efforts are appreciated and if you come across one of these copied weapons, please compile a list of copycat vendors so we can take action on our end by sending out notices and warnings to members of csi (clans and groups)…thanks…infringement on intellectual propery is illegal…and a dishonour, insult and form of “rape” to the work and effort made by its’ creator. To those of you who buy them…”shame on you”.
The guy who did the copybotting, Ugur Tunwarm, has removed the sword from his vendors in an apparent effort to appear innocent. The vendors I did find with those swords for sale were actually in C:SI member’s malls, and I don’t think those people were aware of it until they were informed.
Robby, last night I saw you log off… I checked back and saw you were online for about 30 minutes (I didn’t notice you log in). Was that really you? Maybe someone got access to your account and did something bannable?
That was me, I was paying rents on my various land rentals, and was intending to visit with you and Rain after I got a quick bite to eat. By the time I tried to log back in fifteen minutes later, I was banned.
I’ve still not been informed about what, if anything, I did to deserve this. There has been no indication whatsoever from Linden Lab about what offense I may or may not have committed, and the lines of communication are extremely poor, to say the least.
According to Esprite, it seems likely that some jackass (copybotting jackass? Who knows) reported me as being underage. Apparently, Linden Lab responds to such complaints with an immediate ban, without any evidence or regard to the fact that I’ve been an upstanding Second Life citizen for more than three years and have had credit info on file for that entire time.
Amazing, eh?
[EDIT] Wait, what? You mean you saw me log in *after* I logged off? No, that was not me, unless you saw me log in as my Alt. I did log in as an alt to delete all of my vendors, since my Robby account obviously can’t take care of any problems or customer support issues that should arise, but I never logged back in as Robby.
No no… I just meant I didn’t see when you had logged on, but did notice you logging off. So I went back and checked for when you had logged in. There were a couple of people I was looking for last night so that’s how I remember. But sounds it was really you.
Ah, yeah… That’s what I get for logging off to eat, huh? Imagine my surprise
Here is a issue you can vote on related to this : https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-676
It good to hear it cannot copy scripts, i can continue my projects then, since they texture and shape are not key components. But i think the real issue here is that reporting a theft and getting banned is very disturbing. It can only discourage others to do the same out of fear of also being banned.
oh another link, from 2006:
https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/features/blog/2006/11/14/copyrights-and-content-creation-in-second-life
…Whoa. I don’t even know what to think about that, neither did I expect it would happen to you of all people.
Are you sure it’s a permanent ban? Or just a few days? I guess if you’re sick of it, it doesn’t matter anyway, but I don’t think LL should get away with such an abuse of power without even investigating the situation.
I’m banned until I comply by sending them “such and such” documentation. I’m hesitant to do so without knowing which crime I’ve supposedly committed, but perhaps by complying I can find out?
Linden Lab’s communication sets the new gold standard in Fail, I think.
Wow, and they claim that if you have payment info used, you are verified.
https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417&task=knowledge&questionID=6362 (Hopefully this link works)
Distressing to know that what they claim is verification is not really verification and at any time you can be banned and have to re-verify again.
And that, apparently, on nothing more than the word of a known thief.
Truly ridiculous.
You prob already have but you might call LL and push them some.. I had to once when i got stuck in world and the chat help wouldnt do any good.
Holy smokes! I only noticed this when I was on the SL web page and you made a comment to Robin Linden’s… whatever she wrote.I’m so sorry to hear that some D-Bag had done this. Were you age verified? I would imagine you were but, idk. Is there like anything we the peeps can do?
Yeah… Find the nearest Linden, and Kick ‘em in the junk!
In all seriousness, I think what can be done has already been done. They will either re-instate my account, or not, I guess.
But I do truly appreciate the show of support from everyone, it’s great
This is horrifying! Would it help if concierge clients went to bat and contacted LL about this matter?
They better let you back in.
We need to start a save Robby petition.
hi Robby, that’s awful. Good business strategy LL
hope you can get it sorted out soon.
I wish I knew, though with my luck it would just make things worse, haha
At this point, I still don’t know why I’m banned. I have my suspicions, but Linden Lab has never actually said why. I understand that this is standard operating procedure there ;(
This is some fucked up shit. I’m putting support out for ya, even painted up a protest sign in SL, wonder how many could gather >_>
I updated the original post to show the protest pic Moxie left on the Official Combat: Samurai Island forums. Hopefully he won’t mind
Robby
I am sorry for what happened you (now and before)
I would like help you.
Thank you
Rob
No worries posting the pic, Kasumi is on my right. and more people not seen gathered in talks of the subject. In Samurai island where your Vendors would be, there was a crowd also on the topic.
OMG that sucks Robby, but LL’s typical policy in this type of matter is to temp ban both accounts in question until they resolve the issue sometimes.
My friend had his account hacked once and lindens stolen and his account got temp locked out to prevent any further tampering while they resolved the issue but he got his account back a few days later.
It seems rather stupid to me but I am sure they are looking into it. If LL had half a brain though they would just look at the creation dates on the swords, doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense.
Robby its realy strange to get a ban without asking first. If i can help please let us know.
Entraxx Winkler and Ardnaxela Diavolo
I just learned about this when I got the notice that you sent out in my e-mail. This is so ridiculous. You’re not just a victim in this case. You’re somebody who’s actively been involved in giving to the community outside of your C:SI endeavors. I’m truly disturbed by how poorly Linden Lab has managed this situation.
Hay im the Creator of the Combat System known as NCS2, they did the same thing to one of my lead developers, removed his account without warning, i talked to J***a Linden he states and I Quote “I found no Valid Reason for the Bann, but who am I to say anything.” LL has seemingly started to take out the diffrent combat system leaders, slowly but surely, from another Linden named M***y Linden, “It was Prolly someone asken a Favor.” This has happened to be as well, CS:X creator known as Manny, has asked several Lindens to remove my account, thankfully for me, i know over 30+ lindens and am going for a job at LL in Cali, so its no suprise that they are slowly taken out the other combat systems its all about the linden in the end, the all mighty L$ and Its sad when people like us, creators of good combat systems that are worth keeping around. Ive reported hundreds of copybotters, to the point where my Reports are no longer anwsered at all.
Im sorry to hear this, and if I can do anything possible to help you, in any way Please Let me know.
I hope C:SI does not fall down cause of this problem, Miss Moody would be very annoyed and mad about this.
NCS2 Creator,
Bioblaze Payne
I haven’t often speculated on the reasons for why someone was banned in the past. As many times as I’ve read on the forums about someone being banned, I usually thought to myself “Yeah, sure buddy. You know why, you are just pretending”. I am now less inclined to believe that a ban was justly deserved in all cases
I am quite certain that C:SI will not be in any way harmed by this incident. While I do my best to be a good C:SI dev and to create interesting side-projects for the community, in reality I am the most junior member, and the least important person with regards to the survival of Samurai Island.
Robby,
Pleeeaaasse keep the faith in us (C:SI samurai) and Second Life in general. It seems you have had more of your share of bad luck in dealing with this effed up world. I will be ballsy enough to say you are the only developer doing any new for us like the Elo rating system. (Yes, for us. Not for profit you D-Bag, Mr. Anonymous Coward; perfect name btw :p). I know its easier to remember a sting more than a pat on the back but I’m sure if we could you would get a thousands pats and smiles ^_^ Don’t give up Robby and we love you
P.S. In my heart, you are the MOST important member person in regards to the survival of Samurai Island.
Your involvement with the community makes you a very valuable developer Robby.
Thank you for that, I appreciate it
Shame on LL …
What about the petition Lyssa Shan was talking about ?
Robby don’t forget everything you made since you started, you should know who you are. And you certainly do *NOT* deserve the ban !! I can’t believe this guy and LL could act in a such silly manner … What I feel today is that they are offending CSI community … and I’m sorry Robby to tell you this, but yes it could harm C:SI if LL don’t open their eyes …
I am very sorry about that case Robby. Few days ago I read in the German community that also a member was banned from one day to the other and she asked what to do and who has experiences. As far as I understood, LL needs about one week to investigate. But I am sure you will be unbanned. Do not understand this policy to ban without explanation. That is not a business like behaviour.
We informed our clan and our groups about this incident and cross all our fingers that everything soon will be solved!!
Aurelia
We’ve never actually met but I’ve heard a lot about you from other members of Tendai. It’s really terrible what’s happened to you and I hope it is resolved quickly and to your benefit. From what I’ve heard, i can’t believe you would have done anything wrong. So count me as another supporter and I hope to have the opportunity to meet you in-world sometime.
I suppose it’s just easier for LL to ban first and ask questions (read that as investigate) later. If, as you said, it’s because someone reported you as underage it probably has legal ramifications as well. Protecting themselves in the event your really are underage by acting immediately.
I don’t know if you verified that was the reason but if it was, it almost sounds like the guy who copied the Wave banned you when you started complaining in order to give himself time to get rid of the evidence. Someone else mentioned that he is no longer selling the sword. Seems plausible. Or he was just peeved at getting caught.
Anyway, I think we would all like to see you fill out that paperwork, resubmit, and have you back with us again.
(wonder if Anonymous Bastard, uh, I mean Coward was really Ugur)
Logan
Alot of people have seen this but i thought some might get a laugh..
What happened is pitiful….
Another LL’s stupidity LL that affects all C:SI’s community.
I respectfully bow to your courage.
I sincerely hope that Linden Lab will show gesture of goodwill and intelligence in recognizing his terrible blunder.
There is no dishonor to confess to having cheated.
Humility is the first step toward wisdom.
Perhaps you might consider joining this lawsuit against LL for creating a platform that allows copybotted content theft to thrive: Second Life Sued For Allowing Sale Of Impostor Virtual Goods
As I mentioned on another post, I am considering joining the suit. I am waiting to see how this current situation plays out first, and every day that Linden fails to respond convinces me more and more that I should, but I’m still undecided at this point.