What Is an AR
Understanding the Abuse Report: its purpose, criteria and process
Reporting Violations — The AR
If a resident witnesses conduct that violates the Community Standards or Terms of Service, Linden Lab asks that it be reported promptly. All reports are reviewed, and the identity of the reporting party is kept strictly confidential—the individual reported will not be informed of who filed the complaint. Reports may be submitted through the in-world Abuse Report system or by contacting Linden Lab’s Support team directly.
What Can Be Reported
An Abuse Report may be filed for any of the following categories of prohibited behavior:
• Harassment and stalking: malicious messages, offensive language, or sustained targeting of another user.
• Griefing: deliberate interference with another resident’s in-world experience, such as unwanted physical contact, spamming, or object flooding.
• Fraud and theft: scams, intellectual property violations, or the unauthorized use of Linden Dollars.
• Maturity rating violations: the display of inappropriate content in areas governed by General or Moderate rating
How to file an abuse report
Reports must be submitted directly from the Second Life viewer to be considered. The process is as follows:
• Right-click on the offending avatar or object and select Report Abuse, or navigate to Help > Report Abuse from the top menu.
• Select the category that most accurately describes the violation.
• The form will automatically populate your location and the offender’s name; provide a concise, objective account of the incident in the description field.
• If possible, attach a snapshot of the incident for additional evidence.
How the process works
Once submitted, the Governance Team will review the report details, relevant chat logs, and region data. Reports filed by multiple users regarding the same individual are given higher priority.
In keeping with its privacy policy, Linden Lab will not contact the reporting party regarding the outcome of the investigation. Any action taken against the offending account is handled privately.
It is important to note that filing a report does not immediately halt ongoing harassment. While the report alerts Linden Lab to the situation, residents experiencing real-time misconduct should also block the offending avatar and, where applicable, make use of parcel management tools—such as access restrictions or boundary settings—to prevent further disturbance on their virtual land.
Warning: The Abuse Report (AR) is the official in-world mechanism for flagging policy violations. Reports are investigated by the Linden Lab Governance Team, which has the authority to issue warnings, impose temporary suspensions, or permanently ban offending accounts. Use it with caution and common sense.
More detailed information: Filing and abuse report (SL Community).
What's Next? Another important topic in Second Life is Etiquette and Dress Code. Each place you visit could have different maturity ratings and/or rules of conduct. We'll clarify everything in the next chapter.
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