Furrex stated in the comments (in Russian) that it was no secret he had been doing photoshoots or videos for payment, "... this has allowed me to improve the content of the channel. ... As far as I know, the platform rules do not prohibit doing this." He went on to state that he couldn't buy Linden dollars himself "due to restrictions in my country. Therefore, I used what seemed to me a legal method." Two days earlier, he had done a deal for a video for 30,000 Lindens "and within an hour I received an automatic ban."
He would state at first he thought he broke something, and went to technical support. It was then he was informed of the ban, and asked what was his relationship with the resident who had given him the Linden dollars, "but it seems to me that the support didn’t even read what I wrote about, they simply ignored my words." He filed another appeal, and was told "that I also used some programs. I have no idea what programs can be used for SecondLife. I apologize for using Fraps and Sony Vegas 19." Fraps is a video program, and Vegas 19 is a video editor.
I will probably never be unblocked again. Also, I still have no idea why I got banned. I am not going to somehow bypass the blocking, register new accounts or use my second empty account, because I have always been an honest user and remain one to this day. ... Unfortunately, I can’t somehow influence this situation, I had a lot of new content prepared for you, ideas, avatars, animations, while I’m writing this, my soul is just crying ... It was something.
I just want to say thank you to all of you, you are the best and most positive thing that has happened in my life. It has been my absolute pleasure to create content for you. Each of my videos is a piece of my soul, this is what I felt at that moment, these were my thoughts, my mood, what I wanted to show. ... Thank you for the gift of emotions and the opportunity to express yourself. Over these 9 years, the content has grown very much in terms of quality and my individual experience, it would seem that now there would be something unreal, but, alas, it happens. Life doesn't always happen the way we want.
As Linden Lab doesn't go into why it bans people with others, we have only Furrex's explanation. Beyond that, we can only speculate. Over the years, the Newser has written about a number of people who were banned. Some such as zFire Xue the creator of Redzone clearly deserved it. There were others in which while a ban was understandable there could have been a warning instead such as when one young businesswoman used her mother's credit card to get Linden dollars. And then there were times such as when one hacked resident instead of having her account returned found it was banned and making another to rejoin her friends found that banned as well. A few years ago, the owner of Rainworx was banned for having a claw machine at her place. But after word got around, Linden Lab did a rare reversal and lifted the ban.
In any case, it looks like this is the end for Furrex's videos. He has some more we haven't shown, notably a few new ones, but he will be making no more, at least not in Second Life.
I will probably never be unblocked again. Also, I still have no idea why I got banned. I am not going to somehow bypass the blocking, register new accounts or use my second empty account, because I have always been an honest user and remain one to this day. ... Unfortunately, I can’t somehow influence this situation, I had a lot of new content prepared for you, ideas, avatars, animations, while I’m writing this, my soul is just crying ... It was something.
I just want to say thank you to all of you, you are the best and most positive thing that has happened in my life. It has been my absolute pleasure to create content for you. Each of my videos is a piece of my soul, this is what I felt at that moment, these were my thoughts, my mood, what I wanted to show. ... Thank you for the gift of emotions and the opportunity to express yourself. Over these 9 years, the content has grown very much in terms of quality and my individual experience, it would seem that now there would be something unreal, but, alas, it happens. Life doesn't always happen the way we want.
As Linden Lab doesn't go into why it bans people with others, we have only Furrex's explanation. Beyond that, we can only speculate. Over the years, the Newser has written about a number of people who were banned. Some such as zFire Xue the creator of Redzone clearly deserved it. There were others in which while a ban was understandable there could have been a warning instead such as when one young businesswoman used her mother's credit card to get Linden dollars. And then there were times such as when one hacked resident instead of having her account returned found it was banned and making another to rejoin her friends found that banned as well. A few years ago, the owner of Rainworx was banned for having a claw machine at her place. But after word got around, Linden Lab did a rare reversal and lifted the ban.
In any case, it looks like this is the end for Furrex's videos. He has some more we haven't shown, notably a few new ones, but he will be making no more, at least not in Second Life.
*Addition* I've heard some speculation that the reason for Furrex's ban was because of the sanctions on his country due to it's dictator's invasion of it's neighbor. It's also been speculated that the person who he did business with had gotten the money through less than legal means and somehow the music maker got caught up in it. What is known is that he crossed out "last video" in the Youtube's title and is continuing to make music videos. So it seems we'll continuing to hear more from Furrex.
Bixyl Shuftan
Ah, it is the PAYMENT bit, together with him being Russian, thats the problem. There are economic santions on Russia, and paying a Russian cash could put LL in alot of hot water. So to stay legal, if he wont stop taking money in SL for services, LL had to ban him.
ReplyDeletePure speculation on my part, but I think LL interpreted this as a violation of FinCEN money laundering terms. Truly sad times we live in. Furrex made amazing videos. Let's hope he can continue to do so with another platform.
ReplyDeleteIn the YouTube is a video also with the eMails, as it looks like.
ReplyDeleteSure, we see only one side ... but:
* There isn't (seems to be) a clear statement, which rule was broken and how.
* From the description in the text, there are also accusations ("used some programs"), which look unprooved (at least from that, what we see).
It is general annoying, services point on ... and are "just allowed" to do it ... some vague "ToS" ... without listing up the violations clearly.
As some was guessing, if there is (would be) a problem with the part, he is Russian and there are economic restrictions or the guess of "money laundering" - legit ... or "I can understand" ... but then LL should state such things out ... and (for example) limit the affected accounts "general", eg. "maximum L$ payment is XYZ".
But so far I understand it, he wasn't able to doing L$/RL-money exchanges about these restrictions anyway.
Also there is no clear written limit in the ToS about L$ transaction ... so far I am aware of.
And that is the next problem: The ToS of each service are endless ... and them change often ... and are for 60% of the SL-residents in a foreign language (at lest in old statistics, only 40% was native english speakers).
Keeping track of that? "Hey, read out ToS, printed out 150 pages --- nono, you need to read our ToS --- hello, out ToS are the more important ones" ... sure, for LL them are these of SL important, but the users need to keep track of them for SL ... and YouTube, Twitter-or-whatever, Insta, Facepunch and-what-else ... and "yes, after some years, you can forget something".
Transparent it would be, if them see in somewhat a problem ... and nail it to that. Eg "action-of-this is not allowed according to ToS-part-that" ... and the part "used some programs" is very discrete written.
But this isn't a problem with LL only ... it appears to be, every US company prefer to be "non specific" in their statements.
YouTube for example is the same: "U goz a Strike abut Vido violtaz rulz!" ... at least, you get an info, which video is the problem (my guess would be them would love to let that information also out) ... but "where and what" is the problem, they hide.
Not really reliable ...
The situation is truly disgusting.
ReplyDeleteAs long as I am fueled by the energy of my audience, I will not stop. ;)
Thank you for the post. Мне приятно)
Best regards,
FuRReX
Your blog has become a cherished resource, providing knowledge and inspiration.
ReplyDelete