So instead of people making secrets, I’ve received more contact forms with gossip in it than before. I always reply “make a secret about it”. In fact, the gossip that I was sent in that I will be talking about today my first response was “Make a secret about it”. Then I spoke with a trusted friend privately and told them this story that I received in an e-mail and they replied, “You need to post that”.

So without further ado, I present to you the tea from Relay for Life in SL.

6/6/2020 11:05PM

Message Body:

My group had a spot at Relay For Life in SL. Today was the march for survivors, and I walked by myself carrying a board. That board over my head, acknowledged one of the top Doctors we have today in the cancer research circle. Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green ( https://oralee.org/drgreen/ ) , and noted her website as well.

As I rounded a bend, someone had apparently IMed me. I didn’t think much of it until I was ejected. The message asked that I remove the board that I was wearing. As I stood at my home, I responded with a link to Ora Lee and closed the conversation. I was too angry to respond about what just occurred.

I wanted to head back to the sim and speak to the person in charge, but I then realized I had been banned, so I logged into another avatar and headed for the sim. My goal was to have a polite conversation with whomever the group lead was, and understand why someone felt the need to eject and ban me.

When I arrived, I was unsure on who to contact. So I joined the ACS group listed on the prims from the sim (it was free to join) and checked the members. I still could not figure out on who to contact, but I did see there was a website (https://www.slacsinfo.com/about). I was able to retrieve the name of the person in charge. I saw that the person who originally ejected me was also listed on the website. I messaged Stingray9798 since he was on sim and politely asked him a series of questions. Those questions, verbatim, are noted below – the spaces indicate his responses – (responses from the person noted above have been removed out of privacy and in case anyone wants to say that I broke any TOS).

[13:37] Hey man, got a question for you.

[13:39] Hello – got a question. Does the SL Relay for Life and ACS, support all valid cancer research associations?

[13:42] Right, but do they support all valid cancer research organizations. You know, Doctors that are fighting to help cure cancer.

[13:43] I didn’t ask that.

[13:44] Allow me to re-phrase that. Does the ACS help support legitimate research for the cure to cancer. Support does not equate to money.

[13:45] I am asking you, because you guys are representing ACS in SL right now.

[13:47] Sorry, why did you eject me?

His responses seemed canned and elusive, not truly answering any questions I posed. His excuse for ejecting and banning me? He said I was griefing …..

He did however supply me with helpful information in the form of a phone number to the American Cancer Society. I contacted ACS, explained what transpired – and the rep stated (James) – they do not condone what happened. He apologized for my experience.

The interesting note, not only were my avatars ejected and banned, but it seems that my partner was banned as well. We guessed that perhaps they saw him in my partner box and proactively banned him. We tested this by logging into another avi – completely dissociated with the previous ones, and it too could not teleport to the RFL – he was banned as well. How did this group IP BAN us within a 10-15 minute time line? I would hate to think that Linden Labs condones this behavior and supports this group enough to allow them to use an IP BAN tool. Especially since those are banned from SL. It does however look to be the case.

I have asked the American Cancer Society to check on this group, measure that they are being held accountable for all monies collected (yes, I did donate at the sim for ACS) and simultaneously submitted a ticket through Linden Labs in regards to the scope of the issue (particularly the IP Ban). We tested the ban again, and have noted, that while it seems the IP BAN has been lifted, the actions of these individuals still does not support the scope of how the American Cancer Society would appreciate donors and survivors to be treated. I support most causes for the cure for cancer, as it has touched my life more times than I care to say. I would hope that ACS views the search for the cure, the same way.

In a brief moment of actually pretending to be journalism (Don’t panic, this is still a supermarket trash rag) I asked to see the conversation that is left out from above. Stingray9798 did not really answer their questions and treated the questions asked as ‘griefing’. Stingray9798 was polite.

The American Cancer Society is going to get back with this user regarding this incident.

Why were they so quickly able to IP ban the accounts?
Do you think that if the ACS organizer had a problem with the board advertising the Ora Lee Smith foundation that perhaps they should have addressed that instead of straight to kick/ban?
Did ACS provide any guidelines to people participating in the March for Survivors?

What do you think?