Emerald Project Communications Manager Banned from Second Life

The Emerald blog has a new entry claiming that its Communications Manager, Arabella Steadham, has been banned from logging into Second Life. Arabella wrote the official response to Linden Lab's decision to ban the use of the Emerald viewer yesterday and claims that she received an email today informing her that the company had banned her use of Second Life for "severe or repeated violations of the Second Life Terms of Service or Community Standards." She reports that her alternate avatar, created three years ago, was also banned.

Arabella makes it very clear in her blog post that she believes Linden Lab may have taken this action because she spoke out against the company in the Emerald blog on the previous day. She states:

Lindenlab is very well aware from their own logs that I have never breached any TOS. They are also aware that I did not attempt to log in with a blacklisted viewer, as the email was sent to me prior to even attempting to log in. What did I do to warrant this?

Perhaps it was yesterday’s post. Perhaps because I called them out on their irrational behavior in recent weeks. Perhaps because Linden Lab wants to ‘teach me a lesson’?

Arabella goes on to say that she attempted to file an official appeal to Linden Lab, per the instructions in the email informing her of the ban, but was unable to log into the Web site provided.

So, I proceed to follow the instructions to lodge an appeal, only to find I cannot log into the website to lodge said appeal. I can only log in as ‘guest’ and select from a pathetic list. I fill out the proforma, and receive this:-

A new case has been created

Case: XXXXXXXX
Avatar:
Type: Web Login Issues
Status: New

To comment on this case, either Reply to this email, or visit: [link removed for privacy]

(To view the Case online, you will need to log into Secondlife.com with this Avatar: )

But I cannot log in to view the case.

We will continue to keep an eye on this situation and report on further developments.

darius.arunian is the creator and manager of me2oh.com. He also serves as the site's editor. He likes to spend his spare time building and scripting things in Second Life.