On February 15, 2011, I logged into Second Life to investigate an issue someone reported with the W-Hat name2key service. I was online for 6 minutes.
On May 17, 2011, after being a paying customer in good standing for 7 years, and three months after my last login, my Second Life account Masakazu Kojima was terminated for "severe or repeated violations of the Second Life Terms of Service or Community Standards."
On June 14, 2011, my appeal was denied.
No explanation was ever offered.
I ran the W-Hat group from 2005 to 2011. I did not create it.
In 2005, I had more referrals to Second Life than anyone else.
I created lslint, the W-Hat name2key database, and httpdb.
The real Masakazu Kojima is a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology
I chose the name by googling "kojima -hideo" and picking the first result.
The original email from Linden Lab (May 17):
This email is notification that Linden Lab has terminated your access to the Second Life virtual world due to severe or repeated violations of the Second Life Terms of Service or Community Standards. Your (account name 'Masakazu Kojima') and alternate Second Life accounts have been made permanently inaccessible.
Appeal Process: The decision to terminate your Second Life access was reached after investigation of your use of the Second Life software and service. If you would like to appeal your termination, you may contact Second Life Support, by opening a new support ticket with a subject of "abuse appeal," or in writing, at the address below:
Attn: Account Reviews: Appeals
Linden Lab
945 Battery Street
San Francisco, CA 94111Please provide relevant information that you believe would explain the above violation. Linden Lab reserves sole discretion in considering whether to take any action on a written appeal.
Sincerely,
Customer Support
Linden Lab
My appeal (May 22):
I am trying to appeal the termination of my account on 2011-05-17.
I have not severely nor repeatedly violated the TOS or CS. My account was in good standing for over 7 years before being suddenly terminated.
I was suspended once, on 2010-02-01, because someone created offensive content in my sim. It was lifted but I was warned about future incidents. (4051-7322562)
After that I sold my sim, gave away most of my mainland holdings, disabled object creation on and gave others in my group permissions to sell the remaining group land.
My last login was in Feb 2011 according to phone support. I do not have any alternate accounts. I do not have the Second Life client software installed.
I use my account to provide infrastructure and support via IM for the services I provide to LSL developers (since 2006) at http://w-hat.com/. This is all I want to continue to be able to do.
If nothing else, please disband my group "W-Hat", as it has fallen into chaos.
Linden Lab response (June 14):
Hello,
Linden Lab has reviewed, at your request, your appeal of our decision to permanently terminate your Second Life access.
The original decision to terminate your Second Life access was reached after investigation of your use of the Second Life software and service. Upon further examination of your case, we have determined that the permanent closure of your accounts was justified and correctly applied.
This concludes our investigation of your appeal. Please consider the matter resolved, as no further communications will be sent.
Best regards,
Customer Support
Linden Lab
This is the screenshot the Second Life client automatically took the last time I logged off. The name2key and httpdb in-world components can be seen.