How do you handle the lack of privacy that comes with having a friends list?

[Clara D.]

Alt army.

Though the Wastelands knows all of me. (I play the WL game, so I'm transparent about it. My usual "grubby furry wearing nothing but rags" that uses the same emotes gives me away anyways.)

Set up another alt, and let it bank all your $L.

My alts are all shopaholics. $L either get passed around or there's lots of "Send as gift" from Marketplace.

 

[Noodles]

My alts are all shopaholics. $L either get passed around or there's lots of "Send as gift" from Marketplace.

I used to think I limited my spending to basically two regular accounts but more recently while messing with alts I have come to realize many are basically fully kitted out" with mesh bodies and proper AOs and everything. Just the wardrobe is slightly lacking.

 

[Sid]

I have 2 still more or less active alts. Both have a tiny avatar. And a lot of old meanwhile unusable junk. Both have only one person on their friends list: me.
One holds the L$ surplus (but most of the times she is as low on L$ as Sid) and the other holds a small store on the Marketplace.
I try to keep my SL simple.

 

[Luisa Land]

I think it depends a lot on how many "friends" you have in your list.
In RL, hardly all friends are present at the same time, no matter if you go to a pub, a concert, to the beach or wherever.... It is always possible to at least wave or shout hello, so there is no problem of ignoring friends or acquaintances.
As I said, in SL it depends on how many friends you have listed. I almost never have more than 10 people online at the same time and most of them don't even notice when others come online because they are busy with something anyway.
And with the few who do send an IM, I almost always manage to send a friendly, albeit short, reply (they are nice people I have in the friendlist, why else do I have them in the list). I think most residents have quickly learned that others in sl are often busy with other things or are not ready to talk for other reasons.
Just like in real life, it depends on what you expect from a sl friendship. If the expectations are not too high and the list of friends is not too long, I think you can get along well and in a friendly way.

 

[Clara D.]

I used to think I limited my spending to basically two regular accounts but more recently while messing with alts I have come to realize many are basically fully kitted out" with mesh bodies and proper AOs and everything. Just the wardrobe is slightly lacking.

I have four or five i rotate every few months, so they're all well dressed.

The tricky part -- since I do very niche roleplay -- is to avoid dressing them in the same stuff.

 

[Vance]

I like having friends in SL. By friends I mean people that I hang out with, do things with, chat with by IM. All the people on my friends list are that way. I like them all; I'm happy to have their company and/or conversation.

But...

I have an issue with the timing of two events: when I log in, and when I'm actually inworld, all rezzed and ready to go. The problem is this: the INSTANT that I'm logged in, everyone on my friends list gets the message that I'm online. But I'm not. I'm getting online; I'm not there yet. And some people jump on that first message and start texting me immediately, and I find that a bit daunting.

I wish there was a stealth login, where I could log in and NOT alert everyone that I'm online. Sometimes I want to run into SL for a few moments to check something. Sometimes I just want to quietly shop, or try on outfits, or take pictures, and not have to carry on three conversations at the same time.

How do you handle it?

Firestorm has an option to turn your online status visible/invisible for your entire friend list in one single click. You can get to it by right clicking any name in your friend list. Just click "Online status for friends visible" and it'll add/remove checkmarks for everyone in one go.

I use this to turn myself invisible for everyone right before I log out, so that next time I log in, no one gets notified until I'm ready to.

Often I don't even turn myself visible because I'm having virtual me-time. It did piss off some of my friends initially, but most of them got over it pretty quickly once I explained that my online status is hidden for everyone, not just them individually, and that I do it because I need my private space, not because I don't like them.

I found that it works better than having an auto-reply that just indiscriminately tells everyone that I'm busy, because people eventually give up trying to poke you when they get that every time they see you online.