A frequent argument against proposals to end ad-farming is that it is "too hard" for the Lindens to police because there are just too many cases, and the plethora of abuse reports would be overwhelming. The trick to solving this is to borrow a page from those who try to fight "blood diamonds" not by banning all diamonds coming from conflict zones with abusive labour conditions, but by certifying as "non-conflict" those diamonds which do not come from such circumstances. We need to stop posing this question as one whereby we attempt to think up new TOS language, or new mechanical devices on land (no parcel can be subdivided to 16 m2, or, as I've proposed earlier, no parcel can sell for anything but $0 if less than 512 m2, etc.). We need instead to reward those who in fact do not cut up land into ad farms, and do not deploy signs such as to extort, or sell to ad-farmers, and vow to refrain from these unscrupulous practices. That way, we create a much, much smaller pool of people to watch. 1. I would advocate an automatic form on the land auctions on certain sims that are considered to be likely of higher value, i.e. waterfront or mountain, whereby those who participate in the auction fill out an automatic check form that constitutes a pledge not to buy or sell to ad farmers or deploy ad farms on their plot. 2. The winner of that auction then can enjoy the auction buy for end-use, or for re-sale without cutting. If he reneges on this pledge, the land is subject to seizure, or he is subject to a fine (probably a more fair mechanism). He can be abuse reported by anyone. 3. Land sold under such "premium" auctions could be a separate colour inworld, say, blue, which is not used in the system currently. 4. If land is abandoned on this sim and reverts to Governor Linden, once it has the status of a "blue" sim, the new auction for it would also have to require the pledge not to ad-farm anew. 5. This method isn't zoning that must be massively and subjectively policed; it's rewarding of those who voluntarily pledge to keep a sim looking its best by not blighting it with ad cut-ups, and only watching them. It only activates in the event of an abuse report, most likely to come from neighbours or other owners on a blue sim. 6. Of course, there is always the chance that the land baron who pledges not to cut up the land is then sabotaged by a secondary buyer who comes along and takes a 512 on the roadside and slices it up. But if it is on a "blue" higher-valued auction sim, he is liable to abuse reports, and that way, his land can be seized (or his account fined). Furthermore, someone selling a higher-valued blue sim can be contacted by IMs, and set to sale to a personal name, or put very high prices out, and that will discourage the farming as well. 7. In fact, if Lindens are concerned about "too much administration", each participant in a "blue" auction could pay a $50 deposit or pledge that is held on retainer on his account in the event that he reneges on his pledge, and forfeits the $50 in a fine. 8. By having a very visible colour – blue – inworld, that indicates "a better, non-blighted, non-adfarmed sim, for which there are consequences if you ad farm" – land not only retains value; it gains in value. The Lindens, with this simple colour scheme that requires them to do no more than flip a switch of colour, gains them more revenue. For this extra revenue, which serves as incentive to them, they will have only to disclipline a very finite, small set of people: auction winners who renege on pledges, and a subset of secondary buyers who renege. Most people comply willingly with incentives that add them value. This would be far, far less work that responding to a huge number of ARs of individual ad farms – i.e. one such sim sold per week is only 52 people, of whom less than 5 percent are likely to renege, because most people getting such a sim would be end-users, or land barons who wish to develop a sim through sales, but not risk devaluation from ad farms. A few object lessons of both reneging land barons, and violating ad-farmers who grab some land that is cheap or abandoned and cut it up, who will pay fines or lose land, will concentrate the mind wonderfully. Only a few police blotters are required, and a Linden blog post, to get the message across: stop doing this. The Lindens would finally be seen to be grappling with the scourge of the mainland, that forces people to stop buying on the auction. I think this idea to incentivize those who agree not to ad farm, in conjuction with the proposal to disincentivize sales of micro parcels by making all land below 512 m2 sell for nothing but $0 Land gets cut up mainly because people let it go for too cheap, and it is seized by the unscrupulous, or they are desperate to come down in tier levels, and they rationalize that "just this once" they will let some parcels go and make a quick buck, as usually ad-farmers are willing to pay above market. I've seen land for sale by some leading land dealers for example, that has sat there for a few weeks, suddenly appear chopped, with the main part of the parcel still selling at a somewhat lower price, and a dozen ad-farms sprouting at the edges, where that land baron has caved to the blandishments of ad-farmers to buy part of his land, or has cut his losses by cutting his land and making it "sell faster". It's an unscrupulous practice, but punishing it is too hard, administratively, unless the class of people is a limited and controllable one, best achieved by incentivizing the agreement not to blight and devalue land even before an auction purchase.