Tips & Tricks – various
Tips and tricks for Second Life!
Here are some tips and tricks which might be helpful to enjoy your Second Life. Most of it i learned by experience 
I hope these are helpful to you!
* Weapons, shooting and death *
If you ever encounter people who wear weapons and use them to shoot you (which is not allowed on Java Island), don’t worry. Your avatar will be alive, always; you cannot die in Second Life. Worst thing that can happen is your avatar is moved by the bullet, or its causing so much lag you crash. Pushing is not enabled at Java Island so you cannot be orbited (orbiting is to shoot your avatar way high, like 3500 meters sometimes.. and counting :/) If that happens, just log out or teleport to another destination.
* Lag *
Even if you are on an empty island, there is lag. Avatars wear things, like (scripted) hair, AO, (scripted) shoes, etc. These items cause lag. So if you are in a sim (= island) where there are more avatars, who are also doing things like moving, dancing or love making, you will experience lag, like on Java Island where there are real people… and they do things :p
To reduce lag you can adjust your settings, your viewer. I have a notecard filled with tips about reducing lag. I adjust my settings all the time, for exploring, shooting pics etc. The notecard is in the box.
* People you just don’t want to meet *
Most people you will meet are very nice and great to talk to. However, just as in RL, there are some you wish you never meet. What to do when people bump you, harass you, call you names, etc? SL has a great tool, it’s called MUTE. First you file an Abuse Report though. Don’t let them get away with it, click on HELP
REPORT ABUSE
go to your local chat or IM to copy and paste the conversation in the Abuse Report (and notecard, just in case you crash). Check HELP, BUMPS, PUSHES & HITS to see if it shows anything (in case you got shot at, orbited or bumped, you find here who did it) and use this information also for the ABUSE REPORT.
Then MUTE this avatar, muting means the avatar will turn grey and you will not hear the things the avatar says. Perfect!
If you know who the land belongs to, IM the owner. Most owners would like to know if people misbehave.
If it happens on one of the Java Islands, let me (Ina Pidgeon) know.
* Someone gives you an item *
Some people wear scripted objects that give so called FREE ITEMS to all people who are in a certain range of them. Most of those ‘gifts’ are items that also give away themselves if you wear them. Some are scam and if you wear it, you might lose your money. Always be very careful and DECLINE those items. It is SPAM and you never know what kind of items they are.
At Java Island they are not allowed and if you wear them, you risk a ban and being reported.