Advice to SL Newbies: Quiet Neighborhoods

Two things that might serve as indicators of a quieter sim:

1) PG, as opposed to Mature, status. (all mainland sims are one or the other--the designation is right next to the name of the sim). This isn't an absolute guarantee, but people who want to run XXX clubs are certainly going to put them on a Mature sim.

2) Lack of green dots (each indicates the presence of either an avatar or a bot). Pull up the Map when your avatar is in the sim of interest. If you see a lot of green dots, there may be a very active club or mall there. (Of course it's ideal to do this check at various points within 24 hours, as a sim that's very quiet for 20 hours out of a day may routinely be maxed out at 50 avatars or more for 4 hours of each day).