The mentors are returning.

[Sid]

A New Generation of Second Life Mentors!

To coincide with our 20th Birthday celebrations, we are excited to announce the introduction of a new generation of Second Life Mentors. Second Life Mentors will be the first ripple in the pond of “Paying It Forward”. Paying it forward is an ancient concept but we are bringing it right up to date...

community.secondlife.com

Do the footwork for nothing.
Right. That will attract the aces in the pack.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I think you underestimate SL users' enthusiasm for helping newbies in SL. The original mentors also did the footwork for nothing, but IIRC the mentor program was highly popular when it was around.

 

[Sid]

It has been a while, so I might be mistaking, but the program did not succeed, particularly because of the tons of drama involved if I remember correctly.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Tons of drama, showboating, and infighting is the largest portion of any open source community paycheque.

 

[Casey Pelous]

I volunteered at a help place -- long gone -- that basically had an (unspoken) "No Freaking Mentors" rule. They made it as hard as possible for them to join. Most took the (multiple, loud) hints. While there were a few lovely folks in the bunch, for the most part every run-in with a Mentor I ever had was unpleasant. I'm sorry to see them rear their ugly heads again.

 

[Free]

Folks at my club do a lot of "mentoring" i.e. helping newbies get up and running in Second Life. It happens all over the place.

 

[Sid]

I'm that social in SL these days, that I've helped the last noob in need of help somewhere 2015 or so.
So noobs are still a thing than?

 

[Free]

I'm that social in SL these days, that I've helped the last noob in need of help somewhere 2015 or so.
So noobs are still a thing than?

They still pop on from time to time.

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

Interesting, though IMHO LL should have recruited certain people already from various communities like from Caledon Oxbridge and the NCI and Shelter folks. They're wanting Bellisseria ones for the BelliHub too! They should have contacted some of the friendly knowledgeable enthusiastic Belli Girly Girls in the Bellisseria social groups already.

I took a look at the applications and the hard requirement to use the official viewer would prevent me from being one because....Linux. dammit LL why didn't you freaking upgrade your Linux build system so you could have built an official 64bit Linux viewer

Folks at my club do a lot of "mentoring" i.e. helping newbies get up and running in Second Life. It happens all over the place.

Yep unofficial mentoring happens all the time.

I'm that social in SL these days, that I've helped the last noob in need of help somewhere 2015 or so.
So noobs are still a thing than?

Yes, they are.

 

[WolfEyes]

The first time I see "I'm a mentor! I can get you banned!" in text inworld or happen to hear it if by some odd chance I have voice on, it will be the last time I ever log into SL.

 

[Noodles]

Do they want any mentors for the more... "seedy" activities?

 

[Essence Lumin]

I have a bunch of hats in my group titles. I don't remember if I ever used any of them. They are all very old.

Mental Mentors
Mentor Lounge
Mentors !
Second Life Insane Mentors

 

[Rose Karuna]

I was a mentor way back, I kind of enjoyed it. I'd consider doing it again.

 

[Ellie]

While being helped by a lovely White Tigers mentor very early on, we were griefed at a public sandbox we were using for a building lesson. She rezzed an amazing spacecraft, told me to sit & we zoomed away....I was hooked.

I used to pass a few extra WoO gatcha avis to noobs who needed them, but this was quite a while ago.

Now I'm happy if left alone, as I have almost no time to chat.

I just hope LL has learned from the fiasco resulting from their paying bounties for ARs.

 

[Sid]

Copied and past from the thread that runs on the SL forums:

Here is a summary of what is required if you want to get on board
- courteous, friendly, inclusive and professional in their interaction with Newcomers and other Residents
- two hour shifts at a time and at least one shift each week
- training sessions that you must complete
- you will not be paid
- cannot solicit for tips
- wear your group tag
- appearance, profile and behavior need to reflect a General (G) maturity rating
- use of the Second Life viewer

Mole team leaders


I don't think this will attract the professionals LL is hoping for.
I see a lot of self importance and other ugliness coming up again.

LL doesn't really learn from their mistakes from the past, do they?
If one wants professional results, this is not the way to go IMHO.

 

[Imnotgoing Sideways]

I spent some time as a Mentor and found that the group's organization (or lack of) was just barely enough to support intentionally helpful members. A significant number of members saw the tag as some sort of deputized ego trip. I'd like to think they weren't a majority but there were plenty enough peeing in the pool to make the waters quite toxic.

One of the main benefits I found in the group was that the Lab was providing some fairly passive resources. LM collections and access to beginner (welcome, beginner, social) islands.

I think the Lab might be preparing for some sort of promotional campaign. Newbie traffic hasn't been lower in a very long time but NCI still sees the occasional day-1 pass through. Maybe SL is going to show up in a TV series again or some optimism of the sort. ()

 

[Jupiter Rowland]

I'm that social in SL these days, that I've helped the last noob in need of help somewhere 2015 or so.
So noobs are still a thing than?

I've read somewhere that four out of five first-time SL users only log in once and then never again.

My guess is that those who have never used any kind of MMO are repelled by the lack of WhatsApp-grade ease-of-use. And those who have are repelled by how SL surprisingly turns out not to be an MMO, no quests, no stats to grind, no story mode, nothing telling them what to do.

A while ago, I've watched a video made by some young fellow who probably already had some MMO experience. It was painful to watch. I think he had read about SL and how it started booming again during the pandemic. And he tried it. Without reading up on it. When he logged in, he knew nothing. So he derped around aimlessly for several minutes, not even bothering to read anything on-screen, clearly expecting a tutorial quest or being railroaded like you are in MMOs. At the end, his verdict was that SL sucks because he didn't understand it. He quit before he could find out that many things he may expect to be taken for granted cost money in SL.

Being a mentor must be much harder nowadays. Aside from the total newbies, you'll have to deal with the occasional 20-something know-it-all into whose head you'll have to hammer constantly that, no, SL is not Fortnite, and no, neither can nor should everything in SL be done the same as in Fortnite. And when the mobile viewer goes gold, they'll might have to deal with people who have discovered an app named "Second Life" in the Apple App Store, never having heard of that name anywhere, and who have never in their lives touched a desktop or laptop computer. If they figure out how to chat, they'll still ask mentors the most basic things such as how to make their avatar walk. And the mentors will be the "old guard" that doesn't know how to steer an avatar using the mobile app with no physical keys at all. They'll have a hard time telling these newbies that SL is, in fact, not just a smartphone app, and most people use it on a "real" computer.

 

[Noodles]

Copied and past from the thread that runs on the SL forums:

- you will not be paid

I am surprised they can't even throw some fake L$ at people doing this.

If I could be at all reliable I would almost consider applying, probably on a mostly unused alt though.

 

[Fionalein]

tooo bad - I'd do the job - but I was put on the naughty list for standing up against trolls on the official forums. But I bet the bootlicking LL fangirls/boys will glady apply and then scare away the newcomers by looking like a cult...

For once please prove my predictions wrong! Only once LL? Can you do this?

 

[Noodles]

tooo bad - I'd do the job - but I was put on the naughty list for standing up against trolls on the official forums. But I bet the bootlicking LL fangirls/boys will glady apply and then scare away the newcomers by looking like a cult...

For once please prove my predictions wrong! Only once LL? Can you do this?

Are you suggesting that Stack Exchange Mods are also Second Life mentors?