Stupid idea re: RAOGK?

Followup to Des's Random Acts of Grid Kindness thread. If you've put an alt into play lately, you've seen the alternate Orientation experiences offered to noobs. Brazil, Telstra, Nike, whatever. Noobs who choose the classic OI are subjected to an haut design (but puzzling for some) self-guided tutorial, sometimes with (rarely available) mentors.

So, my question: is the following a stupid idea?

We put together a Forum Orientation Island. It is the same as LL's OI, with one major difference: access to the island is controlled by a script that will only let a number of noobs proportional to the number of forum helpers actually present come in simultaneously. (Forum helpers wear a group tag that automatically tallies them, like the timecard scripts.) I f a noob requests the Forum Island and no helper is available, the same thing happens as whatever happens now if a noob requests an Orientation that is offline --- probably, s/he just gets handed back to the Orientation selection screen with an error. You may say that, because of the small number of Forum participants, users will usually get this error? To which I say, so what? When we can, we would be helping at the moment that they most need it.

I don't think there would be any issue with convincing LL to let us do an island, tho it may be hard to have it be the same as their OI ... or perhaps that is part of the existing program. This seems like another example of realistic laissez faire guiding LL's decision making ... hey, the user chose to have Nike introduce her/him to SL, that's their own lookout.

Obviously, the Forum would have to ensure that only honorable and somewhat available people were involved. Given the relatively tight community, probably not hard to do. We would probably only be capable of staffing one sim, so if LL doesn't give land away free for this, getting it would probably be no huge deal.

Stupid?

Not only brilliant, but F*cking Brilliant!!

Agree. Provided they don't charge for the island.

Genius. Count me in.

Well...I suspect that Linden Lab won’t give a free Island to a forum group.

However, that being said put me down for a 4096 m2 contribution.

Wonderful idea - I'd be willing to be involved!

No doubt there are many problems with the idea, but that hasn't stopped other ideas from being tried--even successfully. What the heck. Give it a whirl!

I think its a great idea...given how many of us here are already helping newbies when we can, it wouldnt be a bad idea to set up something were we can do it in larger numbers at an island.

Another option is having a Mentor Island, where the Linden Mentors can do it as well...er, not sure how much the mentors have been used for things lately, but having a welcome island for them to work off of in this capacity woudnt be bad.

I think Desmond mentioned that Caledon was getting an OI; anyone know if that's still on? If it is, we could all help mentor on that one, as opposed to getting LL to start a new one. Maybe? Maybe not?

/me agrees wholeheartedly!

Please keep responding to this thread, but just a few thots as I've learned a little more --

But first: @Avacea: Thank you, how generous! If we need land, I will definitely be at your door!

The official name for a non-Linden OI is "Community Gateway". And yes, it can be a clone of the current OI -- in fact, the educator's organization NMC has set one up that is exactly that.

There is a mailing list for Community Gateway folks, and I'll see if it's appropriate for interested residents to join.

@Oryx: certainly forum members (many of whom are doubtless already mentors) can help out now at any Community Gateway (or OI/Help) to which they have access. I guess the unique part of this idea was providing a choice where, if a noob got in, they were GUARANTEED to have access to a mentor if needed. That said, one or more of the existing Gateways may already be structured this way -- I need to do some research.

I thought that Des stepped back from doing a Community Gateway immediately -- I do see Caledon's library listed as a valid TP destination from the NMC CG. If Caledon does one, I'm sure it will be spectacular and well-staffed, and won't need our help

It would be great to hear from anyone who knows more about the existing mentor program - perhaps something like this is already underway?

Meanwhile, please keep voting and commenting! Thanks!

Cool, Nika, I'm game for a Forum Gateway. Count me in!

Hi, ah, here's what's going on...

... I'd *strongly* considered such a thing, but ultimately it came down to quality concerns. Unless I could do it right, I wasn't gonna do it.

The problem wasn't sims or money or willingness, it was manpower. Raw, unmitigated, friendly human attention. Which we have a lot of in Caledon, but... people streaming in 24/7?

Over the long term this would get difficult, to say the least. And I wasn't willing to experiment where failure would mean that the new user experience, or the Caledon resident experience would be harmed.

Also, there is the worst case scenario: success.

Caledon has had a waiting list since Feb 2006, 18 months ago. Should the wait list problem be made *even worse*?

* * * * *

So there have been a couple of things quietly in the works - I may possibly go onboard with an OI in part, which a good friend has set up.

Another thing we are doing has to do with the new user education experience - fostering that. It's a little further down the pipe than the 'welcome to SL' scenario, but still a critical mission.

There has also been a shockingly successful pilot program at the Caledon Academy of Virtual Wizardry, where I've been little more than a clumsy donor while others have done the hard hard work. I'm specifically talking about NCI in Caledon.

I'll leave it to Carl Metropolitan to discuss further if he wishes to go into detail. A lot more is coming.

Imagine the State of Caledon, NCI and the Caledon Library working together in synchrony - expect Wonderful things!

The Caledon Library is especially looking like it is destined to become a gridwide institution, as well - perhaps under a more universal name.

* * * * *

With regard to a Forum OI - sounds good to me! Devils are very much in the details, and were I doing nothing else I'd be honoured to dig in on this one. As it is... *looks at list of present commitments* ... I'm going to have to stand back and watch, at this point.

Perhaps Nika would lead it? I've not made alts, so to be honest I have *no* idea what the orientation expericence is like to new users any more. Something like this would do astoundingly well, with fresh blood and enthusiasm.

Guys

Why don't you simply apply to be mentors?

I was under the impression that all volunteers were simply 'surplus to requirements' now, no new ones were being taken on, and existing ones were being slowly forgotten about in the hope they would go away.

There are also many others who, for the simple fact of having a false AR made against them (and actioned) that are blacklisted for life from helping anyway.

I didnt know that Broccoli. How does one find out if one has ever had an AR made against one? Is there a register somewhere?

imogen

Sadly, LL has turnned its back on the SL Greeters, and solidified it into the Mentors group. Many of us Greeters had to apply then to become Mentors. Since there are no real participation or focus from Lindens now, organising the group and giving Inductions other than times that only suit either the unemployed, or those that can attend in the early hours of a weekday morning, the whole thing has been derailed.

The API inatitive launched by LL, was to encourage individuals/companies/corporates to develop their own OI's. Here is the catch, LL will not donate any land, or offer assistance either with support or financially to do so. Yet another addition to the saying 'Your World, Your Imagination, Your Problem, You Deal With It'.

I would welcome any focus group inative to open up their own OI, and no doubt existing Mentors, will contribute. GL with the project, keep us all posted.

Royal Antidiluvian Order of the Gorgon Kleptomaniac? ... sounds good to me .. but alas from what AWM says, I kinda not expecting much Linden support

Been there. Done that. Still waiting for the T-shirt.
But I'm not gonna do nothing while waiting!

I'm totally in--as long as I get to preach The Secret, and stress the importance of voice participation.

Juuuuuust kidding. I think this is an awesome idea...good luck.

I don't think, however, that you'll get it for free...although this doesn't mean it has to be totally non-profit. You could set up a few kiosks by select, respected companies (i.e. SLCN, Ivory Tower, Learning Centers, ect) and have them pay for "ad" placement. As long as the "ads" aren't product spam. Companies that are geared towards learning, community, and so forth--sponsors if you will.

I wouldn't offer up my time as a mentor or chaperon, but I'd be more than willing to offer up my design and build skills pro-bono.

Cheers.

I reapplied last week thinking that my earlier app may have gotten lost in the shuffle and Char Linden said they're about 12 weeks backlogged.

Well this would be a great time for one of the RL companies to step forward and offer to sponsor the OI, like we've talked about before. Just some tactful, quality adverts saying that X company is sponsoring this build, and maybe "click here for a RL coupon for our RL products." Heck, Coca-Cola could sponsor it, and give out coupons for a free six pack of Coke or whatever. I know that people might not like bringing RL companies in, but heck, I'll sell my morals for an island sponsorship.

What thinkest thou? Anyone got any good contacts out there?

Bump.

So's Nika going to be in charge?

Because the Mentor IM window never closes. *Shrugs* When LL makes it possible to temporarily mute/ignore a Group IM window (without leaving the group), then I'll apply for things like Mentors and Greetors.

While this may sound selfish at first, it is mroe because I do not want to make an Alt to handle the Mentor duties, and I DO want some time to myself and my friends in SL where I don't have to have IM messages scrolling through my screen.

I love the idea from the OP, and would gladly help out (still not joining a Group for it though, same reasons as Mentors). However, even if it's just to help in bulding things up, or watching and reporting trouble (I run security in-world), I'd be happy to offer what assistance I may.

~Jessy

I'm going to bring this to the attention of Linden Review, see if I can get them involved in this thread (in a positive fashion).