Goodbye mentors

The VTeam coordinates all volunteer efforts (Amber, Blue, Mia, Lexie and George) which includes mentors but goes further than that as well, although most of them do have other - sometimes unrelated - duties as well I think.

The general attitude of the VTeam Lindens isn't that much different from LL overall I think: as little governing and babysitting as possible although they've been forced to babysit group chat more often now for one thing since it got far out of hand at times.

There's also a lot of different sorts of drama which you may or may not experience depending on how involved you get with the inner workings. The biggest contributing factor in my opinion would be the simple fact that LL added a few thousand mentors in an incredibly short amount of time with no effort to make sure that everyone understood the basics ("coaching" is essentially a big joke in my opinion) so you have quite a lot of people who have the wrong idea about what a mentor is which obviously clashes with those that try to point out that the other is wrong.

Some coaches feel that since they "teach" (big quotes there) mentor apprentices, they're on a whole other level than the plain mentors. There are those who feel it's their duty to act as mentor police (regular group chat, file pity ARs on other mentors, etc). Then you have the Linden "groupies" who won't tolerate any constructive critism (ie Linden says A, you suggest B, groupie says "you're not here to critize but do as the Lindens say).

Again, all of that makes mentors sound like it's an endless source of drama and infighting, but it all depends on what you actually do. If you close group chat, and just tp on over to OI/HI and do actual mentoring, you'll really be oblvious to almost all of it. If you hang out on the volunteer sims, you're more likely to run into drama than if you don't, etc.

As to why the Lindens simply don't put a stop to all of it... I think they do ultimately all believe in self-governing and maybe because they don't even realize it's going on. They don't have any way to know what anyone gets up except for the things they see in group-chat and the things they are told which can revolve about personal disputes as well.

Getting rid of all the different roles, the volunteer sims and everything else that has nothing to do with actual mentoring would probably help a lot already. That and/or submit every last mentor to a quality/requirements/participation review and boot those who don't meet the standard. A few hundred - active - mentors should be enough to man the OI/HIs, everyone else can mentor in public places without the title and a small group should have far less drama.

I think Kitty described it pretty fairly, especially



I too would encourage anyone thinking about becoming a Mentor to go ahead and apply. If you find you don't like it, you can always quit.

I'm not too sure that "a few hundred active mentors" would do the trick for OI/HI, though. I've popped into plenty of OIs that are full of newcomers, and nary a Mentor to be seen...and that is with only maybe six or eight OIs active and showing green dots.

I don't think that the drama and infighting is peculiar only to the Mentors group. I think if you are members of any group, or even ... say ... a message board, that people tend to have strong opinions and disrespect one another.

I think this thread is an example of that ...

*Runs for her glass of wine to reduce the stress from reading all the harsh words when she came here for a moment of quiet to escape*

awww
yeah sometimes people do get a bit miffed on here and say things that are unkind (I am guilty of that)

I do try to watch what I say... but sometimes things just have to be said

maybe those who felt the need to strike out and name call felt that it just had to be said..

*shrug*

hope the wine helps you unwind (just gives me a headache heh)

Dont worry about it Rha. I noticed stress left me when I quit Mentors after being a member over 3 years. Take care of how you feel the rest will follow, and welcome to stressfree SL

People please take it to IM.

thanks toy
now if only RL could also be stress free
I can only pray that someday it will be and I can put it all behind me

This is what hurts the group in a whole. Showing the lack of creating team work but instead creating envy and hated inthe group. What good does this do to the group in a whole? Rewarding those the kissup the best? Or who stabs the most in the back to get to that star level? "STAR MENTORS" is a joke.........besides if your sleeping in the same bed in the Lindens of course going to to be a "STAR MENTOR" reguardless of what little you might do in the group...DO those community Lindens know anything about pulling groups as a team? Indeed they don`t know the first think about handling and dealing with creating unity.......If there wasnt so much drama inthe groups ( which most is LLABS driven ) Maybe people that really do love to help wouldnt quit like Rhaorth.

Doesn't interpersonal bullshit have somewhere better to be?

*plonk*

Good point. If RA were actively moderated according to the guidelines, way back @#6 somebody would have earned a little "time out" with this: Some words reveal rather more about the speaker than they do about the subject.

Simple words from a simple mind...........Never expect any more if they don`t have the abilty to do as such.......

Many weeks ago, I submitted an application to become a mentor. I can recall the excitement I had waiting for my "6 months" of in-world experience to pass so I could apply. When I left help island for the first time, within 5 minutes of my "I'm in the big scary world" time, a mentor approached me and asked if he could help with anything.

I don't recall his name, but he left such an impact on my first visit that I couldn't help but be excited to log in again! I know he spent over 3 hours teaching me how to shop, change my appearance, use gestures, work with inventory and all the items that a noob should learn. I didn't use a mentor from that point on, but I was thankful he was there on my most critical day.

Remembering how wonderful that was, I want to do that for other new users because for me, it made the difference between staying in SL or losing interest. HOWEVER, reading this post and a couple others about the SL Mentoring program, I have considered pulling my application. I have read both spins on the topic from "it's wonderful" to "it's so full of drama, you'll hate it!" I guess I wont know that until I've tried it. I'm just feeling far less excited about getting in than I was before

Don't pull your application, Sarah.

Go ahead and give the Mentors a try. As you've seen in this thread, some like it, some don't.

Whichever way it goes for you, though, you can still be one of those wonderful people who helps people get a good start in SL. There are non-LL helper groups you can join. Or if you prefer, just go and help people on your own.

You and me both. I say, let's just ride this wild ride and see what we can make of it. (^_^)y

Thanx for the encouragement I will wait it out before I pass judgement. I have been helping people at infohubs for months now and the funniest thing is, when I approach somone and ask if I can do anything to help them, I hear...."Can we have sex??!!"
I thought perhaps that being of a somewhat more official capacity, new users wouldn't think that I was just someone "lookin' for a good time!" LOL!

Sorry to break your bubble - but mentors get asked that too on newbie islands

I agree with the others - give it a shot.

Go ahead try the mentors some love it some just leave after a few day or months. Signup and try.