a question about mentors

i was at orientation island yesterday. a resident was giving people a hard time. so the mentor step in and repeated a pharse that she had said 16 times. the pharse containe the n word. i told him in chat that his uce of the word was wrong and he should not be doing that. this is a transcript of the im i exchange with him.

[21:47]: it is her sentance not mine
[21:48] debbiej Aabye: you caused the word to be use in open chat just the same, if you had cone it one maybe but shouting it and mutiple times
[21:49]: report me if u wish
[21:49] it wont get far though
[21:50]: im a mentor working for the lindens u must remember that
[21:52] debbiej Aabye: sure
[21:52] debbiej Aabye: isend transcripts from both chats
[21:53]: lol whatever ill mute u now how can u report a mentor for trying to deal with a situation goodbye
[21:56]: its obvious to me that u are one of her friends i will include this in my report
[21:58]: which unlike yours will be taken notice of
[21:58] infact im going to talk to a linden about this right now
the only edit was taking his name out. i did send an ar in, but according to him he is above everyone else since he "works" for the lindens.

Mentors don't have any special rights or privileges, AR this mentor just as you would a normal resident, and it will get very far.

also note in the AR that the resident implied that by being a mentor they have special privileges

I too am a mentor and I know for a fact that we do not get special treatment

if we break the TOS or treat someone in such a way they should not be treated, then we deserve an AR just as much as anyone else

Absolutely. Report them. Bad behavior is bad behavior. If a resident comes in late they have no idea of the intent of the action, only of the action. It sets a bad example for all SL users.

The mentor may have made a mistake when he repreated the bad word the resident said. From reading this - it did not seem as if he was attempting to grief or be verbally abusive. He may have been a bit stressed out from spendinghis free time dealing with The rude, the curious and the just plain eccentric new residents that he encounters when volunteering.

I am a volunteer coordinator. It is never a good idea to attack your volunteers - or allow other volunteers to attack their peers.

That's why it should go straight to the abuse-report system. We're not in a position to determine right or wrong - nor is it appropriate for us as residents to do so. When in doubt, report it and let the Lindens check the logs.

IMHO, and based on the information in this thread.....I agree the Mentor should be reported. There is never ever a good reason to repeat such language, nor is it any defense to say the resident used the language first and that it was "okay" to use it in dealing with the resident. Mentors are not "above the law" and it is not to be believed that their ARs will be noticed and that of a resident will not. Sounds like someone TRYING to throw their weight around, but we know better, don't we?

Also, while volunteers may think they should be supportive of each other at all times, in this particular case, how do you justify it? As with any group (Yes, SL Mentors is a group just like many others), one would not condone such actions just because of some "brotherhood/sisterhood" type of allegiance. I should hope not. The contrary should be true and ANY person should be held accountable for such language and/or actions.

Take care,
Pink

Not only are mentors not above the law, but as LL representatives they are held to a higher standard than others.

Definitely AR just as you normally would.

Unfortunately. the Mentor programme is open to abuse by its members - as any group is in SL. The difference being that the owners of this group is LL. New people perceive Mentors as "above the law" and when they see a Mentor failing, they see this as acceptable. It's an unfortunate situation - LL need Mentors to help deal with advice and help in-world, but due to individuals nature or downright abuse of the privilege a number are spoiling it for the rest. While I have the utmost respect for anyone regardless of membership of groups, I see a number in-world on a regular basis purposely abuse these TAGs for personal gain.

Another reason why this prevails is that the Abuse report system is not well documented on how to use it effectively - in fact, a number of new people are unaware that an AR system in place. Which brings us back to Mentors helping and guiding. However, if that Mentor is working to his or her own agenda, we again have a conflict.

In any event, no matter what a particular avatars membership is, or groups they are affiliated with, they should be reported for any abuse regardless. abuse is abuse whether they are a Mentor, Volunteer or member of "bobs group of chihuahua lovers"

Regards

Norf.

PS. Sorry to "Bob" if he/she does have a chihuahua club!

For the record........I have witnessed many times one particular mentor who regularly causes a disturbance at Bear Infohub because she feels that it's being "abused" by people using it to chat in. This mentor has regularly called the patrons of this hub "loiterers, idiots, griefers" etc etc. On one memorable occaision she went so far as to call a very well respected and long standing mentor an "idiot"! It's a shame that LL do not appear to monitor their mentors more closely to avoid situations like these arising in the first place!

I agree that the current A/R system is nowhere near as robust as it needs to be and many new people do not have a clue what to do when confronted by a bad situation. I do have to say that lately the abuse report system does seem to have improved a little though.

Just because a person is a volunteer does not mean they get special privilages. Yes Lindens apreciate volunteers, but they do not favor them. If you AR them it will go through just as far as anything else. If that mentor was abuses power I think that is a more than needed way to report them.

If anything (to my belief), an AR about a mentor would go farther than a normal one.

To my knowledge, an AR submitted by a mentor has no more weight than a regular one. An AR _against_ a mentor has no more weight in itself, but a mentor can lose their mentorhood if they have any entries against them.

The only exception I can think of is if there's someone griefing in the Prelude (ie, on a non-public OI or HI). That will usually draw a quick Linden response, simply because of the danger of users being permanently put off by a bad initial experience. These ARs tend to come from mentors, because, well, they're the main reason why experienced users are in the Prelude for any length of time. And in their case it could be marginally faster for a Mentor than for another experienced user, because they can shout on the Mentors group. But that's about all.

Mentors, as a group, _do_ have regular meetings with Lindens, but they aren't to discuss individuals.

i would probably not hought too much about the incident but shouting the word 16 times in open chat i felt was abit overboard. i yes i did file an ar.

I meant an Abuse report ABOUT a mentor would go farther. My mistake for not writing it more clearly

Just a couple of things.

Was this person really a Mentor? There are many people who pretend to be mentors, even going so far as to creating a group/title that sounds like the official Mentor one.

I realise this person might really be a Mentor, I just find it hard to believe that a Mentor would say some of what this person said.

For example "im a mentor working for the lindens", Mentors know that this is not a statement to make, we don't "work" for anyone.

We also know that we can be reported for misdeeds, and if found guilty we would most likey be removed as a Mentor.

I assume that this person was a new mentor. They probably slept through the mentor class to get into the real group. Mentors that use their position to benifit themselves instead of those who need it, really arent fit for the position themselves; We are supposed to be bright, quick, and cool headed, and this is the such event that puts a bad light on those who try and instruct!

Yes, but the only skills required to become a mentor are the ability to press a button and lots of patience.

I can think of plenty of mentors (and at least one former mentor) by name who abuse(d) the title. Some apparently think its their job to police the metaverse rather than help people, and spend their days marching around Welcome Areas and Infohubs like Basil Fawlty telling people what they should and should not be doing; others think it's OK to indulge in a little griefing from time to time, orbiting everybody from customers in a random store to newbies arriving on Help Island (usually with attachments masquerading as something else).

So it seems a conversation like this is nothing out of the ordinary really.

I guess I just hang out with a different class of mentor then