Mentor Soliciting Ratings at Welcome Area

There is a mentor hanging out at the Welcome Area, soliciting ratings from everyone by telling them that if they do, they "will get 400 Lindens". I won't reveal her name other than to say that she is very "tiny". This is really shameful behavior. Some people really abuse their membership in the group.

I think this is just horrific and a mentor

It is shameful. Being a Mentor is a responsibility to ones self and our peers. I only hope this person's action does not become a reflection on Mentors as a whole.

I honestly think an abuse report should be filed next time the person is seen doing this. We don't need one bad apple spoiling the whole.

If talking to the person doesn't work, in addition to filing an abuse report, one can notify a liaison on duty, and send an email to the Linden staff member in charge of the mentor group.

This assumes, of course, that there is actually a rule being broken.

Trading ratings and paying people to rate you aren't against any rules I can think of.

I'm wondering if she is really a member of the SL Mentors group. I, myself, caught and reported someone at the Welcome Area using a Mentor title, but was not a member of the group. He used a clever personal group title to get away with it, using quotation marks and then removing them. I lucked out and saw him with the quotation marks still on and was able to question it. So he took them off! ...lol. Further talking to him had him remove the title altogether, but there is still room for this kind of abuse.

Please report this person David. Trust me, it IS investigated and it sure sounds like this needs to be!.

A good question here is, is this person following through and giving out the $400 reward for the ratings? If so, sounds like a good way for a newbie to make $325.

Who cares if this person gets a million ratings this way? It's been stated the current rating system is shit and is scheduled to be replaced.

If this person gets a thrill out of having an artificially expanded ratings, and in the mean time spreads some L$ to newbies that need it, well good for her.

I'd care more if the rating system meant anything.

-Ghoti

Ps. and if she is NOT following through with the L$, then yeah, abuse report her.

Any solicitation by anyone in the Welcome Area is prohibited, mentor or not. It makes for an Unwelcoming Area. Report it with chat log attached.

My perception of the situation was that the individual was creating an impression that a few ratings would mean a MUCH larger weekly stipend for the new resident being approached and that EVERYONE does this. The fact that they ran off upon being questioned leaves little doubt in my mind that they knew very well that they were doing wrong. You should be a mentor out of a desire to be helpful, not a parasitical desire for "Fresh Meat" to prey on.

Yeah, that's just wrong. Not at all what I was thinking was the case here.

-Ghoti

Was this person wearing the mentor tag?

Oh yes, they were.

It was me that this happend to at the welcome area. Here is the chat I took the name of the mentor out. I can not believe this kind of behavior from a mentor! I am so glad that David Cartier showed up when he did, thank you again David!



Mentor:hi want to exchange 1 positive rate?

vampy Backbite: i have no money

Mentor:you you rateiceve ppl and they rate u back u get 400 lindens

vampy Backbite: sorry wrong IM

vampy Backbite: Tiny thats a lie

vampy Backbite: you dont get 400...why do you say that?

Mentor:no i idid it everyerweek

Mentor:i swaear i do

Mentor:tthey have to rate u back

I guess they've stopped administering the elocution test 4 mentorZ!!!!

IMO, there are two alternatives:

1) The person is a Mentor. Independently on how valuable the ratings are, or the actual "helping out of a newbie", this is soliciting on the WA, and all Mentors know perfectly well this is forbidden. Besides, the way things are worded could almost be considered a fraud (or at least severe ignorance). From an ethical point of view, I'd suspend this person from the Mentor group, even if the abuse report turned out negative.

I have absolutely no problem with "ignorance" (ie. a Mentor that does not know everything!). I have serious doubts about unethical behaviour, exhibited from someone that identifies himself/herself as part of a volunteer group. It's an "ethical abuse" if not a ToS abuse.

2) The person is impersonating a Mentor by changing the title tag using another group. This time, we're talking about a "ToS crime" - it's a fraud, pure and simple. So, while the issue of "actually be helping a newbie" (by giving them L$ 400) could be used as an argument in favour, impersonating a Mentor, thus making false claims, and soliciting in the WA, are more than enough reasons for an abuse report to result, at least, in suspension.

There HAS been someone in the WA recently wearing a Mentor tag and belonging to the Mentor group exhibiting less than Mentor-appropriate behavior.

While I didn't AR them, I did send Jeska an IM suggesting that this person needs a closer look and I was embarrassed to be wearing the same Mentor tag with their behavior. The person I am referring to is an account shared between two people, it says so in their profile. IM me in-world if you think this is the same person.

Are you sure its was not one of the "Club Based" Mentors that claim to be mentors? I noticing alot of these types poping up resently.

I hope you're not thinking of me, Usagisempai. I know there's a bunch of us out there now, filling the cracks and providing initial orientations for the newbloods. I've not seen any one of us claim to be an official Mentor (although people being people, I'm sure that it happens).

Actually, I like to let people know that I'm not official, and tell my kids that I'm still new like themselves. It gives them confidence. They can see how far I've come in a short time, and it gives them hope, especially when they're still stumbling about getting boxes stuck on their heads.

I've been wondering if there isn't some halfway niche that's being filled here. 'Welcomers'. Not quite a greeter, and not quite a Mentor. The fine folks at NCI, and The Shelter. We take the newbloods, we make them feel as welcome as possible. That we're happy they're here. That the confusion is normal, and that it will pass. We also give them an initial framework so that they can ask MEANINGFUL questions to the official volunteers, and not "Help! How do I get this box off my head?" and "Where can I get free stuff?"

Making them feel happy about their first stumbling steps in SL, welcomed, introduce them to a few fine people to serve as an anchor for their second life, and ease their fears and shyness.

I think the whole soliciting for ratings stinks. I actually rarely mention the rating system myself when I'm doing orientations, and then only as one of the options in "How do I get money?". I certainly don't encourage the newbloods to rate me (take a look at my profile, and you'll see that *g* - only one came from a newbie)..quite the opposite. Really, they're better off saving their cash for something nifty for themselves. When they start their free trial, they don't exactly have a lot to spend, and they can blow that really quickly on a single shopping spree.

I wish I could say I was surprised to see such misrepresentation and self-serving behaviour in the WA. But I'm not. I'm just disappointed. Just in the little time I've been in SL, it seems there has been a general slide in behaviour there. The Unwelcome Area indeed. I still pop in there now, but the last few days I've been spending more time at NCI HQ and the Shelter, giving encouragement and support where I can.

Maybe in a few more weeks, I'll be comfortable enough with my knowledge and skills to apply to become a Mentor myself...but for the moment, I'm happy to call them for the hard cases, and ease the burden on everyone for the easier ones. I've already met a bunch of the Mentors, Greeters and Live Help volunteers, and - of those I have not yet met - I've seen you doing your thing, and it's a great job. Worthy, worthwhile - often underappreciated, but all good from what I've seen so far.

Always, all the support I can give. Because you're giving us the same.

Hey that's really encouraging! I hope boxes on heads will be a thing of the past too in the future when there's some better way to manage attachments, but it's certainly a part of the SL cultural experience and one worth being laughed at, and laughed together about.



I've felt for awhile ratings had their time in the sun but then they got baked (not stoned) and really burned out, and it sucks. I agree with you about saving that money for some goodies, deliver it straight into the hands of other Residents to show your support for their work, make new friends, all that good stuff.

Such a priority on money is a shortsight. It's funny, I'm on a Basic account, same as I was when I started, and I never really asked that question. I just went for loads of crazy fun, not having a care in the world about the L$ and then I found myself with more than ample funds to support my avatar. I came across overlooked, out-of-the-way opportunities like certain games that were hardly played, and practiced and became purty good at them. I also had money thrown at me for various reasons which was just plain generous. It's difficult to explain because there isn't an exact mechanism, but what I do know is that enthusiasm—specifically in this case, your enthusiasm—is infectious and benefits us all.



That's beautilicious!

You'll turn my head

I think one of the reasons that money is a question is that people see all the neat stuff that we wear (or in some cases ARE), and want to get some of that action for themselves. They want land or neat clothes, or nifty gadges or a breathtaking avatar, and they want to be able to afford it. That naturally brings them to the question, 'how do I get more ellz?'

I tell them: making and selling; work for someone (dancing, escort, journalist, dj or other); gather dwell by being popular; do nothing, and be patient and gather your stipend; Be rated as friendly and helpful and get stipend bonuses; gamble (which I don't much advise); enter competitions; attend events; money-trees.

'Ellz' (as I gather some people are beginning to call L$ - and it is a convenient label) aren't all that hard to come by. A few witty tee-shirts generating a half-dozen sales more than covers your costs (well, it certainly does for me). And you can always barter something you made or found for something you want...the occasional private dress-up party where you try outfits and swap articles of clothing. And we all love giving gifts to our friends.

The SL economic system is very much in the news. And it's those news items that attract some people in the first place. I DO like to ask people what brought them to us. It's nice to get a feel for what's motivating our new residents - I guess it's not far from market research either. It's nice to identify trends before they happen.

When I first appeared near the WA, I turned left, headed towards a built up area (Grignano) and wandered around for a few hours. Bumped into a couple of other like-minded newbies along the way and we swapped what we knew so far. Didn't come back into the WA for a while, and then mostly only to help people and watch the volunteers at work.

I definitely encourage questions, and I like the term Ellz. Hehe IT'S ALL ABOUT TEH ELLZ YO!

What I find fascinating is that there are some who unfortunately try the same thing expecting different results, like begging in the WA or trying to pawn their stuff off to multiple Residents. Persistence is good, but not when time would be better spent with some patience exploring options.

And I emphasize patience, because the enthusiasm of coming into SL is a wonderful, wonderful thing indeed, but you can't just turn into a clothes tycoon overnight. I've seen some unfortunate cases, thankfully a minority, involving jealousy because someone wasn't willing to put in the hard time+energy to develop themselves, choosing to squander that away and basically prattle on about "GIMME GIMME GIMME MONEY!"

I also emphasize options, because some of my most financially successful friends here have sniped out obvious trends to latch onto and capitalize off of, and I applaud them for it. They were sitting there in broad daylight, and my mind boggles how these things get missed, but I call it the Philip Glass principle: if you really endear to it, you too can make a career out of playing two notes over and over. And I semi-jest on that (I really do like Glass's music) but one thing about SL is creativity beyond any rote "level treadmill".

I enjoy seeing growth, progress here. We were all new at one point and I'm happy you have such views for only being here a relative "little" while, Tateru! That does inspire confidence and energizes other new Residents to be like you, and although these are words, I'm sure the actual actions from that go much further.

About mentoring,
In the raging sea of confusing interactions with the virtual world, the new resident must learn patience before all else. I have found myself attracting very nice neighbours with similar taste in land development to mine, and I consider myself luck for that. Some of them were just born and full of energy. Like many of us, their energy got a little ahead of their knowledge and they made mistakes that cost them time. I have shared my knowledge with them as much as they asked for it and I have learned much in return.

What I find disappointing is that there is just too many new residents unwilling to take the time to learn their tools, the interface and it's multiple menu screens... There is only one way to learn this: try everything, see what it does, make mental notes, try again. There is no shortcuts to this. It's available to all, you don't have to pay extra L$. And maybe in the process you will find something you like doing very much, so you will learn even more. Then one day, someone will ask you the magic question: DID YOU MAKE ALL THAT YOURSELF? ->priceless<-

True mentors don't need titles. the mentoring group is a very good idea, but as it is an "official" entity, human nature will cause it to become a target of abuse by those in lack of any talents or intelligence. I'm sure the mentor group is composed of real generous persons dedicated to help, they are not the problem. Those who take advantage of every opportunities to satisfy their greedy tiny egos are the problem.

I prefer to mentor by example. It's a long term process. Add a little every day, here and there, and you end up with a beautiful garden.

Spoke with a couple of newbies a little while ago, who mentioned an unofficial volunteer who was trading orientations for ratings "I help you, you rate me."

Don't have a name. Bleah. Don't like the notion. I KNOW people will try to game whatever system there is. But I'd rather be rated honestly, and because I earned it, and because I couldn't talk the newblood out of posrating me.

What i was refering to are club based mentors using mentor in their title along with their club title. These titles that are not LL approved. shelter and other landing points for newbies are the ones that are approved by ll. helping your fellow member is waht this game is about. I been doing this way before i was a mentor/greeter

This is wrong, helping for rates:0 OMG i never would do this. and it throws a bad light on others as well.