IM'ing the Group About Griefers

One thing that I have been noticing is the tendency of some people to IM the entire group when there is a griefer ... somewhere.

I don't understand why this is necessary. Calling for help because there are more newbies than one or two Mentors can handle makes sense, but calling for help because there is a griefer in your general vicinity doesn't. We can't do a damn thing about it, and we're also not policemen. If you have an issue, then abuse report the person. Or call a Linden. It is not our responsibility to keep the peace. I am very tired of being bombarded by useless information and brainless chat.

And before you say, "If you don't like it, leave," then do me the favor of pissing off. I like being an SL Mentor and I'm not interested in leaving the group.

I agree with you completely Lo. And for those that message the mentor's group as a means to request help from a Linden, please know that this is not the best way to get their attention. You are far better off contacting one or two directly. If they are busy, they will always refer you to somebody who can help.

Live Help is a better place to contact a Linden, or, use the find button, people tab, put in Linden and have the online checkbox checked. Select from those the one's that say they are Liasons.

I agree. Some of us mentors may be able to shame the griefer into submission but we aren't police women.

OH gesh!..... now people are crabbing about some of us that reporting problem people inthe wa? this is bad? Oh gesh whats next we can`t im each for help either Oh boy! Oh i am sorry its only the chosen ones that get to report problems inthe groups. Gesh lighten up.......... Nice drama! I give it a C.

I am not a mentor, but I do, do live help and I am also a greeter and this same thing happens there... Even though I am part of Live help, when I have a problem, I go through the same process as everyone else... HELP>Live Help... I do not just directly IM the group when I have a problem...
Often times we get alot of spam that just takes us away from whatever we were doing or takes us away from other people in que...
Usagi, I don't think its drama, it's more of common curteousy, for example the other day you spammed the Greeters group at LEAST 10 times with complaints of the welcome area being full and you needed help... first of all it was 1 AM, very few greeters are in your time zone, secondly we are volunteers and not required to drop everything we are doing to greet everyone at the welcome area... I am sorry if you feel that we should be... I don't thnk it was fair for you to insult and gripe at everyone that could not be there...

Sorry a bit off topic but still the same situations..

Granted there is spam, but what is the Group IM for then? (I'm not referring to spamming trivial stuff)
First my gripe, then maybe a solution:

I have seen many a call for assistance where Mentors don't even wait for the call, but close out "XXX has left this session."
I've also seen many a call for assistance (most recently a Mentor with a Mac User needing some help) and all that was returned to her were jokes about getting a PC instead or other jokes and snide comments.

We are Mentors, not comedians. We volunteer because (for most of us) we love helping New Citizens. If you have a stand up act, post it in classifieds and if your comments can't be productive and helpful, keep them out of the IM. That's spam in itself.

Now for a solution; and I am more then willing to take this on.
If it's a matter of when and why and who needs to be sent an IM, then lets get together a list of issues and to whom they should go to. I'd like everyone to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. So if everyone agrees that griefer issues should go to live help or calls for assistance to the WA's should be Mentors, then lets get a notecard together with issues and who needs to be IM'd in these cases. We can pass it around to our peers and maybe get the Spamming under control.

If any of you have any suggestions on what issues should go where, please pass me a notecard and I will compile the list, but be serious about it and think it through. Just because you don't want to get an IM about needing help at the WA/HI, doesn't mean that someone shouldn't request assistance from the group.

Sky, spamming the Mentor group IM has been discussed before, my thread was nothing new. I was just noticing a spike in the IM'ing about griefers. When Char Linden ran the group, she was rather strict about what was discussed in the IM.

Generally accepted kosher uses: IM'ing to ask for more Mentors in an area. IM'ing to ask for someone who speaks German/Swedish/Japanese etc (although there is a useful notecard that is circulating which references who speaks what in the Linden volunteer groups). IM'ing to get a scripter Mentor.

Is that a short list? Yes.

When you IM the group, please don't say "Hi there!" BECAUSE EVERYONE WILL SAY HELLO BACK!!! (Lindens I'M LOOKING AT YOU!!) Just ask the question. Say thank you.

IM'ing to tell people about your Show n' Tell event, talk about newbie sales, or complain about a griefer is not really appropriate for the Mentor group.

Tateru Nino holds weeking volunteer meetings wherein they discuss things like this -- you may find it useful to attend one or two.

I became a SL mentor to help new citizens and love helping others in the world too.

Lo, Thank you for your input. I appreciate it and understand completely what you're saying. So much in fact that I have created a Forum thread about Mentor IM Guidelines. I'd love to get your feedback, as well as any other Volunteers.

As for my attending the VG (formally GOV) you may be interested to know that I do attend when my schedule is permitting. Sadly my RL takes precedence over my SL because I unlike a land baron or sucessful store owner - I rely on a paycheck to survive and cannot attend every meeting. Tateru, understanding this is a fact with everyone, tries to schedule meetings at different times during the month so everyone can attend at least one.

I encourage people to use Live Help as this is the proper port of call for assistance. Also I often find myself inworld when not on Liaison duty, for several reasons, and would prefer not to be disturbed just to refer the caller to Live Help.