OI: What a headache!

Hadnt been back to orientation island in say....ummm....close to a year, and when I went there, just for giggles and to see how the place has evolved, I was disgusted and disappointed.

There were AVs there just being plain rude to the new folks...and being racist and ageist.

The mentor that was there at the time seemed to have no control over the situation, which escalated into verbal fights, use of griefing tools, excessive flooding of text in the main chat, and gesture abuse.

I really do feel that mentors need more rights if they are to be effective. Rights such as ejecting griefers. Most of us ended up having to mute this particular person...but I am sure the newly born dont really know how to mute yet. And of course this sets a bad impression. If we want to retain residents, we need to make sure that the platform is 1. friendly and on a different note, 2. More intuitive.

Its my venting day....just needed to let that out.

<3

Van

I was at OI Public the other day and saw the same thing. One guy opened up on me, within seconds of me showing up and before I said anything. Going on and on about my "ugly" avatar (IoW anubis dragon) and how I'm a griefer and etc, etc, etc. There was an AFK mentor there but he just poofed after a while, without saying anything.

I'm not at all a fan of big governement but I'd vote for LL making the rules a more strict at newbie Orientation Islands, Help Islands and Welcome Areas and smacking people who just hang out and talk trash.

If I was joining SL now, I'd have been very put-off by this.

Bear in mind that OI Public is NOT the same as the Newcomers' Orientation Island(s). Anyone can go to OIP, while the "real" OIs are restricted only to newcomers, and to LL volunteers with special access.

Yes, OIP can be a chaotic place, especially the arrival clearing. A lot of showoffs and griefers go there, just because they know they will have an audience. There are usually one or more volunteers, either unofficial or under LL sanction, there to help, but they don't have any special "powers". Like you, I think that should change. However, I do see the possibilities for abuse under those circumstances. (See the thread, "The Mentor is a Griefer!"

Meanwhile, I try to get to OIP at least once a week or so and volunteer my services. And I made an alt who stays ONLY on the original OIs, helping the just-logged-in-for-the-first time newbies.

Thats a great idea actually. I am always tossing out freebie things I have to the newbies...maybe I will do the same and send in an ALT.

/me smiles and gets more hopeful..

Yup.....it can be a bit chaotic there, that's for sure.

I just became a mentor a week ago and I've enjoyed it so far, tho I do agree that the drop zone at Orientation Island was rather a nightmare a couple times. But I also think that as new comers to SL....and lets assume here we're talking about adults (barring the teen grid, which obviously caters to a younger crowd and thusly, probably, some immature behavior) .... we have a responsibility to do a little research into SL and the virtual world we have chosen to become a part of. I saw all kinds of things as a newbie..... I never really thought much of it because I was too busy learning and exploring. It never crossed my mind to be offended by naked people or otherwise lude behavior. I simply ignored it...and the more I learned about SL..... the more capable I became of choosing areas that suited my expectations.

As a mentor.....I'm here to help. That isn't always what folks want.....so I never offer help or IM's to folks...I simply state in chat that I'm there to help if anyone has questions. Then I wait.....I make sure to state that a few times....and inevitably people come up to me and ask for help. I don't really get involved with other folks who are hanging out being disruptive......mainly because I know there's nothing I can actually 'DO' about their actions. If I do see something really over the top....griefing or blatent rudeness to others....then yeah, I'm going to report it. But I'm not going to play police and get on anyone's case... that's never effective (as seems to be proven with the experiences others have shared)
But....bottom line....I'm out to help those who 'want' it. I think the 2 key ingredients for being a good mentor are probably patience and humor. There's obviously going to be some tricky situations we find ourselves in.....not all will be solvable by us as mentors. But, I think it's important we take it all with a grain of salt. Newbies, as far as we all know, are capable adults.... sometimes what appears to be bad behavior is really just someone not fully understanding yet what's appropiate, and where. I can forgive that..... If I couldn't deal, I wouldn't have chose to be a mentor.

I have no issues at all with the newbies who are just having a good time, or the overly excitable. Even PG allows for brief nudity and language.
My concern is that maybe LL has set the Community Standards bar too high for too many of our residents.
/sarcasm off

I would like to see more help volunteers and Mentors at the Welcome Areas though. It’s now not uncommon to find 2 or even 3 Second Life Mentors at OI or HIP and skipping places like Plum, Ahern or Water Head.


Hey I did that too…she’s at OI 51

What is the opinion on this? I created an alt and she bumped into some people on Help Island and gave them some help, but felt terribly underhand in doing it, especially after they questioned why it was me helping them and not an official Mentor.

Said alt is still on Help Island, and I would like to help people there, because there are so many Help Islands and so few Mentors to cover them... but it seems to go against the spirit of Help Island, because I'm neither a new user nor a Mentor.

I think I mean well, but maybe I'm doing bad. And there's no difference between me hanging around to help, and someone else hanging around to harrass residents or spam them. It's supposed to be a protected enviroment, and I'm not sure I can in conscience breach that... but the alternative is not to help at all, which seems odd, and a waste.

So, what is the view from the Mentors on this sort of thing?

Well, I finally got my Mentor tag. So, speaking as a Mentor...we can use all the help we can get. Ana, I'd be happy to see your alt doing volunteer work. She can sit next to me any time.

In terms of the "letter of the law", doing this (creating an alt and leaving her on OI or Help Island as a way of ministering to new residents) isn't a TOS violation, or a violation of the "restricted" nature of the islands. After all, your alt *IS* a new resident. She has a perfect right to be where she is.

In terms of the spirit of the law, the access restrictions on OI and HI are there to keep people from griefing, spamming, or scamming new Residents who haven't had time to "get their SL legs". You're not doing any of those things, I trust?

You will, of course, occasionally encounter an overly-suspicious avatar. I was on OI Public one evening. I was wearing a titler that said "Ask me for a Free Newbie Info Kit!" One avatar accused me of being some sort of shill, advertising some sort of nefarious product, and refused to have anything to do with me because I was not a "Linden Lab Employee".

Oh...and it appears that the logjam in the Mentor approval process has been broken loose. If you haven't applied to be a Mentor because of the long waiting times for approval, I'd encourage you to submit an application.

Thanks, that makes me feel a bit better


Surelly if I was I wouldn't tell you?

*Ana kicks "How 2 Make Millionz of L$!!!11 Kit" behind herself*


I have

But A) I'm in the UK, so not encouraged by the posts here suggesting that orientation for Mentors isn't UK-friendly, B) not going to hold my breath for an acceptance because my application was pretty boring, and you're the only new mentor I've seen, which doesn't give me hope that they're processing them quickly. Plus, the real killer is, I'm a university student, so in "several months", I will be either in the thick of end-of-year exams, or completely absent from SL due to the summer vacation

Ah so.

In that case, I'll mention that at the Mentor Orientation session there was a graphic indicating that over 300 new mentors had attended an orientation within the prior two weeks.

They're minting us like US dollar bills now!

Ah, ok, thanks for that

I've discovered I quite like helping on Help Island... it's nice, quiet, and don't have to contend with lots of people spamming chat. I've met some interesting people, too And have yet to be shoed off by any Mentors I've met. I'm also leeching all the information I can from the volunteer portal, but there doesn't seem to be much there that isn't already in this forum (perhaps I'm not digging in the right place).

I'm a NOOB, so how long is the Newcomers Oreintation open to newbies?

Thanks,
"G"

If you stay there and never go anywhere else, indefinately. Once you leave, you can't go back at all with that account (unless you're a Mentor).

And this is now my problem Help Island crashed and sent me out to the mainland.

All I can do is sit patiently and wait now, I'm not going to register another alt. Hopefully it won't take too many months.

I didn't realise it did that, I wonder how many of the newbies who were also there will understand what happened

*wanders off to throw things and swear*