Mentors and ethics in SL

Mentors have many opportunities to meet residents and offer helpful advice. Im intriqued by the many opportunities to promote one's self and use this "mentoring" position to point people in a direction which may help someone financially by directing residents to products,housing land...etc....how does SL feel about self promotion using the menotor tag..and if a resident chooses to create a group seperate of LL and mentor in this way...what are the ramifications for one who self promotes using a mentor tag??

/me is not a mentor, though I do sometimes like Mentos, but will say that I have no problem with mentors advertising their wares a bit, as long as they don't promote them as the only option available and will also answer questions on how to find other solutions. I don't fault people for making an L$, as long as they're not greedy/misleading about it.

For creating your own group, I don't think there's any rule about that unless you're trying to mislead people into thinking that you're an official mentor or a Linden. I expect the Lindens would get grumpy if they caught you doing that...

If someone happens to be a mentor that owns a store then:
* telling people about the store at the forum hangout would be fine (assuming it doesn't violate the advertising bit in the community standards
* telling people about the store at Help Island Public would be wrong (with or without active title)

Being a mentor doesn't mean someone can't self-promote, but it can't be in any context that would imply that person is acting as a mentor at the time. If you come across a mentor who's doing it anyway then do report then. If the VTeam finds that that mentor was indeed breaking the rules they'll either get a warning or be booted from the group.

I'd suggest filing an AR with the "evidence" and then also create a notecard (with the abuse report number in there somewhere) and to drop the notecard on one of the VTeam Lindens.

*makes a mental note to ask both the governance team and the VTeam about the proper way for non-mentors to report volunteer misbehaviour*
I won't know until Saturday though, but I'll post when I do get an official answer .

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The official policy on your question is:

I have been asking around and 9 out of 10 people dont see anything wrong with it. After all, lets face this, you dont make any money being a mentor nor do you get tips. Having said that, there is never a free meal!!.. Common!.. The least a mentor could do is perhaps make some money directly or indirectly for their time by promoting their designs, products and those of their friends !!. I dont encourage mentors to be misleading as far as being an SL mentor, or not give choices. But hey, if someone wants to know where there are any land sales, rentals or cool places to hang or shop, you bet your butt i will be sending them to my friends' places of business including my own! I would be crazy not to. This is my way of contributing to SL society and get something back in return.
Nothing is for nothing. SL knows it and everyone knows it. It is Business 101 Pal !!

Giuli Reino
IMEC Governor
Entrepeneur

So as far as you're concerned, being a mentor is just a way of getting free advertising? If that's the case, then LL should make it clearer to newbies that mentors aren't necessarily providing newbies with objective advice, but are likely to be promoting their own products.

In 2005 when there were greeters and mentors (now we are merged), they used to send the noobs to us. So we had a great opportunity to promote our business. Now that we have Help Islands and we must go there to help the new players I think it is a little abusive to self-promote while on Help island. It is against TOS to spam peole in Welcome areas. This has to apply to everyone.

Damian;
SL doesnt even pay them. looking back, I remember when i was a newbie. I received free lothes from the designers themselves !!. This is back in 2006 now.

My opinion is this, if u think is unethical, then dont do it. There are 3 kinds off people in this world.. those that 1- Hope to do it; 2- Dont do it; 3- Do it. I am the latter one.
I take calculated risks and sometimes i get highly reward and sometimes I dont.
Just like any other investment.

Damian;
SL doesnt even pay them. looking back, I remember when i was a newbie. I received free lothes from the designers themselves !!. This is back in 2006 now.

Leas; I never talked about Spaming, so dont put words in my mouth /chat LOL.

My opinion is this, if u think is unethical, then dont do it. There are 3 kinds off people in this world.. those that 1- lead or do it; 2- The ones that follow, or hope to do it; and 3- the ones thats sit there and watch the world go by and do nothing because they are too scared to take calculated risks. Sometimes i get highly reward and sometimes I dont. Just like any other investment. I am a doer. ) ..
.... The question is; What are you?

Mentoring is a voluntary activity....not really a 'business' activity. In theory and hopefully in practice also, you mentor because you've a desire to help new residents find their feet in SL. I'm of the opinion that promoting one's own business whilst mentoring is perhaps not the best way to go. If you know of a great deal regarding land, clothing etc, then by all means, send them there, and if it happens to also be a place belonging to a friend etc, then that's even better I suppose. I would imagine that 'Business 101' is an entirely different set of ideas from 'Mentoring 101'.......

And you wonder why Mentors are getting beat on. Its Mentors like you that have changed the whole meaning of Mentor.. Rememeber it Mentoring, not Promoting. Now if you cant see the difference you have absolutely no business being a Mentor. Let the ones who care do it and step aside. Let those who care regain what has been lost from those who have to say, we deserve it we arent paid for it so we are owed irt.. I find that both pathetic and vile.

What am I? I'm not a mentor, and I don't run an SL business.

However, when I was a newbie, I saw mentors and assumed they were there to help people like me. I didn't know whether they were paid or not, but I hadn't realised that some were just business people promoting their own products.

If you're a business person wishing to promote your products, then I don't blame you for doing so. However, I do think it's misleading to have the label "Mentor", which implies helper. "SL Seller" would be a more appropriate label. I just think it's confusing for new people who are reasonably expecting to get objective advice and help from mentors, rather than a hard sell from a business person.

OK, this is something I can speak on with at least a bit of authority. I'm a Mentor, and I'm also a businesswoman (I run a community of rental houses and shops).

This subject was covered in Mentor training. We were told that Mentors should NOT promote their own businesses, or even those of their friends, while wearing the Mentor tag. And that's whether you're at Help Island, a Welcome Area, or anywhere else. It would create the appearance of LL promoting a particular SL business, and they do not wish to do this.

LL specifically tells us that if we want to take a noob shopping, we should NOT wear the Mentor tag while doing so.

Whenever I give out landmarks to places where newbies can find stuff, I try to give them at least three, so as not to give the appearance of promoting anyone in particular. I also encourage them to use Search to find things for themselves, rather than simply giving them places to go.

LL realizes that we Mentors are volunteers, and have to make a living. They don't mind that...as long as we don't create a conflict of interest or the appearance of one, by mixing business with Mentoring.

[EDIT] Another thing...I can't recall ever seeing a Mentor promoting his or her business while wearing their tag. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it is definitely the exception rather than the rule. Besides, in most cases it's not a productive marketing method...most newbies don't have any money to spend on your stuff anyway!

I think your approach is exactly what a newbie should hope to expect from a mentor, Lindal. Thank you.

It's against the rules regardless of what you think.

If for whatever reason you disagree with this particular one you have plenty of opportunity to make your case at meetings and office hours, but until LL/the VTeam actually changes that particular rule you're expected to adhere to it if you want to stay a mentor.

I did ask about the best way for a regular resident to report a problem with a mentor, but then forgot to post back about it .

First of all: ask yourself if it's something you would file an AR over if that resident wasn't a mentor. If so, file the AR the regular way and if it's actionable the abuse team should pass that along to the VTeam.

If it is specifically a mentor problem (being rude to newbies while tagged up would be for instance, orbitting newbies on the other hand would be an AR since that does violate mentor guideluines, but more importantly it's general abuse) write up a notecard in the same way you would an AR (date, time, place, name, summary of what happened) - personal suggestion would be to not make things too lengthy or complicated, if you get the facts and they need details, they can just get back to you -, name it something appropriate ("Misuse of mentor tag by Some Resident", anything that isn't "New Notecard" ) and then drop it on any VTeam Linden (Amber, Blue, George, Lexie or Mia), maybe with an added IM saying that you dropped them a notecard about someone who seems to have violated the mentor guidelines.

(Edited to add that the specifics are really something I added, nothing that was said outright but it seemed clearer than the paraphrased "if it's not AR'able but mentor-related, drop a notecard on a VTeam Linden" ).