I'm sorry to bring up this in the forums - it shouldn't really be necessary - but I'm hoping that your own forum- and web-searching skills surpass mine and that you're more successfull at rooting out the information I need.
I've been a Mentor and Instructor since October 2004, if my memory doesn't fail me. In the past 8 or 9 months or so, the rules have changed pretty often, and, due to the lack of feedback I've had, I suppose I must be doing something wrong.
At the beginning of my "apprenticeship" as Mentor (if I can name it that way!), the difference between Mentors and Instructors was simple: you taught classes as an Instructor, you stood around ready for new residents as a Mentor. Admission at the Instructor group, if you were a Mentor, was automatic - the Events list still call the educational classes "Mentor Classes" although technically they should be called "Instructor Classes". There was no reason to separate both, since "Instructor" was just a title and nothing else. You filed then with Char Linden your desire to become a Mentor, and you could hold Mentor Classes as an Instructor. Most of the Mentors even had a mini-interview with Char as soon as your status as Mentor was approved (I now understand that this didn't happen to everybody), which were held usually with
two or three new candidates at the same time, and where Char made sure you got a notecard with the rules.
Later, around late November or December, the rules changed, because some Mentors were abusing the educational class system in order to get more L$500, and using the "Mentor Class" type of event to give "credibility" to their events. Char stepped in and changed the system. Now all classes held by Mentors/Instructors need to have a special approval by the Linden currently leading the group (or should I say "leading both groups"? As said, there was no clear separation between both), and Mentors/Instructors were supposed to file an outline of the classes they were proposing to do and discuss it over.
I took some time to write something for an "SL basics" class (it's still online at the Second Life Wiki). I did not get an automatical approval - Char was very kind to review it and ask me to re-edit it before I got the "approval" for holding classes. This was a quick process, but not an instantaneous one, as she found out several incorrect things, and they really needed some rewriting. I also got several hints and ideas about the "format" that the classes should take based on that document.
Later I did a similar thing for a class for teaching about "Jobs in SL". The process was similar as above, and "interactive", Char pointing out incorrections and asking me to make the proper changes. That class proposal is also still online at the wiki (btw, putting the text on the wiki was not a requirement! Just something they asked you to do, if you were willing and interested).
As Char was "transferred" to the Teen Grid, Haney Linden took charge of the group. He corrected the rules a bit, but the spirit of those were about the same. Again, I submitted to Haney both documents (and I was preparing a third one, for "basic scripting using touch events", which I sadly never finished). Again, the same process of interactive reviewing of the texts; yes, Haney found out several tiny imprecisions, which both Char and myself had simply overlooked, so I'm quite sure he did read those emails
After I got the "go ahead", I resumed my classes in-world.Since Haney left, the Mentor group has gone several changes. First, the joining process; now you do it from this Web page. There you can see a clear separation between Instructors and Mentors - Instructors are the ones doing classes (although the classes are still called "Mentor Events"!), Mentors do the other things - except for Greeting, which is reserved for the new group. The rules are now much more lax - people banned/suspended can now freely join Mentors, and even if you don't speak English, that's ok - you can still be a Mentor (yes, I know about these real examples). The joining process is a bit complicated if you do it from in-world by IMing Jeska directly - you may end up in a completely different group by mistake, but things can easily be changed. That's why there is a web page, so that you don't make mistakes. But the net result is, of course, that I think we have many more Mentors right now, and that is certainly good
I've been watching this space in search for "new rules". Because at the beginning, when the Mentor group had no "orientation" for a few weeks after Haney left (if you remember those days, there was no clear definition of who was in charge during a short while), I was asked to be patient - and that is easy for me, I'm patient enough (it used to be a requirement for being a Mentor
). As soon as Jeska got the additional duty of leading the Mentors and Instructors, I submitted to her both texts for approval once more. This time, I didn't get a reply, but the incredibly hard task of moderating the forums takes away too much time, so I always guessed that my turn would come (after all, the same happened to the Live Help group - I submitted myself as a volunteer 6 months ago, and I was told that there were already too many "candidates" for a full year of LH'ing, so I wouldn't be "called" so soon - that's fine, I got my feedback, and people know how to find me if they ever need my help ).I stopped doing the classes, since I had no official approval, but every month or so, I tried to get in touch with Jeska by IM (and later through email), sending her the text for the SL basics class for approval, and gently reminding her on IMs that she still didn't give me any feedback. Again, the forums overall have been very hectic overall, and I guessed that she simply couldn't find the time to review the whole document, so I waited. And I must say I'm really patient. This is not urgent (I mean, my whole life does not depend on it), so I'm not the kind of person who's pestering others every five minutes or so to get their attention. A reminder message per month is what I do, not more...
But months passed. We started to get hints about the new volunteer system, the Greeters, and I showed my willingness to help with that as well. In the mean time, I have been looking for new rule changes for the Mentors and Instructors. The forums still have Haney's rules from early January. I tried to see if there was anything on a special page (I now understand that Greeters will have an extra field on their Account page - I wondered if by some mistake the Mentors/Instructors had a new link somewhere, and that for some reason it was not activated in my profile, and thus the lack of reply). Even the discussion on the Mentor group had stopped. Suddenly I was worried - I certainly was not alone, people were posting "Mentor classes" all over the Event calendar, so what was I doing wrong??
Lately I've heard that Mentors and the upcoming Greeters are already meeting in-world, to plan and organize how things will work in the future - Jeska was kind enough to send me the copies of the transcripts of the two meetings. Sadly, I did not get any invitation to attend them, but it's still nice to know what was discussed. I hope to get invited the next time.
So, I wonder what am I doing wrong. Is there now a new process to submit classes for approval? I'm sorry to ask you all in public, but with the preparation of the Greeters program (which will be implemented very, very soon), I understand that Jeska has even less time to answer any of my emails. Who should I address the proposals for the classes instead? Is there a "second-in-command" in the Mentor group that could approve the classes in Jeska's name? Or - like in the Live Help group - are there simply so many volunteers doing educational classes, that no more approvals are being given out right now, and I'm on a "waiting list" (like I'm on the LH's waiting list), and thus I have no other choice but to wait? (I can still hold non-Mentor classes, of course) Or are the suggestions for my classes deemed to be unnecessary/badly written/irrelevant since the new Greeter program will deal with them much more efficiently? In that case, I should try to submit new ideas for educational classes instead - but I'd like some "official" feedback.
Do you have any suggestion where I should get more information? Because at this point any information would really be helpful - I'm clueless as a newbie here!
Thanks to everybody,
- Gwyn
