Is this new round of mentors a good idea?

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, Quartz Mole said:

Entertaining though some of the derails certainly are, I think it would a good idea to keep the thread more or less on topic, at least if people want to keep it open, which I assume we all do.

Thank you! @Quartz Mole, Can you tell us if many Moles started out as Mentors?

[Katherine Heartsong]

Apologies, I've lost track ... Is voice a requirement?

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, Katherine Heartsong said:

Apologies, I've lost track ... Is voice a requirement?

Perhaps we need to nominate someone as an errr, "sacrificial" Mentor, who can sign up and give us all the deets!

[Quartz Mole]

4 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Thank you! @Quartz Mole, Can you tell us if many Moles started out as Mentors?

Some of us do, but I really don't know how many.    

[diamond Marchant]

43 minutes ago, Nika Talaj said:

My favorite would be "Helper".

Yes. Or "facilitator". As described, the two positions simply aid the "onboarding" of new residents, which is necessary due to the complexity of the SL user interface and lack of properly packaged noob content.

I believe one becomes a mentor when giving guidance/training/support on more advanced topics such as being successfull in a profession or avocation.

[diamond Marchant]

16 minutes ago, Katherine Heartsong said:

Apologies, I've lost track ... Is voice a requirement?

No, voice is not required.  Here is a brief summary of what IS required...

courteous, friendly, inclusive and professional in their interaction with Newcomers and other Residents

two hour shifts at a time and at least one shift each week

training sessions that you must complete

You will not be paid

cannot solicit for tips

wear your group tag

appearance, profile and behavior need to reflect a General (G) maturity rating

use the Second Life viewer

Mole team leaders

 

[Love Zhaoying]

15 minutes ago, diamond Marchant said:

No, voice is not required.  Here is a brief summary of what IS required...

courteous, friendly, inclusive and professional in their interaction with Newcomers and other Residents

two hour shifts at a time and at least one shift each week

training sessions that you must complete

You will not be paid

cannot solicit for tips

wear your group tag

appearance, profile and behavior need to reflect a General (G) maturity rating

use the Second Life viewer

Mole team leaders

 

Thank you for all these details!

I think it is exciting that there are Mole Team Leaders!

[belindacarson]

15 minutes ago, diamond Marchant said:

No, voice is not required.  Here is a brief summary of what IS required...

courteous, friendly, inclusive and professional in their interaction with Newcomers and other Residents

two hour shifts at a time and at least one shift each week

training sessions that you must complete

You will not be paid

cannot solicit for tips

wear your group tag

appearance, profile and behavior need to reflect a General (G) maturity rating

use the Second Life viewer

Mole team leaders

 

sounds like an insurance seminar's host's wet dream

[Innula Zenovka]

 

2 hours ago, AmeliaJ08 said:

I wouldn't say I'm allergic but equally... installing and configuring another viewer for precious little benefit is just a step too far. So maybe I am 'allergic'.

When it comes to explaining concepts that noobies need explained I don't see there being enough difference between official and firestorm though.

 

It's not a question of explaining concepts, though.   I'm thinking of answering simple questions on the lines of "How do I do this?"

Let's compare some of the menus in the two viewers.    Here's the first one on the left on the Official Viewer, next to the first on on Firestorm.   Different names, and completely different items.

  

 

 

Second menus

 

 

Third menus

World menu on the Official Viewer

 

Unless you're using the same viewer as the person you're trying to help do something, the result will be complete confusion.

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by Innula Zenovka

[belindacarson]

1 minute ago, Innula Zenovka said:

It's not a question of explaining concepts, though.   I'm thinking of answering simple questions on the lines of "How do I do this?"

Let's compare some of the menus in the two viewers.    Here's the first one on the left on the Official Viewer, next to the first on on Firestorm.   Different names, and completely different items.

 

 

Second menus

Third menus

World menu on the Official Viewer

 

Unless you're using the same viewer as the person to you're trying to explain how to do something, the result is going to be total confusion.

Just proves that Firestorm *IS* what the LL viewer should be.

[Sid Nagy]

25 minutes ago, diamond Marchant said:

No, voice is not required.  Here is a brief summary of what IS required...

courteous, friendly, inclusive and professional in their interaction with Newcomers and other Residents

two hour shifts at a time and at least one shift each week

training sessions that you must complete

You will not be paid

cannot solicit for tips

wear your group tag

appearance, profile and behavior need to reflect a General (G) maturity rating

use the Second Life viewer

Mole team leaders

 

An awful long list for helpers who will not be paid even 1 L$ for their efforts, just saying.
This will not attract the professionals LL is hoping for IMHO.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Sid Nagy

[steeljane42]

Reading through the announcement and most messages I'll just add my 0.02$.

Requirements are quite silly. Schedule wise and some others.

I'll also disagree with some other people in this thread and say that original SL viewer is way more confusing than Firestorm or even Black Dragon. Depends on what kind of a userbase you might have in mind, possibly. But from a gamer's standpoint the original LL viewer is beyond saving and I had zero issues with FS when I started 10 years ago. It's still a "viewer" and not quite a game/mmo client, but somewhat passable.

I suppose if you target people who can barely find a power on button on PC, then yeah, the less options is "better" as those will get confused over everything, but otherwise making people "suffer" through LL viewer so those few who would stay still would swap to something else in the matter of a few days is rather pointless.

And last, but not least. Not counting very small forums, I have yet to see when random people from all other the world don't try to abuse any grains of power given to them. Yes, there are some good cases when people actually care and help/moderate/whatever. But a few "bad apples" can and do spoil it for everyone else in almost ever case. Reddit is a good example where some even very big subreddits (see the Xbox subreddit) are handled in the most unprofessional way possible.

So I'm not sure that the amount of new users who would decide to stick around because they get some little help at the start will be more than those who decide to delete the viewer after bumping into such types. So to me it really feels like a bandaid to the main problem, which is terrible new user experience. Instead of actually improving it (aside of upcoming new default avatars, whenever it might happen) LL decided to throw some unpaid people at it.

[Innula Zenovka]

20 minutes ago, belindacarson said:

Just proves that Firestorm *IS* what the LL viewer should be.

Possibly so, though it's not obvious to me why that should be the case. I suspect it's just what you're used to using -- because you know where everything is, it's clearly the better viewer.   

However, what's indisputable is that the two viewers have their menus organised very differently, that new residents will have downloaded the Official Viewer (unless they have a friend who has told them to use Firestorm, in which case their friend can probably help them) and that if the mentor is using Firestorm when trying to explain to the new resident how to do something in the Official Viewer, they're going to get nowhere.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Innula Zenovka

[Marigold Devin]

.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Marigold Devin
What's the gal been smoking?

[Arielle Popstar]

11 minutes ago, Innula Zenovka said:

Possibly so, though it's not obvious to me why that should be the case. I suspect it's just what you're used to using -- because you know where everything is, it's clearly the better viewer.   

However, what's indisputable is that the two viewers have their menus organised very differently, that new resident will have downloaded the Official Viewer (unless they have a friend who has told them to use Firestorm, in which case their friend can probably help them) and that if the mentor is using Firestorm when trying to explain to the new resident how to do something in the Official Viewer, they're going to get nowhere.

Not necessarily as I believe in spite of the different naming conventions, the keyboard shortcuts are likely the same

[Innula Zenovka]

3 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Not necessarily as I believe in spite of the different naming conventions, the keyboard shortcuts are likely the same

If there's a keyboard shortcut available, certainly, though not all menu items in either viewer have keyboard shortcuts.  But many people prefer to use menus. 

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

From reading through the posts --- I believe the Mentors should be a paid position thing.  Maybe keep the government tax agencies happy.

[Lindal Kidd]

2 hours ago, Nika Talaj said:

By keeping the mentor program volunteer-only, LL actually bysteps the whole debate about whether mentors should be contractors or employees.

Sure, but they also p**s off the potential mentors who object to their stupid conditions. Up with which I will put only in exchange for compensation.

[Love Zhaoying]

Realistically, how will the new Mentors program be like / unlike Oxbridge Caledonia U.? Less classes, more 1-on-1?

[Love Zhaoying]

48 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

An awful long list for helpers who will not be paid even 1 L$ for their efforts, just saying.
This will not attract the professionals LL is hoping for IMHO.

It seems the benefits of being a mentor are mostly altruistic in nature, with the added bonus of a certain caché?

[Horus Salubrius]

This is something I think I would actually enjoy - back in the day I used to train people from many countries on the use of particular software.  However I really don't think I can go back to the LL viewer, it isn't just a matter of a different menu structure to me, but I won't derail the topic.  🙂

[Coffee Pancake]

1 hour ago, steeljane42 said:

So I'm not sure that the amount of new users who would decide to stick around because they get some little help at the start

It wont move the needle in terms of simple measurable short term retention.

X% will stay.

Drop new accounts into a volcano .. a different X% will stay, although the number will be the same.

Mentors and all the rest .. a different X% stays, and again, the raw numbers will be the same.

 

The big difference in approach is who makes up that X% and what they then go one to make of their Second Life. I'm a firm believer in that we all did better when Mentoring was a thing.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

2 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

Would Goddess be too pretentious?

I really dont want to be called a Goddess... 

[Drake1 Nightfire]

2 hours ago, Quartz Mole said:

 at least if people want to keep it open, which I assume we all do.

That's awfully presumptuous of you.  

I think the biggest issue for me is the lack of compensation. Minimum wage in Massachusetts is $15 an hour.. That would be $30 minimum pay per week for me as a Mentor. I think a good compensation for Mentors at a minimum would be free premium plus. Possibly with a stipend boost for as long as they are mentors. 

[Nika Talaj]

2 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Maybe but where would be able to do that as the LL has no place where one can actually do so other than by trial and error. It would in many cases result in the blind leading the blind.

Well, there IS the first Second Life University video, from Strawberry, which teaches viewer basics.

You could also go to one of the welcome hubs - I just went to BelliHub - and walk through the orientation, which gets you to use the viewer.  It would be a good exercise for anyone wanting to be a Mentor.  Interestingly, the welcome video (from Abnor) tells people twice that they should find a Mentor if they have questions.  So this program better get off the ground pronto!  The second stop in the walkthrough features a screen grab of the viewer, which gives you an explanatory popup whenever you touch a button. 

While there, I said hello and welcome to a newbie and she promptly disappeared. A very common mentor experience! 

They have dressing rooms there, too.

Unlike mainland infohubs, it appears you cannot set home to BelliHub, even if you are premium.  But it does give you a LM when you arrive, and the orientation teaches about them.