Is this new round of mentors a good idea?

[belindacarson]

8 minutes ago, Kimmi Zehetbauer said:

I remember that with the AOL. Not sure if someone not employed by the Lab could make a group for a mentor type thing not under the control of LL could skirt around that issue.  The Lab could send a guide or post one somewhere on how established Residents can assist new people with onboarding.

I was a volunteer for the original XOOM clip art thing in the late 90s for their message board.  The IRS got on their rear and they closed the boards.  A staff did make a board on DelphiForums for a short  time until that was eliminated.

I'm going to throw a spanner in the works now.

 

GDPR

 

To apply you have to "sign in" to fill in the application form.

Using discord? Will you make a specific discord account for this or use your own.

 

Clarity needed on data collection and protection from The Lab about this

[belindacarson]

1 hour ago, Alwin Alcott said:

lso fly around on the forums át théir available time.
That would also help the mix USA and rest of the world timezones being covered. (as that's since the pull back from the offices and support lines in the EU still not covered)

That's another good point raised!!!!!

Are they going to provide support to these mugs, I mean volunteers, during the times that the lab is closed.

 

[belindacarson]

I can picture it now.

 

Press windows key and the letter r for Romeo

In the window type dubya dubya dubya any deks dot com

 

And we connect you to our secure server

(A pun on kitboga, pierogi etc).

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by belindacarson

[Innula Zenovka]

6 hours ago, Coffee Pancake said:

They will find TPVs about 5 minutes after they meet any other person.

Having a grounding in the official viewer first actually makes that transition easier. Firestorm is an overwhelming pig for a brand new user.

I might help work on Catznip, but I honestly don't care what viewer people use. So long as they use something and log in and have fun.

Also, I think the idea of having mentors who, when a confused new resident asks them, "how do I do this?" reply "First, you need to log out,, download an alternative viewer, install it, and then log back in and then I'll be able to explain it to you" is a bit of a non-starter.   

That's particularly the case because, almost inevitably, anything a new user needs to know, assuming it's not to do with RLV, they'll be able to do just as easily in the Official Viewer as they can in Catznip, Firestorm or any of the other third party viewers,    

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by Innula Zenovka

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

I think the Moles are best suited to the role of Mentor.  Afterall, they don't just build and maintain stuff inworld, some of them also moderate these forums. And they're already required to use the LL viewer too.

Edited June 9, 2023 by SarahKB7 Koskinen

[Gwin LeShelle]

17 minutes ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said:

I think the Moles are best suited to the role of Mentor.  Afterall, they don't just build and maintain stuff inworld, some of them also moderate these forums. And they're already required to use the LL viewer too.

Yeah but dem poor moles just have 2 (4) paws, they can't do EVERYTHING x3 

[Love Zhaoying]

Will "MENTOrS" be a "Fresh Maker" for Second Life?

I hope so!

 

 

[Love Zhaoying]

4 minutes ago, Gwin LeShelle said:

Yeah but dem poor moles just have 2 (4) paws, they can't do EVERYTHING x3 

Can you imagine how much LL would have to pay Moles to make up for dealing with new users?

 

[Rowan Amore]

12 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Can you imagine how much LL would have to pay Moles to make up for dealing with new users?

 

Add hazard pay on top of that, too!

[Caeruleiae]

12 hours ago, Sparkle Bunny said:

Because the warm fuzzy feeling of helping them retain signups is supposed to be sufficient compensation for doing their job for them?

No, and I already stated such. This isn't ll paying anything forward or paying anything at all. It's ll getting other people to do work that ll should have been doing themselves all along-and ll taking credit for it as if they're just re-implementing some grand idea they once used in the same manner.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that sees it that way too-it makes me feel better to read other responses along similar lines. 

If ll chooses not to compensate mentors in some fashion beyond acknowledgement it will just reiterate my belief that ll is being unnecessarily lazy and despite the recent thread showing lindens exist-they still lack the most basic understanding of their audience-target or existing. 

 

[Love Zhaoying]

3 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

Add hazard pay on top of that, too!

All those dry-cleaning charges for dirty, sticky Mole skins won't pay for themselves.

Have you every tried to get Noob-stank out of fur?

[Drake1 Nightfire]

Can you picture some of us as Mentors? 

"YEah yeah yeah, hang on, I just downloaded the official viewer myself for the first time in 15 years. Gimmie a minute to figure out how to help you with your issue."

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

Actually, most of the present Moles don't even have or use an actual mole avatar. Which is a real shame, because they used to.

Edited June 9, 2023 by SarahKB7 Koskinen

[Love Zhaoying]

7 minutes ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

Can you picture some of us as Mentors? 

"YEah yeah yeah, hang on, I just downloaded the official viewer myself for the first time in 15 years. Gimmie a minute to figure out how to help you with your issue."

Me:  Sorry, I don't know about mesh, or bodies..I just wear one body ever.  Scripting? Sure! No, I am bad at rotations, sorry.

 

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said:

Actually, most of the Moles don't even have or use an actual mole avatar. Which is a real shame.

..I see, is joke!  

[Marigold Devin]

8 minutes ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

Can you picture some of us as Mentors? 

"YEah yeah yeah, hang on, I just downloaded the official viewer myself for the first time in 15 years. Gimmie a minute to figure out how to help you with your issue."

I thought when Second Life's Viewer 2 came in and they still were allowing the third party viewers to continue that they would perhaps learn from their mistakes, and to a degree they have tweaked and twisted the official viewer, but it will never ever be as user friendly as Firstorm in Phoenix mode. 

Having said that, I am shocked at how many people have been willing to learn and use the complicated mesh avatars. To me that still just is not worth the effort (or maybe I am missing vanity in real life so cannot fathom it in Second Life either). 

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, some people are excellent teachers, others just believe that they are. The latter are more likely to volunteer as mentors. 

And that is why this next attempt at having official mentors will fail ultimately.

[Katherine Heartsong]

6 hours ago, Ceka Cianci said:

They are probably bringing this back because it's been ask for and asked  about in quite a few thread over the years.

At the risk of incurring some wrath ....

I think it's being introduced because LL know that have a massive on-boarding user experience problem. They may not have any decent UX folks on staff (I'm a VP in that field, 30+ years) but at least they recognize that the on-boarding experience for a new user is horrible.

By asking for volunteers and trying to address the issue, it's got my professional curiosity way up ... I wonder how bad the drop off/retention rate after one login/day/week/month really is. I'd love to see the quantitative metrics on that.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Katherine Heartsong

[Katherine Heartsong]

5 hours ago, belindacarson said:

Given that the majority of users on the forum post consistently incorrect information, letting them loose as helpers inworld would be like letting a monkey loose in a nuclear reactor ie a total disaster.

The Polish saying applies here ... Not my circus, not my monkeys.

Nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy.

[Katherine Heartsong]

Another idea ... mentors should have to be in NUX avatars, just like the new users. (See my related post about at least having five basic outfits per NUX avatar.)

Part of the on-boarding horror is seeing so many amazing custom avatars with the inevitable "How do I look like that!?" questions that require an hour of explanation with unfamiliar terms like BoM etc, thousands of Lindens, etc.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Katherine Heartsong

[SabrinaCooke]

They need to streamline the avatar creation process to make it simpler and easier for new users to get up and running. Roblox has a better onboarding and avatar customization process, for god's sake. It shouldn't take three+ hours of handholding by a Mentor and possibly tears on both sides of the screen to create a decent looking avi for exploring inworld. Having watched the NUX update portion of the last LabGab that Ceka linked me to, and hearing Patch et al say that they're planning customization options out of the gate for NUX, *maybe* there might be *some* hope there. *Maybe.*

On that note, they need to create a better, more interactive tutorial for new users as well, like most modern platforms do. The current method of dropping people on an island and having them follow a walkway to read billboards simply isn't going to cut it if the Lab wants to attract a younger audience. Having a good tutorial could also eliminate some of the basic questions that Mentors will have to hear over and over during their tenure. 

Also, please, for the sake of all that's holy, lose that cringey acrostic slogan. It was already cringe 30+ years ago when it was popular. It certainly didn't get any better with age. 
 

[AzureWaves]

The Lab has not thought this through, and I hope that they're taking feedback here and implementing it into the training sessions for mentors. Mentor wearing default avatars is a great idea, it lets people focus on what they can have vs what they can't have.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

I'd much prefer SL get a modern tutorial and a fully up-to-date Wiki or detailed help/glossary menu accessible from inside the viewer, like...well, everything else on the market today. I'd also toss a simple-to-use character creation tool and wardrobe in there for NUX (similar to Disney Dreamlight Valley or The Sims 4) on the wishlist to make dressing less of a hassle right out of the gate, but now I'm just dreaming.

If we absolutely must have mentors, they really should be paid. It can take up to three hours or more to help a person update their avatar with our current system (including training on the vendor system and HUDs and other related things), which is why I've eased up on doing that.

Edit: Dangit Sabrina, ya beat me to it. 😂

[SabrinaCooke]

Just now, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Edit: Dangit Sabrina, ya beat me to it. 😂

Hee.  💗

[diamond Marchant]

Is this new round of mentors a good idea?  No

[Coffee Pancake]

8 hours ago, belindacarson said:

I'll disagree with you on that one coffee.  Firestorm in its phoenix mode is so easy to use as based on the old v1

It's easy because you're used to it.

I know SL inside out, I don't use FS and never have.

When I have to use it, for testing RLVa etc etc, I find it to be a deeply frustrating experience. There are a bazillion options, cluttered dense UI, and everything I might need to poke has been renamed or moved. 

Newbies coming to SL find SL hard because they are used to a different medium (games) and SL has different rules.

How do I move? is a legit newbie question.