Kathlen Onyx

Can't you go to the welcome hub as a regular resident? If I were a mentor I'd be wondering why someone has to create a brand new alt to check out the Hub.

It does bug me when an alt posts in the forums, especially if I don't know who they are and it's apar rant everyone else does. I just think it's odd to have Alt actually posting replies to a thread. As far as Alts in SL. Most people have them. A lot of people deny it. Some use them and say they don't. Shrugs, I stopped worrying about it after my first year. Too much to try and figure out.

Well if the landscaper wants to be a real A$$, they can always cam into the property and take their stuff. Seems like maybe the seller should put some sort of disclaimer on it especially if he's selling the land for more because of the landscaping.

Yes, appears because that is exactly what he told the OP. If he landscapes a property and the original person sells it, if the objects go with him he wants the other person to pay for retaining the items, copy permission or not. Not sure how she is making an assumption.

Sure, why not? Your name is out there on your tag. If you don't want to be on the list IM them and ask them to take you off. It's not very nice but what can you do about it?

The fact that SL advertises that you can make money is accurate. They never state that you will make enough money to live on or even pay your electric bill. LL never promises that you will make millions but you can earn enough not to have to spend real money. It will take some effort from the resident though. $L aren't going to just fall from the sky. Take a host. Depending on the club they can make anywhere from $L0-1000 + a set and that is just starting out. Once you get experience and are comfortable you can make more. Just like in RL you can't expect to make top wage right out of the gate. There are always host jobs available. Do 5 sets a week and now you have made enough to buy a popular body. Next week you buy they head... That L$1000 can buy you 20 items if you shop FLF sales. The other jobs might take some spending of RL money. If you are an escort they will expect that you have a good looking current avatar. The mesh ones that LL gives out just isn't going to cut it. A DJ is going to need a stream so they may have to spend $L on that and be willing to spend money on songs if someone makes a request and you don't have it. Building is a bit more complicated but it can be done if the user is willing to learn. All these things will not be achievable right out of the gate. No amount of onboarding will entice a user to stay unless they are motivated.

Ok, Mr. negative. Do you think that being any of those things you mention wouldn't cost money? Who would hire a DJ or host with a new system avatar or be able to escort without spending money.

Having to purchase in world currency is nothing new. Most games on google play or the apple store offer a free to play or advance by buying "bucks" or "gems" Trust me there are A LOT of people that pay massive amounts of money to advance in Candy Crush. So having to spend money on $L isn't a deterrent for new people. Also the few $L you get from fishing or playing LL games is peanuts and they need to either make that 10 more or scrap it. Also if a newbie thinks that they can just hop in SL and "make money" then it's probably good they find out right away it's not that easy. We don't need to sugarcoat it for them.

So my conclusion is that new users aren't going to flock to SL. Why not take this opportunity to improve the platform for the users now. Quit trying to make a quick buck from a user that doesn't know better and make the current userbase want to spend more money than they are now. Many users obviously have the money by simply looking at the ridiculous prices people pay for land.

Second life might be a social platform but you can't deny that there are games within SL.

They were interested enough to RTFM for those then why would they not find out about SL through, youtube, the wiki, the forum etc? Maybe some new residents simply don't want to stay residents. I mean we all learned so what's stopping them?

Have no clue what RTFM stands for so no. LOL

Knowing that some don't see SL as a game there are a lot of complicated games on the market. How do people normally get up to speed in those games?

Awesome idea! I hope someone takes up the offer here to create this type of group. Maybe @Drayke Newallcould head it up. Totally serious, not sarcastic.

At some point you need to put the responsibility on the user. No amount of help is going to retain people that need this much hand holding. The ones that really want to stay in Second Life will learn how to use it. Putting residents with a specific person could be a disaster if they don't mesh at all with them and have to go to Viola for a change. That's all she'd be doing. The one thing that I see missing I think is something @Drayke Newallmentioned. Put all newbies in a "welcome group" automatically and let them know that for the next 90 days if you need help with anything to post in the group and someone will find the answer for you. You could even post auto messages every once in awhile like "Did you know your avatar can run. Just double tap the forward key twice and you'll be running in no time" Make them feel when they log on there is help out there if needed.

I think a lot of these suggestions are great but mostly undoable. Assigning people a specific mentor would be impossible. What if that mentor is on at a whole different time than the user? Now you are asking mentors to be available 24/7 for a whole lot of people that they now are responsible for. Level one, two and specialized mentors would be a nightmare to keep track of. How would you even vet these people as experts? Not to mention they might put their personal views onto another resident. Boxes the new person in. Rowan already pointed out one mentor that was giving wrong information. Now you take the new person away from the welcome area where you can't monitor at all what they are telling the new person. I really think that LL wants to have the mentor program there to give new users a start in doing basic things rather than just reading billboards on how to do it. It really is up to the user to pursue it from there. Hand holding a new user won't make retention better. In fact it may make it worse.

So you expect them to take your suggestions and use them while you are accusing them of hiding the truth? Someone like that would be the last person I'd want to partner with.

You need to learn to read better. Nowhere in that sentence you "quoted" said anything about mentors getting aggressive. Undermining is simply lessening the effectiveness, power, or ability of the mentors. So it's okay to just trash them since they aren't here? Maybe that's why LL doesn't allow naming and shaming on the forum however, it's not that hard to find out who they are. Just spend time at the welcome hub. As far as what LL has trained the mentors in or what instructions they've given, they are not obligated to disclose that information to you or any other person unless you are in the mentor program. What makes you entitled that you feel they need to tell you? You are not a mentor nor are you a newbie. TBH, this really should not be any concern to those that don't use it. Last point: If LL has determined that instructing a new person to watch a video that will help them acclimate to Second Life they may have a reason no one knows about. Newbies need to learn basic stuff like putting on and taking off clothes, how to open something they've bought, what is an AO and why should I get one. How to fly, walk, sit etc. Where can you find places to go, i.e. Direct then to the destination guide. Are they premium. Go over to Bellisserian and show them what they can get with their membership. Show them how to search and join groups. Things like that. What they don't need is in-depth instruction on advance features in Second Life. If they want to be a part of Second Life they need to know where to find the information to learn it on their own. Some will dive right into it and some will get totally frustrated and leave. The mentor program should be to help people get started not teach them everything about SL.

If you are not in the mentor program now and have only heard from a handful of people that they had a bad experience (personally, I think they were overstepping) then you have no idea what is going on in the background or what they have planned. I assume either there are no mentors on the forum or they don't want to identify themselves because it would be nice to hear their thoughts. I'm curious if anyone has had or saw a GOOD experience with a mentor or don't we want to talk about that.

Wouldn't you get a better response if you sent a message to Viola Mole since she is heading the mentor program rather than trashing the program on the forum?

Did you volunteer for the mentor program. Perhaps that might be the best way to get your idea implemented since you also know what the best way to go about it is. There seems to be a lot of complaining from people that haven't even volunteered to be a mentor.

It's a good thing that you aren't in charge of the Mentor program then. Maybe some residents should take a step back from helping to let the Mentor program get off to a good start. It sounds like it would alleviate a lot of the issues that are being complained about. After all, it really is a LL run program not a resident program. Let them at least have a chance to work out any kinks and make it successful. After all this isn't the past. It's the present.

You used this one example as a conclusion that the mentor system is not working? It seems to me that some regulars on the forum have purposefully gone to the welcome hub to find fault with the mentors and the program. They didn't want to be a mentor or volunteer to commit to any time, yet they are over there acting like mentors. These mentors took the time to volunteer and commit their time to helping newbies get started in Second Life. I assume that they were excited to be accepted as a mentor. If you wanted to be a mentor then you should have volunteered to be a mentor instead of appointing yourself a pseudo position. Imagine being a newbie and having a complete stranger IMing you that the information an official mentor gave you was wrong. First, how are they to determine if the information you are giving is correct vs, what a mentor is telling them. What should have been done is a friendly IM to the mentor rather than to the resident directly. Why all of a sudden are people rushing to the welcome hub to help when they vehemently opposed the mentor program is beyond me. Personally I think that only mentors and residents 1 month or less should be allowed in the welcome hub. It would solve a lot of issues. TP them after a month to an area where anyone can enter and then have at it. Help them all you want.

People really need to be smarter when they are trying to hide. Not too hard to figure it out.