New Feature New Mizahar Mentor Program!

[Jervis Hill]

Sorry for my mistake again Goss

[Gossamer]

I'm a little confused. Why are we discussing how to put this program together when the staff has already held that discussion, came up with parameters, and have put the program in play? There's already two qualified Mentors out there that function game wide and there will be more. I have, however, deleted several mentor applications from the HD that did not meet requirements as outlined by the program - either in time required to be on the site to apply or in recommendations. I feel if one can't READ the qualifications and parameters enough to know what's required to apply, one doesn't have any business being a Mentor to being with. That includes you, Jervis. Because obviously while its great you are throwing out ideas here, the program has already been established, its parameters set, and is in play. That means this is an News Announcement Thread, not a Discussion Thread, or else we'd have this posted in "Mizahar Discussions" instead of in "News Around The Campfire." Let me be absolutely frank. I do not deal with newbies well at this juncture, because half of them talk smack, get in my face, or tell me how to run the site better. That's both irritating and rude since they are coming to a new place and have no idea how things work here. These mentors that are in motion are already helping enormously. The more of them there are, the less people who don't have the time or inclination to assist are forced to step in. And while they might not know all there is to know about the game, they indeed know how to FIND OUT the answers to questions.. and that's the important thing.

[Hornet]

This looks like an excellent idea, that could help the accessibility of the site tremendously. Having fellow players available who specialize in asking questions new players may have fills a niche that the site was lacking in somewhat previously. However, I am somewhat concerned about the visibility of this program. If mentors are to be the go-to resource for new players on this site, shouldn't it be easy for new players to quickly find and identify them?

At the moment, the mentor page in the lore does not have a list of current mentors, the moderator list banickle linked to does not include mentors, the legend of who is online does not have a seperate entry for mentors, and mentors are no seperate group, so they can't be found through the memberlist. If you currently want to see a list of all available mentors, you first click on "features", then on "medals", and then you scroll down all the way to the bottom of the page to find the mentor medal. A new player seems unlikely to discover that when looking for help.

Please do not feel offended by this attempt at feedback at what hopefully will become an excellent system. As a relatively new player, who this system seems to be aiming towards, it is relatively easy for me to see posibilities for improvement that might not be immediately visible if you've been closely involved in the creation of this program. But please allow me to reiterate that this is an excellent initiative, and that this post is in no way intended as a critique regarding the way you run this site.

[Gossamer]

I just wanted to thank Alea Davenport, Gale McCenry, Orion Michaels, Wrenmae for volunteering so far to be Mentors. These people should be trolling the Q&A Forum, offering feedback, helping newbies, and present to answer questions in chat in an intelligent manner. It's also not a bad idea if you newbies seek them out to get individual help when you need it.

[Phyolea]

Thank you for implementing this program. I have unwittingly been utilizing it. I have also been reading the lore and using the Q&A forums, chat, and HD (as well as PMing my AS). I fear I'm being bothersome. This program makes me feel as if I can ask the abundance of questions that I can't find in the lore or is not clear to me.