Thread: No more green dits. Say hello to our mentors

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Y'know, as they say in New Jersey, not for nothing...... the green things created dissension and controversy. I ended up with a lot of them and I always felt weird because I had more than Randydance, mparker, AFDavis, and Heavydutysg to name a few.... that know more than I do about straight razors and honing them. This isn't the first time I have posted to that affect.

IMO, whether you have green chiclets or a blue badge it isn't long before people will figure out if you know what you are talking about. It is early on in the new mentor badge thing and I don't know who has them and who doesn't but I have been around long enough to know who's experience and opinions on SRP that I respect and listen to regardless of badges or green chiclets. I hope no one will throw the baby out with the bath water with this new mentor business.

Thanks.

Alan and Randy are Mentors as well. There is about a dozen-ish atm. There will be many more. I have asked our mods to start adding names to our Mentor discussion thread so that we can add them. The mods know better than I which names should be put in the list, considering that I don't even visit some forums anymore.

We just made a short list to get things started. We could have waited longer and started with a bigger group, but this way we can let it grow while also having this discussion.

Originally Posted by zib

Glen, With all do respect, When you put a label on someone, and single them out, and a new person sees that. He automatically thinks, that this person must know what there talking about. Correct? Shouldn't these representitives of our beloved forum be knowledgeable in all areas...Maybe I misunderstanding the meaning of the work "Mentor"

Yes I think you are missing the point somewhat,,,

Just in the Workshop I can think of three very, very, good restorers that have a ton of knowledge, but do not help anyone out, they do their thing only... Which we all love seeing their work, etc: but they would by no means be up for Mentorship because they have no desire to jump in and answer questions for people... So knowledge is one thing only...

If you look at the Newb questions especially it doesn't take a ton of knowledge to answer those... but who do you see there all the time??? Ron and Jimmy they answer the questions over and over, those are Mentors...

At least that's how I see it... and people that help out other people should be acknowledged... The badge doesn't say I am better, it says I am willing....

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Yes I think you are missing the point somewhat,,,

Just in the Workshop I can think of three very, very, good restorers that have a ton of knowledge, but do not help anyone out, they do their thing only... Which we all love seeing their work, etc: but they would by no means be up for Mentorship because they have no desire to jump in and answer questions for people... So knowledge is one thing only...

If you look at the Newb question especially it doesn't take a ton of knowledge to answer those... but who do you see there all the time??? Ron and Jimmy they answer the questions over and over, those are Mentors...

At least that's how I see it... and people that help out other people should be acknowledged... The badge doesn't say I am better, it says I am willing....

You may be right, Maybe I'm missing the boat on this one. I just think, and this is just my opinion that:

A: Labels are bad.
B: new people will trust a "Mentor" over another members post regardless.
Bad help is not good. Good help is not bad....

Ding dong the rep is dead!!

I think the badges are a step in the right direction. I would be happier if there were no badges. I think separating people into different classes creates an atmosphere that breeds animosity and jealousy.

I think there should be three levels of participation.

1) users - the unwashed masses

2) moderators – to referee when needed, and maintain the site

3) site owner – the final word

I wrote a letter similar to Ron's when I accepted my badge, I said yes, but with some hesitation and reluctance.

I appreciate what and why this is being done I am not just not all the way comfortable with it.

Thank you moderators for moderating.

Charlie

For several months now I have gotten PM's from new members asking all sorts of questions. I have only done what most members would do in replying and setting the n00b on a path to find the information they need. Mentorship implies a willingness to help and enough experience to be useful, not any special status. I look at mine like an arrow pointing to a guy who has only done what I do anyhow. This has all been said and I believe it will be clearly spelled out in the stickies for new members so that they don't confuse who they can go to with questions on a more personal level if that's their thing with someone whose opinion outweighs others'.

X

PS Can my mentor badge be green?

Blind me. I hadn't noticed the "Mentor" badges, plain as they are. Nor had I paid much attention to the green dots, only looking at my solitary dot, hoping upon hope that it had multiplied!

Having spent much time here, I have come to know how helpful and knowledgable so many of you are (Zib, you're on my list too!!). I think anyone with a modicum of interest, intelligence, and discernment will come to know and value your answers and advice....with or without those steenking badgers.

I don't go for badges only because someone will be left out and there is some degree of arbitrariness. But either way, se la vie, what the heck, big deal, I'll be back.

Best to all.

I'll bet one of the things the mods are working hardest on is deciding what the qualifications/requirements/characteristics to be a mentor are and how to apply that to the process of picking out people. Going along with that, I have to say that, given the comment somewhere in this thread about how small the current number of mentors is, I'm a bit surprised that I was chosen.

Since a couple others mentioned how they responded to the request to be a mentor, I thought I'd share my response. I was honored to be chosen. I never had a lot of rep or a huge number of thanks and I'm not particularly highly active in any given section of the forum. But I thought about it, and I guess I have been around on the forums for a while and my post count has remained pretty steady, and I guess that counts for something.

I also wanted to say that I accepted without hesitation. From the request I recieved, it looked to me like a lot of thought had been put into the creation of the system and that a lot of thought was going into its implementation and expansion. All I really want to do is help out, I believe that the mods move the forum in a positive direction, and I'll do what I can to be on board with that effort. I don't mean to say that I'll blindly follow the mods, but it appeared that they were giving this whole thing a lot of thought so I didn't bother to.

Originally Posted by spazola

Ding dong the rep is dead!!

I think the badges are a step in the right direction. I would be happier if there were no badges. I think separating people into different classes creates an atmosphere that breeds animosity and jealousy.

I think there should be three levels of participation.

1) users - the unwashed masses

2) moderators – to referee when needed, and maintain the site

3) site owner – the final word

I wrote a letter similar to Ron's when I accepted my badge, I said yes, but with some hesitation and reluctance.

I appreciate what and why this is being done I am not just not all the way comfortable with it.

Thank you moderators for moderating.

Charlie

To be honest I agree with Charlie. I've had one member PM and he is thinking of leaving the forum because of the new badges.

I remember when I first came around and there were no badges, green things and the "thanks" had just been instituted. My main interest then and now was in honing and hones. It didn't take me but a week or two to figure out who to listen to.

If a person posts information that will point a new guy in the wrong direction it will be PDQ that someone else will call them on it and post the correct info.

All I'm getting at is that what Charlie said is the real deal," I would be happier if there were no badges. I think separating people into different classes creates an atmosphere that breeds animosity and jealousy. "

What is amazing to me is that this Mod team tries so hard and works so hard for the be good of this community and that one person who is obviously visible here and hasn't figured out it's not about him has caused this thread and conversation to escalate well beyond what is necessary. There has been so much information lately from every end of the world of personal preference that I have had PM after PM from new guys asking for some consistent direction. Unfortunately personal preference will always visible as will some one here for a month with hundreds of posts for what ever reasons. Unfortunately a new guy will never know the difference out of the gate. I applaud the attempt to recognize those members who so freely give of themselves to help others and share knowledge in here and look forward to seeing many more in the future.

Thanks,

Lynn

IF I may......
I want to say thank you for being included. For me this is both an honor and also a responsibility. The responsibility is to now do even better than I have before. I hope I can live up to that task.

I would like to thank the Mods for all their effort in putting this together. I can only imagine the difficulty of sorting thru the various considerations.

Labels..... to me the main purpose of the various labels is to help the new guys. None of the systems will be perfect but it beats doing nothing.

Just a suggestion..... If I make a post in the stropping forum or the shaving forum I do not believe that my mentor badge should be shown. Those are not my strong points and I believe that the Mentor badge might give my post more credence than it deserves. My strong suit is in honing, I would be more comfortable with Mentor badge being displayed in the honing forums and in the Newbies forum but nowhere else.

Again, thanks to all,