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

First, +1m on what Bruno said.

Originally Posted by Blade Wielder

I think the Mentor labels are unnecessary. Just like the "Caution! Hot!" labels on coffee cups.

Incidentally, we do not have those labels in Germany. We do have badge systems in our forums. Simply because it is not always easy to identify a potential source of help.

Originally Posted by Blade Wielder

If anything, message boards are a hive of knowledge, with a library of old posts anyone can search out and read. All the labels say are, "The sweetest knowledge is here!"

I think you may be jumping to conclusions, based on assumptions I personally do not share. Please let us keep in mind that shaving with a straight razor is an acquired skill, and parts of it are either an art or arcane magic, depending on which school of shaving thought you subscribe to.

Now then, a beginner typically is confronted with a number of problems that you and other experienced shavers know only too well: Which razor? What grind? Hones? And if so, which? Will my cat die if I use canned foam? Will the sun never rise again if I use a Shavette? All that jazz.

I like analogies. Replace "shaving" in the above paragraph with "driving", or "fishing". Will you be able to give definitive answers for people from all over the world, with varying budgets, appetites for risk, and levels of devotion? I doubt it. Will you be able to even formulate meaningful questions? I doubt that, too, unless you spend a long time lurking before you post. Which is not what SRP is about. SRP is a forum that takes pride in being more forgiving towards inexperienced users, and it has worked extremely well so far (I still cringe when reading some of the utterly stupid questions I asked in the archive).

However, that approach might take its toll once the userbase has grown above a level where there are enough "coaches" for "newbies". It may not happen next week, or even next year. But without some form of mentoring system in place, it is bound to happen. I find it interesting that the criticism of the new system seems to be focussing on "why him, and not me?". As Bruno has stated clearly: The system has just been put into place, and we cannot but wait and see if it works as intended. If it does, and I have no reason to believe it should not, there will be additions to the mentor group as circumstances require. Personally, I would not mind having 5 mentors for the Wiki, but the demand is - unfortunately, I would like to add - not there yet.

Originally Posted by Blade Wielder

It's kind of insulting to just about everyone, actually. It implies new members are too dumb to take a three or four minute look around the forum to see which members are prolific in their posting, and it kind of implies that anyone who doesn't have a Mentor badge will might snub your PM's or something.

I am at a loss as to why you come to this conclusion. First, not finding relevant material in the forum has little to do with dumbness, unless you mean the forum search engine, which is a bit on the dumb side. Second, given the many variables involved in most, if not all, aspects of straight shaving, a few minutes will simply not suffice to identify a trustable source of information. And even if, you would third have to pick up the courage to actually contact that person. As I said, we have done a lot of hands on mentoring in the Chat, but the system is not for everyone, it does have technical shortcomings, and we are not always active all the time.

Originally Posted by Blade Wielder

None of us are real people - this is the internet!

All of us are real people, with the possible exception of some shoe manufacturers, and vendors of lifestyle drugs for the ageing gentleman. SRP is unlike many other forums inasmuch as it pays maximum attention to gentlemanly behaviour, and respect for other members, their contributions, and achievements. Forgetting that on the other end of the screen is a human might not be the best of ideas in this context.