Will "Adopt a newbie" ever come back?

[BZWGolem]

Not sure how many people remember, but long ago there was an "adopt a newbie" topic somewhere around the "introduce yourself" old forums.

There, senior members could be listed as "mentors" and new members could request a mentor to "help them around".

I think it was a very nice feature (and it helped me a lot years ago) - are there any hopes of it ever returning?

 

[shhmew]

Hey good question. Within staff I've seen mixed opinions about that I think, but one thing I will say is it might warrant a return if we continue to have a steadyish flow of incoming new members. It's just a matter of if staff think it's worth the effort now (I personally wouldn't be interested in running it, but maybe Bubba/seaturtle would since he had a major hand in it before).

 

[BZWGolem]

It's great that you guys are considering it!

I do agree that at this moment it may be too early, as the forums just started again and are relatively small.

But please consider it in the future :)
I may even remind you someday if I remember to, in this thread :P

 

[seaturtle]

I was there for the end of the Adopt-a-Newbie program, and I'd be against it returning to be honest.I joined the program when I joined the site, but never did much as a newbie and never was really reached out to. Later on I ended up becoming a mentor and revamped the program, but I didn't feel like there was much for mentors to do in the first place. It was confusing for me on both sides, not knowing what to do or what was expected from me.

It's great for new members to have specific people to go to for help, but the people who are designated as mentors need to have some sort of standard they're living up to as far as activity goes. I feel like there also needs to be more than just offering to help them around and stuff- staff members are available for questions, and our introduction forum has been bustling with loads of people welcoming the newbies as they join. What would the Adopt-a-Newbie program bring that's new and needed?

Another thing to bring up is that the program is kinda more oriented towards younger members. It's a little patronizing for older members to have a mentor. Since it's opt-in I'm not sure if there would be many people who would want to participate since our userbase is composed of mostly (young) adults.

If there's a general consensus that the AAN program would benefit the site, we could put something into place- I'm all for doing things that the community wants to see. I just don't think that it would bring much to the site anymore.

 

[BZWGolem]

I can't speak for other people, but what the Adopt-a-Newbie program gave me was the first person that I could talk with without feeling weird.
I mean, imagine a new member that randomly starts PMing a random senior user asking him "what's up" sort of stuff.
Sounds weird and is a bit creepy :P

But it's completely different when this senior member is your appointed "mentor" and you are trying to build this basic connection with them.

I think that what this gave me, was this first forum friend that I needed to get into the community :)

But enough about me, if anyone else cares they will probably post here at some point... right?

 

[Mirage]

I also remember the adopt-a-newbie program. To me, what I thought about it was I thought it was gonna be one of those hyped programs that ends up being a dud in the end. I was thinking about joining, probably should've, but in the end I didn't join because I had the perception that if I joined, nobody would care to help me out and become my friend. Luckily for me, I ended up making a friend, and they became like a mentor to me as well, and we became best friends and still are to this day.

Now as a member who's been a part of the community for 3 years, I don't need it personally obviously, but, I probably would be up to be a mentor myself if it ever came back. It's cool to know that it worked for some people when it was still around and I'm willing to give it a second chance if it does come back.

 

[shhmew]

i was never a mentor or a newbie, but i do see a lot of good experiences from people who were and i see a lot of potential and merit with it. one of the things that keeps people attached to a new forum is if they are able to develop a friendship, when you have someone to talk to and make you feel welcome it really keeps you wanting to come back. it's a really powerful thing. personally i developed that on my own through posting in clubs and the chatterbox, but everyone is different and i've seen a lot of people struggle with reaching out on their own. this provides an avenue for them to do that without all the pressure being on them.

of course, there is an element of being a bit patronizing as bubba pointed out (especially when you call it "mentor" and "newbie"), and you could also say that essentially appointing someone to be a new member's friend is a little fake by nature, but I think if the "mentors" are carefully chosen it could create some very genuine connections.

it may still not be worth it. AAN really did not go so well when we last tried. but I'm really glad we are at least discussing it and anyone else who has opinions on it or good/bad experiences should jump in, too.

 

[B!RD]

do we HAVE newbies? that's the question here tbh

 

[Dregran]

do we HAVE newbies? that's the question here tbh

We do.

I'm on the boat about it not being necessary anymore. Though the main reasoning I see is that because we're not a huge community anymore. The community is closer and more personal now.

 

[colours]

Hi. Responding as a new users around these parts, and also because I've seen something like this implemented on a different forum before, so I feel I have a decent-ish idea how mentor programs generally go about.

Personally, on this forum, I really don't think it's necessary. When I initially joined, I was terrified of joining conversations because I felt like I had no idea where to start, but the thing is, I don't think it really takes a mentor to kind of kick your butt into gear of just... kind of throwing yourself out there and posting and trying to integrate yourself into the community itself, y'know?

I can understand the need for a mentor program if this was a huge community with different sub-communities, but that's really not the case. I feel like most of the time, a lot of "fitting in" is just kind of making yourself known by participating as much as you can throughout the site. And the more you do so, the more you start to feel comfortable hanging around. That's not something that one needs a mentor for per se, that has to be done on behalf of the new person joining.

And especially since we're all starting over on a fresh (and much cleaner) slate, it's even more inviting to participate in conversations than before, so there's that. n.n