Great idea, Aria! Here's a few quick tips from myself:
What then, is a Mentor?
This is someone who shows the new people around the site and helps them feel welcomed and wanted. The bigger YWS gets, the more important it is to have such a role as there are lots of friendship groups already in place and sometimes it's hard for a new member to break into that. Sometimes they might even be too shy to give it a go.
How Does the System Work?
Two members are paired up as mentor and mentee, the mentor being the experienced member and the mentee the newer member. This pairing can happen either through the new person stumbling upon the group and requesting a mentor, at which point they will be given the chance to choose their own, but ultimately placed under someone's care. Or as a mentor you can actively seek out a mentee by frequenting the welcome forum, saying howdy and explaining a little about what we do.
What is Expected of me?
Nothing! You're a volunteer so we're not going to force you to take on x number of mentees every x months. That would be ridiculous. What we do ask is that if you do agree to mentor someone, then you follow through. Be friendly to them and review their work, introduce them to others around the site. Answer any questions they have! If for any reason you cease being able to be a mentor to someone then please, please let me know so I can see them re-homed with someone else.
How Many Mentees Can I Have at a Time?
For now we're going to set the limit at two. When you take on a mentee, the idea is to guide them for a full month so we don't want any of you to be overloaded. It doesn't have to be more than a review a week and a couple of pm's, but I'd rather see you take on one mentee and give them lots of attention, than take on two and not talk very much to either. Of course, if they don't log on often that's a whole different story. You can only be as active as they are!
Have you Got Any Final Tips For me?
Approach the new people! Explain what we do and ask if it's something that they're interested in, but if they say no, tell them that's okay and move on. Mentoring isn't for everyone but there are lots of users out there who will find it helpful and be open to your advances! There's a lot of ways to contact new users from posting on their walls to sending them a gift and there's no right or wrong way to go about it! Just be friendly and you'll do fine
