Blue wasn't a mentor that I had a chance to work with.
I took this screen shot from Help Island 217 just as Linden Lab started the Secondlife Mentor ejection process... her pose says so much...
There are many who insist that the mentor program was corrupt...and some undoubtedly were. I did see a couple instances of questionable behavior over the years...but by and large, those mentors I had contact with were those I saw at the Help Islands.
If you've ever spent more than a little time trying to show a nooblet pretty much anything... you quickly understand that it's not a glamorous calling, and seldom gives instant reward or recognition. The mentors like Blue weren't there to just *wear the tag* they made a difference. Personally, it's my passion, and a payment to those that helped me.
Yesterday early was a powerful time...the HIs had a lot of mentors. In case you've forgotten, except for Lindens {and until yesterday SL Mentors} Once you left the HIs you could never return. I suppose one could postulate that if many many more mentors had spent more time volunteering on those islands perhaps the retention rate for new residents to Secondlife would have been higher, and that the mentors would have been viewed differently.
I mentioned the time was powerful... So often in any life or time we never miss places, things, or ideas until they're no longer there. Along with so many sad looks * :-( * , yesterday I saw a renewed passion from so many... some insist they will remain until they are removed... others will start another account and alt.
It's easier to volunteer I think when one is new and so grateful... you wish everyone could share your new found passion for this second life. A few weeks or months later many of us get very involved in other passions and there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in any life we have.
I hope that's never my case.
Thank You to all the mentors that have helped me, supported me, written notes to Lindens about me, and most of all...remained my friends.
We ain't done yet!
And so it goes
I love you all, brinda
Namaste
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Sadness Personified
Blue wasn't a mentor that I had a chance to work with.
I took this screen shot from Help Island 217 just as Linden Lab started the Secondlife Mentor ejection process... her pose says so much...
There are many who insist that the mentor program was corrupt...and some undoubtedly were. I did see a couple instances of questionable behavior over the years...but by and large, those mentors I had contact with were those I saw at the Help Islands.
If you've ever spent more than a little time trying to show a nooblet pretty much anything... you quickly understand that it's not a glamorous calling, and seldom gives instant reward or recognition. The mentors like Blue weren't there to just *wear the tag* they made a difference. Personally, it's my passion, and a payment to those that helped me.
Yesterday early was a powerful time...the HIs had a lot of mentors. In case you've forgotten, except for Lindens {and until yesterday SL Mentors} Once you left the HIs you could never return. I suppose one could postulate that if many many more mentors had spent more time volunteering on those islands perhaps the retention rate for new residents to Secondlife would have been higher, and that the mentors would have been viewed differently.
I mentioned the time was powerful... So often in any life or time we never miss places, things, or ideas until they're no longer there. Along with so many sad looks * :-( * , yesterday I saw a renewed passion from so many... some insist they will remain until they are removed... others will start another account and alt.
It's easier to volunteer I think when one is new and so grateful... you wish everyone could share your new found passion for this second life. A few weeks or months later many of us get very involved in other passions and there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in any life we have.
I hope that's never my case.
Thank You to all the mentors that have helped me, supported me, written notes to Lindens about me, and most of all...remained my friends.
We ain't done yet!
And so it goes
I love you all, brinda
Namaste
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What a lovely post brinda and thank you for the picture, it does sum up how I felt at the time. Lonely and abandoned by a company and philosophy I had worked years for. But in the end its not about you or I or the Mentors or even Linden Lab, but the newbies who are curious enough to download Second Life and log on. We have grown to love this world and want to share all the good that is and can be. So many log in for the first time and don’t see what we see and will quickly log off, uninstall SL and never give it a second look. I once heard there is a 87% attrition rate for SL. That’s barely 1 in 10 who try SL and stick around.
ReplyDeleteIn this world I have seen the lame dance, the mute wax poetic and the lowly thrive. SL can change peoples lives. Some for better some for worse but still if they cant understand the basics, how to open a box or pan their camera so they can see the face of their avatar, things we see as simple but so important. If they cant do those things then they will likely leave and never have a chance to know what SL can be. I was helped by a Mentor early on and was thankful. And like so many who became Mentors I wanted to share the exciting things I learned with others. Often the phrase “pay it forward” was used to describe why we mentor, and each day there is someone new who has the desire to share what they have learned as well. Becoming a Mentor wasn’t hard but did require enough enter prospective to string 500 characters together in an application describing why you wanted to be a Second Life Mentor. Now there is no standard to uphold. True anyone can mentor. But a tradition has been abandoned and a trust lost and no matter what new and innovative and “scalable” solutions LL has in mind, I can’t imagine it replacing the SL Mentors and the people who made it great.
Blue S.
Blue, thru the tears...yes.
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