Pokefarm Mentors; Discussion 'Ideas'

Just going to poke at the bottom one because that I can answer in my sleepy mind. No, we're don't have a list. People will sign up to be a mentor and we will see if they fit what we're looking for. This isn't something we're going to force on people. People will sign up, send their forms. And they will either be denied due to certain factors, tested and accepted, or tested and denied.

Ok that seems good So you have the mentor bit done and figured out All that's left is... the rest :'D icanseewhyyouareannoyed

I feel everyone has the right to a mentor as a newbie. I for one did not have a mentor so I made some blunders and felt stupid and asked questions. Of course there are nice users who helped me figure things out but nobody likes feeling stupid cause they did not get taught about the way the site works.

Alright, so this whole Mentor thing is so far up my alley it hurts, and I wanna get this rolling more actively for you guys. I want this to be a thing. It's been this idea that's just been THERE for literally years, and hey, let's be real... It's about time. You want it to happen. We want it to happen. So we need ideas. And feedback. We need talkies. Lots of it. Let's get to it, shall we?

• Back when you were a Newbie, what were the questions you had that you felt you had a hard time getting answers to yourself?
  • What pointers do you wish you had been given?
  • What resources did you find the hardest to locate?
• What traits do you think a good Mentor should have?
  • eg. Patience
• What interests you the most about having an official Mentor program?
• What concerns do you have in regards to there being an official Mentor program?
• Can you think of anything else that would be helpful to consider?
  • Let us know!

Now, my own input! When I was new, I had a hard time realizing where I should allocate my resources. I know it's not something Mentors should dictate to Newbies, but if someone had told me that it may perhaps have been wise to hold on to my Boxes until I had some Summons unlocked, I probably could have done a lot more with what I had. I think Mentors should be extremely patient, and willing to help the Newbies help themselves. I don't enjoy seeing answers spoon-fed, because... Well, teach a person to fish, right? I'd rather tell them how to use the Wiki and Forums rather than tell them the answer every time. I look forward to the prospect of an official Mentor program because it's an especially good opportunity to make friends, and I feel it will also strengthen the community. If you're interested in helping us along, please leave your own input and questions!

i definitely think mentors should encourage and teach newbies how to use the wiki. i constantly see the same questions asked in the help forums and discord that are easily answered on the wiki, but newbies often don't know what to look for. even i have some trouble finding things on the wiki, as some topics are gathered under one main page when they might not initially be expected to. i think mentors should therefore have a relatively good grasp with wiki use, as its one of the main troubles i see newbies having. i don't remember much from being a newbie cause it was 2-3 years ago now, but i know a lot of newbies have a hard time finding some things on this site when everything is new for them, and it can be frustrating. mentors should know where almost everything is on the site, and be able to explain the pathway to get to the correct areas. ALSO. mentors N E E D to teach newbies how to make money on this site, especially GP. it is the most common complaint i see come up, and i can see how it may seem difficult being new to the site. however, i think a mentor teaching newbies about the ways of contests, fab friday and potentially even the referral system would help out a lot with what i think is one of the biggest and most alienating problem newbies find. i think the traits a mentor should have is definitely being patient, but they should still have a personality. imo, there's no point in having human mentors if they are just gonna teach in a robotic way. it would make little difference from a set tutorial. they should also be confident in the things they say. the thing that interests me most about having an official mentor program is probably the chance of having a higher newbie retainment! i think the daunting start this site has often turns away new users, so having a mentor to ease them in will hopefully bring some life back into the site! i don't really have a lot of concerns about this program, i think it'll be a big positive for the site. the only problem i can potentially see is a lack of users on either side, either not having enough mentors or not having enough newbies.

Even if a Mentor doesn't know where everything is on the site, they should personally be aware of how to locate it, or at the very least know the correct channels for asking assistance. I expect some Mentors to occasionally have questions on the areas they're weaker in, and that's normal and dandy, we just have to impart a method of handling that situation that leads to the Mentor learning it in a way they can then pass on to their assigned Newbies. That way, everybody prospers. Showing Newbies Contests and Fabu Friday would help alleviate this issue, yes. And the Referral system would both get those Newbies some friends to play with, bring us new users, and bring new people into the Mentor program. It's a cycle where those once-Newbies could possibly even wind up as Mentors themselves eventually. Win-win, I'd say. You're right about the personality part. We could perhaps take interests into account when we match up Mentors with Newbies, and that'd give them something to talk about that isn't just a massive ongoing Q&A session, and the conversation on those interests would be a rewarding and bonding experience for both parties. I like it!

Back when you were a Newbie, what were the questions you had that you felt you had a hard time getting answers to yourself? What pointers do you wish you had been given? What resources did you find the hardest to locate? I joined the site the day PF1 opened to the public so erm... I can't answer these questions. lol It was so long ago and besides, everyone was a newbie and there was no wiki. What traits do you think a good Mentor should have?

1. A good knowledge of the site and, ideally, the community. You can't teach if you don't have the ability to.
2. A good attitude; should not get frustrated with the newbie or "give up" on them. Should be open to frequent and possibly "silly" questions. Should be open and approachable and not cold or make the newbie feel like they're bothering their mentor.
3. Should be a good role model; this would include having a fairly clear report history, showing the traits mentioned above in the forums or chat, and have good communication with others in a business model relationship.

What interests you the most about having an official Mentor program? Having an opportunity to help out the site in a way that I'm capable of and draw in new users who would otherwise leave because they find the site too confusing. What concerns do you have in regards to there being an official Mentor program? A problem in other communities with a system like this is that oftentimes either the newbie or the mentor just stops responding. Maybe there was a lull in conversation, maybe the newbie ran out of questions, or maybe the newbie got uncomfortable with their mentor or vice versa. Whatever the cause, communication ceased. And a mentor wouldn't be assigned a new newbie for a while because they wouldn't be informed if their newbie was well enough on their own or not; a few weeks/months would have to pass to confirm that the newbie was "inactive" and the mentor was free enough to take on another. Can you think of anything else that would be helpful to consider? Adding onto the idea that you would be matching up people with common interests... what would you do with people who didn't share much about themselves or don't seem to have any particular interests (other than Pokefarm, evidently)?

As a newbie, I wished that: 1. I could talk on the forums more easily. This was my first *big* forum game; before I had been on websites like Discord, Quotev, Facebook, Instagram, etc. The new forum rules were different and it was REALLY intimidating compared to the ones on sites before. I went to post in a shop when my account was a few weeks old, and saw that it was so complex and hard to navigate, I ended up posting in the thread what I wanted from the seller. Apparently, they had a form hidden in the big complex template and someone different messaged me saying something rather rude, about “you should read the shop rules before you post” and whatnot. It honestly scared me from posting in any forum for a while. That was just the first incident. XP A few more happened involving trading rules, double posting, posting images... Each time something popped up, I would search for the rules again (the site was hard to navigate back when I was a wee lass), and thoroughly read them. Now, I know pretty much everything on the site, how to find everything, the works. I know my way around, the rules for each forum, and I try to help people that need it. Over the past year or two, I’ve been getting messages from new users asking me questions, or I’d notice a relatively new user do something against the rules in a forum (usually unknowingly), and I’d always try to message them and be as kind as I can be, to answer questions or politely tell someone a site rule. Thankfully, I’ve seen the users of the site get a little nicer towards newbies, and that makes me happier. ^-^ 2. I wish I would have known my way around better. A couple times back in the day I tried posting in the help forum, or stumbling my way through the site. The answers in the help forums, while some were straightforward and “Farm, Other Links, Summon Items,” were oftentimes “check the wiki,” but then I didn’t know how to navigate the wiki and it became more stressful. Having a mentor would have helped me GREATLY. If a user needs to know where to find something, they can just pm their mentor, rather than post in the Help forum. 3. As was already mentioned before, I wish I could have known how to make currency easier. I was making VERY little starting out, until I eventually fumbled my way through and figured out the best ways to make bank.

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Important traits mentors n e e d to have: •Patience. I’m aware this is already a big factor that has already been mentioned, but that needs to be stressed. •Kindness. Nothing is more welcoming to a site than kindness. If we aren’t patient or kind to the newbies, that could scare them away from the site. •Decent knowledge of the site. Maybe not full knowledge of literally everything there is to do, but they should at least know how to find an answer if they can’t answer the question off the top of their head. Things mentors need to teach: •A basic set of rules for the site. If I were a mentor, I would personally send my adopted user smol newbie a list of basic site rules and forum posting rules (double posting, spam, image rules, etc.). •How to earn money. As stated before, introduce them to things like contests, fabulous Friday, tournaments... etc. •Answer site navigation questions. •This one is pretty optional, but some basic knowledge of BBCode would also help users. Optional, but also a thing: •If the mentor and newbie had things in common, things they both like, etc., that might help communication. Smol bonus: •and this is just a little bonus thing, it would be cool if mentors sent their newbie a gift. Like, a shiny, or a few gems, or something like that. :3 It’s kind of a nice surprise and adds for a more pleasant welcome. It probably shouldn’t be made mandatory, but encouraged perhaps?

• Back when you were a Newbie, what were the questions you had that you felt you had a hard time getting answers to yourself?
  • What pointers do you wish you had been given?
  • What resources did you find the hardest to locate?
• What traits do you think a good Mentor should have?
  • eg. Patience
• What interests you the most about having an official Mentor program?
• What concerns do you have in regards to there being an official Mentor program?
• Can you think of anything else that would be helpful to consider?
  • Let us know!

When I first started, the forums were definitely the hardest thing for me to understand. ^-^ I'd never really played any games with forums before, so this was new to me. I think if I'd known about the Guides section, I would have had a much easier time starting out. I'm sure I had other problems starting out but it's been.. almost five years? Any problems I had might not even be relevant anymore with all the updates. Pointers I wish I'd been given: I definitely wish someone had told me about Summons, since you don't get a notification or anything, I didn't even know they were there for a while >-< Also, how easy it was to trade for HM/ZC. When I first joined I assumed you had to buy it, and couldn't trade for it like a lot of other games I'd played. I know it's been said multiple times but mentors need to be patient, and remember that they've been playing x amount of time, so not everything is as obvious as they might think. ^^' They need to have the ability to answer any questions their mentee would ask. Even if they don't know the answer, they need to know where to find it, thought I guess if we're going to have a Discord group, like was previously mentioned, they would be able to ask there? I think, with the Mentor program, we may be able to get more new users to stay on the site, instead of leaving after a few days. If it wasn't for some very kind interactions with other users when I first joined, I'm not sure I would have stayed ^^' This is an opportunity to give new users an actual connection to the site. My main concern is the chance for abuse of this system. I know mentors will be picked by staff, but there's always the chance that a scammer will get through, and I'm not sure how you'd double-check for this? Assuming the majority of their conversations will be through PM, unless their Mentee reported them, I'm not sure how long it'd take for them to be caught.

Oh God I have wanted this for so long yay Back when you were a Newbie, what were the questions you had that you felt you had a hard time getting answers to yourself? What pointers do you wish you had been given? What resources did you find the hardest to locate? What traits do you think a good Mentor should have? eg. Patience What interests you the most about having an official Mentor program? What concerns do you have in regards to there being an official Mentor program? Can you think of anything else that would be helpful to consider? Let us know! When I was a new player, I think the hardest thing for me to get used to was the forums. There are so many different forums and there are so many different threads in each forum, each requiring different kinds of talk to be there and not in other places. While it is extremely well organized, it is also extremely big and a lot to try to get used to and adjusted with. It is, of course, possible, but gosh there were so many to explore. I personally found it kind of difficult going through these forums looking for things I want. Even more so, trying to find it something is, for example, reasonably priced. Trying to learn the values of items that I was still learning about in general, wasn't fun lol. To answer the question, however, the hardest things I tried getting answers for were questions about summons, their values, specials and their values, how the albino radar worked, and I probably asked several questions about gems and badges too lol. When I was a new player, I wish I had been told, or if I was told I wish I listened lmao, a ton of information about summons. Like, how common some are, their most common values, about collecting and hunting, how profitable they could be, shown the specials that were discovered. I also wish I was told more info about the wiki. I know there is/was an entire page with links to all regions shinies, albinos, and melanistics, but I literally found that out like, a year ago, I think, and I have been playing almost 3. The List of Special Pokémon is so useful and good for deciding if you want to hunt something or even just admiring the colors. That was probably one of the hardest things to find that I, personally, consider a big resource. Actual resources though that I found hard to find would probably include pokemon dexes. I really didn't prioritize getting Arceus Rank, I still don't honestly (oops) but that was because there are so many pokemon and the fakemon too and they're sometimes hard to find. More pokemon means more options which means they are not, under any circumstances, evenly hunted and dispersed into the shelter. For some reason the Pokémon Alomomola is in my mind, I feel like I had a hard time finding that egg lmao. Breeding pairs are definitely a thing to keep and mind and be aware of where to find them, cause it could definitely save you from losing your mind trying to find a single egg. I did hoard them for a little while just to always be prepared haha. I think that traits a mentor should have are patience, understanding, and kindness. You need to give the person you are trying to help the time to articulate what they are wanting to know, or why they want to know something, or whatever it is they are coming to you about. You've also got to make sure they don't feel like they're dumb for asking something or that they are annoying you requesting help, or anything of the sort. Using kind words, letting them ask their questions, and being willing to help regardless, are key things. You've also got to try and guide them to their answer, politely, instead of just giving them everything they're looking for. If a Mentee is going to be handed everything they want then it will be hard for them to find it in the future, so at the very least, if someone is going to just tell them the answer, they should link wherever they got their answer from, so the user can then go find it in the future. I'm interested in there being an official Mentor program because I was apart of it before it got shut down and I found it very nice and fun and helpful. It's a great way to make a new friend, get lots of help, and have someone to talk to about your experience on the site so far. It will also show new users that there are a lot of users eager and interested in showing them the way the site works, hopefully convincing them to stay and play instead of deciding to quit. You can't, of course, force them to stay, but I think with this program it would make the site a lot more compelling. Some concerns I have with the Mentor program are potential fights over a Mentee, or amongst other Mentors. Say, a user wants to Mentor a new user, but someone else does as well, they could end up getting into an argument. Or, even worse (in my opinion) one Mentor thinks the answer to a question is not what another Mentor has and then a debate breaks out over who is right and who is wrong. That could potentially confuse other Mentors, leading to the Mentee being/getting confused, and could be a bit of an issue. Other concerns I have are Mentee's being given the wrong answer. This is probably an obvious concern, but it's still a large one. The point of the program would be to help the Mentee, so if they were told something incorrect, intentionally or not, they would be left confused and thus not helped, potentially agitated/upset over being confused, and that could branch out into more issues. I think stuff that should be considered for the Mentor program is Timezones, availability, and experience. Timezones are always good to match. Just in case someone has a wonky sleep schedule, checking availability is also a good idea, in my opinion. Lastly, experience. Making sure the Mentor actually has a decent enough grasp on the site to pass along their knowledge and experience is extremely vital, and will need to be thoroughly checked. I have a lot of faith that the people that will be doing this will only being doing this to help, so I don't really see a huge concern for negativity or other types of issues coming directly from the users looking to be apart of this. The program will be intended as a learning utility for the new users, and it will require a decent amount of time, so the chances of people trying to get involved only to cause harm are little to none, in my opinion. Can't wait to see this come to fruition! Been an idea for so long and I am excited to see how it plays out from here! c: