Over the past week or so there have been several posts concerning the behaviour of both new and old members. One of the points raised was concerning passing on advice to the newbies. This is something I brought up months and months ago, but never got round to dotting the i's and crossing the t's and was probably trying to overcomplicate it!!
However, now seems the right time to impliment it. The idea is this. I want a group of willing volunteers who would be allocated some newbies to chaperone for a while, to help them find their feet and guide them through the minefield of do's and don'ts on the Site. The newbies would apply to me and I would allocate them to a mentor. The mentor is not there to make sure they get a quick shag or an intro to a munch or meeting which they don't match the criteria for. What they ARE there for is to help them through that difficult time of knowing what to post, how often to post, who to contact, how to contact them and various other answer all the stupid questions that they want to ask and would get shot down if asked in open forum. This will only be for newbies who ask for it and will not be imposed on all. We will monitor it to see how well or not that it works and see whether it is worth the extra effort to continue.
That's the basics. For those who are interested in being a Mentor and who have the time, patience and understanding to do it, please PM me. Not everyone will be suitable, so please bear with me if you get knocked back. It isn't a 'no' for ever, just for the time being.
And if you are a newbie, please don't contact me yet about getting mentored. Let me get the system set up first and then I will post again asking for you to apply.
Hopefully this will help retain the good ones and give some of the 'oldies' a chance to pass on their wisdom and renew their interest in the Site.
Mal