Mentoring For Newbies

[Cheffi]

Reading through the other thread re friendly forum etc one of the things that regular members hate most seems to be the repeated questions. I had a thought eureka!!!

What if older member with a large amount of patience (definately needed) agreed to be a mentor for complete newbie numpties. ie as soon as a newbie enters the forum and asks the first question they are approached by a mentor who will guide them through all the boring stuff like setup, cycling etc through pm.
It may take a bit of research on the mentors side as they need to link the newbie up with posts already written in answer to the questions. It would help to keep the same boring stuff from being posted time and time again. Maybe a newbie section so the mods could move them over there and lock the door

Or a complete newbie section with well written concise pinned articles in answer to the most asked questions so again they could be manoevered into that section to do their own research. I don't understand people who don't want to read and do research. I am always reading books and visiting various forums to increase my knowledge, maybe I am unique?

 

[BigIan]

good idea, i try to answer Alot of the beginners questions as i can as being relatively new my self i found it great when people answerd my questions.
As for the sections, they have the FAQ, the newbie and the beginners sections, however the newbies enver read them.

 

[Chac]

There are a few sites that I have noticed have a welcoming team that directly help out newbies or point them in the right direction for help

I try to help out were I can but I have noticed a lot of newbies dont bother with the pinned posts

 

[andywg]

/me has a brain wave....

How about we have a load of pinned topics to explain all the basics for them so they can read.

Then we can have a dedicated forum for the beginner's so they will know exactly where to find them.



Oh wait... we already do and they still don't bother...

 

[callum_parsons]

i think this site could do with a more effective search engine so you can search for the same question or questions that are similar

 

[voo]

I think this is partly the reason why people do appear to be annoyed when they reply. Most of the answers are there in pinned topics, but new people never see / read them. And it's the same over and over again...

/me has a brain wave....

How about we have a load of pinned topics to explain all the basics for them so they can read.

Then we can have a dedicated forum for the beginner's so they will know exactly where to find them.



Oh wait... we already do and they still don't bother...

 

[Flumpus]

Yep, the search engine can mentor newbies, and if they really search and can't find an answer, post away!

 

[Mr.September15]

We should make mentoring buddies ...They should live atleast in the same time zone as each other. And communicate over instant messenger eg:msn,yahoo,aim etc. I think thats a good idea. So they can ask each other questions live instead of waiting for someone to reply to posts.

 

[Torrean]

I know that newbs don't read pins. They want answers NOW. Simple way to remedy this would be to give them links to the pins. Put it in there face after they ask the question. If they really want an answer they'll read the link.

We have done this to an extent but I would like to see more grouping of pins. I like the pins on sand being grouped together for example.

 

[voo]

They could always use the live chat if they wanted answers now. I'm in there sometimes and there's a few new people coming and asking questions, but usually it's the same regulars there

Seems whatever you offer, new people just dont want to listen and take it

 

[Tolak]

/me has a brain wave....

How about we have a load of pinned topics to explain all the basics for them so they can read.

Then we can have a dedicated forum for the beginner's so they will know exactly where to find them.



Oh wait... we already do and they still don't bother...

I'm thinking the same thing, I'm also wondering if it isn't a situation of being new to computers/internet in general. Toss a little bit of that in with being overwelmed with information, and you come up with topics that just say "Help!!!".

I think the mentoring thing is a good idea, best place to start would be to pm a moderator, who could direct that person to someone knowledgable in that area or with that situation. Some people do better with a little one on one help with something new, others hit the search & find what they need on there own.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

or maybe when you sign up you could have an option you could state your fishkeeping experience, beginner, middle and advanced or something like that, then with your welcome email you get links to some pins that would be useful to you.

 

[jarmado]

What if older member with a large amount of patience (definately needed) agreed to be a mentor for complete newbie numpties.

ahhh patience
definitely a virtue

 

[Cheffi]

/me has a brain wave....

How about we have a load of pinned topics to explain all the basics for them so they can read.

Then we can have a dedicated forum for the beginner's so they will know exactly where to find them.



Oh wait... we already do and they still don't bother...

If you read the info on the newbies thread it states before you even click on it not to post any fish related questions!!!!!

This forum is big and someone who wasn't quite au fait with computers and trying to find out info could get totally bemused. I'm not against helping newbies but tbh like everyone else has said after a while you just can't be bothered to answer. I have tried the search engine on here and it comes up with so much stuff totally unrelated I've given up using it.
A 'NEW TO FISHKEEPING? THEN ENTER HERE-->' part to the forum would be good with all the newbie pinned topics there but instead of topics from older posts in their entirety they need to be consise, informative and 'closed' so they cannot be added to and confuse people. The titles need to say exactly what is contained therein so there's no confusion. Then if they ask questions related to the threads hopefully some of the information will have filtered into their heads and they ask questions worth answering. It has to be like a recipe written for someone who has never cooked before. ie Take the can opener out of the drawer etc etc

Oh hell what do I know forget I brought the subject up..................

 

[SugarQube]

I try to do my research and not ask too many questions you can tell nobody likes newbies on this site. I must say I prefer to google research than go through the pinned posts here, no wonder newbies get confused so many people say to do different things. I do understand though why you all get frustrated with us . I'm trying so hard to learn