Mentoring new reef keepers?

[SPR1968]

I agree 100% it can be very intimidating. And I tend to stress when I'm in the middle of an emergency and don't want to hear people's sarcastic answers so I've been cast out on my go to Facebook group because I'm "rude". (I swear I'm not, I'm just wound tight in emergency situations) maybe if I had just one go to person he/she would understand that about me.

Hopefully you won’t experience that here on R2R ever, because this one of the friendliest forums you will find anywhere and we are all here to help. It’s certainly not face... whatever is called!

 

[Captain Quint]

Hopefully you won’t experience that here on R2R ever, because this one of the friendliest forums you will find anywhere and we are all here to help. It’s certainly not face... whatever is called!

+1 we are more than happy you are with us. We do not believe in intimidating and allow no ridicule. Sometimes the many giving advice can be overwhelming if you get tons at a time but it is always meant to help.

 

[rknott]

So momentum isn't lost on this excellent idea #dantimdad I am wondering what next steps could be? Brainstorming here: Given I am a total noob on this site and this subject area, I don't know how this works, but wondering if a new high level topic area could be set up that is something like: "Need a Mentor Find a Mentor, Could be a mentor, be a mentor". Maybe have some sort of sticky at the top that has some ground rules. Things like Mentees tend to come and go, don't sign up unless you are dedicated to the hobby. Don't sign up if you have a single question or emergencies, those go NNNNNNN or NNNNNN. Mentors are designed for people starting out or have been in the hobby for a while, but are ready to take the next step and have a wide range of questions. Additionally, you are expected to do some level of research on your own. Mentors provide guidance on how to solve problems and general direction, but don't expect them to do everything for you. Mentors, being a mentor is a big commitment, please don't sign up unless you are committed to replying to your mentee within NNNN hours or days (I don't know what is reasonable) . . . . . . . and you are willing to do this for NNNN weeks/months. When deciding to end a mentor/mentee relationship let your partner know other items in your personal life are taking priority and you no longer have time to focus on reef keeping so the other person isn't left wondering what happened and consequently wasting time. . . . . . . .

 

[rknott]

Any news on this? Mentee searching. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/conversion-from-14g-biocube-to-75g-need-help.588560/

 

[vetteguy53081]

Been in touch with a couple of people who need help or advice

 

[ccombs]

Ya know, I like where the idea is, but honestly, sifting through all of the various ideas and advice helped me more than anything. Instead of blindly listening to advice that everyone gave, it made me research conflicting ideas and make my own choices.

Is it harder this way... you bet it is! But I think that success in this hobby comes with time and failure. It sucks that the failure ended up with fish death. However, I now know some great things that will keep my fish happy and successful long term.

 

[cvrle1]

Mentoring is always a lot of fun, and quite rewarding for all parties involved. I think reefing is one of the areas where having a mentor could be tricky for various reasons.

There are so many ways to skin a cat in reefing, so many different views on what constitutes as right and wrong (QT vs no QT, cleaning sand vs not touching it, automation vs no automation, etc) that it would be hard to have mentorship in true sense of the word. Some people like to have everything handed to them on silver platter, while others like to ask question, research and try different things to see if they work. If you are to assign a mentor to someone, you would have to find a match in regards to thought process between 2 parties involved. You dont want to pair up someone who wants everything given to him/her with mentor that would expect person to do research and figure some things out for themselves. You also dont want to have someone mentor you who has completely opposite views on what works and what doesnt from your own, and doesnt allow you to try and fail. And that brings us to the question on how do you decide who should be a mentor in the 1st place. There are folks out there (not just reefing, in general) who have wealth of knowledge, but arent great in sharing them with others (just dont know how). There are folks out there that think they know it all, share all their info, but more often than not they are just plain wrong. You definitely dont want to have latter as mentor. If this is to be properly done, there should be some sort of vetting process to make sure proper mentors are selected. If anyone can just say hey I will mentor you, it can open up a can of worms and lead to lot of issues, and possibly monetary loss for mentee (is that even a word? lol)

For me personally, I like to read a lot, ask a lot of questions, sometimes stupid ones, get info from various sources, and then make up my own mind about how things should work and why. I wouldnt be able to work with someone who thinks their way is the best way and things have to be done certain way as an example.