Mentoring new reef keepers?

[Hemmdog]

Reef Squad is not responsible for moderation, since they are helpful you may see a RS member trying to get a thread back on track etc. Here is the definition:

Reef Squad - This banner is given to members of an awesome team of eagerly helpful people around R2R. This team of folks are specifically responsible for helping our members with all kinds of hobby questions. The guys and gals of this team have each been hand-picked as friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable members who are always willing to help out with any type of hobby issue. They all have different areas of hobby knowledge, and they work hard to be sure that all of the questions that get asked here on R2R get answered. By the way, if you want to specifically call on our Reef Squad members to help with your specific question, all you have to do is add the hashtag #reefsquad to your post (think of this as R2R's own personal "Bat signal" that calls our awesome RS team to aid), and they're always quick to respond.

Very cool.

 

[You Got Reef?]

Teach me the ways of the reef, oh glorious masters!

 

[dantimdad]

@Will Roberts be glad to.

(you do realize I was kidding. I am in no way a master)

(I almost typed Will Rogers LOL!)

 

[Brew12]

I like the idea but setting it up and maintaining it would be a challenge. One of the biggest problems is that an individual can only mentor a certain number of people effectively. Many top reefers would reach that max within a week or two. What might be better is if we improve putting out the message on who to follow. People should look through the build threads, find a system that looks great that is the size of their systems and potentially within their budget. Then they should be following these people and trying to learn from them.

Looks like we also need to do a better job putting out what the role of the Reef Squad is. Their main focus is to help try and make sure that people using R2R have the family friendly and welcoming experience we strive to maintain. Most of them are also experienced reef keepers, but that isn't always the case. We have an "Expert" tag for individuals that have significantly above average knowledge in at least one area of the hobby. These may or may not be members of the Reef Squad. Reef Squad does not have a role as forum moderators and do not have anything to do with editing posts. The only thing they may do is to use the report function, which we encourage every one of our members to do if they see content that makes them uncomfortable.

That isn't to lessen our Reef Squad members. These are some hard working volunteers. They try to help when they can, and if they can't, they try and match up the person needing help with someone who may know the answer. They often welcome new members and help them get comfortable as they learn to use the site. Much of what makes R2R special (imo) falls on their shoulders.

And I'm typing too slow as I think this out..... much of it was mentioned since I started.

 

[DSC reef]

Personally I think all of us on #reefsquad do our very best to try and do this very thing. We try very hard to help any and all members with all things tank related. I think listening to one person who is a mentor could be a bad thing as many opinions can be good as there's no "one" way to run a reef or start a tank.

 

[You Got Reef?]

@dantimdad Thanks! I'm aware but you're closer to a master than me probably.

I get called that a lot more than you'd think... lol

 

[You Got Reef?]

@dantimdad Thanks! I'm aware but you're closer to a master than me probably.

I get called that a lot more than you'd think... lol

 

[dantimdad]

Well at least you never met a stranger!

 

[Ranjib]

I love this idea. And I would re-emphasize the reefsquad and mentors are bit different. A squad is always a group of people willing to help with urgent situation and can have vastly varied skill set. Their problem domain is also different, as it can encompass from reef related topics (such as fish diseases, corals ids) to diy things to just maintaining r2r ethos (welcoming, inclusiveness, no-hostility and explicit tones etc), while a mentor is more of personal thing and a guide to individual reef keepers journey.
At the same time, I would echo the concern that running a mentorship program has a significant overhead associated with it, from maintaining a list of mentor/mentees to time allotment. I personally think it can be a tall ask from the staff here.
Now, both pros and cons out of the way, I'll share my suggestion, i.e. to come up with a community-driven proposal that covers how such a program will work (i.e. identify the personas, identify the workflows, call out the standard operating procedure etc), get it approved from the staff and see run a pilot and see what happens. I do think this is valuable, and I am happy to volunteer, as this is a more structured way to offer help which offers deeper context.

Apologies for the technical jargons, I do this (mentoring and onboarding) a lot in my professional work and opensource work, hence I am very passionate about this topic

 

[dantimdad]

I love this idea. And I would re-emphasize the reefsquad and mentors are bit different. A squad is always a group of people willing to help with urgent situation and can have vastly varied skill set. Their problem domain is also different, as it can encompass from reef related topics (such as fish diseases, corals ids) to diy things to just maintaining r2r ethos (welcoming, inclusiveness, no-hostility and explicit tones etc), while a mentor is more of personal thing and a guide to individual reef keepers journey.
At the same time, I would echo the concern that running a mentorship program has a significant overhead associated with it, from maintaining a list of mentor/mentees to time allotment. I personally think it can be a tall ask from the staff here.
Now, both pros and cons out of the way, I'll share my suggestion, i.e. to come up with a community-driven proposal that covers how such a program will work (i.e. identify the personas, identify the workflows, call out the standard operating procedure etc), get it approved from the staff and see run a pilot and see what happens. I do think this is valuable, and I am happy to volunteer, as this is a more structured way to offer help which offers deeper context.

Apologies for the technical jargons, I do this (mentoring and onboarding) a lot in my professional work and opensource work, hence I am very passionate about this topic

And there is the voice of reason we needed.



Agreed.

 

[Katrina71]

I have an idea. Yes it hurt. #mentor. Maybe have a couple of folks to lighten the load a bit for the reef squad. Maybe a paid member perk? Just a thought.

 

[DSC reef]

All these ideas should be talked over with @revhtree before it gets ahead of itself. Personally I think it takes away what R2R is, a community learning together and not one person that knows all.

 

[Crabs McJones]

@revhtree and @mdbannister

 

[Reefer_Rob]

Im for sure interested in a mentor. Ive been just sponging up info for the past year or more and ill be putting together my first 50-65 gal tank soon!

 

[dantimdad]

All these ideas should be talked over with @revhtree before it gets ahead of itself. Personally I think it takes away what R2R is, a community learning together and not one person that knows all.

No that's not the point. I am sorry you misunderstood my intent.

It's about keeping confusion to a minimum.

The community at large can only benefit from it.

I am in no way wanting to exclude folks from anything, yet, what I do want to do is to develop a report and be able to cut through the noise to get to the root of the issues folks may have and then get solid answers to them.

I am the first person to say "I am not sure, but I will find the person who is" That's what a mentor does. Impart knowledge and gather information from resources they have gathered.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

All these ideas should be talked over with @revhtree before it gets ahead of itself. Personally I think it takes away what R2R is, a community learning together and not one person that knows all.

I completely agree with this.

 

[Ron Reefman]

If I may speak on behalf of a noob, I found it comforting to have a mentor or in my case, a few. I would like to see an OPTION for someone to have a mentor. Sometimes I felt so embarrassed to ask questions publicly. I got some pretty far out answers at the LFS. If it weren't for "the 3 wise men" on here, I would have failed at this. I am forever grateful.

The reason I am on R2R 98% of the time is to offer help. I still ask questions and after 15 years in the hobby there is still a lot I can learn. But I agree that for some people in the noob camp, as well as some people in the reef squad camp, it possible having or being a mentor would be better than the current 'it takes a village' system. However, a noob who gets a mentor isn't stuck and can still ask questions of the group. Some of you have talked about this as if it were an all or nothing situation. It's not and it shouldn't be. If you want a mentor, try it. If you want to be a mentor, try it. If not, then life goes on as always.

I love this idea. So do I! And I would re-emphasize the reefsquad and mentors are bit different. A squad is always a group of people willing to help with urgent situation and can have vastly varied skill set. Their problem domain is also different, as it can encompass from reef related topics (such as fish diseases, corals ids) to diy things to just maintaining r2r ethos (welcoming, inclusiveness, no-hostility and explicit tones etc), while a mentor is more of personal thing and a guide to individual reef keepers journey. I agree 100%

At the same time, I would echo the concern that running a mentorship program has a significant overhead associated with it, from maintaining a list of mentor/mentees to time allotment. I personally think it can be a tall ask from the staff here.

Now, both pros and cons out of the way, I'll share my suggestion, i.e. to come up with a community-driven proposal that covers how such a program will work (i.e. identify the personas, identify the workflows, call out the standard operating procedure etc), get it approved from the staff and see run a pilot and see what happens. I do think this is valuable, and I am happy to volunteer, as this is a more structured way to offer help which offers deeper context.

Apologies for the technical jargons, I do this (mentoring and onboarding) a lot in my professional work and opensource work, hence I am very passionate about this topic

All these ideas should be talked over with @revhtree before it gets ahead of itself. Personally I think it takes away what R2R is, a community learning together and not one person that knows all.

I don't think it takes away anything at all. If anything, it allows a noob to get 'comfortable' with a mentor and allows them to ask the stupid question. And if they want more input, they can ask in the open forum. It's not and all one or all the other situation! It allows a noob to get comfortable enough to be willing to finally take advantage of the community!

 

[DLHDesign]

Doesn't this kind of exist already?

I can't imagine any scenario where a new member is welcomed - and then assigned a mentor automatically. In order for mentorship to work, the recipient must be as willing as the mentor (if not more-so). So the best that could be done (I figure?) is that the new reefer could be told that there is help available for them. Which - when you look at the introductory threads - is what happens. New members are welcomed to the forums and offered any help that they may need; now or in the future. This welcome is usually accompanied with helpful links to articles and posts that others have found useful.

So while there is no one solitary mentor assigned to a new user, we (the community at large) are generally more than happy to provide mentorship. And since this is a responsive community, poor advice* is quickly drowned out in the deluge of good. If someone is looking to fill the role of a mentor, then all they have to do is subscribe to the Meet & Greet Forum; there is plenty of opportunity to provide topic-agnostic mentorship there.

(* - Given the variable number of ways to run a successful reef tank, truly poor advice is actually quite rare in my experience. Less than ideal is fairly common, but even less than ideal advice is often better than nothing at all. So long as the needle is moving in the right direction, does it matter if it's not moving faster?)

 

[Hemmdog]

The reason I am on R2R 98% of the time is to offer help. I still ask questions and after 15 years in the hobby there is still a lot I can learn. But I agree that for some people in the noob camp, as well as some people in the reef squad camp, it possible having or being a mentor would be better than the current 'it takes a village' system. However, a noob who gets a mentor isn't stuck and can still ask questions of the group. Some of you have talked about this as if it were an all or nothing situation. It's not and it shouldn't be. If you want a mentor, try it. If you want to be a mentor, try it. If not, then life goes on as always.





I don't think it takes away anything at all. If anything, it allows a noob to get 'comfortable' with a mentor and allows them to ask the stupid question. And if they want more input, they can ask in the open forum. It's not and all one or all the other situation! It allows a noob to get comfortable enough to be willing to finally take advantage of the community!

Absolutely ! I see only benefits as well. The knowledge would still be shared with the community in some form or another, build thread, posts go public after issue resolved, something like that.

 

[Captain Quint]

Am I misunderstanding something #reefsquad? I understand and notice different members chiming on different subjects in which they excel and it is awesome and a well-oiled machine so to speak. I value all areas of admin/staff etcetera here yet value many whom I know to have tons of knowledge and experience as well.

Am I inferring incorrectly that if someone with several years of experience on a matter and perhaps educated in it as well should not give unfettered attention to a specific topic and remain silent?

 

[Ron Reefman]

No that's not the point. I am sorry you misunderstood my intent. It's just a bit of confusion.

It's about keeping confusion to a minimum. And for some people, this would be extremely helpful!

The community at large can only benefit from it.

I am in no way wanting to exclude folks from anything, yet, what I do want to do is to develop a report and be able to cut through the noise to get to the root of the issues folks may have and then get solid answers to them.

I am the first person to say "I am not sure, but I will find the person who is" That's what a mentor does. Impart knowledge and gather information from resources they have gathered.

And I'm 100% in agreement that I (and for that matter, nobody here) knows all the answers. And the mentors need to know that they need to be flexible and understanding.