Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Volunteer Day Theme


A hint was dropped on us via notice for Volunteer Day. It appears to be a Carnival.
Saturday, May 3rd, from 7:00AM - 12:00AM PST. Live Music and DJ entertainment from 10:00AM - 10:00PM.
I will say these events are always fun and we have a great time. You get to meet someone you never thought you would get to meet. You never know what name you recognize from Mentor chat might show up. The Vteam puts on a great show and my prediction for this year is they will attempt to out do themselves again.

Stay tuned for info on the SLVEC Awareness Scavenger Hunt which follows Volunteer Appreciation Day adding to the all Volunteer Weekend.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

SLVEC Awareness Day and Scavenger Hunt

We are having SLVEC Awareness Day with Scavenger Hunt on Sunday, May 4th right after Volunteer Appreciation Day starting at 12:01 AM SLT through 8 PM SLT.
Lots of goodies to be had!!

This event is open to all Mentors and Sponsored by SL Mentor Educators.

If you would like to donate items (some restrictions apply) or help out please contact myself, Rails Bailey, Contessa Marquez or Taryn London.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Orientations Start Back up May 5

Newsflash SLVEC.... just received from Vteam...Mentors will be accepted into the Apprentice program and Orientation classes will resume on Monday, May 5th.

For those who have been Coaches and Orientation hosts the vacation is over.

For those who are Buddy Mentors dust off those speeches.

If you want to become an Orientation Host please sign up at-http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Mentors_Teaching_Mentors

Schedule of classes offered by Mentors is at-
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Classes_Offered_By_Mentors

Let's have a great quarter and as ever thank you for educating Mentors.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Monthly Mentor Meeting and Buddy Coach Talks with George

Monthly Mentor meeting is this Friday, April 25th. Two times, at 10am SLT and 5PM SLT.
If you have never been to one now is your chance to come see what it is all about. Meet some other mentors.

On the agenda we have:


• Mentor applications open again.


• Buddy Shadowing - new apprentice requirement.


• Mainland Mentors Teaching


• Volunteer Appreciation Day Celebration!


• More Q & A's coming• ARs with Linden names - whats that about?


For Apprentice Buddies and Orientation Coaches,
For the next two weeks, George will be prioritizing shadowing and orientations as a topic at his office hours. Wednesdays, 11 AM SLT (Grasmere) & Fridays, 1pm SLT (SLVEC). These will be free form meetings that address your concerns and questions regarding everything 'shadowing and orientations' related. Coaches and Apprentice Buddies are encouraged to attend!

Monday, April 21, 2008

The Buddy Huts aka Buddy Call System

Recently we have been discussing via the Volunteer email list about how to find information or someone when you need to ask a question on the fly. Your best and quickest answer is:

Welcome to the Buddy Center and the Stylish and functional Buddy Hut Call Center.

This is a nice system for calling a Buddy Mentor.
When you get to SLVEC and you TP over to the Buddy Center there stands a big set of huts.

Inside each one is the ability to call a Buddy Mentor several different ways.

  • Online notification (if a buddy is online their pic will show online)
  • Name Search (two huts: A-L and M-Z)
  • By profile pic


Make sure you talk to Jabber the Hut while you are there.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/SLVEC/98/45/22

Happy Mentoring!

Special thanks for this great resource go to:
Zai Lynch
Kuraiko Yoshikawa
Trinity Coulter
Nava Muni
Shiva Aabye
Lum Pfohl

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Graduation party recap

Another Doc Production.
Enjoy!
Congratulations Mentor Class of Q1 2008

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Graduation Party and Volunteer Day

We have some Mentor events coming up in the near future. The quarterly Mentor Graduation Celebration will be Friday April 18th from 6-9pm SLT, Saturday April 19th from 8-11am SLT and Saturday April 19th from 5-8pm SLT. This is a party for all the new Mentors who graduated during the quarter. There will be a DJ and dancing. Mentors will be there to meet and greet and feel free to drop in if you have time and want to welcome in our new Mentors. Picture by Poppy McDunnough


Volunteer Day will be Saturday May 3rd this year. This will be a Mentor "day off". We assemble at SLVI and party. The Vteam has not revealed a theme so far but last year's party was a Hawaiian theme and I had a great time. (see pic below)

Save the dates on both these mentors events :)

A quick reminder about the Day of Remembrance which will be on April 17th. Feel free to check the SL blog for details http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/04/04/second-life-day-of-remembrance-is-april-17/ Feel free to check the vteamblog entry for details on this event, and how Mentors can participate. http://vteamblog.com/2008/04/14/day-of-remembrance/


Sunday, April 13, 2008

Rezz Party Madness

I am often glad when someone I know gets to a one year milestone. The statistics say you are going to keep coming back if you stay that long. Since I am old as dirt on a terraforming sandbox, I enjoy seeing others hit milestones. The Rezzday Party or the Rezziversary is something to be proud of. You logged in and you keep logging in. The Second Life world changes and you change with it.
Tonight we gave the annual Rezzday party for Mystra Jewell and Xtreme Sands.
Two of my cohorts from HIP. Both people I am glad to work with as Mentors.
Congratulations to both of you. Thanks for working HIP with me and making me proud for doing what we do.


Try and be open minded I just discovered Windows Movie Maker

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Outstanding Mentors for Q1 2008

Please join me in celebrating the recognition of some of your friends and peers. Each and every one of these people are top notch Mentors. I know them all and I have learned something from each one of them.

They have been awarded a star on the walk at SLVEC

For this quarter I give you these esteemed colleagues:


eva Nowicka

Ganesha Xi

Irene Muni

Jezzie McCellan

Lum Pfohl

Marisa Naheed

Nitram Foden

Rails Bailey

Saxet Uralia

Simon Kline

Taryn London

Zai Lynch

and me :)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Protecting Your Identity in a Virtual World


In a place where everyone is as anonymous as they want to be, you do not know who you are really speaking to.
you have to be very protective of your real life identity.

We are protective of our computers with virus and anti-spyware programs. We change passwords and set up firewalls. You would think that common sense would prevail and then you hear what happened to someone who let their identity slip out and regretted it.

You meet people online all the time. Your degree of comfortability with people you hang around with online can often get very relaxed. Soon you are exchanging emails, giving your MSN or Yahoo instant messenger info out. Next thing you know each other's real names and phone numbers. Maybe even your actual addresses.

For some of us we have many friends from the Internet. Friends near and far. Friends we have met in real life. Friends you talk to everyday. People we have known and trusted for years. Practically everyone has picked up friends along the way and have stayed in touch with from the Internet community. Most of you have met someone along the way on the Internet that gave you the creeps or you have had a bad experience with. This is the thing you did not expect. No one can anticipate everything. That much is certain.

I would like to think that in 2008 everyone would be more vigilant with our real life personal information and sense of safety. The fact is people are still online giving out their personal info and then regrettably finding themselves compromised. Their identities stolen. Finding themselves stalked, harassed or worse.

I know many people who have had many great experiences. I have had them as well. Many people have had some terrible experiences. The news is loaded with stories of what can go wrong and what wrongs are done to people when they were not careful.

My advise to you today is in a world of virtual people, instant messengers, email, Facebook, my space, cell phones and texting; please please please protect your identity, your personal safety, your passwords, your credit cards, paypal accounts and your inventory. No one wants to hear that something terrible happened in what should otherwise be a relaxing and friendly environment.
These things do and can happen.

The best policy is to "play it safe".
  • Limit the amount of information you give out about yourself to anyone. Don't become a target.
  • Don't volunteer your information without good cause and to people who you do not know very well.
  • Be considerate of others and do not ask for too much personal information from them.
  • Do not post your real life name, address, phone numbers out where anyone can get to them. These things can be used to steal your identity.
  • Be protective of your posted real life pictures, and account information.
  • Never give out your passwords and bank information!
  • In Second Life no Linden or Mentor will ask for your password information, so do not give that out either.
  • Be careful who you authorize to "edit your objects".
Let us all be "safety conscious" and "security minded".
This PSA has been sponsored by Doc

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Your Second Life Profile and The Community Standards

I often come across in my profile previewing a profile of someone who does not know about the Community Standards aka the CS or who blissfully has not read them. As Mentors we should know the Terms of Service and the Community Standards (TOS/CS) to some degree.
If not take a look at the CS here http://secondlife.com/corporate/cs.php

What is the concern is that some Mentors (pointing fingers at some of you) have profiles which violate the CS and you may be unaware of it. It is possible that your profile was made before you became a Mentor and you do not even remember what is on it.

Take a moment and check your profile to make sure you do not have any CS violations on it.
Profanity, copied text without permission, nudity, harassment, sexual content, just to name a few. If I see it on your profile, I will give you an IM and mention it. If someone else sees it then I cannot speak for what they may do, including an AR which might get you in a small spot of trouble.

Taken from the CS:
Second Life is a complex society, and it can take some time for new Residents to gain a full understanding of local customs and mores. Generally, violations of the Community Standards will first result in a Warning, followed by Suspension and eventual Banishment from Second Life.

You can be assured if you get reported for a CS violation from your profile or for any other reason the Gteam (Governance) member will go find Momma Amber or one of the Vteam.
Then you got some splaining to do. Avoid this problem by giving your profile a clean bill of health. Tell people the Doc said to do it.


Friday, April 4, 2008

Second Life Day of Remembrance, April 17th

The following is a portion of an article which appears on the Second Life Blog;
Second Life Day of Remembrance is April 17 Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 3:42 PM by: everettlinden writes:

Second Life Day of Remembrance, April 17th, 6 am to 11 pm SLT Big Easy
Have you ever lost an in-world friend? As years pass in Second Life, more residents will have the sad experience of logging in to find that someone they know and love in-world has passed away in Real Life.
Resident Katt Kongo recently lost a dear friend, SL resident Ginny Talamasca. Read about her here: http://www.massively.com/2007/11/11/in-memory-of-ginny-talamasca/


Ginny Talamasca

This April is the 2nd anniversary of the passing of my Second Life friend Shirley Patel. I will be out in support of Remembrance day. For those of you who have not lost a Second Life friend come on out to the Day of Remembrance and pay homage to Ginny Gremlin who was part of our Mentor family. http://dwellonit.blogspot.com/search?q=ginny http://slurl.com/secondlife/Gemella/84/97/22/?title=Ginny%27s%20Memorial

I hope to see you there.

Ginny Gremlin



Shirley Patel


Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Trademarks and Changes

Very recently trademarks and the use of them in Second Life and out of Second Life have changed. This change effects not everyone but it does effect some of us. It could effect you in the future so it is worth a read.

For some people it may mean taking some pics down off your website or blog, the domain name of your website or blog, removal of some logos from your store, web site or blog. It is important in creating group names as there is now more defined rules as to how you use the words "Second Life".

It is very confusing if you are not informed.
To be better informed mentors I suggest the following links :
http://secondlife.com/corporate/brand/trademark/index.php

http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/04/01/more-on-the-trademark-policy/

http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/03/24/introducing-the-second-life-brand-center/

We as Official Volunteers can use our "Volunteer" logo.
Feel free to copy it from this page.
It can be used for Official Volunteer materials. It should not be used for anything that is not pertaining to the Official Volunteer program.
I hope this clarifies some of the new Trademark policy for you. If you have further questions about the new policy please check for office hours of the G-team (Linden Governance Team)
The Governance Team works to monitor and assist in situations related to Terms of Service Violations and Community Standards Disputes.