Mentor/Mentoree System

So... I cannot sleep. Oftentimes, when sleep evades me, my thoughts overcome me. Tonight is no different, and it seems that I have thought of yet another idea that may be a benefit to this gorgeous website.

I have noticed recently that the amount of new and confused people has increased. While this is nothing new, I have been watching them interact on the site. Oftentimes, it seemed, a new person would ask a question in the cbox (mainly about character applications, but there were other things, too) and there would be mayhem as people tried to provide answers. I think it is really cool that people want to help out, but sometimes it seems to get out of hand during cbox rush hours. That kind of sucks, in my opinion, and it got me thinking - there has to be a better system at getting the new people incorporated into the site.

We have done this with the past couple of Hunger Games. Assigned an older, more well-versed member to mentor somebody completely new in strategy and techniques in the games. This seems to be working incredibly well (I know I was very happy to have a mentor back in the 65th, even though I am not new), and many people benefited from it. There was less deaths in the bloodbath and newer members got the chance to actually roleplay their characters in the arena.

So, here's a proposition for you: We start a mentor/mentoree system outside of the games.

Here's how I could see it working:
- A new person joins and has a lot of questions. We can point them to a thread where they could sign up to have a mentor for a few weeks (or until they feel settled).
- Longstanding and/or knowledgable members fill out a very brief application explaining why they would be a good mentor, and then the staff picks a good number of people to help out. (People, honestly, do this anyway. It's just informal. I, myself, have helped many a new person in getting settled into the site before.)
- Then a mentor is assigned to that new person. Easy peasy. The 'mentors' could even just claim a person and be like, "Hey, I will mentor so and so!"
- Then the mentor sends them a private message welcoming them to the site, introducing themselves, and giving them links to the basics. (Rules, character creation guides, site history, combat system, etc.) They could then offer to answer any questions the new person may have. These questions have generally been very easy to answer, and I see them come up in the cbox again and again.
- The mentor works with the new member until they feel established.

I think this would be a good idea because it would help new members get incorporated quicker. I know I was incredibly confused when I first joined the site, and something like this would have helped me a lot. As I recall, I messaged Shrimp and asked him all my questions. This would just be a little more formal way of doing things. This wouldn't mean that new people couldn't ask their questions in the cbox, or that people can't offer help if they need it, but if someone felt overwhelmed by the amount of people or had a lot of questions, this could be helpful. Obviously it would be volunteered based, and people could take on as many people as they can handle.

Let me know your thoughts and opinions. Or if you want me to explain anything, I suppose I can do that too. This is just a suggestion, of course, but it may make things a little easier.

Thanks! Meghan

EDIT: I forgot to add - they could also help them with their first character. Read over the app and help them get it to acceptable level, point them to grammar guides, etc. That may be helpful too and would reduce the amount of time the staff spent pouring over less-than-acceptable applications. Or if this would get too confusing, honestly, it could just be a system where they go to that person for questions.

If this seems unnecessary, feel free to say no. I do not know everything that goes on with new members, I just feel like I see confusion many a times. This may just be helpful. Heck, it could be as simple as a thread where people are like, "if you have questions, feel free to pm so and so."