bobita228
Admin
391
Jan. 2003
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Hey everyone. I was just reading Levi's announcement (< click here >) about the Buddy Program. I was just curious...Any newbies been part of the buddy program or any members who were mentors, can you tell us about it?
Just curious how it helped out newbies, and why people weren't signing up for the program. The way Levi described it, it sounded like mentors were just herding cattle, getting "claming" as many newbies as they could.
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Ladie_Di
Members
54
Sep. 2003
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bobita,
That annoucement, and the ensuing "canning" of mentors does not tell the entire story.
From what I can gather, some number cruncher probably looked at the total number of newbies you claimed and did some statistics on the number who became members. This is commonly done in sales teams. That method, however can be seriously flawed. For example, it does not show the influence of a mentor on any newbies other than the ones they claim.
Not all of the mentors who were canned were "bad mentors" -- they simply did not "perform" by translating newbies into members -- regardless of the circumstances. [Or some were dropped also because they didn't claim any at all.] So don't assume because someone was "released from the program" that they were bad mentors. Its a numbers game.
Case in point:
1. Over the Christmas holidays, I claimed many new people whose sole intent I am sure was to have a diversion and not to ever become a member. So lets say I claimed 20 in a weeks times, and none of them signed up. My "statistical" average dropped to nil.
2. For every new person I'd claim, I'd end up adopting 2-4 other newbies who were there, and I never received credit for same. Impossible for There to track, but someone received credit for my work and it wasn't me.
3. There were MANY newbies who would show up, log in and then either log out immediately never to return, or should tell me not to bother them, and they were a repeat visitor. They didn't intend to stay, again making my statistical average drop like a rock. At one point I tried Emailing them and a huge number of my emails bounced back, so I didn't do that again.
4. I would always report on what I did and what happened. I am guessing that no one ever looked at the reports at all to see what I reported on--that would be too time consuming, so we are back to the numbers game. Before Christmas I had an average of 20 newbies to 3 or 4 members. Statistically this is exactly what is expected. Anything higher is unusual. Its the same for sales and fund raising which I did for many years. Out of 20 prospects, 3 or 4 members or donors is good.
5. I don't deny that there may have been mentors who claimed and never saw their newbie. I ended up "adopting" many of those people, but of course I didn't get credit for them. I know for a fact that not only myself but several other canned mentors made every attempt to contact their newbies. I would see them in the newbie areas, with several gathered around them, helping them out. So this "canning" of mentors casts a shadow on the folks who were "let go" and who really worked hard with the tools they had. That part really upsets me.
What does There lose besides a mentor?
1. In my case, I easily spend $75 real money a month. Even though I'm a developer, I also give out clothing and help my claimed (and unclaimed) newbies when I can to encourage them to stay. Their not having money is the biggest factor in their not staying. I'm not going to spend another single penny of my own cash on ANYTHING. So that equals about $900 in a year at least that they will lose out on.
2. I'm going to go about my own business, but not spend countless hours helping There by running "sponsored" theme events for them. I admire the people who do. But I always spent 4-5x as much as I received from them in donating my own items or tbucks as prizes... bought with real money not play money mind you. I have events that are my favorites, and take much less time to set up and those are what I will focus on, in a time frame that is convenient for me.
3. I used to run "emote and dance" classes for new people, which I am ceasing immediately.
3. I'll help new people of course who ask, but will not give them a single piece of clothing or an item that depletes my tbucks account.
4. I'll minimize the number of items I submit to Development and just pay the minimum that I can in auction fees. This will easily mean 50K a month loss to There.
5. I'll continue to leave my house open for my friends, club members and past adopted newbies to use free of charge, so that they can experiment with events. If I get to the point when my developer items don't pay for the house, I'll just give it to a friend and borrow someone else's house or club house to hang out.
Something to think about.
I wish the folks remaining in the buddy program the best. But watch your backs folks... if you don't perform .. then..
[makes slashing motion across the throat].
Ladie_Di "Being a princess isn't all it's cracked up to be. "
~Princess Diana~
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Ladie_Di
Members
54
Sep. 2003
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Oh, I almost forgot to mention here..
RECAP: Since I never "sold" t-bucks for real cash and always reinvested it back into There: holding events for newbies and others, buying things for newbies, and buying items or giving cash as prizes in events....
I've "donated" several hundred real dollars to There to promote its retention and marketing programs....
Your welcome, There.
Ladie_Di "Being a princess isn't all it's cracked up to be. "
~Princess Diana~
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mszeta
Members
174
Aug. 2003
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Jan. 20 2004, 2:40 pm |
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Lady_Di, I must say I love the way you put that. Yes, people a lot of mentors who got their pink slip last night were not bad mentors. WE, were doing what was expected of us. Such as myself who has recruited well over 20 people from TSO to come to there and have become full fledge members. Most of them pay the monthly fee. Unfortunately, I was not able to claim any of them as my buddy but it was good knowing that they were happy being in There vs. being in TSO.
Also, back in October I do believe the mistake was made when There invited an influx of members to become mentors. Unlike me and I am sure Lady_Di who had to work hard to get in the Mentor Program, now you have all these new mentors running around. And when there went public I alone with many others found avatars running around as newbies who never had the intent on staying. For example, 1) Newbies who are already in the game trying to get money and clothes to transfer to their main avatar. Just yesterday I learned of another avatar what was revealed to me by a there friend. or 2) Newbies who ever 14 days or so recreate a new avatar just to get out of having to pay the fee like the rest.
Did here even think about the fact that now they have lost a lot of valuable mentors, who nonetheless were still buying tbux, will cease and dismiss. I know what when it all comes down to it is always about the MONEY. But what will happen is people will not stop spending like they used to and maybe even stop recruiting like they used. And these people are more than willing to spend the money because coming from TSO 4.95 a mos. is like heaven to them.
And there is this...what about the mentees we were able to claim up until yesterday who still need assistance? I send all my buddies an email welcoming them to There. I give them clothes, money and lend them vehicles. Clothes and Money are the biggest thing why??? Because no one likes to be broke nor walk around in those boring white tees and khakis. I always get replies from the emails of buddies who just say Thank You and can u help me with this or that. So I say what about them? And will we still get paid for our efforts for past newbies because they do take up a lot of our time in the game to the point there it is a full time job. My skills have even dropped from helping newbies.
So people yes where rumors going around from others, some who are even in the MAB stating that the mentors who were dropped were not doing their job. Well I can speak of at least 6 people who I know were dropped (not including myself) who went above and beyond the call of duty to help newbies and even ones that were not their mentor. YES THE "GOOD" ONE MENTORS GOT THE BOOT ALSO
I am happy for those who were able to stay on board. I pray that your guys keep your sales up. So that you do not have to face the unemployment line with the rest of us.
OOH and by the way…..who is my Mentor? I never got the pleasure of meeting them, thanks a lot for nothing.  I refuse to allow a game or anyone for that matter sanction me from speaking my mind. I AM PROUD, I AM URBAN, I AM a WOMAN of GOD....HEAR ME ROAR!!!!
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bobita228
Admin
391
Jan. 2003
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Did you guys get a mentoring budget for such things as gifts and prizes to encourage repeat visits? Or is this an entirely voluntary program?
Regardless, Ladie_Di, I guess in the real world, business is business and $ is what counts. I guess it is tough to track and evaluate mentors' success rates, and the only thing they CAN go by is numbers. So like you said, mentors be buddy beware! But I do think that There is really trying to improve the system since obviously people can make mistakes the first time around.
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TopCat
Members
48
Jan. 2004
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It is entirely voluntary. There needs to be a way to see how long a newb was with a helper, and there already is one, its just not implemented correctly. I know there is one, because how else do you earn newbie helper points? being around and talking to newbies = points go up. Being around and talking to the newbie you're mentoring, only points go up, there doesnt actually say "hey, this mentor spent THREE hours with this n00b, and the report says the n00b couldn't spell, turned out to be 8, and have parents who didn't want to pay but instead give their daughter a free virtual babysitter". They could then realize that while the mentor was doing THEIR JOB, they were unknowingly WASTING TIME.  TopCat - Really Really Mean, because he was abused as a child..
Employee Stalking winners and info can be found here
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Whimsy
Members
86
Feb. 2003
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I think they've screwed something up, actually.
Mentors who were active are being let go from the program, while inactive members such as myself (I've never even attempted to claim a newbie) are still around.
Sounds to me like someone got their lists mixed up. 
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HUGSaLOT
Members
50
Feb. 2003
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I think they looked at the ratio of average newbies per day, and how many mentors there are at any given moment. They probably saw a 60% difference, and then decited to cut 60% of all the mentors. If Whimsy never claimed a newbie, and there have been hard working mentors out there who did get cut.. there's something seriously wrong.
First they let go a big chunk of thier employees, and now they let go a bunch of semi-employess who cost them (There) no money at all. The T$ we get paid is worthless to There. It's like trying to pay back the Federal Reserve with thier OWN currency. But since people place a value on T$, others are willing to buy it, and sell back into this quazi economy.
If you're putting your T$ back into world, it just dissapears. Wholesale costs, submitions costs, items in Shop Central, etc.. just dissapear. Those therebucks do not turn around and go back into the world to pay off things like event host credit, or mentor pay outs, or whartever.
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OpticalMagic
Members
15
Nov. 2003
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Well, there will be a follow up e-mail for those of us that have been cut, we will see what the reinstatement has in store, from what I under stand after having along chat with a greeter, whom ever you have already claimed will stay with you and you payments will go to you untill those claimed are exhausted. So we will look forward to the following e-mail. Good Luck all and keep your eyes open for a new great event from our Free Raffles baby Club that will hit THERE either tonight on 1/21/04 or 1/22/04 A First in Raffles In THERE! Thnx Sweetr! E-Mail me with any Questions at Opticalmagic2003@yahoo.com.
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honeybunny
Members
280
July 2003
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I must say, that this deeply enrages me. My mentor, from back in late PB2 early PB3, was one whom was canned. She is the reason I remained in There. And it sickens me to no end that something she truely enjoyed she really cant do anymore. Cause lets get real here, the money is ok, but we spend ALOT more than we make. Think about it, we make 8k per n00b(that comes into There a total of 5 times during the the acutal open hours), but if we give that n00b, clothes(we all know how clothing prices have skyrocketed)and a pair of shoes, there is 10k about...so, lets get real here, everyone thinks thats the buddy Mentoring System is the fastest and easiest way to make money...which is false as we are not given a budget to give out clothing and what not we do it, to make them want to come back. And no I am NOT complaining about the pay, I am just saying that everyone thinks that Buddy Mentors make hell cash, which we do, but 90 percent of it, is put back into the community by trying to help new members.
So back to my point, I try to claim about 4 n00bs a day, my limit is 7. Virtually everyone who I have spoken to, who was "fired" were claiming their max. So that leaves me with one question, I thought that that was our job? To claim an dhelp as many n00bs as we could. Or am I mistaken? I mean with the Greeters now gone, and "firing" alot of the Buddy Mentor Staff, Im just curious, are those of us who werent "fired" suppose to claim our max, and then increase the possiblity of also being fired? I just dont understand.
At any Rate, my sista kande and rizz, ty so much for all you have done for me, and for others, and I only hope that There gets their heads out of their arses and realizes that chooing the two of you to be fired was a HUGE mistake.
Hugs~n~Kisses,
Honey Opinions are like arseholes we have all got em and they are all differnet!
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MUX
Members
115
May 2003
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i think that they may have cut mostly new mentors being that the original mentors back in the day enjoyed doing this instead of making it a race to get newbies...i myself maybe have gotten 7 noobs in the past 4 or however many months....i used to make 200k a month mentoring then went down to maybe 2.5k a month...im not worried about the money thing it just gave me somthing to do and a way to meet new people and help people out... i think that there got a lil mad when the noob program became another house race to get noobs...
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bobita228
Admin
391
Jan. 2003
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I saw this on the official forums by greeter_vash:
Dear Mentors,
As many of you know, we have been experiencing some problems with the Buddy
Claim page over the past couple of days. We believe these problems were the
result of changes we have been making to the page, and we have been working
to resolve these issues. Due to technical difficulties, you may have
received several types of error messages and/or e-mail messages. Thank you
so much for bringing these issues to our attention as quickly as you did, so
that we could begin working on fixes. We *think* the problems have been
resolved, but if you continue to receive errors while claiming or mentoring,
please let us know (either by posting in the main forums or in the There
Buddy Program Club forums).
Thanks!
There Community Team
I guess even when cutting back mentors, they still can't get their stuff straightened out! Lol...I guess its trial and error.Would have expected them to already have sorted this all out though.
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Twist
Members
425
Aug. 2003
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HOW IN THE HELL DID THEY THROW EVERYONE OUT AND KEEP ME IN? I DON'T DO #### ALL FOR THEM!!!!! 
"I think he is a thug, and a brat and he has odd hair." -EvanK
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