Mentoring new reef keepers?

[dantimdad]

#reefsquad

What would you all think of having a mentor program?

We have so many new people joining lately, many who join and their first posts are about things gone horribly awry or they are panicked and think they have.

I have been doing this all along via PM.

One reason is, we have way too many cooks stirring the pot and it confuses people.

It's best that a person pick a mentor that knows what they are doing and stick with them for a while at least to follow things to either success or someone else needing to step in.

We could do a # like #mentor to call for someone to step in.

What are your thoughts?

 

[James M]

That’s a great idea but feel like that would cause arguments because everyone has different methods and opinions.

 

[dantimdad]

That’s a great idea but feel like that would cause arguments because everyone has different methods and opinions.

That's the rub.

It's best for the person learning if ego gets out of the way. That would be my reasoning behind the program.

I am willing to step back and get out of the way so as not to confuse stuff, even if I feel it's not what I would do. Now, if I really see something wrong being taught then I would step in.

 

[Picard's Lionfish]

It's a good concept. Problem is so much info out there. LFS, Petco, rogue individuals, all have different methods. Plenty of threads for noobs to glean from imo. When I started, I read enough to get me started. Didnt listen to half of it. It takes time to graduate to following a proven method. Most noobs are looking for a quick shortcut to a reef. I wish @BRS had all these nice videos when i first started. I'm only 5-6 years in. A mentor could have been helpful, but i doubt i would have completely listened. Some of us has to learn the hard way

 

[HotRocks]

That is what the reefsquad is for that we have in place currently.

If you see a member in need and they are getting advice you don't like, tag #reefsquad and it calls all of them in to help. Hopefully the new member will see that they are getting help from a squad member and ignore the not so great advice.

 

[dantimdad]

Problem with that is @HotRocks not everyone that mentors or should be mentoring is in the reefsquad.

No offense. I am just stating the obvious.

 

[Crabs McJones]

That is what the reefsquad is for that we have in place currently.

If you see a member in need and they are getting advice you don't like, tag #reefsquad and it calls all of them in to help. Hopefully the new member will see that they are getting help from a squad member and ignore the not so great advice.

Agreed Just tag the squad and they'll come running, keyboards at the ready. Part of the issue with doing everything via pm, is none of the information is out there for others with similar questions to view. It's all kept private.

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

I like the idea but agree with @HotRocks that R2R has a similar program set up with the ReefSquad (though it may be currently under-utilized).

However (and I am trying to get my local reef club to do this) it would be nice to have something like a build thread summary of select successful reef tanks and what they are doing for people to be able to say "I want to do that" and copy. (But isn't that part of the point of build threads to start with?)

 

[Subsea]

That is what the reefsquad is for that we have in place currently.

If you see a member in need and they are getting advice you don't like, tag #reefsquad and it calls all of them in to help. Hopefully the new member will see that they are getting help from a squad member and ignore the not so great advice.

That is true, but it is not mentoring systematically. ARC, Austin Reef Club, developed the outline for metoring program. Each mentor posted their method of phylosaphy of reef keeping. Newbies choose mentor.

 

[dantimdad]

That is true, but it is not mentoring systematically. ARC, Austin Reef Club, developed the outline for metoring program. Each mentor posted their method of phylosaphy of reef keeping. Newbies choose mentor.

This is more what I had in mind.

 

[Subsea]

#reefsquad

What would you all think of having a mentor program?

We have so many new people joining lately, many who join and their first posts are about things gone horribly awry or they are panicked and think they have.

I have been doing this all along via PM.

One reason is, we have way too many cooks stirring the pot and it confuses people.

It's best that a person pick a mentor that knows what they are doing and stick with them for a while at least to follow things to either success or someone else needing to step in.

We could do a # like #mentor to call for someone to step in.

What are your thoughts?

If I remember the details at ARC, the build thread was only active for immediate posting for mentor & newbie. Anyone could follow. If other memers chose to commet, it was subject to editing by mentor.

 

[dantimdad]

It's a good concept. Problem is so much info out there. LFS, Petco, rogue individuals, all have different methods. Plenty of threads for noobs to glean from imo. When I started, I read enough to get me started. Didnt listen to half of it. It takes time to graduate to following a proven method. Most noobs are looking for a quick shortcut to a reef. I wish @BRS had all these nice videos when i first started. I'm only 5-6 years in. A mentor could have been helpful, but i doubt i would have completely listened. Some of us has to learn the hard way

This amount of honesty is refreshing. It's very true that this happens.

I wish I could wave a wand and make folks listen to experience folks. But, then again, if everything went according to plan, would we learn anything?

 

[Katrina71]

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.

 

[HotRocks]

Problem with that is @HotRocks not everyone that mentors or should be mentoring is in the reefsquad.

No offense. I am just stating the obvious.

None taken. If there is a member that you would like to see be a part of the reefsquad you can PM any nomination to a reefsqaud leader or simply report one of their posts and state "Reef Squad Nomination". There are requirements/prerequisites involved.

That is true, but it is not mentoring systematically. ARC, Austin Reef Club, developed the outline for metoring program. Each mentor posted their method of phylosaphy of reef keeping. Newbies choose mentor.

We can share this info with the squad, I can see it being useful for a smaller local club, I just don't know how well it would work on a platform as large as R2R.

 

[Subsea]

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.

Kudos to honesty & sensitivity.

 

[Hemmdog]

This is more what I had in mind.

I think it’s a great idea. I have a mentor myself and I also am a mentor to about 5 different new reefers now. It’s very fulfilling being able to see your practices replicated and other people have success as well. It helps me be a better aquarist as well by giving me challenges that aren’t even going on in my tank. I also enjoy talking to and helping fellow reefers because we all have something in common that 99% of people we see outside of this forum know nothing about and don’t find all that interesting unfortunately. I also didn’t know reef squad was supposed to be helping people, I honestly thought it was similar to the mods without as much authority. Take down comments when people start saying mean/not PC things and whatnot. I spend 12+ hours a day on here selflessly helping people lol. I enjoy it though, so if I could be connected to people looking for help more easily and not have to battle with people telling new reefers to dump peroxide in their tank, I would be a lot happier.

 

[Rick.45cal]

I think that’s one of the reasons personal tank threads are so important it’s a good way to see if someone has some insight that you are lacking, or success where you are struggling. A powerful suggestion for new members would be to spend some time shopping around in the member tank threads and find someone heading successfully a direction you like, ask them questions, and learn all you can from that person or people.

I’ve personally always enjoyed sharing my knowledge and experience by helping people I see struggling with issues that I have first hand experience with, that’s kind of what #Reefsquads role is, mentoring is a whole level above that. (I’ve also done some mentoring via PM, I also have folks on here that I communicate with when I want to know something via PM)

I like the idea, but the people considering being “mentors” need to realize that it’s a responsibility that has to be taken very seriously and you can’t start and just decide you don’t want to do it anymore, it may also require talking to someone at strange hours of the day/night because of an emergency, we’ve all been there before!

Having grown up working in a local fish store that was an oasis of corals and marine fish in the middle of the country, we were the best place around and people came from everywhere (before the internet) I was one of the guys that people came to ask, I learned there are lots of stages of people’s willingness to accept advice (no matter how good it is) when they are beginners. There are folks that really listen and learn and then apply all the principles, then there are the others that will argue with you for an hour that you can keep bumblebee gobies with frogfish, or neon tetras with oscars. (You get the idea). There are definitely “stages” that aquarists have to go through to attain “aquarium nirvana”. At somepoint in being an aquarist your ego takes a back seat, it usually involves a catastrophe of your own creation, i.e. your ego knew better.

 

[dantimdad]

I think it’s a great idea. I have a mentor myself and I also am I mentor to about 5 different new reefers now. It’s very fulfilling being able to see your practices replicated and other people have success as well. It helps me be a better aquarist as well by giving me challenges that aren’t even going on in my tank. I also enjoy talking to and helping fellow reefers because we all have something in common that 99% of people we see outside of this forum know nothing about and don’t find all that interesting unfortunately. I also didn’t know reef squad was supposed to be helping people, I honestly thought it was similar to the mods without as much authority. Take down comments when people start saying mean/not PC things and whatnot. I spend 12+ hours a day on here selflessly helping people lol. I enjoy it though, so if I could be connected to people looking for help more easily and not have to battle with people telling new reefers to dump peroxide in their tank, I would be a lot happier.

Yep!

 

[sfin52]

So thats how reefsquad works.

 

[HotRocks]

I think it’s a great idea. I have a mentor myself and I also am I mentor to about 5 different new reefers now. It’s very fulfilling being able to see your practices replicated and other people have success as well. It helps me be a better aquarist as well by giving me challenges that aren’t even going on in my tank. I also enjoy talking to and helping fellow reefers because we all have something in common that 99% of people we see outside of this forum know nothing about and don’t find all that interesting unfortunately. I also didn’t know reef squad was supposed to be helping people, I honestly thought it was similar to the mods without as much authority. Take down comments when people start saying mean/not PC things and whatnot. I spend 12+ hours a day on here selflessly helping people lol. I enjoy it though, so if I could be connected to people looking for help more easily and not have to battle with people telling new reefers to dump peroxide in their tank, I would be a lot happier.

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.