User:SignpostMarv Martin/Alert Request System Overview and Instructions

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Overview

I'm sure we have all, at one time or another, wondered which Orientation Island, Help Island or Welcome Area is most in need of help. Now there is a way to find, not only where to go, but specifically who is seeking help.

Kiosks have been placed on the Newbie-Only Help Islands, plus a few of the mainland Welcome areas. The kiosks say, in various languages (currently English, German, French and Spanish):

"Need Help? Summon a Mentor"

Residents with questions can click on their desired language button on the kiosk. This posts their call to the Alert Request web site, sending their name, language and location.

Mentors check the Pending Requests web page, and click location SLURL links to respond to the calls.

Note: Use of this system is not a new requirement for Mentors... it is completely voluntary, and is simply a new way to try and increase the effectiveness of the Volunteer program, and to help improve the new-resident experience.

How-To

Three steps for Mentors to follow, to take advantage of this system:

Create an account on the Alert Request website.
- Go to the Volunteer HQ at Tenera
- Just outside the landing point, to the left, you will see a sign "Click Here - The Mentor Call Alert System requires an account on MN:SL"
- Click the sign, wait a moment, and you will receive a Password via IM (it will show in your chat history)
- You will also see a sign "Click Here - Once weekly to continue use of the Mentor Call Alert System"
- Click this sign after you have received your Password
Check the Pending Requests web page.
- Open your web browser, and go to: http://svc.sl.net.marvulous.co.uk/alert-requests/list/my-groups/
- Log in to that web page with your SL Firstname, Lastname and the Password given to you by the account creation kiosk.
- DO NOT TRY TO LOG IN WITH YOUR REGULAR SECOND LIFE PASSWORD !!!!
- Click on the "My Groups" link on the left side of the page
- If there are any Pending Requests, they will be listed, including:
  - Name of the Resident requesting help
  - Language button clicked
  - Location of Kiosk
  - Elapsed time since the request was made
  - Date/Time stamp when request was made (PST/SLT)
Respond to a Resident's request for help.
- To respond to a request, click the location link in the Pending Requests list
- Assuming you already have SL running, you will see the Place Information window popup within SL
- Click the Teleport button to go to that location, find the person who made the request, and give 'em some Help!

Notes

Forgetting Your Password

MN:SL is built around WordPress- if you're concerned about losing or forgetting your password and you're okay with MN:SL having your email address on file, you can add your email address to your WordPress profile, allowing you to use WordPress' built-in password reset feature.

Group Lookup Kiosk

The "My Groups" section of the Alert Request website needs to know what groups you're in, so it can make sure you can only see requests meant for your groups. For Second Life Mentors, this is done by jumping back to Volunteer HQ at Tenera once per week, and clicking the "Click Here - Once weekly..." sign. Other groups may receive a copy of the group lookup script from SignpostMarv Martin

This requirement will be removed when group listings are made available on Linden Lab's web profiles.

Limited Responders

Only one Resident may respond to each request. As soon as you click the location link on the Pending Requests page, that request is removed from the list. If you click a link that has already been responded to, the web page will inform you that the request has already been met.

Auto-refresh

The Pending Request web page does not yet auto-refresh... so be sure to manually refresh the page to view the active requests. Javascript enhancements will be made soon.

Opera

The Opera web browser seems to have issues with floating-point co-ordinates.

Browsers that won't load redirected secondlife:// URLs

Until an alternative is found that works in all browsers, the best option seems to be to either use a different browser, or use the Help > In-World Help tool