User:Lum Pfohl/sandbox/wtm

Welcome to the White Tiger Mentors Wiki Page

(Including the New Resident Services Group)

White Tiger Help Island

NEW! NEW! NEW!

White Tiger Help Island (WTHI) is now ready and will welcome you to a great and safety virtual environment.
For an alternative experience in interactive helping visit White Tiger Help Island. Basic colourful tutorials, free shops, building area, firework display, music cave and mini art gallery. Still under construction to a degree but more than enough there to have a happy helping experience! A landmark to ROF Orientation Area is on the island for those who want more intense and detailed learning. Have fun with your new Residents.
Keywords: Help. Lessons. Tutorials. Assistance. Helpers. New. Support. People Helping People. Fireworks. Free Clothes. Building Area. Gallery of Original Artwork. Mentors. Guide. Guides. New Residents. Learning. Learn. Fun.

Of course, if both ROF OA and WTHI are affiliated to the White Tigers Mentors, we will be always available for all the locations where help is needed!
All the White Tiger Volunteers are always welcome to help at the Inworld Locations for Volunteers.
Feel free to visit us, we will support you as best we can, that's our priority in Second Life®.

Here is the SLurl to White Tiger Help Island. Enjoy!

How to Join

Applications for membership can be sent in-world with an Instant Message (IM) or a Notecard to a listed Owner or Helper (See Group Info).
New Residents can ask to join White Tiger Mentors or New Resident Services groups at any time during the mentoring process.
Only the Owners are able to set specific roles, therefore those who are interested in participating for assistance have to contact them.
A training may be required and will be provided at R.O.F. on Sunset Arts II SIM to get the title of White Tiger Mentor/Linguist or NRS Greeter Helper.
The Linguist role is optional, and reserved for qualified Mentors. They must be able to speak at last 2 languages to get it, more than 2 will be appreciated.
General talk is okay, but disputes, unauthorized advertising or vulgar spam in both group channels will not be appreciated and can lead to loss of membership.
All Mentors of WTM are allowed to send useful group notices. However, inappropriate group notices are not permitted and will lead to loss of membership.
All Members (New Residents & Helpers) of both groups have to abide by the Second Life Terms of Service and Community Standards and the White Tiger Tao of Volunteers below.
The Members of WTM group who have been offline more than six months may be removed from this group at any time and without advance warning.
Both White Tiger Mentors and New Resident Services are private help groups and as such, are not endorsed by Linden Lab®.

Group Charters

White Tiger Mentors: Active Volunteers who are willing to help by sharing knowledge and ideas in-world. Both new and experienced Residents are welcome to join (Ask an Owner or Helper). Six months of practice in Second Life® is required to become a White Tiger Volunteer. Team associated with ROF New Resident Orientation Area. This is a Q&A group.

New Resident Services: To offer quality Help and Support for people in SL, new Residents, older Residents. Our Orientation Area contains tutorials with additional information for progressed learning and is accessible to those with visual disabilities. Part of the Remembering Our Friends Group, who offer peer support for HIV/AIDS, Disabilities, Sleep Disorder, MS, and work with many dedicated support groups in SL. Affiliated with White Tiger Mentors Group.

Who We Are

Founders

White Tiger Mentors: Benji Nakamori
New Resident Services: Treacle Darlandes

Co-Owners

Amsutekan Overland (WTM)
Benji Nakamori (WTM & NRS)
Brigitte Beaumont (WTM)
Mike Burleigh (WTM & NRS)
Till Pierce (WTM)
Treacle Darlandes (WTM & NRS)

Total Group Members

White Tiger Mentors: 500+
New Resident Services: 80+

White Tiger Mentor or NRS Greeter Helper?

Newcomers in Second Life® can ask to join the White Tiger Mentors group at any time if they wish to get any live help by using the group channel. However, we encourage them to join the New Resident Services group first for an easier experience regarding the group channel usage and any other basic learning. When they consider they are experienced enough and want also to become a Helper themselves in the New Residents Services Team, they will have to follow a basic training to get the title of NRS Greeter Helper. If a NRS Greeter Helper wants to provide more technical knowledge to people, he/she can apply to become a White Tiger Volunteer as an Apprentice. White Tiger Apprentices must complete a traning session, including a simulation of mentoring with some Advisors. The Trainer and Advisor will advise the group Owner(s) that the Apprentice is ready to be a qualified Helper and the Owner(s) will make the final decision to accept the Apprentice as a Mentor/Linguist, according to the skills of the Apprentice. The Volunteers can stay in the New Resident Services group as a NRS Greeter Helper even if they have been upgraded to a White Tiger Mentor.
No matter who you help, where you help or how you help, the most important thing is not the tag you are wearing but the assistance you can offer in-world to all the persons in real life who are using Second Life®.

WTM Tao of Volunteers

Each White Tiger Volunteer has the ability to influence new Residents’ first experiences of Second Life. How we do so may vary by personality, but we must also adhere to standards. We have adapted the Second Life Tao of Volunteers to our group.

Mentors are teachers or trusted counselors. If you are simply answering questions to passersby on Help Island Public, you are not mentoring – you’re providing support services. If you take aside a new Resident and take time to show him how to use the tools given to him (such as Search, or Make Outfit) or spend hours or days helping him with a technical problem, you are mentoring. Mentorships often end up in friendships with their charge.

Attitude and Behavior

"We will"

We will help anyone to the best of our knowledge and ability.
We will be humble, polite, courteous and patient in all endeavors.
We will give respect to those we help, despite knowing it may not always be returned.
We will seek no reward for our effort.
We will work as a team and help each other solve problems.
We will be reliable, committed, and trustworthy.
We will be funny and playful.
We will be respectful of the guidelines under which we serve.

Group Notices

All Mentors of WTM are allowed to send useful group notices.

Notices must have relevance to the mentoring programme or be used to promote non profit events and charities.
Notices may be used to share full perm gifts providing the person sending them out has created them or obtained written permission from the creator to distribute them.
Notices may NOT be used to promote your own for profit business. If you would like to share information about cool sims, great shops and live performances -- please do so in group chat and NOT via notice. The exception to this would be events like the RFL charity fundraisers, the SL6B upcoming event and the like. Again -- common sense stuff.

Stay Informed

Each Volunteer is responsible for reading notices and guidelines beginning with the WTM Wiki Page. It will have useful information and links to relevant materials as we build out the site.

An accomplished mentor may be able to operate alone in situations where no other help can come. That mentor is aware of the many resources available (translators, grid statuses, Second Life Knowledge Base Articles, etc.) and can tap into them, on-the-fly.

If You Don’t Know The Answer

It is perfectly OK to say to the Resident, “I do not know the answer to that.” It is BETTER if you tell the Resident, “I do not know the answer, but I know someone who might,” or “I can research that and get back to you later.” In doing so, you are taking ownership of an issue, and providing good mentorship.

Consequences of Not Following the Tao

White Tiger Mentors should be aware there are consequences of not following the WTM Tao of Volunteers. Just as the Community Standards and TOS are the policies and rules of Second Life, the WTM Tao is the policy and rules of White Tiger Mentors.

Important: Volunteers who do not follow the Group Rules and Tao of Volunteers will be removed from White Tiger Mentors.

Please be aware the decisions of the WTM Management are final.

History and Intent

MAIN FOCUS: New Resident Basics - General Help - Technical Issues - Multi-language Support - Peer Support.

The White Tiger Mentors group is an international Network of assistance for online, 3D virtual environment Users and has been created to provide an additional & effective help to the Residents in need at the Help Islands Public 1 & 2, Welcome Areas of Second Life®, and anywhere in-world that help is necessary. This Organization includes both Newcomers who can use the group channel for the questions they may have, and qualified Helpers who will respond if they are online & available, in all cases a large range of friendly people who wish to get in different ways a good experience in their virtual world. The goal of the WTM Team is innovating rather than imitating, and the potential of each New Resident is the engine of our motivation. WTM is an independent group of Helpers, and not reserved for only Ex Second Life Mentors, it means that all motivated Residents who want to join us have also a chance to become a real Volunteer. Obviously, those who are Ex Second Life Mentors are welcome to be a part of this Team if they wish it. Although unofficial, the W.T.M. program requires a certain standard of help and the motivated Resident who wants to provide some help with the White Tiger Mentor title will have to follow a specific training. This training will focus particularly on the assistance to the persons who may have some disabilities in real life. The White Tiger Mentors group is now partnered with the Remembering Our Friends group, founded by Mike Burleigh. At ROF we are here to provide peer support. However, we are NOT professional counsellors. When appropriate, you will need to reach out to real life support. The satisfaction of each new Resident in Second Life® is our priority.
The New Resident Services group was set up by Treacle Darlandes to work within the ROF (Remembering Our Friends) Organization, to play a role helping new people and those who wish to learn more technical elements of Second Life®. The ROF Organization offers many peer services on their SIMs and one area of land is allocated to Orientation. Training for Greeters, and classes for learning are held at the ROF Orientation Area, along with live music events. Treacle has a lot of experience in Second Life®, formerly Manager at Help People Institute, now a SecondAbility Mentor and White Tiger Mentor. Also a member of Destination Orientation, the new Orientation Area for this group is under construction. Seafoam Teardrop is the New Resident Services Trainer and plays a most active role in developing and running the group, having been a Greeter Trainer for some time. Seafoam is also a WTM Trainer. The association of New Residents Services with White Tiger Mentors is that as two separate groups they work side by side to assist New Residents or even any seasoned Residents in need. The Orientation Area at ROF is openly available and welcomes unreservedly all WTM Members, NRS Members and any New/Seasoned Residents if they wish to bring along for help or a safe place to stay. Together we will co-ordinate training for Greeters, pool our knowledge and resources and continue to plan learning classes and live music events. NRS and WTM Members will support each other as partners, associates and friends in helping, greeting, mentoring and any other associated activities that Members from each group would wish to be involved in, whilst retaining individuality both in terms of status and goals.

Links, Locations, Resources