Help Yourself While Helping Others

Drop in at Ahern/Dore and find nudes, griefers, idiots impacting the newbie experience.

I guess I'm not surprised to see the SL Volunteers building out their empire -- that's always been their goal. You always hope the Lindens will get wise and outsource all this newbie handholding stuff like any normal company would, if they aren't willing to put paid customer service staff on it -- but to assume that means you don't get what the Lindens' aspirations are. They wish to rule the world. They want to be the ones to connect everybody. Their way. Through them. Even if it's all open source, they will find a way to keep their finger in every pie. And one of the ways they are doing that is to prepare droves of cadres to march through the Metaverse spreading their Gospel, absolutely loyal to them through a combination of gaining reputational enhancement points and getting special visibility that helps sell their products or projects.

In the old days, the Mentors would stand in the welcome areas slinging folders of their landmarks or their friends' store landmarks and Shanghai newbies into their commerce circles. How do I know this? Well, it was done to me; on many test alts; and I would find even tenants who would become Mentors somehow expecting that "the way the world works" is that they should rope unsuspecting newbies into my rentals just because that's what they were familiar with.

I've had numerous encounters with people wearing the Mentor tag in SL behaving badly and have written extensively -- I once posted a thread on the old forums called Live Help or Dead Disservice? about a really aggressive git that flew up to me with the LIVE HELP volunteer tag and told me my land for sale was "overpriced" and I was an evil land baron. A neighbour who bragged to me that he could summon Lindens at the snap of a finger to do his bidding sported the Mentor membership tag. A Mentor threatened me with griefing if I didn't do what her friend, a tenant wanted, which was against my rules. Etc. People who seek honorifics like this range from the stupid to the cunning; they are all about trying to get reputational points in a world that seems to require them for business or non-profit work.

At one point, Robin and Jeska were trying to reform the system and asked for input on their mission statement. I gave it. Now I see they have something 100 times more dreadful called the Tao of Volunteers.

But first...let's have a moment of prayer and meditation for the souls of all those idiot secular Westerners (it's usually secular Westerners) who grab on to the easy artifacts of Eastern religions outside their own traditions like Buddhism, and pick up stuff that "they like". (Real Buddhists wouldn't say their religious practice is particularly easy; in the hands of Westerners who cherry-pick the cool stuff they like off the doctrine tree, of course, it is.) So whenever I see someone gabbling on about "The Tao" of anything, I know they are least likely to be actually practicing Buddhism or any form of serious meditation or religion.

Now...on to what the text of this horror says. But...again, let's just do a little religious background here for all those out there like deanpence who hate religion and loathe its practices (and often adopt some other belief system like the tekkie-wiki which is far more obsessive and repressive than any religion lol).

In the major religions, let's say "the People of the Book," there is a concept of doing a good deed. So in the Christian religions you see the concept of "faith without works is deed," and the idea that you must perform acts of service; community service is now even built into the Sacrament of Confirmation for a 12-year-old child in the Catholic faith, for example.

Usually, in this notion, the idea of the good deed is that you must do it without fanfare; and that it doesn't have to be showy (think of the widow's mite). You do it selflessly -- it is an act of kenosis, or self-giving. What you are doing is caring for another; putting your self second, putting another's need first. Jesus put this concept in a story form of giving the shirt off your back, for example.

In the Judaism, there is the idea of the mitzvah, any act of human kindess. I don't know a great deal about the teaching of this idea, but in practice, seeing Jewish friends and colleagues at work describe and more importantly *do* this idea, I see that it means doing something selflessly for someone, often without them even realizing it was done. Like quietly giving somebody a loan who is stuck, like picking up a cost of something no one expected had to be paid, like bringing a book somebody once mentioned they wanted to read when they are lying in a sick bed.

In Islam, there is the idea of good deeds, too, which are required for spiritual advancement. There is the sadaqa; again, I don't know much about the teaching other than what I could pick up on the Internet and also people describe as their aspiration to do -- and again, there is this idea of voluntary acts, selfless, done in truth, taking on an annoying chore at work, which has a compensation only in a higher spiritual sense.

These sorts of selfless acts have the idea of "your reward is in heaven" or "you don't get a reward except for the knowledge that you have done something truthful and right".

Contrast this kind of notion of selfless help -- the kind of help that you really have to do if you help newbies, who, like the poor, "ye always have with you," and whose feet you must wash, as Jesus said -- with the Lindenized Tao:

Vision and Mission

"Our vision is to lay the best foundation for volunteerism in Second Life by offering knowledge, assistance, and encouragement to residents in need. We believe volunteering in any world has the potential to enhance our character while reaching out to those who need us. Our mission is to reach that potential through our individual triumphs as well as team cooperation."

Note what is said here: the purpose of volunteer is to ENHANCE OUR CHARACTER. And it is to OFFER KNOWLEDGE first and foremost, and secondarily ASSISTANCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT. Why do we engage in this work? TO REACH OUR POTENTIAL THROUGH OUR INDIVIDUAL TRIUMPHS AS WELL AS TEAM COOPERATION.

In other words, this isn't anything like any religious tradition of selflessness and good works under the sun. Instead, it is a kind of secular humanism that is utterly untethered even to the kind of altruism that secular humanists try to concoct as a substitute for the religious imperative to do good for spiritual reasons. Instead, it is the most vulgar kind of "human potential movement" stuff in the kind of most tacky amplification you can find in SL: we volunteer to enhance ourselves; we volunteer to fulfill our potential; we volunteer to impart out knowledge -- and look good. The objects of our "charity" be damned; they are secondary, lesser, essentially invisible. What's operative is our own need to gain for ourselves.

Ugh, ugh, ugh. Not a pretty sight! And...the results, as Jesus would say, well, "By their fruits ye shall know them..."

Let's go on to VOLUNTEER BEHAVIOUR AND ATTITUDE -- it gets worse.

"Each Volunteer has the opportunity to create an unforgettable first impression of Second Life for new residents while also helping more seasoned residents with quality assistance. We do it because we want to. We do it because we enjoy it."

So...we are here as volunteers to...make a first impression on other people so they remember us. It's all about US looking good. "We do it because we want to. We do it because we enjoy it" -- a page right out of that atrocious Love Machine JIRA Big List of Things to Do that the Lindens flog, where everyone cherry-picks a task *they like*.

No sense of selfless giving, putting another's needs first; helping people people are in need. No religious -- not even humanitarian impulse. Instead, the supreme, inflated ego that has turned the tradition of giving into a self-exploration, potential-building, marketing opportunity. So very Second Life!

Now, in the conduct section, here's the standards Volunteers have set themselves:

"# We will be as empathetic and helpful as we can be in difficult situations.
# We will give respect to those we help, despite knowing it may not always be returned.
# We will seek and emphasize the positive in a situation."

Sounds better, no? Empathy, respect, positivity?

No. Because it's part of that awful, brittle, polyurethane patina (think Torley Linden on Windlight or the New Search) that denies reality, never admits the negative, and sees the people one is helping as essentially ungrateful wretches -- where one can still look good seeming to be made of teflon and deflecting their idiocy.

The problem is, there are very real griefers and very real criminals in SL. And in dealing with them, pretending there is a good side, an unhappy childhood, a possibility of reform by directing to Libsl to script or to a sandbox to build or whatever sappy Lindeny idea people get into their heads, you are heavily in denial of reality.

A firm and in fact *discouraging* word is sometimes in order. That is, you can treat newbies like children (a silly concept for other adults with DSL lines, high-end graphic cards and expensive computers, and disposable income and discretional time, eh?) -- and say, "Johnny, please put on that nice furry avatar you will find in your Linden Library in inventory" or you can say "Johnny, nudity is not allowed, put something on immediately". We're not doing positive reinforcement of 2 year olds here that we might still hope to shape morally with the "nice" and "positive" approach; we're dealing with the woefully unfinished parenting job of legions of mall rats and cubicle inhabitants in the wastelands of the modern world, and there is no call to be "nice" every time.

If you want to drink more Kool-Aid and feel as if you are talking to the Stepford Wives, read on:

"As Second Life continues to grow as a global platform we have the ability and responsibility to increase our Volunteer team’s strength and numbers. We should actively speak about what we do and why we do it. While volunteering we should always be open to learning new solutions as well as teaching what we know. We hope to create an open, collaborative win-win situation, one resident at a time."

Bleh. See what I mean? Be afraid. Be *very* afraid.

No wonder this stuff doesn't work, even as it spreads like kudzu. It doesn't retain people. It doesn't control welcome areas. And as a result, we have these people illegtimately calling for more powers -- to ban people from welcome areas themselves.

Next, we find something that seems quite interesting -- a notion previously denied, that Mentors CAN do bad -- they might not follow the Tao! There is now only an apprentice group when starting out -- and that means you might not graduate! At first this seems like something to welcome heartily -- because it could at last mean quality control.

But you are told that you can be booted NOT for violating the TOS as such -- that's merely mentioned as a kind of parallel -- but for disobeying this warmed-over hippie EST human potential drivel that is called "The Tao". That seems like something that is horribly arbitrary, and enables the few cadres that always worm their way into "open systems" like this and really run them to be able to get you bounced just because they don't like your face. You will be bewildered, never understanding what your Tao sin was...

Worst of all -- this site, created by a Linden but NOT OPEN TO EVERY RESIDENT represents the self-franchising of the Lindens in ways we will see more and more of as they open source -- an actually become less accountable, more insidious, more powerful, and more closed -- Mr. Lee's Hong Kong.

Rather than having a fair and equal access system, they've created a separate site that only those selected as volunteers can enter and post at. I warned about this in the past. It's wrong. It sets one set of customers against another; it's not professional.

Examples of bad things against the TAO include:

"* Using the volunteer email list to air personal arguments/issues or negative opinions on individual Mentors or Lindens."

Erm...ok, but how do you air the actual required negative reports of bad behaviour by a Mentor or *gasp* even a Linden? It has to be aired *somewhere*. How?

"* Aggressive unkind behavior towards new Mentors in channel. If you cannot express help in a productive, nice tone you should not express it in channel nor should you send a private IM to another Mentor to behave in an unacceptable manner."

Well, that seems like progress. It would be nice if they required this to be able to remain a member of the Concierge group, too, eh? And to post on the JIRA, eh? In fact, if the Lindens made this more universal in their forums, we would never see most of the awfulness of Second Life, especially if they'd be willing to apply this mantra *against their own special people and themselves*.

"* Using the Mentor channel to seek a Linden to personally help you on issues that should be addressed via the website support area."

Ha! Lots of luck policing that one!

"* Using the Mentor title for intimidation/power purposes. Threats of “I know many Lindens so you better do this or that..” are not acceptable."

Good that this is stated -- but how to police? We can't talk in the channel if we are critical Mentors, let's say; we can't IM another, for fear it could be called "aggression". Really a problem...

In short, the V-team as they call themselves (argh) are typical self-important SL stuff -- blundering around showing off, trying to look good, concerned more about reputational enhancement and their club and team and boosting their own in-group with its special webpage, comms, channels, etc.

Perhaps none of this would matter if it didn't directly affect our world -- and the ability to retain new people. No doubt some newbies will be helped despite this self-important self-trumpeting "institution" by some individual altruistic types. But overall, as a system, it stinks.

What can be done? Well, I've written about this for ages, like here or here or here.

Comments

[Jane2 McMahon]

I am a mentor. Love it. I do it because I believe that personal human contact is a critical retention factor in an often-confusing and off-putting introduction to SL for a lot of folks. I want them to discover and enjoy SL as much as I do...as they say about crack, the first hit's free!

Are other people helpful in SL? Of course they are...you don't have to be "officially" sanctioned to do great work with new people. For example, Mag and the rest of the folks at Gaia are my gods and goddesses for their work with francophones. The Brazilian orientation sponsored by Kaizen Games is wonderful. I run into people every day who are making the SL experience better for others...heck, I know one person who was handing out avatar kits within a couple of days of joining herself.

Is griefing a real and persistent problem? Yes. Are there ongoing server issues that may disrupt SL enjoyment? Yes. However, is reassuring a new person that griefing can't harm them or their computers a bad thing? Or telling people, yes Linden Labs is having server issues so it's LL and not their computer a bad thing?

I can't speak for everyone, but the self-importance factor doesn't exist in my tiny corner of SL. I don't push people around, I don't boast about how many Lindens I "know" (that would be one, and not a member of the VTeam), I don't push my own or my friends' commercial activities. The only avatars who see my mentor tag are usually 0 to 15 minutes old, so I'm not going to get a lot of swag from that! I do push "the", not "my" full potential of SL...bad wording can be misinterpreted, I agree.

Does that make me a Pollyanna marching in lock-step with the Lindens? No. In fact, I have your rentals listed as newbie-friendly on one of my (non-official) personal notecards :).

[Prokofy Neva]

Jane2, you've highlighted a major problem with the entire Linden-run volunteer thing I'd forgotten about -- the failure to integrate with existing independently run projects, and the self-isolation and preferential treatment given to those officially approved through the biased and unaccountable volunteer selection system.

By focusing on strengthening only their own sprawling and unaccountable empire, the Volunteers don't in fact leverage the other programs independently run, or even care what they are doing *as a system* -- there are only the occasional people like yourself who perhaps appreciate a Brazilian WA or something and work individually with them.

The corporate sponsored WAs are another tale of woe, without the statistics of traffic and retention to back up all the feting and special newbie streams they've received.

I fail to see how recommending my rentals somehow exonerates you from the charge of a Polyannish take on the volunteer system -- it 's an unrelated issue. I don't need any special recommendations, and if someone does make a recommendation, that's their call.

The problem, ultimately, with your happy take on all of this is that you are in a bubble. Most people in business in SL in one way or another are in fact newbie-helpers, too, because merely to get people to buy and sell, you have to teach them the basics of even getting stuff out of a box or paying an object. It's an endless learning curve.

Ultimately, the Linden system produces retention of only one in ten tries. I'm not aware that this has improved. Those statistics speak for themselves.

In real life, to make an imperfect and rough analogy, when you have masses of migrants or immigrants, there is really only one reliable way to integrate people successfully and more quickly: home-stays. That is, someone has to receive the new person personally into their home and teach them one on one and integrate them into the community with assistance, jobs, interpretation, etc. Queuing people up in holding areas, refugee camps, etc. doesn't work as well.

Ultimately, Jane2, everything you say reinforces rather than counters my point: you are doing this because it pleases you, and you are doing it because you love feeling needed.

[Khamon]

"That is, you can treat newbies like children (a silly concept for other adults with DSL lines, high-end graphic cards and expensive computers, and disposable income and discretional time, eh?)" - Prokofy

You've hit the nail on the head here and really needn't say any more. LL don't have to treat us like children; but they always have and, I imagine, always will. Lindens firmly believe that we need their guidance and protection as evidenced from the very beginning with assigned last names and worship of The Sacred Holiness of The Divine Anonymity. If you play your card right, you'll be accepted as a volunteer, further indoctrinated as an employee, and ultimately ranked as a manager. Only in the final stage are you confirmed as an adult in the world of Linden Lab.

[Jane2]

I agree with your comments regarding independently-run projects..I think that there's a real opportunity to integrate and cooperate with them on an equal basis. Localization is the name of the game..I don't have to do everything or be everything to everyone. I just need to be able to take or send them to the appropriate place. I wonder how much localization would improve the rentention rate?

I also agree with your comments re home stays...probably the closest thing to that I've seen (other than individuals who take people in) is the Shelter and places like that. I see it a lot with people who don't have sufficient English..if I contact, say the Hungarian or Chinese or Hebrew communities in SL, a new avatar will be whisked away into that community to learn the SL ropes. Certainly francophones are thrilled to get to Gaia..yes, I can speak French, but it's not "my" culture or my natural language.

I even agree with your comments re businesses as helpers. If it weren't for some great store and club owners, I'd still be Ruth today.

My "bubble" as you put it is confined to SL Orientation Islands which is chiefly where I choose to volunteer,and I couldn't do that without belonging to the group. Does it please me? Sure..I'm not in SL to do things that do not make me happy. For example,from a selfish standpoint, I love linguistics, and because of my role, I'm learning to say some basic things in several languages, always a good skill. And I've met some amazing people in their Ruth shape!

Do I need to feel needed? Not particularly...I'm happy to pass them on and out to others. I'd rather pass on my love of SL than be a social worker.

And I recommend your rentals (among some others) because your'e a good landlord and they're good deals for new people. Pretty practical, no?

[Desmond Shang]

Interesting.

Prokofy, just curious - ever consider making a good independently run welcome area of your own?

I have for a long time, however concerns about 'doing it right' scared me off. At least for now.

A clear side-benefit would be visibility for the hosting regions and businesses.

There are definitely issues to be considered there, although it seems sponsorship has been generally accepted, even if perhaps not stamped 'approved' by society at large.

[Prokofy Neva]

Desmond, as I've said before, I did in fact commission a build for a Linden infohub and have filled it with orientation content and constantly work it. SO I do this. It's not 'independently' run, but it's good enough.

I also spent a lot of time converting another area across from another infohub, Hyles, into more of a newbie area with low-cost rental cabins, rides, dancing, freebies, TV to watch, some orientation stuff, a money tree, etc. It's nothing special, but it's what I can do.

I also have the SL Public Land Preserve and dozens of other public spaces with freebies, hangout areas, stuff to do, orientation. I spend a lot of my time in SL orienting in fact.

I don't care a whit about what "society" says, by which you mean the forums 2 percent. They imagine you cannot linke commerce and newbies management. But of course you can. In fact, it's the fake altruism and tacky human potential crap that is far more offensive than simply getting paid for what you do well, and providing loss leaders to other rentals. Seriously, it's majorly fucked to suggest otherwise.

It's never the people in my low-cost rentals, or using my free sandboxes, or my public land preserve for which lots of support has been gained from a few dedicated tier-payers and many public donations, or my other public spaces, with free content, infohub stuff, etc. who complain about any of this being tied to a business.

It's only the tiny percentage of sectarian socialist faux altruistic types who bitch, and I ignore them.

[Nina Andrews]

I don't have a clue about your psychoanalysis and social/political ideas but I was a mentor. Most were fucking idiots. They seemed to think they were a Linden police force instead of being there to help. Most of the time they wanted to know how to punish rather than help. I had to leave. Now I help people in an unofficial and friendly way. I think people rather talk to normal residents than anything official.