Mentored Reefkeeping Q&A

[mFrame]

With the Mentor section now open I wanted to create a thread where members, Mentors, and Mentees can post questions and have a discussion regarding the process. Ask away!

[FarmerTy]

First off, I just want to say kudos to Mike and his supporting cast for making the club an engaging and fun place to share our experiences and our joys/sorrows in a family fun environment where everyone is just super friendly and helpful.

I think initiatives like this keep the forum engaging and a wonderful tool to share experiences and knowledge in a form that is helpful for newbs and seasoned veterans, alike.

So Mike, from the process forward, will you be adding two more members to the committee first? As it looks like you have 3 currently and you were aiming for 5.

Afterwards, will the nominations of the mentors take place? Will nominations only be from the committee or will members be able to nominate a potential mentor. For instance, can I nominate Brian, even though he can't tell by touching the water that it is at 58 degrees or 82 degrees? And if he is nominated by me, will he then be chosen from several other nominees by the committee and then given a mentor position in the club? Would there be room for co-mentors? Say we had two experts in sea horse tanks. Would a situation arise where we could have both people be a mentor for sea horse tanks?

Just throwing some discussion items out there. Looking forward to the program!

[victoly]

I would like to mentor ty. He keeps killing his coral.

[mFrame]

Thanks for asking!

First off, I just want to say kudos to Mike and his supporting cast for making the club an engaging and fun place to share our experiences and our joys/sorrows in a family fun environment where everyone is just super friendly and helpful.

I think initiatives like this keep the forum engaging and a wonderful tool to share experiences and knowledge in a form that is helpful for newbs and seasoned veterans, alike.

So Mike, from the process forward, will you be adding two more members to the committee first? As it looks like you have 3 currently and you were aiming for 5.

So the existing 3 committee members actually propose candidates to fill the empty positions and then vote on them. The ARC staff and I serve as tiebreakers or to provide feedback if necessary. Timfish was a big part of kicking off the program is and currently serving as a temp committee member. Teresa is the next mentor in line and is also currently acting as a temp committee member. Given that mentors should not also serve on the committee, they'll each move off the committee as replacements are found.

Afterwards, will the nominations of the mentors take place? Will nominations only be from the committee or will members be able to nominate a potential mentor. For instance, can I nominate Brian, even though he can't tell by touching the water that it is at 58 degrees or 82 degrees? And if he is nominated by me, will he then be chosen from several other nominees by the committee and then given a mentor position in the club? Would there be room for co-mentors? Say we had two experts in sea horse tanks. Would a situation arise where we could have both people be a mentor for sea horse tanks?

Mentor candidates can be brought to the attention of the committee by anyone. The actual consideration and nomination process is handled in committee. They will discuss things like: does the candidate meet the established qualifications? is there a need for their particular specialty/skill? etc. Once the committee nominates the candidate they will confirm the Mentor's acceptance and then we'll setup the mentor bio and forum. There is no max number of Mentors, but all must adhere to the guidelines established by the committee.

In general I do not think that there would be co-mentors. Opinions are often very specific regarding tank setup and maintenance so I assumed that rather than teams we would just have multiple mentors.

I don't see a reason why we couldn't have many mentors with the same specialty (FOWLR, Predator, Seahorse, etc). Because Mentor's have finite amounts of time to share with Mentees, ideally we will have enough mentors available to meet club needs. The mentor bio will allow newbies to select the Mentor with systems that most closely match what their vision of their own system would be, so variety is a good thing.

I should also mention that one of the big concerns about a Mentor/Mentee discussion thread is the injection of outside opinions into the process. For this reason, each Mentor will have moderator rights on their and their Mentee's build threads. This means that the focus of the thread will be on the Mentor's advice and the Mentee questions, not to elicit input from the club as a whole. We already have discussion forums to talk about various methodologies, equipment, and philosophies, so the Mentored threads will be limited to the communication between Mentor/Mentee with the exception that questions can be asked. Posts to mentored threads will not be made visible to the public until the Mentor approves them, but most likely valid questions will be incorporated into an FAQ or questions section of the thread.

[FarmerTy]

I would like to mentor ty. He keeps killing his coral.

All in the name of science sir! I do need some mentoring to work my way up to Gifmasterplus elite level though.

Thanks for the clarification of the process Mike and the discussion of intended goals of the program. For our nominations, would we be sending them directly to any committee member or just blast it out on the discussion thread, such as this one?

[Sascha D.]

1. It is said that the Mentee is responsible for selecting the Mentor. Does the Mentor have a choice whom they accept as a Mentee?
2. It is said that the Mentee is responsible for updating the thread monthly and for posting questions publicly. Does this mean that every question asked to the Mentor is done via the build thread?
3. Are on-site visits prohibited, encouraged, or required?
4. One of the main factors regarding setup, equipment and maintenance is budget. How has this factor been addressed in regards to Mentor and Mentee selection, and matching? Let's be honest, some people have deep pockets and some have small budgets. A Mentor may not be able to properly mentor a candidate with a different amount of disposable income for purchasing equipment and livestock.
5. Is the sharing of assets prohibited? Meaning is it against the rules for the Mentee to shop in the Mentor's garage or tank.

Lastly, I would like to offer a suggestion on Mentors. I suggest considering different Mentors based on their experience with tank sizes in the various categories that apply. Nano tanks (<25g), medium size tank (25-90g), and large tank (100g+) all take a different skillset and have different margins for error or experimentation.

[mFrame]

More good questions:

JeeperTy, on 02 Jul 2014 - 09:48 AM, said:

For our nominations, would we be sending them directly to any committee member or just blast it out on the discussion thread, such as this one?

You can post here, but the quickest way to make sure they see it is to PM somebody directly.

1. It is said that the Mentee is responsible for selecting the Mentor. Does the Mentor have a choice whom they accept as a Mentee?
2. It is said that the Mentee is responsible for updating the thread monthly and for posting questions publicly. Does this mean that every question asked to the Mentor is done via the build thread?
3. Are on-site visits prohibited, encouraged, or required?
4. One of the main factors regarding setup, equipment and maintenance is budget. How has this factor been addressed in regards to Mentor and Mentee selection, and matching? Let's be honest, some people have deep pockets and some have small budgets. A Mentor may not be able to properly mentor a candidate with a different amount of disposable income for purchasing equipment and livestock.
5. Is the sharing of assets prohibited? Meaning is it against the rules for the Mentee to shop in the Mentor's garage or tank.

Lastly, I would like to offer a suggestion on Mentors. I suggest considering different Mentors based on their experience with tank sizes in the various categories that apply. Nano tanks (<25g), medium size tank (25-90g), and large tank (100g+) all take a different skillset and have different margins for error or experimentation.

1. Mentors are not required to accept a Mentee. A Mentee may approach a mentor via PM or at meetings, etc. and express interest in being mentored. The Mentor will determine if it's a good fit both personality and with their existing time commitments and other Mentees. If both parties agree then the Mentor will let us know so that we can create the Mentee build thread with appropriate permissions.

2. Questions should be submitted via the build thread or via PM. The Mentor/Mentee will consolidate those into the threads' FAQ section.

3. That's between the Mentor/Mentee and the rules committee, but I don't see that as being a fixed requirement. Onsite visits by the Mentor would definitely make the process easier. Mentors aren't just teachers, I would expect they'd end up being friends.

4. Budget is where the Mentor's biography comes in. I would expect a Mentee to select a Mentor who has build threads similar to what the Mentee wants. Additionally, in the Mentor's documentation of their own systems they will be including an estimated cost of a system of that nature. Keep in mind that within our hobby there is often existing equipment that can be purchased cheaper than new. In such cases there are often drawbacks to using existing equipment. The build thread should actually contain these discussions between Mentor/Mentee over equipment selection to help others following along to understand those issues. If a Mentee has unrealistic goals for their system given their budget, I would expect a Mentor to help them modify their expectations or decline to mentor them.

5. That's totally up to the Mentor and Mentee. I know my informal mentors in the past have definitely donated more than just their time to me...