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    Might make sense also to have the "First Questions" / "First Answers" review queues only show up for Helpers rather than everyone with the review queue privilege.
    – goldPseudo
    Commented Nov 28, 2022 at 22:33
  • 2
    New user mentor would require at least on user per site, so designated, likely more, e.g., on math.se. Instead, @goldPseudo, I think the role of site reviewers is valuable, whereas "new user mentor" might have access to the new OPs posting, to assist them. Note also, "first answers" are not necessarily posted by "new users", many users wait six months (like I did a long time ago) before answering, or longer.
    – amWhy
    Commented Nov 28, 2022 at 22:43
  • 8
    This sounds a lot like the planned Staging Ground feature. I think there are a bunch of good ideas here (a chat of SG reviewers sounds like a good idea, for example - SOCVR has proved to be very valuable mentoring for future moderators, as an example of a similar concept), but it sounds more like things that should be added to that rather than being its own role.
    – Ryan M
    Commented Nov 28, 2022 at 22:52
  • @amWhy True, it's not only new users who might post a First [Question|Answer], but the stated goal of both queues is to "help users who may be unfamiliar with the site."
    – goldPseudo
    Commented Nov 28, 2022 at 22:54
  • But my point is, is that many users who first answer questions, are very familiar with the site. There are better ways to define "new users" as used in the "new user reputation league". When mentoring is not needed (users here and active for a year) treating them as "in need of mentoring" is unkind and wasted time.
    – amWhy
    Commented Nov 28, 2022 at 23:01
  • 3
    What about users who create revolving accounts? Many would already have been "mentored", likely twice or more times. You seem not to grasp that, at least on some sites, there are users who merely want their homework done for them. Granted, not on all sites. So my point is, having appointees, and for which purposes, the needs are site specific.
    – amWhy
    Commented Nov 28, 2022 at 23:05
  • 4
    @amWhy I took out the “new user” bit. I don’t think it matters if someone has been helped before if they still need help. I didn’t intend to propose creating a special class of user that gets more help than everyone else. Mentors will have to deal with help vampires; there’s nothing that can be done about that. They’re still volunteers and aren’t obligated to engage with people they don’t want to.
    – ColleenV
    Commented Nov 29, 2022 at 11:29
  • 1
    These things already kind-of exist on SE: First posts "spawn" in a first posts queue with an implicit 'help me' attached, where those wanting to help can review those posts: they are filtered into those queues. For less new users, they can use chat or ask questions tagged support here or on other sites meta's, which the 'helpers' then can watch out for and answer/redirect to the correct duplicate. The thumbs ups are similar to upvotes on answers or stars on chat messages, and they already give badges.
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 7:31
  • While e.g. chat could be made more well-known as a place to go ask your questions, and being able to be notified of new messages can help, this isn't necessarily something that needs a role: It can be a simple privilege/setting accessible to anyone. All that's left then is the 'icon on their profile showing they are open to questions', which would pretty much just be 'virtue signalling': "Look at me being all good", while right now, everyone on SE that wants to and has the necessary experience (privileges) can already help out. There's IMO no need for requests to be aimed at single users.
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 7:31
  • 2
    @Tinkeringbell You’ve missed the point. The point is not to give people special tools or privileges, it’s to identify people who are willing to help so that people who have questions know who to ask. There’s no reputation for leaving helpful comments or answering questions in chat, and people who spend a lot of time contributing in that way should get some recognition.
    – ColleenV
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 11:34
  • @ColleenV I didn't miss that point: "There's IMO no need for requests to be aimed at single users". Like right now dropping a message in chat or a support question on a meta site, you don't ask a single user, you ask 'anyone' willing to help, and that's to me preferable to a system where you need to first figure out who in particular to ask, who might have time to reply the fastest. Instead of making single users the point of contact, focus on giving the users that need help the tools (and ways to easily find those tools) to contact anyone willing to help. That doesn't need a role.
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 11:44
  • 1
    @Tinkeringbell You’re still missing the point. How do I find people willing to help me write my first question on ELL? The chat room is dead, Meta can take days to get a response. There are lots of helpful people on the site interested in helping learners, but no way easy for the people who need help to connect with the people eager to help. Regardless, you hate the idea, which is fine. I just wish you understood it better before you decided it was crap lol. Badges buried in people’s profiles are not recognition btw. I can’t wear my rarest badge for everyone to notice.
    – ColleenV
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 12:02
  • 1
    @ColleenV First posts end up in review queues for help, like I already said. The staging ground can help, once it is available networkwide. Better tooling is certainly necessary but is should never ever be locked behind a role. Those tools should be freely available to anyone that wants to use them, automatically awarded, making it just another privilege, not a role. As for wanting to flash badges... That too can be arranged but it's just a feature request for changing the existing functionality, it doesn't require a role. So unless new privilege == role... there's simply no need for this.
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 12:15
  • 5
    I don't hate it, I'm just not seeing how this would be more useful than making some new tooling, some more site preferences, a few new privileges and badges, why does it need this whole new thing called 'role'? So far the only argument seems to be 'recognition, I want to be patted on my back'. That to me is not a sufficient argument. That is not only the problem with this answer, but yours drew my attention because of how much in it is already in some way or shape present in the current system, like I pointed out in my first comments.
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 12:15
  • 1
    +1 This sounds like a good idea to me. I would be excited to take up a mentoring role as pictured in this answer. I don't quite understand some of the criticisms above, such as one saying that this seems to be all about patting oneself on the back (huh?). At best, there are some loose workarounds in the current system to achieve this, but nothing along the lines of the suggestion in this answer. (I don't know much about the "Staging Ground", but I'll be excited to see how that pans out if, as Ryan M says, some of these ideas are present in that feature.)
    – The Amplitwist
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 18:48