I think this sux for one major reason: why the hell didn't she just tell you that she felt she should be graduated? I for one really appreciate your advice- like I've told you , you are the first person of your generation that I take advice from seriously! Don't take it too personally. people have issues! less

What do you get a $25 gift card for?? I graduated 1 student who i helped write 2 reviews and such, but never received one. u agree with you that that was wrong how the girl did things, but i don't think i'd msg her. ive had ppl cancel my class too but i think it's because they found another mentor.


I emailed JR about the gift card; i graduated the student about a week ago to upgrade to advanced reviewer.

Some ppl do this for points i think is what ive seen, some are truly serious in critiquing less

What do you get a $25 gift card for?? I graduated 1 student who i helped write 2 reviews and such, but never received one. u agree with you that that was wrong how the girl did things, but i don't think i'd msg her. ive had ppl cancel my class too but i think it's because they found another mentor.


I emailed JR about the gift card; i graduated the student about a week ago to upgrade to advanced reviewer.

Some ppl do this for points i think is what ive seen, some are truly serious in critiquing less

I understand exactly what you are going through, Ruy--I had a student that had 3 reviews submitted, still needed some work and ASKED me not to graduate him/her. So I did not. A couple of days later, I was reading reviews on the Community Page and there the person was!!! They had gotten voted in to an advanced reviewer status....WTF!!!!

I did tell them not to do that upon accepting them as a student, I had worked with them for 3 assignments among many messages about reviewing, site navigation, product questions, etc. I probably had over 9 hours invested in the student. I was so screwed out of my GC--looked forward to that after spending all that time--and was pissed beyond belief!! The student told me they were not ready to graduate...

I agree with many of you, if someone is a student, the right to be voted up should be blocked.

I also have had 5 people apply as students and then have not heard anything from them after i have messaged them explaining the classes, my short policies and/or ordered their first assignment. I had to cancel these classes due to lack of response to messages, for months!! I do feel that there should be a fail option as well, at least there would be some compensation for wasting our time with the point farmers or dead beats. I understand that after getting more familiar with the process, some people do not want to review...fine, let me know and I will cancel the class. Do not just fall of the face of the Earth and be so danged rude!!

Holy cow!! Looks like I wrote a book, sorry guys, I guess I am still upset about the whole issue. less

I'm so sorry this happened to you.

Like I said, this and other reasons are why I have never become a mentor. I have a.... low frustration level with adults who I think should behave like adults, and whom behave like little children.

I really feel things need to be changed asap. Mentors have been screwed by this same issue for years! It wouldn't take any programming to simply reward the mentors who have AWOL students or whose student go behind their backs and put themselves up for a vote. It wouldn't take any programming effort to LOOK at who is voting every single person who asks for an upgrade and give them a talking to. I would happily supply the Admin with these names, as they are right below the word "vote for upgrade" when you hoover over it. I can name two of them without even looking. I don't understand why feet are being dragged about this.

I hope this gets resolved soon. I'm not even a mentor, but I feel for not only the mentors who are getting screwed by the cheaters, but the entire community who are subjected to crappy reviews from a good number of these upgrades who are usually voted on by the same 3 or 4 people! less

It is terribly unfortunate that this happened to you Ryuson. It happened to me once and I was able to catch it before they were voted in and I was able to fail them and still earn my gift card. But I realize that isn't always going to be the case.

The mentor program does need changes. We are following this thread and listening to all of your ideas. Changing programs requires programming to be updated, this takes time.

For the here and now, let's address the immediate concerns:

- If you have a student who has accepted an assignment and you know of no outstanding issues with shipping, damage, wrong size, etc. then send in a support ticket so that the issue can be handled by an administrator. Regardless of whether or not you are able to contact the reviewer, they will get emails reminding them. If they attempt to order something else for assignment, the request will be denied.

- If you don't hear from a student for a period of time and know of no other issues with their personal life that would prevent them from completing your class in a timely manner, you are free to cancel the class. How long a period of time you wait is purely up to your discretion. If they come back to the site or send you a message asking why their class was canceled, you may be honest in saying that you hadn't heard from them in some time. And if you're willing, that they are more than welcome to rejoin your class.

Ryuson, I will be sending you a message shortly. less

I'm so sorry this happened to you.

Like I said, this and other reasons are why I have never become a mentor. I have a.... low frustration level with adults who I think should behave like adults, and whom behave like little children.

I really feel things need to be changed asap. Mentors have been screwed by this same issue for years! It wouldn't take any programming to simply reward the mentors who have AWOL students or whose student go behind their backs and put themselves up for a vote. It wouldn't take any programming effort to LOOK at who is voting every single person who asks for an upgrade and give them a talking to. I would happily supply the Admin with these names, as they are right below the word "vote for upgrade" when you hoover over it. I can name two of them without even looking. I don't understand why feet are being dragged about this.

I hope this gets resolved soon. I'm not even a mentor, but I feel for not only the mentors who are getting screwed by the cheaters, but the entire community who are subjected to crappy reviews from a good number of these upgrades who are usually voted on by the same 3 or 4 people! less

I think that, unfortunately, every mentor has had this happen--which is one of the reasons I'm considering no longer mentoring. It's not that they don't know--since I specifically request my students NOT request to go advanced, and explain why.

It's frustrating, and it's an insult to us as mentors. less

Ryuson-

Let me join everyone else in expressing how sorry I am that this happened to you. Unfortunately, as others have mentioned, there is a lot of confusion and lack of information regarding the mentor program. The one suggestion I have would be to send a message to every new student outlining your expectations and an overview of the program. I also always mention that they automatically become advanced upon graduation and ask them to note go up for vote.

I was originally going to write a "Mentor Program FAQ" much like the editor program FAQ, but I honestly don't have the time right now. If anyone else is up for the task, I'm sure everyone would be very appreciative. ~hint hint~

In terms of the mentor program, I completely agree that it needs some tweaks.

1. A student enrolled in a class should not have the option to go up for vote. The system should automatically prevent this. This is a no brainer and occurs more frequently than it should simply because students do not know any better.

2. Students should still be able to drop a class at any time. However, it should result in an automatic failure. The presumption is that if a mentor has not graduated you and you drop, you would have failed without additional reviews.

3. A mentor should be able to fail a student at any time. Currently, the system only allows us to fail a student after 2 reviews have been submitted. How many students do we all have that either submit one or no reviews and disappear forever? Our only option is to cancel the class which basically erases all evidence that we ever worked with the student. Personally, I don't care if we get a GC or points for failing these AWOL students, but I feel strongly that mentors should get the credit for having worked with them.

4. I think the ability to get voted in should continue. However, I think that any reviews completed under a mentor should not be used as part of their body of work. Currently, when a reviewer requests an upgrade vote, the system lists their reviews. Reviews that were completed with the assistance of a mentor do not demonstrate that reviewers ability to write a quality review on their own. The system should automatically ignore these reviews.

(I'm going to add my suggestions to the Community Planning thread) less