it's good to see EF considered the advanced reviewers thoughts & concerns regarding newbies. and I do believe privacy is extremely important to all of us.

I do think that newbies should be required to have a mentor from the outset to help them understand site navigation and to move through the trial requirements & understand what the importance of reviews are all about.

I don't see very many new reviewers taking advantage of the wonderful opportunity to learn what they can gain from a good experienced mentor. maybe they don't how significant it is.

I believe being a good mentor entails a great responsibility in shaping a newbies development of quality reviews. at least that's been my experience as well as observations of other new growing reviewers. and I say hip, hip hooray to those dedicated to the desire to offer their best to EF. something to be considered.

and another thing to consider is maybe specific guidelines could be put in place for mentors to watch for improvement on those reviews. I'm not wanting to suggest an extra burden on mentors. but I have seen so many newbies' reviews that don''t promote EF products very well - so what's the point in having them?

anyway, I hope these thoughts will be taken into consideration since I have a strong desire for EF to become as strong as they used to be and at the same drawing the community closer together creating a great site to be committed to, and of course, enjoyed. less

Hey everyone,Thank you for your feedback on the thread put up on Friday (June 7th), we've modified the list of mandatory actions after hearing all of your concerns. Privacy is essential to the relationship between Eden and its community. You can find the updated list here.Mandatory Actions:• Open new account• Publish public profile• Verify your emailThe account will upgrade from Trial to Regular once all actions have been completed and fifteen days have passed since completion of the first action. Both of those things are required to upgrade.Also for your convenience, here is the points schedule for Trial Members:Thanks again everyone! less

I'm asking the same question as Pretties, Suzie, Kit, and kendra. I can't seem to find an option anywhere to "activate discussion service", which I thought was the forums? (It's a relief to see that I'm not the only one!)

I've been here for over a month, actively participating and recently had a review published that I spent a couple weeks working on...but I didn't receive any points for it. Help identifying this task so that I could move up would be greatly appreciated! less

Oh wow! So it isn't only my student. I guess this is some glitch or unresolved thingy with the new changes. I don't know. For my student, it's her only task left to complete -- the activation of discussion service -- so I take it without completing that task, you are held back from being upgraded or whatever? For a minute, I started thinking maybe it was just a glitch, but since there was no option to activate it, perhaps it wasn't a requirement & that if you'd completed the rest, you'd still be able to go forward. As a mentor, I'm trying to learn this new stuff too & I feel kind of lost! I know my new students are lost & hoping I will be of help, but this is tough.

Wonder why you didn't receive any points? Is that one of the changes? I wasn't aware of this one. Maybe you have to complete so many reviews before you start getting points. I wish there was a more detailed guide for this stuff. If I figure out this whole discussion service mess, I will post here so you, Suzie, Kit and Pretties can know & if any of you figure it out, I hope ya'll let us know too.

Another thing. Are there changes to the assignments for students? I have 2 students who have requested an assignment about 1-2 weeks ago & I emailed Justin about it, as usual & never get any replies. Is there a change there that I have missed? I have emailed more than twice & still nothing, so both of those students are asking about it & I have no answers to give. Yikes. less

Oh wow! So it isn't only my student. I guess this is some glitch or unresolved thingy with the new changes. I don't know. For my student, it's her only task left to complete -- the activation of discussion service -- so I take it without completing that task, you are held back from being upgraded or whatever? For a minute, I started thinking maybe it was just a glitch, but since there was no option to activate it, perhaps it wasn't a requirement & that if you'd completed the rest, you'd still be able to go forward. As a mentor, I'm trying to learn this new stuff too & I feel kind of lost! I know my new students are lost & hoping I will be of help, but this is tough.

Wonder why you didn't receive any points? Is that one of the changes? I wasn't aware of this one. Maybe you have to complete so many reviews before you start getting points. I wish there was a more detailed guide for this stuff. If I figure out this whole discussion service mess, I will post here so you, Suzie, Kit and Pretties can know & if any of you figure it out, I hope ya'll let us know too.

Another thing. Are there changes to the assignments for students? I have 2 students who have requested an assignment about 1-2 weeks ago & I emailed Justin about it, as usual & never get any replies. Is there a change there that I have missed? I have emailed more than twice & still nothing, so both of those students are asking about it & I have no answers to give. Yikes. less

Hey everyone,Thank you for your feedback on the thread put up on Friday (June 7th), we've modified the list of mandatory actions after hearing all of your concerns. Privacy is essential to the relationship between Eden and its community. You can find the updated list here.Mandatory Actions:• Open new account• Publish public profile• Verify your emailThe account will upgrade from Trial to Regular once all actions have been completed and fifteen days have passed since completion of the first action. Both of those things are required to upgrade.Also for your convenience, here is the points schedule for Trial Members:Thanks again everyone! less

Well despite the lack of a response on this thread from any admin types, my status has now been upgraded to "regular". Since I did nothing new between posting here and that change, I can only assume "activate discussion service" means "start posting in the forums". So if you think you should be a regular user but are still a trial member I suggest sending a support ticket since it must be a technical issue. It does need clarifying though, as confusion is discouraging for new users. less

Ok, maybe I am missing something or just losing it but I can not do any reviews because when I click to write /add one, it sends me to a page and tells me to sign up to become a reviewer, which I have been for nearly 2 years now and won't let me do anything. I sent a support ticket 5 days and have gotten no response at all so I am at a loss and do not know what to do! I have some items I bought and want to add my reviews to but the site just will not let me! Can someone please help? LOL! less

My understanding of it was that if your account was active for 15 days and you at any point completed the tasks that are manditory you would instantly upgrade. So like I activated my account on Oct. 7th, I completed my tasks (either today or last week depending on if post to articles count for the discussion part of if posting here does) so I should be upgraded today. At least that's how it reads to me when I look at the official Q&A for it. less