The Student's guide to the Mentor Program!

Contributor: Viktor Vysheslav Malkin Viktor Vysheslav Malkin
So your new to EdenFantasys and never written a review and you’ve decided you would like to become a reviewer, or perhaps you have already written a few reviews and are looking into the mentor program as to improve your writing. Whatever the case is, the mentor program is the perfect chance for you to meet experienced review writers and to learn from the experiences of others. This guide will take you step by step through the wonders of the Student/Mentor Program, from finding the right Mentor to graduating!

Step 1- choosing the right Mentor:
Every mentor is different; each mentor has a unique personality and skill set, it is key for you to find the right match for you. EdenFantasys has a plethora of great mentors available that are ready and eager to help members, new and old.

First thing is first, you must think about what kind of product you wish to review, whether that be a DVD/Book, Toy (vibe, dildo, prostate massager, male mastubator, etc.), or other kind of product (BDSM gear, condoms, furniture, perfume, etc.).

Once you have chosen what it is that you plan to review, it then time to look over potential Mentors. To do this you must go to the community page. You can go to the community page one of two ways. The first way is by loading the Edenfantasys main page www.edenfantasys.com and click on the button on right hand side of the screen that says “Community Corner”.
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Alternatively you can also make it to the community page from the forum (where you are currently) by scrolling to the top of the page and finding and clicking on the button that says “Community News”
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So, you are now at the community page! Here you will find all sorts of neat information, from important news and announcements to a spotlight on new reviews! More importantly (for now, for the sake of this guide) you mentor will find a list of available Mentors, as well as a general description of what each specializes in. The ribbon beside the name indicates how many students that the Mentor has or has had. Notice in the image bellow that there are the numbered boxes 1-8 (subject to change when more Mentors are added), by clicking on a number it will take you to the next page of available mentors.
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When deciding on a mentor, you should take into mind a few things. It is suggested that you find several that specialize in reviews of the product type that you plan on review. After you have a good group of potential Mentors written down, you should visit their profile. You can do this by clicking the image by their name. Once at their profile you should click where it says “About Me”, here you can learn about a potential Mentor. After you are finished reading the “about me” tab it is time to read a few reviews written by the potential Mentor. Click where it says “reviews and articles”, here you will find reviews that the Mentor has personally written, to read a review click on the title of one of the reviews. Reading a Mentor’s review will get you familiarized with their writing style as well as give you an indication of how the mentor approaches writing reviews.
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So now you have collected all the information necessary to make an educated decision on mentor, it is now time to apply for said Mentor’s class. To apply to the Mentor’s class you must go back to the community page and find the mentor in the list, once you find the mentor click on “Send Request” button.

If you haven’t already activated your Student service you will be prompted to. Do not worry, it is very easy and only takes one click! After you clicked “send Request” you are taken to a page, on that page you should click “activate student service”.
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Once you’ve clicked it, the page will reload, and you are now ready to send your request. Click where it says “Mentor List” and find the Mentor you have decided on and click Submit Request.
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If you had already activated your student service you will have be taken to a screen where you explain to the mentor what you want to get out of being his/her student, as well as what type of product you wish to review, you do this by typing in the box. Once you have written all you have to say, you should click on the button “Submit”. You will be notified when the Mentor has accepted or denied your request.
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Step 2 – writing a review

You are no ready to write a review and submit it to your Mentor. Please read this guide on how to initiate the review writing process Review Program Guidelines.

Once you have started writing your review, you can save it as a draft and come back to the review later (or you can finish it in one sitting, your choice). The mentor will be able to view the draft and give suggestions. Once you are satisfied you will then click on the button “Submit Review to Mentor”. The Mentor will assess the review and get back to you with suggestions, changes, and tips. The Mentor will either send the review back to you for revisions or the Mentor will publish it.

Once your Mentor is satisfied with the review and all the final touches are applied, the Mentor will publish the review.

Step 3a - Graduation

Once you have written a minimum of two reviews, your Mentor will be given three options. The Mentor will be given the options to graduate you, fail you, or keep you in the class for more reviews.

If you are graduated, and you were not an advanced reviewer, you will become an advanced reviewer and be given the full benefits of an advanced reviewer (You can find details here Review Program Guidelines). In addition to you receiving advanced status, your Mentor will be given a $25 EdenFantasys Gift Card. If for some reason you fail you will not become an advanced reviewer, but you can try again. There is no punishment for failing!

If you were already an advanced reviewer before the time of your graduation, you will remain an advanced reviewer, and your Mentor will NOT be given a $25 EdenFantasys Gift Card. If you failed, your advanced status will not be modified, you WILL still be an advanced reviewer! There is no punishments for failing!
01/07/2011
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Contributor: Viktor Vysheslav Malkin Viktor Vysheslav Malkin
Step 3b –Canceling a Class

Sometimes circumstances can not be avoided and one must cancel a class. If something has come up in your life and you are unable to write reviews and must cancel a class, you should send your Mentor a private message letting him/her know. This way your Mentor understands that it was nothing he/she did that has caused you to cancel the class.

If your Mentor does not respond for a few days, do not cancel the class right away. You should try private messaging your Mentor and inquire about the delay. There are cases where something might have unexpectedly come up in the Mentor’s life, anything from loss of electricity to family emergencies. Please be patient with your Mentor. If your Mentor has not responded to you within two weeks, you should calmly message them again and inquire, let them know what reviews need finished and the reviews which due dates are upcoming or past due. If the Mentor does not respond within the end of one week, it is acceptable to cancel the class. You should send one more message to the Mentor to let them know why you canceled the class; remain calm and respectful, for you may not know the reason why the Mentor is not currently available. You can even let the Mentor know that you are willing to try again at a more convenient date!


You may have as many or as few Mentors that you wish; having more than one Mentor is a good way to meet other reviewers as well as learning new techniques. Have fun with program, and soak in all the great knowledge!

If you have any questions feel free to private message me or another Mentor! Or you can post your questions here.


Thanks for reading my unofficial guide to the Mentor program!
01/07/2011
Contributor: Kindred Kindred
Wow, this is great as a resource. You did an amazing amount of work and I'm sure this will help a lot of people.

My only comment is that I do not personally think a mentor needs to have expertise in a toy/field that the potential student is interested in for them to be compatible. The mentor I chose was a female into BDSM and I first chose to review a cock ring and masturbator. We actually had little in common but it worked out well for me. I'm sure that every mentor has something to offer and can help any student interested. Actually, I would say that it is more important that the expectations of mentor and student are compatible.
01/07/2011
Contributor: ToyTimeTim ToyTimeTim
Very nice Victor, this should help a bunch. Now it needs to be where people can always find it.

I think it should also be noted that when a person sends their request to the mentor, they should tell a little about themselves. Just a bit about what kinds of toys they like and in what capacity they would like to participate in the community. This could make the mentors decision to accept easier. I get to many that say "Be my mentor", and most of those do not have any information on their profile page.
01/07/2011
Contributor: Jobthingy Jobthingy
WTG Viktor! This is awesome
01/07/2011
Contributor: Viktor Vysheslav Malkin Viktor Vysheslav Malkin
Quote:
Originally posted by Kindred
Wow, this is great as a resource. You did an amazing amount of work and I'm sure this will help a lot of people.

My only comment is that I do not personally think a mentor needs to have expertise in a toy/field that the potential student ... more
You are right! Every Mentor has something good to give a student!

I was just thinking (which is bad, because I am wrong very frequently!) that for a newer member and even for some others that it may be benefitial to get a Mentor that specializes in what they want to review. You have a good point, for example, Mentors like Lauren, Mistress Kay, and Airen Wolf (and many others) are perfectly qualified to help a guy out with stroker reviews. What I should have said was that it is optional to find a match not key to do so. I am glad you pointed this out. Anyone reading the guide will be able to see that and it will help them!

Thanks for posting your thoughts, If I could edit the guide, I would include that!

(PS: Tried to reply for twenty minutes, but DAMN NETZERO wouldn't let me connect with a local dial up number!)
01/07/2011
Contributor: Airekah Airekah
Quote:
Originally posted by Viktor Vysheslav Malkin
So your new to EdenFantasys and never written a review and you’ve decided you would like to become a reviewer, or perhaps you have already written a few reviews and are looking into the mentor program as to improve your writing. Whatever the case ... more
This is super helpful. Great work.
01/07/2011
Contributor: That Guy That Guy
I was having a really hard time figuring this out. Thanks so much!
01/07/2011
Contributor: Illusional Illusional
Nice guide Viktor!
01/07/2011
Contributor: Darling Jen Darling Jen
I think you did a great job with this tutorial! It does get tedious and difficult to introduce every new student to the program because I worry I left something out or wasn't clear enough.
01/07/2011
Contributor: Jessica Elizabeth Jessica Elizabeth
Very nice!
01/07/2011
Contributor: Viktor Vysheslav Malkin Viktor Vysheslav Malkin
Thanks all, I am very glad you all found it of use
01/07/2011
Contributor: Alys Alys
This is wonderful, just got a mentor yesterday... am so excited!
01/07/2011
Contributor: ~LaUr3n~ ~LaUr3n~
Awesome job Viktor!
01/07/2011
Contributor: Waterfall Waterfall
Great resource! Very helpful
01/07/2011
Contributor: Selective Sensualist Selective Sensualist
Wow, you are just awesome for putting all of this information together, Viktor! Fantastic job.
01/07/2011
Contributor: Alan & Michele Alan & Michele
Niiice
01/08/2011
Contributor: Dusk Dusk
Great job, Viktor! I wish there had been something like this when I joined the mentoring program.
01/08/2011
Contributor: Adriana Ravenlust Adriana Ravenlust
I wish this was an official page because the mentor program is so not intuitive right now. New mentors and students become confused.
01/29/2011
Contributor: BluePixi BluePixi
this was very informative, thank you.
01/29/2011
Contributor: KnK KnK
Vik, this is so awesome!! I'll have to show this to my friends who are interested in the site!
01/29/2011
Contributor: DustBunny DustBunny
Thank you for the guide, I was interested and so confused as to where to get started and how. Now I need to search and hope someone wants me.
01/30/2011
Contributor: Crash Crash
This was really useful. I was looking for more details on the mentorship program and I couldn't find any on the site. If there isn't anything the information here should be added as a link.
02/04/2011
Contributor: Woman China Woman China
Thank-you Viktor!!! It does explain a lot of stuff!!!
02/08/2011
Contributor: Miss Madeline Miss Madeline
This is great. Wish I had known some of these things earlier.
02/08/2011
Contributor: Miss Madeline Miss Madeline
This is great. Wish I had known some of these things earlier.
02/08/2011
Contributor: EvaChangeN EvaChangeN
Thanks! This was very informative!
02/15/2011
Contributor: danellejohns danellejohns
Very good information! I am just kinda bumpin this up to the forefront. I believe the mentor program is a wonderful program and you made it so easy for new people to find everything they need.
02/17/2011
Contributor: Selective Sensualist Selective Sensualist
This post deserves a bump.


I think it would be TREMENDOUSLY helpful to new contributors if a specific tab that reads something like "info for new contributors" were added to the forum.

This particular post should definitely be placed under that easy-to-see-and-find tab, along with the post that Kindred had made about things we wish we'd known when we were new. Despite the fact that I know Kindred's thread exists and even have a rough recollection of the title (or at least I thought I did), I am still having a heck of a time finding it so that I can share it with a new contributor. So what are the chances a newbie would find it or happen upon it on his/her own?
02/25/2011
Contributor: Xavier7 Xavier7
Excellent resource! I just wish it was easier to find from a community page or homepage or something instead of on the forums. This is wonderful!
02/25/2011