Want the Mentor Program Back?

There are a few inherent problems with the mentor program, I'm definitely open to feedback on what parts of the program you enjoyed and which parts were less desirable. I have a few ideas of my own but until the review templates are revamped, I doubt we're going to bring it back up. (The days of the "everything and the kitchen sink" reviews are over. While it was awesome for the community and we all learned a lot, the general customer base wasn't as drawn to them as we were in the community.)

Well, I don't know about other mentors but I had 2 excellent ones who taught me what was important to include in a review and what did not belong in a review to make sure the consumer had the best information in their buying choices.
I have not written any reviews in some time, but am still a customer and read a lot of reviews before buying a product.
I agree some reviews have been too lengthy but would rather have that than a review which tells me nothing.
Perhaps the editors could take up the slack on this or have they already?

One of the problems I found with the mentor program was that some students only wanted to participate if they received free assignments. When they had trouble with this they refused to participate. I think that a new mentor program should not include free products. That could serve as a type of filter. In truth, most people interested in the mentor program will most likely already own a few toys that they can review.

Well that's just sad. As a customer, I want to read all I can about a product before buying it. The deeply thorough reviews make me feel like I'm holding it in my hand before ever seeing it, and that's what I've always done with my reviews. I want a new customer (not the other reviewers here or community) to know all that they can about a product. I don't care about the rating system, I don't care what others say about them. But I know that if someone has a question about something, chances are they can read one of my reviews and find the answer.

Guess I'll keep my thorough reviews for my awesome blog and keep my word count to a minimum here.

I feel the same way also. One thing special about Eden is the detailed reviews, you won't find too many of those helpful reviews on other sites.

Exactly! Heck, I joined Eden because I saw and really enjoyed the detailed reviews. That's why I'm active on Eden and not on other sites, and why my reviews are exclusively posted here. They're incredibly useful for me to real when picking out a product.

Same. I was going to write the exact same thing, in the exact same words. Having a mentor made me grow as a reviewer, and made me thrive for very descriptive reviews, semi-objective, semi-subjective. I think we can expect lower quality reviews now the program is gone.

I am new to the site and was reading about the mentor program, I was hoping to sign up for it. Please consider reinstating the program for newcomers like myself that would like to get involved with the community and reviews.

I wish it was back!!! There is so much I could have learned, and wish I had learned, through having a mentor. Everytime Wicked Wahine edits me, she gives me FABULOUS feedback about things I may have missed, or gotten wrong... but other editors don't give me any feedback, and I know I could be learning a lot more. I would love for it to come back, even now that I'm an approved reviewer! I would definitely use it to learn more.

I couldn't agree more!!! The more detailed and helpful reviews, the better. I've gotten nearly ALL of my toys after thoroughly reading detailed reviews - and even continue to read the reviews after buying the toy so I can discover new uses, cleaning methods, or functions I wasn't aware of. It would be really sad to see the review format change. I choose Eden Fantasy's BECAUSE of the amazing reviews - otherwise, there are 100's of other sites offering the same products!! The review system is what makes this site unique, and has customers coming back for more.

The job of a mentor was initially designed to help people cultivate their writing skills in a succinct way. There are many reviews where people repeat a variant of the same information in different sections of a review. There are only so many times a reader wants to hear that something is cylindrical or not made for anal play. "Detailed and helpful" and "long-winded" are not synonymous.

If a potential customer clicks off the review, that does neither the toy nor the review justice and it can cause the author to wonder just what it was they've done wrong when there are no votes or comments on the review.

A review is meant to grab the customer's attention; hold it, then allow the person to make a decision based on all of the information presented.

Reviews should not contain "I" statements, except for the in the experience section.

However, it can be really difficult to build a review from the ground up when you've never used that toy before and it becomes more difficult when you write reviews on the same products again and again.

This is why we're looking at completely redesigning the templates, putting in clearer instructions for the text while allowing a mix of very short reviews -- more like testimonials -- and lengthier reviews.

Aww, thank you for the nod, SGP! You do a great job and have improved really quickly. I like to let people know about things I change if it will help them in a future review, or is a repeated mistake, say a misspelling. I know I would wonder why something was changed in my review if I read it and noticed alterations, so I like to let the reviewer know when I make more significant changes, as a courtesy. I would like to help more, but it's just not possible sometimes (nor really welcome by most reviewers, sorry to say). The editor's job is to proof read, check facts and check for plagiarism, but I do more than I am required and I have seen some other editors such as Lucifer the Cat leave excellent comments for the reviewer, so I know some others do this as well.

Just realize that the editors who don't give feedback are still doing their job, so I didn't want anyone thinking because I did a little more that is was supposed to be that way; it's not really our job description. But when I see something that could so easily improve someone's review or have to change something that I know will crop up again in future reviews, I can't help but say something to help. Anyone who wants any advice or help, please feel free to contact me and I will try to help (but I was not a mentor, just so you know -- the program ended before I would have been eligible.)

Thanks, Stormy! I SO look forward to the changes and thank you for detailing a little more about what we can expect. All I knew before was changes were in the works, but now I am happy to learn some more and see there will be room for both longer and shorter reviews which sounds good to me!

Absolutely! I improved SO much on my writing skills and was pushed to create better reviews with more detail. I want this to come back!!

No problem. The reality is we have to focus on what the numbers tell us and if reviews aren't encouraging sales, then changes have to be made.

Not saying this about anyone in particular, or anyone who is still here, but there are a number of people who had no business being mentors. Unfortunately, when the program was designed, there was no way to remove them. There was little, if any, oversight of the job they were doing...all of that needed to change.