no.stupid.answers

The Mentoring Program has announced its 300th graduate, and he goes by the username RoddLuna. As you may know, the Mentoring Program is a chance for Supervisors, new and even not-so-new, to pair with an experienced Supervisor and get a deeper knowledge of the Super tools and policies. The program has been around now for a few years and has proved successful and effective.

A few words from the Mentoring Program Graduate himself:

I was born and raised in southern California. My family hails from Yuma, Arizona. I come from a long line of lawmen on both sides of the family so I‘ve been around guns all my life. I served in the Air Force during the Vietnam war as an Air Crash Rescue Fireman on the Island of Okinawa. The majority of my adult life I worked in the telecommunications industry. When I retired I went back to work as a contractor and have worked everywhere from Boston, Massachusetts to Honolulu, Hawaii. In March of 2008 I stumbled onto WikiAnswers (Answers.com) and became hooked on answering questions about air guns and rifles. I’ve been collecting air guns for several years. In November ’09 my wife and I attended our first WikiAnswers conference (Answers Summit) in Atlanta, GA where we met other Wikiholics like ourselves.

Previously, I had been asked to supervise a category about firearms but declined as I was not sure what that entailed… A few months ago Topbuilder asked me to supervise a new category which is Air Guns & Air Rifles. This time I was ready. Mike.2 became my Mentor and was very helpful in answering and assisting me with my questions and problems. I found the mentoring experience to be a real asset. I never realized how many tools are available to a supervisor and it does help to have someone assist you with everything. I still feel I can ask Mike.2 for help when I need it. Overall it’s been a great experience.

The next step for a Protégé is to become a Mentor themselves; so stay tuned for whether RoddLuna takes the leap…

WikiAnswers takes its communities very seriously. That’s right, I said communities – plural. That’s because there are tons of different sub communities on WikiAnswers.

To start, check out the growing list of different types of community members. WikiAnswers contributors have a wide variety of ways they can choose to participate, fulfilling a diverse rainbow of roles.

Of course, you can be a plain old contributor if you like… Or if obsessive editing is your thing, you can jazz up your experience by joining as a Premier Editor; same goes for Premier Answerers.

If you like to change it up, consider becoming a Special Projects Assistant and working on what needs to be done most.

If you enjoy the nit picking type of activity, the Exterminators‘ hunt for site bugs and irregularities could be your calling.

Or, join a program:

The Supervisor Community is the group of hundreds of Supervisors whose job it is to keep watch of categories, and make sure the site stays clean and organized. Supervisors come in all different sizes, shapes and colors… Or, at least their badges do. Learn more about Floating Supervisors, Category Supervisors and Senior Supervisors.

The Community Outreach Program hosts several kinds of opportunities for being involved in community efforts. Join and become a WikiGuide, Talent Scout or Forum Fanatic. Welcome and interact with new members.

The Mentoring Program is designed to offer guidance and support for brand new Supervisors (or those who want a brush up on WikiAnswers protocol). Mentors are friendly WikiAnswers folks who have been around the wiki-block quite a few times.

Wiki Influential Teens, or WIT, is a fairly new initiative to give teens on WikiAnswers their own group with which to come up wit ideas, create new projects and participate in contests for prizes.

The Vandal Patrol is a sector of Supers who keep watch for vandals, spammers and general no-good doers. The goal of the patrol is to clean up the vandalism as fast as possible, while swiftly taking care to make sure the perps don’t try it again.