[wp-forums] Titles/Promotions/Labels

[Lorelle VanFossen]

With time on my hands with little or no wifi Internet connections, I'd 
like to add my 3 cents.

Guide and Mentor are great titles, but they have specific meanings that 
might be difficult to support right now on the forum. A guide is nice 
but that may imply that this is the person you must "follow their red 
umbrella around" and only they can help you, like a tour guide. A mentor 
is a huge responsiblity and again implies that "I'm there for you" and 
providing support that might be a little over the top in the casual 
non-committed hand holding.

Currently, if I answer a question and the poster asks another, I don't 
have to answer. Others can come in with the answer. We all take turns 
helping others help others.  This is a shared task, not a guide or mentor.

The biggest challenge to get across over and over again is that the 
product is free and the development and support is also provided free BY 
VOLUNTEERS, people who give willingly of their time and energy to help 
others.  I think that there is a huge difference between someone who 
stops in to answer the occassional question and someone who VOLUNTEERS 
their time and energy on a regular basis enough to attract the attention 
of the mavens and to be worthy of a title.

"Volunteer" is a title I'm thrilled with because:

1) Honors the person as a giver to the forum on a regular basis.
2) Reminds users that WordPress wouldn't function without volunteers.
3) Applies to anyone who works on the docs, #wordpress chat, hackers or 
development. All are volunteers and deserve to be recognized as such.
4) Has no other significance like the other words. It just means "giver" 
and "contributor", synonyms I like.
5) As WordPress as a volunteer organization grows, higher honors will be 
given, I hope, to recognize volunteers for their contributions, so let's 
make "volunteer" MEAN something. The rest are "members" of the WordPress 
Forum, but they are still the "users" and we are the "volunteers" who 
keep the show going.

Lorelle