h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

At the moment, people apply and I visit their page and read their conversations to see whether I think that they would make a good ACE.
This has many shortcomings - perhaps it is time for a rethink on how we recruit ACEs.

Any ideas?

I hate to think about the drivel you had to wade through on my page before recruiting me!

The only suggestion I could make is perhaps some kind of time restriction. EG. you have to have been using h2g2 for x amaount of time before you can volunteer.

maybe...

Hmmm but should that be from the time they joined or from when they activated their space?

How do you tell people "Sorry, you have not been here long enough?"? Just asking because it is difficult to say no sometimes.

Tricky one.

To be honest I thought that the way it worked at the moment was anyone was welcome to be an ACE. It wasn't until I read the above post that I realised there was some kind of selection going on.

The time scale idea is flawed in many ways. It is down to the experience of the researcher more than the period of time since joining h2g2. ACEs need to be reasonably profficient, but how do you measure that other than how you are doing it now?

*threesecondemory being as useful as a porridge fork*

'They are particularly kind and helpful members of the h2g2 community, so if you have a question or need directions, ask an Ace! They'll be only to happy to help.'

If they meet these rather loose criteria, sign 'em up.

I'm not sure any sort of time rule would be a solution, but rather to have them start out their glorious career in ACEry by studying some of the 'How to be a good ACE' content so they can make sure they understand what is expected of them and learn what they need to know. I think..

I'd agree with the above -- also, it seems like a new ACE should have demonstrated some capability with such things as, say, GuideML, the emoticons, and posting links. Actually, I would have to confess that I myself didn't know how to post links when I was recruited... I also wasn't terribly good with GuideML, but the cool thing about it was that within about a week, I had a couple of people asking me how to use these things, so I was forced to learn myself so I could teach them. Kinda haphazard, I suppose, but it worked for me...

Hmm, I know that the final choice of who gets to become an ace has to remain with the editors, but what about before an ace is recruited, they either need an existing ace to second their application or, a poll is held in the ACEs e-group to see if anyone's had any problems with, or holds any strong opinions about, the researcher in question.

Hermmm... sounds like a good idea, except that I probably wouldn't have gotten my ACEdom if that was required... I seem to remember being a bit of a punk when I first joined up... oh... wait...

Whisky, there is one major problem with that. Last time we tried that, one of the ACEs then went and told a rejected volunteer that all the ACEs hated them, and they were understandably very upset.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a really unprofessional thing for an ACE to do?? Seems like that one should have been fired on the spot, other than the fact that it's hard to fire a volunteer...

I agree with you. This was before I dealt with the ACEs but I remember Peta having to deal with a lot of fall out.

::sigh:: Poor Peta...

Hey, maybe we could do something like, when a researcher volunteers for ACEdom, and you check him / her out and find that they seem to be ACE material, a bunch of us other ACEs could get together, maybe grab a couple of 'newbie' names, and then go over to this potential ACE's Space and pester him / her with questions, you know, just to see how well they handle them. This might sorta fall under your comment in the ACEForum emails about vets acting like newbies, but still, it would be for a good cause. If the potential ACE handles our questions reasonably well, he / she would be in... if they don't, or if, say, it became obvious that they didn't know how to use the emoticons or some such thing, you could just delay their application, you know, just to give them some time to get the feel of this place. I dunno -- just a thought...

Gee Thog. Sounds a bit like hazing..

Regarding voting in new ACEs that just makes it seem like a private little club and all. What about if when a new ACE is assigned one of us 'old timers' is assigned to them to help them with their ACEing. Kind of a contact if they something arise that they don't know how to handle and someone to occasionally check their welcoming and such and offer friendly advice on possible improvement?

Hay if you Quizzed me I probaly would have faild but you dont whant someone who can just answer questions you want people who can be souportive and answer questions.

Hmmm.... yes, but the second part is still "answer questions". I'm not saying my idea was particularly good, I'm just saying an ACE should already possess the h2g2 skills that an ACE is teaching others to use. I mean, yeah, in my case I would have failed too... It wasn't until I /got/ these questions that I had to learn how to answer them -- before then, it wasn't relevant. So... well, I'm not sure what conclusion that leaves me with...

Sound Fair

Hi all... me been thinking about what you have all been saying about new ACE's... and me wondered if it might be a good idea to set would be ACE's a small questionaire to answer... and then the decision could be based on their answers.

The questions er.. say five or so... could be compiled by the ACE's from the ones they are most asked by newbie's... if the would be ACE answers the questions correctly, or looks up the answer and then provides it... then they will proberly be an asset to the ACE's.

Any would be ACE would surely not mind showing what they know about H2G2 and giving answer's to questions that they might be asked when ACEing for real.

None of us knows everything about h2g2, and most of us upon occasion has asked for help... But basic answers should be known by new ACE's.. after all it is part of what we do... and so therefore should not be to much to ask for...

ACE's maybe a volunteer group... but we are often regarded as part of h2g2 in the fact that we introduce ourselves as meeters and greeters... and helpers to new people... if we are making researchers ACE's who do not have at least a basic knowledge of what they are trying to do... then it does not show h2g2 in a good light... which is after all.. what we are here for...

Hugs Greebs.. xxx

I agree with Greebo ( ? )

If an ACE is to welcome newbies and help them find their feet here, then the ACE should have knowledge of the basics of the site, at the least. I do feel that someone should have spent at least a couple of months here being active, if only to have a feel for the site and how it works.

If someone is serious about being an ACE, then they would be willing to wait. I know I didn't even think about applying until I had been here a while, and knew my way around well enough to be able to explain it to others.

Are any changes to the recruitment/requirements going to be added to the volunteer page?

Excellent idea Greebo,

Of all the volunteer groups, the selection of an Ace is the hardest to do objectively...

For Scouts its simply a question of whether they spend time around PR and what their attitude is to PR. For Sub-Eds, there's a short test, for Gurus, they must have sufficient technical knowledge of the site.

Maybe a short questionnaire would be a good idea, at least that way the prospective ace would have an idea of what he was letting him/herself in for.

A couple of questions along the lines of a newbie asking,
How do I...?
or
Where would I find...?
and maybe a couple of questions along the lines of
If you were an Ace and came across the following situation.... What would you do?

If the answers were e-mailed directly back to you Abi, then the whole thing would be kept private and no-one could have their feelings hurt, and even if they got the answers wrong, they'd still have learnt something about what an Ace does, and therefore could well still be suitable
(as long as the answer to 'what would you do if....' wasn't along the lines of
'Tell the newbie their a silly b****r and head off for the nearest pub!')


whisky

(At least this time I get involved in this sort of conversation I've got a badge and can't be considered to be sticking my nose in )

Remind me to keep well away from discussions relating to being a Guru though