Beginner forum

[iddee]

I can't find it now, but there was a discussion on starting a beginner's forum or changing the name of beekeeping 101.
I put a sub-heading on beekeeping 101 this morning. Tell me what you think, or better yet, suggest a better one.

[Bakersdozen]

Several times I have wondered whether to post in General Beekeeping or Beekeeping 101.  This adds clarity. 

[Jen]

I like this idea, when I joined this forum I was into my third year of beekeeping, and Boy! did I make some mistakes! I'm a mentor now and help with many beginning beekeepers, I could send them here where they could get many opinions.

OR! if they don't want to join a forum, maybe I could come here and ask questions so their question gets answered promptly and correctly.   

[iddee]

""OR! if they don't want to join a forum, maybe I could come here and ask questions so their question gets answered promptly and correctly.""

Jaybird, that's kinda like carrying your own food into a restaurant. If they won't help us with member count and post numbers, why should we help them with bees?

[apisbees]

If we can interact directly, we can ask additional questions and ask for clarification. A lot of questions are not answered by just one post. There are more than one answer to any question and it can be the context provided with the answer is just as important but may not be past on through answering the question first hand.

[Bakersdozen]

OR! if they don't want to join a forum, maybe I could come here and ask questions so their question gets answered promptly and correctly.

I have found that if people want something bad enough, they will take the necessary steps to get there. If they want answers bad enough, they will join.   

[Jen]

Yep, all true, I can certainly attest to that, this forum has been valuable for my growth as a beekeeper. But when I'm in mentor mode, and a situation has come up that I need help with, I should have somewhere to go to ask questions that will help another beekeeper. After all, when it comes down to it, it's about the Bees.

[apisbees]

Part of mentoring is showing and informing students how and where to get reliable information. whether it is for equipment, bees, of information. Put them onto sites, products and companies that you trust.

[iddee]

Let me try to explain it this way. There's 2 reasons a person becomes a mentor.

1. To help a newbie be successful and self reliant. To do this, the mentor gives the mentee all their resources, and how to use them, so they can go and find the items and info they want in the future.

2. To make the mentor feel good and important. In this case, the mentor goes to their sources and gets the items and info, and takes it to the mentee. It helps the mentee that day and makes the mentor feel good and important. It doesn't help the mentee at all in the future. We are here to teach the mentee to be self sufficient, not just to help them today. Therefore, we guide them to the source of the answers they need, not "just" give them the answer for today.