While I agree mentoring would be a very good idea, as beretboy touches on above there should be more criteria other than XP to become a mentor.

Mentoring on this site, I believe, would clear-up the numerous threads regarding newbie areas, mails to new users telling them what to do/not do, the problem of downvoting poorly phrased first-time questions etc. But, and this is a very big but, (not from where i'm standing - tee hee), designated Mentors will have to be well-thought out.

A Monastery Mentor^® would be a very prominent "face" of PerlMonks, and thus I feel should be elected by current members. A great deal of responsbility would be bestowed upon the Mentor, and we must ensure this responsibility will be taken seriously. Perhaps those who feel they can dedicate time and effort into the nurturing of new members could start a thread with their names on it, and we could then vote for, say, five mentors in total?

Thoughts? This could be the final piece in the "Newbie Puzzle"...

Azatoth a.k.a Captain Whiplash