Novice

Novices are not admitted to vows until they have successfully completed the prescribed period of training and proving, called the novitiate.

[1] In Anglicanism, the novitiate is the period of time where a novice is trained as a member of the religious order or monastery.

[2] In the Eastern Orthodox Church, a candidate may be clothed as a novice (Slavonic: послушник, poslushnik, literally "one under obedience") by the hegumen (abbot) or hegumenia (abbess) after at least three days in the monastery.

Frequent confession of sins and participation in the sacred mysteries (sacraments) of the church is an important part of Orthodox monastic life.

If, however, the novice perseveres, after a period of around three years, the hegumen may choose to clothe them in the first (beginning) rank of monasticism: the rassaphore.

In Mandaeism, novices who are being initiated into the Mandaean priesthood are called šualia (Classical Mandaic: ࡔࡅࡀࡋࡉࡀ).

Online communities have five basic problems regarding newcomers: recruitment, selection, retention, socialization, and protection.

[7] Retention in online communities is about making sure that the newcomers stick around and stay long enough to become more committed members, who take on more important responsibilities and begin to be identify themselves with the group.

One way that online communities work on retention is through the use of entry barriers and initiation rituals because making it difficult to join should increase their commitment.

For example, in World of Warcraft, old member show the newcomers ropes, by coaching them, helping them with quests, and providing mentorship in general.

One way to deal with the threats is through the use of sandboxes, which allows newcomers to try out the features and learn about the tools without causing damage to the community.