One of the most successful methods of bringing in new members into a community is the sponsor/sponsee relationship that loosely follows 12 steps programs and groups.

New members find existing more experienced members with some time and expertise under their belts. Newbies can do so by looking at a list of Old Timers that volunteer to help and by searching the threads they have started or posts they have contributed. Somebody from Atlanta that regularly flies Delta may be a better match than an oldtimer flying American from Dallas as an example for somebody that regularly flies Delta

The relationship is strictly volunteer and if one member doesn't think the other is doing their research and just looking for spoonfeeding or if the oldtimer is sending the newbie on a wild goose chase with bad information, they just quit working together.

I think the idea has merit in conjunction with the other stickie providing information about oneself to the group but here the information would go to one trusted mentor, sponsor adopter whichever name fits best.

I'll follow up with two other posts below one each for newbies and old timers and lets see if the idea gains some traction.