I removed mentor status today.

[SannaR]

For me personally, it was opt-in. I chose not to join it for years because of what I'd heard about it but when I joined, it was great and just answering sprout questions.

I want to say it's opt-out for mentors and opt-in for sprouts. As you can decline the invite. If irc when a person 1st gains their mentor status and there's room in the chat they get instantly tossed into it.