The Novice Network confused me as a returnee. I made a new character and read the guides. They mention the NN but they don't say you have to actively shout for an invite. They just say you will be invited by a mentor.

I am leveling crafting so I am in towns synthng a lot. I have gotten many spam invites to FCs. Thank you those few that whispered first. I was waiting on some family returning with me to decide on a FC together, so I was FC-less a while. Not a problem except for the spam invites. But still no invite to the NN!

I've had my sprout now at least two weeks, nothing over L30 and wanted to call attention to the confusion of reading about the NN but still having no idea how to access it, and to point out the contrast between spontaneous NN invites (non-existent) and spontaneous also often asocial FC invites (near as often as RMT!). So, from this perspective it seems less than useful. Added irony, from reading the mentor qualifications, my old character meets them.