at this rate i am blacklisting every mentor who dares to even bring up the notion of the novice network
Well that seems like a mature response. Obviously I can't speak for every mentor, but for me I invite people to the novice network when they're new players in need of a place where their questions can be readily answered by people that know what they're talking about. That's how it works on Ultros anyway. Our novice network channel is fantastic.

I believe there's a way to just remove the new adventurer status from your character which would remove the sprout icon... ah yes here we go:

Players whose total play time is less than 40 hours will be set to New Adventurer automatically. To change this status, select your character from the Party Members tab of the Social interface, then select the Edit Search Info subcommand.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...g_off_my_head/

Asking for this information rather than lashing out at every mentor you see trying to do their job might have been a better approach.