I've even turned myself into a Mentor figure in various places
   online. Weird dude with strange ways who says things that
   almost-make sense but not just yet, or makes unbelievable
   sense.*

   I do that by trying to find ways I can make someone go at least
   ONCE with me:

   "Woah, you just blew my mind!"

   if I get that - the "woah" factor from somebody, then I was a
   success.

   In harder cases, I'm nice-guy / helper role.

   Since our culture is imbued with monomyth, figuring out "what
   part" you want to be helps when dealing with people... as I'm
   not really particularly social at all.