When I was younger, I was mentored almost exclusively by the very knowledgeable people on Freenode IRC. It's not only possible, but it's much better to do this remotely.
I've found that when people receive criticism remotely, it tends to escalate into "I feel this way because I read this: <insert link here>". Then a debate proceeds about the merits of one approach or another. When people receive criticism IRL, it's much more common to be defensive, because the references are not immediately available and there's a desire to resolve the disparity immediately.
I google everything (at least, when I'm outside of the office), and if I have two minutes to google anything before responding, the quality of my discourse will always be higher.
I've found that when people receive criticism remotely, it tends to escalate into "I feel this way because I read this: <insert link here>". Then a debate proceeds about the merits of one approach or another. When people receive criticism IRL, it's much more common to be defensive, because the references are not immediately available and there's a desire to resolve the disparity immediately.
I google everything (at least, when I'm outside of the office), and if I have two minutes to google anything before responding, the quality of my discourse will always be higher.