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I joined this guild when it was first created, and I posted a few times, but for the most part didn't bother coming back until about a week a go.
It maintained my interest, and since I had just sold my guild of two years, I had more time on my hands to do things more fun than taking care of a guild that was dying anyway(which was my fault).
Ironically, my guild's failure is actually quite helpful to this guild's situation. Now, at this point, and what has already happened, I'm sure a lot of you are going "That guy's so full of himself stare " And while that may be true, it seems nobody else has any expierence even similar to mine, so my expierence is at least worth a glance at.
My guild was a roleplaying Guild. I was Captain and had a few very dedicated crew, and it had very good times. The guild started going downhill when I stopped supporting it.
What I mean is, I stopped going in the guild, stopped participating in it. Basically, I went inactive for similar reasons as Zae and put other people in charge.
The differences were that I had already set a rather large decree of rules in place, both for crew and members, and the rules were publically viewable so everyone knew what was going in.
While the guild was active, this thread helped solve many potential flamefights. It also made the whole "that crewmember is abusing his/her power" defense quite literally disappear since everyone knew what each crewmember could and could not do already.
Needless to say, because of the plentiful pros of that setup, while it may seem pretentious and perhaps a little overbearing, I believe rules based on my set are a good place to start for Zae(or someone else she puts in power) to base their rules from.
There being no rules is what was responsible for this guild's falling apart, and the current rules are far from finished, and could lead to a disaster far worse than this one in the future.
Thusly, I present my case:
"The Announcement" has been part of my guild since the beginning, although it has gone through MANY rewrites to ensure that the frequent breaks I took wouldn't cause dissension among members and crew.
Because my guild was a roleplay guild, there are obviously rules that won't apply here, but for a general feeling, here are some rules and basic concepts I believe this guild would do well with:
First, we have the FAQ which answers some frequently asked questions. This is the lead-in post before we get to the hardset of rules, and contains questions like:
1. Can I be a crewmember?
2. I'm recieving some weird type of error when I try to fill out a join request! Can I PM you my join request?
3. How do I contact a crewmember if something's going awry?
4. Why can't I be a crewmember?
5. How can I propose a new rule for the guild?
1. The default answer for this is "no", but at the same time I'm unaware if this guild has a predefined list of things you need ot check for to even be considered as a crewmember. I think whomever's going to be in charge while Zae's gone should have a system in place.
2. Another thing this guild is missing is join request approver people. I'm unsure how often the old VCs used to check, but when I applied to the guild when it first opened, I had to PM Zae to accept me. The previous problem that happened here I think is that this guild didn't have crew, only VCs. Thus, the four VCs had to deal with everything, including the mindless paper work. This guild should probably have some crew who are lower in power from VCs who can help balance the tremendous workload the four VCs had. Additionally, there needs to be person people can contact if their join request has not been answered in a reasonable amount of time, or if the GGN comes up with some sort of error, as it often does.
Even though this is a public guild and people who are not members can still post, a lot of people would still like to have this guild on their 'my guilds' list, and to this they need to fill out a join request.
3. This is another problem the previous guild had. Since there were no crew/VC rules, VCs pretty much had to come up with their own opinion about how to deal with something. Because how the VCs would react was not openly known, people would be afraid to try and contact a crewmember to deal with a problem they were having, such as harrassment! They also might even be afraid to contact a crewmember because the crewmember may have been the one harrassing them, and even though there may have been 4 VCs, they were all friends and thus there was no way of knowing if they would be a median or not. This left a lot of open holes in the guild for feelings to get hurt, toes to be stepped on, and, of course, blatant open flaming and "drama" that may take days or weeks to deal with simply because nobody had any idea of how to make a decision to deal with it.
4. Goes with 1., on the whole 'you need some type of promotion plan checklist'. If you want this guild to be a democracy, there need ot be some checks and balances. I had people on my crew that I hated with a passion, but they were good workers and I needed someone to counteract my views, since I know I can be rather judgmental at times.
5. This is also a rule that needs to be declared if your guild is going to be a democracy. If your members do not like how something is working out, such as how the VCs are handling things, we need some sort of program to work through. Dukes made a rather nice but complicated suggestion. My answer to this question in my guild was this:
I
Make a new thread in the "Pale Ocelot" subforum. Then people have to vote on it. If we agree with it, it's a new rule. Woo.
Same goes for revising/deleting an old rule.
Same goes for revising/deleting an old rule.
The next post is the Global Rules, which apply to everyone in any forum. Since my guild had multiple forums, and they all had different rules that may contradict another forums', we had the basic rules here, and then the additional rules for each forum in another post.
The key to this General Rule post is that the consequence for disobeying each rule is clearly labeled and brought to the reader's attention. This is good to know for both members and crew, so if there is a disagreement about what happened, you can always point to the rules post and go "This is what is SUPPOSED to be done, and this is how it has always been done."
There are also some pretty decent crewmember-specific rules in here, so the users know how they are supposed to be treated. And if they are being abused or the crew is abusing their power, they can tell and actually have proof to back up their claims. This is needed in a democratic guild or you will never be able to provide any identifiable proof of a corrupt crewmember.
Quote:
Global Rules
Rules that should be followed regardless of what forum you're in
Rules that should be followed regardless of what forum you're in
Rule
What will happen if you break it.
Follow GAIA's TOS, Rules & Guidelines, as well as the GGN Rules
Banned without warning
Please use correct english, punctuation, and grammar. Obviously mistakes happen, but dun talk liek dis.
Warning
No flaming or comments you KNOW will insult someone
If in its own thread, it will be locked and you warned. If a post, the post will be edited and you warned.
No religious/political Debates, unless it is in a roleplay, and in character
Topic and/or post deleted, you warned
No Inactivity
If you've been inactive for a month or more, you can be banned without warning at our discretion
No Ibis members on your "ignore" list
Every Ibis member has the right to try to join any Ibis thread that is public. This includes your's. If you have someone ignorelisted and they contact us about it, we will ask you to remove them. If you do not unignorelist them you will be warned.
No Harrassment, including over PM
Handled on a case-by-case basis, but we can and will contact GAIA mods on the matter if needed.
No Images over 500 pixels high or wide directly linked -Meaning, they show up on the page, not a text link leading to a picture.
Image removed and an informal warning.
No Quote Tunnels - Quote tunnels are a ton of quotes. More than five is more than enough. Try to limit yourself.
Possible post/topic edit(s); informal warning.
If you want your thread deleted or locked, put [DELETE] or [LOCK] in the title, respectively
If you don't do this, the thread just won't be deleted or locked.
No Page Stretching - If the page "stretches" horizontally or more than usual vertically because of something redundant(no spaces in text, or a large image)
Post/topic edit; informal warning
No Suicidal Encouragement - even in jest
Post/topic locked and/or deleted, warning and/or ban(one of the two will happen, but it is case by case)
Jumping down to the Captain & Crew rules, we have here all the rules that Captains and crew need to follow. As previously stated, this is needed in a democratic guild to assertain where abuse of power actually lies. It also lets people who are new to the crew or who wish to be crew what they can and cannot do, rather than 'test the waters' so to speak, and piss off a lot people in the process. Communication, is what's going on here, and it is lack of communication between the Crew and members about guild issues that usually gets guilds into trouble.
Quote:
Rules for Captain & Crew
Rules that the Captain & Crew must follow, listed for the public's benefit. So if they do something wrong, you know, and can get someone else to handle abuse of power
Rules that the Captain & Crew must follow, listed for the public's benefit. So if they do something wrong, you know, and can get someone else to handle abuse of power
You must give the punishment/action given for any rules listed here. No extenuating circumstances unless it has been written underneath the rule that there can be, and no going easy on them because it's your friend, or hard on them because you don't like that person. Harsher punishments for any violation can be given if you recieve a captain or co-captain approval beforehand. Otherwise, overall punishment is judged after a member has recieved three warnings, or a crewmember has recieved two warnings. Only right before a guild banning will we look to see if any extenuating circumstances apply.
If you get PMed or asked a question, you have to take action. None of this "oh, I don't deal with that stuff. Delete." crap. If you don't feel like answering the question/remedying the problem, forward the PM to someone else, but don't let it sit there. Don't neglect someone just because you don't know them or don't like them.
If you edit posts that are not your own, you must add the "edit byline". The edit byline is this: [b][Edited by MOD/ADMIN for REASON][/b]. You may customize colors.
When locking/moving a thread, you must state WHY. Whether it be the edit byline on the first post, or you posting and stating it, the reason for locking/moving must be stated IN THE THREAD.
Additionally, for moving a thread, you must state where it was moved from. A simple [forum it was posted in] -> [current forum] will do.
If someone puts [delete] or [lock] in their thread title...
For [Delete] you just delete it. Don't PM them any work or anything.
For [lock], lock the thread, and move it to the "Dead Threads" Subforum.
While PMing the thread maker you did either of these is good practice, it's not required.
In this case, you don't have to state why the thread is being locked, because it's already in the thread title.
If you delete a thread or a post for a rule violation, KEEP A LINK TO THAT THREAD/POST.
When you delete things, they go to a forum Gaia mods and admins can view, so they can see it and review stuff. If you have a link, it just makes it easier for us to tell Gaia mods what happened and where they can view the proof. If you don't want to keep a link, or don't know how, screencap it and save it.
No sticky/announcement threads from crew. While threads can be stickied/announcified by Q or DK when a crewmember made them, crewmembers should not sticky/announcement their own threads, unless a captain told them to.
Banning. When a member gets three warnings, or a crewmember gets two, they may get banned. Banning is Sormani's specialty, so leave it to him(unless it has to do with zeroposters). If following the general consensus(3 warnings = ban) you don't need to notify anyone. But if you wish to ban early, Sormani, Q, or DK should be PMed, first.
When you clean out the memberlist or ban, make sure you also follow the "On Cleanout" guidelines in the memberlist thread.
Join Requests. Every crewmember and captain is expected to deal with join requests. There has been some confusion as to what is the line of acceptance or not, and here is the official rule:
If they have at least five sentences, and/or you can tell they are making an effort to please us, they are accepted. Do NOT reject someone for using symbols, or for grammar that is slightly off. Slightly bad spelling is okay, but if they're not spelling mistakes, and instead chatspeak, and you can tell, decline them.
We are not an "elite" RPers Guild. Approvals do not have to impress you to be accepted. Our categorization falls under "semi literate and up." So accept accordingly.
Once someone has been accepted, add their name to the Memberlist Thread in the appropriate section.
Once you warn someone, add their name to the warning list.
Link here once we get one. If the person has three warnings, let [Q] know.
Revoking Crew Status can only happen if you have violated TOS, or have recieved two crew warnings, or an extentuating circumstance.
Don't let the power go to your head. You're still a normal person. Don't expect to have people bow down to your feet just because you have crew status.
Any new rule may be added if the captain or co-captain deems necessary. If S/he doesn't want a rule to be instituted, it still can if at least two crewmembers plus two members agree to it. The number of agreeing people must be over the number of those disagreeing.
Any violation of rules gives you a "crew warning". Two warnings results in a suspention or permanent demotion of crew status.
People are supposed to look up to you. Regular people get three chances, but you only get two before your crew status is gone, possibly forever. So follow the rules.
Now, that posts mentions a Warning List. I was talking to Meru about this the other day(Sorry I was so rude, Meru. ;_; ) about this and she said that the people the VCs were currently watching for bad behavior were made private in the crew subforum.
The crew subforum in my guild was public for everyone to view. The publically viewable warning list is currently a love/hate idea so I'm not going to be all "zomg dew it it's awesome." You will always get complaints about who you warn and why. There's also everyone's moral views on if other members should see everyone who's been warned, because that could lead to trouble as well. But really, the purpose of the memberlist was to a.) Inform who was being warned, why, and how many warnings they need before they get banned and
b.) to inform other crewmembers of the same thing so the results of each offense to the people on the list are not dissassociative(meaning, they won't go easy on someone because they think it's their first offense, when it really isn't).
A lot of people are not here every day, and the Warning list was like a refresher course for what was going on. The current Warning List(and whole system, actually) is being reworked under the person I sold the guild to, but the old Warning List can be viewed here.
Personal opinion aside on that particular thing, on the next page of the announcement are member rights. Because people really don't know what kind of power they're allowed to have, and I tried my hardest to make the Ibis(guild name) democratic, I put a bill of rights in there.
Most of them won't compare to this guild since it's not an RP guild, but they should bear some symbolism to what a GM's rights might look like.
Link to the bill of rights here
Last but not least, is the last page of the announcement, which has how to contact crewmembers and a general How-To. While the general How-To may not be necessary(unless about the sniper game itself), I believe the crew member contact information would be put to good use in any guild.
In this post, we have the name of who you can contact, what you should contact them with(as each crewmember had a specialized function) and how to contact them, as well as how often they're online.
Link to that.
Although outdated and not exactly applicable to the Ibis any more, I really think what I did could be able to help out this guild, if only a little.
Hopefully I didn't come off as an a*****e, and thanks for your time in reading this. =3
