Welcome to Gaia! ::

Yo, this is Aena. A lot of people have come to me or the other crew members with questions or complaints about our joining process. Apparently, there's also been some disinformation floating around. So, I'm here to set the record straight.

This thread is a combination FAQ and myth buster page. Hopefully, it should clear up all the confusion.

Frequently asked questions
arrow How do I join the guild?
arrow Who is in charge of handling join requests?
arrow Why is the join system so complex?
arrow Why are you so strict about reading the rules before you join?
arrow Do I have to give you my real age and/or gender?
arrow Do I have to give a RP sample?
arrow How literate do I have to be?
arrow What are the reasons that join requests get denied?
arrow Why was my join request denied?

Myths
arrow My join request was denied because I am a guy.
arrow My join request was denied because I am too young/old.
arrow My join request was denied because a crew member hates me.

Who is in charge of handling join requests?

I (Aenakume) am the ultimate final authority on anything to do with guild admissions.

You are free to contact other crew members if you want, but eventually, it's going to end up in my lap. You might as well just come directly to me, to save time.

Of course, if you have a complaint about me, you can take it to someone else.

Why are you so strict about reading the rules before you join?

Because of our subject matter - lesbian love and relationships - there is a high risk of people taking things a little too far and crossing the line from romance into erotica.

Days after this guild was created, one of the largest yuri/shoujo-ai guilds in Gaia was shut down by Gaia moderators because two members were cybering in the forums. Two people ruined it for literally hundreds. We decided right then and there that that wasn't going to happen to us.

It is virtually impossible to get into this guild without reading the rules thoroughly. Because of that, we can be 99.99% sure that you have read our explicit instructions about how to behave in the guild. So if you do something wrong, ignorance is not an excuse.

We have done everything humanly possible to make sure that no-one breaks the rules, so if someone does, we think we have a strong case to present to the Gaia mods that it was just one stupid member. With luck, that will be enough so that if someone does something like cyber in the forums and the guild gets locked by Gaia, we can make a good argument that we tried our best to prevent it.

So, to put it in short: We are strict about the rules because we want to make you responsible for your actions in the guild, so that if you do something stupid, we don't lose the guild.

Do I have to give a RP sample?

Mmmm, kinda.

You have to provide a sample of your writing, but it doesn't need to be an RP sample. You can provide a post from a discussion thread, or even a poem if you like (and someone once did). I am not picky about what you write, as long as you write something, and it's not offensive or illiterate. Just try to demonstrate a good grasp of language, and show you can be descriptive.

You don't have to write that much either. See the paragraph above? That's enough. Sometimes people write novella's in their join requests, which I appreciate because I like reading, but it's not required.

If you want to send a really long sample, go ahead. If it won't fit in the join request box, link to it. Or if you can't link to it, PM it to me (if you PM it to someone else, you may be declined, then invited later, because I might not get it for a while). But don't just write "it won't fit", then do nothing. As much as it frustrates me to get a story that doesn't end ^_^, it's better to just cut your long entry short than to say "it won't fit".

What are the reasons that join requests get denied?

There are only three reasons your join request can get denied:
1.) You didn't use the join request form. (I don't even read these ones.)
2.) You didn't read the rules thoroughly.
3.) Your RP sample did not show sufficient literacy, or it was offensive.

When I check requests, I check in that order, 1-2-3. If you don't use the form, I just stop right there. Then I look for proof that you read the rules. Then finally, if you have all that, I check your RP sample.

These are the stats for why people were declined as of 23-Mar-2006:


Now you see why I keep saying that if you were declined, it probably means you didn't read the rules.

My join request was denied because I'm a guy

No join request has ever been denied based on gender, real or imagined.

If anyone claims their request was denied because they were a guy, ask them to tell me to show you their request. You will see that they were declined for other reasons.

My join request was denied because a crew member hates me

I am the final word on join requests. I am also the only word.

Yes, I hate you. But I hate everybody. So you're not special.

If some other crew member hates you, congratulations. But it will have no bearing on your application.

So to that person running around telling people that she was denied because Saria doesn't like her (you know who you are), I say:
1.) I denied your request because you didn't read the rules.
2.) Saria had nothing to do with any of it.
3.) I didn't even know who you were or that Saria even knew you when I denied you.
4.) Saria doesn't hate you, she just doesn't really like you.
5.) But I hate you. Just letting you know.

If anyone claims their request was denied because the crew was biased, ask them to tell me to show you their request. You will see that they were declined for other reasons.