IMPORTANT EDIT: This post doesn't make a lot of sense without the context of the original post (which is located in a spoiler tag further down on this thread).
First off, I want to say that I really don't know anything about the LS, other than I seem to recall its existence from way back in 1.x before I drifted away from this site. Personally, I have no information about the guild and no real experiences with members of it, so I have no negative inclination towards it or its members starting out. In fact, I start with a positive inclination towards all RP groups because, hey, other RPers are usually good people and I like to assume the best about people unless proven wrong.
So, when I say anything here, I want you to know that I'm trying to offer an objective critique from a "new player" who's also done the guild leader and officer thing a few times in a few different games. I'm emphatically not trying to shake up a can of drama nitroglycerin and hit it with a blowtorch.
With that disclaimer out of the way, let me suggest a few things that might be giving people impressions you don't want. First, your LS contains most of the leadership of this site. That makes sense to me, as it seems like your LS is basically the "survivors" of 1.x who came together out of friendship when the RP community (and the game's population itself) imploded. However, to some, it might seem like a clique of the "old guard." That perception may be amplified when you consider that your recruitment is closed and there's little indication on your page of when it'll open again. You do say it's temporary, but temporary can be a very long time. Those susceptible to crying "Conspiracy!" might ascribe ulterior motives to that and, by proxy, to this site and potentially Balmungians in general.
Second, in a similar vein, a guild that says it's open to RP with everyone and wants to play a role in the larger guild and RP community but that also closes its recruitment might appear a bit hypocritical. This is due to the entirely logical propensity for guilds to RP internally more than they do externally. "If you want to interact with people so much, why are you closing yourselves off?" some might ask.
Finally, threads like this come off as defensive and as "traps." It's a bit like when a teacher says he'll turn around and let the guilty party step forward to return what they stole, then whips around and yells, "J'accuse!" at the thief. I've personally been part of a guild that did a similar thing on their forums -- asking the players what they thought was going wrong -- and then pointed to the thread in the officers' forum as a list of "internal enemies" of the guild. (Yes, this really happened; yes, I was an officer of this guild and had an alliance with it in the guild I ran; yes, that precipitated the end of the alliance between those guilds, in addition to causing a nuclear drama blast.)
This last reason is why I was quite reluctant to post anything on this thread and, when I did, why I put the big disclaimer in the second paragraph. I share ArmachiA's fear of receiving retribution for offering some honest feedback. Even as I type this, I'm concerned that someone's going to look at it and say, "AHA! FreelanceWizard is the guilty one! He's been stabbing us in the back this whole time and is foolish enough to admit it in public! Prepare the pitchforks and torches!" I obviously don't think that's the case or I wouldn't say anything at all (hey, I play political LARPs, I know how to keep my mouth shut ).
I guess my "tl;dr" point here is that I think there's a few things at play here that may, to some, engender negative perceptions about your guild and its members. Obviously, that will always be the case with some people, no matter how hard you try to fight it; I can cite innumerable examples of that. The worst thing is that it doesn't seem like there's much you can do to address some of the key drivers of that perception, so I guess the only advice I can offer is to ignore it. TBH, as a GL, your perception of what other people think about your guild will always be inflated out of proportion to what it really is.
First off, I want to say that I really don't know anything about the LS, other than I seem to recall its existence from way back in 1.x before I drifted away from this site. Personally, I have no information about the guild and no real experiences with members of it, so I have no negative inclination towards it or its members starting out. In fact, I start with a positive inclination towards all RP groups because, hey, other RPers are usually good people and I like to assume the best about people unless proven wrong.
So, when I say anything here, I want you to know that I'm trying to offer an objective critique from a "new player" who's also done the guild leader and officer thing a few times in a few different games. I'm emphatically not trying to shake up a can of drama nitroglycerin and hit it with a blowtorch.
With that disclaimer out of the way, let me suggest a few things that might be giving people impressions you don't want. First, your LS contains most of the leadership of this site. That makes sense to me, as it seems like your LS is basically the "survivors" of 1.x who came together out of friendship when the RP community (and the game's population itself) imploded. However, to some, it might seem like a clique of the "old guard." That perception may be amplified when you consider that your recruitment is closed and there's little indication on your page of when it'll open again. You do say it's temporary, but temporary can be a very long time. Those susceptible to crying "Conspiracy!" might ascribe ulterior motives to that and, by proxy, to this site and potentially Balmungians in general.
Second, in a similar vein, a guild that says it's open to RP with everyone and wants to play a role in the larger guild and RP community but that also closes its recruitment might appear a bit hypocritical. This is due to the entirely logical propensity for guilds to RP internally more than they do externally. "If you want to interact with people so much, why are you closing yourselves off?" some might ask.
Finally, threads like this come off as defensive and as "traps." It's a bit like when a teacher says he'll turn around and let the guilty party step forward to return what they stole, then whips around and yells, "J'accuse!" at the thief. I've personally been part of a guild that did a similar thing on their forums -- asking the players what they thought was going wrong -- and then pointed to the thread in the officers' forum as a list of "internal enemies" of the guild. (Yes, this really happened; yes, I was an officer of this guild and had an alliance with it in the guild I ran; yes, that precipitated the end of the alliance between those guilds, in addition to causing a nuclear drama blast.)
This last reason is why I was quite reluctant to post anything on this thread and, when I did, why I put the big disclaimer in the second paragraph. I share ArmachiA's fear of receiving retribution for offering some honest feedback. Even as I type this, I'm concerned that someone's going to look at it and say, "AHA! FreelanceWizard is the guilty one! He's been stabbing us in the back this whole time and is foolish enough to admit it in public! Prepare the pitchforks and torches!" I obviously don't think that's the case or I wouldn't say anything at all (hey, I play political LARPs, I know how to keep my mouth shut ).
I guess my "tl;dr" point here is that I think there's a few things at play here that may, to some, engender negative perceptions about your guild and its members. Obviously, that will always be the case with some people, no matter how hard you try to fight it; I can cite innumerable examples of that. The worst thing is that it doesn't seem like there's much you can do to address some of the key drivers of that perception, so I guess the only advice I can offer is to ignore it. TBH, as a GL, your perception of what other people think about your guild will always be inflated out of proportion to what it really is.
The Freelance Wizard
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))