Membership coordinator

[Lilly]

There is alot of chat going on about how to join people, so I have made a new area to post ideas for it. My ideas will be coming later in the evening, after i witness Jackie Chan's Drunken Master at the theatres <grins>

[Lilly]

As I am requesting the position, I should let everyone know my ideas and feelings about members before any votes are cast. These are all my initial feelings, and criticism/suggestions/advice is accepted and hoped for. it will come in two posts due to its size- the first are some general guidelines, the second deals specifically about the voting process.

1) We shouldnt rush into joining new members. In general, there isnt any reason why we cant take our time getting to know someone, and they getting to know us.

2) Every member should have met and spoken with the potential inductee, and the majority of members (at least half) should have done so in a non clan-event manner. (not just at a meeting or clan hunt). This makes sure that we get an impression of the person both when they are working with the clan, and when they are out on their own. It also gives a chance for the inductee to make new friends in the clan, and the clan to make friends with them. (this rule does not take into account the fact that sometimes players/characters take extended leaves of absence. That aspect of things can be dealt with on an individual inductee-by-inductee basis)

3) Everyone in the clan should have the option to vote - Officers and non officers alike. We have formed the clan on the idea of being equal, and we shouldnt betray that ideal. If an officer feels that their position is making it difficult to vote for a member or members they should bring that to the attention of the membership coordinator and they can work something out. The same goes for non-officers who feel they may have a problem voting for a particular person or members in general.

4) We should definitely have a clan-members only area to discuss new exiles and potential members. If someone wants to give their opinion anonymously, then they should write in "anonymous" as their name when submitting a post. If a person does not feel that that offers them enough anonymity (since a number of us would be readily recognizable merely by the way we write, yours truly included <giggles>) they should discuss their feelings with another member, who can then summarize those opinions and write them in place of that member to preserve their anonymity. In those cases, simply state that it was posted on behalf of someone else.

5) The clan treasury should not fund the 100 coins to induct a new member into the clan. The inductee should have worked to get the money in some other way-even if it was clan hunts with us. members present at the joining of the inductee can feel free to donate their own money if they choose.

[Lilly]

6) Voting a member in: The system I offer below is one that I think will work both now and in the future, but the numbers themselves are based on the current amount of people in the clan, and will change in accordance to our size.

Everyone in the clan should vote. Votes should be conducted by E-mail. After rule #2 has been satisfied (the system for judging its satisfaction can be the subject of a future post), and when everyone has had a chance to offer anything they want to say about the membership of the individual, the vote should occur.

There are 4 kinds of votes.

The first is "aye! let the poor fool in!". That votes purpose is self-evident.

The next is "I am opposed.". This vote is to show that you have personal reasons for not wanting the person in the clan, but you are willing to set them aside, and you will not feel threatened if the person is joined despite your opposition.

the third is "I am strongly opposed". This is to show that you have personal reasons for not wanting the person in the clan, and if they are joined into the clan it will make you feel very uncomfortable or threatened. This vote should only be cast with an explanation as to why. (either in the forums, or in discussion with the membership coordinator before the vote) If the nature of the explanation is too personal to be shared, that will be understood and accepted-but please inform the membership coordinator that thats the case.

the fourth vote is "I abstain". This should be used in the case that a person feels their vote should not be validiated. This one should only happen in special cases, such as an officer feeling that their position interferes with the joining of a member, or an extended absence has kept a player/character from meeting that individual. If a member is joining, and you truly dont care one way or the other if they do, i suggest you use "i am opposed"-because our clan will not be a very strong one if the members do not care about one another.

The tallying system - After all the votes are cast, here is how they are counted (again, based on our current size)

if over a third of the clan is "I am opposed" (4 members), the individual should be turned away.

if 2 or 3 members are "I am opposed", then we should hold a meeting to discuss whether we should share our concerns with the individual and see if they can be dealt with, or whether we should just turn the person away.

if a single member "is strongly opposed" then we should hold a meeting to see if we can address where the problems lie. If 2 or more members "are strongly opposed", the individual should be turned away.

abstained votes are not counted for or against. (but if we get a large number of abstains, membership may be postponed/withheld at the coordinator's discretion)

if an individual does not fit into one of these categories-give them a badge and a slab of windy bacon!

If a person has not sent a vote within a week of its official opening, they shall be counted as an abstain (though the membership coordinator should try to contact them in between that week at least once)

Thats all I can think of for now...toss your ideas about!

[Aerick]

Overall it's great. A few inputs from me:

1) Make 'opposed' and 'strongly opposed' more different. Maybe 'opposed' and 'vote to bar entry'. Just because people often include reasons and such, and may accidentally slip a 'strongly' in.

2) My major concern is the time required. Does the one week voting period enter into effect after everyone agrees that they know the exile? If so, this could be a very protracted process. I think the times should be clearly stated, as waiting for a result is hard enough, without not knowing when that result will be given. Naturally, you already said you'd figure this out, but I just want to emphasize it.

3) I am of the opinion that, while we should not rush to join new members, we should be expedient about it, and not let them languish in a state of 'getting to know'. But that's me.

4) How would invitations work? Same as usual, except that we all get to know the person on the sly, then vote without telling them?

Again, I like what you've hewn out. =)

[Konoko]

Wow! You've put a lot of thought into all this!

I think it all sounds pretty good...
I guess the thing to do would be to try it on a trial basis to see if there are any kinks or whatever that need ironing out...

But the overall idea sounds good to me!

Konoko

[Nunul]

Aerick, let me relate my personal experience...

When I became interested in originally joining a clan, I did my research. I got to know a few people in the lands, and became freinds with them. I visited web sites and read about their ideals. One group who impressed me was Brotherhood of Independants. I saw that they had high expectations, and it wouldn't be a group which you could become a member of within a week or two. I narrowed my choices down. For the most part, I relied on my friends to give an impression of their clan. I saw the clan as being noble. I petitioned to join, and was not supprised in the least that it wasn't an instant induction. I waited for a couple of weeks, getting to know its members, and joining them on hunts. I was made a member, and man, was I proud to get in.

A week later, an exile showed up at one of the meetings, stated his interest in joining the clan, and was brought into the clan almost instantaneously. Two weeks later at the very most, this exile had left and started his own clan.
In case no one has guessed yet, the clan was the Drakes, and the "breakoff" clan is the new "Tan Clan".

I was floored to say the least. In order to join a clan, not only does an exile need to let him or herself be examined by the clan, but to be fair to the exile, he must be introduced to the ideals of the group to make sure they actually would benefit by being in the clan.

Measure twice, cut once. Its easy to get members, its also easy to lose those who may not be ready.


Have I digressed?

My point is this, an exile will learn to appreciate being in the clan, if it isn't so easy to join. Plus, it would give them the opportunity to change their minds before becoming commited.

[Kiriel]

My biggest hope for membership is that members we accept be interested in being involved in the clan. I would like to see the Winds of Dawn consist of those who are interested in being active on the message boards, helping with clan projects, and supporting the clan ideals. While this means that we will probably not grow as quickly, our clan will not end up as the sort where members join and then fade into the background, and we will have an active enough group to do all sorts of fun and exciting clan things. I hope that this is a view that is shared by others in the clan too, and I hope whoever is membership coordinator would like to make this a part of the membership guidelines.

In terms of admitting members, I like Lilly's ideas, although I do think we have to keep in mind that some things, like meeting every clan member, will probably get unwieldy when/if the clan gets much larger. That being said, we can always adjust membership policies accordingly if needed.

I do think that the biggest factor in taking a while to admit new members is to make sure the potential new member is informed about the process and feels that it is progressing. It's not too bad to let people know it can take a few weeks for the evaluation of the member to occur as long as you keep in touch with them and let them know the status, and give them good input on how the decision is made and what they should be doing. If it takes a few weeks and they don't hear anything over that time and aren't sure how the process works, then we may lose some valuable potential members because they feel like they're being ignored, but as long as we're careful I don't think that'll end up happening.

Perhaps we should setup an appropriate mailing list for potential clan members so that when we are planning clan hunts and other events they might be interested in, we can make sure they all know about it.

[Aerick]

What Kiriel said. And Nunul.

I think having a definite timeline would also help. I think it would be easier to hear 'you will be observed for one month' than 'we will try to get to know you, and it will take a while, but it depends.' Even if it takes less time with the second option, I think it would be best to have the time be clearly known. But other than that, I concur with what has been said by those who aren't me. =)

[Lilly]

Hows about this:

A prospective member should have a certain amount of clan events (a clan hunt, newbie hunt, meeting, or a pushball game) that they shall have to attend before being eligible to join. They should also have to spend time with a certain minimum amount of members outside of clan events. Let us say for the moment 4 different events, and 4 members of the clan. If a prospective member is very motivated to join-they could get into the clan in a week (clan meeting, newbie hunt, clan hunt, and a DoD pushball game, and then joining in the victory party after the DoD game is finished <grins>). If they are in no hurry, it could take a month or two, just by showing up at the meetings and visiting with someone once a week. After they have fulfilled these quotas, they can either Wait until the next meeting to announce as such, or E-mail the coordinator directly to say "hey! i am ready!" in which case we could discuss the member for a week (or less if we all say our pieces in less then that) and have voted by the next meeting on what standing they have.

I also agree with the name change for votes- I like "opposed", and "vote to bar entry".

As far as invitations go, i think anyone should feel free to invite any person to a meeting (be they a prospective member or someone already in a clan). Having open meetings is one very good way to advertise our existence and principles. If there is someone out there whom you think we should invite to join us, then bring them up on a forum page, and we can start discussing our feelings and courses of action there.

Arteress Lai

[Ender]

Just for Lilly. as it is the Current system requires the entire clan votes for everything just about. I still have not rccived mail back from everyone on the last ballot sent out so Lilly still dosent have the position! grays vote is a yes<grin> but he dosent know it yet.