So far, I’ve heard a lot of opinions on how the structure of the (unofficial) Guild of Writers should be determined.
I’ve heard some state that because they felt that a predominant opinion emerged in a certain meeting, attended by some percentage of interested parties, then that is therefore the position of the (u)GoW as a whole.
I also see that policy is seemingly being established through results of polls in these forums.
In the case of meetings, policy cannot be made because there is not a full body of members in attendance at these meetings: potentially concerned members may not be aware of the meeting, or may be unable to attend. And in the cases I’ve seen, these were individuals’ opinions of what transpired at a given meeting, not actual handcount votes.
In the case of polls, taking this approach assumes that all players interested in the future of the Guild are aware of the polls. It even assumes that they are aware of, registered on, and active in these particular forums. And online polls in this forum don’t take into account the fact that anybody, player or not, can register on these forums multiple times, and can thereby vote multiple times, easily skewing any vote count.
If some group wants to form an Unofficial Guild of Writers based on these flawed and undemocratic procedures, that’s fine for those that are happy with the results. But I’d hate to see such a haphazardly-constructed group morph into an Official Guild at a later date, using the same rules and protocol established by this unofficial group.
I know it’s impossible to do much else than what’s currently being done here during this period where we have no feedback at all from Cyan / DRC regarding their intentions for the Guilds. And I know it’s impossible to democratically establish group rules when those that will be members of the group haven’t really coalesced yet (again, partly due to lack of feedback from Cyan / DRC, I feel). I know that the current Unofficial group has their heart in the right place, and is doing what they can with what is available.
I also know it’s going to be difficult to establish a means of voting such that Guild policies can be established using a one member / one vote procedure – but that’s the only way we can be certain that our Guild’s going to be truly democratically formed. ***
When and if the rules of the game do become clear, and when the Guild’s potential membership base is gathered, then that will be the time for that full membership to have the right to determine the Official Guild’s structure and policies, from scratch, from the ground up, and not based on the structure or policies that some have formed during this well-intentioned but awkward and unofficial period.
***(Cyan, having the registered database of the main log-in avvies, could help by facilitating a means of accurate voting without having to distribute that database to the Guild)
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