Official-ness

[Eschaton]

Right, and I have a feeling that calling this "unofficial" would only confuse people. Let them think that we are official; what's the harm? As Eschaton said, it's not like Cyan is going to say, "Okay, you all aren't allowed to be the Guild of Writers". It doesn't make sense.

That's true, and I think we can all agree that the people on this forum (and plenty who haven't joined us yet) will constitute the official GoW no matter where it is hosted or what form it takes. But... what happens when we form an elected council, ranks and actual membership (other than mere forum membership)... and then Cyan comes out with their own Guild structure and maybe even a website?

I'm not saying that this will happen, and if it does, we'll all simply slide over to the new "offical" system, but it's easy to say we're the official group, because we haven't done any kind of organizing or structuring which could possibly be challenged by Cyan or anyone else for that matter.

And excuse me for bringing this up so late in the conversation, but the "poll" on the MOUL forums was *specifically* for the home of the "Unofficial Guild of Writers!!"

Thus it, as the only claim to "officialness" this site has, actually contradicts itself!

I Cyan decided to force a guild structure on us after we had built on, it would be a tough transition. But it would still be a transition. Those who we elected, we would quickly try to place in equivalent positions. For postions arguably unrelated, new elections. If there was no election system in the new heirarchy, and Cyan picked whoever they wanted, yes, we'd get the shaft. But cyan wouldn't dare do anything so stupid, it invites cries of favoritism and bias. It could even cause people to leave Uru for good. Whether or not Cyan was biased, it would take no stretch of the imagination to see them as such. We have faith in Cyan, but think about how it looks: A tight-lipped, seldom-speaking development company picking leaders for the game it develops, based on a criteria we would be unlikely to ever see. Yeah . . .

Anyway, that kind of strayed into a rant on closed leadership, but short of Cyan going to a closed system, ANYTHING else is just a modification to what we already had. We are the writers, we are a guild, and we are official, as there is no other authority on the matter. If Cyan is thoughtful enough to give us a hierarchy, it would still be the official GoW, just with a new system (likely more thought-out) for the same leaders. Short of lots of lawsuits and the complete destruction of the GoW, there is nothing Cyan can do to get rid of us. Which is why I sometimes feel sorry for them

[Pryftan]

I don't think it makes sense to not build a Guild structure just because we're worried about what Cyan might do.

And as for the poll making it unofficial.. Robert has opened a thousand threads calling it the UGoW, polling on everything BUT if we should call it the Unofficial Guild of Writers or not. He just kind of decided that and it doesn't represent the status of the guild.

[bluewyvern]

My vote is to keep it as it is. No, there's no word from Cyan, but they gave us Pubs and t-shirts, they want us to form a Guild, right? In fact, in the absence of any official word, it seems like they want us to develop as a largely self-organized entity. If you saw the chatlogs regarding the formation of the Guilds, you know how spontaneous it all seemed.

When Cyan does allow for a more formal Guild structure, we are the people who will be in it. We are the people who picked up black and red shirts in Kirel and frequent the Writers' Pub and plan to be in the Guild and participate as Writers. Unless there's some other group out there calling themselves the Guild of Writers and thinking the same thing, I don't think we need to worry about our official status.

[The Noble Robot]

I don't care what it is called, but let's be clear: Cyan didn't create this site, nor does it explicitly sanction it's activities, so it is *not* official. It can be called "The Guild of Writers" I don't care, but for now, it is merely a fan group, and it should be made very clear what the known facts are on this site. Let each person decide for themselves what that means, but let's do this right already...

[Erik]

I don't see a mention on this website of this Guild being the official one, nor do I see a mention of this Guild being an unofficial one. So everyone can decide for his own what he thinks of this Guild regarding officialness.

[The Noble Robot]

I don't see a mention on this website of this Guild being the official one, nor do I see a mention of this Guild being an unofficial one. So everyone can decide for his own what he thinks of this Guild regarding officialness.

You're being coy. You don't go to any website (cnn.com, mcdonalds.com, etc) demanding that it be explicitly labeled as "official" before believing that it is.

[Pryftan]

Because there's nobody contesting if they're official or not. If they were, they'd have to post it everywhere.

[Whilyam]

Because there's nobody contesting if they're official or not. If they were, they'd have to post it everywhere.

Right. Sites do that often if a group opposed to them gets a domain name similar to the original group. (cnn.org or some such)

Also, sometimes groups just say it to boast. "The official website of the Hampster Racing Championships!" Largely as a PR ploy to get people to recognize the site.

[Owehn]

Because there's nobody contesting if they're official or not. If they were, they'd have to post it everywhere.

I am now officially contesting whether or not this site belongs to the Guild of Writers, by which I mean the DRC-instituted organization comparable to the already-established Guild of Greeters. If this site does not belong to that Guild of Writers, it needs to be explicitly stated somewhere easily accessible from any section of the site.

Incidentally, I also contest the officialness of the so-called Guild of Cartographers, located in the Uru Obsession forums. However, there is no one to contest against, as they themselves admit to not being official. See, for example, the post by Nalates in this thread.

[belford]

"I am now officially contesting..."

Only the DRC can officially contest that, I'm sure...

(Yes, that was a joke. Sort of. The non-joke part is that the word "official" has lost all meaning here, and I don't expect to get it back.)