Communications with pre-GoMa

[andylegate]

As some of you over here in the Writers Guild may or may not be aware, over at the Guild of Maintainers Supporters have held elections for our temp leaders.
While we are not yet the "recognized" Guild of Maintainers by Cyan, we do seem to be the only ones attempting to form an actual Guild of Maintainers (I've searched high and low for others, but there just does not seem to be any others out there).

Our group is much smaller than yours (everyone wants to make Ages it seems ) with only about 60 to 70 people signed up with us, but a much smaller core group that is actually talking with each other and performing actions to get things done.
We had our elections for temp leaders so that we would have points of people for others to rally around to help create and form the different aspects with in the GoMa. Mustard Jeep has been elected to the department of Communications and as I see he already has an account here on your forum, will more than likely be the person from the pre-GoMa that comes here to pose questions or ask about meetings most of the time.

I have been elected to the position of temp Guildmaster in our Training department, which will be responsible for helping train new Maintainers in many different aspects of being a Maintainer, including the inspections of New Ages.
One of the things that we have been talking about is having the tools to implement this type of training, the ULM (Uru Library Manager) being the key tool at this point in time. However, we have also been discussing the idea of having Training Ages available that are specifically designed to train people. As of now we have 3 main ideas of these Ages;

Bug Training Ages: For teaching people how to spot bugs or problem areas.
Copyright Training Ages: For teaching people to recognize Copyright violations.
Essay Training Ages: For teaching people how to simply report on and critique Ages that have no bugs or copyright violations.

We (the Pre-GoMa) would like to set up a meeting with the Writers to discuss this, and other things if possible. Normally Mustard Jeep would be the person asking this (and may well do so).
However, one reason that I'm over here asking already, is that I have another question to ask (that and I have a LOT of time on my hands working from home!). This question is going to be touchy, and I apologize ahead of time if it causes heartache, heartburn, or any other heart problems!

Question:
I know that the subject of leadership within your Guild here has been a........touchy subject. However, in order to promote Guild Communications, it is important to know who to contact on certain issues. Over at the Pre-GoMa, we have decided to select temp leaders (temp in that we have certain things we are trying to set up and accomplish. Once those are done, we'll have elections again for longer term leadership) so that we have people whom are rally points for the diverse parts of the guild we are trying to form. These are also the people that one can point to when someone needs to ask a question or needs to talk to them about something.
And that is the problem we're having. We don't know exactly whom to talk to over here! We have talked a LOT with Trylon about the ULM and fan made Ages, etc. But, we would like to know who to talk to, to try and set up a meeting. For us it's kind of like we're looking at a large group of people, but have no idea who it is that can speak for you, represents you, etc, etc.
We know whom to talk to for the Greeters, for the Cartographers, and we're even getting a good idea on the Messengers, but I'm afraid that the Writers is a big question mark for us.
Considering how much the Maintainers will have to work with the Writers, this can be a big issue. I'm not saying that we can't work with a large group of people that are leaderless, but it would be nice to know how we can make communications between us smoother and more coordinated.

Again, if I've sparked off a heated topic, I'm sorry. But it's a necessary evil in that when Cyan does decide to recognize each guild (and since they've said that in Season 2, they plan on "Ramping Up" the guilds, it might be kinda soon) they more than likely will be looking for individuals of each guild.

So, *ahem*, Large Group of People Who Call Themselves Writers, take us to your leader?

[OnslaughtQ]

I didn't think we had a leader. I thought we were an autonomous collective.

Seriously, though, I'd hate to be a leader for a group I just joined, but if there needs to be a go-between I guess I can take the helm. Anyone else?

[Chacal]

And that is the problem we're having. We don't know exactly whom to talk to over here!

You are talking to us now. What's the problem? Keep on talking.

[OnslaughtQ]

I think the problem that the pre-GoMa and other Guilds will have with the GoW, is that with no One Voice, they do not know how to properly disseminate information to us. Of course they could post on our forums whenever they want, but there's no assurance there that what they need or want will be picked up. Even if someone does respond to them, it leaves them not with the support of the whole GoW but just with the respondent's support.
With someone acting as the One Voice of the GoW, they can be assured that their message has been received by the Guild and then also learn of any progress with whatever concern they may have later on.
Mind you, the Voice of the GoW does not need to be a project manager or project overseer or anything like. The Voice would just be simply the go-between so other Guild leaders don't have to bother posting over here and tracking someone down.

[BAD]

Right now, it seems that we are in a leadership black hole.

We have to many people telling us they don't want to appoint or vote in leaders right now, and no one is stepping up (beside you OnslaughtQ )to take leadership roles.

Nothing ever gets done in a vacuum, and right now we have a leadership vacuum.

[Paradox]

Currently I have to say that the best way to get an announcement posted is to PM the "Guild of Writers" admin user on the forum and it will be seen that it gets posted in the General News forum.

[andylegate]

I see.........

This was something we were talking about over the the GoMa. Instead of talking to a Guild or a group that wants to become a Guild, it feels more like we are taking an ad out in the newspaper's classified section and hoping that we get a response of some kind, if any at all.

But as seeing as how this is the way things are here, I guess we'll of course deal with it and hope for the best. I do hope that things work out here, especially in the coming future.

[Nadnerb]

Except that it is a newspaper that all in the interested group are subscribed to, and who don't mind responding, since making a forum post is probably easier than most methods of reply. As you'll note, you've gotten quite a few responses.

Anyway, I'm sure it would be great if we had a go between, just so everyone else outside the guild can feel comfortable. However, the duties of such a person probably wouldn't go far beyond reposting any correspondence here for discussion, a step that can be easily left out as easily as you have done here.

I'm not willing to say anyone here will speak for me, but I'm certainly willing to let them mediate. Since he's the only one who has volunteered so far, why don't we let Onslaught handle forwarding correspondence with other guilds?

Or... you could just keep posting here and reading the responses, and see whether an information bottleneck is unnecessary.

[Aloys]

We should just call ourselves the Guild of Anarchists and be done with it. That's just my opinion though.

Seriously though, while we might lack an official point of contact, I think we are responsive enough that using the forum is a viable way of communicating.. Though I understand you (or anyone for that matter) might want (and even need) more private ways of contact; but I think that right now that's just too early. The various guilds activities and interactions aren't determined enough, and from the little I can see many interactions happen on an individual basis and it works well. (at least for the time being).

I don't think leadership is a touchy subject (anyhow no one has been killed yet), but it's just that things work fine the way they are now. But you are right in that things work essentially as far as only our own activities are concerned but interracting with other guild might require a single point of contact..


If we agree on the fact that we need someone who'd be a spokeperson and a contact but who'd have no actual decisive power, maybe then we could nominate or elect someone?

[Jennifer_P]

INDIVIDUALS ARE IRRELEVANT. WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN. YOUR GUILD WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE OURS. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.