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Opinions Needed, Guesting

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Lisaa
Jun Member 2014

Lisaa

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Our clan has been having a bit of a problem over the past few months, and something that has happened earlier today has sparked me into creating this thread, to seek opinions on the matter.

As clan leaders, I'm sure you've all come across long-term guesting (Sometimes being referred to as Clan-zoned). Someone joins the chat, is fairly active in it, but has no interest at all in ever joining, and declines invitations to join.

In our case, one of our problems is people who have been in the clan for a significant amount of time leaving the clan in order to take part in PvM clans (We specifically say we are not a PvM-based clan). They typically say they're still loyal to the clan, and sometimes will leave an alt in the clan. One thing we have found with these players is that they have a tendency to well....not be so loyal after leaving. At the best case scenario, they guest in the chat and do nothing else. At worst, they get upset over a ridiculously minor issue, and stop guesting altogether.

We've reached a point in our clan where we feel as though these long-term guesters are causing more harm than good by refusing to get involved with the clan again. With that, I have some questions for you:

1) Have you ever experienced issues like this?
2) If yes, how did you handle it? If no, what would you recommend?
3) We've considered disabling guesting and sending a kind yet firm message to these guesters asking them to join or leave, do you think this would be wise?
@Lisaa_RS - Followed by @Runescape
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13-Oct-2016 03:48:29

Sicariu
Feb Member 2011

Sicariu

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I'm not going to number my responses, but I'll answer as best as I can.

My clan has gone through this a lot over the 3 years that I've been here. Focusing on recent events, we had 1 Deputy, 1 Overseer, 2 Coordinators, and 3 Organisers leave within the last 3 months, all of which were long-term members. A couple of them still guest in our chat regularly and are generally friendly and helpful.

In the past, this wasn't always the case for us. For former members who were "less-pleasant" to have around, we made strong statements to those players that they either need to act more reasonably as guests, or move on to a new (or their current) clan because we don't want or need to put up with them. We have no problems with adding former long-term members to our ban list if necessary to make sure they're not causing problems in our chat.

Issues have ranged from minor arguments over simple questions that get asked, like when someone is learning a new boss, to insulting clan members while pvming with them, and a few extreme cases beyond that I'd prefer not to mention because they're not relevant here.

As for closing your chat to guests completely, that's up to your clan. We had our chat locked to guests for about 2 years before we finally decided to allow guests in again about a year and a half ago. After the issues that we'd experienced started to fade away, we've tried to maintain a more open/welcoming environment to guests, while still maintaining strict rules as a precaution in case issues arise.

In my opinion, I feel that if these people aren't causing harm to your clan's environment, then there is little reason to force them out, but that's still up to you. It does pain me to see their names in our chat without their ranks sometimes because I feel as if they "betrayed" us, for lack of a better word, by leaving just to come back and guest all the time. But, they're not causing any issues, so it's still nice to have them around.
~ Sicariu
Leader of
No Sigil No Sleep
- founded 1 April 2013
Need Clan Help ?

13-Oct-2016 06:47:46

Sicariu
Feb Member 2011

Sicariu

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Character space cut me off :(

Cont.

As for long-term guests who never intend to join the clan, we've never actually experienced that. All of our long-term/frequent guests had been members of our clan at one point, but I'll still give my thoughts on that type of situation.

Personally, I would ask this person why they choose to guest regularly but not have any intentions of actually joining the clan. If they're participating in your clan's events, tell them they need to become a member of the clan to keep participating.

I don't really see why some put themselves in that situation because becoming an actual member of a clan is part of the experience, not just sitting in the chat as a guest all the time. Though I can understand checking out a clan before joining, having no intentions of joining really doesn't make sense to me.

Asking them questions about why they prefer to be a guest rather than become a clan member would be my topic for discussion with these types of guests should I ever be faced with them in my clan. But, for now, that would be the best advice I can pass on from my interpretation of that situation.

Hope that helps a little, and I've been doing homework all day, so I apologise if there's any errors that I missed while typing this. 2am usually brings frequent typos for me, so I hope I at least sound coherent. ^_^
~ Sicariu
Leader of
No Sigil No Sleep
- founded 1 April 2013
Need Clan Help ?

13-Oct-2016 06:51:01 - Last edited on 13-Oct-2016 07:04:07 by Sicariu

Emil
Oct Member 2009

Emil

Posts: 4,141 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
1) Have you ever experienced issues like this?
Nope

2) If yes, how did you handle it? If no, what would you recommend?
Consider the option below

3) We've considered disabling guesting and sending a kind yet firm message to these guesters asking them to join or leave, do you think this would be wise?
This is a great solution, or has at least been so for my clan. My clan have never been opened for guests, maybe just a day or so.

Pros:
*You are avoiding all kind of problems guests may bring. That is bad behaviour, or anything like that.
*Those players you invite really want to join the clan. They put effort in joining it. They heard good things about it and want to join it for that reason. They have to try it and most stays because of lazyness of tring other clans. If all clans were open everyone could try each clan and see where they fit the best. There are many clans out there, a lot of them are suitable for the same player. You want to recruit those you can ;)

Cons:
*Easy recruiting, players can't join your chat and ask for an invite that way. But on the other hand if it seems to me, it is better to keep the invitation at a low rate to let newcommers join the group rather than entering as a group and build something that might be bad for the clan it self.
*Can't invite friends to the chat

Just a few. However. If you decide to close the clan, be strict about it for a large period of time. One option could also be letting just members talk and mute the guests.
Clan leader of DreamTeam - A Swedish RS Clan

13-Oct-2016 09:50:54 - Last edited on 13-Oct-2016 09:51:11 by Emil

Ignore List
Sep Member 2011

Ignore List

Posts: 4,879 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I have to say Sicariu posts some up my feelings on the matter exactly and perfectly. I have had the same issue in my clan but not to that extent. I have had long term members leave for bossing clans as well and for their talk of loyalty and friendship after leaving the clan I've not even had a hello from them. That's not to say they are all like that, a few are absolutely amazing and guest and help answer questions and the like.

We have to understand this is a game and as with IRL and the game people will do that which benefits and advances them. That is a fact I accepted a long time ago. My clan isn't a bossing clan though we do host bossing events and the like these aren't 24/7 or to the level bossing clans can offer. So I have prepared myself to see people leave in such cases.

I personally don't allow people to leave the clan and have their "alt" stay in the clan as they most often then not will not log into it so I see very little reason to have them in the clan like that.

Now for those who do guest it's nice to see them there but if they don't talk it doesn't bother me to much i'd like for them to but I suppose it comes down to what your expectation for them is and vice versa - in this case I'd say talk to them and see what they say. Communications is always the best thing we as clan leaders can do and have to do our best to maintain it!

In the case they are being rude to clan members I have a zero tolerance on that - current members and ex-clan members know how protective I can be so if they cause any problems depending on the severity I'll talk to them and give them a chance otherwise long standing ex-member or not I have no problem and wouldn't spare a second though in adding them to the clan ban list.

1/2
Ray
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13-Oct-2016 11:41:55

Ignore List
Sep Member 2011

Ignore List

Posts: 4,879 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
2/2

In terms of closing the clan chat that seems a little harsh as that hinders those who genuinely want to guest and interact with the clan and it's members so it's important to keep that in mind.

As I said before I'd advice speaking to them, if they aren't talking and that is what you want them talk to them about that. If they are causing a problem then for me it would be a swift addition to the ban list.

Hope this helps, feel free to poke me in game if you see me we can discuss it in pm as well if you'd like.
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13-Oct-2016 11:45:40

Kera
Aug Member 2010

Kera

Posts: 11,100 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
We currently have 5 or so permanent guests, all currently members of other clans, most of them are from our clan homeworld and known to many clan members outside of the clan because of this.

I don't know the specific make up of the clans they do belong to, but assume that we are the opposite side of your issue Lisa - that is they are members of PVM clans while as a social clan we have an active and talkative clan chat most of the time, I'm guessing they just like the company.

We don't ask them to join us ( after the initial visit or two), similarly they have not asked any clan members to join them. They are talkative, and helpful and an asset to our clan - several of them help us with PVM teaching, and have access to our clan offsite forums. These 5 people we think of as clan mates, and we are much more wary of people guesting outside of these few.

Separate to that, anyone leaving the clan - except under rare circumstances, are not allowed back to guest. Rightly or wrongly - if we aren't good enough for them to belong to, we don't want them guesting either .
Kera:
Proud leader of Shattered Moon

13-Oct-2016 19:52:08

SpectreGh0st

SpectreGh0st

Posts: 47 Bronze Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Clear the dead weight.

You say that they still claim to be loyal, but their actions are speaking louder than words. Tell them to rejoin the clan as rank carrying members or to stop guesting. Besides, having an excessive number of guests can leave a bad impression with new recruits, that being that your guests are receiving all the benefits of the clan without doing any work (such as capping), so why should they bother contributing either?

They also may not be causing harm to your clan right now, but what happens when they have incentive to do so? They won't hesitate to throw your clan under the bus - they've already shown themselves to not be loyal members. What will happen when they're seeking a higher rank in the clan they're in and their clan leader tells them to go recruit friends? Well, your clan is full of friends and people who respect them, so they'll start poaching your ranks out of your clan.

This can go bad very quickly, and I advise you to remove the fungus before it grows too much.

13-Oct-2016 21:23:58

Not a Puppet

Not a Puppet

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Reiteraterating some of what's been said, having been in both positions (left a clan to found my own and tried to hang around a bit for friendships), it can be tough. I think a lot of it depends on a case-by-case basis.

1) I've had long term guests that didn't really plan to join, and I think that's okay if they're on the world and interacting with clan. Whether through chat, events, what have you. I think it's a bit of an awkward feeling having someone leave and hang around after, something I didn't necessarily realize when I was doing it tbh. So, it's totally possible that they initially want to stay friends with people, but if they left the group idk, it's not as important as what they felt they got out of another group. :p It's not like they couldn't have guested in that other group. I think depending on the person, it can be okay to give some sort of grace period, but as others have said - they did choose another group, for better or worse. Of course it depends on the circumstances and all that jazz.

2) I haven't run into the leaving and keeping alt/guesting, so just advice and speculation. I think it's not a good idea to keep an alternative account they'll barely use. Shows what they think of you. :p If they legitimately spilt time then I think it's okay, still fairly active. Again, just have to access and user judgment. I think it's important to consider what's best for your current members though. If they just hang around to stop on when they get bored idk hah, feels like a negative impression to me.

3) I think giving a firm message is okay, just be willing to accept that they probably aren't likely to keep guesting if they've refused before. If you're okay with that, and feel they're not a positive influence, I think that's what I would do. I personally advise against not allowing guests. Removes the opportunity for someone interested to check y'all out and frankly when I was looking any chat that didn't allow guests was one I skipped.
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14-Oct-2016 00:20:21

Ceecs
Mar Member 2010

Ceecs

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We have a policy to not long-term guest. If we notice it happens often we kick that person now and then. It tends that person to guest less also or shorter periods.

It is a shame that if it was an ex-clannie who indeed left for a PvM clan or so, but it is better then that he ays he in a better clan in our chat...
Ceecs - leader of Ceecs Clan
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14-Oct-2016 07:24:16

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