Welcome to Gaia! ::

Browsing the memberlist, I have come across some startling information:
We dont even have 2 full pages of members:
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/?guild_id=50139&gmode=memberlist&sort=permission&order=desc&page=1
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/?guild_id=50139&gmode=memberlist&sort=permission&order=desc&page=2

However, we have 3 full pages of banned members:
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/?guild_id=50139&gmode=memberlist&sort=permission&order=desc&page=3
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/?guild_id=50139&gmode=memberlist&sort=permission&order=desc&page=4
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/?guild_id=50139&gmode=memberlist&sort=permission&order=desc&page=5


I address this to those that may have taken part in the banning:
Why was this done?

I know that DI has never had any particularly bad people in here, so I think that these people were banned for being idle.

I will say, here and now, that having idle members does NOT hurt a guild.

Having 3 pages of banned members CAN hurt a guild. It gives potential members a negative opinion of this guild.

To support these statements: Look at Gaia Online. It does NOT ban a member for not being active, and look how popular this website as a whole is. I myself took an almost year long hiatus from it as I had no PC, but when I came back, I was welcomed by all my friends at Gaia and DI.
I simply wish that DI can open its door a little wider so its family can continue to expand rather than deplete.

That being said, can someone kindly UNban my friend, Rengato and my Alt account, Shiroi Jkm, as I do not have the permissions to do so, for some reason...

Last month, we had only 3 people respond to the Rainbows of Hope. If you remember, you were to click on the hyperlink provided and post a rainbow in the forum; by doing so, you received a prize just for reading the newsletter! Madralyn wrote "I am simply blown away by the limited responses to this month's newsletter. It's almost as if everyone's on vacation!"

After all the hard work that Boldie64, Madralyn, and the D.I. Custodians have put into this guild, we don't know what else to do to increase participation. Join Boldie64 and Madralyn in this month's special thread, What is Missing? to discuss the ongoing issue of getting members to participate. We have 90 (or so) members and approximately only 10 are participating. Once again, anyone who posts in this thread with suggestions will receive a prize just for participating!

September is the transition from summer to fall and during this month you will see Dreamed Integrity making some transitions towards a more active guild. To do this, we need 2 things from our members:

1. Participation: We are asking you, our members, to vote as to whether lack of participation will in fact result in a ban. Please CLICK HERE to visit the poll and voice your opinions. A final decision will be announced in the October newsletter.

2. Beginning New Threads: Please take the time to read forum guidelines PRIOR to starting a new thread. If in fact, a new thread needs to approved, just send your idea to the forum moderator and they will give you the go ahead or help you to post it in a more appropriate forum.

We WANT your ideas, creativeness, and energy in our guild, please help us to make Dreamed Integrity a place where you like to visit when you are on Gaia.

DI Members,

October has us looking towards 2010 and asking, "Where will Dreamed Integrity be?" As the success or failure of a guild is not equal to how much work a crew puts into it but, whether the members are actively participating. Currently our guild participation is at 18% and contests are only bringing in 6% of our members. This is very frustrating for those of us who want to see Dreamed Integrity be a successful guild!

We’ve decided to move forward with the concept of “less is more.” What that means is that Dreamed Integrity needs to be a guild of only members who really want to be a part of the guild and are actively participating on a regular basis. Having said this, we know that we have a number of students participating in the guild who are currently on hiatus because of homework and some of you have already sent a message to us letting us know – Thank You.

This month we will be sending out "warning notices" to those members who have joined our guild and still have not participated. If you are one of these members, please decide whether you will become active or whether you will "quit" our guild. If these members do not make the choice themselves, they will be banned.

This decision did not come easily for us and we've had numerous discussions regarding the matter. It's time to make changes that will help Dreamed Integrity be a participation driven guild whether we be a guild of 20 or 200 members.

XIn the month of October, about 1/2 of our membership was sent a warning notice regarding their lack of participation in our guild. Most of our now former members chose not to even respond to correspondence sent to them and while a handful chose to stay as active members, Madralyn banned all but two, who left on their own, on October 15th. This decision was not made lightly but was a necessary measure.

Our smaller size is a truer picture of those who want to be a part of Dreamed Integrity and already we are seeing an increase in member participation.