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Hello, and how are you doing? I recently started posting again (after a week of inactivity) and decided that maybe we should finally do something with the tech support guild. I've noticed people coming back and posting, which means it hasn't yet been forgotten. Also, we seem to all have a vague desire for this guild to grow into something, but noone is taking a stand. For this reason, I'm taking charge and I'm going to head the Tech Support Guild Revitalization Movement. All memebers, mods, and admins of the guild are being PMed and hopefully we can get some people interested in this. Of course the most important step it to get people active, which is why I've got to send out all of these PMs.
My plan for the Revitalization Movement is as follows:
+ Begin by rallying all active members. Remove inactive members to help clean up the guild.
This will insure that everyone taking part in the Revitalization Movement has the same desire to see this guild blossom into something beautiful, and will also help us to know where we stand member-wise. Knowing how strong we are and how many people are willing to work to this end will help us in the long-run, as well as give us an idea where to start.
+ Get ONE BANNER. Something that everyone agrees on and that could arouse interest in the guild.
We need one single banner to represent the guild. Many guilds have 3 or 5 banners or something and the members pick and choose whichever they think is prettiest. However this allows for people to advertise differently, and can lead to those seeing the banners to believe that the two guilds are not one in the same. Also, it prevents the uniformity that causes recognition. We want our guild to be recognized and we want people's heads to turn when we make a post. For this reason, we need a universal symbol of our guild that people can notice and respond to. We can get multiple banner ideas, however in the end we must choose a single one for all guild members.
The keeping of this banner in your sig should be MANDATORY. If not permanently, at least for the first month or so. This will help advertisement of the guild as well as get us on track with the concept of recognition. You have no idea how strongly I'm rooted in the concept of recognition. I want our group to be able to go to the Technology Forum and provide help, and I want heads to turn and people to know exactly who we are and how great our support is and I want people begging us for help to their own problems. This banner should eventually become a sign of pride. But it can't happen unless everyone wears them and gives them a good name.
+ Guild fees
Yes, I think we need to charge people to join. Not a vast amount, but about 100-250g. Why? A couple of reasons. First, this helps provide a small guarantee that people won't join simply to spam us. We don't need people joining the Tech Support Guild to spend weeks posting nonsense about "My comPUTer iS tEh fAIl". Unless people actually wish to provide something to the guild, learn something, or make a contribution, then we don't need them here. Having guild fees simply gives that last warning to them. Upon having to pay to get in they realize that they're making a commitment and that they must actually give of themselves to get in.
Guild fees serve a secondary purpose, as well. With gold we can expand the guild forums or even (conceivably) get enough money for a sister guild. Aother possibility that has crossed my mind (although it will go through review by all mods, admins, and members before it's even considered seriously) would be matching avatars. We could design a male avatar and a female avatar that'd cost under 5000g, then we could use money from guild fees and donations to help the poorer of our members to afford the outfits. If we did this, the purpose would be similar to the reason we only have one banner and the reason it's mandatory. It's entirely to give us the recognition of uniformity. People will see the Tech Support Guild avatar and sig, and they'll instantly realize that they're recieving a professional answer to their problems.
+ Recruit, recruit, recruit!
The one thing that we need most is members. 10 people can't provide Tech Support to the world. 50 people, however, may make a dent. It doesn't matter how technologically savvy people are at time of recruitment so long as they have the desire and ability to learn. We'll have tutorials and sub-forums for asking questions and learning how to fix problems, meaning that we can even recruit people who have never touched a computer in their life and hopefully after a few months in the guild they'll have the skills and knowledge to help with most basic problems. Also, make sure that new members know- DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS. The last thing we need is someone in our guild who doesn't know how to fix a problem and is afraid to ask. That's the reason we have a guild forum, and we need to make sure people know this.
On the topic of members, however is inactive or worthless members. If a member isn't posting (with the exception of pro-longed trips away from gaia) in the Technology Forum or the Tech Support Guild, they're adding to our member count and adding to our stress. We need to keep the guild trim. This means that short of extended vacations, if someone gets on gaia regularly for a month and never once in that month posts in the guild or in the Technology Forum, we need to remove them for inactivity. They can re-join on request, however they should have to pay a re-entrance fee. Also if someone provides bad help repeatedly or comes to the guild to post nothing but non-productive material (by which I'm alluding to guild spammers) we need not hesitate to remove them from the guild. If they wish to pay to get in again, spam us again, and get removed again, let them. I don't mind taking their money.
+ Get out there!
We need people in the Technology Forum. We need people helping with issues left and right. We need to get our names out there. We want people to recognize our users at first, but later we want them to recognize our banner and our guild. We want people to recieve so much help from us that we can't help but stand out. Anything and everything you can do makes a difference. Just make it a positive difference.
This plan is not final. It's in need of review by admins and moderators. I hope to quickly get feedback, ideas, and suggestions for ways to improve the plan or the guild, however, and I'd like most to know if anyone can offer up banner suggestions. We need to have a thread soon in the forum with multiple banner options and a poll to choose your favorite. Based on the results of this we can determine what our guild standard banner will be.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you approve of some of my ideas.
My plan for the Revitalization Movement is as follows:
+ Begin by rallying all active members. Remove inactive members to help clean up the guild.
This will insure that everyone taking part in the Revitalization Movement has the same desire to see this guild blossom into something beautiful, and will also help us to know where we stand member-wise. Knowing how strong we are and how many people are willing to work to this end will help us in the long-run, as well as give us an idea where to start.
+ Get ONE BANNER. Something that everyone agrees on and that could arouse interest in the guild.
We need one single banner to represent the guild. Many guilds have 3 or 5 banners or something and the members pick and choose whichever they think is prettiest. However this allows for people to advertise differently, and can lead to those seeing the banners to believe that the two guilds are not one in the same. Also, it prevents the uniformity that causes recognition. We want our guild to be recognized and we want people's heads to turn when we make a post. For this reason, we need a universal symbol of our guild that people can notice and respond to. We can get multiple banner ideas, however in the end we must choose a single one for all guild members.
The keeping of this banner in your sig should be MANDATORY. If not permanently, at least for the first month or so. This will help advertisement of the guild as well as get us on track with the concept of recognition. You have no idea how strongly I'm rooted in the concept of recognition. I want our group to be able to go to the Technology Forum and provide help, and I want heads to turn and people to know exactly who we are and how great our support is and I want people begging us for help to their own problems. This banner should eventually become a sign of pride. But it can't happen unless everyone wears them and gives them a good name.
+ Guild fees
Yes, I think we need to charge people to join. Not a vast amount, but about 100-250g. Why? A couple of reasons. First, this helps provide a small guarantee that people won't join simply to spam us. We don't need people joining the Tech Support Guild to spend weeks posting nonsense about "My comPUTer iS tEh fAIl". Unless people actually wish to provide something to the guild, learn something, or make a contribution, then we don't need them here. Having guild fees simply gives that last warning to them. Upon having to pay to get in they realize that they're making a commitment and that they must actually give of themselves to get in.
Guild fees serve a secondary purpose, as well. With gold we can expand the guild forums or even (conceivably) get enough money for a sister guild. Aother possibility that has crossed my mind (although it will go through review by all mods, admins, and members before it's even considered seriously) would be matching avatars. We could design a male avatar and a female avatar that'd cost under 5000g, then we could use money from guild fees and donations to help the poorer of our members to afford the outfits. If we did this, the purpose would be similar to the reason we only have one banner and the reason it's mandatory. It's entirely to give us the recognition of uniformity. People will see the Tech Support Guild avatar and sig, and they'll instantly realize that they're recieving a professional answer to their problems.
+ Recruit, recruit, recruit!
The one thing that we need most is members. 10 people can't provide Tech Support to the world. 50 people, however, may make a dent. It doesn't matter how technologically savvy people are at time of recruitment so long as they have the desire and ability to learn. We'll have tutorials and sub-forums for asking questions and learning how to fix problems, meaning that we can even recruit people who have never touched a computer in their life and hopefully after a few months in the guild they'll have the skills and knowledge to help with most basic problems. Also, make sure that new members know- DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS. The last thing we need is someone in our guild who doesn't know how to fix a problem and is afraid to ask. That's the reason we have a guild forum, and we need to make sure people know this.
On the topic of members, however is inactive or worthless members. If a member isn't posting (with the exception of pro-longed trips away from gaia) in the Technology Forum or the Tech Support Guild, they're adding to our member count and adding to our stress. We need to keep the guild trim. This means that short of extended vacations, if someone gets on gaia regularly for a month and never once in that month posts in the guild or in the Technology Forum, we need to remove them for inactivity. They can re-join on request, however they should have to pay a re-entrance fee. Also if someone provides bad help repeatedly or comes to the guild to post nothing but non-productive material (by which I'm alluding to guild spammers) we need not hesitate to remove them from the guild. If they wish to pay to get in again, spam us again, and get removed again, let them. I don't mind taking their money.
+ Get out there!
We need people in the Technology Forum. We need people helping with issues left and right. We need to get our names out there. We want people to recognize our users at first, but later we want them to recognize our banner and our guild. We want people to recieve so much help from us that we can't help but stand out. Anything and everything you can do makes a difference. Just make it a positive difference.
This plan is not final. It's in need of review by admins and moderators. I hope to quickly get feedback, ideas, and suggestions for ways to improve the plan or the guild, however, and I'd like most to know if anyone can offer up banner suggestions. We need to have a thread soon in the forum with multiple banner options and a poll to choose your favorite. Based on the results of this we can determine what our guild standard banner will be.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you approve of some of my ideas.
This is my plan. I wish to bring this guild back to life, and the method is laid out. I'm going to go through the guild and find all members who haven't posted in the guild ever and all threads that have gotten 0 responses and remove these first and foremost. The moment tony2004 gets back on, words need to be shared with him regarding the TSGRM. I recently made a donation to the guild of 3000g and since I've taken this new project upon myself of enhancing the guild in every way possible, I shall pass on any new gold I acquire (in chunks of 1000g at a time) via the guild donation system. If anyone has any questions, concerns, comments, or suggestions regarding the TSGRM, please PM them to me (not tony2004).
Along with the TSGRM, comes a need for money. If not for advertisement (comissioning of artists on gaia and so-forth) or for the addition of sub-forums, then possibly for other ends (such as the matching avatars idea). This was addressed slightly in the above with the suggestion of guild entry fees, however let it also be known that donations are VERY useful and WELL accepted along with THANKED. Any gold that you can donate (even if it's only 5g or 10g) will recieve the utmost gratitude from us. All donations through the guild go straight to tony2004, so I put my faith in him to use it well for the better of the guild (soon I'll begin discussing with him ideas for the TSGRM, and at that time we can really begin to get things moving)
Thank you everyone, and have a nice day.
