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05-31-2018, 09:08 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-01-2022, 01:06 AM by Fearless Community. Edited 5 times in total.
Edit Reason: Fixed Encoding
)
Hello everyone,
Since the clan rules were recently updated i figured this would be a nice moment for a talk about clans. I currently have an issue how FL in general is dealing with its clans. From the clan page we can see quite an indepth ruleset about clans and even about wars between clans. (Clan wars & Clan basics)
When i, as a new member, read these threads about clans my immediate thought was 'wow, this is amazing, they have official, well run clans that can even fight and close eachother' but my enthousiasm was quickly removed by the sight of the 'official clans' page. In that time there were 3 official clans (Estleback, FUMUKU and one that barkles created, i forgot the name) and there was hardly any action between them. In my time on FL here i have never, ever seen more then 3 official clans at the same time. Thing is, the other clans who are all unofficial, were sometimes even more active as the official clans. This is where one of my issues regarding clans lies:
[Official] clan tag
Why are we having the concept of 'official' clans? Is this a legal thing so if someone creates an ISIS clan (which is against the rules anyway) FL can easier distantiate itself from said clan? I find this very hard to believe.
So why is this 'official' clan a thing then? To encourage good clans to become even more active to achieve that precious 'official' status? If this is the case, its really poorly done. Standards or guidelines on how to become an official clan are nowhere to be found. Clans that have been around for ages and have played a huge part in FL still arent official. That raises the question, how do you become official as a clan? Do you apply somewhere, do you need a certain amount of members, hours, roleplaypoints or simply the blessing of the current clan officers? Or is applying bad, does it reduce your chances to become official and does FL contact you if they deem your clan worthy of the official status?
[Unofficial] clan tag
My second issue has a little bit to do with the official status but mostly with the 'unofficial' status you automaticly have when youre not an official clan. Currently there is 1 official clan, and this has been the only one for quite a while mind you, so why are we forcing the other 20 clans to wear an (in my opinion) ugly and newbie looking [unofficial] tag infront of their forum post? Why discourage people from creating a cool clan by forcing them to belittle themselves with [unofficial] tags if 99.9% of the clans from FL are 'unofficial'. If there was a bigger proportion of 'official' clans i'd get it but is this all worth it for this 1 (and in the future maybe 2 or 3) official clan(s)? I dont think so.
Guidelines & More official clans
Why arent we handing more clans the 'official' tag? If good guidelines are set people can actually work towards a goal and the best part is: rewards FL is offering its official clans are amazing! Having your own subforum protected which a password is a major asset and can help people interact with their clan from the forums, increasing activity. Why deny people this great feature that costs FL barely anything and should be a win/win for everyone? Im not saying everyone and their mothers dog should be able to get an official clan but some extra leniency regarding this would be very refreshing for the clan world.
I'd like to hear thoughts from other people regarding this, does FL need to change it ways regarding how clans work and operate? And if so, is it a problem where we need more guidelines or is it a more serious problem where our clan system has gotten stuck under the official tag?
TLDR:
2 issues regarding clans on FL.
1: What is the deal with official clans, why is there only 1 and are guidelines regarding it pretty much non-existant.
2: Why are we forcing people the 'unofficial' tag down their throat when official clans are very, very rare.
Since the clan rules were recently updated i figured this would be a nice moment for a talk about clans. I currently have an issue how FL in general is dealing with its clans. From the clan page we can see quite an indepth ruleset about clans and even about wars between clans. (Clan wars & Clan basics)
When i, as a new member, read these threads about clans my immediate thought was 'wow, this is amazing, they have official, well run clans that can even fight and close eachother' but my enthousiasm was quickly removed by the sight of the 'official clans' page. In that time there were 3 official clans (Estleback, FUMUKU and one that barkles created, i forgot the name) and there was hardly any action between them. In my time on FL here i have never, ever seen more then 3 official clans at the same time. Thing is, the other clans who are all unofficial, were sometimes even more active as the official clans. This is where one of my issues regarding clans lies:
[Official] clan tag
Why are we having the concept of 'official' clans? Is this a legal thing so if someone creates an ISIS clan (which is against the rules anyway) FL can easier distantiate itself from said clan? I find this very hard to believe.
So why is this 'official' clan a thing then? To encourage good clans to become even more active to achieve that precious 'official' status? If this is the case, its really poorly done. Standards or guidelines on how to become an official clan are nowhere to be found. Clans that have been around for ages and have played a huge part in FL still arent official. That raises the question, how do you become official as a clan? Do you apply somewhere, do you need a certain amount of members, hours, roleplaypoints or simply the blessing of the current clan officers? Or is applying bad, does it reduce your chances to become official and does FL contact you if they deem your clan worthy of the official status?
[Unofficial] clan tag
My second issue has a little bit to do with the official status but mostly with the 'unofficial' status you automaticly have when youre not an official clan. Currently there is 1 official clan, and this has been the only one for quite a while mind you, so why are we forcing the other 20 clans to wear an (in my opinion) ugly and newbie looking [unofficial] tag infront of their forum post? Why discourage people from creating a cool clan by forcing them to belittle themselves with [unofficial] tags if 99.9% of the clans from FL are 'unofficial'. If there was a bigger proportion of 'official' clans i'd get it but is this all worth it for this 1 (and in the future maybe 2 or 3) official clan(s)? I dont think so.
Guidelines & More official clans
Why arent we handing more clans the 'official' tag? If good guidelines are set people can actually work towards a goal and the best part is: rewards FL is offering its official clans are amazing! Having your own subforum protected which a password is a major asset and can help people interact with their clan from the forums, increasing activity. Why deny people this great feature that costs FL barely anything and should be a win/win for everyone? Im not saying everyone and their mothers dog should be able to get an official clan but some extra leniency regarding this would be very refreshing for the clan world.
I'd like to hear thoughts from other people regarding this, does FL need to change it ways regarding how clans work and operate? And if so, is it a problem where we need more guidelines or is it a more serious problem where our clan system has gotten stuck under the official tag?
TLDR:
2 issues regarding clans on FL.
1: What is the deal with official clans, why is there only 1 and are guidelines regarding it pretty much non-existant.
2: Why are we forcing people the 'unofficial' tag down their throat when official clans are very, very rare.