First Treatise on Linkshells

[BRP]

lots of people thought hitler was a good leader, amirite?

He was... for "pure" blooded Germans.

[Coldplay4tw]

I think Hitler was a great speaker and very smart, too bad he used his talent for the evil..

[Ravenlokk]

I think Hitler was a great speaker and very smart, too bad he used his talent for the evil..

Great speaker- yes. Great leader- yes. But he was twisted..

[Vigilia]

That's an awesome post, thank you for putting so many good thoughts into words. :D

[Daahan]

For example, my LS's recruitment process. Firstly an applicant must be approved by the Leader and the admin team. If it's approved, it's then put up for voting by the general membership. All applicants must have at least one vouch who'll speak on their behalf. There is no set majority needed, the thread has a poll and discussion and it quickly becomes obvious whether they'll fit in and have a suitable proportion of yes votes. Ultimately the Leader and admins can make exceptions and have the final say, but it generally works well. It's not 100% perfect, the odd one or two always slip through the net, but it suits our LS. On very rare occasions the Leader and admin team will bypass the voting process and insta-pearl someone, but they'll still be subject to the usual trial conditions. A month without lotting on abjurations etc.

That's a pretty decent variation. However, it is often the case that a linkshell member will try and get their friend in to the linkshell, and to do they they vouch for him/her. During my time, I have seen countless cases of a LS member trying to get their friend in to the LS, and the friend ended up sucking so horribly bad, that I'd refer that person to my 'On Idiocy' section. That's why I believe a non-pearled trial is necessary. Also, I believe that everyone should go through a trial period, no exceptions.

This is a good idea when it works, but I've seen way too many shells that either say they'll trial a member and then forget about contacting them (really only an issue with irresponsible leadership) or that let discussion about events go on entirely in the LS, meaning that the trial member is totally in the dark without a pearl.

Hmmm, I don't know. From my experience people don't really forget to ask a trial member to show up events, because their name is stuck up on there in the forums. I think that, if the LS forgets to invite a trial applicant to event, then the LS is in a sense being irresponsible because adding new and good members to a LS when it is necessary is extremely important.

75-80% of the members are just sheep really, and won't do anything unless told to, and in general the more leaders there are within the LS the less things will get done, since some of them will just attempt to rest on their laurels and let others do the work

The thing is that this is absolutely ok though! If you have too many people who are ambitious, then a LS will go berserk. I think that many people are ok with being sheep as long as they are getting their due rewards and having their fun.

f the linkshell is productive in what it sets out to do. But if there's an issue outstanding between two members, that has to be resolved before it snowballs into a larger one, especially if these members are competing over similar gear. Otherwise you leave yourself susceptible to these members creating rifts in the linkshell.

When people want to be treated like adults, it won't help if there is someone there holding their hands trying to mediate the problem. I have seen two predominant outcomes from when people get in to petty arguments. Either they continue disliking each other and continue to work together nevertheless, or they end up making up once they've let every they've had to say out. I will argue that arguments snowball in to larger ones when people are not allowed to express how they feel. Openess is very important.

I was also surprised that there was nothing mentioned concerning drama queens, I had expected to see that mentioned in the idiocy section. If there is one thing that has done the most harm to my linkshell, it has been the occasional drama queen. It didn't help though that our early leadership was too soft and tended to cater to these people. Well, not necessarily cater to them, but we still let people get away with murder imo. We're a lot better now, and I think we're improving every day, but some old habits die hard don't they? Once you let the seed of drama grow, and people start to realize they can get away with it, its reaaaalllly hard to turn that ship around.

Drama queens never occurred to me when I wrote this. Good point; I'd also place drama queens under idiots. Maybe I'll mention it a little more in my next Treatise. I'll make a note of it.

I think Hitler was a great speaker and very smart, too bad he used his talent for the evil..

HITLER DERAIL NO THANKS. However, if Sorrower was being serious, I don't see how my applications about linkshell ordering imply an evil dictatorship or fascism.

[Alleya]

Daahan's next Treatise: Women and the Ruination of Linkshells

Good job pope.

[Beecher]

Daahan's next Treatise: Women and the Ruination of Linkshells

Good job pope.

You mean "Chicks with Dicks and the Men Who Don't Even Care"?

[Malaquist]

Hey now, real girls are perfectly capable of making your entire linkshell self-destruct.

Free advice: If she has more ex-boyfriends than HNM kills, stay away.

[Xanthu]

copy/pasting to friend of mine. This is a definate keeper, maybe it'll even help us and our shortcomings (oh god we wiped to MG Yin help us)

[Daahan]

Daahan's next Treatise: Women and the Ruination of Linkshells

Good job pope.

You mean "Chicks with Dicks and the Men Who Don't Even Care"?

I'm more frightened by the men with dicks who want people to think they're chicks, to be honest.

copy/pasting to friend of mine. This is a definate keeper, maybe it'll even help us and our shortcomings (oh god we wiped to MG Yin help us)

good luck

[Xanthu]

copy/pasting to friend of mine. This is a definate keeper, maybe it'll even help us and our shortcomings (oh god we wiped to MG Yin help us)

good luck

Well, we did wipe with only 10 people, and many other excuses if you'd like. But we've got a bigger issue to tackle.

Edit: BF forum Nub question #38: Who is BG's leader? Is it you?

[theo]

Dahaan can't be the leader because he's a pope, separation of church and state.

[Rocl]

The leader of BG is a robot.
The Church of Yin doesn't like robots.

If Daahan was a robot, he wouldn't be the First Pope of Yin.

So:
Daahan + Leader of BG = HEAD ASPLODE

[BRP]

Dahaan can't be the leader because he's a pope, separation of church and state.

That's only in a democracy.

[Daahan]

Dahaan can't be the leader because he's a pope, separation of church and state.

That's only in a democracy.

and clearly I'm not a supporter of staunch LS democracy.

but no, I am not the leader of BG.

[theo]

lol I was kidding anyway >_>;

Although I guess I never really knew who the leader of BG was. Not that it affects me in any way at all lol. I always assumed it was one of the mods (possibly sept because he writes the bg updates).

[Rocl]

The leader of BG is really Birdhair!

[Deuce]

Very good read. I agree with many if not all of the topics discussed in the OP. This will definately influence some decisions I'll make as a leader. That is if I ever do start an LS. Whether the LS would be endgame or not is still up for me to figure out.

[Ksandra]

Daahan buy some uber decked out char on Hades and make an LS so I can be in it. D:

Great post. ^^

[Kainen]

Machiavellian FFXI theory. Good read.

Just like 'The Prince', I agree w/ most of your words. I disagree w/ trial members not having a pearl. An important thing for a leader to do is not overburden himself. As a once sackholder of a successful LS I will say that the number of /tell's recieved for any Leader/Sackholder can be overwhelming. Having to keep tabs on trial members on top of that would be an unneccasary burden. Give them a pearl and make it well clear that all members are expected to be at every event if they are online w/o having to have a personal reminder. Test the dedication of that trial member. See if he waits last minute to show up, or is devout and eager to participate.

As well, the burden that a Leader puts on himself deserves its own section in this. The Leader must be able to properly distribute responcibilities to the sackholders. A Leader who tries to do everything himself or gives responcibility someone who is incompitant can create unneccesary stress.