Dang. I declined a member and wrote a PM explaining why I did so. Then I found out that the person doesn't accept private messages from anyone not on the Friendslist. stare
But I really liked what I wrote, so I'm including it in my journal.
Quote:
Hello fellow Gaian,
Thank you for requesting to join The Official Quest Guild. We are constantly on the lookout for active members and appreciate everyone who wants to join our Guild.
I declined your request to join the Guild because of the way you worded your request. There will unfortunately be times when nobody is in the Guild, because they are either offline or online, but busy with something else. Quick replies can't be guaranteed and this could be interpreted as no one wanting to talk with whoever, or snubbing.
I recognize that you are new and can understand the frustration and awkwardness of not being familiar with Gaia and not having anyone to talk to. However, I don't feel that you are ready to join The Official Quest Guild just yet. This is not a slight or mark against you, rather I feel you are too new to Gaia and that joining the Guild right now would be too soon. I feel that the Guild won't be able to meet your needs at this time. I encourage you to checkout the Welcome To Gaia forum and other forums besides the Chatterbox, for they can be wonderful places to become more involved in what Gaia has to offer.
If you desire, you may submit your request for membership for a second consideration. There is no limit on requests.
Sincerely,
Kierras-Ann
Thank you for requesting to join The Official Quest Guild. We are constantly on the lookout for active members and appreciate everyone who wants to join our Guild.
I declined your request to join the Guild because of the way you worded your request. There will unfortunately be times when nobody is in the Guild, because they are either offline or online, but busy with something else. Quick replies can't be guaranteed and this could be interpreted as no one wanting to talk with whoever, or snubbing.
I recognize that you are new and can understand the frustration and awkwardness of not being familiar with Gaia and not having anyone to talk to. However, I don't feel that you are ready to join The Official Quest Guild just yet. This is not a slight or mark against you, rather I feel you are too new to Gaia and that joining the Guild right now would be too soon. I feel that the Guild won't be able to meet your needs at this time. I encourage you to checkout the Welcome To Gaia forum and other forums besides the Chatterbox, for they can be wonderful places to become more involved in what Gaia has to offer.
If you desire, you may submit your request for membership for a second consideration. There is no limit on requests.
Sincerely,
Kierras-Ann
Nicely written, yes? I spent most of the morning on it, trying to conisder all facets of how my message could be taken in the wrong light. I wanted to be positive and focus on the person rather than on the Guild. I don't like to crush anyone, but when the request for membership is only, "I don't have much stuff and nobody wants to talk to me" and the only places the person has been to is the Chatterbox, then I don't feel it's a good match. I don't want to be accepting someone if I'm only going to be deleting them two weeks down the road. It's not good, doesn't make me feel good, and I'm certain it can't make the other person feel good either.
Anyway, that aside, things are going okay. I haven't written much in my journal and I'm slightly on the half-alert state, should I suddenly be called away. I'd like it if I could be on Gaia without worrying or wondering when someone would call me away because I haven't done this or that or something or rather. I feel like I've run around all week and don't have much Me Time. So I take it when I can.
Restructuring the Guild is a big task. I've been working on the members for over two weeks now. I banned Kierras-Ann so I could see what the message looks like. It's basic with my name attached as the one who banned the person. I don't like how there's no room to send a custom message to someone I'm going to ban. Then I've gone through this experience of going out of my way to explain why I didn't accept a person, only to find out that the message can't be sent unless I request to be on that person's Friendship List. I don't want to be on someone's Friendship List just so I can send a PM, especially if the reason is not because I want to be a friend. I am picky about who I'll call a friend. Not just anyone will do and there are certain qualities I must see, because I don't want to be in a relationship (yes, friendship is a relationship) where I am unhappy, frustrated, anxious, or annoyed.
This certainly cuts down any extra work I think I might have to do. In fact, I could become very ban happy against those who have requested membership and didn't participate or donate to the Guild. The Guild long ago agreed not to ban anyone who donated to the Guild, even if that meant they didn't post or hadn't posted in a long time. I'm okay with that, just not with those who have posted less than one or not many more than one post and have never been back. Those kinds of members are toxic because they make the Guild look big, but upon closer inspection, it's seen as a white elephant.
