Your idea is well thought out... basically the only thing that gets in the way is well... lazyness (on my part I might add). I also try to force myself to strict recruiting but I get lax on my recruiting policies overtime.
I often feel rushed, to either log off or whatnot and say, "okay, I threw you an application lets meet in Fort Oasis so we can recruit you." It's become a systematic robotic response. I instinctively write, "/salute, welcome to RID. As a member you may now use guild chat and guild mail. You may also sponsor new recruits, but only myself, a commander, or captain may recruit fully. RID forums are at
www.abstraction.com/ridboard, please register there when you log. RID colors are red/black, and RID uniform will be provided momentarily. Fort Oasis is RID's capital city. Any city that begins with "Fort" is likely a RID city as well. RID was founded November 27th of 2003. That's all you need to know. Question? Thought not, lets get your uniform, and good luck to you. /salute, and welcome to RID again!"
That's how it works, and no it's not good
Also another factor is a look at the guild list, see 3 members online, and say to myself... jeeze I guess I need to recruit. I go out to Eisley or Theed and type /who Imperial. Any unguilded Imperials that pop up I send a tell saying, "Hello there, might you be interested in joining an Imperial guild named the Regal Imperial Defenders?" They either respond with, "no thanks," or, "sure." If they say no thanks, I reply, "okay but take care!" If they say sure, I say, "Great! I'll send you some info and an application!."
That about sums it up... so we'll try and fix it.
Firstly, recruiting unguilded Imperials that are above level 80 is tricky. They are either not interested in joining a guild, or are already a part of an Imperial guild. I could go through all the trouble of pursuading Imperials to leave their own Imperial guilds... but I can't justify doing that. I wouldn't like it if another guild pursuaded a RID member to leave and join their guild, so that's out of the question.
The thing about new players it this. They are Imperial... low level... not the brightest of peeps. But they are fresh blood. Eventually they level and start to get the big picture. Problem is it takes a while and the journy is tedious. I'd much rather get elder or skilled players but they are scarce... and are already "harvested." I am willing to recruit slowly though, if it means a steady flow of experienced players... so we'll give it a shot. But if I ever get lax again I need RID to shoot me. We also need RID to actively use these forums and get involved in recruitment procedures.
So we'll do this...
We will never recruit more than 3 people a week... unless they are alts of a RID. Close friends or family of a RID member will be accepted more easily but still need to go through a process. So say we get an unguilded Imperial fighter proffesion (I think a reasonable minimum CL should be 60). If he's interested in joining, we give him a 1-2 week trial (you say 30 days, but I think we can handle 1-2 weeks). We sponsor the recruit, but *dont* recruit him completely. He will be given a tour of RID's cities... and given a brief history about RID, and what we expect of him. If he shows characteristics of being stubborn, selfish, or begging for items, it'll be tallied.
In addition to the application we send, I can maybe write a "score sheet" and I will tally a score for the RID member. It'll be like this:
Social Personality: 0-20
Proffesion Skill: 0-20
Online Activity: 0-20
Leadership: 0-20
Listening Skill: 0-20
Social Personality is a very general term... it basically covers how much the recruit will use guild chat, forums, and communicate. It also covers how helpful the recruit is, and his honesty and honor. It's a very general term. Basically we want to avoid the things we listed earlier such as stubborness, immaturity, ignorance, among other things. It's important for the recruit to understand guilds dont serve them, but they serve the guild... because ultimately, THEY are just a part of the guild as anyone else.
Proffesion skill is pretty straightford. If he's a trader we tally how he crafts items, what vendors he can place or whatever... If he's a combat or support proffesion, we put him to the test in PvE, PvP, and maybe space. We will cover everything from 1 on 1 duels to grouped RID hunts.
Online activity is straigtford as well. We understand people cant be online all the time, but we want to avoid recruiting someone who will ultimately play maybe once a month or become inactivity.
Leadership isn't in everyone... and that's fine. This is one of the few attributes that the recruit may fail in. None the less we need to test him... because who knows, maybe he'll become a Commander or Captains. We'd make him group leader, and RID will do whatever the recruit says we should do. If it ends up with bad results or a victory, it will be tallied.
Listening Skill! If the recruit fails at Leadership, that's fine, because he can make up for it in Listening Skill. Some people are followers, not leaders... however, if the recruit did well at Leadership, but fails in Listening Skill, then thats a problem because all it shows is that the recruit is unwilling to follow orders, because he has the idea that only he should lead. Basically if you pass in Leadership, you must pass in Listening Skill. If you fail at Leadership... you well, must pass at Listening Skill. Listening skill is just the opposite, but having him a group to follow orders. If he follows them well, he passes... if he goes wandering off to do his own thing, not listening, he fails.
If the total tally adds up to be *at least* 70, then the recruit will be brought to the guild hall after... lets just say a 15 day trial. There myself, and 3 Commanders and/or Captains will meet to interview the recruit. We will bring up where his weaknesses were on the tally, and review the application he sent. If all is done well, he will be given a uniform, maybe a weapon, and is welcomed to RID.
Feedback?