Guild Communication

Whatsapp chat groups revolutionised this guild’s communication network. The decision to initially create a ‘Dambusters Leadership’ Whatsapp chat group was the ultimate in round-the-clock officer discussion availability at a time when some significant adjustments were being pushed through at the top of the guild.

The 24 hour officer channel really gave birth to a social explosion within the guild that allowed us to operate while offline, discuss and have things done while offline and also provided an opportunity to troll each other with silly jokes, pictures and general mindless spam which is occasionally barely palatable. You take the rough with the smooth when there’s people like Devilslotus, Diputs and the unconscionable ballbreaker that is the Spyrot enigma!

In all seriousness tho, plenty of valuable collaboration has been a mainstay in that chat group, which is of course it’s primary purpose. Obviously old asshat Bigticket sometimes decides (did I really just refer to myself in the 3rd person again???!) that something must be done without discussion and that’s the right of the guild leader. There are times when the officers and guild just have to accept my decision, discuss as necessary to clarify the matter and then move the heck on. One example of this was my decision to halt guild raid team members from pugging personal progression with other teams/guilds and although that decision was very controversial, look where we are now!

Generally, that officer chat is great for bouncing ideas and opinions around. Such as decisions on who to promote, who is doing well and who needs aither an arm around em or a kick up the butt to get them into shape as a Dambuster.

This strikingly simple chat channel had a flaw however in that all this fun, debate and all-round team building had been going on behind closed doors, away from the masses of the guild. There were a few people in particular that we felt would really enjoy being part of the group so I toyed with the idea of creating another similar group but minus the officer/leadership discussion. A chat group for any Dambuster who wants in, I changed my mind a couple of times before opening the ‘Dambusters Crew Room’ group and boy, have we spammed the hell out of that!

To become involved, just make sure you have the free-to-use Whatsapp app on your phone and an internet connection, then speak to me and give me your mobile phone number and I will get you added to the chat group. There are currently 14 people there and we welcome any more who would like to chat shit outside of the game, ask questions or generally talk about whatever with your guildies.

People can of course contact me at any time of day or night by this system which is handy but the whole point of this setup is to provide as much clarity, involvement and social interaction throughout the members of the guild. I cannot think of any negatives deriving from having good lines of communication open and available to all, should anyone need to use them.

Remote chat is a decent tool that people can use to join in on /gchat but the armory app can be a resource hog for some users’ devices and certain slow internet areas, and it disconnects you each time you hop out of the app to check your emails or browse the net etc. so it has it’s drawbacks.

In addition, we also have my blog which I find to be a very theraputic outlet personally while also hopefully providing an insight to the thoughts your guild leader has which can shape the direction of the guild. In hoping that my readers find a little bit of entertainment in hearing what I have to say about certain areas of Dambusters leadership as you will no doubt be able to see my thought process develop as the blog progresses line by line, paragraph by paragraph and even as it evolves over the weeks and months. When I originally decided to start the blog, I had no idea it would become so important to me and I hope some of you find it as interesting to read as I do writing it 🙂

A busy website forum would be great and we are still working on how to breathe life into our current forum, but at least we have an excellent, real-time flow of communication in the guild. Yet another reason to be proud of your community. It’s not that big but it sure feels organised and we definitely know how to have a good time here!

/Salute

Weeding out the prricks!

Here’s an inside tip that might come as a surprise. Give a little freedom to people and see if they take advantage or if they use it to do good.

The way the guild is set up and the way I try to operate is to offer communication where it’s needed and give the perception of handing over some freedom for people to choose how they want to use it. Primarily this happens when new members join the guild and they see that we are pretty welcoming and it usually doesn’t take long before they are given a little guild bank access for a small amount of repairs and to allow a small amount of item withdrawals. This act of giving an inch and looking for the reaction is something I have developed little by little ever since the first time I recall being majorly ripped off in the guild.

I recall it bitterly because the offender I’m talking about was a pretty well established and generally known player, someone along the lines of a present day Cryomaniac. Now I don’t mean to do a disservice to poor Cryo there since he’s a very nice lad and I’m sure he would never dream of doing what the douchebag did all that time ago but he was someone well known, fairly well established and appeared to have plenty friends in the guild. One day he asked for a specific item in a tab he couldn’t access and I thought best to simply promote him to the current equivalent of Flight Sergeant so he could grab the item and then I would revert him back to his rightful rank, no problem.

No sooner had I promoted him had he logged out and deleted his character! I checked the bank and 1000g was removed. He had snatched it, sent it to an unknown character and deleted his lvl 80, vanished never to be seen again.

1000g might not seem that much but it was a lot back in Wrath, so I was affronted, disgusted and felt so betrayed by a supposed good friend. I opened a ticket and spoke to a GM who informed me that although this behaviour was disappointing, it’s my guild and I set the ranks up and I freely offered him the opportunity to do his worst. I showed him a gem and he snatched it in cold, calculating, conniving bastard blood! A lesson was learned that day, and not just about guild banks or ranks, a real lesson in life but particularly on the anonymous highway that is the internet. The net is full of good meaning, normal people (clearly not Spyrot) but it also has a large portion of unscrupulous parasites who are only out for personal gain at any cost.

The guild rank and banks have long since been adjusted along with my policies on promotion. We can allow a little freedom with morale buffing promotions but only if we are willing to take the risk of possibly losing a few guild bank items to highlight certain leaching individuals.

Don’t get me wrong, the rank permissions are there for all to use and I’m sure Diputs and his bank manager helplings are only too happy when guildies clear out stuff to make space for new stuff coming in but if you’re a level 3 priest and you need a stack of 20 delicate primordial rubies then there’s something fishy going on, especially if they’re on the AH and the guild sees none of the profit in the days to come. Use it but don’t abuse it because other than spending quality time with every single newcomer to the guild, the bank is the first chance I get to see interactions other than guild chat and a few /whispers.

On to the bigger end of the scale, the real business end. The lower end is catered for and pretty much manages itself. The place where I really excel is the upper management of the guild where thoughts are constantly fluctuating, people have plenty opinions and the guild can be affected in a big way..

I have mentioned this before but I will use it again as an example of how I gauge the amount of trust I allow myself to give someone who could invariably then wreck the stability of the guild. A certain former Dambuster once tried to wrest control of the guild back in Dragon Soul heroic progression times. She used every trick in the book from dramatising occurrences with other guildies who she deemed were a threat to her, ultimately turning people against them. She used this way to stifle people she knew who were strong supporters of me from our founding days. She used her influence in our raid team via her boyfriend the raid leader at the time to pug in non-Dambuster friends who she had previously bad-mouthed me to so they immediately became hostile to me in our own guild raid team as if I were some big bad Beastmaster bully boy then they slagged off my choice of hunter spec, only to choke as I smashed them on the meters lol. She had said I was a 25k man coz I did 25k on a fight one time where they totally stifled my output with silly tactics.
She also informed people that the guild would belong to her soon blah blah blah. I knew what she was up to but let her have as much rope as she wanted and she grabbed and grabbed so much that she ended up hanging herself with it.

In the end she stepped well over the line, she got too big for her own boots and I was forced to act right in the guild chat where I simply said ‘GET OUT’ and she left, I followed up removing her alts.

My point is, I allowed her the freedom to choose what she wanted to do and she snatched and snatched until I ripped her head off. Ladies and gentlemen, the freedom to play the game is right here in the Dambusters and that freedom has no strings attached if you are who you say you are, a Dambuster. Your GM ain’t here for a fight but this is the internet and there is no face to face confirmation of human body language so I can only work off your actions in game. The way this place operates will ensure stability because people who might think they have some sort of weird power simply don’t. The proven good people of this guild will rise up and will lead the activities and management of your guild so that we can all have fun without worrying too much about snakes and parasites infiltrating the guild with a twisted agenda. No such troll has any influence in the running of your guild and we will make sure they never will.

That little lady abused her freedom, tried to twist the guild to become her playground of little /swooning boys but I had none of it, and the perpetual Dambusters just keep on truckin!

You will spot that your officers are absolutely nothing like the prricks mentioned above, having stood the test of time and proven themselves to be true Dambusters at heart. Believe me however, there are plenty more within our ranks and the officers’ are always watching and commenting on people who have good attitudes etc.

Enjoy the freedom and have fun!

/Salute

Diputs for Flight Sergeant

The Dambusters guild bank is a simple yet valuable tool. It has 8 tabs in total, one ‘deposit’ tab called Grand Slam, six general use tabs categorised for ease of use and one raiders tab called Gibson which is reserved for the guild raid team and our officers.

Throughout its life, our bank has been a valuable source of income for our repair allowance, materials for professions and has helped the guild finance extravagant competitions with big prizes etc.

The guild bank is very often packed full to the extent that it becomes difficult for the management to manoeuvre deposited items into their intended tab for general consumption. I would request that guildies never feel guilty about taking a few items from these tabs. If you feel there is something there that you can use then grab it and help clear a little space in the tab. If you insist on feeling guilty, chuck a few gold in 🙂

This brings me to the fantastic Diputs who has proven over a long period to be a helpful, reliable and friendly guy. He is the typical Dambuster and someone who I have considered decorating with an officer position for quite some time.

He recently raised a point about the state of the guild bank which brings me on to our original banking maintainer Pocahunter and her many alts who has recently been on holiday in Scotland with myself. Her absence has led to a rapid filling of the guild bank and although some helpful officers have tried clearing Grand Slam, missing the relentless Poca’s daily maintenance has caused a blockage.

When I introduced Poca to the game of WoW almost 3 years ago and invited her to join our guild, I gave her the unclaimed role of bank manager to help her gather information about all the different items and materials used in the game, as a helper for her learning the game. It really worked and people have done a great job assisting her over the years but inevitably, the most thankless task in the guild has fallen heavily on her little shoulders.

Diputs has taken on the task of directly communicating with Poca and the two of them will hopefully go on to become a great partnership around the guild bank.

The drop tab/withdraw tab system may not be perfect but with hard working officers maintaining it, the bank will continue to flourish and assist the guild in our ever-solid future.

Remember, your guild bank activity is monitored but your withdrawal of your given (by me) daily permissible allowance is to be expected within reason. If you remove your entire daily allowance every day without ever putting in then you might be asked to explain but taking what you need is your right as a Dambuster and what we want to see.

Keep giving to your guild and it will grow stronger and stronger. It’s your community, you will get out what you put into it.

Onwards we march!

/Salute

New Website!

To ALL DAMBUSTERS, the new website is active!  The link is http://www.dambusters.eu so please bookmark the site and visit often 🙂

It remains incomplete due to lack of a forum which will be added soon.  Please bear with me as I adjust the site until it fits our needs for the future.

/Salute

Spyrot’s Promotion Ceremony

Spyrot will be promoted tonight at the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind. The time is to be determined but all are welcome and I will be spamming /gchat to let you know when it’s about to happen.

Promotion from Flight Sergeant to Warrant Officer is a massive step from junior to senior officer as the responsibility level doubles with the authority the higher rank provides. Please read the link I have provided and become familiar with the differences between the ranks because this change could affect you.

Please be aware that Warrant Officer has the same power of control as my own alts so ensure you afford Spyrot the full respect the rank entitles him within the guild.

Spyrot has taken a lot of time and put in a lot of work behind the scenes as leader of our raid team and makes daily contact with myself to discuss and learn guild management techniques from a Dambusters perspective. This dedication deserves reward. He is only a recently recruited guild member but he has proven that the right attitude, willingness to follow his GM and some hard work, you can rise up the ranks. Use this guy as an example if you want to be an officer!

/Salute

Bigticket

Bigticket @ Tails The Cat

Feng The Spastic….DOWN!

A lil typical action on the hunter levelling front :)

The Changing Face Of The Blog

Having struggled to get my head around the layout of the web design package I recently installed, it became apparent that I might have been digging too deeply in my efforts to streamline the guild’s online strategy. Having come to terms with domain names, name servers (DNS) and File Transfer protocol (FTP) I started to get frustrated with the actual structure layout of the web editor itself. The HTML and CSS coding elements are easily learnable but the way the program laid out the file system was very confusing, not the hierarchecal file setup I had expected and that made for a messy feel that was very off-putting.

A few days ago I began wondering how to keep my blog and the website linked, I found the idea of simply creating a link to the blog from the website to be clunky and decided that maybe I should incorporate both website and blog together. I already know the layout of the blog site and have found the tools available to be both very customisable and powerful although the blog itself displays an air of simplicity with the curent theme.  My plan is to adjust the site as I learn and understand the more powerful tools available while trying to decide how best to implement a forum for the guild’s feedback and discussions.  I also need to change the domain name to http://www.dambusters.eu but seems there’s a problem accessing the site’s domain settings and I am currently awaiting a support response.

I stil have the option of starting from scratch with the ‘under construction’ website and returning to the old wowstead site aswell as working on this current site so our options are open, I would love to hear your feedback to determine what the community are thinking regarding these changes.  Feel free to make comments here….

 

In addition, thanks for the responses I have received regarding the previous Class Leaders post.  I have a few candidates in mind but I am still hoping for more people to come forward, don’t make me chase ya now!   😀

Class Leaders

Having a specialist in a particular class is a great way to teach people who want to learn to play a particular class for their own benefit aswell as that of the guild.

The guild needs class leaders. If you consider yourself to be a fine example of your chosen class then please come forward. It is possible more than one person will apply for your role but please apply if you believe you have the knowledge and let me make the decision of who becomes the authority on all things related to your class.

This position requires experience and understanding aswell as willingness to offer friendly and helpful advice. If you get a class lead position and feel you would benefit from the assistance of a friend then by all means, make it so. This might help if you are not 100% on one of the specs, I will expect you to still be able to cover advice rendered from your junior guildies in need.

Class leaders will also help to determine who is doing well among others of the same class in the guild, maybe for recommendations to the Raid Leader or Rated Battleground Leader. Your advice may also be requested when recruiting specific players for these teams in the future.

Your name will be mentioned around the guild’s online spaces to advertise who people need to contact if in need of advice.

Remember we are a social levelling guild, new players look up to the more experienced Dambusters as figureheads of our community. Take hold of a leading role and do us proud!

Death Knight
Druid
Hunter
Monk
Mage
Paladin
Priest
Rogue
Shaman
Warlock
Warrior