[Bartholomew Foulsteel]

I know this is an old and inactive thread, but it is of such great value to both guildmasters and guildmembers i just figured I'd revive it with a little of my own experience and insight.

I recently went through a factioning in my guild. I had an elder officer up in arms over the more juvenile actions of a younger officer. Tensions continued to grow until one day the elder officer decided she just couldn't take it anymore and quit the guild. Fine with me. The way I see it, it's not really THAT important of an issue--we're here to have fun, right? If you're not having fun, then what are you doing? Whatever it is, you're probably doing it wrong...

But I digress. The creamy, flavorable coating on the baked good was that three guild members decided to go with her. Two were officers. I didn't have a cow about it though. I kept in contact with the former guild-members and made sure they understood that I wasn't mad--there really was no reason for me to be mad.

Interestingly enough, things in the guild REALLY smoothed out immediately after that particular officer left. And since that time, two of the three officers that left have come back to my guild. Faction gone. No more divided guild--for now.

A good guild is good regardless of the number of members, but it is good because of it's members. If people leave, they'll oft-times have problems finding or founding a good guild. It can look easy when you're not the guildmaster.

Ultimately, don't take it personally. Guildmembers need to feel free to leave without mental anguish or verbal abuse. There's no guild that is right for everybody. I would argue there is no guild that is right for most people. There are only guilds that are right for some like-minded people.

***UPDATE***

The final guild member of the three that left with the senior officer returned to the Krewe this very evening. Said she logged on to find nobody in the guild but herself.

Funny the way things work out, huh?