Changes to the Stormrage Guild system

[Treesh]

I especially want to avoid new people feeling that the Lurker Lounge in-game "guild" is some sort of clique.[right][snapback]64280[/snapback][/right]

Members of the "guild" should only be those Lurkers who are known quantities on the site and to a lesser extent close friends and family.  [right][snapback]64280[/snapback][/right]

Maybe I'm just dense, but don't these two statements slightly contradict one another? When would you consider new people a known quantity on the site? Only those who post frequently and well thought out posts to boot? What about those who don't care to post a lot, but love to lurk and read and are great in game? How will they become known enough to "allow" into the guild? Tal's initiation stages in game help that out. The new person sees lurkers helping other people (or is helped himself) frequently, parties with lurkers a few times, is a great player, asks to join but is turned down and told to go to a webpage and post before being considered? Seems awfully cliquish to me. With tal's intiation stage, he's in, and is more likely to visit the boards and become a part of the LurkerLounge. It's more open, but still allows the maintaining of standards.