Let's talk about Looking For A Clan, shall we?
Looking For Clanmates is a pretty straightforward section. Clans post their recruitment threads and clanless folk can peruse the various options easily and may respond if they'd like more information or have a question. Aside from a few clans that bump their thread on the hour or make 5 new threads a day, it seems to operate as it should and most people appear satisfied.
This is not the case with Looking For A Clan. There are issues with both the people starting threads and the clans responding to them. For one thing, you never see incorrect posts in Looking for Clanmates from individuals seeking clans, yet Looking for A Clan is littered with posts from clans who think they're clever for starting threads in the section designated to people who want to find a clan. In the end, they always get ignored anyways since they're preaching to the wrong audience, but I digress. The main issue seems to be complaints about clans who spam copy/paste replies to every new thread without bothering to even read the post. There are a couple things to look at here, so let's first talk about the clans responding to primary posts.
First and foremost, if the entire reply cant be viewed without scrolling, it's too long. Seeing replies that include five giant pictures of wars/war logs on top of a usually larger clan banner is ridiculous. The only info that is really needed is a bit of background about the clan, how it's set up and how wars are handled with a clantag and a link to your recruitment thread for full details (if you have one). Clan banners are completely fine as they draw the eye and show some effort has been put into the recruiting process, but seriously, it doesn't need to be a thousand pixels wide and a mile long. If you've got a giant list of rules and requirements and other such information, then just provide the link to your thread for the sake of keeping things concise. It is for your own benefit. People are put off when they see a great wall of text (the irony of the length of this post is not lost on me). Continuing, if you're simply copy pasting replies with no personalization at all, you're not only showing the OP that you don't even care enough to be bothered personally replying to them, but it's just not in good spirit of the forums. Just try to show you're not like the millions of other thirsty clans out there who strive for quantity over quality.
Now, onto the the people who are looking for a clan. If you think everyone's gonna give you a lengthy personal response to persuade you to join their amazing clan, you're sadly mistaken. The return on investment from replying to posts is abysmal considering how many thousands of clans there are competing daily to find your post and recruit you. Plain and simple, it is a waste of time for the responder to craft a meaty personal response when you are more than likely not going to end up joining them, especially since they will probably respond to a lot of people over the course of the day. When I'm recruiting, there are a few things I'm going to say to everyone in order to give a brief summary of the clan, so it only makes sense to have a framework to copy and paste into each response. I will then add to that as much of a personal reply as I can, but at the end of the day it is up to the original poster to provide enough information to respond to in the first place. To anyone that posts something like, "I'm level 63 looking for a good clan," well then I'm sorry but you just deserve to receive the blatant copy paste responses. The more information you provide about yourself and what you're looking for, the more I have to work with and weave into a personalized reply. Essentially, you get out what you put in.
In summary, the compromise I suggest to those recruiting:
- Have a concise message about your clan you'll be saying to everyone that you can copy paste for the sake of streamlining your process (plus any reasonably sized graphic you want to add)
- Add on top of this any personal response you may have to what was said in the original post. This demonstrates you've read the content and have a genuine interest in recruiting the individual
And to those starting the threads:
-The more effort you put into your post, the more effort you'll see from those recruiting you
At the end of the day, I know this post won't accomplish anything, but I thought I'd at least put it out there and see if anyone else had some thoughts on the matter. Any responses are appreciated. Take it easy folks, and as always, Clash on!
