(The following has been the de facto ruleset for the Officers of the guild since its inception in 2006 and became our guidelines de jure in January of 2008. This was written to be an internal guideline for those that accepted the responsibility of becoming officers that I felt could also benefit the guild by sharing it with others. -- Usul)

As an officer in The Elders of Turalyon, you are playing an integral part in keeping the guild active, morale high, and the overall progression of the guild healthy. Over the course of the past few years, we have developed a baseline of what the officers can expect to deal with and what the guild and other officers can expect of you. Please keep these all near and dear to your heart as a leader of our humble little online community.

The rules apply to ALL officers. Even the GuildMasters!

GOLDEN RULE - BE A GIVER

We set the tone for the guild. If we as officers are ninja hungry loot whores, expect the guild to be. If we are asking before needing on anything, being almost reverential in the acceptance people saying to take it, people will admire that humility and may follow suit. You have already sacrificed your casualness of being in this guild by being an officer. Take the next step and do something good for someone else and don't make them feel like you are obligated something.

1. You are TEOT - You should always remember is that you represent more than just yourself now. You represent the guild. When you speak on guild chat, when you PUG, when you talk to someone asking for help, when you are in Goldshire, when you are in Outlands...YOU ARE THE GUILD. People will look to you as a person who sets the tempo for the guild. When you act like an ass, people will assume that its ok to be an ass. If you set a good example, our reputation will continue to be strong.

2. Reflect Your Constituency - Borrowing from politics, we should all consider what the majority of people in the guild that have an opinion want to see accomplished. This can be done using general discussion, overall feelings, etc. that we all commonly use to gauge people on a regular basis. It's not just about what you want or what you think is right. We weigh every decision in this guild based on what is best for the greatest amount of people, and you should too.

3. Collaborate - The smartest people I have ever met are the ones who can say "I don't know." The guild is FILLED with incredibly intelligent people that can help you found your project baselines as well as polish the edges on whatever it is you are trying to accomplish. The more input you receive, the more likely you are to make an informed decision. Especially when you have two sides of a coin!

4. Filter the Signal-to-Noise - There is a reason why we keep Officer Forums private. Collaboration is great, but there are occasions when you have to just turn down the volume and know when more arguing cannot possibly further attain results. Get all the input you need from all the different sources the guild has to offer, but remember to take ownership of your area and stand by your decisions.

5. Don't Step on Toes - You have your area of responsibilities. If someone asks for input, BE POLITE. Never act like you know better than someone else. You wouldn't want someone barging in to your area, pissing all over everything, and walking out of the room calling you an ass. Please don't do it to one another.

6. Delegate - If someone comes to you with a concern that doesn't deal with your area, please report it to a GM or to an officer that covers that area of responsibility. Please do not try and do everything yourself. Officers have been carefully selected to become specialists in their areas, and you have your specialties as well.

7. Failed does not mean /gquit - We ask in the interviews if you can handle no for an answer. You say yes now...but do you REALLY know what that means? It can be tough to be the sole dissenting opinion in the group during a vote...and I have seen strong people feel broken down and quit after a passionate debate.

We didn't ask you to be an officer for fun. We asked you to be one because we need you. In a democracy, the most important thing you can have is a voice for the minority...which means someone is always bound to be on the wrong side of the fence. We can only make educated decisions if we approach a debate like this, so please don't take it personally when things aren't going your way.

8. We are not a clique - We need to do whatever it takes to ensure that as a group that works closely together, we are willing to include everyone in the things we do outside of working out guild mechanics. It's fun being a tight-knit bunch, but we must include others regularly when we run things. Officer chat is not "Friends chat."

9. Don't Go Rogue - Every decision in this guild has been made after careful consideration. Even "executive" decisions go through a vetting process with officers to make sure that no one person in the guild establishes themselves as "power hungry".

When it comes to your project plan, its important that you build everything out yourself, but any major policy implementation will be put to a vote.

10. Speak as One - It is important that we all unify our voice when speaking both outside and inside the guild. People don't care about the drama. Keeping the guild drama free is showing people that we as officers can be civil. Sometimes we have disagreements in Officer chat, sometimes we are pissed a vote didn't go our way. But people don't want to hear you bitch about how so and so made you a sad panda. Our members are counting on us to provide them with an added value to their entertainment experience, and we should remember that they did not sign on for the same level of stress we all have.

After everything is said and done, we stand as one.