The Guilds Part 2: The Guild of Messengers

My original thoughts on the GoMe were somewhat muddled when I made them over three years ago and they have certainly changed. Back then, the post did not clearly define the Messengers and the post was largely an article on the use of “umbrella” organizations.

I’m here to say my view on so-called “umbrella organizations” has changed dramatically. I no longer believe that the Messengers should be as tolerant as they are of the pre-existing groups at the expense of the Guild. What originally was a Guild advertised as a means to unite the Messengers in common purpose now is little more than a hollow tube through which too little passes. The primary issue is that the organizations act too much like organizations and not members of a larger organization.

I believe the “affiliates” act now too much like modern media outlets, competing against themselves to get the “scoop” rather than news distributors bound in commonality and desire to inform. Too often it seems the affiliates are more concerned with collecting and reporting news, then *maybe* giving it to the GoMe. Too often the GoMe is used not as a source of news and information, but as a calendar of dates. The GoMe should be THE organization that originates all stories, with the affiliates distributing that news to their viewers. The GoMe should be focused not only as a reporting agency for cavern event dates, but also as an interviewer of important figures, an investigator of claims, a researcher of ideas, the foundation of new growth through the collection and distribution of information other Guilds can use to do their jobs.

I do not mean to overlook achievements the messengers have accomplished, most notably to me the acceptance of fan shards into the news and the work Leonardo has done in managing the all-Guilds meeting (an excellent use of the GoMe’s resources). The networking the Guild has done, too, is intriguing even if it is misguided. It is rare to get groups in the Uru community to work together in a common cause.

Except that is largely what the GoMe has failed to do. Because the affiliates aren’t really part of the GoMe, they’re just affiliated. Personal disputes between news organizations have taken prominence over the organization’s true job of distributing news. Therefore, the present leadership of these organizations should resign and be replaced with the ultimate goal being the closing of those organizations and their absorption into the Guild. This shouldn’t be some pie-in-the-sky idea, these leaders are people who got into their respective organizations because they felt they could do good. The problem is that reality has made their leadership into a liability and the way they could best serve their group is by getting out and letting the new blood take the reigns and maybe improve.

What’s clear is that the present system cannot survive. While the GoMe’s actions have been tremendous and they have gotten the organizations to do some good work, it is largely temporary. Any small dispute or challenge (like this post, for example) could break it. We need something stronger.

Filed under: The Guilds, community, cyan, guilds, myst, open source, uru