Dramatically changing my union, but is it a good idea?!

Hey guys. First a little personal history. I am tiggerboy, A.K.A. Sean. I have been a paying member of Gamespot for 5 years now. I joined The Xbox Live Gamers Union on Sept. 26th 2006. It was a very active union when I joined. I was very active, and was eventually promoted to officer. Then over time the other union officers and the leader stopped updating and posting in the union. I was one of the only officers posting. Then one day the Leader said that he was not going to use GS anymore, and gave the union to me.

I was TOTALLY not expecting this to happen, especially when I first joined. So, by myself, I updated the entire union. I made a new union banner, Union icon, user buttons, and one officer made a union introduction video. Things quickly stepped up in activity, for a while. Then dispite my constant posts and other active stuff, everything slowly died. Finally about a month or two ago I got frustrated with my inactive officer and messaged then my disapointment in their inactivity. They were very encouraging and started being active once again. Just when I thought that I had a fighting chance at redemption, the Giant Bomb site opened. In a week, my two most active officers just up and left. I don't know what I should do..... I do have new members who still join, but I can not seem to get anyone interested in posting comments.

Which leads me to my point. I want to try something new. I would rather have 216 active members, like you have here, than 1,500+ inactive ones. So I decided to start making the following changes:

-Going through the pages of members under the Admin tab and removing the banned and inactive members.

-Setting up the union to where you have to apply to join.

-Start looking for new officers, since almost ALL of mine are inactive on GS now.

Thats all that I can think of changing, so thats why I am turning to all of you leaders for help. I have been told by several gamespotters to just give up on the union, but I can't. It was the first union I ever joined, and I like it. I want it to succeed. I have a real hard time at just giving up on stuff. My biggest problem is that I am a noob at being a Union Leader. So what would you guys recommend that I do?! Does this change sound like a good idea? Maybe you have some suggestions?!

Any ideas and other help will be MUCH appreciated!

Thanks guys!

NOTE TO THE OFFICERS AND LEADER OF THE ULC:

If there is a topic of discussion for this type of post already, I am sorry I didn't see it. I did see the "Do you need help with your union -- post in here" topic, but I felt that this was a bit much toi post in there. Sorry again, but I am just a little desperate on finding out what I should do....

Thanks for understanding.

-Going through the pages of members under the Admin tab and removing the banned and inactive members.

-Setting up the union to where you have to apply to join.

-Start looking for new officers, since almost ALL of mine are inactive on GS now.

tiggerboy

listen to siberian. number 2 dont do. there isnt much I could say other then what has been said already. I wish you the best of luck.

If you are finished, I would like to close the topic. Until then if anyone wants to add on please do.

I would say, don't do anything too drastic right now, the nature of unions on GS (at least if/when they're improved) is to have activity in fairly random waves/surges. My union has picked up recently, here are my tips:

Community events help, and make sure you have a few different ones for different levels of interest... like a basic weekly character battle I do brings in 20-30 random people because all it involves is following the link in the telegram and voting for you favorite char. Then I have a screenshot contest, which requires a bit more effort/participation... that gets 2-3 new guys (keep in mind those 20-30 guys only posted in that one thread; it's kind of frustrating, but it did get me 2 more regular posters, which is pretty decent).

For what you asked about:

1) I wouldn't remove inactive members, you can randomly get some to the union posting if you send out regular telegrams (I send out weekly ones over the summer, it'll probably go down to monthly telegrams in another few weeks).

2) I don't have much experience as a leader with unions that require applications, but as an average GS user I can say I think that only works with certain unions like this one. Your union has a broader topic, it seems more geared to being an openly joinable one. Could be worth a shot tho, I'm not really sure.

3) If your officers don't respond to a telegram inside of a week, you should definitely demote them and try to find new ones.

EDIT: Do you really think we should close the topic this soon? To be honest, there aren't that many long discussions in the "Post in here for help" topic so this new thread is probably more helpful, and it'll get unbumped down to the second page or something in a few days anyway.

Thanks guys! I agree with all of your points.

- I will not close the union. It's funny, but it seemed like a great idea, but now that you guys have me thinking about it, its kinda dumb to do it.

- Thank god that removing the inactive members is a bad choice. It's such a hastle that I was going to axe that idea anyways.

- I do want to get more active officers in the union, but unfortunately the only people that are active are some of the officers! I am in a jam here.

- I tried to post in the union recruitment forums before, and I was modded 3 times in a row. So I have steered clear of that forum.

- I do have affiliates with some of the bigger unions like the Head Crab Union, The Halo Union, and others. But

Thank you very much for all the good advice. I appreciate all the help. We will see what happens soon!

I know how you feel. I truly do.

1. I do not like that, just as Siberian said, the once you kick might one day be you most active member! It's okey to kick them, I just don't like that idea. But it's up to every leader to decide. Some do that, others don't.
2. I don't like this that much, I have decided against joining unions because they have this. You could miss out on members, but it can also give you a stronger community. But Xbox-Live union is a quite big union in the idea. So I would not do it, it can work, but not what I like to do.
3. Yes, Yes and for the last time YES! Try to look in the X360 forum, make Xbox live threads there, invite the once that respons and you think would be good for your union. But rather then just inviting them, send them a PM, tell them that your having this union that you want to do this and that with. Ask them if they would like to join and maybe join you as an officer. Sending them a personal message often helps out a lot. And even if they say no to be an officer there is a chanse they might join and post.

I know how you feel. I truly do.

1. I do not like that, just as Siberian said, the once you kick might one day be you most active member! It's okey to kick them, I just don't like that idea. But it's up to every leader to decide. Some do that, others don't.
2. I don't like this that much, I have decided against joining unions because they have this. You could miss out on members, but it can also give you a stronger community. But Xbox-Live union is a quite big union in the idea. So I would not do it, it can work, but not what I like to do.
3. Yes, Yes and for the last time YES! Try to look in the X360 forum, make Xbox live threads there, invite the once that respons and you think would be good for your union. But rather then just inviting them, send them a PM, tell them that your having this union that you want to do this and that with. Ask them if they would like to join and maybe join you as an officer. Sending them a personal message often helps out a lot. And even if they say no to be an officer there is a chanse they might join and post.

With that said, I say good luck to you. I hope your union will be kicking again soon, and I belive you can do it.TheForgotten0ne

Topic closed!