Shorah TCT Folks!
The GoMe yesterday had a Meeting in Uru to discuss various things.
Among them we discussed the Affiliates.
I'm not in the Guild from when it started, but I think that the Affiliates idea came to make the Guild a sort of umbrella for News channels in Uru (and that would be still a nice idea if we can really implement it).
But currently being Affiliates means almost nothing, there is no communication or any kind of interaction between us. Currently being Affiliates only means the GoMe has a link to your site on the front page, really
What we would like to do is clearing the situation. With this I mean seeing if we can create a real relationship between our groups. Otherwise I see no reason of having Affiliates, and sincerely at that point we'd delete the Affiliates from our structure, if you're no longer interested. (Still maintaining links to your sites somewhere, as GoMe still aims to be the a central hub for News)

A couple of ideas thrown out as mere examples were having some kind of link between our new Magazine and your Podcasts, things like "You can read more about this subject on the Go! Magazine" or the other way around ("You can hear more about this subject in the latest TCT Podcast") and of course more communication, Affiliates can consider themselves part of the Guild and so use our resourses (Cavern Criers, Go! Magazine, bring your news at the All guilds Meeting thru us if you don't have anyone who can come, etc)

The Affiliates matter came out when we decided we are going to have elections for new Guild Masters in the Guild. Traditionally the Affiliates had the right to vote for the Council. Since then the Guild structure has changed and there isn't an Affiliated Chair anymore, but 2 Guild Masters with general tasks. We'd have to clear this point too, if we want to keep a relationship between us (as I hope).

Hoping we can improve our relationship,
Leo and all the members of the Guild of Messengers

P.S.: somehow the Smilies on the posting form don't seem to work

That's not really true.

For instance, here's an example of one of the things TCT does to "hold up its end of the bargain," so-to-speak:
One of our board members programmed a bot that ties directly to the GoMe RSS feed - which means any time the GoMe posts an update, the Bot will share the news on the forum, redirecting the user to the GoMe website.

When there is any big Uru news (of which you must admit there has been very little of late), TCT will be sure to comment on it during a regular podcast, and will reference GoMe for the original posting, as I recall.

All we really need for you to do is to keep a link to our website on the GoMe homepage and make an announcement whenever we post a new podcast.

TCT enjoys being affiliated with the GoMe and would like very much for our relationship to continue - however given everything I have pointed out so far, I really fail to see an issue between our relationship currently.

Well....I was wishing for a more active relationship.
Not that I don't appreciate the thing that you have that bot importing our feed. I have even contacted Moose to ask about it, to suggest it for other sites using phpBB
What I mean is that your examples underline a relationship between us, but not active. You know, I meant some kind of communication between people...collaboration.
But if you're happy with the current set up, I think we are happy too ^^
I always like to bring people together to collaborate, but if you want to stay on your things it's ok. I just wanted to sound the current situation since it was a lot of time we didn't communicate.

The only more thing I'm interested in right now is the role of Affiliates in GoMe elections, since we are going to organize them soon.
The Affiliates had the right to vote an Affiliates Chair. This right was based on the concept that the Guild would become some kind of umbrella for News Channels. Right now I can't say that's true, we are indipendent and there is no exchange between the Guild and the Affiliates, so I don't think there is a need for Affiliates to vote. What do you think?

The offer for a link between our projects is always open, of course

You may also want to take a look at the parallel discussion at CCN

I'm assuming you have nothing against us having elections without your direct participation. So I'll start organizing them soon