MM: Guesting and Aspiring
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The Guesting System
In the series, no one is a member of an Ajah until they are an Aes Sedai. At that point, they are able to choose the Ajah that they wish to join. They have had many years to discover what the different Ajahs are about and where their personality fits in. Our community was once set up such that Accepted/Soldiers were in one Ajah/Company at a time. However, we found that this led to people assuming that once an Accepted/Soldier chose a group, they were a full member of it. There was the expectation that Accepted/Soldiers were locked into their choice once they made it. This was not what the administration wanted or intended to happen, so the guesting system was implemented.
For the first six weeks that you are an Accepted/Soldier, you must guest with two Ajahs/Companies. At any time, you may change which ones you are guesting with, so long as you are in two groups at a time (not one, not three, just two). The revised sentence here should read as follows: To get started Guesting with the Ajahs and/or Companies, look in the Office of the Master/Mistress of Accepted and Soldiers subform, where you will find pinned posts containing information for all Accepted or Soldiers about the Guesting process.
You may spend as much or as little time as you wish within a given group. Some people will join an Ajah/Company and immediately know that it is not their home. Others may spend 8 weeks within an Ajah/Company before deciding that it not where they belong. Some may guest with every single Ajah/Company during their time spent as a guest, just to make sure that they are not overlooking a group that might fit them the best. Others may know exactly which Ajah/Company they will Aspire to as soon as they are able to and will not participate much at all within their second chosen group. All of these paths and more are perfectly acceptable ways of finding your own home within our groups. We just wish to caution our Tower Initiates that you should choose your group based upon which group's characteristics most fit your personality, not which group has your best friends in it.
Should you wish to change one of the groups that you are guesting with, you should follow the procedures set by the Mistress of Accepted and Soldiers. You will find this information in the Guesting-related pinned post in the MoAS office. If your group change request has not been acted upon after a week, or if there is any other matter that needs member admin attention, please contact the Mistress of Accepted and Soldiers. You should only be able to see into two groups at any given time.
Etiquette while guesting
You truly are a guest while you are in the various Ajah/Company forums. Remember that this is where many of our Tower Sworn consider their homes to be. That means that personal information is often posted in these forums. Under no circumstances should you discuss any information you read in those forums with anyone else not in that forum. You should not repeat or allude to that information by any means, manner, or form. You should not join an Ajah/Company just so you can gawk at the skeletons in the closet.
Please respect the trust that is given to you by allowing you to peer into that group's home, even if only for a week. If anyone is found to break this ethical code, the punishment will be severe.
Along the same vein, some amount of participation in the groups with which you are guesting would not be remiss. Our community has many lurkers, and that is fine--we're not suggesting that you jump right in and start spamming every thread. However, a thread introducing yourself when you first join a group is helpful, as it shows the members of that group respect by alerting them that someone new has entered the forum and also allows them to get to know you better. Responding to posts that contain content that interests you is always welcome; don't feel shy about joining pre-existing threads.
Aspiring to an Ajah/Company
Once you have been an Accepted/Soldier for at least six weeks, you are eligible to Aspire to a group. This means that you are declaring that this is the group you intend to join once you are raised to Tower Sworn. This is a necessary part of being an Accepted/Soldier--you cannot become a Tower Sworn until you Aspire. Aspiring lets the Head/Company Commander of that group know that you plan on becoming a full member of that group, and this in turn allows them to start examining you with regards to becoming a full member. You do not have to Aspire to a group right at six weeks; some people take several more weeks or even months before deciding to Aspire to a particular group.
Each group has a different process for Aspiring. You will be able to find out that procedure either by looking through the stickies in that Ajah's/Company's forum or by contacting the membership administrator for that group. Once you have officially Aspired, you should alert the membership administrator of the other group you were guesting with and have yourself removed. This means that until you become a Tower Sworn, you will only see one Ajah/Company forum.
Aspiring to an Ajah/Company does not mean that you are a member or even a half-member of that group. You are still free to explore other Ajahs/Companies should the desire strike you; you just need to alert the membership administrator of that group to your intentions to un-Aspire. Please do not let reluctance of offending the members of the group to which you currently Aspire impede you from finding your true home, if it is not there. Tower Sworn realize that sometimes it takes time to find the right group, and respect that.
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