The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Let's hope at some point New York decide the whoring has gone too far and decide to deal with the offending cities.

I'm going to respond to a couple of issues, without knowing EVERY response, because I came across these points, and wanted to address them. 

No one is asking the Honoured Society to act quickly...just to act.  As has been pointed out a number of times in the replies to my original speech - this is not a new issue.  Just an issue that has been accepted for far too long.  It has been brought up by me - now probably months ago - and by others in the months since my last mention of this issue.  So, I'm hopeful that this issue has been addressed in those intervening months, so that a solution could be found. 

Banning all contact with those under 24 hours was not a part of my original speech, and not a viable solution.  There are ways to communicate with somebody without offering invites, pushing them to join your crew, or bullying them into submission.  And that contact cannot and should not be prohibited.

The fact that there are however many families there are (obviously less than there used to be) isn't an argument that diminishes my point.  The fact that a certain family can hold 50 members does not mean they HAVE to have 50 members or SHOULD have 50 members.  It simply means they CAN have 50 members.  I would assume that all those families seek to have only the best members, no matter how many they actually have.  I don't care that I don't have 50 members.  I don't want 50 members.  In fact I'm only over 40 members because of the recent war.  I'm perfectly happy with 35 members or even less, assuming those members are the cream of the crop.  That's not to say I ALWAYS have the cream of the crop, but it means I alsways strive to have those people.  I do and always will sacrifice quantity for quality.  And I would hope that ALL crewleaders feel the same. 

Solutions:  People say I pointed out the problem but didn't come up with a solution.  Of course I came up with a solution.  Ban the practice.  The problem is memberwhoring.  The solution is to ban the practice.  How is that not a solution?  Of course it's a solution.  It just doesn't give EVERY specific detail of the solution.  I don't presume to tell the Honoured Society how to come up with the specific details of the solution.  But I will, if that's what they want.  But I left those specific details for them to work out so they would come up with the best possible solution for all cities.  Because, frankly, if I came up with every detail of the solution many people probably wouldn't like it. 

So, I'm off to hear other responses, and will address those later.

Good evening Don WillHayes, thank you for your clarification. Having listened to the discussion so far, I would like to add a point that thus far appears to be overlooked.

The solution you have proposed is that of banning the practice. I would certainly subscribe to this, member whoring is in my eyes an initiative driven by weak leaders who wish to appear strong. Part of the issue is that in fact, with more members, whomever those members are, the leader is stronger. To highlight this point, if a Don leader with 50 members shot his weopon at a wall, then that very same Don Leader with 20 members fired the very same shot, the impact of the second shot would be lesser. Likewise with defense, if a Don Leader with 50 members was attacked, he would be able to take more punishment than that of a Don Leader with 20 members.

Though this is nothing that The Honoured Society can amend, I think it is a quirk that certainly contributes to the issue in question and perhaps something worth praying to the gods about. I appreciate that in fact, a leader with more members would be harder to attack, fighting through 50 mafioso would be harder than fighting through 30 mafioso so this would be a matter of weighing up the pro's and con's.

But for my two pence, a blanket banning would get my vote.

Wraith

With the recent death of my father I have found my way to these shores and must say the problem of memberwhoring is not what it once was in my travels so far.  I remember reading in my fathers journals about the countless invites with out as much as a hello.  So far I have been only aproached by one sponsor with a invite in which the sponsor didn't even introduce himself to me and needless to say he didn't get far with me.   Infact I believe alot of sponsors are bit scared to even say hi, which dosen't bother me in the least and is a bit refreshing that I am given the time to look around and get familiar with this world.  Now I am not saying this problem has been solved just that I have had the pleasure, outside of one knucklehead, to not have to deal with it.  But to all of you out there I am free to chat with any of you just don't try to strong arm me into joining, it wont work.

BombaySapphire, a valid point however I believe it is worth noting that times today are different from when your father first came to these shores. Memberwhoring is the result of thugs being viewed as a scarce commodity.

Today, we find ourselves rebuilding from one of the biggest wars our world has known. Many people have died and many leaders have perished. These mafioso's offspring will be returning to our shores looking for homes to start their careers. With the reduction in the number of leaders and the vast number of thugs joining our world, is there such a need for member whoring? The answer is no, thugs who know how things work will be approaching leaders for shelter. For the time being, thugs are not scarce and member whoring not such an issue.

It is when this spike in migration stabalises that we will most likely see a return to the act of member whoring.

Wraith

So far I have been only aproached by one sponsor with a invite in which
the sponsor didn't even introduce himself to me and needless to say he
didn't get far with me.

So what you are saying is that you have received at least one unsolicited invite and, if I'm reading between the lines correctly which I may not be of course, probably other approaches where you weren't directly invited but were probably being worked towards it if we're being cynical, which I am.

It seems that whoring is alive and well there.