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If you cruise around and visit different fellowships, you’ll see all sorts of front matters describing various fellowships. Some are very brief – “Recruiting Gems.” Others are very long, explaining attitudes, telling everyone what the player boosts are, offering up the rules of the fellowship, and more.
I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone when I suggest that the front matter … matters. It’s the first impression people get of your fellowship. Are you friendly? Is it a mature fellowship? Is it well managed? Those are all impressions you give folks when they’re cruising around looking for a the best home (fellowship) to fit their needs.
So, what do I (this is a blog, and my opinion matters) put in the front matter?
- First, any recruiting you’re doing: “RECRUITING for planks and silk. Full up on elixir” tells people a lot right off the bat
- Tell people about the flavor of your fellowship. Are you competitive? Avoiding competition at all costs? Friendly? For advanced or large players? For beginner players?
- Indicate any hard rules you might have. “Visits required 4x per week” is a pretty solid rule, and if someone knows s/he can’t meet that, they’ll save both of you some trouble and look elsewhere. I’d recommend keeping the rules you post few, short, clear, and friendly in tone.
- Anything else they need to know about your fellowship.
What are common things we see in front matter?
- Rules
- “Flavor” of the fellowship
- Boosts in the fellowship
- How to join
- What the fellowship is recruiting for, if it is recruiting
- A story to draw you in
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