SuperGuildInvite: Configuration Tips

In my adventures using SuperGuildInvite, an addon assisting players in mass-inviting people to their guild, I've come across three types of people. Some people don't care or even acknowledge the invite and whisper, some folks are polite, and a good amount of them become very very irate.

I'm not going to preach about whether or not you should use a guild invite addon to grow your guild but I am going to offer a few tips that should improve the experience for both people who use the addon as well as for people who absolutely hate it and think I'm the scum of the earth for using it.

The first thing to know is that players can block all incoming guild invites if they wish to using the default interface. Press Escape, Interface, and right there you'll find a checkbox to block all incoming invites.  This is the strongest tool a player has to stop the guild invite spam and players who don't want random invites should use it.

But what about the whispers, you ask?  Well, that's where I want to talk to you, the aspiring guildmaster and SuperGuildInvite user.  SGI is a simple addon but if you configure it properly you can greatly reduce the amount of junk whispers you send out, as well as reduce the amount of people who become annoyed by your invitations.  Unfortunately these aren't the stock settings, so let's walk you through them.  Type /sgi config to bring up the options and let's go through the steps to be the least annoying you can be while using this mod.

#1: Whisper Before Inviting

I wish this setting was worded a bit better, maybe more people would take advantage of it.  Nothing is more annoying than a blind guild invite; whispering people first (even an automated tell) is preferable in nearly every case for all parties involved.

But what about all those Starter Edition accounts? We don't want to send them whispers just to find out that they can't even join!  Well, that's the drop down menu. As counter-intuitive as it may seem you want your settings to be "Send Whisper Before Inviting" and "Whisper After Inviting."

What this essentially makes the addon do is it will first attempt to invite the player. If the invite is successful they will get a nearly simultaneous whisper.  If the invite is unsuccessful because they are a Starter Edition, they are already in a guild, or they have blocked guild invites they will get neither a whisper or the subsequent tell, meaning you won't bother that person one bit.  This way you only contact players who are able and willing to join guilds and also send them a whisper.

#2: Whisper!

I use SGI and even I get irritated when someone sends me a random invite without a tell.  Even an automated whisper about what sort of perks I will get from your guild shows that you are offering something and not seeing me as an experience-grinding robot.  Open SGI and hit customize whisper to write your own greeting. Be sure to write a tell that's friendly and informative and gives an accurate description of your guild. (If you only have level 20s don't say you're a raiding guild. If you only raid don't say people should join for guild battlegrounds.)

#3: Auto-Blacklist

A blacklist is a master list of every player you will no longer invite. You can manually blacklist that guy you really hate but the main use for blacklisting is auto-blacklisting. If you have this box checked but make no other changes the default is three. If a player declines a guild invite from you three times they will no longer be invited.

I think that's pretty dumb. While you can also set a "lockout" and not invite people for x days or weeks without blacklisting my opinion is that if a player doesn't want to join my guild today they won't want to join it next week and my whispers will just annoy them more.

With Auto Blacklist checked type into your chat the following

/sgi blacktime 1

Now anyone you invite will be blacklisted after the first time they decline your invite and you won't bother that person again. 

SGI is a great addon for folks looking to build a large guild; folks in my random invite guild seem to get along very well and it's recently passed Level 5 with 400 members. Remember, though, not everyone wants to join your guild. They should do their part to block guild invites but you should be sure to do your part in not being an annoyance.  With a great addon comes great responsibility? Heh, that's a bit over the top but just be sure you put yourself in the shoes of a random player on your server and set up your SGI with that attitude in mind.

For more information about using SuperGuildInvite with gold-making in mind be sure to check out Acry's thread on the Consortium forums by clicking here.