Officer Loyalty?

Should Officers be loyal to the members or to the GM?

I’ve been in online gaming for 6 years. God, 6 years. Half that time I’ve been an officer or leader of some sort. I’ve seen a lot of different officers, good and bad. I’ve seen a lot of different leaders, again good and bad. They all had different quirks, different set backs, and different strengths. Their loyalties were different too.

Some were loyal to the GM (mostly GMs or RL friends of GMs), some were loyal to members (by cliques, veterans, RL friends), and some were actually just loyal to the greater good of the guild splitting it between the members and the GM. The ones that split their loyalty are the ones I considered to be better leaders.

Being online for so long I know that people just can’t be trusted. They lie, cheat, and deceive without even a second thought. Since before WoW as a leader there are times that you have to talk to your group members. Depending on who you are talking to those conversations just don’t go well. Especially if they are about decisions your group member made that you considered to be wrong. That can be anything from gear, talents, glyphs, or most commonly attitude.

Those conversations can go so wrong that I began screenshotting them. For starters to prove that I did talk to the member about whatever problem, to protect me from “So and so was a bitch and said this, this, this to me,” and (honestly only a little percent) to protect the member. I screenshot (SS) because I have been caught in a drama filled cloud about how much of a bitch I was and screenshots were the only way to show the truth.

In my previous guild there was an officer who was very nice. He came to raids when he could and took care of his class best that I saw. He SSed a conversation he had with a member of his own class that ended up getting the said member gkicked. This wasn’t the guild member’s first offense. He often created drama, complained about repair bills, complained about gold, and left raids when things didn’t go his way. The officers were waiting for the final screw up to kick him. The class officer (CO) gave us one.

This caused a somewhat uproar with some members of the guild. They felt the CO broke the confidentiality code. They felt that all COs should respect the privacy of each conversation. The CO SSed the convo because he was saving his own ass. The kicked member lied about what he said. He lied to anyone that asked him “No, I never said that.” The lying brought our trust in the Officer under suspicion. If we never had the SS it would of been worse.

I’m not saying Officers should SSevery conversation they have. I do suggest SSing “official” conversations, though. Don’t plaster them about, but keep them saved for if/when they come up again. You’ll be glad you had it. Besides, if there’s ever a time were someone says “SS or it didn’t happen.” You can say “Owned.”

Do you think Officers SSing conversations breaks the confidentiality code?