Brainstorming.

One of my officers thinks we can motivate raiders to show up by forcing them to compete for their raid spots.  I think he's on to something.  If we're so desperate for warm bodies that we will literally invite anyone who logs on at raid time, then there really is no incentive for individual raiders to maintain core attendance.  (...Other than the fact that we offer free gems and enchanting mats to our core, of course.  >.>)

So, now that I've vented Emo Elle into an imbued vial and dropped her deep into the Underbelly (to be fished up again at some point, I'm sure!), how can I go about attracting the "right" kind of player for our guild?

• Continue to market Surreality on altadin.com.  Of course, the problem with this is that I use the blog to vent all of my frustrations ... and after watching me wax emo day in and day out, I don't know who in their right mind would want to join.  (No offense, Forrest. <3)
• Pursue leads on the Horde recruitment forum.  I spent a bit of time browsing the recruitment forums last night, and it seems there are several groups of friends looking to raid together and willing to transfer to do so.  We've been leery of package deals in the past, but recruiting a group of friends could be an efficient way to fill the holes in our raiding roster.  Some of these groups are decently progressed (on par or even slightly ahead of us).  I imagine that most well-established guilds would have a hard time accommodating them, whereas those reroll and start-up guilds that could would be less attractive on account of their "unproven" status.  With two years under our belt and entrenched membership, we have a lot to offer — and could certainly use an influx of DPS (although not so much tanks and healers).
• Host a weekly server PuG.  Once upon a time, we PuG'd from /trade to fill our weekly Gruul's Lair raids and actually picked up some quality people this way, including a few who are still with us.  I'm a horrible raid leader, but maybe one of the guys — Keaton? Ouchies? — could be persuaded to get involved.  We have enough geared alts in the guild to fill at least half of a Saturday afternoon PuG with our own people, which would let us control (or at least strongly influence) the experience.
• Absorb (or potentially just ally?) with a 10-man guild.  I'm sure there are some 10-man guilds out there with members who would like the opportunity to experience 25-man content without abandoning their 10-man teams.  To players like this, we could offer the best of both worlds: 10-man autonomy and the ability to raid 25-man content as part of a larger group.
• Merge with another 25-man guild in a similar situation.  Most of the guilds on Black Dragonflight are struggling to fill raids.  We could attempt to merge with (or, preferably, acquire) the core of another guild.  I'm not crazy about this idea, to be honest: I don't want to raid badly enough to gamble with our identity and reputation to do so.  /frown
• Capitalize on upcoming opportunities.  Rumor has it that a major Horde-side guild or three is on the verge of implosion.  That will leave a number of potential raiders in LFG...
• Network more! I'm antisocial by nature (I play WoW, okay?), but I read blogs every day from raiders who are disillusioned with their current situations.  I don't want to "poach" — but I could start reaching out to people instead of secretly hoping that they will come to me.  (If you're wondering if I'm thinking about you with this one, then I probably am!)

Do you have any creative recruiting ideas?  I'd love to hear them!

As an added bonus (and to make up for the wall of text I posted earlier this afternoon), here's a totally random picture from my Sedona vacation:

I also have one of Keaton teaching a statue of a bear to tank, but I don't think he'd appreciate me sharing it.  (I'll just have to text it to Elam so he can do the honors!)