Through personal experience, leading a strong pack has had its good and bad
days. To know the full story is slightly difficult, as I have only been the
alpha of Cougar Canyon for a few months and have around forty members.
However, I managed to contact Kerd2006, the alpha of a more commonly known pack,
The Mohabi Pack. The pack is widely known for its original idea in
constantly changing 'seasons'. It is a friendly Lupe pack that usually role
plays.
I interviewed Kerd2006 on several questions. If you're a pack leader, maybe
you can take some of her advice! 'K' is represented as Kerd2006 and 'D' is represented
as me, dragonshark173. NOTE: TMP is simply The Mohabi Pack abbreviated.
D: What made you originally think of the theme of the 'Pack Beneath
the Flames'?
K: Well, when you first see TMP we like to think that you get a good
impression on it and try to make the layout appealing. When TMP first opened
we went with random colours and pictures and eventually based them on Fire,
and made everything colours of red and orange, yellows, fire colours That came
to be our original theme and we came up with the saying 'Beneath the Flames,
Lies TMP.' Which would mean Fire is the protectorate of TMP, like it's resistance
to harm or something.
D: What made you change it into a pack that changed the theme every
month or so?
K: The council started to observe that when we made a change to the
front layout, more members started to appear and compliments came in. We decided
to start changing the layout completely every so often to keep people interested
and give us a project to work on and a goal to reach. It's also fun because
the council pulls together and works at it to finish it on a certain date and
in a way it makes us all closer as a team, which is what a council is.
D: Were you upset when you found out that other Neopians were copying
your different themes (e.g. the season of storm, purple and black layout, lightning...)
K: No, it's good to know that TMP may be a trend-setter and if no one
ever took ideas and worked with them then there wouldn't be a way to make the
idea better. It does get frustrating when people take the images straight off
our main page, but that's different.
D: On average, how much time do you normally spend working on your
guild each day?
K: That depends, when the new layout is coming, on weekends I often
spend most of the day planning it or helping design banners and images with
the rest of the changes when the new theme is done. And if there is ever anything
that needs changed someone off the council usually catches it or changes something,
which makes it easier and saves time.
D: What do you think has made TMP so popular?
K: Eh, I guess since it's been around a while and a lot of the older
packs aren't active anymore. Another thing is that we are very active and there
is always someone on the guild message boards to talk to or role-play with.
There's a lot of things I could name and I'm not sure which one is the real
reason. But I'd guess it's because we focus on being active and welcoming everyone
into TMP, which is something I would look for in a guild. I'd like to be welcomed
too if I was new. We're always changing, which is another reason why people
come to TMP. They don't have a chance to get very bored.
D: What do you think would be the best suggestion to make for Neopians
considering to create a pack?
K: Stick with your guild. Don't delete it the first time someone tells
you your guild looks bad, or your idea isn't as good as theirs. Give it time
and work with it and eventually it will pay off. I've seen a lot of good guilds
close over small things and I know they would have been great if they would
have just stuck with it.
D: How did the original ideas of the pack's themes come to you (e.g.
a movie or dream)
K: Well when TMP first opened, I had a friend help me with the layout. There
was no certain theme, but I grew attached to the Fire Lupe's colours, and that
grew into what I hoped TMP's theme would be. I started to draw sketches of what
I planned for it's layout to be, and asked people on their opinion, such as..
'What colour should the font be, or what should the banner look like?' Ivory_moon
joined TMP and helped us take it a step farther and she basically inspired us
to want to improve our themes. We started to plan how we could make the layout
sort of blend together, sort of match everything. We then took polls after our
third fire theme came out, questioning what the members thought would be a good
layout to try. Now, when we need theme ideas, we think of five themes we think
are appealing and let the members choose.
D: Is being an alpha challenging?
K: Sometimes it is. When someone in your guild has a conflict with
another guild, you most likely will get the blame. It's incredibly fun though,
especially when you have great friends on your council with you, and a best
friend as the second Alpha who is always with you to think things out with you
and help with the decisions. Without the rest of the council I'd be nothing.
If I could them all on a first position with me I would, they do as much work
as I do for the guild if not more. So basically there are lots of Alphas in
TMP, so many people contribute to help us grow and that's what it's all about.
Sure, being the creator of the guild is nice but you're the person who gets
a lot of blame, but that's what I'm here for and I wouldn't have it any other
way. | 
