Dear TGFT.

I recently got involved with VO, and was referred to the website to read up on TGFT as I am considering joining.  During my run through of the website I discovered some spelling and grammatical errors.  I have listed them below by page and paragraph and have added suggested edits alongside.  I have further also looked into the structure of the Charter and made suggestions as to edits and changes for clarity's sake.  Beyond such suggestions I have also looked into the typical structure and format of other prominent charters, such as the UN charter and the charter of the EU, and made suggested additions and format revisions to bring the charter more in line with the standard practice.  Please note that these suggestions to the Charter are simply advisory.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this post and considering my suggestions.

Sincerely
Meng Hao

1.  Home Page
1.1  Paragraph 2
-      "...love to trade and mine,and..." - "... love to trade and mine, and..."

2.  Charter
-     Based on precedence and standard format when it comes to Charters, I suggest adding a preamble to the charter.  I insert the preamble to the United Nations Charter as an example:
       "WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED
-       to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
-       to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
-       to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
-       to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
       AND FOR THESE ENDS
-       to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
-       to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
-       to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
-       to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,
       HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS
        Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations
        and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations."

2.1  Article 1
-      "..."The Guild of Free Traders"" - "..."The Guild of Free Traders.""
-      Based on precedence and standard format when it comes to Charters, I suggest changing the structure and content of Article 1 to the following:
       "The Guild of Free Traders" (henceforth referred to as 'the Guild') is hereby established.

2.2  Article 4
-      "...By-laws can be adopted only by a majority of council members when a quorum is present. A quorum consists of five council members."  (The way in which the sentence is structured makes it seem that "a majority of council
        members" and "quorum" are used tautologously.  This ambiguity befuddles the underlying, intended meaning and may confuse the reader.) - "...By-laws can only be voted on if there is a quorum, and must pass by majority vote.  A
        quorum is obtained if at least five council members are present."
-      "...Declare Vendetta against another guild."  (Missing article, incorrect capitalisation) - "...Declare a vendetta against another guild."
-      "To override a Commander's veto requires seven votes." ('requires seven votes' is slightly ambiguous, it could mean that only seven people need to vote, regardless of what their vote is.) - "Overriding a Commander's veto requires
        seven affirmative votes."
-      "Removal of the Commander requires seven votes." (Ambiguity) - "Removal of the Commander requires seven affirmative votes."
-      "Set the amount of membership dues and provide for their collection." (Use of "amount of membership dues" creates the impression that a member must pay a certain amount of dues [5 dues or 6 dues], in this instance I think the
        charter is referring to the value of the dues, not the amount of dues to be paid.) - "Set the value of membership dues and provide for the collection thereof."
-      "Determine how Guild funds are to be spent." (In this instance, according to the current sentence structure, 'Guild' is an adjective quantifying 'funds', and should thus not be capitalised.  I suggest one of two revisions) -
        1.  "Determine how the Guild's funds are to be spent."
        2.  "Determine how guild funds are to be spent."
-      "Council members are responsible to:"  (In this instance the preposition "to" indicates that a noun is to follow, since verbs follow in each of the cases below it, I suggest the following revision) - "Council members are responsible for:" 
        and following therefrom, all the following verbs should be changed to -ing participles.
-      "Attend" - "Attending"
-      "Read the Guild bulletin board" - "Reading the guild bulletin board"
-      "...keep informed of issues..." - "keeping themselves informed on issues..."
-      "Acquaint" = "Acquainting"
-      "Seek input" - "Seeking input"
-      "...involve the members in Guild activities and projects." - "...involving the members in guild activities and projects."
-      "Devise and promote activities..." - "Devising and promotive activities..."
-      "Council members serve a term of six months, with three positions being elected every two months."  (The structure of this part of the sentence conflicts with the beginning part, D.  I suggest listing it not as number 6 under D, but as
        E., with E then becoming F, F becoming G, and G becoming H.)
-      "The candidate that receives the highest total of votes will be elected to the first position to be filled."  (Ambiguity due to "total of votes") - "The candidate that receives the most votes will be elected to the first position to be filled."
-      "The person receiving the next highest total will be elected to the next position to be filled, continuing until all positions are filled." (Ambiguity due to "total of votes") - "The person that receives the second highest number of votes will
        be elected to the next position to be filled and so on until all positions are filled."
-      "If there is a tie for the last position to be filled, a run-off election will be held." (A tie can also exist for any of the other positions on the list) - "If there is a tie for any of the positions, a run-off election is to be held for the tied
        candidates.
-      "...number a terms a Guild..." (incorrect use of article, incorrect capitalisation) - "...number of terms a guild..."

2.3  Article 5
-      "Adjudicate any dispute among Guild members." - "Adjudicate any disputes among guild members."
-      "Set the "Message of the Day" to communicate with the Guild membership." - "Set the "Message of the Day" to communicate with guild members."
-      "Negotiate treaties with other Guilds." - "Negotiate treaties with other guilds."
-      "Appoint members to fill Council seats that become vacant between elections." - "Appoint members to fill council seats that become vacant between elections."
-      "Appoint additional Guild officers..." - "Appoint additional guild officers..."
-      "The Commander is responsible to:" (Refer to correction of D. in Article 4.) - "The Commander is responsible for:"
-      "Exercise" - "Exercising"
-      "Attend and conduct meetings..." - "Attending and conducting meetings..."
-      "Report to the Council concerning relations with other Guilds..." - "Reporting to the Council concerning relations with other guilds..."
-      "Ensure appropriate communication..." - "Ensuring appropriate communication..."
-      "...considered by and action taken by..." (unnecessary repetition of 'by', concord.) - "...considered, and actions taken, by..."
-      "Establish and maintain programs..." - "Establishing and maintaining programmes..."
-      "Represent the Guild in the case of disputes with other guilds..." - "Representing the Guild in disputes with other guilds..."
-      "The Commander serves a six-month term and is elected by a majority vote of the Council. Removal of a Commander during a term requires seven votes." (Refer to correction of number 6 in Article 4) - "E.  The Commander serves a six
        month term and is elected by majority vote of the Council.  Removal of the Commander mid-term requires seven affirmative votes."

2.4  Article 6
-      "The lieutenants are appointed..." - "Lieutenants are appointed..."
-      "...admit and expel Guild members..." - "...admit and expel guild members..."
-      "...16 weeks delinquent in dues." (Concord) - "...16 weeks delinquent on their dues."

I'll end the edits here for now.  This is taking much longer than I thought it would and I don't have enough time to do them all now, but there are more yet to come.

Hello Meng Hao, thankyou for reading our forums in such detail.

I have been involved with VO and TGFT for over ten years, and have seen both the game and our guild with its associated political roleplay develop incrementally during that time. Many of the players contributing to that are doing so with english as their second or third language. We have always been aware that as a multinational and therefore multilingual guild it would be completely unreasonable to expect perfect english from all, therefore we communicate very much in the spirit of what is written rather than its absolute accuracy.

I do however know that TGFT has a huge amount of paperwork, and perhaps when we have an excess of time we should edit and correct all of it.

I know very well the pains of having to work in a language that you aren't perfectly fluent in.  Which is why I decided to create this post.  I have English Linguistics as one of my majors, so I have something to offer on that front.  That is, after all, what a community is about, covering each other's shortcomings so that as a whole, we are stronger.  Whilst I don't know anything (at least at this point) about the detailed inner workings of the guild, and can thus not comment or give my input on that, I do know English, and can make contributions there.  It is very much in the spirit of bringing what I have to the table to contribute to the community that I am doing this.