So do they have to join the 7Bear7 clan as a new recruit to have access to this vast library or is it open to anyone who asks?

If it is just to those who want to join the 7Bear7 clan then my previous statements are still valid.

New players leave because there is no public place to lay out such things so anyone has access to it, not just a few select individuals. This limits the size of the MP community in the manner described in my previous post. What about all the non-clan MP players out there? Should they not have access to such info.?

During Fearful Ways days, when I was its Daimyo, we didn't keep any secrets about the game we were playing. We played with anyone and anybody and showed players from different clans and non-clan'rs our tactics, our armies, and anything else they needed to be aware of. The MP community was beginning to fade, due to everyone's perception that defending gave the advantage to the defender, and the perception that camping was the way to win. Fearful Ways helped keep a lot of players in the community by proving even the hardest-looking maps (Such as Tosa) could be won against even good players if teamwork and tactics were used. Not by any secret information, nor secret tricks which few knew about.

I am not sure if any of you were around for our Big Tosa Mountain Map challenge, but we won more than we lost. Many of those new players we played with and trained went on to form their own clans, clans which are still around today. We never required them to join our clan, nor did we hold back any information. I think that was why the clan community grew as large as it did in the STW/MTW days.

This is why I see an MP discussion section, which allows for screenshots and AARs to be posted is a very good idea. The NF's Naked Fanatics have been posting replays at their site and linking to them from several forums and I have yet to see anyone who participated in those games getting upset by the replays or the discussions which followed. The .org was a very nice MP forum at one time, before certain things beyond the scope of the MP game interfered (Tera-Gate and ThePurge). Before that, it was a very interesting area of the forum. It could be that again since most of those who left, no longer play and there are many new players who would be interested in such a section.

It was stated there are few patrons who participate here regularly, which appears to be the norm for most other forums who have MP sections. I believe the reason why is the largest portion of the MP community (Clans) is no longer out there recruiting (not for the clan) but for the interest of players who are thinking of trying MP out. I do not see any clans currently offering any input to new players on how to play the game, what units/army builds are the best for a given era and florin level, and other things of interest to enjoying this game. From what I have seen, during my short time back, the clan community has insulated itself from the rest of the MP community by keeping their MP discussions in their own private forums instead of in the public ones where they used to be.

For those that want a truly level-playing field, there should be no discussion of units/armies/tactics that is taboo to discuss with the rest of the community. Though, I am not sure with the current clan environment, if it is possible at this time. There are a bunch of good clans out there, who play honest and fair, but most of them still hold back on their discussions so they can maintain that slight edge. Though I can guarantee you that every competitive clan has learned each and every one of those "edge" items and the only ones left out are the new & non-clan players who will leave in frustration when having to constantly face those who know the "edge". So why would some clans still not discuss these things openly, when their main competition (other clans) already have such info? I know a lot of clan members who need no edge to win, so why hold back in the forums?