As far as guilds in the alliance go, obviously our friends need to be chosen carefully. We assuredly do not want guilds that cant/wont pull their own weight. We are not an MMO babysitter service.

By the same token size is not necesarrily an indicator of power/effectiveness. Many successfull alliance do NOT allow small guilds in, it simply dilutes the overall leadership structure,creates to many chiefs, makes it more of a political hassle , etc.

On the other hand, some alliances are comprised largly of smaller guilds. Some are even successfull. Another factor is the level of specialization, highly specialized guilds can be included in otherwise large-guild only alliances. It depends.