I completely agree. Too many people view guilds as a "service" to be used. I am in a small, friendly casual guild and welcome people of all levels but I too encourage self-sufficiency. I give some some basic information, places to find information on the internet, point out other people in the guild who may be able to give advice on class or professions and tell them the best way to learn and level is to do quests and play with people their own level. I even say that for first toons, it's not a good idea to be run through by higher levels because that often leads to laziness, not knowing how to play and besides, WHAT IS THE POINT of playing a game for someone to practically play it FOR you? I also encourage people to take up professions as it also helps with self-sufficiency (whether to make gold or to be able to create your own gear. Also, having a useful skill will help you help other people, who could, in turn, help with other things that you can't get using your own professions).

I also am wary of people looking for "Helpful" guilds. That just raises all kinds of red flags. Those are the very people often looking for a guild to DO things for them, rather then looking for a group of people to join for fun and common goals. In fact, I've whispered a few people asking them just what "helpful" means to them and yep - they want to be run through instances by high level people.

Also please remember that when you wear a guild tag, like it or not, you do represent them. So spamming trade with 20 kubes of "FAILFAILFAIL", ninja-looting in a PuG, begging in Stormwind for gold for your mount "because I really really want it" or YELLING demanding a port can make your guild look bad. Please don't do that. And it's possible that your server is not as big as you think. Someone may see you doing those things and contact an officer or the GL of your guild.