Yes, I am very much aware that when you change the government type everyone is changed to applicant and the org leader then re-promotes active players. As I mentioned our org has many applicants for this reason also.
You have out-dated information about the rank required to lower the cloak for a raid vs the ability to destroy buildings.
That was changed awhile ago so that the lowest rank eligible to lower the cloak can NOT destroy buildings. So yes our org is comfortable with new members who have been with us for awhile being able to do their own city raid with their friends and/or org members.
My point was to illustrate how difficult it can be to have access to do city raids when you are a relative newcomer to a large org ... because you likely do not have the appropriate rank ... well in 2 of the 3 large orgs I looked at anyways.
Kinnik