So?

In Voxel, I had a member who was a really close friend of mine, had even met with them IRL before. She joined at ~150ish, did nothing but chat and stand around, and I included several people on the hat list that joined long after she did, because they did more for the guild. She didn't argue either; she pretty much understood.

It's the leader's discretion to say who deserves the hat and who doesn't. It's not hard to draw conclusions on if someone will screw over their members and give hats to randoms, sell hat spots, etc. As a member, you have your own responsibilities (to yourself) to only join a guild with a mature and fair leader if your intention is to get the hat.