Unfortunately, I have lately seen a number of situations similar to what Karmilla has described - where a character would join one faction from another, present a valid IC reason and history for doing so, publicly present a valid reason why they would likely be tolerated (if not entirely accepted) - only to essentially be told "nothing you say or do IC is a valid reason for you to be accepted. GTFO." This is incredibly frustrating for me as a player because - over an extended period of time - player desires can change, and when someone goes to the length to design a reasonable history, motive, and rationalization for their faction transfer and/or acceptance only to be stonewalled, it feels incredibly frustrating.
There's nothing wrong with them doing that.
What is wrong is when they think that other people should just accept their background rationalization at the drop of a hat, no questions asked. Proving one's self in a new faction
should be a long, hard, difficult process, where you endure all loads of bile. It should be a process you do
without complaint, because learning how to endure and bear all the shit with discipline and self-composure is part of proving yourself. And this should be done in front of
players, not NPCs. Any "proving" you've done in front of NPCs is, as far as I'm concerned, a non-factor. I don't care if you claim you have a whole planet that can vouch for you. If not a single player can, then you've still got a lot of work ahead of you.
If a former Republican, Blooder, EoM, whatever, were to try to join the Empire, Samira would treat them poorly, and be suspicious of them. No matter what their excuse. Until they prove
to her, in a way that she can personally witness and verify, that they've changed, she's not going to accept them no matter what they try and claim they've done. The only reason Halete has gotten any acceptance from Samira is because Halete has already been proving her commitment by fighting for PYRE. If she had gone to Samira straight out of Republic militia, Samira would not have been quite so kind. See Ayallah as an example of someone that tried that route.
If Samira were to ever turn against the Empire and support the Republic, I would expect her to be despised, by
both sides. I wouldn't expect, and wouldn't
want her to be accepted. Hatred and intolerance are much more fun. I love the way people like Havohej act around Samira, or when Amarr treat her like dirt just because she's Minmatar, because conflict is what makes RP interesting. Hugglefest is boring.
All that being said, this should be completely IC, not OOC. It's just a game, and if people seriously judge people based on their OOC faction choices then they're definitely an asshole. I've had that happen to me on another game and it was pretty awful. People on the opposite side aren't your real, personal enemy. They're your opponent in a video game. IC/OOC separation.