I think the question is more "How much influence do indies have on the server compared to official factions?"
It's wrong to assume that indies are immediately inferior when you know they're not a veteran player. They're good for the server simply because they offer RP ideas that are outside of canon expectations for the faction they have chosen to play a part of. What Tyler has stated is partly true in that official factions are expected to run some kind of tight-knit operation whenever they're present, yet are not given the rights to act out of canon RP if the situation arises.
It's not really a problem you can solve without great pain and argument by agitated parties but really, indies start off as indies and may join factions, choose not to and follow their own story or get sanctioned for being stupid. That's kind of what that system's there for, after all. If they have a valid point however, why shouldn't they be listened to? Just because they don't have a telltale combination of letters on their name that dictate authority? Nah, I'm not supportive of that kind of arrogance. I get that official factions exist to create some kind of order and hierarchy but they're not the be all and end all of every situation.
That's my hungover, slightly confusing 2 cents anyway.