Alright I wanted to give my 2 Cents in the other thread but it was locked so I'll give it here.
I believe that it's a good idea to give some advantages or bonuses to Official factions for the simple point that Independents have an advantage of their own. Independents don't have restrictions on ships and look at it this way, why spend a month to earn a Gunship when you can buy one as a Indy and RP it yourself?
Well to the RPer the simple reason because it's a lot more rewarding to be part of the faction is not going to be everyone's answer.
The problem with Factions as I see it is that a lot of people don't want to join factions because they can RP anything they want. Now there are people who were saying some faction leaders are jerks and well I hate to burst your bubble but not all of them are, what about the one that isn't that actually creates rolepaly for people? Should they suffer because a few leaders are jerks? (The answer is no.)
I believe that Factions should have some bonuses because even with the RP they provided they are disadvantaged compared to Indies, and just to touch on the Elitism part of this topic there is a difference between those who think they are better and people who have earned something because they have put a lot of work into something. If a faction works hard and provides something like RP to the server do they not deserve a reward for that hard work? What if that faction isn't based on making Credits OOCly or actually looses credits being run? What about that?