alot of gamers go through the "i want to set up a clan" stage and design something on freewebs with a .tk domain and an invisionfreee forum. Most dont last a month.
IMO you can usually pick a dedicated clan by 4 things
1. Domain name - I maintain a sucessful clan needs its own TLD (.com .net) or CCTLD domain to have a chance, that or a novahq.net subdomain (
http://www.novahq.net/?show=subdomains)
2. Hosting - Paid hosting indicates a level of commitment, i dont know of a clan that was sucessful with freewebs...
3. Name - Clans with names like "The Axe Throwing Killers" dont tend to work. You know the type, you go to their site and the entrance page is a gothic grim reaper or something.
4. Forum Community - usually gives you a great picture of the type of squad they are.
Only reason im in a clan is because i was involved in making a mod with them a few years ago and just stuck around, i dont play games or anything. Its the only squad ive ever been in...