I don't recall when this came into effect, but I think it is being used far too carelessly. Guildless players are spamming the Apply button of lots of guilds simultaneously in the hope that one is desperate enough for members that they will take them on without knowing anything about them.
Before, people applied by mail to introduce themselves and give the guild leader some idea if they would fit in to their guild. The better applications would come from those who have looked at the guild description and/or the recruitment threads on the forum and so would already know if they would suit the requirements of a particular guild.
I think that there should be a cooldown between applications- either until the application is denied or after 24 hours (or maybe less). Perhaps then players will give greater consideration to who they apply to and guild leaders won't be bombarded with pointless spam applications that takes them away from their game and their guild to deal with them.