[Ansteorra] A few quick obvious points

[Jay Rudin]

Rose the O wrote:

> Even if the above were not true... At some point, all symbols
> were unknown. How do you know that a white belt or a red belt
> means knight and squire? How do you know that the brass hat of
> more than a certain width means nobility? And so on... This
> symbol might not be 100% helpful at first, but less than 100%
> helpful is still better than 0% helpful because it's not available.

That sounds so nice, but it requires two assumptions
1. Everyone who recognizes it will thereby be polite and open, and
2. Depending on a symbol when it won't help isn't hurtful.  
These are simply untrue.

It's way too easy for us to assume that the effects of something we do will be the ones we were planning for.  But unintended consequences matter.

The knight is assumed to be well-versed enough in our ways to handle people who don't recognize the symbol.  The newbie is being marked precisely because she isn't ready to handle that issue.

Possible effects of a newbie symbol include:
a. Somebody comes over and helps more than they would have.  (Helpful, only for those who won't help anyone who asks questions)
b. Somebody ignores the newbie, because she isn't important.  (Harmful)
c. Somebody takes advantage of the newbie.  (Harmful)
d. The newbie assumes the people around her know she is new, and gets in an awkward situation based on a false assumption.  (Harmful)
e. The newbie "learns" the pernicious idea that we treat people well only because of what they wear.  (Harmful)

If some people recognize a knight's belt and some don't, it is partially helpful, but not hurtful, because the knight is not a confused person counting on the belt to get him the help he needs.

If a newbie is given a symbol and told it shows everyone they're new, then it might bring help from the people that recognize it, and cause unintentional harm from the others, since we set up an expectation for the newbie which wasn't going to happen.

The hurt of expecting somebody to treat you like a newcomer can greatly outweigh the help from the helpful people who recognize it, since, by definition, helpful people were already going to be helpful.

I repeat: the solution -- the ***ONLY*** solution -- is for us to treat everyone we meet with courtesy and openness.  Newbies don't need a badge or belt.  They need a smile and polite conversation.  

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin

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