Heraldry idea...

[R. Michael Litchfield]

>Michael Litchfield wrote:
>So what if some yobbo decides he wants to register a purple dinosaur
>rampant? Who will that hurt? *GASP* She might decide to parade it at an
>event. Well there is currently nothing stopping someone from parading an
>unregistered version of that now. I do not think the CoH should quit
>assiting people in designing period armory, however we should stop coercing
>people.
>
>We agree that anything can be displayed at an SCA event.  I think we agree
>that people should be encouraged to display good armory and shown examples
>of good armory rather than forced to change.

Sounds good so far.

> It seems that we disagree on
>the role that the CoH does and should play in encouraging good armory.

Dunno, we may not be as far apart as it seems, however there is annother
issue, one that is rather loose and unbounded. What is the role the society
should play in the individual and vice versa. I view the SCA as a tool the
indivual can use to further thier own enjoyment. That the society should be
the least restrictive it can possibly  achieve and still satisfy most
people.

>When the CoH registers a device, it is saying 2 things: that it follows the
>current CoH rules, and that is not already being used by someone else.
>That's all.

Well it does say a few more things, perhaps not overtly but it does make a
clear statement to many that an individual has "arrived" in the society
when they have a name and Device on file with the CoH. Look at our most
basic award the Award of Arms, the single thing which probably prompts the
highest number of people to begin creating an heraldic device is the
presentation of this cookie. To a lot of people the right to bear arms is
synonymous with recognition of the idividual by the society, from there is
a short step to infer that being officially recognized by the CoH is the
same as general recognition by the Society.

>Should the CoH change it's rules?  Some people think so, and are working
>_within_ the CoH to influence change.

So? That's interesting, but hardly relevent. Working from within is one
method of accomplishing change, not the only one or even the best.

>Should the CoH register anything that people want?  No.  That would remove
>all validity and value from the registration.

Uh why? I would certainly find value in the public record of my device
(sort of like a trademark), And while i am actually in favor of checking
agaisnt conflicts I don;t see that exclusivity is necessarily a good thing,
or something that would be wanted in all items.

But please note, that what I have advocated is the registration of devices
without concern to the periodicity of a given device, which is different
from registering anything at all, it does not preculde checking for
conflicts.

>Should heralds spend more time teaching and less time reviewing
> submissions?  That would be nice.  Since I only have a few hours each
>month to devote to heraldry, most of it is spent in my barony's commentary
>sessions.  I know the hours some heralds spend, and am reluctant to ask
>more of them.

If they spent less time "vetting" devices for proper period they would have
a lot more time on thier hands, time that they could devote to education.

>Llywelyn

-Michael