Should Ansteorra have a WWW Page?

Mairi sionnach at io.com
Fri Aug 2 14:18:38 PDT 1996



On Fri, 2 Aug 1996, Galen of Bristol wrote:

<Deletia of Galen's posting>

> The loudest voices presently on this list have argued against listing 
> contact information for officers and key people, rules for playing the 
> game, or information about events, due to fear for the officers' and 
> their families' safety, from fear that people will learn the rules 
> without buying them, and out of concern that someone might arrive at an 
> event expecting the wrong thing, or with intent to do harm, respectively.

	I've only been in the SCA for five months, so please excuse my
ignorance. I'm a heavy fighter (albeit rank beginner) and I've seen the
rules for combat. I didn't pay for them, I borrowed them, and I didn't
think that you had to purchase any SCA documents other than the Black Star
(if you wanted it), which comes with membership. If it's combat rules, etc
you're talking about, the necessity of purchasing them puzzles me.
Participating in combat is free (as long as you don't want to enter Crown)
so why would the safety guidelines for it cost money?

> Accepting these arguments, as I see it, means taking down the Ansteorra 
> page at www.uta.edu/student_orgs/sca/ansteorra.  Is that what should happen?

	While I understand the concerns of the officers, etc, whose
information is on the web site, let me just mention one completely
wonderful, helpful, and brilliant thing about having the Ansteorra web
site (and other SCA pages like it): it's great advertising to attract
newbies. A web page, and a newsgroup is how myself and three of my friends
found the SCA. The flyer I got at the Renaissance Festival last year had
the wrong contact information on it for the Bryn Gwlad group. Had *some*
form of information *not* been on the Internet, we would not have been
able to participate. From what I have seen, at least here in Bryn Gwlad,
we don't do a lot of outside advertising and if you were a newbie who
wanted to join the SCA, you either need to know someone already in it, or
have access to a computer. 
	Placing the entire content of the Black Star online may not be
wise, but SOME form of contact information and event scheduling is, in my
opinion, imperative if you want to provide ways for new members to find
you. You don't have to give home phone numbers or maps to the events, but
email addresses and calendars might make all the difference to someone who
is looking for your group.


			just the thoughts of

				Fionnghal 





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