ANST - How to recommend someone...

[Lori Jones]

> I've heard of several landeds, tho not in this kingdom, who had a
> policy of tossing award recommendation petitions.  I think their
> grounds were that it's too easy to sign, too difficult to refuse
> to sign, and doesn't convey information (why *you in particular*
> think this person deserves a Flaming Frog or whatever).
> Daniel de Lincoln

While I've never heard of anyone just "tossing" petitions (in this 
kingdom), I've heard it said that they aren't accurate measures of 
whether or not an individual deserves an award.  I've also known both 
Crowns and Landeds who tended to ignore them.  I guess a lot 
would depend on what kind of petition it is (does it tell 
anything about the person?) and who signed it (long-time players, 
peers and nobility don't usually have any problems refusing to sign 
things if they don't know the person or don't feel they deserve the 
award). 

If a petition is for m'lady X to receive her AoA and the Crown notes 
that among the signatures are a landed baron/ess, 5 peers and 6 
nobles, they would likely take the petition seriously - even if they 
didn't put much stock in petitions as a general rule.  

OTOH, if they receive a petition requesting that Ld. A be made a 
knight and most of the 20 signatures are from folks who haven't been 
playing long enough to have received an AoA, they might not pay it 
much attention (though the Crowns I've worked for would at least look 
into what Ld. A was doing and determine if maybe he deserved some 
*other* recognition - especially with that much support).  

Like I said before, there is *no* substitute for a well thought out, 
detailed letter about why you feel someone deserves an award.  This 
says a great deal to the Crown about the sincerity of the 
recommender's feelings - that they were willing to go to that much 
effort for someone they felt was deserving of recognition.  Not to 
mention, it's easy to jump on the bandwagon and follow a group. 
It takes a lot more courage to sign one's name to something and leave 
it standing all by itself.

- Kat

****************
Baroness Katrionna Heather MacLochlainn
Barony of Wiesenfeuer
****************
Lori Campbell
Okla. School of Science and Mathematics
LJONES at ossm.edu 
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