ANST - On-line Ansteorra : The Next Generation...

[Lenny Zimmermann]

HL Pug wrote concerning the raising of funds for an Internet Server for
Ansteorra. I have seen the proposal and being professionally a Network
Administrator I would concur that his business plan for this project is
sound and well reasoned. I fully support our going through with this plan.

I do have one concern, however, that is not for Pug, but for each of you,
gentle readers. As Pug mentioned a hat was passed at the Red Tape event
where this proposal was first brought to light. $300 dollars was raised from
the pockets of those present, with a few notable exceptions. It's the
exception I want to talk about. Some of us did not contribute because we
have already contributed for just this purpose. I contribute every time I
attend a Kingdom level event (at least 30% of the profit from those events
goes to the Kingdom) and Gulf Wars. I have contributed through the years to
various and sundry "fund-raisers", all without really looking closely at our
fair Kingdom's finances. Let me tell you, friends, our finances appear to be
quite healthy, despite recent problems in ensuring we have funds well in
hand.

We could have paid for this directly from Kingdom funds, and the vast
majority present at the Red Tape event seemed quite happy to agree with such
a decision, had it been made. Instead a few swayed the process over to
donation stating reasons such as "I don't use a computer," or"I'm not a
Kingdom Officer, so how would Ansteorra.Org benefit me at all? I don't want
my Kingdom to spend funds on that which I would not use!" To this I say, I
do not use the thrones, or the pillows for our crown, yet we agree it is
worthwhile to purchase these things, if only for ambiance. Yet we can see
more tangible results in having a place for new members to contact us and
find out more about our fair Kingdom through this means alone. The sharing
of information on the mailing lists from this server is simply phenomenal
and those who are not on this medium benefit greatly because they have
friends and teachers who use it to garner more knowledge to share with
everyone.

It is also said that we would not wish to affect the finances now while we
still have much to pay for on ATYC (Ansteorra's Thirtieth Year Celebration),
including over $1,000 on site tokens alone! $1,000 spent on that which will
allow us to further our education and knowledge and membership seems to me
to be far better spent than on a dangly I might wear for a couple of days
and benefits no-one who is not attending the event. (I do not believe that
not having a token would in any way affect our ability to make a profit on
ATYC, thank you very much.) Yes, we should wait to see that we will be
making a comfortable profit on ATYC such as the use of $2,000 would not
cause us a burden, but is waiting for an extra month before deciding to make
such a purchase such an ordeal? None of those involved seem to mind waiting
to get this system up and running.

Why burden the populace with yet another unneeded fund raiser? Why not use
Kingdom funds after ATYC. Isn't this project exactly the kind of thing our
Kingdom funds should be used for? I say we should let our voices be heard
and write our Kingdom Seneschal with our thoughts on this subject, either
for or against using Kingdom funds.

With great sincerity,

Lenny Zimmermann, San Antonio
(Lionardo Acquistapace, Bjornsborg)
zarlor at acm.org

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