[Ansteorra] New award questions

[James Crouchet]

Sorry for the late reply. I read this stuff when I get the time.

On 3 Sep 2002 at 13:42, L T wrote:

> 1. How do you feel about Significant Others or close friends
>  recommending awards for their partner?

This really depends on the situation. In general, I expect people to be
conscientious about recusing themselves when they cannot be
objective. This is just as true (or more so) about enemies.

Consider that I probably know more about my wife's fighting style,
service, etc. than anyone else. If her name came up in a WS
discussion I could probably answer questions that no one else could
answer. OTOH, I think it would be inappropriate for me to participate
in the poll, if for no other reason than because it could bring the
legitimacy of the poll into question. No one wants to get an award
under a cloud of suspicion. On the third hand (three hands?), if one of
my cadets was being voted on I would expect not only to participate in
the poll but, indeed, to have my opinion carry extra weight.

> 2. How do you feel about petition style award recommendations?
> (Where the recommendation is written out and someone hands it
> to you to add your name to the list of signees...)

They really don't feel right to me. Here are some of the problems that
occur to me:

- Petitions are about demands from the people. The SCA award
structure is not.

- It smacks of popularity contests, and awards should not be given for
that either.

- How many petitions have you seen with a column to sign if you agree
and a column to sign if you disagree? Petitions as they are used in the
SCA are instruments that effectively express only one opinion but
make it seem like it is everyone's opinion. No one is ever encouraged
to write recommendations to NOT give an award. By contrast,
petitions in our modern political system are usually aimed at getting a
proposal on the voting ballot. Then if the people really don't want it they
can simply vote against it.

- If you really feel strongly enough that someone should get an award,
you should feel strongly enough to write about it, not just scribble your
name. If you need help, get a mentor to teach you how to write such
recommendations. That will help you grow as well.

- It smacks of debts, pressure and deal making. "Well, Joe is up for
an AoA and Bob is collecting signatures. So, if I want MY AoA in a
couple of months I should sign or Bob won't run a petition drive for
me." and "If we all stick together and sign these petitions we can gets
lots of awards for our people." Awards should always be considered
on an individual basis. They also need to be given sparingly or they will
lose their value.

I can say that if I were deciding the matter I would look at the petition
but I would not give it the weight of individual recommendations.

This is all, of course, my opinion, at least for right now.

Dore