[ANSTHRLD] Is this normal? Is there a tracer system?

[Kathleen O'Brien]

At 04:46 AM 6/15/2006 +0000, you wrote:
>Lost in space/time
>
>About two years ago, a gentleman in my group put a completed and researched 
>submission for his name and device, and paid for it with a check (he still 
>has the cancelled check).
>
>It still hasn't made it to commentary.    One time problem?  Not really, 
>when I submitted my name change a few years ago, it took over 20 months to 
>get submitted to kingdom.  Of course, I was stupid enough to pay cash, and 
>finally gave up and resubmitted through another group.  This is a totally 
>different herald, and group, but I am seeing a possible pattern.

This type of problem is historic and, unfortunately, goes along with a
volunteer organization.  All of the heralds I know do everything they can
to help when they hear about a situation like this, but it has to be a two
way street.  We have to hear from a submitter that something has gone wrong
if they submit through a local herald.

To make it easier to tell if something has gone wrong, Ansteorra has the
Heraldic Submissions Tracker on the website.  (
http://heraldry.ansteorra.org/hst/ )

A submission should appear in the Ansteorran Gazette (also available on the
website) within 1 to 2 months of when the submitter turned in the
submission (varies because of the cutoff date to generate the Internal
Letter of Intent that appears in the Gazette).



>Is anyone else having these problems?  How many of the folks who make good 
>faith submissions and do the research are left hanging?  Especially if they 
>know nothing about the system and just keep asking someone who is at a low 
>level for information?  Has this become so difficult that the average guy or 
>gal coming in to a local herald has to look forward to months and months of 
>waiting before their name and device receive commentary?

It is actually a smaller percentage of submitters than you think.  The
problem tends to be in localized to specific groups at specific times.
Whenever someone up the ladder finds out about a problem like this, it
tends to get dealt with.  That more and more of our submitters are going
through consultation tables has also helped.

In any case, all submitters should keep a copy of their submissions.  It
makes it easier to draw your badge or device on things later.  It also
means that, when something Truly Awful happens, new copies can be made.
(And here Mari remembers receiving her first packet when she was stepping
up as Pelican Queen of Arms.  I pulled the large envelope out of my mailbox
in the back on the corner and water poured out.  And kept pouring out.  The
envelope edges were disintegrated except for bits and pieces that totalled
about one inch around the entire edge.  Fortunately, it was July in Texas,
so I spread the forms all over my garage and let them bake.  But I gotta
wonder where the tsunami was between Caid and Ansteorra...  Fortunately,
Caid was able to replace the few forms that were not salvagable.)

Between a copy and a cancelled check or a receipt, a resubmission is easy.


>I am not mentioning names, or even groups, but I am interested if other 
>people in Ansteorra have been having these problems?  Is it a fault of 
>inexperienced heralds?  No one comes into this pursuit knowing all of the 

In my experience, the problem doesn't tend to be education.  It tends to be
folks who volunteer for a position and simply don't have any organizational
skills or else are extremely poor on follow-through.  In one case I can
think of (not this kingdom), the person in question had a sudden, nasty
divorce which resulted in chaos of everything in her life - including the
heraldic files in her house.  This is where being willing to shout "I NEED
HELP!" to other folks is the salvation.  I've always found folks in the SCA
to be quite willing to jump in and help when emergencies come home to roost.


>Why do I ask?  Because I may return to being a local herald, and I don't 
>know enough, even though last century I went to a World Heraldric and some 
>various kingdom heraldic colleges.   There is a lot of helpful stuff on 
>line, but checking conflicts and blazoning correctly don't help a bit, if 
>the submissions never get submitted to Kingdom level....

Yep.  But Kingdom has no way of knowing that submissions haven't arrived.
Somehow, Kingdom has to get informed that stuff has gone missing.  That's
the trick.


>Is there a tracer system?  

The Heraldic Submissions Tracker on the website works pretty well.
Additionally, if the submission is turned in at Pennsic, the table
coordinator has a database and can look up info about the submission
including what was submitted, how it was paid for, etc.  Also, a binder of
one copy of each submission stays at the table.  Each year, we have a
couple of submitters come up and ask for copies of their submissions from 1
(or 2 or 3...) years ago.  This system has been in place about 5 years now
and has been working fairly well.


>Especially after the local herald is two or three 
>  incarnations later than the one who accepted the original submission.  Is 
>there a fast track for people who have been bumped by the system?

Folks who have been victims of stuff like this tend to get as much help and
speed-up as possible.  It is only possible to fast-track within the Kingdom
level, though.  The speed once the submissions leave Kingdom is a fixed rate.


>Just my 2 pence on a problem that I hope is only local.

It tends to be a local problem, but it tends to visit every locality at
some point.  Kinda like the flu.  :P

Mari