[ANSTHRLD] Website functionality

[Doug Bell]

The uses I have for an personal archive as a private commenter vary a bit from kingdom purposes. You have storage and format issues as well as SCA policy to consider.

Storage isn't a problem for my computer. The upper limit on pdf files is 2 gigabytes and the hard drive has many terabytes of storage. We hit the pdf limit with some microfilm pdfs recently.

So far have only tried the image and page extract utilities on pdf files. I haven't used the combine or convert to text ones yet.

The Laurel archive isn't much help when the mystery submissions never left the kingdom in question.

The archive searches I run are for writing a submission history, finding a mislabeled resubmission or occasional lost sheep, determining if a resub is free or not, and a short cut for documentation on a name which the submitter neglected to document. 

The usual suspects to search for issues are the LoAR directory, SCA armorial, St Gabriel's reports and articles, Google books, and a kingdom archive. Sometimes a Google search of the name helps. 

The LoARs are useful to search for the registered name of any suspected conflict. It tells you what Laurel had to say about that person's submissions. Returns at Laurel level show up. It is also necessary when a person's name is not spelled right. Typos are common in non-English alphabets. These searches are also useful for rare charge types. They are often more helpful with SCA floral heraldry than anything short of a good herbicide. (I will not darken the minds of the innocents that haven't experienced SCA Linnean proper heraldry sins of our past).

Archives are often carefully collected and preserved without any thought given to how they can be searched and accessed.

Magnus