[Namron] Official or not (it's merely pining for the fjords)

[Craig Pharaoh]

Hi Duncan, (and any neo-e-Luddites out there who somehow are forced to see 
these emails),  I would rather have an email than a telephone call any day! 
With email it's hard for people to forget what they were saying, and I don't 
have to worry about whether or not I understood them, but since I have 
hearing and memory problems, that is my choice.  You can leave an email, 
with a note to reply when the email is received, and if you don't get a 
reply, send it again, or try and find out why there is no reply.  I can save 
emails for years, and remind myself who wrote what and when, and rediscover 
good ideas and questions, or find out what happened in Norman or Berlin or 
whatever, even if I couldn't physically meet with my friends.

For information like directions to a new meeting place, addresses, or 
heraldric information, email is much better in my opinion, and no matter 
what time of the day or night I am finally able to be connected, I can read 
the accumulated messages.  That beats the heck out of getting a busy signal, 
or having to worry about being out of range of cell phone towers.  A Call 
Tree/ Phone Tree works great for meeting cancellations, and immediate 
priority messages, if you have a cell phone, but most regular announcements 
that are made on the internet, (along with a synopsis of important business) 
can be easily shared here.

There is no reason that inportant topics brought up or discussed at an 
Official meeting can't be posted online, and since the "Plume" is a free 
publication, the rules from the SCA seem to infer that it may also be put 
online, if you make sure to get releases from the contributors.  In fact, 
the laws of Oklahoma seem to state that any NP organization that has a 
meeting should post the minutes of the meeting somewhere for the general 
public to view, if they want to continue to have tax exemptions....  I'm not 
sure how we manage to avoid that, maybe noone ever complained.

Bad health, bad roads, distance, family, financial considerations and work 
conflicts are all a fine reason for missing any meeting, real life should 
come first.  This is still a "game".  The internet newsgroup is considered 
just as official as the various sub-kingdom newsletters, none of which are 
"corporate publications of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc." and 
could be used to convey relevant local information.   While we are playing 
pre-AD1601, we are doing it in the 21st century, and I would hope that we 
would use all forms of communication that would make it easier for people to 
get the information about events, meeting times, and anything else that 
enhances the "dream".

Caius Fabius
retired businessman, teacher and soldier
ex-member of the BoD of some Oklahoma based NPOs.
SCA dreamer


>From: Duncan MacNamara <sca_macnamara at yahoo.com>
>Reply-To: Barony of Namron <namron at ansteorra.org>
>To: Barony of Namron <namron at ansteorra.org>
>Subject: RE: [Namron] Official or not (it's merely pining for the fjords)
>Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2006 13:15:11 -0800 (PST)
>
>Except for the fact that sometimes email delivery is delayed. Sometimes, I 
>don't get notices of changes via email until well after the meeting time. 
>Course, I don't have the gas money to attend Namron's meetings, but the 
>same situation occours elsewhere.
>
>   That's one reason that email is not considered an "official" means of 
>communication. Not everyone checks their email every day, and some email 
>servers delay delivery, and sometimes email gets lost to the mists of 
>cyberspace.
>
>   When you talk to someone on a phone, you know the message was recieved. 
>That's why I ask for email *and* phone information for my contact sheets, 
>even though my group is just a household/guild type... That way, there are 
>two forms of contact you can pursue.
>
>
>
>
>   Admiral Lord Duncan MacNamara
>   Captain of the HMS Iron Lotus
>   Ansteorran Royal Navy
>
>
>   A simple e-mail the morning of the meeting would be enough to inform 
>people on the list.  and it should be easy enough to guess with reletive 
>accuracy as to weather condition by end of day.  especailly given that the 
>Senechal is a meteorologist.
>   communication concerning none weather/meeting place information and/or 
>question I am out of ideas.  obviously my attemps are not successful, so I 
>must be doing it wrong.


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