SC - All members

[Sue Wensel]

I have been reading the exhortations to Rhi to remain on the list.  Let me add
my encouragment alongside all of them.

The purpose of this list is to exchange recipies, ideas, and solutions.  When
exchanging recipies, it is not uncommon to ask for the documentation -- not
because people wish to accuse you of not doing the research, but because
people (like me) want to see the original and go to town with it.  I have fun
experimenting with the different nuances a single recipe can produce. 

Nonetheless, this is not first time we have had this discussion in the few
short months this list has been active.  Perhaps we need to consider the
phrasing in the way we ask for the documentation.  While I haven't seen any
direct challenges ("I don't think that is period; where's your
documentation?"), I have seen documentation asked for in a manner that could
be construed as challenging.  Simply stating "Where's your documentation?"
could be challenging to someone who is just beginning to explore this avenue
of expression -- I know when I first joined the SCA, that was the question I
most dreaded and became quite defensive when asked. 

Pray lords and ladies, remember that asking someone for documentation is
commonly used (not by any of us on this list) as a way of putting someone in
there place, of telling them they are not as good, worthy, etc. of being in
the SCA as the asker.  Let us all exercise a little tact and sensitivity when
asking for the original, not for the evidence.  

I think that is what my maundering is all about.  Too often asking for
documentation is perceived as asking for evidence, not as asking for the
original so I can tinker.

Derdriu