SR - Late Entry

Timothy A. McDaniel tmcd at jump.net
Fri Aug 6 11:38:39 PDT 1999


In this message, I'll cover the mechanics.  In the next, I'll address
Lyonesse itself.

On Thu, 5 Aug 1999 19:40:42 -0500,
Don Christian Dor{e'} "James Crouchet" <jtc at io.com> wrote:
> complaining that the suggested names for this region were bad,
> twinky, un-period, and generally unacceptable.

Around 1917 or so, the famous socialist H. G. Wells wrote an anti-
monarchical article in which he called King George V "alien and
uninspired".  KG5 was outraged: "I may be uninspired, but damned if
I'm alien!".  (The Hanovers, er, Windsors had been in England for
about 200 years.)

"Un-period". AElfwyn and I sent all the nominees out to consulting
heralds to find out how plausible and registerable they were.  They
rated them on a subjective 1 to 5 scale: 5 was a period name, 1 was
"no way in Hell".  The only names that got on the ballot were 3-stars
and above: probably period style.  On the ballot, each name has its
star rating, and I believe it's explained at the top.

"Twinky".  This name list doesn't have the overwhelming preponderance
of (Old) English, Celtic, and Old Norse names that so many SCA
branches have.  I call that non-twinky, but your definition may
differ.

The rest, of course, is "each to his own taste".

> Of course, by making such complaints in public we put ourselves at
> risk.

Of this question at least: where were y'all during the entire name
nomination process?  We would have welcomed new ideas, on their own
and to spark new ideas.  If a Don of Fence, I presume pretty active in
the region, didn't hear about it and didn't get a chance to suggest a
name, that's not a good sign at all for the process.

> Some of you may even need to figure out how to recall your vote and
> change it.  ...  if this is the name we truly want, the process
> should not prevent us from having it.

I think I suggested that everyone sign their ballot below a pledge
something like "I attest that I have voted only once, and that I
consider myself a participant in the Southern Region of Ansteorra",
but the idea was received rather coldly.  There is no reliable way to
identify already-cast ballots.  (I have rather strong tastes when it
comes to the name candidates, but I don't think I could identify the
exact list of names in the order I voted for them.)

I can only see it being possible if your seneschal (or whoever you
voted thru) hasn't forwarded ballots yet and if you can recognize your
handwriting and choices with great reliability.  Even so, I'm a little
leery of that myself.

Daniel de Lincolia
-- 
                    *** NEW PERSONAL ADDRESS ***
Tim McDaniel is tmcd at jump.net; if that fail,
    tmcd at austin.ibm.com and tmcd at us.ibm.com are my work accounts.
    tmcd at crl.com is old and will go away.
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