[Steppes] Plea for the SCA

[Gerita]

Granted that this type of remark is hurtful.  It is, and there's no getting
around it.  But i must ask:  in the privacy of your own home, in the
presence of a small group of friends, have you Never made a remark that you
wouldn't want published?  If you haven't, then you are in an exalted
minority.  When people believe that their comments are completely private,
they have a tendency (well-documented) to figuratively let their hair down
and speak more - ummm - bluntly(?) - sarcastically (?) - whatever.  than
they will when they are speaking among a group of not-so-close people.  They
are also more likely to introduce levity that may or may not look good on
paper.
This occurred in the Heraldic Commentaries of the past, and may even occur
currently.  The difference now is that people are well aware that their
remarks Will Be Published, and they either watch their tongues, or
bowlderize the written record. As Timothy said, in the past, these
commentaries were never for external or official publication, and were taken
down as spoken and left in the record that way.  The belief was that these
records were entirely private and would Never see the light of open
publication, thus they were left as they were.  Sort of like your private
diary or journal.
Also like that diary or journal, these records are now being scooped up and
published un-edited.  Please: put yourself in the position of the people
whose private words are being published without their knowledge or
permission: if it were Your diary instead of theirs, would not You be
somewhat nonplussed, hurt, angry even?
The Wrong that has been perpetrated here is that the private diary of a
group of people has been wrested from its resting place and published
without permission.  I'm not a Herald, but i can lay any odds you care to
name that, if asked for permission, the group would have either refused or
demanded the right to submit an edited version.
Since these words were their private property, not a part of SCA Corpora,
this is theft.  At this point, there has been a concurrent conversation
about written permission for publication.  If that was never given, then all
this hulabaloo is directed in the wrong place and should properly be
directed at those who stole the material and published it, not at those who
were spending an evening with like-minded friends and may have uttered
remarks in fun that are hurtful today.

Gerita,
Tired to death of material theft.