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The Merry Rose FAQ
Poster: The Merry Rose <owner-atlantia@csc.ncsu.edu>
Frequently Asked Questions for the Merry Rose Tavern at Cheapside
by Lord Kendrick Wayfarer (mka Tanner Lovelace) lovelace@netcom.com
v1.3, 4 August 1996
This document is a list of the most Frequently Asked Questions on the
mailing list hosted at atlantia@atlantia.sca.org (also known as the
Merry Rose Tavern at Cheapside, or simply, the Merry Rose). The mail-
ing list serves as a vehicle for discussion within the Kingdom of
Atlantia of the Society for Creative Anachronism. For more informa-
tion the reader is referred to the Frequently Asked Questions from the
Rialto (rec.org.sca). This document also contains Lady Anarra's Lit-
tle Book of List Etiquette.
1. The Merry Rose Tavern at Cheapside
1.1. What is the Merry Rose? What's it for?
The Merry Rose is what is normally called a mailing list or mail
exploder. People send messages to one central address, when then
turns around and resends that message out to a list of people that has
subscribed to the list. The Merry Rose exists to discuss topics of
interest to the Kingdom of Atlantia in the Society for Creative
Anachronism. The SCA is a non-profit, educational organization of
people that study the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and recreate those
parts we find interesting.
1.2. Why is it called the Merry Rose? Why is it sometimes called
Cheapside?
People in the SCA use a medieval name instead of their real name in
order to get more into the mindset of the past. This also extends to
other things that have to do with the SCA. The Merry Rose is
supposedly a tavern where people gather to gossip and exchange ideas.
It is sometimes called Cheapside because when we were deciding on a
name, everyone had a suggestion and they sort of all got combined
together. Cheapside is a section of London and the Merry Rose Tavern
is located there.
1.3. How do I post to the Merry Rose? Why don't some of my posts make
it to the list?
To post messages to the Merry Rose they must be sent to
atlantia@atlantia.sca.org. This will resend them to everyone on the
list, including yourself, if you are on the list. You don't have to
be on the list to send to it, but if you aren't then you won't know
whether your post made it or not. When you receive a post from the
list and you try to reply to it, you must make sure that the address
it is going to is atlantia@atlantia.sca.org. Some mailers try to send
it back to owner-atlantia@atlantia.sca.org. This address doesn't go
to the list, it only goes to the list administrators. You can also
send mail to atlantia-l@atlantia.sca.org and it will go to the
atlantia@atlantia.sca.org address.
1.4. How do I subscribe to the Merry Rose? How do I unsubscribe?
All subscription and unsubscription requests must go to
majordomo@atlantia.sca.org. Sending an request to the list, will not
subscribe or unsubscribe you. The best way to subscribe is to send
the following message to majordomo@atlantia.sca.org:
subscribe atlantia
end
This tells the Majordomo software, which may process many mailing
lists, that you want to subscribe to the list named atlantia. The
software will then automatically pick up your address and subscribe
you to the list. If you need to subscribe to another address than
where you are sending from you must structure the message the follow-
ing way:
subscribe atlantia <e-mail address@whereever>
end
Note that you must use angle brackets around the address. Other
types of brackets, or parentheses, will confuse the mailer. To unsub-
scribe to the list you just substitute the word "unsubscribe" in place
of the word subscribe. When you originally subscribe to the list, you
will be sent an introductory message telling you about the list and
exactly how to unsubscribe. It is your responsibility to keep this
message and refer to it if you ever want to unsubscribe.
1.5. How do I add my SCA name to the listing along with my e-mail
address?
The last place the list was hosted allowed people to add comments
besides their e-mail address to the main list, but our current place
uses a newer version of the software that is set to strip those
comments out, and only keep the e-mail address. This is done because
many times those comments were not formatted correctly and just ended
up being problems for the list administrators.
1.6. What are these four lines at the end of every message?
The Majordomo software that we are using has been configured to add
these four lines to the end of every message sent out in order to
remind people about various places for list information. When you
quote someone's message in a reply, you should take care to delete
those four lines so they won't end up in the message twice (or more
times).
1.7. Is there a digest for the Merry Rose?
Yes, after operating for almost two years, the Merry Rose finally got
a digest version. If you would rather get one large message once in a
while, rather than a bunch of small ones, you might consider
subscribing to the digest instead of the main list. The digest saves
all the messages posted to the main list and periodically sends them
out in one big mail message.
1.8. How do I subscribe to the digest? How do I unsubscribe?
Subscribing to the digest is very similar to subscribing to the main
list. You send an e-mail message to majordomo@atlantia.sca.org. with
no subject and the following body:
subscribe atlantia
end
To unsubscribe substitute the word "unsubscribe" instead of the word
"subscribe."
1.9. If I'm subscribed to the digest, how do I post to the list?
Posting is the same regardless of whether you're subscribed to the
digest or the main list. See section ``Posting'' for more
information.
1.10. Where can I get back posts from the Merry Rose?
All post from the Merry Rose are archived and can be found by
anonymous ftp at ftp://ftp.pbm.com/pub/sca/atlantia/atlantia-
l/archive/. If you don't know how to access anonymous ftp, contact
your system administrator. Posts are archived by month and are
compressed using the Gnu zip format. Most all gnu software can be
found at the main gnu ftp site: prep.ai.mit.edu.
1.11. Am I allowed to publish Merry Rose postings in our newsletter?
The legalities of copyright ownership in an electronic medium are
currently murky. In countries that are signatories to the Berne
Convention (which includes the USA and Canada), text is copyrighted
from the moment of creation. However, text submitted to newsgroups
and digests may be different, as it is intended for a wide
distribution. There is no clear answer in the USA at the present
time. The polite thing to do, regardless of whether a lawyer would
tell you it is necessary, is contact the author(s) of the article(s)
in question, and ask for permission to publish. Abide by their
wishes. Assuming permission is given, you (or your chronicler)
probably want to save a hardcopy of the message giving you permission.
1.12. Is there a badge for the Merry Rose people?
There is an unofficial badge that was presented to Lord Kendrick
Wayfarer at the Storvik Baronial Investiture in March of 1995. The
blazon is
(fieldless) On the seeds of a rose barbed and seeded proper,
in fess two roundels in pale, a billet fesswise and an
increscent, all sable.
which is heraldese for a rose with a smiley on it. :-) There have
been rumors of badges to be made, but as of yet none have surfaced.
1.13. Why do I keep hearing about a northern principality?
The topic of a principality in the northern reaches of Atlantia is one
that seems to crop up every now and then. This list was created in
the midst of some of these talks and therefore received a lion's share
of posts on it near the beginning. That has since tapered off, but
you may still hear people talk about it now and then. Apparently this
issue is able to galvanize people on both sides into almost despising
the people on the other, while those who don't feel strongly either
way get caught in the middle.
2. Lady Anarra's Little Book of List Etiquette ;)
The Society for Creative Anachronism revolves around ideals of
Chivalry and Honor. Etiquette is merely an extension of those ideals.
When posting to the list, please bear these simple rules in mind:
Trim the message you are replying to. In other words, do not quote the
entire message then tack your message on to the end. This is extremely
annoying! Instead, cut all but the relevant part of the post and add
your reply to that.
Add substance to the discussion. Resist the impulse to post a "Me too"
or "I agree" message to the list. If you agree, state some reasons
why. Add value.
Stay on topic. If your reply drifts the discussion from the original
topic, change the subject line to reflect that. Many people delete
mail un-read based on the subject line. If you've got inspirational
things to say about Viking Longship construction, make sure your
subject line doesn't say "(SILLY) Hagar the Horrible!"
Post items of general interest to the list. Send personal notes to
the person.
"Mary, remember that discussion we had last week?"
is inappropriate.
"Lady Mary and I were discussing exactly the same thing last
week and we thought..."
is very appropriate.
Make sure your message is addressed ONLY to the list. There are few
things more annoying or wasteful of disk space than getting two (or
more!) copies of every message! If your e-mail program automatically
replies to all then make sure you delete the person's personal address
(or delete the list address if it's a personal message).
Be polite. It seems like it wouldn't be necessary to say this in an
SCA FAQ. Unfortunately it is. The print-only medium of the e-mail
environment makes misunderstandings common. The reply feature makes
angry posts easy to send. Re-read your post before you send it. Would
you say that to the person's face? In front of someone who's good
opinion you value? Assume there has been a misunderstanding and strive
to correct it.
"Do you really mean to say that East Kingdom Sheep are supe-
rior to Atlantian ones?"
is MUCH better than
"You idiot! How dare you insult Atlantia's sheep! You should
be thrown out of the Order of the Hooked Crook immediately!"
If you have a problem with a post or poster, send a private message.
Posting chastising messages in public does not help to solve the
situation.
Do not post private e-mail on a public forum without permission from
the sender.
"Lord John wrote to me the other day that he liked court."
is appropriate.
"Lord John wrote to me the other day: 'I like court because
I can get in a good nap.'"
is not appropriate.
Realize that a majority of the Atlantian populace does not have access
to the Merry Rose. Issues discussed here cannot turn into 'decisions'
without input from the rest of the kingdom. The Merry Rose
supplements, not replaces, conventional means of communication.
Make sure you're sending posts in ASCII and not with foreign
characters like accents and umlauts. Many American mail programs
cannot read non-ASCII characters.
Finally - enjoy the discussions generated here. Share them with your
non-e-mail friends!
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