RE: Name Changes and AoA's

["Thorpe, John" <thorpj@caepo1.columbiaSC.NCR.COM>]

Poster: "Thorpe, John" <thorpj@caepo1.columbiaSC.NCR.COM>


Greetings from Eldred!

Scipsit Isabel d'Avignon:

>All this discussion makes one think about the awesome responsibility of
>keeping track of individuals in the SCA.
>Even HRH Cuan was said to remark before court, "He doesn't have one yet?" 
in
>regards to one of those receiving an Award of Arms at Crown Tourney.
>The same has been true for many others as well, I am sure.

I was standing right there when he said it (but it was actually *in* 
Court)...
and you are correct--it does happen a lot.

>Do we start to believe that Atlantia and the SCA are becoming too large and
>populated to recognize those who deserve it?  Is it even a matter of size 
or
>is it more the arduous task of organization or the "nature of the beast?"
>How large of a problem is it (or even one at all)?
>I'm curious as to people's opinions.

Good questions.  Atlantia is one of the smaller Kingdoms (at least
geographically) believe it or not.  It is incredible how difficult it is for
the Royalty to travel across even our Kingdom.  The answer to all of your
questions is "Maybe."  With such a large number of people, it is easy to
overlook folks.  The other part is the bookkeeping.  The College of
Heralds and the Clerks of Precedence (everywhere) have to help
keep track of everyone who has registered a name and device, and
what awards people have received.  Unfortunately, the information
isn't always passed along to the correct people.  Bookkeeping is
not fun to most people, and since the SCA is fundamentally a hobby,
the not-so-fun part of the hobby gets neglected.

I don't think that the population size is a problem.  I'm all for having
our organization grow.  If it is to survive and evolve, it needs new
people.

The problem exists in the eyes of the beholder(s).  Some people
could care less.  For others, the recognition of their accomplishment
is very important.  YMMV.  Personally, I think it is a medium-sized
problem.  It isn't totally broken, and when something goes wrong,
it usually gets fixed.  If someone gets overlooked, it's because
people are sending in letters of recommendation!  Even if you
*think* someone has an award, a letter of recommendation to
the Royalty certainly won't hurt anyone.  Even a face-to-face
recommendation works--I've helped a few folks along that way
too.

In service,
Eldred




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