Re: why do we....?

[Julien de Montfort <julien@spiaggia.org>]

Poster: Julien de Montfort <julien@spiaggia.org>

> 1) Why (when we give permission to change spelling, grammer or
> construction, and form a holding name) is a name that is unacceptable
>as
> a whole but has a usable name included not issued as a holding name?

I'm not quite sure I understand the question here -- an unnaceptable
name (even if a part of it was acceptable) wouldn't be used as a
holding name... a name has to be  'correct' along all parts of the
name, and not just one or the other elements, holding names included.

> Even if the name has two possible holding names that the person could
> chose between, why do we give our phone number if they don't call and

It does happen occasioanlly, although that line is often probably of
more assistance to the local herald for getting up with people.  The
sheer quantity of submissions done each month makes it difficult for
the Kingdom level and higher heralds to call each person (plus, I don't
believe they are reimbusred for doing so -- imagine at Laurel level
having to call people from all over the world just to verify
something...!)

> ask?  Or, why don't we give our e-mail address to save time and money
>so
> they can ask?  I'm just interested in why this is so.

Old forms didn't have a line on there because email was so rare (if
even existant) back when they were first drafted.  However, many
heralds jot down the email address of their submitter anyway somewhere
on the form; I know I do.  The new heraldry forms that are in the works
has a line for them, if I'm not mistaken.

> 2)  With the legnth of time it takes to get a submission back (and the
> number of times heraldry is returned before an acceptance-I think 5
> being the norm in the people I have asked about it), why do we not
>allow

Returned five times before something is accepted?  That sounds a bit
odd, actually, and far from the norm (at least from what I've seen).
Most of the ones I know of in this area have gone through on their
first time, and maybe one or two have been returned once, but I can't
think of any recently around here with more than returns than that.  Or
are you talking about being 'returned' by the local herald (so to
speak) on account of obvious conflicts, tincture violations, and that
sort of stuff?  If that's the case, that's not so much a return, in my
eyes, as simply catching problems before they head up to Kingdom level.
A good herald should work with the submitter, not just sit there and
accept stuff as they are dropped in his/her hand. ;-)

> persons to enter 3 or even 5 different blazons at once?  It would seem

Well, theoretically, they can, just not quite in the way you are
thinking of.  I suppose that somebody, if they wanted, could send
several differnt designs in at the same time to be registered, although
it wouldn't fall on the same sort of 'numbered' preference you are
referring to.

> that if they are significantly different, there is a higher
>probability
> that one will be accepted.  In addition, it gives a wide range of
> information at once if they all are refused.  FOr instance, if 3 of
>the
> blazons have a protected charge and are all returned for that reason,
> one has a metal on metal, and the last has a conflict of being too
> similar to an existing peice of heraldry, then the person can
>reasonably
> be expected to make a combination from all of that information to make
> an acceptable blazon on the next pass up.  The blazons could be
>numbered
> for the preference of the submitting party, so that if there are more
> than one that are acceptable, the heralds would automatically chose #2
> rather than #4.  Since the heralds operate by fairly set rules, it
>does
> not seem difficult to make a cursory decision on all but the
>similarity
> factor.

Well, at this point I drift off onto personal feelings on the matter --
firstly, that would create three to five times the work for the heralds
at kingdom level, and I for one know Evan would start going just a
little loopy on us if his workload increased by that much! ;-)
Atlantia already is a very productive and busy kingdom by heraldic
standards (and from my limited knowledge, one of the best, I'd say).

Secondly, to me, that idea seems to go against the whole point of
heraldry in the Society.  When one of my sumbitters submits something,
I want it to be something they want, not just one of a grab bag of
potential ideas that 'they could live with'.  Submitters who don't put
a lot of thought into their submissions tend to have devices that down
the road they discover they don't really like, or ignore, or change
endlessly, making even more work for the heralds.  As the famous maxim
goes, take your device, draw it out, and tape it to your bathroom
mirror.  After a month, if you still like what you've been staring at
every single day, then you should probably go with it.  Heraldry
shouldn't be something people rush right into -- especially names.

And, it seems to me that a local herald should be able to help a lot in
this regard.  If he knows what he's doing (and if he doesn't know the
answer to a particular question, the correct answers are almost always
just a quick email or phone call away) then a lot of the stuff you have
talked about -- multiple devices in case some are returned, etc. can be
minimized by conflict checking, reasonable knowledge of what charges
are protected and why, that sort of stuff.  A local herald can't be
expected to know *everything*, obviously, but they can help ensure a
smooth procedure in which at least most all the obvious potential
problems can be eliminated before the device evens heads out to
Kingdom...

Julien
just a herald
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Seigneur Julien de Montfort                  De sable, seme d'hermines
"Solum Dice Nullus Sunt Suficio"             d'or, tres amphorae et un
Canton de Spiaggia Levantina                     caid palissade argent
julien@spiaggia.org                            http://www.spiaggia.org
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