[SCA] Can I say this?
May. 19th, 2008 09:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newman(This isn't going to mean a lot to you if you're not in the SCA. Even if you are, it may not mean a lot to you)
A short note came across the wires this morning from Hal Simon (Chairman of the BOD) regarding the invalidation of the reign of the current King and Queen of The Middle because of a 3-day lapse in membership due to some unusual circumstances. At the conclusion of the brief letter, Mr. Simon (as ever) indicates that "Questions, suggestions and comments can be sent to [email address snipped]". This is the note I'm considering sending; do I bother?
Dear Mr. Simon:
Upon reading your recent brief note concerning the invalidation of the reign of Lutr and Tessa, I was struck by the fact that The Board of Directors seems increasingly hidebound, interested in enforcing the letter of our laws, regardless of the cost or of the original intent of those laws. Interest in the S.C.A. from senior members (such as myself) is waning, and The S.C.A. has not been able to increase new member recruitment. My question, suggestion, and comment are
1) Why aren't the Board of Directors focused more on improving the S.C.A. and less on preserving some perceived status quo?
2) Please increase the transparency of our government. Much of the Board's actions are in a sealed Star Chamber.
3) If the Board of Directors does not make some drastic changes in the next few years, the S.C.A. as an entity will cease to exist. It already has largely ceased to exist as an organization I wish to be part of.
Alternative text for #3: If the Board of Directors does not make some drastic changes in the next few years, the S.C.A. as an entity will cease to exist. It is already well on its way to becoming an organization I would not wish to be part of.
Signed,
me, with all the titles and O.P. stuff that apparently makes me worth listening to ;-)
A short note came across the wires this morning from Hal Simon (Chairman of the BOD) regarding the invalidation of the reign of the current King and Queen of The Middle because of a 3-day lapse in membership due to some unusual circumstances. At the conclusion of the brief letter, Mr. Simon (as ever) indicates that "Questions, suggestions and comments can be sent to [email address snipped]". This is the note I'm considering sending; do I bother?
Dear Mr. Simon:
Upon reading your recent brief note concerning the invalidation of the reign of Lutr and Tessa, I was struck by the fact that The Board of Directors seems increasingly hidebound, interested in enforcing the letter of our laws, regardless of the cost or of the original intent of those laws. Interest in the S.C.A. from senior members (such as myself) is waning, and The S.C.A. has not been able to increase new member recruitment. My question, suggestion, and comment are
1) Why aren't the Board of Directors focused more on improving the S.C.A. and less on preserving some perceived status quo?
2) Please increase the transparency of our government. Much of the Board's actions are in a sealed Star Chamber.
3) If the Board of Directors does not make some drastic changes in the next few years, the S.C.A. as an entity will cease to exist. It already has largely ceased to exist as an organization I wish to be part of.
Alternative text for #3: If the Board of Directors does not make some drastic changes in the next few years, the S.C.A. as an entity will cease to exist. It is already well on its way to becoming an organization I would not wish to be part of.
Signed,
me, with all the titles and O.P. stuff that apparently makes me worth listening to ;-)
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From your friendly neighborhood Midrealmer
Date: 2008-05-20 01:53 am (UTC)First of all, I'm planning to send my letter early next week, after the shake-down is complete (for those who don't know the details of the rules-hack that Jehan described, it's this: immediately PRIOR to Crown Tourney on Sunday, we'll have an Emergency Crown Tourney, open to all comers, so long as they're acceptable to the Regent. Lutr, fighting for Tessa, is expected to enter, and it's my expectation that he'll win; I'll leave it at that.)
1) The rules-hack, while clever in its way, is really an abomination, and only serves to demonstrate that the underlying rules are substantially broken. The obviously correct solution to the problem is to grossly mangle the spirit of the rules regarding Succession, while staying within the letter of them, so that we can deal with the fact that the letter of Corpora IV.C.10 grossly violates the spirit of the rest of the rules on Royalty and Succession. This is in no way elegant, and should serve as a huge warning sign that the rules are bad, and need revision.
2) Inside or out of the SCA, I get kind of ticked off when people who are ostensibly given authority over others deliberately choose not to exercise their judgement. We gave the individuals serving on the Board their jobs, because we trust their judgement. When they instead declare themselves unable to exercise that judgement, they are serving us very poorly indeed.
3) My thoughts about the whole affair have a sound-bite version: "I cannot think of a thing that the SCA Board of Directors has done that is of benefit to me, that I could not have more easily done for myself. Sadly, the same cannot be said for things that the SCA Board of Directors has done, that is of detriment to me." Also, "The worst thing about this whole affair is, it's finally brought me around to agreeing with Cariadoc about something." (Specifically, that we may be better off as a Society if we stop having a Board of Directors).
4) In response to another reader's suggestion that "the activity itself" will need to be imperiled before the Board or membership wakes up: I think that the activity has outgrown the SCA, within the last decade. If the SCA dissolved tomorrow, I could pretty easily continue to practice, in organized fashion with like-minded fellow-folk, all of the things I do within the SCA. The flavor would be different, the culture would be different; in some cases and in some ways, that difference would be sadly worse; in other ways, it'd probably be better. I think that the SCA is no longer the only venue through which to exercise the things that the SCA does, and that it's crucial for the membership, and the Board, to understand this emerging truth.