[Artemisia] Fwd: [Announcements] Newsletter Production Stipends

Sun Feb 20 23:57:19 CST 2011

wow.....

________________________________
From: Belladonna <belladonna.difrancia at yahoo.com>
To: Kingdom of Artemisia mailing list <artemisia at lists.gallowglass.org>
Sent: Tue, February 15, 2011 2:13:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Artemisia] Fwd: [Announcements] Newsletter Production Stipends

Your Grace:

I apologize that I seemed to be summarily dismissing your idea. That was not my 
intention. I saw a couple of potential hurdles and pointed them out, but that 
doesn't mean I think the idea has no merit or does not deserve further 
investigation to see if those problems are surmountable.

Despite the fact that I seem to have angered you, I think we agree on many 
points. I do have empathy for those for whom Internet access is difficult or 
impossible and for whom an electronic newsletter will be a hardship. I have 
suggested ways in another email that local groups might work together to ensure 
that everyone has access to a newsletter. I also think that charging an extra 
amount for the option of printed copies might be a workable solution, although I 

think it would be wise to  look into the cost before suggesting dollar amounts. 
I think the Kingdom and local groups can and will come up with any number of 
workable solutions.

I also feel like we should be sensitive to those who are on dial-up by keeping 
the size of the e-newsletter small. It's tempting to let an electronic-only 
document bloat, and we should make efforts not to allow this. But if you assume 
an average 48Kbps download speed on a 56Kbps modem and limit the newsletter size 

to 1MB or less, it should take approximately 2.85 minutes to download it (1024 
times 8 divided by 48 divided by 60). I don't know how large the last Sage was 
in electronic form, but it is mostly a text file. I know our last baronial 
newsletter, which is not all that different in ratio of graphics to text was 
736KB. I know three minutes seems like a long time to wait for a download for 
those of us who are used to high-speed Internet, but if you'd consider for a 
moment that people on dial-up  are still likely to get the newsletter a day or 
two sooner than they would by snail mail, I think the time is reasonable. Even 
if some connections don't average 48Kbps and the wait is as long as five 
minutes, it still feels reasonable to me.

Now, I could be wrong about this, but I suspect that, in addition to those for 
whom it would really be a hardship, there might be those who are perfectly 
capable of downloading and printing their own newsletters, but who are saying, I 

prefer printed, I've always been able to get printed before as part of my 
membership fees and by having someone else do the work for me, and so I want to 
still have that option. If this is the case, then it is for those who are saying 

that that my empathy runs low. 

For me, it's all about attitude. If accessing or printing it yourself is really 
difficult for you (the general you) and you *ask* for help, I really want to  
help. If you are capable of printing it yourself, but you *ask* me to print it 
for you and seem grateful for the service, I won't mind doing it if I have the 
time and resources. If you *expect* me to do it for you because you're not as 
advantaged as others and so someone should help you, I might help, but I will 
probably also lose some respect for you. If you *expect* me to do it for you 
even though you're capable of doing it yourself, but you just like printed 
better, you just don't wanna, and you think someone else just should, I have a 
fairly low opinion of that kind of behavior.

In other words, do I want to help? Yes! Do I feel like we should look at  
solutions for helping together? Yes! Do I feel like I should be obligated  to 
help? If you asked me that question 15 years ago, I might  have said yes, but 
these days I'm not a very good socialist.

Do I presume everyone will agree with me? No, I understand that my opinion is 
not universally popular, but I believe that advancing opinions is the only way 
to make conversations happen.

Respectfully,
Belladonna

________________________________
From: Allen Hall <dukealan at q.com>
To: Kingdom of Artemisia mailing list <artemisia at lists.gallowglass.org>
Sent: Mon, February 14, 2011 9:05:17 PM
Subject: Re: [Artemisia] Fwd:  [Announcements] Newsletter Production Stipends

Belladonna,

I have been a Baronial Chronicler as well.  I have been the Baronial Seneschal 3 

times, the Baronial Knight Marshal 2 times, the Principality Seneschal, the 1st 
InterKingdom Advisory Council representative for Atenveldt, the Kingdom Earl 
Marshal for four years, and am now the Kingdom Equestrian marshall.  Thank you 
for advising me of all the work involved in being a chronicler...but I'm quite 
aware of it.

Entitlement?  You obviously don't know me at all.

I'm sure you're familiar with the term "egocentricy".  Even if I can't spell it 
correctly, it means that a person presumes that everyone else thinks the same as 

them.  Wrong.

Several people have mentioned their personal situation doesn't allow for easy 
internet access.  It may seem strange to some, but take a look at the map of 
Artemisia.  You'll see MANY small little towns, some with limited access to 
Internet  what-so-ever.  And yes, some of those areas only have dial-up.  Do you 

remember what dial-up is?  Suffice it to say it's a different way to spell 
SLOW.  Sometimes slow to the point that your computer just plain freezes up.

Your assumption that everyone has the same easy access to internet that you do 
is incorrect.  Your assumption that everyone is as adept as cruising the 
internet as you, is incorrect.  Your assumption that if someone...nevermind.  I 
hope you get the idea by now.  You should consider empathizing with their 
situation rather than dismissing it.

The way we work out problems is finding out what the problems are and then 
finding ways to work them out, for the maximum number of people possible.  
Summarily dismissing someone's idea with "...that sounds good on the surface..." 

when the situation has only been presented to us for a few days is a bit hasty.  

Even Society  hasn't locked anything in stone.  Believe it or not, Society has 
started off in one direction, and through the gentle persuasion of SCA members, 
changed their path.  Trust me on that.  Been there and done that.

If this seem harsh, I'm sorta sorry.  But it's much milder than it started off 
being...

Alan

> From: belladonna.difrancia at yahoo.com

> Although I think that sounds reasonable on the surface, Your Grace, 
> 

> there, but it seems to me like a strange sense of entitlement, nonetheless, for 
>
>
> you to ask it of me.
> 
> One other point I'd like to make about entitlement is that the newsletter the 
> Society has included with our membership fees has always relied on having free 

> volunteer labor. As a Chronicler for a Barony that does not cover  outsourcing 

>
> Belladonna

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