• is installing GuildWars again after a break of 3 year not playing it… #
• is installing GuildWar again… #
• is preparing a plan to paint a picture of the potentially promissing procrastination promise. #
• is tinkering with Tweety the Twit-bot. #

Whilst reading an explaination posted on one of the few mailing lists I’m still on, a thought occured to me which I must admit I have yet to research. I have oft heard complaint that “The Crown is only open to tournement fighters” from non combatants and combat archers, and this thought if put into action would stop that being an issue at all.

This is not a formal proposal for anything but an open discussion, and I believe those who know me well enough, know that I am always promoting discussion of any kind. So this is just really sticking it out there to see what bounces.

So, the idea? What, (apart from current society law) would restrict a couple from appointing a Champion to fight Crown on their behalf? Realistically at the moment it is not possible, but would it be worth concidering a proposal to make this change? After all, to take on this monumental task this Champion would need to have total faith in the couple, believing that the couple are worth fighting for, and believing that they are worth putting their own reputation on the line for. The Crown would still need to accept this Champion as well as the Couple they fight for as a valid entry into The Crown Tourney, as I believe currently takes place.

If you really think about this, there are already so many checks in place to ensure that The Crown are capable of completeing their reign that I can see nothing but benefits for this suggestion. Was this not a valid period practice? Would this also not be quite honourable and chivalrous, as I believe it would be on the fighters honour as well as those they stand for to forfill the honour of the fighter?

Personally looking at the laws, though very breifly, I believe this would be a very simple change that would not only allow for a much more exciting Crown Tourney, as well as opening up the potential for some amasing new Crown couples who were previously denied entry simply due to lack of fighting ability (Can you imagine Rowan as Queen? I can, as this would make that possible).

Anyway.. As previously stated, this is really just putting forth an idea… I believe it’s a good one, I believe there is more potential good in it than the potential harm it could do. However I am also aware that 40 odd years of tradition is one hell of a big boulder moving downhill hill at incredible pace. Luckily for us, the right brains on side, some thought, and with some of the right type of muscle it is possible to divert that big a boulder.

I’m not trying to change the way it’s currently done, I just believe that this could be a better way.

{Google Wave removed}

I have been getting more and more frustrated by mailing lists of late, in particular The Shambles. There is a reason it is called The Shambles, as it only takes 4 or 5 posts before the subject of any dicussion twists off in all directions, frequently missing the original posters point entirely and starting huge debates on topics slightly left or right of what what said to start it.

However this frustration is with the whole concept of Mailing-Lists used for Discussion of particular topics, so to relieve myself I have unsubscribed from every mailing list that I don’t need to be on. No more Shambles, no more lists that generate branching discussions on the same topic that just go on and on. Maybe that will also mean Less SCA involvement, but lets face it… I have been loosing interest in the SCA for a while now, maybe this is the break that I need to take.

I’ll still look after The Lochac Network forums… still keep adding to them occationall, hoping that others will join me and hoping that they start to take off.

Yes… it’s a subject that I just can’t let go, and tonight I have found a perfect example of why I prefer Forums over Mailing-lists for discussions. Below is a picture of my inbox with 4 highlighted topics… the problem is, all of these are part of the same topic, yet you need to know that there are multiple subject lines now to follow each of these threads.

From Screen Captures

Even if the topic of discussion in the thread has changed slightly, it’s still all part of the same conversation, yet if you wanted to follow this conversation in the archives, assuming you knew how to get into them, you would have a hard time.  You would need to read down each of these branches then go back and find where the thread split, then follow that down another branch… Think of that happening multiple times in each thread, and you’ll begin to understand the madness of it all.

I also keep hearing the excuse “I pay more attention to email”, yet I have explained multiple times that Forums allow subscriptions so that people are notified when changes are made to a forum, and no-one has noticed this.  Email gives you a snippet of information… unless you keep the entire conversation and your email client is fantastic at backing-up and thread management, then I will never value email for information collection and collation.  Forums keep the discussion on a website, they keep it together there for new people to register and read from start to finish if they need to. Email keeps each message seperate and usually on your local system.  If something goes wrong with your local computer, say goodbye to your history of that discussion unless you have it all backed-up. Forums are usually kept on web servers with backup facilities.

Anyway… It’s my personal opinion that relying on email for discussions that you don’t wish to repeat many times over is a very stupid thing… Yes,  if you still think Mailing-lists are better,  I am trying to change your mind… but I’m doing it on my website, and I’m not going to force you to change your mind, i’m just going to whinge about it here incessently. ;)

It occured to me just recently that I have been a bit of a hypocrit recently. The defining moment was when I was contemplating emailing a friend and asking him if he would be interested in changing his blog to be hosted on The Lochac Network rather than the generic Blog site he has started it on… I was thinking about this, and then I thought about all of the White Metal Madness posts on this blog, and how really they should be on The Lochac Network in the casting forum. So I’m hoping to mend my ways from now on, and discontinue the White Metal Madness posts here, instead adding them to the Casting forum on The Lochac Network.

If you do occationally check out the White Metal Madness section of this blog every now and then, what you will be finding from now on will be a summary and link to a full article on the Lochac Network forums.

It’s not difficult to work out that I am not a fan of mailing lists… That is to say I’m not a fan of using them to discuss issues in depth and work out real solutions. Mailing lists are good for one thing, and that is sharing information and by information I mean links, event notices, a particularly good website, someones A&S documentation. My latest post to The Shambles has taught me one thing, one thing which I have secretly known for a while, but this has just brought it to light.

Mailing lists are not so good at gauging the feelings of a general populace. I believe there are a number of reasons for this, and I shall try and explain it further below. Some of what I explain below also applies to this post, so see if you can spot where the over laps apply. Firstly some basic basis stuff which I’m sure most of you will all understand, I hope.

Firstly I believe everyone has an opinion, usually one which they defend vehmenently. I’m happy to admit that what you are reading now is one of mine. :) It’s not necessarily right, not is it necessarily mine alone, but the issue with human beings seems to be that sub-consiously we all seem to believe that our opinions are unique, even if they may only differ from others by degrees of interpretation. ie; we may have exactly the same opinion, but the way I express it leads you to believe that it differs enough that you need to express your opinion, which in my interpretation differs again… and the circle repeats. That said, even if the reader interprets the text correctly, their opinion may differ dramatically from the writers.

Firstly Linear Style Mailing lists basically just send out an email to everyone on the mailing list when someone sends an email to the mailing list software. There is no segregation of topics other than the mailing list itself. Therefore, everyone on that mailing list gets an email whether they are interested in the topic of discussion or not. What this seems to mean is that people tend to skim mailing lists for topics that interest them, ignoring or not reading fully anything that doesn’t. This isn’t good if you have some important information to disemminate. Sometimes posts may get misunderstood as the person reading is just trying to get through as many emails as possible. Other times people are too busy just trying to read all of the email that they are getting that they don’t really have the time to respond to the ones they want to respond to.

Getting superfluous topics of discussion which having been on the mailing list for a while you have seen before also has a tendancy to increase peoples frustration, however most of the time these topics are started by people who were not on the list for the first or second time around for that topic. The archives are there to fix this, but if you have ever tried to navigate through Mailman archives, then you can totally understand why people who bring up these topics again never took the time to search them.

Whilst I like call these Linear Style Mailing lists there is actually nothing linear about the flow of the conversations they generate other than time. The archive do not flow as simply there is no easy way to keep track of one conversation, conversations split and follow new threads… Conversations are not kept on track and frequently change subject lines as well as entire topics. This means of archiving mailing list threads makes it very difficult to follow the basic premise of the topic. Now this happens in normal conversations too, however usually normal conversations usually take place in one room, with each person taking their turn to make their point. mailing list conversations grow organically like a tree, spliting into many conversations. You may think this is good, as each thread can go off and come to a totally different conclusion, or morph into another conversation completely. But trying to follow that conversation later… it’s a nightmare.

Lets take the network of mailing lists currently for the SCA in Lochac. There are seperate mailing lists for groups, guilds and positions, if you want access to a specific topic, you need to sign up for that mailing list, specially if you ever want to post to it. So thinking of a member of the Rowany populace who has a vehicle and is willing to travel, in order for them to find out what’s goingon in a 3 hour driving distance from their home, they need to sign up for the Rowanites, Adorans, Stowe, Mords and Agaricus, as well as possibly 3 colleges mailing lists plus what ever interest mailing lists they have such as the fighers list, the archers list… Currently on the Lochac website there are 49 mailing lists listed, spread across 3 services. Wouldn’t it be so much better if there was one place to go? One login and then you have the ability to brouse through an organised structure of topics? There is such a thing, and it’s called a forum.

I’m a fan of forums simply because they are organised, the conversations flow, and if they morph into a new topic that conversation can be split from the main tree and followed linearly. The main topic can be edited by a moderator to be easy to understand, and forums can be seperated into subforums and topics, allowing one place for the discussion of a huge variety of topics. The Lochac Network forum is such a place, designed as an alternative to all of the seperate mailing lists and giving you one place for all of your discussion needs. At the moment the Lochac network forum is rather empty, having alot of organised forums to start discussions in, but not being full of as much useful information as it could be. It’s still young, and needs people to contribute by adding their own experiences and information. It will grow, and become a useful collection of discussions and collected information. It’s already fairly useful containing links to most local groups websites.

I hope to see you in there soon. ;)
http://lochac.net