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Society for Creative Anachronism ( rec.org.sca )

Message-ID: [email protected]> X-Last-Updated: 2004/2/2 Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: rec.org.sca / Rialto Frequently Asked Questions - part01/04 From: [email protected] Summary: FAQs with Answers for the Rialto - rec.org.sca and mailing     list [email protected]  The Society for Creative Anachronism is     an organization that studies the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and     recreates those parts we find most interesting. Date: 17 Apr 2004 11:23:46 GMT  Archive-name: sca-faq/part01 Last-modified: 2002-3-8                    rec.org.sca and [email protected] FAQ                                       or                    Questions Frequently Asked on the Rialto ------------------------------------------------------------------------  Certain topics come up again and again on the Rialto. They are good questions, but each time they recur much net bandwidth and reader time is spent on repetitive responses and corrections to incorrect or incomplete answers.  This article, which is posted in several parts on a regular basis, attempts to cover these common topics definitively and succinctly, so that discussion doesn't get bogged down in the repetition. The complete Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list is available in several formats. The most current version is always the one available at http://rialto.ansteorra.org/sca-faq.html or http://www.faqs.org. An archive of the most recent posted version is available via FTP from rtfm.mit.edu in directory /pub/usenet/rec.org.sca. Those without FTP access should send e-mail to [email protected] with "send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources" in the body of the message to find out how to do FTP by e-mail.  For more complete introductions to the SCA, see the recurring postings "Come on in -- the water's fine" (by Hal Ravn <[email protected]> ) and "Life in the Current Middle Ages." (by Arval Benicour <[email protected]> ). --------------------------------------------------------------------------  Table of Contents  Section 1: The Rialto.     * 1.1 What is the Rialto? What's it for?    * 1.2 Why is it called the Rialto?    * 1.3 How do I post to the Rialto?    * 1.4 What is the SCA Digest? How do I get on/off it?    * 1.5 Where can I get back issues of the Digest?    * 1.6 Why do I see the answers before the questions?    * 1.7 Am I allowed to publish Rialto postings in our newsletter?  Section 2: Other SCA electronic sources.     * 2.1 Are there other SCA mailing lists?    * 2.1.1 What other mailing lists of interest are there?    * 2.2 Are there archives of SCA information?    * 2.2.1 Archives via FTP?    * 2.2.2 Archives via Gopher?    * 2.2.3 Archives via WWW?    * 2.3 Does anyone have a contact in...?    * 2.4 What are the Rolls Ethereal?    * 2.5 What's this alt.sca I found?    * 2.6 Where can I get songs and lyrics?  Section 3: Miscellaneous questions.     * 3.1 What does AS stand for?    * 3.2 Other abbreviations.    * 3.3 Why don't we have a badge for all the Rialto people...?    * 3.4 What is Period?    * 3.5 What is the Grand Council?  Section 4: Recurring events.     * 4.1 What is Pennsic? When is Pennsic?    * 4.2 What is Estrella? When is Estrella?    * 4.3 What is Lilies? When is Lilies?    * 4.4 What is Gulf War? When is Gulf War?  Section 5: Difficult Topics.     * 5.0.5 How do I write the Board of Directors?    * 5.1 Same-Sex Consorts.    * 5.2 Selecting the Crown.  Section 6: How do you join the SCA?  Guide to Posting Style.  -------------------------------------------------------------------------  Section 1: The Rialto.   1.1 What is the Rialto? What's it for?  The Rialto consists of a Usenet newsgroup, (rec.org.sca) which is propagated to thousands of machines world-wide, and an electronic mail digest (the SCA Digest), which is produced on a badly overworked machine at MIT, and mailed directly to hundreds of people, also world-wide. We are also connected to Fidonet and other BBS networks.   The Rialto exists to discuss topics of interest to the Society for Creative Anachronism. The SCA is a non-profit, educational organization of people that study the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and recreate those parts we find most interesting.   1.2 Why is it called the Rialto?   The Rialto is named for a marketplace in Venice in the vicinity of the Rialto bridge. As people gathered there to gossip and exchange ideas, so do we gather here.   1.3 How do I post to the Rialto?   Check with your local system administrator or sysop for instructions for your exact machine and software. Generally, you either post a message to the newsgroup rec.org.sca, or send mail to [email protected] See elsewhere in this FAQ for guidelines to posting style.   1.4 What is the SCA Digest? How do I get on/off it?   The SCA Digest is the electronic mail version of the Rialto. One can subscribe and unsubscribe by sending email to [email protected], requesting your addition to or deletion from the list. Expect this to take up to a week - the people running the Digest are volunteers with other work to do. If you read rec.org.sca, there is no need for you to subscribe to SCA-Request, as messages are gatewayed in both directions.   1.5 Where can I get back issues of the Digest?   You may ask for back issues of any digests by writing to [email protected] and specifying the date(s)/number(s) of the issue you want mailed to you. That address is serviced by overworked humans so expect any request to take up to a week to process. Please be reasonable about the number of back issues you request. ("Everything up to now" is *not* reasonable :-)   You can also check Stefan's Rialto Archive at http://www.florilegium.org by Stefan li Rous ([email protected]) or Archives of the very early Rialto are available from Justin du Coeur, [email protected]  1.6 Why do I see the answers before the questions?   The short answer is that messages propagate from one system to another at varying speeds, and therefore an answer posted on a well-connected machine may arrive at a less-well-connected machine before the question does. The longer answer requires paying attention to the fact that the Rialto is both a Usenet newsgroup and a mailing list, and the gateway between them is another place where the ordering of messages can be scrambled. There is nothing that can easily (read cost-effectively) be done about the scrambling of message order (it would require a complete redesign of the Usenet newsgroups, just to start with) so please don't ask. This message scrambling, by the way, is a good reason to paraphrase or quote just enough of the message you are answering to make clear what you are talking about.   1.7 Am I allowed to publish Rialto postings in our newsletter?   The legalities of copyright ownership in an electronic medium are currently murky. In countries that are signatories to the Berne Convention (which includes the USA and Canada), text is copyrighted from the moment of creation. However, text submitted to newsgroups and digests _may_ be different, as it is intended for a wide distribution. There is no clear answer in the USA at the present time. The polite thing to do, regardless of whether a lawyer would tell you it is necessary, is contact the author(s) of the article(s) in question, and ask for permission to publish. Abide by their wishes. Assuming permission is given, you (or your chronicler) probably want to save a hardcopy of the message giving you permission.                     ---------- End of Rialto FAQ part01 ----------  ======================================================================== Thanks to all who have contributed to this article.  This article is a work in progress.  If you have other topics you'd like to see included, send me email with the question(s) and your suggested answer(s).  If you have comment on the items included, please send me (polite) email.            PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE RIALTO! ! !  The whole point of this effort is to reduce traffic.  I will summarize comments sent to me, if it seems necessary. ======================================================================== A special thanks goes out to Robyyan Torr d'Elandris/Dennis R. Sherman for all the work he has put into this FAQ. Without his work, this would not exist. -- Phelim "Pug" Gervase                        Richard "Pug" Bainter Barony of Bryn Gwlad, Ansteorra             Austin, TX                                [email protected]