[MR] The Merry Rose Frequently Asked Questions
The Merry Rose
atlantia-admin at atlantia.sca.org
Sat Dec 1 00:00:00 PST 2001
This is a monthly posting of the Frequently Asked Questions
of The Merry Rose Tavern at Cheapside (also known as the Kingdom
of Atlantia e-mail list). More information about the Merry Rose
can be found at http://merryrose.atlantia.sca.org/.
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Frequently Asked Questions for the Merry Rose Tavern at
Cheapside
by Lord Kendrick Wayfarer (mka Tanner Lovelace)
kendrick at wayfarer.org
v2.1, 30 July 2001
This document is a list of the most Frequently Asked Questions on the
mailing list hosted at atlantia at atlantia.sca.org (also known as the
Merry Rose Tavern at Cheapside, or simply, the Merry Rose). The mail-
ing list serves as a vehicle for discussion within the Kingdom of
Atlantia of the Society for Creative Anachronism. For more informa-
tion the reader is referred to the Frequently Asked Questions from the
Rialto (rec.org.sca, FAQ located at http://rialto.ansteorra.org/sca-
faq.html). This document also contains Lady Anarra's Little Book of
List Etiquette (Copyright (c) 1996,2001 Terry L. Neill).
______________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1. The Merry Rose Tavern at Cheapside
1.1 What is the Merry Rose? What's it for?
1.2 Why is it called the Merry Rose? Why is it sometimes called Cheapside?
1.3 How do I post to the Merry Rose? Why don't some of my posts make it to the list?
1.4 How do I subscribe to the Merry Rose? How do I unsubscribe?
1.5 How do I add my SCA name to the listing along with my e-mail address?
1.6 What are those lines at the end of every message?
1.7 Is there a digest for the Merry Rose?
1.8 How do I subscribe to the digest? How do I unsubscribe?
1.9 If I'm subscribed to the digest, how do I post to the list?
1.10 Can I have the Merry Rose not send me messages while I'm on vacation?
1.11 Is there a web page for the Merry Rose?
1.12 Where can I get back posts from the Merry Rose?
1.13 Is there a badge for the Merry Rose people?
1.14 Why do I keep hearing about a northern principality?
1.15 Oh no, I just heard about the latest computer virus! Should I send a message to the Merry Rose so everyone else can hear about it too?
1.16 Should I send pictures, attachements, etc... to the list?
1.17 Is this FAQ available in other formats (i.e. pdf) so I can print it out?
1.18 But wait, you haven't answered the question
2. Lady Anarra's Little Book of List Etiquette ;)
______________________________________________________________________
1. The Merry Rose Tavern at Cheapside
1.1. What is the Merry Rose? What's it for?
The Merry Rose is what is normally called a mailing list or mail
exploder. People send messages to one central address, which then
turns around and resends that message out to a list of people that has
subscribed to the list. The Merry Rose exists to discuss topics of
interest to the Kingdom of Atlantia in 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 interesting.
1.2. Why is it called the Merry Rose? Why is it sometimes called
Cheapside?
People in the SCA use a medieval name instead of their real name in
order to get more into the mindset of the past. This also extends to
other things that have to do with the SCA. The Merry Rose is
supposedly a tavern where people gather to gossip and exchange ideas.
It is sometimes called Cheapside because when we were deciding on a
name, everyone had a suggestion and they sort of all got combined
together. Cheapside is a section of London and the Merry Rose Tavern
is located there.
1.3. How do I post to the Merry Rose? Why don't some of my posts make
it to the list?
To post messages to the Merry Rose they must be sent to
atlantia at atlantia.sca.org. This will resend them to everyone on the
list, including yourself, unless you have instructed the software not
to send you posts sent by yourself. It used to be that anyone could
send posts to the list, but unfortunately mailing lists are a prime
target for spammers so sometime in 1999-2000 the list went to a
subscribers only posting policy. Exceptions to this rule, if there is
a good reason are available, please contact the list keeper,
kendrick at wayfarer.org for more information. When you receive a post
from the list and you try to reply to it, you must make sure that the
address it is going to is atlantia at atlantia.sca.org. Some mailers
try to send it back to owner-atlantia at atlantia.sca.org. This address
doesn't go to the list, it only goes to the list administrators.
Another reason may be that if you try to send a message to a large
group of people our mail system may reject the message because the
mail header is too long. If this is the case, try resending your
message just to the Merry Rose by itself. Finally, a third reason
some posts don't make it to the list is that our system trys to be
smart and intercept messages that it thinks are asking for help. It
then sends them to the list administrator instead of the list. This
problem is being worked on.
1.4. How do I subscribe to the Merry Rose? How do I unsubscribe?
All subscription/configuration requests are handled by a web page.
Please see http://seahorse.atlantia.sca.org/mailman/listinfo/atlantia/
for more information. If you do not have web access, you can send a
message to atlantia-request at atlantia.sca.org for instructions on how
to subscribe/unsubscribe via e-mail.
1.5. How do I add my SCA name to the listing along with my e-mail
address?
The first place the list was hosted allowed people to add comments
besides their e-mail address to the main list, but our current place
uses a newer version of the software that is set to strip those
comments out, and only keep the e-mail address. This is done because
many times those comments were not formatted correctly and just ended
up being problems for the list administrators.
1.6. What are those lines at the end of every message?
The mailing list software that we are using has been configured to add
those lines to the end of every message sent out in order to remind
people about various places for list information. When you quote
someone's message in a reply, you should take care to delete those
lines so they won't end up in the message twice (or more times).
1.7. Is there a digest for the Merry Rose?
Yes, after operating for almost two years, the Merry Rose finally got
a digest version. If you would rather get one large message once in a
while, rather than a bunch of small ones, you might consider
subscribing to the digest instead of the main list. The digest saves
all the messages posted to the main list and periodically sends them
out in one big mail message.
1.8. How do I subscribe to the digest? How do I unsubscribe?
To change your subscription to digest mode, please see the web page
http://seahorse.atlantia.sca.org/mailman/listinfo/atlantia/ for more
information. If you do not have web access, you can send a message to
atlantia-request at atlantia.sca.org for instructions on how to set
digest mode via e-mail.
1.9. If I'm subscribed to the digest, how do I post to the list?
Posting is the same regardless of whether you're subscribed to the
digest or the main list. See section ``How do I post to the Merry
Rose?'' for more information.
1.10. Can I have the Merry Rose not send me messages while I'm on
vacation?
Yes, see the web page
http://seahorse.atlantia.sca.org/mailman/listinfo/atlantia/ for more
information. If you do not have web access, you can send a message to
atlantia-request at atlantia.sca.org for instructions on how to set no-
mail mode via e-mail. Remember to turn mail back on when you come
back. :-)
1.11. Is there a web page for the Merry Rose?
Yes! You can find more information about the Merry Rose at
http://merryrose.atlantia.sca.org/. There you can find links to the
frequently asked questions and the archives, along with links to the
Kingdom of Atlantia and SCA web pages.
1.12. Where can I get back posts from the Merry Rose?
Posts from the Merry Rose (except those before January 1995) are
archived and can be found at several locations. Posts between January
1995 and June 1999 can be found at
http://merryrose.atlantia.sca.org/archive/. Posts after January 2001
can be found at http://seahorse.atlantia.sca.org/pipermail/atlantia/.
Posts between July 1999 and January 2001 are currently not available
publicly but the hope is that they will be soon. If you need to find
a post within this time period, please e-mail the listkeeper
kendrick at wayfarer.org.
1.13. Is there a badge for the Merry Rose people?
There is an unofficial badge that was presented to Lord Kendrick
Wayfarer at the Storvik Baronial Investiture in March of 1995. The
blazon is
(fieldless) On the seeds of a rose barbed and seeded proper,
in fess two roundels in pale, a billet fesswise and an
increscent, all sable.
which is heraldese for a rose with a smiley on it. :-) There have
been rumors of badges to be made, but as of yet none have surfaced.
You can see what it looks like at the ``Merry Rose website''.
1.14. Why do I keep hearing about a northern principality?
The topic of a principality in the northern reaches of Atlantia is one
that seems to crop up every now and then. This list was created in
the midst of some of these talks and therefore received a lion's share
of posts on it near the beginning. That has since tapered off, but
you may still hear people talk about it now and then. Apparently this
issue is able to galvanize people on both sides into almost despising
the people on the other, while those who don't feel strongly either
way get caught in the middle.
1.15. Oh no, I just heard about the latest computer virus! Should I
send a message to the Merry Rose so everyone else can hear about it
too?
No, absolutely not! The Merry Rose is a list about SCA stuff,
specifically concerning SCA stuff in the Kingdom of Atlantia. It is
the most inappropriate place to which you could possibly send your
information. Also, not everyone uses the same kind of computer you
do, so your "important information" about the latest MS-Windows virus
may not even affect a lot of the people you end up sending your
message to. I'm not saying you shouldn't tell your friends, just that
the Merry Rose is the wrong way to go about it.
Here are some places you can look to find out about virus hoaxes and
urban legends. (Note that it is very likely that these URLS do not
exist anymore. If you find one that is broken, please e-mail the FAQ
maintainer at kendrick at wayfarer.org.)
o http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
o http://kumite.com/myths/
o http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp
o http://www.icsa.net/services/consortia/anti-virus/alerthoax.shtml
o http://www.hoaxkill.com
o http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
o http://kumite.com/myths/
o http://www.snopes.com/
o http://www.europe.datafellows.com/news/hoax/index.html
o http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/hoax.html
1.16. Should I send pictures, attachements, etc... to the list?
No. Although most modern mailers can automatically handle binary
attachements to e-mail messages, not all of them can. In addition,
the Merry Rose digest is constructed by concatenating a bunch of e-
mail messages together and sending them all out as one message. If
you attach a picture to your message to the list, all the people
receiving the digest will get is a bunch of junk. If you have
pictures that you took at an event that you want everyone to see,
please put them up on a web page and send a message to the list
informing everyone of their location, but please don't send them to
the list.
1.17. Is this FAQ available in other formats (i.e. pdf) so I can
print it out?
Yes, you can find this FAQ in text, postscript, PDF, and SGML format
at the ``Merry Rose website''.
1.18. But wait, you haven't answered the question I had?
No, problem. Just send any other questions you may have to
kendrick at wayfarer.org so I can answer them for you and add them to
this document so other people can find them too.
2. Lady Anarra's Little Book of List Etiquette ;)
This section Copyright (c) 1996, 2001 Terry L. Neill
The Society for Creative Anachronism revolves around ideals of
Chivalry and Honor. Etiquette is merely an extension of those ideals.
When posting to the list, please bear these simple rules in mind:
Trim the message you are replying to. In other words, do not quote the
entire message then tack your message on to the end. This is extremely
annoying! Instead, cut all but the relevant part of the post and add
your reply to that.
Add substance to the discussion. Resist the impulse to post a "Me too"
or "I agree" message to the list. If you agree, state some reasons
why. Add value.
Stay on topic. This is a list to discuss aspects of the SCA, medieval
history, and Atlantian topics. It is not a place for virus warnings or
the latest modern political jokes.
Change your subject line. If your reply drifts the discussion from the
original topic, change the subject line to reflect that. Many people
delete mail un-read based on the subject line. If you've got
inspirational things to say about Viking Longship construction, make
sure your subject line doesn't say "(SILLY) Hagar the Horrible!"
Post items of general interest to the list. Send personal notes to the
person.
"Mary, remember that discussion we had last week?"
is inappropriate.
"Lady Mary and I were discussing exactly the same thing last
week and we thought..."
is very appropriate.
Make sure your message is addressed ONLY to the list. There are few
things more annoying or wasteful of disk space than getting two (or
more!) copies of every message. If your e-mail program automatically
replies to all then make sure you delete the person's personal address
(or delete the list address if it's a personal message).
Be polite. It seems like it wouldn't be necessary to say this in an
SCA FAQ. Unfortunately it is. The print-only medium of the e-mail
environment makes misunderstandings common. The reply feature makes
angry posts easy to send. Re-read your post before you send it. Would
you say that to the person's face? In front of someone who's good
opinion you value? Assume there has been a misunderstanding and strive
to correct it.
"Do you really mean to say that East Kingdom Sheep are supe-
rior to Atlantian ones?"
is MUCH better than
"You idiot! How dare you insult Atlantia's sheep! You
should be thrown out of the Order of the Hooked Crook imme-
diately!"
If you have a problem with a post or poster, send a private message.
Posting chastising messages in public does not help to solve the
situation.
Do not post private e-mail on a public forum without permission from
the sender.
"Lord John wrote to me the other day that he liked court."
is appropriate.
"Lord John wrote to me the other day: I like court because I
can get in a good nap."
is not appropriate.
Realize that a large portion of the Atlantian populace does not have
access to the Merry Rose. Issues discussed here cannot turn into
'decisions' without input from the rest of the kingdom. The Merry Rose
supplements, not replaces, conventional means of communication.
Make sure you're sending posts in ASCII and not with foreign
characters like accents and umlauts. Some American mail programs
cannot read non-ASCII characters.
Several e-mail programs balk at HTML-encoded e-mail. So if you have
Outlook or some other HTML-friendly program, please set your mail
format options to "Plain Text" instead of HTML.
Finally - enjoy the discussions generated here. Share them with your
non-e-mail friends!
More information about the Atlantia
mailing list