[MR] submission form colors

[Robert J Welenc]

At 05:11 PM 6/8/01 -0400, Shannon Smith wrote:
>You are joking, right?  Testing markers for stability is hilarious!
Does
>this mean that we are only allowed to use certain kinds of "red"?  

We prefer that you use certain cheap, widely available coloring
mediums, yes.  Certain markers are not.  One submission was colored
in front of senior heralds at a kingdom consult table with an art
marker of some sort.  Those heralds reported later that at the time
it was a deep golden yellow.  By the time I got it, a week later, it
was looking on the orangey side of yellow.  I made a note on the
folder and forgot about it until the meeting two weeks later.  At
that meeting we pulled it out, and it was the color of Cheetos. Back
it went, no argument.  The submitter did not find it hilarious.

>Wouldn't
>the heralds (and everyone else) figure it out by reading the blazon?
>
No.  That has been the whole point behind a week's worth of
discussion, my lady.  We heralds are not allowed to "figure it out by
reading the blazon".  We must go by the *picture* -- solely, only and
ALWAYS the picture.  Half the submissions that hit my desk either
have no blazon at all or one so badly garbled as to be useless.
Blazoning them is my job.

So if the blazon you have come up with says "azure" (blue) but the
picture is vert (green), which is it and what do the Golden Dolphin
Herald do with it?

Normally I attempt to contact you to find out.  Have you just
misremembered those odd blazonry words, and green is what you want?
Or has your herald misunderstood what you want and colored it green
when you really *wanted* blue?  [1]  If I can't contact you, then I
have two choices.  I can change the blazon to match the picture [2]
and send it up, thus risking the chance that Laurel will register
something that is not what you wanted.[3]  Or I can return it for
clarification.  After fielding more than one complaint that "You Evil
Heralds *changed* my submission!!"  I will normally return it.

What if it has been colored with something that is halfway between
both green and blue?  Which is it? I can't tell and refuse to guess,
as does Laurel Sovereign of Arms.  Back it goes.  The same if you
have orange and you claim it is yellow (or red.)

We heralds do what we do at kingdom to give your submission the best
possible chance at passing the Society level.  If that means
returning it because we *know* that Laurel will return it, then we do
and take the flak.

[1] Yes, this has happened.
[2] Remember, we register the *picture*, not the blazon.
]3] I'm working with a submitter now, whose charges were reversed
left to right from what she wanted. 
Alanna
***********
Saying of the day: The only time the world beats a path to your door
is when you're in the bathroom.