[MR] NonMember Charges (fwd)

[Logan]

my comments are interspersed and preceded by ******

-----Original Message-----
From: atlantia-admin at atlantia.sca.org
[mailto:atlantia-admin at atlantia.sca.org]On Behalf Of Craig Levin
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 3:19 PM
To: Merry Rose
Cc: Elizabeth Levin
Subject: RE: [MR] NonMember Charges (fwd)


Karon:

> Hello All,
> Being a non-member, who does plan to join, I have a couple of
> comments.  First off, I never knew until recently, that I could
> attend SCA events without being a member, or the guest of a member.

That's pretty much been the custom for the last thirty-seven
years, actually.

******never heard of it, never dealt with it, never heard of anyone thinking
that for the 11+ years i have been around.  when i started it was always
made clear to me that i could "check out" the sca without paying a cent
aside from the over charged event fees to attend events.  not once, ever,
did i hear anything similar to this notion.  now, that was my personal
experience but it certainly can not be considered some kind of custom in my
opinion.

> That said, I dont know of any club or organization that doesnt charge
> more for non-members if they are allowed to attend at all.  I would
> not mind paying the extra money for an event as I am a non-member.
> I dont feel I should be entitled to the same price as a member.  I
> have enjoyed comming to the events I have attended, and I have always
> been the guest of a member.

Actually, I can't think of any time when I was asked for cash at
the gate for going to services, aside from some synagogues at the
high holidays, & you can even find some synagogues that maintain
an open-door policy.

Okay, so you don't feel entitled. Join! But there are a number of
us who feel that this custom is a good one, & not to be
discarded. You *are* aware that such guesting as you have enjoyed
would, as a result of these policies, become harder upon your
hosts, yes? That, as a result of these policies, it won't be as
easy to recruit new people, because of the cost, whether as guests
or as newcomers out of the blue?

******i would only hope that non members attending their first events in a
group they know little about would not feel bad paying three tiny little
dollars to attend.  when i check into a hotel and get my great big fat 23%
discount for being a member of AAA i feel good about paying my dues.  the
guy next to me at bojangles gets his "senior coffee and a biscuit".  why?
because we are both members of some sort.

to think that i should feel good about paying money to the club i belong to
and getting no more than a newsletter that i look at online anyway so that
others can skirt that is silly.  what then is my memberships good for?  i
have posed this question before and, strangely, it has been ignored.  if we
all stop paying our membership fees what will become of this club?  i know
it was a rhetorical question.

I get my discounts at hotels because i pay my AAA membership dues, i get
free towing as well.  why can i not enjoy a benefit from my sca membership?
over a minuscule $20 a year?  wow, i wish my life was that simple that $20 a
year meant so much to me.  i think of the joy i get from being able to go to
events and have a good time.  hell, if it cost me a stupid $20 per event i
would still go.  i showed cats for 12 years and it cost me $30 per cat just
to sit in a ring and wait for a judge to pick one of my guys up for thirty
seconds.  and i thought that was really dumb.  that hobby cost me $200+ a
weekend for 12 years and now people complain about the cost of a single with
cheese combo?  i can tell you the joy is very different and well worth the
money.  name a game that is cheaper.



> I recently read somewhere that over 1/3 of the folks that are active
> with the SCA are NOT members.  I think that requiring membership to
> attend events, or being the guest of a member would be a good thing.

Why? A number of us, members & nonmembers alike, have our
misgivings about such a requirement. For a good deal upon the
subject, might I recommend that people peruse the archives from
when the BoD last proposed this move:


or ask many others what they think about spreading the costs around evenly.

regards
logan

http://www.daviddfriedman.com./Medieval/Board_Flap.html
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/usr/mjc/www/bod/ef-board.html

Pedro
--
http://pages.ripco.net/~clevin/index.html
clevin at rci.ripco.com
Craig Levin				Librarians Rule: Oook!
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