[MR] The Alleged Cesspit That Is The Merry Rose

[Terri Morgan]

> If you think this is a nasty place to hang out...well...
> all I can say is you ain't been out of the Tavern near enough.
> This is Romper Room. 

It isn't Romper Room. Most of the long-time members and Peers who have been
driven off of the Merry Rose are quite well accustomed to the type of acrid
discussion you allude to - and yet they find this, the place where members
of the SCA are supposed to be able to chat, learn, and exchange ideas to be
one of the least attractive assets of the SCA and our Kingdom specifically.
I've been treated to many a confused and pitying look or comment from my
friends about my continued presence here... manly because of the rude
behaviour of, I have to admit, the most frequent posters. Yeah, you own the
List, as it were, you frequent 'expert' posters, and you glory in your
fighting - but it is rude and even painful to read.

And this is where our new Kingdom members come first, to get to know us
during the week when we're not at events.

That is the *only* reason I am still subscribed. So I can, at need, write
privately to someone who is getting ganged up on and tell them that this is
NOT the true face of Atlantia. 

To use a simile, if I were an archaeologist, this would be a midden pile.
There are a few wonderful discoveries here, but the rest is... well, I don't
need to finish that, do I?

I came back from Pennsic determined to up the *good* in this List and
hopefully convince people to join in - to celebrate the SCA and Atlantia. To
overwhelm the squabbling and the offensive posts.

That being said, if you wish to argue the point further with me, please
reply to me at online2much at cox.net - I'll be happy to carry on the
conversation there. But our newcomers, and our oldtimers who are ready to
quit, really don't need to read more of the condescending and the justifying
posturing messages.

We have a bad reputation here. Telling people "use your delete key" only
indicates that the sender has no desire to fix that reputation - which
indicates to me that they are quite happy to throw mud around, no matter
where or who it splatters. And that, my friends, is unworthy of us.


Hrothny