[MR] A&S issue

[Amerie Helton]

First, I am sorry this has happened to you. If you or anyone has  
found my comments to be rude, please accept  my apologies. I never  
intend to be rude, but sometimes I am unintentionally tactless.

Second, what to do?
We're dealing with two groups of "problem" judges here. Those who  
don't realize their comments are tactless, and those who have no  
respect for anything less than a certain level of excellence.

I have some thoughts, some may be useful, some not. I welcome  
comments on them. Maybe someone can take my not-so-good ideas and  
make them better.

One: Judges should always put their names on the sheet. Not to do so  
shows a certain level of thoughtlessness or yes, even cowardice. It  
may also be a good idea for judges to put down their contact  
information so the person judged can ask questions about the  
comments. Not to just give feedback on the comments so the judge  
knows how their comments were taken, but for the participant to ask  
honest questions. Consider the comments as the beginning of a  
conversation with someone who wants to learn from you. I know I'm  
*honored* when someone takes my comments seriously enough to ask me  
about them.

Two: Tell the KMoAS about a judge you have a problem with. *If* *and*  
*only* *if* you've already talked to the judge and gotten no  
satisfaction. To go behind a judges back is less than honorable.  
Unfortunately this could put a huge burden on the KMoAS, and then  
what do they do with the information? I also can't figure out how to  
address the situation of someone who's afraid to contact a judge  
who's already been rude to them. (And please don't respond with "no  
one should be afraid to contact a judge"; that's just ignoring the  
problem)

Three: Have the person in charge of the competition pre-screen the  
comments and talk to the judge about any comments that could cause  
problems. This might not work, as it would drag out the judging and  
put a huge burden on the person running the competition, and could  
even cause huge arguments and broken friendships right there at the  
A&S competition. (I'm not kidding)

Four: When leaving comments, judges need to write something that will  
encourage the person to continue in their efforts. Yes, their stuff  
may be lousy, but they're trying and they might not know any better.  
Maybe they've been in the SCA for three weeks. The judge needs to  
find *some* way to encourage them while pointing out some of the more  
obvious flaws. If their stuff is really bad, perhaps it would be  
better for the judge to find the participant  and ask if they'd like  
to talk about it. Again, the point is to *encourage* people, we  
*want* more people doing this stuff (If you don't believe this, I  
don't think you should judge). This is *not* to say judges can't say  
anything negative, because then comments are useless (Most useless  
comment I've ever received: "Great! Don't change a thing!" Really?  
I'm perfect?) Judges need to tell participants how to improve - I've  
heard people complain about a lack of that type of comment more often  
than I've heard complaints about rude comments.

Five: Ah, documentation. I might be guilty of this one, and if so, I  
apologize for the misunderstanding. What's the best way to say "you  
can *enter* the competition without documentation, but you will be  
*judged* on documentation"? Just like "You don't have to match the  
theme of the competition to enter, but if your entry doesn't match  
the theme, you will lose points." I guess those are the best ways to  
say it. I've run my performing arts competitions saying  
"documentation requested, but not required" and have actually  
scratched that category off the judging form. I think I've even done  
it consistently, but I'm not sure. Sorry.

Anyway, rules for any competition should be published as early as  
possible - months ahead of time, if possible. That gives people a  
chance to make something *for* *that* *competition* if they want to.  
And that means more entries!

And of course there's always entering stuff just for display and  
setting out paper and pen for comments. I try to leave comments (if  
I'm qualified) on any entry set up like that. Perhaps if everyone who  
has been put off of competition did this, we'd see how serious the  
problem is.

It's getting late, I'm getting tired. I'm going to end my comments  
now. Please send any flames to me off list.

Yours in service,
Mistress Dervila ni Leanon
Royal Bard of Atlantia


On Dec 2, 2011, at 5:23 PM, Gerita della Mara wrote:

>
> Enough time has passed that I hope I can address this calmly.  I  
> certainly could not at the time.
>
> I have entered several A&S competitions this past year.  I have not  
> entered with the plan of winning, but just for the fun of "putting  
> my stuff out there" and maybe getting a few pointers from those who  
> are ahead of me in a craft (and there are many).  At least twice,  
> competition rules have said "Documentation encouraged" one even  
> added "but not necessary".  I found that interesting in the light  
> of my work being scored (at zero) for the same documentation that  
> was stated to be not needed.
>
> Again, I would beg judges to recall their early efforts in the  
> Medieval Arts.  Comments I have received have been nasty to the  
> point of discouraging me to participate any further and take my art  
> into a deep dark corner all by myself.  Since I've spent nearly 30  
> years in and out of the SCA, teaching much of that time, I cannot  
> see how that could be considered encouraging to participants.  This  
> last competition was amazing in that regard.  The utter rudeness of  
> judges' comments....with not one constructive thing offered...was  
> really off-putting.
>
> The really hard-to-swallow bit of this is that I hear the above  
> comments from many people, the great majority of which are, or  
> should be, artisans of note.  But they are not.  Why?  Because  
> they've quit letting their fellow SCAdians see their work for fear  
> of more harshness, more not following the published rules, etc.
>
> No, I will not name names, nor events.  Otherwise, I'd like to  
> participate in an effort to stop this sort of stuff.
>
> Still dreaming...
>
> Gerita
>
> -- 
> Gerita della Mara Seneschal, Barony of Highland Foorde Chamberlain,  
> Their Excellencies Siegfried and Francesca
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