Baronial Discord Server!

Salve Accolens!

We are excited to announce that the Barony-Marche of the Debatable Lands now has our very own Discord Server.

What is a Discord Server? Discord is an application that you download to your device, with centralized forum boards that can be organized by topics or “Channels.” Channels can be text-based or voice-based–that’s right, you can connect to a voice channel and talk instead of type! There’s even video capability. Discord works on laptops and computers as well as mobile devices.

You DO need to have a Discord Account to use the server. We recommend that you set up an account if you don’t already have one, before trying to join the server. Here’s a good site to help do that: https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033931551-Getting-Started

If you are brand-new to Discord, you can also learn more about the platform here: https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045138571-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Discord

We are looking for volunteers, preferably with experience either in Discord, or with other forum sites, or both, to be moderators. If you are interested in moderating, please contact Gwendolyn the Graceful (Social Media Officer) to discuss the duties and commitments involved.

Once you have your account set up and linked to a verified email address, you can join the server here: https://discord.gg/WyXayF7U

When you arrive, you’ll be asked to read the rules and take a couple quick actions to help get settled, and then you can dive in to discussions! If you qualify for a role, such as an officer, drop the admins a line so we can be sure to assign it. If, on looking around, you have any suggestions or find that there’s a channel missing, please contact an admin or a moderator. This server is intended to be an evolving space that we can tweak as-needed.

For the purposes of the SCA, Inc., the Discord falls under the office of the Social Media Officer and all conduct on the server must be in compliance with the SCA’s Code of Conduct, Bullying and Harassment Policy, and all other rules governing official SCA social media use.

June Aestel: By the Numbers

Greetings, Good Barony and beyond, from Gwendolyn the Graceful!

The June issue of the Aestel has arrived on the membership portal, so it’s time for a few fun notes. This is part of my continuing series of newsletter spotlights.

JUNE AESTEL: BY THE NUMBERS

2: Board of Directors nominees from AEthelmearc (Vivant!)

2: Important activities at Pennsic which were announced in TRMs’ letter to the populace (Party on!)

1: The number of officers who had reported rules revisions to the kingdom Seneschal as of publication  (Affectionate side-eye)

9: Events listed in the calendar for June (Wow!)

7: Events with announcements included in the newsletter  (Woo!)

And 2: Kingdom arms featured on the cover!  (Vivat, Eastrealm)

 

Members, check out this month’s information at the SCA website. Thanks as always to our Kingdom Chronicler, THL Aine, who labors each month to assemble this publication.

Until next time, I remain,

Ever in Service,

Gwen

Newsletter Quiz!

From Gwendolyn the Graceful, Brehyres, Greetings!

In this digital age, it is relatively easy to find out about upcoming events, deadlines, and other important activities, without reading our newsletters. But sometimes, information in the publications is not easily found elsewhere. And even if it is, the newsletter is a handy way to quickly catch up on the important notices and happenings in our lands.

For example, did you know that recently, His Grace, Duke Christopher, posted information  about the Board soliciting feedback on new policies regarding hate speech? Did you know that AEthelmearc was well-represented in the Blackfox Award nominations? You would if you’d read the newsletter!

To encourage us all (me included!) to remember to check out our Kingdom and Baronial newsletters, I am going to try to post shortly after their publication dates with fun challenges. They may be treasure hunts, quizzes, or other kinds of reports. Some will be interactive and some may be notices of tidbits that might be of interest. Both the AEstel and the Althing will be included as they come out.

These games are for glory, amusement, and absolutely no prizes whatsoever! There are no losers! The fun is in finding the answers for yourselves.

So, here is the first installment: a trivia quiz on the most recent AEstel (May 2018):

  1. What is depicted in the cover photo? (Bonus: which gentle took the photo?)
  2. There is an officer accepting letters of interest for a deputy position, which are due on May 1. Which Great Officer is it, what is the position being sought, and who is the person holding that post now?
  3. When will the Kingdom Youth Championship tourney be held?
  4. How many event announcements are posted in the May AEstel? (Bonus: How many of them are *not* Royal Progress events?)
  5. How many events are listed on the At-a-Glance page?

My hope is that these questions pique curiosity and foster discussion, particularly of events we might not be aware of because they are not RP’s or they are out of region, or both!

Most importantly, I hope these little teasers inspire y’all to check out the newsletters and keep current!

We’ll do this again soon!

New Social Media Accounts – What to Expect

BMDL_Seneschal_Official

As you may have seen in the September Althing, we are adding some Official Social Media accounts. These accounts were created in order to provide Official information and updates from the Officers, Guild Masters, etc. directly from the Althing Blog. This is only possible with Facebook and G+ “Pages”. The current, unofficial, groups are classified as “Groups” and can not be posted to directly using the blog.

These groups were not created to displace these unofficial groups, but entirely as a supplement to them. I was quite disappointed that we were unable to post directly to the unofficial groups as that would be far easier for everyone, but, having a central point of information distribution means that we don’t accidentally forget to post something somewhere and leave people out of the loop. I want to be sure that everyone has lots of time before we fully transition announcements and updates to the Official pages, so, starting on 15 September 2016, official announcements will appear in both the Official and the Unofficial Facebook and G+ groups for a period of two months (ending on 15 November 2016). At the end of each announcement will be the following:

Subscribe to the Official BMDL Facebook Page by going to https://www.facebook.com/BMDLOfficial/

Subscribe to the Official BMDL G+ Page by going to https://plus.google.com/b/113124989304184885338/113124989304184885338/posts?gmbpt=true&hl=en

Follow the Official BMDL Twitter feed by going to https://twitter.com/the_bmdl and using the official hashtag #DebatableLands

This will happen until 15 November 2016 at which point all announcements will only appear on the Official Pages. I have blocked out those dates on the Baronial Calendar with the same information above in the details of the event as an additional point of information. Every effort will be made to ensure that this information is distributed in as many places as possible so that no one is unaware of this change.

For those of you who rely on the BMDL email list for information, that will not be changing. Announcements and official information will continue to be posted on the email list as they have in the past. We do encourage people to subscribe to the Blog via email but are not eliminating the email list at this time.

The Blog is also in search of content. Do you have an article that you’ve been thinking about writing? Are you of a poetic bent and would like to share your talent with the Barony? Are you making something and want to share how you did it with others? Please consider sharing that with the Blog. If you have something that you’d like to share or just an idea that you think would be good to put on the Blog, please send email to either the Webminister, Ishiyama, or the Seneschal, Odriana.