[Moo] Re: Request for list of Competitors

[Snead, Ryan]

In the modern world, there is a word for people who come to a public event
which requires check-in who fail to do so. The word is "trespasser". (Note,
this is a point brought to my attention a few years back by an individual
who was at the time our Kingdom Seneschal.)

While we should be concerned with people trespassing on site at our events,
I think our organizational liability is mitigated somewhat if the person
by-passes our system of making sure everyone follows our rules. Also note
that for those participating in activities both potentially dangerous and
full-contact (armor and rattan), we have a second attempt to collect
waivers. The MoL will check blue cards or ask the person to sign a waiver.
If a "participant" decides to tresspass against both the MoL and Troll,
they've gone a long way to disprove our organization's liability for their
behavior.

In comparison to other organizations, the SCA tends to be (I think)in the
middle ground on enforcement. We make a pretty good effort at enforcing
waiver compliance, but we don't call the police if someone is wandering site
without a signed waiver at Troll and site token in hand.

In spite of the preceding two paragraphs, I will admit myself to have been
found guilty of "trespassing" at an SCA event in my past. It happens to all
of us at times, and we might need a herald to remind us (as was done at the
event on Saturday). And there may be cases where the treaspasser of today
could become the Crown or Coronet of tomorrow, depending on how you handle
the situation (plug for chatelaines). 

While Rowen presents an interesting idea, I tend to agree with Olaf's
sentiment that it may be more effort than it is worth. It also isn't a
perfect safety net. Some people might come to an event and not participate
in anything! They could just shop, talk to people, and call it a day. I
think the way things were handled on Saturday was good. There were site
tokens for those who checked in. And a reminder was sent out via herald when
the Troll believed there might have been gate crashers.

An earlier poster pointed out that the original reason for site tokens was
to help identify people who do not check in. While it was quickly pointed
out that people are rarely challenged for not having their site token, it
might behoove us to actually wear our site tokens (even if you do think they
look dorky/don't match your garb), to help the event staff identify possible
gate crashers. And if you see your friend isn't wearing their site token,
you might gently remind them to check in. Otherwise, we might as well save
our autocrats' budgets and the headache of figuring out how to produce them.

That's my inflation-adjusted 2 cents anyways!

--Iustinos
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