Talk:Out-of-period

From MiddleWiki

Constance,

I'd prefer your last line to say:

While the official SCA cutoff date was always 1600, the freewheeling and permissive style of the SCA has encouraged some to feel able to insist instead that the cutoff date is 1650.

Instead of:

Due to the way the SCA evolved, the SCA time period was not set in stone. There are those who believe the cutoff is 1650.

Since the matter can be controversial, I thought I'd float my edit to see what everyone thought before going ahead with it. "not set in stone" implies that it really wasn't, which I think it was, rather than merely "it was widely believed". Maybe I'm being picky.

By the way, hello and long time no see!

Balian

SCA.org says: "The SCA is an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe." which to me implies pre-1600.

I think your phrasing may be a little on the harsh side, Balian, how about instead "While the official SCA cutoff date has been 1600 for some time, some push this date out to 1650. The later date developed from the practice in the Arts and Sciences of accepting evidence from this later period for research when no pre-1600 source was found on the assumption that it was plausable to be similar to items of the imediately preceding period."

Just my two cents, -Milesent-

Yours is probably better, Milesent. It explains rather than dismisses. It's a sore point for me, and maybe that's why I didn't feel comfortable just substituting my language - especially since we need more contributors and I didn't want to dismiss Mistress Constance's contribution too bluntly. (Also, I'm fond of her.) I'd be very happy with your language.

Balian

I went ahead and made that change, and added a link to English Country Dancing as a prime example of where 1650 is commonly used in the SCA. I tend to go for an earlier date myself, like 1485 (date used by many English historians, last English King to fall in battle and all.) but then we'd never see those fabulous Elizabeathan gowns, eh?

Your servant, -Milesent-