You bring up some great points and I hope that when I get back in two weeks
(yes I am starting off major discussions and then leaving with no internet
access :P ) I will be reading a bunch of well thought out letters.

I do want to point out one thing though, NAACL, will be focused on steel
swords and full armor tournament bouts. The other forms that we cover are
just for the Call to Arms tourney so we can get more people exposed to what
everyone else is doing.

When we get our website going, we'll have a statement of purpose and very
defined rules.

I agree that paying a membership fee, people will expect something.
Hopefully, that even though the rewards for doing so, may be slightly
abstract, they will see the benefits. I am more than willing to fit the bill
for insurance and webfees and other various and sundry costs now so that we
can get this off of the ground but I can only do so much for so long.
Hopefully we will get this off the ground and with the help of people like
you, we will get this going so it may support itself in no time.

I can tell you right now some of the plans that are already in place for the
future.
- International tournaments at high profile venues
- Videos and possibly tv coverage
- Olympics... thats right.. olympics.. we have the forms.. we are getting
the numbers... why the hell not! Curling is an olympic sport!

So you can see, we are aiming pretty high, but as I said before, we cant do
it ourself. The outcome of this endevour will rest soly on the shoulders of
the people who are joining now.

Lets get this bastard going! :)

Jeremy


>From: yahoo_group@...
>Reply-To: naacl@yahoogroups.com
>To: naacl@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: Re: [naacl] Memberships
>Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2006 21:19:14 -0500
>
>On Sat, Mar 25, 2006 at 07:08:44PM -0000, Jeremy Oneail wrote:
> > Should there be a membership fee? Websites dont get done by magic or
> > for free. Then there is paperwork involved... I'm thinking that a $20
> > a year fee should be inplace. That would also get you access to
> > members only areas of the soon to come website and an online
> > newsletter.
> >
> > Now the question comes about commbattants. Should non members be able
> > to compete in NAACL tournaments? If they do, do they get a ranking? If
> > they dont have a ranking would thier numbers still go towards actual
> > members point totals?
> >
> > I'm leaning towards everyone competing in a NAACL tournament having to
> > be a member. I think that will help simplify things, help support the
> > organization and just make things easier overall.
> >
> > Comments and questions?
> >
>
>First off... thanks for doing something. Thanks for organizing, getting
>things together and trying to get something going.
>
>Now as to membership... I'd ask myself "Why am I becoming a 'member' of
>this group? Why do I want to pay money into this thing? What do I get?"
>and most importantly "What the hell is this group about?"
>
>I'd have to suggest that whatever you think you want NAACL to be, to
>start writing it down and setting some goals for the group. What do you
>want to do with it? who's the target audience? And answering of those
>questions as I mentioned above.
>
>And you seem to be asking people for their opinions in that now.
>
>What I've seen in the WMA community is that a lot of groups have
>different rules because the leaders of the groups, small as they usually
>are and generally led by one or two people, have an idea of what they
>want their groups to be. I'm not saying this is either good or bad, but
>it does seem to be how things are run in many of the small groups.
>
>Perhaps a clearing house of info, a coordination center for what people
>are doing, how people are training etc, would be a good focus. And
>hosting the 'off-season' tournaments would be at least one good event to
>hold. As so many of the WMA community is involved in something on the
>stage and we rely on lots of good weather stuff, off season seems the
>best bet.
>
>I like seeing that you've so many forms on the 'list' (pun intended!)
>for the tourney. Seems like everyone from the more traditional fencers
>through to the full kit live steel noholds barred sparks a flyin' folks
>can find something to do. Heck, even LARPers can play! :)
>
>Given the right focus, I think that NAACL could become something very
>good.
>
>I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll (or more than you, we?) can do
>with it. And after all, without some kind of group being involved in the
>management of all of it, it doesn't really show much promise of becoming
>more than another of the small local things.
>
>Keep asking, hopefully more than just I will keep answering. :) Of
>course, it's the weekend, so who knows who'll get this before the end of
>the weekend.
>
>j