February 2024 - Creative Administration

An Early Edition of the Society’s Governing Documents

The Society for Creative Anachronism is governed by a collection of documents known as the Organizational Handbook, which includes both the bylaws of the modern-day not-for-profit corporation (SCA, Inc.) and the policies that govern the “in-game” historical re-creation activities and the volunteer bureaucracy that supports it (“Corpora”).

These documents emerged incrementally over the first decade of the Society, as the initial leadership established a structure for the organization. Bylaws were established in 1969 and supplemented over the following years by a body of decisions made by the Board referred to as Corpora. By 1979 the framework had taken on a recognizable form organized along similar lines to the rules we use today.

Explicit Consent May Be Required to Publish Society Names in Europe

When I wrote a rough draft of the SCA Release Forms Handbook back in 2021, I incorporated a distinction reflecting practice here in the East Kingdom: participants’ modern names are considered personal information and must not be published by the Society without their explicit consent — the same rules that apply to their home address and other real-world contact details — but their Society names are considered “in-game” attributes and their publication doesn’t require any paperwork.

Following the release of the Handbook in 2023, folks from Drachenwald mentioned that their interpretation was different; under the European GDPR, Society names could be seen as “information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person,” and thus protected as personal data, which should not be published without consent.

Society Membership Trends

During a recent discussion of levels of Society participation, I was asked about long-term trends in overall membership numbers.

As it happens, I had previously extracted some of the relevant figures from other sources — some of which showed up in a post about kingdom-level breakdowns — but hadn’t gotten around to publishing the older numbers here, because the data is incomplete and would benefit from additional review and cleanup.

That said, even if the specific numbers are taken with a grain of salt, the overall pattern shown here is likely of interest to others, so I might as well share this as a work-in-progress.

Can Onlookers Report Harassment of Minors?

In the wake of an unpleasant interaction at a local event, I wrote to the Society Seneschal to ask about the correct way for observers to file reports regarding inappropriate behavior towards youth.

In response I was informed that “there are no policies that limit who can report concerns about such actions,” although I didn’t receive a response to my follow-up asking for additional details.

A few weeks later the same subject came up during East Kingdom Curia, when the Kingdom Seneschal mentioned that harassment reports regarding minor participants should only be filed by parents or guardians, and could not be initiated by other observers.

This interpretation was confirmed via email — “it is up to the legal guardian / parent to file a report” — along with an indication that this is an established Society-wide policy.

I’m not sure what to make of the gap between these two explanations.