Dear Elissa
Posted by Caroline on September 27, 1997 at 15:39:05:
In response to In reply to Caroline and Amy, written by Elissa on September 27, 1997 at 00:26:07
Well, I am flabbergasted. First, the purpose of this board is obviously not clear. I thought this was a free exchange of ideas and thoughts and knowledge.
It is. Everybody chips in. We exchange knowledge, comment on each others ideas, add to others' comments.
I was ecstatic to find this place and thought I had found a place where like minds hung out together. I love the Regency period, I love Jane Austen and I love to write.
We all love Jane Austen , and the Regency, too . We love her stuff so much that we cannot stop talking about it! This board is a discussion of the historical aspects of her fiction and her life. The other boards deal with individual books, movies of her books, and related material. We even have boards that are set up especially for newcomers, and one for discussing anything that doesn't fit in anywhere else! There are in fact , about eighteen different fora to jaw over Austenstuff. Your love of the stuff is obvious.
If this makes me unwelcome here, then I will no longer participate.
No-one is unwelcome here, there is nothing to prove. But as I have said before, I am worried about the nature of your "participation." I cannot find you on any of our other boards, commenting on our fiction, talking about movies, analysing books,commenting on parenting or junk food! I cannot find a bio of you anywhere, I cannot find you introducing yourself anywhere except very briefly on this board. On the other hand, you have our minds hearts and souls, to read, freely.
If there are rules to the discussion board, please post them. I do not feel I deserve your castigation.
I said that I did not intend for my post to sound crabby. I did not intend to offend you, only to express my
concern. I spoke for myself, not for anyone else, but I can assure you that I asked three people to comment on my post to see if I was too aggressive, and whether I was imagining things. Not one of the three disagreed with my wording, or my basic concern.
I have eagerly read almost all of the messages people have posted here, I have laughed at the witty
comments of many and I have admired the knowledge and intelligence of the people participating.
But you have not commented on their comments, expanded their half-formed ideas, expressed appreciation for particular posts, disagreed with anything, expressed doubt about anything. In short, you are taking, and not giving!
I do not have a lot of knowledge about the Regency Period to give back to you as I am a beginner.
Firstly, you do not need a lot of knowledge about the Regency period to make a comment on left-handedness (a current thread here), to express an opinion on a particular piece of Austen's prose on one of the book boards, to comment on the "kids books" thread in Ramble, to refer to some of our links pages and say whether they are useful to you. As for being a beginner, then you are one of the oddest ones I have ever met! Beginners do not usually concern them selves with questions like
1. I have come across a few references in my reading to a few small black boys 'given' as presents to ladies as a page of sorts. Was there much slavery? England never really had a big slave population that I know of...did they have a slave trade with the U.S? (Colonies etc) anyway, my real question is were there a few blacks around during regency times? And were they slaves?2.Suppose a girl wanted to clean up her new house in Regency times and the house was an old estate, say
early seventeen hundreds. Would she be more likely to restore the look of that time or completely redo the place in the latest Regency style? And by the way, does anyone know where I can get a look at the building techniques used in the early 1800's? on the web that is.
These are not "beginner" questions. They are specific demands for detailed information for a specific purpose. You are asking us to think hard, and research , on your behalf, but we do not know why, nor do we know how you intend to use this information. We do not know what we are responsible for here. I repeat, I have no objection to helping an author out, but this stuff comes with no guarantees. We are not professional historians here, nor professional authors, and as Amy has said, this is a hobby group, not a customer service. And to expand a bit further, if it is for your book, the more we know about your heroine, and her story, the better we could customise our responses to your needs, if you are really pressed for time.
Also, I do not have a lot of time to be online, I am raising two children.
So am I . I'm holding down an irregular part-time job, have a husband who is away ninety percent of the time, so I'm almost, but not quite, a real single mom, my Internet access is sixty hours per month, I am 15 miles from the worlds tiniest library, 100+ miles from any city where decent movies are shown, I am a leader in Scouts, a member of my kid's school council. And I read this board and all other ones avidly, because I love Jane Austen., I am constantly searching the Web for more Austen-connected stuff, because I love it, and because I know that people here want to know more. I am sure that you will realise that I'm not the only busy person here. To give one example, Mary Collette ( I don't think she will mind me saying this, because it's no secret) is a regular reader, poster and Austen-lover, who also happens to be writing a novel. She has no access to us other than via her local library, cannot send or receive e-mail, and cannot drop in every day. Yet every post she makes is helpful , informative, and the result of mulling over other people's questions and comments (she's a bit of a tease, too, but that's by-the -by- )
This discussion board was a real treat for me. I hope it will be again.
Elissa, I never intended to drive you out, only to ask you to be a bit more honest with us. I hope it continues to be a treat for you. You are intelligent, erudite, and have a great deal to offer. I am sure that you are also a very interesting person! We would love to know you better. And we are all looking for the same thing- a better understanding of Jane Austen's world.
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