Cunnan:What isn't Cunnan?

Cunnan isn't an encyclopaedia

We are not trying to build an encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, but rather a practical guide for re-enactors. Wordy historical research should be left to the Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org). Historical research on a very practical level (eg "how-to"s of period weapon making) can be added to Cunnan.

Cunnan isn't a dictionary

There are plenty of online and paper dictionaries where you can find the definitions of words such as "fish". Articles about "fish" shouldn't need to define what a fish is, but rather give information on medieval types, uses, or recipes for cooking fish. Terms that are not familiar to the modern reader may however be useful to the modern re-enactor, so articles defining modern sca slang (eg stickjock) or medieval terms and modern names for medieval objects (eg pennanular) a re-enactor is likely to encounter (in the sca, on cunnan or in their research) can be very useful.

Cunnan isn't a replacement for other re-enactment sites

Cunnan shouldn't be thought of as a replacement for other sites. This means that Cunnan shouldn't be used to duplicate the functions of other existing sites (newsgroup archiving for example). Some things can be repeated on Cunnan, such as event information, but things such as local meeting times are best left to the home pages of various re-enactment groups.

Cunnan isn't a perfect reference

Cunnan can be edited by anyone - this means that false information can slip in from time to time. Everything you see here should be taken with a grain of salt and checked against another source. When reading Cunnan you should correct those errors you find and add links to other sites as reference.

Cunnan isn't a set of homepages

Cunnan isn't intended to be the site of pseudo-homepages for club, branches, households or people. They can have a page describing who the group is, who their officers are and where their real homepage is, but they should not be actual homepages with articles, announcements etc.

Likewise, biographical details for personas should only be added if the individual played a really significant role in their club, like wrote the rules or started the club. Editors are however welcome to put such details on their User:USERNAME page.

Cunnan isn't a link farm

It's tempting to just add links to other sites and not add "real" content to Cunnan, but adding content to Cunnan is even better. Even if you only add a few lines to an article it still provides a starting point for other users later on.

See also

• Cunnan:What is Cunnan