What's the deal with the Webrings being down? I haven't been able to access any of them over the weekend; Jennifer Wade says People Chase is down, too. I'm missing my fave diaries, dang it! I've been forced to visit other pages, which is not a bad thing, actually. Without my usual reading material available, I strolled on over to visit a pal's oh-so-secret gay web pages, and discovered that he was on a webring, as well: Queer Ring. Is there no end to this madness? Is the only way to see and be seen raving about your passions by joining a webring? If so, I'm going to start my own.
I'll be very strict about who can be on it, though. You'll have to be able to form a complete sentence. You'll need to recognise certain key words such as Wedgwood, Edgworth, Prinny, and phaeton. You'll most certainly have to be able to explain the best way to remove dirt from muslin, name two of the best hotels in London of the day, and be able to tell me why Mrs. Delany was so famous. If you can do all of that, you can join my Regency Ring.
Yeah, right. Like there are that many Regency fans out there. I've joined a few list-servs here and there, trying to find others as well-read and obsessive as I am about the Regency period, but to no avail. I keep joining and dropping out of discussion groups, bored within a week. Never did I think this day would come. I have read so much about the period that I know rather a lot about the politics, economics, social customs of the middle and upper classes, religions, fine arts, road building, carriages, postal services, and slang of the English Regency. I seem to have become something of an expert on it. My dear friend, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, helpfully pointed out that I have a scholar's library of reference material; far more detailed than anyone merely interested in reading a romance novel set in the period would have.
While I obviously take pride in my knowledge, it's kind of lonely. I'd like to meet others who know more than I do. I suspect a decent university would provide me with that opportunity. I've been a member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, which is a very fine resource. In fact, there's several rather good Regency web sites, most notably the Jane Austen Info Page, and the Regency Home Page. They both provide a lot of good links, especially to HTML versions of papers and novels. Sometimes skimming through the list make me feel like I'm not just a weirdo who loves living in the past.
I had better ask them join my webring. Then, we can all be united as we cry out in well-bred, elegant, heartfelt tones, "Lud! The Webring is down again!"