I was "voluntold" to be Santa Claus. I wore my military uniform with weapon and flack vest, but I also wore a ratty old gray fuzzy beard and my Santa hat. I sat at the end of a line of soldiers and wished every child that came by a "Merry Christmas."

It's one thing to be "voluntold" by one of your pals that you will, for a case of beer, help him move house next weekend and get his giant box spring up a narrow staircase to the third floor; another for you and him and thousands of others to be voluntold to go to a park to demonstrate cheerful support for the Games and the government.

Whenever I found myself being moved to tears by all these shiny, happy people — on the stage, on the stadium floor, in the stands, giving directions — involved in the show, I could snap myself out of it by wondering how many of them were voluntolds.

Currently, there has been a good response to my suggestion of compiling a book of filk of the knowne worlde, but we still need some more help. The following is a list of gentles who have volunteered/been voluntold for positions as kingdom liasons.