Personally, I think the latest additions to the rules by CQ WW are
pretty clumsy and are highly unlikely to have much effect, if any, but
we can hardly blame them for grasping at straws to try to get the
situation under control. What percentage of contesters are getting
caught cheating? Does anyone seriously think that trivial fraction
represents the majority of the significant cheaters?
The ones that have been getting DQ'd are at or near the very top of the
results listings and are obvious targets for increased scrutiny. I'd
bet that the contest committee is not able to apply that same attention
very many rungs down the ladder, and yet the guy who cheats to leapfrog
five spots to 20th position is just as reprehensible as the one who
cheats to get into the top 3. If you consider the percentage of top 5
(or 10 or whatever) placements that have gotten caught cheating, the
situation looks a bit more ominous. Why would anyone think that doesn't
exist on a broader scale? Look at any poll of attitudes toward cheating
in any aspect of human life and you don't find anything like 98%
condemnation of it. Why would ham radio be any different, especially
when people are passionate enough about it to spend the money that they
do. Cheating is a lot cheaper ...
Anyone who has spent much time contesting, or associating with others
who do, has witnessed or heard first hand accounts of someone running
excess power or using other means to cheat. How many times did you hear
anyone say they did anything about it, though ... either chastising the
culprit or turning him in?
We've all read the public responses from those who have gotten caught
cheating. How many of them sounded contrite? There have even been
comments from casual observers on this very reflector regarding cheating
that follow the path of "everyone does it, so what's the big deal?"
So where is all this supposed peer pressure? Where is the self
policing? Why is there WAY more indignation being heaped upon the
contest committee than on the identified cheaters? If you want to
slam the CQ WW contest committee for using a fork to cut an apple, have
at it. But if you think they're over-reacting to isolated violations, I
think a realistic view of the situation might suggest otherwise. And in
my opinion, we have only ourselves to blame for it.
Flame on ....
73,
Dave AB7E
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