> >... contest?
> >o It's fun
> >o There's a perceived reward of some sort
> >
> >... submit a log?
> >o It's easy to do
> >o Doing so supports one of the reasons for "Why do you contest?" above
> >
> >The real question is this:
> >What is the ARRL's goal; more contesters or more logs or something else?
> >
> >Since Gene mentions that the Cabrillo-bot doesn't have enough data on which
> >to
> >determine if there has been a drop-off of unique calls participating in
> >contests, then it appears that the only dataset available is "logs
> >submitted".
>
> I think Gene is refering to the fact that cabrillo logs have only been
> accepted for a short time. Thus there is not a long enough baseline of
> on-line data to be able to determine a trend, using just that data.
Gene,
Certainly the "top 10" station's logs have been Cabrillo submitted for several
years. Wouldn't it prove useful to examine them to see if the trend you believe
is occuring is in evidence there?
Answering the question, "Are there more or fewer participants over the past
10-years?" is an important first question to answer. Without it, one may "fix"
a problem that doesn't really exist.
Until that is answered, the only question that *can* be answered is, "Why are
there fewer logs submitted?" -- which is an entirely different question. The
answer is either:
o It isn't easy to do (which could be a reality or simply a perception)
- Then ask "what is getting in the way?"...and listen to the responses
without pre-conceived notions
o There is not enough reward for doing so (remember, rewards are different
for different people)
- Then ask of those that submit a log, "What reward to you receive for
submitting a log?"
- Ask those that don't (after finding them in the logs of the big-guns),
"Why didn't you submit a log?"
The answers will amaze you...but the problem is that these questions haven't
been asked, yet. :)
Ev, W2EV
PS...not for nuthin', but there seems to be a track record of folks making
knee-jerk decisions without understanding all of the facts (BEACONet's CU2QSO
system for Rover support in VHF contests comes to mind). Is it possible that
the same is happening here?
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