Mark,
You make some good points and I can see your arguments. But with all respect
lets look at the other side of this. Unless you have a very good reason to
think
otherwise, I'd assume that you'd respect my effort as being honest and
following
the rules. I don't think I should have my integrity questioned just because I
participated in a contest and submitted a score.
If we assume everyone is cheating, this stops being fun right now.
I suggest that any question about the truth and accuracy of my log is between
me,
my concience, and the log checkers.
3830 is something people "do" because it's fun. It's like standing around on
the dock
and talking fishing with other guys coming off the lake. I enjoy reading the
comments
and hearing about other people's experiences. After a short intense period of
relatively impersonal contesting, it's nice to hear something other than 5903.
The place to address cheating is with the contest sponsors and their log
checkers,
not 3830.
73 Steve K0SR
P.S. As I watch Gustav come on shore I've got my fingers crossed for friends in
5 land.
You're all in our thoughts today.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Beckwith [mailto:n5ot@n5ot.com]
Sent: Monday, September 1, 2008 08:39 AM
To: CQ-Contest@contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Lightning strikes N5OT
Gentlemen (and ladies?), Excellent comments. I painted with too broad a brush
and as a result need to engage in a little backpedaling, my bad. Some of you
have invested your contesting lifetimes in earning a widespread reputation of
unquestionable integrity. You should relax, this conversation is not really
about you. Some of you are not contenders. You should probably relax too. G4MKP
remarked: > Blimey, some of you US guys really > do want to control everything
My dear chap: Don't get your knickers in a wad. It's not about control. K6LA
asked: > How long do I have before you > raise your eyebrows at my > integrity
for a belated post > to 3830? I would not judge a competitor without first
making an effort to learn as much as I could about that particular competitor's
situation. If a competitor was conspicuously absent from 3830, the question
mark floating over my head would be tempered by whatever relationship
experience I have with that competitor. If I had none, I would no
t jump to conclusions without making an attempt to get some. Take Ken, for
instance. I go back a long way with Ken. If he didn't post to 3830 in a timely
fashion, (which I believe he always does, BTW), I might just ask him "why?,"
and he might say "my mother died" or "I was arrested trying to get all my gear
back into the country, and only just got out of jail." Then I would feel bad
for even asking. But then, if he said "really, I just haven't gotten around to
it," I might engage in a well-deserved and good-natured razzing. > What kind of
royal razzing would follow? Well Ken, since you asked, I might say "get off
your ass, you lazy deadbeat" and then buy you another beer. Both would be
deserved. Or take my friend Jim, N6TJ (who gave me a great ration about my post
privately). Let's say we had competed against each other recently, but he
hadn't shared his score and everyone one else had. Now Jim is one of my best
pals in contesting, but if he didn't have a good excuse for no
t posting his score, That would definitely call for a good-natured razzing.
And definitely also another beer. And yes, I would even buy the notorious W3WN
a beer and maybe we could get to know each other better. Perhaps the problem
is, I left the words "good-natured" out of my first post. Oops. Sorry. My bad
again. Then Ken asked a very important question (N4VI, KK6MC, K5GU take note):
> And why? Two already-exhaustively-debated reasons: 1. Post-Contest Log
Massaging 2. Category Shopping Both are bad, wrong, unsportsmanlike.
Unfortunately, neither are technically against the rules, and both are not
uncommon practices. The only way we as contesters have to defend ourselves
against these slovenly practices is to resort to something called "peer
pressure" (does that answer your question, Jim?). The possibility that someone
may have done one or both of these unsavory things is proportional to the
amount of time between the end of the contest and stating on the public record
how
they did in what category (i.e. 3830, as K9GY correctly identified as the de
facto current standard claimed scores listing). Now I AM NOT SAYING that if you
don't go on record with your score that you're automatically a jerk. Basically
if you go on record early, you are banking some credibility because it will be
a lot harder for you to massage your log and go unnoticed, or switch categories
just to come in first place in a category you technically didn't operate, but
also technically qualify to enter... ...which to me are good reasons to post to
3830 as soon as you reasonably can. Mark, N5OT
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