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Re: [CQ-Contest] Fw: [RRDXA] E73M - I have cheated

To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Fw: [RRDXA] E73M - I have cheated
From: David Gilbert <xdavid@cis-broadband.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:49:16 -0700
List-post: <cq-contest@contesting.com">mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
WAY more than 0.1% of contesters are doing *something* dishonest.  It's 
human nature, and anyone who thinks otherwise is simply kidding 
themselves.  W0MU's post lists common examples, and I could probably 
list at least as many more.  There is absolutely zero reason to believe 
that people are going to be MORE honest in an essentially blind hobby 
competition than they are in real life ... where you have commonplace 
things like exceeding a speed limit, telling white lies to friends and 
family, exaggerating an entry on a resume, keeping excess change from a 
clerk, overstating insurance claims or tax deductions, etc, etc, etc.  
We all have our own soft definition of what is fair and "honest" in any 
particular context, and that is particularly the case in a competition.

What percentage of the population of any city in the world would remain 
civil and honest if there were no police?  What percentage of the people 
or companies in the world would file honest tax returns if there was no 
oversight and no penalties for fraud?  What percentage of the people in 
the world violate drug or morality laws?  And those are all situations 
with serious welfare and social consequences.  Compare that to a ham 
radio contest with no viable oversight of the activity itself and only 
indirect oversight of the result, where there is no penalty for 
violation other than possible disqualification, and where the common 
perception is that any harm caused is minor anyway.  The majority of the 
items hams have bought from other hams at flea markets or on eBay have 
probably functioned as described, but the percentage that didn't is 
large enough that many hams refuse to do either.  And a contest is going 
to be different??

There have been several valid concerns expressed about where we should 
draw the line regarding radiosport enforcement, but pretending that the 
root problem is 0.1% of the total doesn't seem to me to be the most 
realistic approach to the issue.

Dave   AB7E



On 8/18/2011 8:32 PM, David Thompson wrote:
>
> 99.9% of the contesters are honest but it takes just one or two to sour you
> on QRP and Low Power entries.
>
> Dave K4JRB
>
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