[CQ-Contest] penalty: long reply

[DougKR2Q at aol.com]

Dear Whiners, Truth-Seekers, Misinformed, and other interested parties:

1. The "penalty" has been around for approximately 20 years.  Before the Internet and the CQWWCC making UBN's public, not many knew about it.  That is far different than saying that the penalty did not exist.  How many Records currently exist that were made prior to 1980?  Are they records still because the log was bogus, or because nobody has challenged them that many years?
2. The penalty, when originally initiated, applied to dupes AS WELL AS to busted calls AND "N" calls.  "N" calls were found by manually cross-checking logs.  It was no fun at all.  The Penalty has always been applied the same way.
3. The "best" contesters have really, really good (low) UBN rates resulting in around 6% score reductions.  That is for the top ten in 3 of the major categories.  The median score reduction for ALL entrants (as per N6AA's post) is about 15%.  If this were school, the best guys/gals are scoring a 94% while the median is scoring around an 85%.  What is wrong with that?  These results are completely within the sanity-check range.  You can't blame the scoring method if over 50% of the entrants are scoring an 85% or better.  Does anybody really think that every entrant is perfect?
4. Typing errors are because of a choice that each entrant makes.  Typographical errors are not a valid excuse.  Nobody is forcing you to use logging software that requires a keyboard; it is your choice.  If you can't type accurately enough (no matter what hour it is), then that is your fault….you are lacking a skill that is essential to your success in the competition.  If you can't copy CW, is that an excuse for getting the calls wrong?  One year, an entrant had a horrible UBN rate.  He/she said that it wasn't their fault because he/she keyed in the calls while having the monitor turned off (trying to reduce RFI).  DUH!  As K2GL said to us one year, "If you don't win, it's your own damned fault."  Equally, if you can't type, it's your own fault.
5. Why is there a penalty at all?  Because that is your incentive to get it right.  If there were no penalty, what would be the motivation to get the calls correct?  If you guessed and got it wrong, you would lose only the bad qso.  So why would you bother/struggle to get the calls right?  Having no penalty would actually be an incentive to guess.  If you guess right, you win…if you guess wrong…well, nothing is lost.  Instead of "I've got to get it right," the thinking would be, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."  That is not what skill is all about.  And the CQWW contest is about skill.
6. If you think skill shouldn't be a factor, then you are clearly not a competitor.  And if you are not a competitor, then you shouldn't care what your score/score reduction is anyhow.
7. The CQWW contest is not a "field day" event; it is designed to be a test of skill for those who wish to compete.  For all others, go ahead and have a fun time, enjoy yourself, work some new ones, play with the gray-line, look for band-countries, or do whatever you like.  I certainly encourage your participation, even if for only one qso (that's right Uniques are never removed simply for being a Unique).
8. Nothing succeeds like success.  CQWW is continuing to grow…both in the number of entrants and in the size of the scores.  New records are constantly set.  It is a thriving, worldwide event.
9. Is the CQWWCC deaf to new ideas and technology?  Certainly not.  Believe it or not, there once was a time when there was no "assisted" category.  When the time is right and circumstances are worthy, the CQWWCC makes measured improvements.  Is it perfect?  Nope.  Is it the best thing going?  I think so.

de Doug KR2Q




--
CQ-Contest on WWW:        http://lists.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
Administrative requests:  cq-contest-REQUEST at contesting.com