[CQ-Contest] 3 QSO penalty

[Barkey, Patrick M]

The 3-QSO penalty is more deterrent than is needed
to promote accuracy in contest logs.  Here is why:

[1] If you guess wrong on a call or exchange, you
    lose the contact.  That's already incentive to
    try to get it right.  With zero penalty.

[2] If I guess at calls, and you dig them out, you
    get more points.

There is no doubt that adding a 3 QSO penalty
creates more of an incentive than a zero penalty.
But this greater incentive comes at the cost of
greater "side effects" of log checking.

These include:

[1]  Changing contest behavior.  Will ZD8Z call CQ on
     160 meters anymore?  He might not, because the
     penalties associated with his more marginal QSOs
     will detract more from his score than the extra
     good QSOs add to it.  In general, the current
     penalty encourages "safe" QSOs at the expense of
     fringe contacts.

     Those who see contests as "accuracy-fests" will
     applaud this change.  But those of us who think
     that contests are occasions to "push the envelope"
     in terms of what can be worked do not.

[2]  Changing post-contest behavior.  With a loss of 4
     QSOs staring everyone in the face, the incentive
     for all sorts of log cleansing activities (which
     includes the removal of any dubious QSOs -- resulting
     in the other guy paying the penalty) is much higher.

[3]  Amplifying log checking errors.  We all forgive
     log checkers for their occasional errors.  But the
     pain of those errors is much greater with a 300 percent
     penalty add-on.

[4]  Discouragement of casual and less-than-top-notch
     contest operations.  It is clear from the accuracy
     listings that accuracy and contest experience are
     highly correlated.  A new contester who plunges into
     the WW for the first time might get handed back a
     log report that reduces his/her score by 40%!  This
     is a pretty harsh welcome to the world of contesting.
     
Please note that none of these arguments imply that sloppy
logs are OK, or that checking logs thoroughly is illegal,
immoral or fattening.  :-)  Just that a reduction in the
penalty is in order.

   - Pat
     N9RV


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