[CQ-Contest] Re: Assisted?

[George Fremin III - K5TR]

On Fri, Mar 08, 2002 at 11:50:46PM -0800, Chris Allingham wrote:

> But didn't
> everyone in the contest benefit from Paul's marketing before the contest,
> and from the spots?  Consider the following:

This is a good question and I do know the answer. 

My gut feeling is that any marketing done is usually done
with the intention to help the person doing the marketing. 

I was prompted to post the list of ZF2MM packet spots after 
Bruce (ZF2NT) posted this message to CQ Contest:

http://lists.contesting.com/_cq-contest/2002-March/046626.html

I found this message very interesting for two reasons.

1. I agree with his concerns.

2. ZF2MM was operating from ZF2NT's station. 

Bruce brings up what I think are very valid concerns and
he goes on to give some examples.  If you have not read his
post please do so now.

The point that Bruce brings up is, do we want contests to
be about operating or do we want them to be about
(as VE3FU calls it) marketing?

I have gotten some email since I posted the list of packet
spots. A few people say "DQ ZF2MM", some say big deal 
he got some friends to spot him and others are upset because
their call is on the list. 

I do not think that ZF2MM should be DQed. 

I do think we (the contesting community) should discuss 
how we feel about the "marketing" of contests.  This was 
not the first time and I am sure it will not be the last time
that someone feels the need to do this in order to make a 
good score in a contest. 

I am not sure that the increased packet spots helped ZF2MM's 
score much (I could be wrong) and it is possilbe that they 
might have even hurt it by turing some folks off to working him.

The real issue goes beyond the ZF2MM effort and it is 
what Bruce talks about in his message, do we want 
contesting to come down to some sort of "beauty contest"?

My answer to this is, No.

The contest should be about operating during the contest. 

It should *not* be about:

- How many skeds you can make with mults before the contest.
- How many emails you can send to folks.
- How many times you get spotted on packet.
- How many unique "buddy" contacts you can make.
- How many T-shirts you can send to folks.
- How many banner ads you can buy on some web site.

Do we want the contest to be defined or have the outcome
altered by any of the above? 

I know that I don't. 

I operate contests because I find them fun.  I enjoy the challenge
provided by the bands, from within myself and from fellow contesters.


-- 

George Fremin III        "When a true genius appears in the world,
Johnson City, TX           you may know him by this sign; that the 
K5TR (ex.WB5VZL)            dunces are all in confederacy against him."    
830/868-2510                                   -- Jonathan Swift
geoiii at kkn.net                              
http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr