[CQ-Contest] Lies and Damn lies

[Ford Peterson]

At the risk of starting a chat room brawl...

OJ writes:

........SNIP.......

> a) I do not believe this person exists but is a figment of someone's
> imagination designed to voice a point of view without them having to say
> that they cannot handle SS CW because it is too fast.

Well, I guess now we can add "liar" to the list of names I've been called
over a rather innocent posting a few days ago Re: Unsportsmanlike?  Hmmm  I
guess it's been about 40 years since somebody stuck their tongue out
at me and exclaimed "liar-liar-pantsonfire!"  She and I were both 6 years
old
at the time -- her name was Susan.

In spite of the generally held belief that SSCW is the "Grand Prix" of CW
contesting, this is not about CW Speed at all.  It is about "Culture."
Contesting
culture.  Ever have a job where the work environment is "caustic?"  A great
job can turn into slavery in no time because the culture is screwed up.
It's no fun to be there.  A caustic culture can happen at work, in churches,
sports teams, political campaigns, families, ham radio contests, and
internet reflectors.

Not all the public and private posts have been so pointedly negative towards
me.  I am but one voice in a sea of voices.  Here is a clip from one very
notable
private and unsolicited response...

> This thread reminded me of why I quit active contesting and sold
everything.

There goes another missed Q...  Only this time, everybody gets to miss it.

There is a very fine line between "man this is fun" and "man this sucks."
It has nothing to do with radio, CW, SSB, RTTY, hardware, skill, or
otherwise.  It has to do with culture.  When it's fun to be there, you can't
keep people away.  When the "fun" is gone, so are the people.

If you want people to come to work in the morning, make it inviting. If you
want contesting to grow, make it inviting.  If you want people to
participate on this reflector, make it inviting.  Otherwise, you will end up
playing with yourself, all by yourself (pun intended).  My original posting
was intended to illustrate only one point.  This culture can be caustic to
newbies.

In OJ's treatise flaming me, he expressed great disdain for Political
Correctness.  The moderator rejected my initial response as being
inappropriate.  Apparently, words starting with F and Y are not permitted
when used together.  So, in an attempt to provide a more politically correct
response, those magic words are not included herein.

Ford-N0FP
ford at cmgate.com