[CQ-Contest] RE: My Friend Spotted me

[Steve Root]

One of the reasons that this discussion has merit is that Packet operation
affects us all, whether you are operating assisted or not.  We're all well
aware of the "Packet Pileup" phenomenon.  Additionally, a station that is
spotted has more potential callers than one who isn't.  Even if you don't
know Telnet from a toaster, if you contest you're dealing with it in some
fashion.

73 Steve K0SR

----- Original Message -----
From: Leigh S. Jones <kr6x at kr6x.com>
To: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2003 5:56 AM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] RE: My Friend Spotted me


> I watch this thread with great interest.  Despite K1AR being tired
> of hearing about packet, I still feel there's much to discuss.
>
> A lot of comments come from guys who just don't seem to get
> it -- they seem unable to understand why some of us are sensitive
> to the subject.  Certainly, if no one spots anyone then there's no
> reason for spotting systems to exist.  So someone gets spotted.
> I don't think that any comments on the reflector are making an
> argument against basic usage of spotting networks by "assisted"
> or "unlimited" operators during contests.
>
> K1TTT went to some great effort to expose some of the present
> packet abuses.  Though he did a lot of work, and produced what
> seemingly is an unbiased view of the issue, I'd caution against
> taking the individual examples at face value because we don't
> know all the details behind the reports.  It's the overall shape of
> the K1TTT report that tells the story, not the individual examples.
>
> As an example of reasons to be cautious, one thing that's often
> overlooked when a report like K1TTT's is published is that an
> amazing amount of sharing of IP addresses takes place on the
> modern internet.  Those who've never studied logs from a web
> server rarely understand the extent of this.  Entire regions of the
> country are represented by AOL and other ISP's and dial-up
> networks by small blocks of IP addresses. Often a handfull of
> IP addresses represent several dozen users.  What appears as
> a single IP address in the K1TTT report may really represent
> many different hams using the same service.  This also works
> in reverse -- a single computer and user can be represented
> by 10 or more IP addresses when fetching the contents of a
> single web page.
>
> Some have written with resentful comments that go something
> like "So now we're being lectured on who we can spot and
> how..."  To this group I have to say that it is possible, and
> apparently tempting, for many to abuse packet spotting.  A
> twist of words and a tone of angry resentment can't change the
> nature of the abuse.  There have been so many spotting thread
> postings now that I've forgotten most of the individuals.  I
> don't want to stand in judgement now with this, but I'd like
> to suggest to this group of individuals that if they feel personally
> under siege regarding their own packet spotting habits based
> on the K1TTT report and the subsequent postings, that perhaps
> the remainder of the contesting community really deserve
> more consideration from the "don't lecture us" group.
>
> You see, packet abuse is one of the "contest cheating"
> techniques that is hard to define, detect, and correct.
> K1TTT's expose was tantalizing, but didn't successfully
> identify any entrants that should be disqualified or scores
> that should be reduced.  We can see a pattern of "my friend
> spotted me" type abuses, even clear instances of "friends"
> who are seen to be hiding their true identities while spotting,
> but can't clearly distinguish between "friends" spotting and
> organized and extensive "friends" spotting or self-spotting.
>
> Well, nonetheless, organized and extensive "friends"
> spotting and self-spotting is the real concern of the thread,
> though this is not what was exposed by K1TTT.  The
> hot interest of the contesting community regarding this issue
> does seem to indicate that many are concerned that we
> may need better protection against these abuses. Despite
> K1AR's boredom with the subject, this remains one of
> the important issues facing the contesting community.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Root" <steve.root at culligan4water.com>
> To: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
> Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 4:51 AM
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] RE: My Friend Spotted me
>
>
> Last weekend I was nowhere near a Packet connection.  And I certainly
> didn't
> ask any MWA members before the contest if they would spot me if they
> heard
> me.  As it was, I was spotted a couple of times by club members.  I
> was also
> spotted a couple of time by Europeans.  And most interesting, I was
> spotted
> by another Stateside station that's not in my club, and doesn't live
> anywhere near me.  Wouldn't ALL of those spots look the same on your
> screen,
> or potentially have the same effect on my score?  What difference does
> it
> make who originated the spot, as long as 1) You didn't originate it
> yourself, and 2) You didnt make arrangements for someone else to do
> so.
>
> 73 Steve K0SR
>
>
>
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>     The world's top contesters battle it out in Finland!
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