[CQ-Contest] Cabrillo problem statement

[Tree]

Interesting to see the morphing (and non-morphing) on this thread after
not following it for a day or two.

I think anyone who is suggesting a different approach (like ADIF or XML)
may be 100 percent correct from a technical standpoint.  However, the biggest
value that the Cabrillo spec has was having the majority of contest sponsors
sign up to it.  There is no way anyone can realistically expect a move away
from Cabrillo - unless there are very significant advantages to changing.
>From the perspective of the sponsors, I don't see that these exist.

A problem with the Stew Perry and RSTs is not a significant issue for the 
ARRL or CQ or most anyone else except the Boring Amateur Radio Club - and
the robot authors (who just happen to be charter members of the BARC).

And yes - this could be "fixed" from a programming perspective with smarter
tools.  I have been close to turning off the QSO: entry parsing checker 
for the Stew Robot - and just dealing with the fallout during the log 
checking process.  The robot code is ALREADY a huge task without asking
the person doing this work to accomodate this one fluke.

And - I am sorry if I seem to get cranking at Monday Morning quarterbacking 
on this issue - but I am - it is personal.  I have a high amount of personal
pride in how this all fits together and assume the ultimate responsibility.
All of the decisions being made here are mine - with the exception of the
one mistake that was made on the web page.  

I am starting to repeat myself now - the reason we ended up here is because
I though it would be LESS work for everyone if we left the format the same.
It was unfortunate that the left hand didn't know what the right hand was
doing - and an error on the Cabrillo spec web page made it look like the
RSTs had been eliminated.  This caused most of the confusion and thrash.

This ended up making it more work for some - we apologize for that.

Finally - I don't think this case really means Cabrillo is broken.  There 
just isn't enough fuel for this fire for it to change the landscape that
much.  

73 Tree N6TR