[CQ-Contest] cqww cw spotting report

[Doug Renwick]

Geesh, remember that contesting is just a hobby, repeat just a hobby.
There are so many more important issues in the world to deal with.
Can't we focus our efforts on them instead.

Doug

-----Original Message-----


Hans has an excellent point  re public Hanging's. Any private  
individual who takes on the job of "Contest Cop" will eventually come  
under scrutiny him/herself. That's human nature. Other problems  
include the individual is just that, an individual. Dave might be  
performing a service, but he won't be around forever. And if he were  
to decide to stop , then who would take over the responsibility?

If there is a systemic problem - and before I go much further, I'm not  
really convinced that there is a cheater behind every tree - we need  
to attack the problem in an organized fashion.

Here is an actual workable proposal:

FIrst thing that is needed is an organization. For the sake of  
discussion, let's call it the CEG - Acronym for Contest Ethics group.

The CEG will need to do the following:

1. Determine what constitutes cheating - Sounds easy but isn't. Is  
5.000001 watts at QRP cheating?

2. Determine punishments and methods of enforcement - A miscreant in  
one contest would be punished equitably across all CEG associated  
contests.

Here is where we come to that thorny public versus private thing. I  
would postulate that if an organization were formed, the need to  
perform a public lynching. There is a voyeuristic element to the whole  
public outing issue anyway. Do we want the problem to go away, or do  
we want the thrill of watching someone "get theirs". If public outing  
is the decided upon mode of operation, get plenty of liability  
insurance. Mistakes can be made.

The organization aspect of the punishment is a protection for those  
who do the work. Those who would cheat might very well be those who  
would seek retaliation against private individuals. Seems ridiculous  
that would happen in contesting, but remember the incident in Texas a  
few years ago when a Mother tried to have one of her daughter's  
adversaries killed in order for her daughter to get on the High school  
cheerleading team.

3. Determine monitoring methods.

4. Determine exactly WHO is monitoring - This is a troublesome one,  
because the monitors need to be interested in "cleaning up Dodge  
City", but to participate in contesting itself while functioning as a  
contest cop would be a serious conflict of interest. Perhaps the  
monitors/enforcers  could be active contesters who take a multi year  
leave of absence from contesting.

5. Come up with a methodology for reporting cheaters to the respective  
contests. The offense, the punishment. This will allow sponsors to  
have a list, similar to the "bad check" lists" at retail stores.  
Punishments reported to sponsors are the minimum punishments for the  
offense. Contest sponsors are allowed to enact additional punishments  
as they see fit.

6. Contesters would need to buy-in - contesters should be willing to  
support the CEG. Dues, and some sort of membership requirements and  
certificate would be applicable.

7. Contest sponsor buy-in - This part is tricky. The CEG organization  
would need to have a way of both working cooperatively with the  
contest sponsor, yet have some leverage to be effective. The sponsor  
would need to have autonomy over it's rules. You're not there to say  
how they run the contest, your there to help out with ethical issues.

8. Here's the tricky part, but one I think is crucial. Members of the  
CEG would need to elect which contests they participate in. And the  
members would be suggested to participate only in CEG associated  
contests.

9. Eventually, if popular  enough, almost all contests will be brought  
into line and operate in association with the CEG.

All of the usual issues of forming an organization will apply.  
Articles of incorporation, bylaws, rules writing, election of  
officers, that sort of thing.

Okay - there ya go. An outline, a plan of attack, and a workable  
solution. There are some issues - there always are, but this method  
will allow cheaters to be punished across many if not all contests.

Now all that is needed is to see if there are people out there who  
will take up the task, or if they would rather just complain.


-73 de Mike N3LI -


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