[CQ-Contest] Public Logs

[Ron Notarius W3WN]

A private email I just received, said, in part:

"I think that making logs public is a terrific deterrent against cheating...
We already have a instances where highly questionable behavior has been
discovered by public scrutiny of logs that were not caught by the contest
sponsors.  As far as cheaters being few, it seems to me that a surprisingly
high percentage of high scorers are being caught, and THAT is the reason for
the deterioration in presumption of innocence, not the requirement for open
logs."

So, that's what this is really about?  Catching the cheaters?  If so, in no
particular order:

(1)  Our solution to catching cheaters is assuming that all are suspect --
guilty until proven innocent?

(2)  Is our collective paranoia (or at least that of a few of us) over
cheating such that we don't even rely on the contest sponsors to adjuticate
the logs without having them double checked?

(3)  If the alleged cheating is so allegedly widespread amongst the "high
scorers", why and it is so obvious that there is no doubt, then why isn't it
being made public?  Fear of lawsuits?

Where does this all end, anyway?  Because I can pretty much guarantee that
the demands for "openness" won't end with the logs being made "open" -- if
that's even practical, as N3LI so eloquently has pointed out.

-- Are we going to demand a drug test from any operator who is in the chair
40 or more hours out of 48, because he obviously couldn't do it without
medicinal assistance?

-- Are we going to measure on and off times to the nanosecond?  How about
sync'ing the station clock to WWV or equivalent that tightly?

-- Are we going to demand a full audio/video 48 hour survelliance of the
operating position to prove that a S/O is a S/O, or a M/S is a M/S, and so
forth?  (And I know full well that there are already some who think this
should be a mandate!)

-- Are we going to demand that a contester must have a 24/7/365 Internet
connection up during the event, with monitoring capability, and a "real
time" score fed at all times?

-- Are we going to pull a NASCAR "car of the future" mandate, and insist
that contesters only use a handful of rigs from an approved list, or logging
software from an approved list?  Will we "force" contesters to retire older
put perfectly adequate rigs that lack a computer interface, because we have
to have the exact QRG recorded in the log along with the precise, accurate
time?

Where does it end?

Continue down this slippery slope, and contesting becomes more of a chore
and less fun for the operators.  Lessen the fun, lose participants and
casual contesters.

In short, to get back to point (3) above -- if the problem of "cheating" is
so widespread amongst the top scorers (an allegation I don't agree with,
pending evidence that everyone seems to "know" about but never does seem to
see the light of day), why are we proposing to penalize the average operator
in the trenches, and not addressing the problem that occurs at the top?

73