[CQ-Contest] Best & worst scenarios - 3830 postings

[Michael Coslo]

On Sep 2, 2008, at 9:11 PM, Mark Beckwith wrote:
>
> So Mike, why do you post the preliminary scores if using them is  
> fallacious?

Perhaps I need to explain here

I wrote:

> But they haven't been skunked. They were beat.  This shows the fallacy
> of relying on preliminary scores as any kind of determination of final
> scores


Posting the preliminary scores is a service to our participants. They  
see their entry, and they see we have some idea of what their score  
might be.

But there is a reason they are called preliminary. Scores get changed.  
And anyone who relies on the preliminary score as what their final  
score is might very well be disappointed.

Ours is different than the 3830 scoring in that everyone's preliminary  
score is there - so no one is taken by surprise. But scores do change,  
so anyone thinking they have won before the final checking might just  
be counting their chickens before they hatch.

Therefore the fallacy.

-73 de Mike N3LI -