[CQ-Contest] When is a deadline a deadline ?

[Ed Muns]

> We have discussed, ad nauseum, compressing the log submission 
> deadlines in some contests. Let's not stray into that topic (again !).
> However, we should consider the other extreme. For CQWW, for 
> example, we have adequate log submission deadlines - December 
> 1 (SSB) and January 15 (CW). Contest sponsors have 
> traditionally allowed some leniency for special (and 
> not-so-special) situations. So, when is a deadline a deadline 
> ? At what point should a log simply be rejected by the 
> contest sponsor due to lateness, assuming there is are no 
> special circumstances accounting for the delay ?

A log should never be rejected.  The more logs the better, for the log
checking process.  However, the submitter should not expect their results to
count if the log is submitted past the published deadline.  If the log is
received too late to be used in log checking, then it can just be ignored.
Incoming logs are date-time-stamped upon receipt so it is easy to handle
them appropriately.

Ed - W0YK