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

[James Duffey]

Steve - You wrote:
"So, when is a deadline a deadline ?"

If the contest sponsor has some leeway in the latest time it accepts  
logs for special and not-so-special circumstances, then it seems to me  
that there is really no "deadline". A deadline by its definition  
cannot be stretched. That is what the dead in deadline means. If it  
can be extended, then we have suggested log submission times, not  
deadlines.

"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 ?'

The obvious answer to this is when the deadline has passed.

Amateur radio contesting is one of the few competitions that depends  
on everyone doing well. The more contacts that the entrants make, the  
more each individual's score increases. The results of the end point  
of this kind of game depends on everyone playing under the same rules.  
If some can submit late logs, then that may skew the score from what  
it would be if there were no deadlines, and that of course is not  
"fair", since not everyone has played by the same rules.

This applies to check logs as well. They should be submitted by the  
deadline as well.

Having said all that, the pragmatic answer is probably that logs can  
be accepted up until the time that continued acceptance impacts  
publishing the results on schedule.

As a habitual procrastinator, lax log submission guidelines favor my  
bad habits and hence benefit me, but I realize that is selfish on my  
part. - Duffey
--
KK6MC
James Duffey
Cedar Crest NM