[CQ-Contest] Cheating

[Pete Smith N4ZR]

Is there anyone who hasn't cheated, as Dave defines the term, at some 
time in our lives?  But that's a far cry from defining cheating as "the 
norm."  A better way of thinking about it might be to take time spent 
cheating versus total time spent in the activity.

As for enforcement, I think it's analogous to the enforcing of traffic 
laws.  That cop car on the shoulder, or traffic camera warning sign, 
won't be of any significance for most people using the road.  Their 
presence will probably deter some people from speeding, aggressive 
driving or running stop lights.  Some of those who aren't deterred will 
be caught, and the object lesson of being caught and given a ticket 
won't be lost on those who might be thinking of doing the same things.  
And finally, those who persist in such behavior should have their 
licenses taken away.

73, Pete N4ZR
The World Contest Station Database, at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000 and
arcluster.reversebeacon.net, port 7000

On 7/18/2012 10:37 PM, David Gilbert wrote:
> I understand the political correctness of that statement, but I
> guarantee that it isn't accurate.  I've written on this subject at
> length before, but the reality is that WAY more of us will cheat under
> the right circumstances:
>
> a.  we perceive that a rule is unwarranted or unfair
>
> b.  we perceive that cheating is a way to correct some imbalance in
> circumstances
>
> c.  we perceive that many others are cheating and that we are at a
> disadvantage if we don't
>
> c.  we don't think we will get caught because of poor visibility or
> anonymity
>
> d.  the stakes are high enough to warrant the risk of getting caught
>
> e.  we consider it a challenge to cheat without getting caught
>
> I didn't make those things up.  They're all discussed in various
> sociological studies on the behavior of cheating that can be found with
> a little internet searching, and all of the factors can be found in ham
> radio contesting.  If anyone thinks that giving in to one or more of
> those factors is limited to 0.1 percent of our ranks, consider what
> percentage of people fudge on their tax returns, go through a stop sign
> if nobody is around, have affairs  .... or even loot stores in a
> disaster.  Cheating in one form or another isn't an aberration in humans
> ... it's closer to being the norm.
>
> 73,
> Dave   AB7E
>
>
>
>
>
> On 7/17/2012 10:35 PM, Tree wrote:
>> Hello fellow contesters.
>>
>> Let me preface this message by first saying that I believe 99.9 percent of
>> contesters play by the rules.  This message talks about the 0.01 percent
>> who don't.
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