[CQ-Contest] Claiming assistance when not actually assisted

[Tim Shoppa]

I would strongly discourage anyone from claiming assistance when not
actually assisted by the official rules. This smells too much of "gaming
category to get a plaque" and could easily result in an unassisted operator
getting a plaque that was actually intended for a truly, by-the-rules,
assisted operator.

I note that in CQWWCW 2013, if the #3 USA unassisted operator had claimed
assistance, he would've been #1 USA assisted. I could come up with many
other such examples, especially in WRTC qualifying years.

I also note that in my first ever RTTY contest (ARRL RTTY RU 2012), I was
unassisted-low but I carelessly sent my log in such a way, that the robot
put me in assisted-low which (because there was no single-op assisted
category) means that my log was put in the MSLP category. I saw this in the
robot's message but didn't pay any attention at the time because it was my
first RTTY contest ever and I knew I wasn't a contender. Just a few months
later I go to a club meeting, and everyone congratulates me on setting a
new record for MDC MSLP (which is how assisted single-ops were categorized
at the time.)

To this day I can still go to the ARRL website and see it says I still hold
that record, a record I do not actually deserve:
http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Contest%20Records/2014/arrlrtty_records_2014_wve.txt

Tim N3QE