[CQ-Contest] Cheating

[James Cain]

Contesters are human? Who knew?

 -- K1TN



> I'm not in favor of inspectors, mostly because I don't think they are at 
> all practical. But the problem isn't going to go away ... it's human 
> nature to cheat. Seriously --- there have been lots of studies on the the 
> topic of cheating and what variables make people more likely to cheat 
> under what circumstances and Radiosport happens to have a majority of 
> those factors. Out of pure curiosity I once did some casual research on 
> the subject and even (per his request) sent a summary to Randy, K5ZD when 
> he was doing a rules review some time ago.
>
>
> You can believe me or not, but I'm telling you that we're wired to cheat 
> in competitive environments, or when something of perceived value (time, 
> money, glory, gratification, etc) is at stake. I could give several 
> everyday examples that would make almost all of us take pause. We simply 
> are not inherently honest. Even our "morality" mostly boils down to 
> learned and ingrained social pressures. Lots of hams seem to think that 
> humans are fundamentally honest and that the urge to cheat is some sort of 
> aberration. From an anthropological point of view, it's the other way 
> around.
>
> There may be a way to come up with a contest format without cheating, but 
> it won't be because people didn't try.
>
> 73,
> Dave   AB7E