[VHFcontesting] The Psychology of Contest Participation

[Paul Kiesel]

People enter competitions for whatever reason. Fairness is not the problem here for two reasons: 1) The same rules apply to everyone entering a contest category and 2) there is no level playing field (and will never be any) in VHF contesting (as a consequence of geography).

If you enter a category where you know you will be competing with someone who will blow your socks off, it's not a matter of someone picking on you. 

When it comes to human nature in contests, well, expect others to try to beat you. Then make the best decision that you can in choosing that category. 

What makes me smile is the efforts people go to to fix something that doesn't affect them in the slightest. They get their back up, sweat and wring their wrists about something that someone else does within the rules that will never affect them personally.

73,
Paul, K7CW





--- On Sun, 2/15/09, Shupienis, Joseph <jshupienis at ccac.edu> wrote:
From: Shupienis, Joseph <jshupienis at ccac.edu>
Subject: [VHFcontesting] The Psychology of Contest Participation
To: vhfcontesting at contesting.com
Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 11:53 AM

"People who enter competitions must realize that they may not win. It is
not up to the contest sponsor to make it so a person's esteem is
satisfied." - K7CW

Not my point at all. My point is more on the line of, "People rarely enter
competitions they realize they cannot win. People do enter contests to see how
they stack up in a fair competition. It *IS* up to the contest sponsor to give
every entrant a fair shot at success in an appropriate category, otherwise many
will not bother entering their contest."

Human nature being what it is, most normal people prefer to, in street
parlance, "Pick on somebody their own size."


73, de Joe, W3BC
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