[VHFcontesting] "CQ On The Internet", Spin Doctors, and fair debate

[Paul Kiesel]

Sebastian,

I don't think you can draw any conclusion from looking at how many times someone has published contest results on the 3830 list. Many contesters choose not to publish their scores there. 


73, Paul K7CW



________________________________
 From: "Sebastian, W4AS" <w4as at bellsouth.net>
To: "VHFCONTESTING at contesting.com" <VHFCONTESTING at contesting.com> 
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2013 2:43 PM
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] "CQ On The Internet", Spin Doctors, and fair debate
 

Les, while this has really nothing to do with the subject of making changes in contests, today I decided to run a completely unscientific query on the 3830 list.  For those that don't know, "The 3830 list is for posting contest score rumors."  I believe it has been in place since the late 90s.  It is a place to basically post how you did in a particular contest.  Whatever is posted on there is not checked by any of the contest originators, so there could very well be errors in math, etc.  I chose 3830 as it is not limited to any particular organization.

I should mention the results of my poll do not take the following into consideration:

Some may either have never heard of, or never bothered to submit their score to 3830;
Some may be very active in contests, but use a club or someone else's call;
Some may have no interest in contesting at all.

Here are my findings:  the ARRL has a total of 30 individuals in the position of Director or Vice-Director.  I decided that 6 posts to the list should be the minimum to be counted "as an active contest participant".  Using those figures, only 14 Directors/Vice Directors have posted more than 6 times to 3830.  That means that more than half have never done so.  For those wondering if some of them never posted, there is a total of 8 who have never posted there; and 4 who have posted only once.  In fairness, a number of those who have posted, show hundreds of posts.

Taking into account the possibilities of reasons these folks have not submitted scores, it appears to show the majority of our elected ARRL representatives are not very active, at least in this aspect of the hobby.

73 de Sebastian, W4AS



On Sep 26, 2013, at 3:40 PM, Les Rayburn <les at highnoonfilm.com> wrote:

> Ever notice that some of the biggest detractors of the creation of ASSISTED classes for VHF Contesting are also among those who never show up in your log? You can do some amazing things on the Internet, including doing a search by callsign of CQ and ARRL VHF Contests over the last several years. It's interesting to see who submitted a log, and who did not.
> 
> Makes me wonder why some who seem to be so passionate about VHF contesting don't bother to actually participate all that often.
> 
> Whie I work in public relations, I don't always appreciate attempts to manipulate language to change the context of a discussion, or sway opinion unfairly. I think referring to Marshall's proposal to create ASSISTED categories in VHF Contests as "calling CQ on the Internt" amounts to dirty pool.
> 
> Announcing that you are calling CQ on a given frequency, from a given location does not constitute a contact. To do that you must actually work them on the radio. It does make it easier to find and work stations who may be within range of your stations--that is, after all, the intention of the proposal. But if the person doing so competes on equal ground with others in an ASSISTED class, who is harmed? Those who want to be purists or luddites can continue to operate without assistance and compete with others who feel the same way.
> 
> Personally, I prefer the much more liberal rules demonstrated in last week's Sprint. Contacts and skeds can be arranged in advance of the contest or during, by telephone, Internet, or smoke signals. But for the contact to count it must be made via RF.. I tried and failed to work six stations that I had skeds with arranged impromptu in a chat room. None of them went in the log.
> 
> In the end it all comes down to honor and intergrity. You either work them, or you don't. The same standard applies to debating a proposal. You can do so fairly on the merit of the ideas, or you can attempt to manipulate language. You can create a catchy turn of phrase, or you can contribute ideas, effort, time, and yes....logs into the hobby.
> 
> I judge ideas and proposals based on merits. The merit of the idea itself, and also the merit of the person putting it foward.
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> --
> 73,
> 
> Les Rayburn, N1LF
> 121 Mayfair Park
> Maylene, AL 35114
> EM63nf

_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting