Two posts in one day might seem excessive so I promise I won't do it too often.
Contests are popular, many ops just love them, can't get enough of them, can't imagine life without them: that's kinda natural because many people are highly competitive and even combative. Other folk like contests because they're sorta lazy: rather than take their chances and call CQ, they sniff around the edges of contests and 'give away a few points'. These folk come away simply happy that they've been on the air and have a few more entries in their logs. -And who is to say their approach is wrong? Not me, although this paragraph does come across as generally critical, I have to admit.
Contests are unpopular. Many ops hate them, despise them: they claim contests ruin the bands at weekends; they have furious arguments with contesters who say they only contest at the weekends, that non contesters have the bands all week. Digital contesters faced with crowded bands during contests sometimes do the weak thing and stray into other mode segments. Hearts rule heads and passions run high, fuelled by the ease of making inflammatory claims and counter claims on the internet.
Where do I stand? I stand on the middle ground. I confess to being a keen (but undistinguished!!) contester decades ago. But I've changed after a 20 year QRT. Now the important thing for me when in QSO is the person at the other end, not the points the contact represents. I've stopped being so competitive. If I come across a pile up, rather than toss my hat into the ring and add my noise to the clamour I move onto a quieter place; the 'rare ones' will just have to wait their turn to work me some other time.
I loved this site and it's graphics from the moment I saw it; more so when I joined and saw the content. But my heart sank when I saw the word 'Contest'. Before long there could be a panoply of rules, checks, balances, computer driven and manually administered. Huge work for those administering it. In the worst case, the contest could *become* the club. (I can think of at least one morse club where the only function now appears to be to give 'awards' to mark 'achievements'.)
Can we call this contest by another name? (Ladder??) It could perform in exactly the same way but be freed from the baggage the word 'contest' drags behind it.
The rules do not say explicitly that it is to be a CW only contest, so I guess digital and fone contacts will be valid. I wonder if that will give digital ops an edge over other modes?
I've tried to be balanced in this post and I've tried to be constructive. If I've fallen short of the mark, let me apologise now: my motives were of the best.
Vic
