Mike, The sport is horribly unfair because the individuals who take it seriously and spend considerable time practicing contest formats tend to win contests! :-)
Taking my tongue out of my cheek I do believe there is a problem attracting new people to the hobby, and specifically to participate in contests. I also believe that some important underlying causes for this are: A) The sport is inherently difficult to master B) We usually compete in relatively large groups, so as you painfully slowly learn to fly well you slowly work your way up with little encouraging feedback. I am not suggesting that we do away with absolute scoring, it has its place and clearly recognizes the hard work of those who strive to excell. I do think there is room for a system that allows individuals to better measure their performance over time. Anker ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Stump" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Anker Berg-Sonne" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "RCSE" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 1:26 PM Subject: Re: [RCSE] Handicaps > At 11:15 AM 1/25/2003 -0500, you wrote: > >OK, enough skeg mail. Let's move on. > >snip< > > > > >Thehandicapping process isn't sanctioned by the ESL and is a purely personal > >effort. But by maintaining the system and posting the scores I hope to > >convince the ESL, and possibly the greater soaring community that > >handicapping is a good idea and will make contests "fairer" and winnable by > >any flier without resorting to classes.<< > > > > >snip<< > > OK, we've gone from skegs to fairness. the dreaded level playing field.. > > enough!!!! > > the most basic beauty of the contest side of our HOBBY (scale excepted) is > that in most events, given a set of rules, our tasks whatever they are, are > totally objective... time in the air, landing if it's part of the event. > > no judging, k-factors, or subjectiveness takes a part in EARNING a score, > regardless of the scoring system. the contestants that best and most > accurately complete the given tasks EARN the highest score. > > where is this unfair? > > > Take Care, > > Mike Stump > > > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
