> Yes, Bill, the web site results are great -- if you are already a
> contester!
>
> The Web is great for finding what you want, but one of the jobs of a
> magazine is to present information that the reader may NOT be looking
> for. A non-contester will never look up contest results on the web,
> but he might browse through the published results and see a friend's
> call, notice the number of DX stations that were active, admire the
> success of the winners, become fascinated with the idea of working all
> 50 states in one weekend, etc.
I think perhaps you are expecting the wrong results, based on
most of what is published in QST contest results.
Put yourself in the position of a non-contesting person and read the
contest results and soapbox. Honestly ask yourself what in all that
meaningless data would push someone towards being interested in
contests. Field Day is the exception of course, because it centers
around groups having fun and testing skills.
I agree it is interesting to read a summary and see how a friend
does, but that person quite obviously already is aware his friend is
in a contest. As such, he almost certainly has already heard all the
bragging rights directly from his friend.
What we really would need, if attracting people to contesting is the
goal, are articles illustrating the what fun and what a challenge
contesting is. We need more pictures of people having fun with
small stations, more highlighting of SMALL or modest station
results, and a little less head-lining about the biggest and most
complicated stations.
The focus of the column is wrong if the goal is to attract people to
contesting.
73, Tom W8JI
W8JI@contesting.com
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