On Jul 14, 2011, at 11:22 AM, mike brock wrote:

I have not
noted that players or fans of such teams are great friends of fans and
players of other teams. Contests tend to separate rather than join.

I cannot speak from personal experience having avoided the NMRA
contest arena and not knowing how Bob Hamm's reforms have worked, but
one of my other objections (in addition to those stated so eloquently
by others) is that for "fairness" the identity of the modeler is
concealed at least until judging is complete. In my mind, this
significantly reduces the amount of time available to talk about that
model with the modeler, one of the huge advantages of meets like
Prototype Rails.

As for the concept often advanced that "you are competing against
yourself, not others" baloney! If that were the case, then you
wouldn't give out ribbons... and actually I can envision a world in
which those who need that form of validation can still get Merit
Judging and their MMRs if they want that... As for me, I see a room
full of masters when I go to Cocoa or Naperville.

Regards
Bruce

Bruce F. Smith
Auburn, AL
https://www5.vetmed.auburn.edu/~smithbf/

"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."
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