[MikeK]

Originally Posted by sperry

Considering the software MikeK wrote can automatically calculate the results for Hawthorne, I'm surprised we didn't just use that, since it can take into account all the classes as long as we have a PAX for each... and even if it's a PAX of 1.0 for some of the odd-ball classes, it allows them to still contribute to the results at least as fairly as scoring the whole thing on raw times.

The reason this software wasn't used (and I believe the reason that raw time was used) is that I couldn't be at the event and no one wanted to rely on spotty internet connection to get me the results over the weekend. I know how to use the software I wrote, but it isn't exactly minesweeper

Being pragmatic about it, it was probably the right decision.

Originally Posted by sperry

And it's not like there was any real discussion on how the event was going to be scored before hand. I read the threads on the RenoSCCA board... and at no point was the scoring method for the event made public. I just assumed they you guys would use the existing scoring method from Hawthorne and previous Winnemucca events... not just make something up at the event. Really, the decision should have been made and publicized before hand... if it had, I probably would have suggested using our existing software, but as a non-competitor I wouldn't have pushed for it. If raw times really were the way everyone wanted to do it, then that's an awesome "run what you brung" battle... I just don't get the feeling that's how it went down.

There was an email chain that went around, but it was essentially "hey, how do we score this thing". I said what it would take to use the software I wrote, then essentially a few days before the event the decision was made to just use excel at the event to calculate who won.

Honestly what I have is powerful but isn't user friendly at all. I cannot say that doing the calculations manually was the wrong way to go. And using PAX instead of raw time was probably mathematically preferable, but given the reality of having someone at the event who might not be so computer literate trying to do those calculations, it can be quite a risk. I remember the last year before I wrote that software when you and I (mostly you) did those calculations by hand in excel, and it took a couple of hours.

Originally Posted by dknv

Just a little comment about the 'inexperience/lack of training' situation -- I was frustrated by some of this as well, but am also trying to keep the perspective that this volunteer hasn't been out all season until now, and spent quite a bit of effort before the event started, after the end of each day, and didn't even drive.

As someone who has been stuck with that awful thankless job for years, I can say that whoever the person was, they should be thanked for even showing up and doing it. I took a year off from the sport just to get out of that shitty position. There is no training, the software sucks balls (an not in a good way), and the only time you hear from anyone about the job you are doing is when stuff starts going wrong.