[PaQSO] CL Rules?

[TwelveVDC at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/11/2005 9:07:56 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
vze3v8dt at verizon.net writes:

> Pete, as an engineer I understand why specifications are needed and why 
> very exacting specifications are better than loopholes in the specs.  Same thing 
> for rules.

  GM, Mark.
  My experience comes from supervising 310 diversely backgrounded PEOPLE (
with guns!)  Even without gender, ethnicity and personality (or even vice) issues 
to deal with among themselves, they encountered countless thousands of people 
on a shift.  I assure you, the environment left few places without *Rules* to 
govern practically everything imaginable.  It would be impossible to maintain 
control if an 'official policy' never made it fairly to paper.  Granted, the 
Patrol Guide is bigger than Webster's Unabridged Dictionary today, but one can 
turn to the right page quickly to settle almost anything.
  Of course, new and unique things come up all the time.  Those are 
opportunities to write protocol so we're all on the same page.  Our guidelines have to 
hold muster to a much higher authority in the (all too often) event something 
awful happens to someone on a shift.
  Obviously we're only talking about a ham radio contest, after all.  But at 
least now you know why I got a little passionate about the whole *Rule* thing. 
 Yes, too many rules can be a pain, but when 10 "opinions" differ on any one 
issue, it's time to settle it fairly, if not favorably.
                                                   -Pete