Novice division

[krandall@world.std.com]

At 04:22 PM 7/16/99 -0700, Erik wrote:

>Interesting!  I like it.  Wish there were a way to quantify what a novice,
>intermediate, or expert is.  In established contests, I think it gets
>based on performance in previous contests, so I guess we can only make
>guesses for this one.  And I suppose we could reclassify entries up if
>they seem to be entered in too low a class (I don't think it's polite or
>usual to downgrade people to a lower classification though).

The trouble with this is that there _are_ very fast learners.  Recently, a
friend of mine set up his very first planted tank.  He had my advice over
the phone, but I have yet to lay eyes on the tank.  Neil just saw the tank
over the weekend, and told Bill (and later. me) that it was the nicest tank
he's seen outside of Japan.  Bill, of course, is glowing with the praise.
But would it be fair to move his tank out of a "novice" category, into a
category where he had less chance of winning?  I suggest that it be left
open for this first attempt.  

In the BAS,  as time went on, novices _did_ feel intimidated about entering
a contest where the same people seemed to "always" win.  To solve this
problem, we have a "Master's" class.  Once a person has won a division of
the Home Show, they enter the Master's class rather than the open class.
There, they compete head to head with others who have received first place
in the past.  Of course, for the first year or two, the Master's class
would be quite small, but in time, it will contain those people who are
really producing the most beautiful aquariums on a regular basis.

But the time for establishing a Master Class for _this_  competition is
down the road a piece.

Karen 
  ------------------
  To unsubscribe from this list, e-mail majordomo@aquatic-gardeners.org
  with "unsubscribe aga-contest" in the body of the message.
  To subscribe to the digest version, add "subscribe aga-contest-digest"
  in the same message.
  Old messages are available at http://lists.thekrib.com/aga-contest