[r-t] Methods Committee proposed proposed changes

[Richard Smith]

Tim Barnes wrote:

> The Decisions on correcting calls and errors seem another area where all
> the options are undesirable in some way.
>
> 1.  Have something unrealistic -- "shall be corrected immediately" -- the
> current approach.  It's never good to have rules that are routinely broken.
>
> 2.  Have something prescriptive -- errors must be corrected within x leads,
> y blows or z seconds.  Probably unworkable and we're trying to get away
> from prescription.
>
> 3.  Say nothing on the correction of errors.  A conductor might swap two
> bells back in the last lead of a peal that had crossed an hour earlier, and
> those objecting to the peal being published would have nothing to point to
> to tell the conductor that was inappropriate.
>
> 4.  Use somewhat vague language, such as "as quickly as possible", to give
> some sense that errors matter and shouldn't be allowed to persist.
> Requires interpretation by individual bands / conductors, so standards will
> vary.
>
> The rules subgroup went with #4.

I think #4 is the right way to go.  A vague, qualifive 
requirement of this sort can at most be self-policing, so 
could be viewed as no different to #3, but it does at least 
set an expectation that corrections should be made quickly.

However, I personally would change the wording slightly. 
Instead of "as quickly as possible", which is what both 
Tim's Framework and the MC's proposal say, how about "as 
quickly as is reasonably possible"?  Or just "reasonably 
quickly"?

I think most of us recognise that how fast the correction 
needs to be depends on the circumstances.  Richard Grimmett 
says a correction to a plain method should be within a lead, 
and from a conductor of Richard's caliber I would certainly 
expect that.  But if it were a peal by a group of teenagers 
including several first peals and a first as conductor, and 
an error occurred in the last ten minutes which took a 
couple of leads to properly put right, would we really try 
to tell the band the peal shouldn't be counted?  I wouldn't.

RAS