HallisChalmers wrote:Well a balls-out, "run what you brung" competition is not a problem. To be honest, the dimple lock contest was done because we'd never done a dimple contest before and I thought the change would be welcome. Boy, was I fucking wrong. I'll never do a dimple lock contest again.
I liked the idea for the dimple lock competition. But to be honest, at first I wasn't planning on entering the competition as I didn't have a dimple lock I could reasonably enter with. And I'll bet a lot of people were in the same boat. It's still a cool idea, but I wouldn't plan on people buying locks specifically for a competition, and that's where the biggest problem with dimple locks seems to be.
An idea for a future competition (I know, where was this suggestion when you were asking a long time ago. Sorry), would be something like American padlocks (no franken pins, just normal serrated/spooled American pins). Why? Because just about every picker has one.
HallisChalmers wrote:1. Well, you show the key to show the bitting. What's to keep someone from gaming the system by pinning the lock with easy bitting - and then claiming he doesn't have a key and ...well gosh, look at this hard lock I just picked. Without showing the bitting on the key - how do you keep people honest? Take them at their word?
Sorry, but I was crushed when I found out Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny weren't real...and I can't stand the thought of someone lying to me again. I'd be traumatized for life.
Showing the key is nice, if you have the key... But in all fairness, with some experience it isn't too difficult to read what the key bitting is from just the pins. If someone doesn't have a key, on most locks (I guess not dimple locks though), once the cylinder is taken apart but before the pins are taking out it isn't too much to ask that someone puts their pick in the lock upside down (flat part to the pins) and lifts them up all the way. It'll be easy to tell what the bitting is like at that point.
Another thing I would consider would be to run the advanced/beginner competitions together. And not necessarily label them advanced/beginner. Instead you would label it "Best overall" and "Best beginner," or something to that effect. I would probably make the prizes comparable or even though it may seem counter-intuitive, give the bigger prize to the best beginner. Since I would imagine that most of the advanced pickers already have cool stuff, that's how they became advanced in the first place... And figuring out who is and who isn't a beginner should be left solely in the judges hands. It's an online competition and will always be subjective anyways.
Some other things to keep in mind. I'll bet that most of the beginner pickers would like to see all the advanced pickers compete, just because it's always cool to see the best of the best go at it. But from the other end of things, speaking for myself of course. As an advanced picker I don't really have much competitive motivation against the other advanced pickers. Plain and simply there is just too much respect I have for them. And the other advanced pickers may see this the same way. That's nothing more than a mindset issue though, if we were doing it for the beginners, then that shouldn't be an issue.
Overall, the main issue is that if you want a lot of people to participate. You'll have to pick a lock that just about everybody has. I'm still a bit surprised that there weren't more dimple lock entries. But what's done is done.
That's my 2 cents.
-FarmerFreak
Fri Oct 01, 2010 9:28 pm 
That's the idea - make it hard. But I see your point - not everybody is a locksmith. But still, I think static picking has its merits. We could alternate those requirements.