Re: RC: RE: Re: Re: Getting Pulled

[David LeBlanc <dleblanc@mindspring.com>]

At 10:34 AM 4/28/00 -0700, DreamWeaver wrote:
>At 11:12 AM 04/28/2000 -0600, you wrote:
>
>>Accuracy of record keeping starts with the individual who's records are
>>being kept! If incorrect basic data is submitted incorrect reporting will
>>result.

>Exactly.....I guess I should have been more clear.  The records being kept 
>are not accurate, that was my basis for stating "accuracy of the record 
>keeping".  So whether or not the data being supplied is right or not, they 
>are still keeping track of it......even though it isn't always 
>right.  Before now, how would a rider have known what reasons were turned 
>in for their pulls at rides?  (other than requesting records from the AERC, 
>which most people probably haven't done, or wouldn't have even known about)

Actually, there are a lot of other places to drop the ball. The rider could
spell something differently, in one case use the full name of the horse,
and in another use the short name.  They might forget their card with the
horse's number. Then we get into transcription errors.  Since none of this
is entered online, people typing written records into a database can make
mistakes.  Any point where humans touch the information introduces error.

Now that I think about it, I pulled my horse from our first ride this year
- just turned in the card to the timekeepers, and they didn't ask me why.
So all anyone knows is that I voluntarily pulled - not much help.

>And what about all the people who ride rides every year who are not AERC 
>members......how would they know to check? Or would they even care?  Most 
>wouldn't....so if their stuff is being reported incorrectly it's going to 
>stay that way forever.  What can we do to make the reporting more accurate 
>to begin with?

The biggest thing is to reduce the number of steps where you're going from
handwritten information to more handwritten information.  That produces a
lot of errors.  Just where you can do this, I don't know.  We're a LONG way
from being able to assume internet access at a ride. Well - maybe a couple
of years... Last thing to do would be to require that a given set of
reasons for a non-completion be used for all riders.

One thing that could help would be to allow riders to pre-register at the
AERC web site.  You can then make sure that all the names match up with the
numbers by checking input on the forms, and then the ride managers could
pull down or be sent a list of pre-registered riders, all neatly typed by a
printer.  It won't solve the whole problem, but it does solve some of it.
You could also allow (note I did NOT say require) ride managers to enter
the data that way afterwards, and having direct online access to the
existing data would tend to help catch mistakes.


David LeBlanc
dleblanc@mindspring.com