Mandatory Comment Cards for a score below a 6

[Sledneck]

Should there be a mandatory comment card for a score below a 6? Has this ever been discussed/voted on? Does anybody else support this? If enough members are interested in making this a rule how do we get it on the table?
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[Cue's Your Daddy]

we actually recieved a 5 and were given a comment card this past weekend. So a bbq judge doing the right thing

[Ford]

No. Most comments are just not meaningful. Especially for appearance. I didn't think it looked average is not going to help you. For taste maybe but if you get one low score and the rest are 7-9 and the one low says too salty how does that help you.

Just my opinion but the times I did get comments it just pissed me off.

[biggs98]

I would love comment cards good or bad. I think it would be great to see what judges say about your food. Especially when you get 8's and 9's from 5 judges and 1 gives you 6's. I would like to know the discrepency. Maybe the got a piece of fat or a bone. I know I'm in the minority on this. It's just something I would like to see.

[Sledneck]

Are comment cards discussed /encouraged during a judges meeting? Maybe a few suggestions from the reps as to what cooks are looking for in those cards? How about a comment card with a list of standard check off boxes and a few open lines at the bottom for other?

[Buster Dog BBQ]

I don't want to hijack your thread, but at the same time I would like to see a minimum score a non CBJ can give.

Isn't it the job of the table captain to see the scores of the judges? And if they do see a swing of 3 points,potentially pull the low judge aside and ask why? Or maybe that is the reps?

I would like to know why anything is ranked 5 or below. That way it also prevents errors in entry like a 4 intread of a 9 or something if a card is required for low score.

Of course on the other end, judges may not want to do that and never score below a 6.

[Slamdunkpro]

Just because you didn't get a comment card doesn't mean the judge didn't write one. The KCBS reps edit/discard them at their discretion.

[Alexa RnQ]

I absolutely think that if a judge really wants to give out a 5 or below, a one-word descriptor (i.e. salty, spicy, fatty, dry, tough, raw, whatever) isn't asking for too much to justify it.

The value is not in whether a competitor will turn himself inside out over one 5; it's in making that judge think for one additional second about a snap decision that could too easily tank a score. It's a reminder in process that 6 is average, and if a sample is truly below average they'd have a good notion why.

[DawgPhan]

In 4 years of contests I have never gotten a comment card. The judges say everything they need to say with the number, but I do like the idea of making them think about what they are scoring.

though I think that with improved training and repetition we could eliminate the out of whack judges.

[Alexa RnQ]

I'm also very much in favor of preprinted scoring cards where boxes are checked, as described above.

[ZILLA]

How about everyone gets 8s and 9s then a rubber stamp of a big smiley face on your comment card or maybe a gold star. You want higher scores? Learn to cook better. A low score should be all the comment you need. If you're a cooker you should be able to figure it out like all the others that took the time and made the effort and investment to get it right without some self righteous CBJ telling you what direction to head. You want a CBJ to tell you what's wrong? Really? You would end up with rubber stamp BBQ.

[Jorge]

Originally Posted by ZILLA

How about everyone gets 8s and 9s then a rubber stamp of a big smiley face on your comment card or maybe a gold star. You want higher scores? Learn to cook better. A low score should be all the comment you need. If you're a cooker you should be able to figure it out like all the others that took the time and made the effort and investment to get it right without some self righteous CBJ telling you what direction to head. You want a CBJ to tell you what's wrong? Really? You would end up with rubber stamp BBQ.

We should all have a system where you don't have a clue if you don't make final table?

[Rub]

FBA judges are told to write a comment on any score of a 7 or less.
We score in half point increments to 10 as a high.

[Harbormaster]

At my first comp I received one comment card.
It said the skin on my chicken thighs was perfectly cooked.
We turned the thighs in skinless.
Just sayin'.
YMMV.

[ZILLA]

Originally Posted by Jorge

We should all have a system where you don't have a clue if you don't make final table?

Sure you have a clue. Not hitting final table says your food sucks! You need to practice! All the other cooks have better food. That's all the clue you need. Perhaps you need to ask another BBQ man for advice. Maybe listen to your wife when she gives you advice. So my score card tells me I'm 30th out of 35 teams. The comments basically say my food didn't taste good. Ummm I already knew that! I need a CBJ for that? A score card with comments from an individual who can't cook yet is a CBJ? OK....I didn't hit final table? Gee I guess I need evaluate my own food. Maybe I need to learn some better cooking techniques.

Maybe there should be a CBJ cooking school for the cookers. That way the CBJ can teach you how to cook BBQ they like! HA!