I guess I’m rather surprised that you have not seen any of Dave’s postings on judging in particular and competition in general....
Seeing that you have been a member of this forum since January, 2008 and are now questioning his qualifications as well as slamming others who know him, makes me wonder where you normally reside here.
I have seen Dave's posts over the years, but he is not some one I converse with regularly. I was vaguely aware that he was a judge, but felt it was better to ask him an up-front, honest question rather than waste my time searching for and reading past posts by him to determine his participation level.
As for questioning qualification levels, that's what I'm supposed to do, and I'm amazed that any one would want me to vote for a candidate I don't know without questioning qualifications and being happy with them. Take a step back and look at the situation. These aren't personal attacks against defenseless forum members. These are people who have chosen to run for office and asked members of this organization and forum to vote for them. They have opened themselves up for questions about their qualifications and stances on positions. It has been well established by now that I don't know Dave Compton but I am asking him questions so that I can make an informed decision about who will will receive my votes. I think that any one who doesn't know him and doesn't do the same is doing the very thing that has angered people about past BOD elections, voting for names and not people.
Look at it from another angle as well. I personally believe that in order to be a good BOD member, a person should be involved with KCBS competition BBQ. If you don't agree, that's your opinion, and fine, but that's how I feel. What if I'm not alone in that opinion? What if Mr. Compton had just announced that he was neither a rep, organizer, nor regular competitior, and some one who is not a regular member of the forum reads that and decides that he doesn't want to vote for some one who isn't involved. Maybe (just maybe) I was trying to help Mr. Compton by having him inform other people in the forum that he is a frequent judge who is involved. Maybe I didn't know him well enough to say that in his place, and maybe I didn't want to be a campaigner for him, but I thought that others deserved to know that about him. In stead of him, or one of his stauch supporters, saying the truth about him, I've been told that I shouldn't ask him questions and that I shouldn't wonder about his qualifications. That really makes me (and maybe others) wonder why his qualifications shouldn't be discussed.
I think it does a great disservice to all involved to continue this conversation here. My PMs are about full, but I'm friends with many ppl on this forum on Facebook, and I invite any one who really wants to discuss this further to contact me there and discuss.
dmp