When I wrote that post my first instinct was to have a one size fits all set of rules that would work for juveniles on up.
1. An Axel jump.
2. A combination
3. A jump out of footwork.
If all you have is singles up to the Axel, then that's what you do.
But that's not what you wrote. You specified that the axel must be at least double and that at least one jump in the combo must be at least triple.
Which are the current minimums for senior, but not for lower levels.
Juniors are allowed to do solo double jump and double-double combination. Novices and intermediates are allowed to do single axel. Intermediates are allowed to do double-single combination.
(Juveniles don't have short programs. BTW, I'm going by US rules -- other countries use other names and other rules for their middle and lower levels.)
So do you want minimums for seniors but no maximums?
And then lower minimums for each lower level, but still no maximums?
Or should seniors have no minimums either? If they're over 19, they can enter senior competition and skate a legal short program with single axel as the hardest jump?
Presumably supergirl's coach wuld not keep her hanging around beating up on babies, but would move her up the ranks as fast as possible.
Well, then we'd better get rid of all age limits too. Supergirl who can do quad-quad combos at 14 could probably easily keep up with senior jump content at 11. Not that the rest of her skating would likely keep up with the best seniors'.
What this plan does not do, I realize, is honor the history of the short program as a test of basic skills with everyone doing pretty much the same thing and being judged on their mastery of pre-selected elements. But I think that model has been pretty much abandoned anyway, what with some senior skaters doing 3T+2T and others doing 3Lz+3T, etc.
Well, there has always been a gap between the easiest and hardest legal combinations, because only one of the jumps was specified. So when it was 2Lo, for example, the difficulty of legal combinations would range from 2Lo+2T to 3A+2Lo. That would have been legal in the mid-70s even before anyone had landed a solo 3A in competition, and by 1988 both those combinations would likely have been seen in the men's event at Worlds.
By specifying an axel, a combo, and a jump out of steps, you're still specifying elements -- you're not turning the short program into a complete free-for-all in terms of kinds of elements, only in terms of numbers of revolutions.
Historically, the upper and lower limits for each level and each sex have been based on realistic current standards in the field at the time.
Removing the upper and lower limits and specifying only kinds of elements is based on . . . what? What is the point of having a short program?
Oh, to assign factored placements and set hurdles for people to make up in the long program based on the number of other skaters who place between them and the leaders rather than based on the difference in difficulty and quality between them and the leaders.
In which case there don't need to be any rules for the first program at all. Or the second. Just let everyone do whatever they want and earn points accordingly?