I'm not sure what Bluebonnet's intentions were. But since the specific question asked in the original post presupposed an understanding of the basics of the scoring system and an understanding of certain kinds of technical skating errors, I didn't read it as "How would you explain the basics of the system to casual viewers so they'll enjoy watching better?" That's why no one was answering that question before you rephrased it in those terms.
Bluebonnet can explain the intentions behind the thread if s/he so desires.
You did attempt to answer that and your comments were pretty good but I don't think the idea of "self-education" works in reality any better than Romney's idea of "self-deportation" as a solution to immigation problems.
I think if US Skating came up with a good way for NBC to present the CoP to fans it would be a good thing.
So far I don't think they have and don't think they can explain it in the time that couldbe alloted during a typical broadcast.
I agree. Maybe we can take that conversation back to this thread, which it so happens was started in response to a post by Bluebonnet and ends with a post by Bluebonnet. Both focused on Patrick Chan -- but the question is larger than any one skater.
Which idea? About how to penalize falls? That's a nitty-gritty technical question, not one of interest to casual fans except insofar as the results might coincide more with their casual expectations of how costly a fall should be in terms of final placements.
Not purely. There are specific required GOE reductions for specific kinds of errors, so when those errors occur there is usually unanimous or near-unanimous agreement on the negative GOE. Positive GOEs are more subjective, but as Mathman pointed out the ISU has recently attempted to standardize them more by offering judges guidelines in terms of bullet points.
