My initial reactions to the scoring in both the SP and LP of the ladies GPF events were: WTF?! For the SP, I thought Yu-na's combo goof would've placed her 4th or 5th, and I thought Mao's near-fall on the combo, plus omitting the triple out of footwork altogther, should've pushed her score farther down. In the LP, I thought such an ambitious program from Mao, as well as a stellar skate, ought to have beaten Yu-na with a fall.
Upon further reflection, however, I come to see that the judging was extremely consistent across competitions, with very different judging panels, for at least some of the skaters -- well, I can say the most about Caroline because I pay the closest attention to what she gets for each element.
Based on Caroline's SA and CoC events, I had expected her to score 62 with a clean SP, and 118 with a clean LP. She actually scored 61.88 in the SP, and 114.66 in the LP with a fall on the lutz (which would've put her total just over 120, about 2 points higher than my estimate, but that mainly gets explained by the 2 extra points she got in the PCS compared to SA, and I do think she skated faster and more confidently in this LP and deserved those extra 2 points). The levels she got on all the spirals, spins, and step sequences were exactly as I expected, and the GOE's she had on all the elements were quite consistent with previous competitions. :yes:
On the whole, I would say that the judging was surprisingly self-consistent, at least in the case of one skater. There was a lot of controversy and debate over the judging in this GPF, especially in ladies' event. But in fact, the point totals were remarkably close to what previous events would've suggested, within a margin of a point or less -- given that it's one point out of a total of 180 points, I'd say that's truly remarkable.
I don't pay close enough attention to other skaters to know whether their GPF scores were in correspondence with expectations based on previous events. But doubtlessly, some of you do lavish this kind of attention to your favorite skaters.
I'd be very interested to hear how consistently your faves were scored over this GP season. 
There's a lot of talk about scandals, collusions, using the PCS as a placeholder. I'm interested in collecting some hard statistics to find out whether score manipulation is or isn't going on. Thanks in advance for your help.
Upon further reflection, however, I come to see that the judging was extremely consistent across competitions, with very different judging panels, for at least some of the skaters -- well, I can say the most about Caroline because I pay the closest attention to what she gets for each element.
Based on Caroline's SA and CoC events, I had expected her to score 62 with a clean SP, and 118 with a clean LP. She actually scored 61.88 in the SP, and 114.66 in the LP with a fall on the lutz (which would've put her total just over 120, about 2 points higher than my estimate, but that mainly gets explained by the 2 extra points she got in the PCS compared to SA, and I do think she skated faster and more confidently in this LP and deserved those extra 2 points). The levels she got on all the spirals, spins, and step sequences were exactly as I expected, and the GOE's she had on all the elements were quite consistent with previous competitions. :yes:
On the whole, I would say that the judging was surprisingly self-consistent, at least in the case of one skater. There was a lot of controversy and debate over the judging in this GPF, especially in ladies' event. But in fact, the point totals were remarkably close to what previous events would've suggested, within a margin of a point or less -- given that it's one point out of a total of 180 points, I'd say that's truly remarkable.
I don't pay close enough attention to other skaters to know whether their GPF scores were in correspondence with expectations based on previous events. But doubtlessly, some of you do lavish this kind of attention to your favorite skaters.
I'd be very interested to hear how consistently your faves were scored over this GP season. There's a lot of talk about scandals, collusions, using the PCS as a placeholder. I'm interested in collecting some hard statistics to find out whether score manipulation is or isn't going on. Thanks in advance for your help.
Don't forget that people also thought her SA skates slow and sluggish. Her PCS in the NHK LP is significantly lower than at SA. Her PCS in the NHK SP is somewhat higher than at SA, but remember she fell on the footwork sequence in SA, and her step sequence looked labored and slow to me even before she fell. Your think her SA SP PCS ought to have been higher than at NHK?