When I first started working DX towards DXCC (in 2001 after a 20 year hiatus from ham radio), I mis-understood the DXCC rules as far as "counters" are concerned. I though that you get credit for every band and mode slot that you work. I thought I would get a point for say, 80M CW and 80M SSB, plus 40M CW and 40M SSB - for four points. Of course, I was wrong - I saw so many "Duplicate Band Mode Slots" in my ARRL DXCC applications in the beginning.
At first I thought "OK, just DXCC, then I'll quit for another 20 years". But the durn DX bug hit, and next I thought - OK, DX Challenge, but only go to 1500 - since I'm bored in between DX-peds and am tired of putting up and taking down antennas every other week. Honor Roll might be nice, 8BDXCC, etc. [I already know what I will try soon - Honor Roll with 5 watts. Heck there's a new cycle a brewin' - right? Get rid of that !@#$%^ amplifier. Maybe get a K3 or K4 or K5 when I finally get to Honor Roll (#1)

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But I digress . ..
I am still a little confused about this "Leaderboard" thing - with most of the recent big DX-peditions. I figure, since you only get one point per band, and one point per mode, why try to work all band mode slots?
I think the answer is because it is an incentive that helps a DX-pedition make more Q's - and gets them to their goal and maybe even break a few records - like VP6DX did. And heck, for those guys who have the time and get to sit by their radio more than I do - more power to them - they have fun and help the DX-ped. They even can get their 15 minutes of fame on the "Leaderboard Marquee".
Am I understanding this whole "LeaderBoard" thing correctly?