I don't generally compete in contests. But I do participate. Mainly, my interest is to work some DX for a bandfill I need for DX awards or even just to kill time on a weekend.
I always look up what contests are going on via the contest calendars available online. I look at the exchange information to see what I should send. It's often signal report and continent or signal report and state, but sometimes it requires more. Sometimes the contest exchange requires my age or the year I was licensed. Those are easy enough. But, often the contest requires a serial number. Even for (what I think are) more casual contests like this weekend's Michigan QSO party.
The truth is... I'm not going to keep track of my serial number. I'm logging these contacts, but I'm using my general purpose logger, not a contest logger. And if tracking the serial number accurately is required, I'll probably not operate under the casual conditions I currently do... I'll wait until I'm serious enough to properly track a serial number.
When a contest requires a serial number, I might work one or two stations if I can work them in a single setting on a weekend. And I'll give them serial numbers 001 and 002, etc.... but I'm reluctant to come back the next day and casually work a station because I fear that I will give them a serial number that I've already given. Heck, maybe I could just give them all 001 as a serial number and not be concerned.
But, I have read some rules where the logs are merged and matched, and mis-matched information is a reduction in points. I don't always dig into every contest rule detail to see if that's true or not. And I rarely ever send in a log. Some contests email me asking for logs, saying that it helps other operators get their desired points. That's about the only time I have sent in a log.
Here's my question...
Under this style of casually participating just to have fun and kill time on a weekend (not competing)... is it ever bad form to just give 001 as the serial number to EVERY contact? Are there occasions where that will subtract from the operator's points on the other end if I DO NOT submit a log? If there are 10 stations who submit logs in the contest that have my callsign, and my serial number is 001 for all of them, does that subtract from their scores (for some or any contests)?