Yeah, it doesn’t clarify it there, either. 
Part of that is what I quoted in my message to OA.
I have searched all over the OA site for a long while.
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This is from the FAQ:
Other than defining the length of time needed for a camping activity to be considered a long-term camp*, the National Order of the Arrow Committee leaves the interpretation of the camping requirement to the unit leader. [emphasis added.]
It is the long-term camp defined by OA that needs to be further expanded. It doesn’t mention when someone leaves that long-term camp early (which they have already defined), how to count their camping days.
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So, it looks like you’re looking at an edge case in the coding itself, rather than in the requirement interpretation, @RyanEash? I still think that the OA requirement itself is clear (i.e. if long-term event, count only one).
Specifically, it sounds like your edge case is: if an event is a nominal long-term BSA camping activity (under the OA definition of at least 6 days/5 nights), and the youth/adult leaves early, how should the code treat that?
To consider that edge case (assuming that the intent is not to treat 3 nights of camping identically, whether or not it was foreshortened participation in an otherwise long-term event) the code would need a way to differentiate between three nights of BSA camping (say) where a scout was present for the entire 3-night event and 3 nights of BSA camping where the scout was only present for 3 nights of a 5-night or longer event. Is that what you’re getting at?
That seems like it might be a legitimate edge case for both Camping merit badge (which has explicit review by the counselor, so programmatic handling isn’t necessarily required) and for the OA (where the eligibility report programmatically determines where to list youth and adults based in part on camping nights). It’s clear (to me) that such nights count for National Outdoor Awards, so they should be able to be logged for tracking.
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Yes, sort of.
Say a scout already has their 5 long-term nights for OA, then stays 3 nights out of a 5-night long-term camp.
Should those 3 nights be counted as short-term, or disregarded as unnecessary long-term nights (since they have their 5)? Right now it throws them into short-term, because it knows no difference. If it is supposed to go into the long-term column, the code doesn’t know that, since there is no button or anything telling it to log it that way. Seems from what people are saying is that I need more clarification from OA before saying a code-change needs made?
Now, another rhetorical scenario…scout has 0 long-term nights logged for OA report, then does only 3 nights from a 5-night long-term camp. Where do those 3 nights go? It was a long-term campout, but should they really get long-term credit for that? Probably not. Should it be short-term, when it wasn’t a short-term camp???
Either way, having the Camping Activity Log code tally it differently would help for Camping MB like I said as well. As it stands, the Camping Activity Log tally only directly is good for National Outdoor Awards. To make it completely helpful for Camping MB, it needs a method to differentiate Tenting and Cabin camping as well.
Thanks,
Ryan
Really, that’s the same scenario functionally: “Where do the nights get credited, if at all?”
I personally think it’s pretty clear in the OA membership requirements (the link @JenniferOlinger and I posted above) that they aren’t long-term nights, but I’m not the arbiter of that issue.
Ultimately, this is coming back to a policy interpretation question, which the BSA has specifically stated that they want us as volunteers addressing to the council.
I’d suggest reaching out to your lodge adviser to explain the edge case and see if they can get you a clear interpretation document from OA national. That would allow the SUAC folks to either put a stake in this, or push it back up the chain in development (with a specific contact person at national OA) to get resolved one way or the other.
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For the OA part of it, yes, I am contacting OA. For two scouts that already had their 5 nights of long-term for OA, it just doesn’t make sense to give 3 nights of short-term camp to a scout that left a long-term campout early, and essentially 0 nights to a scout that stayed the whole time for the same campout. Which is basically what the OA Report does right now. The scout that left early is further ahead on nights than the one that didn’t leave early.
So yes, “Where do the nights get credited, if at all?” We may need a way to specify that in Internet Advancement. I will see what OA says.
And still, as I said, all of this would be helpful for monitoring progress on Camping MB, regardless of what OA says.
Thank you,
Ryan
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if they have 3 nights it is counted as short term in the OA report - the report does not know how long the campout was planned for
Yep, exactly. It doesn’t have a way to know the difference.
we cannot say it clearer - you are wrong - if they stay 1-4 nights they did not longterm camp - you cannot even count nights as long term if not “at least five consecutive nights of overnight camping” - these are not consecutive
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That is not what we are talking about at all. We are saying that if they went to a long-term 5-night campout, and stayed 3 nights of it, it shouldn’t be counted for anything for OA. Charley seems to understand.
Thanks.
And that is where you are doubly wrong - it is counted as camping nights that are short - where the camp is and what is the plan for the campout is not considered at all by the OA as long as it is under the auspices of the BSA Program
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Because the OA has previously approved the implementation of the OA Eligibility Report, unless the OA now says it is incorrect, the report will remain the way it is.
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That is why I am checking with OA…to see if they differ compared to Rank Advancement. Leaving early from a long-term camp for Rank Advancement doesn’t make it short-term. So I want to see what OA says with regards to the same matter.
Yes, once again, I will check with OA for clarification. Thanks.
That is how they said to program it - they do not care about the planned event at all
Oh… They said to ignore that?? That seems odd. 
That would mean they want the scout that left camp early to be further ahead than the scout that didn’t. Or they didn’t care that would happen. Should I not even check with OA?
Will do.
As for Camping MB, something in place to denote long-term, short-term, tent, cabin, for the reports would be useful. Since the Advancement Team apparently already says leaving a long-term camp early doesn’t count it as short-term camping. Would be great to have nice tallies for these options. Yes, the prefix or suffix is being used now…
Thanks.
No. It is the act of camping long term, 5 nights, not what was planned or intended. Less than that, short term. It is very very simple.
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