Roger,

When you're taking several values that are in and of themselves not totally reliable, the whole process is subjective.

Say a predictor calls for an M5.5 +/- .5. A quake hits with an Mb of 5.7 and an Ms of 6.2.

You'll call it a miss because of using the higher magnitude while with the Mb its clearly a hit.

Who's being subjective?

Dennis