Use and Abuse of the Model Waveform Accuracy Standards

Accuracy standards have been developed to ensure that the waveforms used for gravitational-wave data analysis are good enough to serve their intended purposes. These standards place constraints on certain norms of the frequency-domain representations of the waveform errors. Examples will be presented of possible misinterpretations and misapplications of these standards, whose effect could be to vitiate the quality control they were intended to enforce. Suggestions will be given for ways to avoid these problems.