I did a about five years of NSSA open men's mid-to-late 90's and a few pro-am events around the same time period. I've never seen a dollar from surfing, just some flow from a few companies over the years. I can appreciate good surfing on any craft, but my bellwether is HPSB surfing, but that's just what I appreciate.
I'm definitely biased based in my surfing preference and get a little eggy about people that can surf (many times very well) , but do on what I've deemed "wrongboarding" and ride softops and/or mid-lengths just to (what seems) up their wave-count. It's my own hangup, but I'd prefer to "compete" with surfers at my local with shorter crafts if they people on extended crafts are just point-and-shooting.
On the medium sized days, nothing gets me more bent than someone stroking-in on a mid-length softtop from ten yards out and just cruising (if they're a proficient surfer). It's my opinion, but if you're on a board > 8', I want to see some drop knee cutbacks and/or some nice cross step work and if the waves offer, some noseriding.
I'm a fan of good surfing no matter what the person is riding and am good friends with several top long-boarders, but HPSB is what I gravitate towards and I'll usually terms like "he/she rips" when discussing short-boarding, but will say something like "they're a solid surfer" if they surf really well, but don't surf the way I still aspire to.