>Not true. NBC showed it live and repeated it a few times. They have two former figure skaters, including Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton as commentators. Both said the error would not affect their scores. I don't know what the CBC showed.

I don't know if the start and/or the finish of the Short Program are judged. If it ain't you are right, but if it is, it should have cost them points.
In Ski Jumping there is a blue line, when you fall before that line (Like German Sven Hannawold did) it will cost you points (and in Svens case a Gold medal) but when you fall behind that line, it will not cost you any points because the judges may only take your performance before that blue line in account. So the question is, what was the blue line?
But I still think that Judging the figureskating (especially the Skatedancing) is a tough one. What if the first Pair/Person skate(s) a perfect program. I know that they will never give it the full 6.0 points because there could come a pair that is "more perfect". Unlike gymnastics (among others) there is no maximum points for a given performance (# of turns etc) and have a standard set of deductions for errors. So here is it better to be (one of) the latest of the day so the Judges don't have to take the 'extra spare room' into account.