  We report on results from the first solar Fitting at Low-Angular degree Group
(solar FLAG) hare-and-hounds exercise. The group is concerned with the
development of methods for extracting the parameters of low-l solar p mode data
(`peak bagging'), collected by Sun-as-a-star observations. Accurate and precise
estimation of the fundamental parameters of the p modes is a vital
pre-requisite of all subsequent studies. Nine members of the FLAG (the
`hounds') fitted an artificial 3456-d dataset. The dataset was made by the
`hare' (WJC) to simulate full-disc Doppler velocity observations of the Sun.
The rotational frequency splittings of the l=1, 2 and 3 modes were the first
parameter estimates chosen for scrutiny. Significant differences were uncovered
at l=2 and 3 between the fitted splittings of the hounds. Evidence is presented
that suggests this unwanted bias had its origins in several effects. The most
important came from the different way in which the hounds modeled the
visibility ratio of the different rotationally split components. Our results
suggest that accurate modelling of the ratios is vital to avoid the
introduction of significant bias in the estimated splittings. This is of
importance not only for studies of the Sun, but also of the solar analogues
that will targets for asteroseismic campaigns.
