A few thoughts on Teaser Pics

[Josh Hambright]

Lately it seems like everyone and their mother has a hot new teaser picture they want to post on chiefdelphi for everyone else to look at and reflect on and take a guess at what it is.

I love doing this, looking at a new and innovative subsystem and thinking "wow, what could this be for?" or "Woah why didn't i think of that". But then there are a lot of teaser pics which don't really accomplish anything, other then taking up space on the server, in our browsers and our time. The teasers i am talking about here are pictures of a blank frame with no components in it (for the most part, however if you've done something new and innovative with a frame, then by all means tease away!) or maybe a picture of a mounting bracket in inventor. How is that a teaser? What can i guess from that? To you it may make a world of sense what it is, and you may chuckle to yourself about how no one is going to guess what your robot does because of your tricky use of photo shop to hide your robots design. Honestly though what is this accomplishing for the goals of FIRST? You have to stop and ask yourself, "Is this picture worth my time to post, and the time of other people to look at, or is it just going to be wasting space?"

Now by all means am i saying, don't post your pictures, I'm just saying that you should use some common sense when you do this. Don't post a that is 90% photoshoped so you cant tell what it is, because what use is that to anyone? Don't post a spacer and some bolts. Is it really that vital that you post an image of your wheel? We all know where that wheel is going to end up, so unless your wheel is something new and impressive, don't label it a teaser, label it "Team #### Wheel" or "Killer 2005 Wheels!" not "Wheel Teaser..." unless your wheels look like this (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/pictures.php?s=&action=single&picid=3618&direction=DESC&sort=date&perrow=4&trows=3&quiet=Verbose). What is the tease in posting the pictures of a kit bot with no modifications? We have seen pictures of the chasis, your not teasing us. Show us a picture of your amazing code or something that might actualy cause us to stop and think, rather then a closeup of your gear box, or maybe a picture of your arm system.

I am not perfect, i have been guilty (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/pictures.php?s=&action=single&picid=3674&direction=DESC&sort=date&perrow=4&trows=3&quiet=Verbose) of posting useless (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/pictures.php?s=&action=single&picid=3679&direction=DESC&sort=date&perrow=4&trows=3&quiet=Verbose) teasers, but after a few years of being a part of the CD-Forum community i have seem a lot of teasers and have learned that there isn't really a point to a lot of them.

Thats my little rant, thanks for listening and tease on my fellow FIRSTers!

*steps off soap box*

Jtosh

[Cory]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33461&highlight=teaser

[Tyler Olds]

Very good post! I agree with you 100%

All of our teams want to get a little publicity, however posting what a lot of people might define as a "useless" teaser pic can actually make you and your team look quite silly.

Taking an extra week to post something more refined and definitive is not that hard and can actually get your team a lot more publicity in the long run.

If you are not willing to post more than a bolt or a "standard" wheel, than maybe don't post a pic. Most people would like to actually see a component like an arm or even something like an electrical box.

Of course there are exceptions like if you laser engrave your name into a part etc... However that is not really a teaser pic than.

[MikeDubreuil]

My question is: is it more fun to view a picture or to post a complaint?

As someone who frequents the CD website several times per day I highly enjoy viewing the the new pictures in the gallery. Sure, I do think that some pictures are more boring than others. That's just my opinion though, that doesn't mean that person shouldn't share their ideas with others. I don't mind taking the 15 seconds to view their picture. I don't blow up and yell, <napoleon dynamite> "GOD, WHAT AN IDIOT!"</napoleon dynamite>

For the people who can't "keep up with the pace" of the website. I would recommend that you become familiar with the galleries and thread viewing tools. You should not rely on the portal because it is constantly changing; and that's what makes Chief Delphi so exciting.

[Jessica Boucher]

I'm going to agree with Mike on this one.

Unless Brandon comes out and says that we're having an issue with server space that is directly related to the posting of teaser pics, we shouldn't be the ones deciding what is a good teaser or not. Sure, those wheels mentioned earlier were cool, but not every team is on that level, and we shouldn't tell them that they shouldn't post because the majority of the community feels that it isn't good enough.

I do see the point being made that some teasers aren't as effective as others, and as a compromise, there should be a "best practices" link on posting teaser. I propose that the thread that Cory mentioned (along with Tyler's post in this thread because it says a lot about publicity that wasn't mentioned in the original thread) be added to the list of "threads to read before posting" whether that be a link in the photo upload page or done another way.

[Josh Hambright]

I think people mis understood my point.

I'm not saying that anyone should stop posting pictures. I love looking at pictures of robot parts. However I think going along with the idea of searching before we post, and using appropriate thread titles, and asking yourself if a post adds to the discussion, the same or similar rules[read: guidelines] should apply to pictures as well.

I ran this post by Brandon before i posted it, because i was unsure weither or not I should, and he said to go ahead. I dont forsee teaser pictures becoming a viable issue as far as server space or bandwidth goes, although they do add up, and as we have more teams we will have more pictures.
Its not a matter of deciding weither or not a teaser is good or not, its a matter of making these forums an effective means to communicate and share.

[team222badbrad]

I agree that some are quite too simple, yet some are quite complex.

Before you post a teaser think of it as if you were on another team that did not make or buy that part you are about to post a teaser on.

Instead of posting pictures of off the shelf gears/sprockets and wheels, post custom machined parts.

Lately I have seen people posting pictures of things they bought.

Everyone buys wheels, gears/sprockets and whats the teaser in that?

As of now I could post tons pictures of off the shelf parts that nearly everyone uses that we have in the shop.

I think CD should create a forum for teasers and a picture gallery to go along with them and then a few months/years down the road if space is a problem just go and delete these no longer needed items

For example have a 2005 season teaser forum/gallery.

Then say when the 2006 season rolls around delete that.

[c0m1ng3vil]

I think teasers are really stupid. I rather my team kept in secrecy of their accomplishments rather than advertising them on the forum.

[Jeremy_Mc]

I think his point was that it's pointless to tease us with something that doesn't tease...

If I (and I'm guessing about 80% of the CD population) see a picture of a mounting bracket or a hinge setup, I'm going to say to myself, "Neat." That's it. No real interest; no tease factor. On the other hand, if I see a gear assembly (built or modeled so I can tell what's going on) or something substantial that has a function in and of itself, then I'm interested. Intrigued. I'm teased, if you will.

I'm just saying, though. Keep 'em coming...teasers are fun especially since I'm not on a team this year.

[Eria4044]

I enjoy seeing pictures, and don't mind spending ten seconds looking at something. But I do think that people posting pictures of bolts on Inventor is stupid (it does happen). Am I the only one who thinks: "What the heck? A bolt? That's you big picture? I want my ten seconds back." :mad: