Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

The formatting of reddit is much better, in terms of replying to comments and sorting between good and bad comments, so why don't we use this?

Often times I am trying to find info on a thread and lots of posts are relevant but not exactly what I am looking for. It is hard/impossible to look at every reply to find a solution. The way comments on Reddit are sorted and voted on would help this.
The only downside I can see is that you can't sort by topic e.g Electronics, Technical, Programming etc.

Thoughts?

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

inb4 hivemind

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

For the same reason Google Plus failed. An active, knowledgable, relevant, and above all large community is much more important for a website of this nature than any minor format improvements. And I would argue that for a vast majority of topics on Chiefdelphi, sorting based on voting would not add to, and in many cases would actively detract from, the effectiveness of the site.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

Why? If people upvote good comments and downvote bad (usually non-relevant comments that are far too common), wouldn't that help the madness of a thread such as the game hint one with >400 replies. People want to see game speculations that make sense. The best guess at this years game may be lost on page 15 somewhere...

And comments like this would not be shown

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

I agree with Joe, and would add that, as much as FIRST strives for outreach, a community like CD gains some benefits from being a little secluded. On here, it's FIRST and more FIRST (and yes, there can be some other small things, but you know what I mean). It maintains a unique and special level of FIRST GP and congeniality that, while not perfect, is better than many other places out on the high seas of the internet. And, if you look at Reddit, you'll quickly notice that it is a bit cold to the idea of users' identities. Comments come with a little username at the top, and that's it. It clashes with CD's style of presenting a much more communal feel. Each post is topped with an optional avatar, WAI picture, name, AKA, team, team role, and all that. These are people who know each other offline, and I think they all like being reminded of that a little bit.

Why do people still go to their local pub for years on end instead of the new chain restaurants? It's the same reason: the atmosphere.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

CD is much easier to keep track of. Especially with the portal, I can be subscribed to the subforums I care about and actively browse. You can't really do that without making multiple subreddits.

Plus there's less anonymity here, and I like it that way.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

I can see someone asking a legitimate question that might seem obvious to others and getting down voted into oblivion.

The current system works/is fair.

However, an FRC reddit for laughs/pictures/gifs/memes/ect wouldn't necessarily be a terrible thing.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

If it was up to me, the game hint thread would be LOCKED and the key thrown away after the first 5 pages. Anything beyond that is redundant. Why? Keep reading.

The bigger problem, and here's where you're really going to get the pushback, is that most times there's redundancy/non-relevant comments, it's just someone who doesn't know the pulse of CD yet, just wants to make their voice heard, or has a simple question that's been answered before and doesn't know how to search (or doesn't want to bother reading a massive thread--which is where that massive game hint thread comes from, people want to get their speculation out and don't want to check and see if someone else had it. I corrected 2 different people with the same very wrong theory about 5-10 pages apart, and then someone else took the second of those another 5-10 pages later to correct a third person.). Put something like what you're proposing in place, and watch all those people just disappear. Why? Because they will get shoved down to the bottom. They won't get any answers.

I'd rather have to point out a rule 5 times to 5 different new people--and possibly be better able to help them out on other topics!--than to have those 5 people all see a "high-rated" thread and not get the rest of the help they might need easily.

What's wrong with that sort of comment?


CD is not just technical. Trust me. There've been discussions for YEARS about doing away with Chit-Chat and making the site more technical... and nothing's happened (and nothing's going to happen, I don't think) because it gives a more welcoming feel.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

Chief delphi has a very powerful search and organization feature. People log in to the same account they've used since 2002, and all their old posts are still here. If we all went to reddit we'd lose all of our old posts, many of which are still extremely useful.

Also, the reputation system and the awesome moderators we have here keep the discussion really clean and kind.

I'm not super familiar with reddit, but I don't think they have as good of an organization and reputation and private messaging system like we have.

Personally, I love the look of chief delphi. It loads really fast because its an older design, which is great because I have slow internet.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

But that's the glory of reddit. It gives new questions a chance to be answered. You can still sort by popularity but their questions wouldn't be shoved at the bottom of the stack. Also, you'd only downvote the worst of the worst. This would help keep the threads small by having good answers and new questions at the top, and not so good answers and irrelevant comments at the bottom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...2aUWQQ#t=10 8

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

Hah.

Ever watch someone's reputation bar turn red in under an hour? I have. Some folks have no trouble just dishing out negative reputation--and I'd be more than willing to bet that most of those folks would have no trouble just downvoting any thread that they felt was "in the way". No matter if the question was answered or not!

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

They just have to learn to use their power properly. And hopefully the number of upvotes will greatly outnumber the downvotes (if it's good material)

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

That's the problem. Some folks just never learn.

Just to continue with the reputation example for a moment: I very rarely give out reputation. Why? Because I've got a lot of "rep power", and can (relatively) easily boost--or demolish--someone's rep points. With that great power comes great responsibility to use it wisely. (Suffice it to say: I've never dished out red reputation, primarily because 47 or more other people have usually beaten me to it.)

CD does have a thread rating system. I can't say I've ever used it, but I'm pretty sure I know how to if I ever decide to.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

(Full disclosure: I fall firmly in the "hates game hint threads, game speculation threads, and overanalysis of FIRST's actions threads" camp. I'd be more than happy to see these topics move elsewhere, but that's another topic. I am also an active reddit user, and am quite familiar with how it works)

Threads like the game hint thread are one of the few examples where the format may be effective, just due to their sheer size. However, I think you'll find that even there, it may not work. On a reddit thread of comparable size, the vast majority of users only make a single post, and then leave. Popular comments develop comment trees off of them, also with most users commenting once and leaving. You don't get the repeat, back-and-forth type of discussion you see throughout a thread like that. On reddit, such comments would stack up to the point of invisibility behind "load more comments" buttons. Additionally, in order to get visibility, or pretend internet points, many people have made their own posts on r/frc for their game hint related content, whereas CD has done a pretty good job at keeping it in one thread (thanks in part to moderators, but largely due to the norms of our site as compared to reddit). As someone not interested in this kind of thing, r/frc us unusable to me at the moment, whereas CD is just fine.

Now, lets look at a whole bunch of cases where it wouldn't work at all:

• Discussion of news (blog posts, team updates, etc.). Again, these discussions tend to be highly back-and-forth in nature, whereas on reddit, it'll be a few highly voted opinions, and not much else.
• Pretty much anything controversial (Student/Mentor work distribution, Ri3D, etc.), which has a strong majority opinion among the community. On Chiefdelphi, posting a dissenting view will generate discussion, which makes for good, informative reading, and potentially changed views on both sides. On Reddit, it just gets hidden.
• Quick technical questions which only merit a few replies. With a popular enough reddit, these posts would need to accure mass interest in the form of upvotes to even be seen by the majority of the community. You end up being at the mercy of the general interest of your question in order to get meaningful answers.
• CAD reviews, robot releases, code releases, website releases, etc. All have the same root problem: Cool things from dominant teams will rise to the top, while the teams that need help and who can perhaps benefit the most from a community like this will sink, because people use the upvote button as an "Oh cool!" button, instead of a "get these guys visibility!" button.
• Discussion of anything of regional interest. Since most people won't care, it won't be seen. Here, you can filter.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and point out that of the top 25 posts of all time on r/frc, the breakdown is as follows:

• 9 mildly funny, but meaningless and tangentially related images (most being bad photoshop jobs)
• 8 memes
• A screencap from FRC Confessions
• A reaction GIF
• A joke CAD (Accumulating more than twice the votes of the highest voted legitimate CAD review post)
• A news item presented in GIF form
• A photo of another team's robot, with a title arguably making fun of it
• A post congratulating the 2014 championships winners (to their credit, top post of all time)
• A genuinely touching post about a user's FRC experience over the years
• A genuinely cool feat of engineering on an FRC robot

Interesting/funny? Maybe (I'd argue that various facebook pages are effectively filling this role). Comparable to ChiefDelphi in value? Not even close; I'm really only interested in three out of the 25. Increasing the community's size won't impact the kind of content that inevitably rises to the top with a voting system.

Others have also made excellent points about anonymity. On reddit, using your real name is frowned upon. Here, we can get to know each other as people.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

I think this thread itself is actually a good example of why we all like to stick with CD. Imagine if we all did use Reddit, and this thread came up. Now, obviously, it wouldn't because it's a moot point then, but imagine that you were proposing something else of the same nature.

Here, most people are not jumping on your side and are instead providing critiques and counterarguments. Nonetheless, a useful discussion is ongoing because this thread's activity is keeping it high on the Portal's Recent Activity list and people are seeing it. If this question were posed in a voting system forum, it would see a small reaction in the beginning and then be modestly downvoted (I presume, just based on how people are responding) because it's not a popular idea, and would be seen at the top no longer, essentially killing it off. None of this productive dialogue would occur, and that would be a shame. As a population, it takes challenging thoughts to keep us sharp and active, and we are making CD a better place because of it.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

You don't downvote because you disagree, you downvote "bad" posts. Like if someone posted a photo of a cat, you'd downvote that, not because you don't like the photo, but because it serves no purpose to FRC.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

I think that's an overly-idealistic take on things. Anywhere there is voting involved, the end result to some degree reflects a popularity contest. And even if it didn't go down, it would probably stay not much better than neutral and would nonetheless be partially drowned behind hot-button or hugely popular threads like the game hint and the never-gonna-die over-3400-posts-strong "You know you've overdosed on FIRST when..." threads.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

And how many people would actually adhere to that?

Again, you're giving too much credit to the humans around here. Look at Joe's post above: of the top 25 currently on there, 19 are that cat photo, or some reasonable equivalent!

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

In theory, that's how it should work. In practice, people downvote what they don't like and that's a hard behavior to change.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

Just because you and I don't, doesn't mean others won't.

In addition, when a subreddit reaches a certain size, "not upvoted" is basically just the same as downvoted. These communities are dependent on topics and comments catching the interest of the small percentage of users who browse by new in order to achieve widespread visibility. Again, see the list of posts I made which naturally gravitated to the top. All universally appealing for a quick laugh, but of very little genuine lasting value.

This brings up another interesting point: Reddit's algorithm results in all posts, no matter how popular, drifting off the front page after a few days (and I don't believe that individual subreddits can alter this). Here, on the other hand, you see threads like this remain relevant for years. During the season, hot-button threads generate discussion lasting weeks, which doesn't work with reddit's rapid-fire algorithm.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

I'm a moderator at CodeRanch, a large programming forum. We have discussed a number of times the differences between our discussion forum and Stack Overflow's Q&A format. They are different and serve different purposes. Reddit is a little different, but I think much of the same still holds.

Discussion forums like this (chief delphi) and CodeRanch have a few benefits:

1. Build community
2. Mentor new members on good conventions (downvoting doesn't accomplish that. And often you are downvoted without any explanation of the actual problem)
3. Professionalism (or GP here) - both CD and CodeRanch encourage real sounding names. People tend to be nicer when talking to someone who sounds human
4. A "be nice" rule. CodeRanch calls it "be nice". Here we call it GP.

Different formats are good for different things. Reddit isn't "the one true way." Neither is CD.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

Because reddit is terrible.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

This.

Also on a more relevant note, chif delphi has to many good things about it tthat reddit would not have. Mostly the comfort of seeing frequent posters that are here on chief delphi.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

Reddit is a terrible place for substantial conversations/debates and answering technical questions.

The problem is that people use upvote and downvote as a proxy for "I agree" or "I disagree" with the content of posts. People like magical internet upvote points, so they tend to shy away from substantial boring conversation and go for the low-hanging fruit of upvotes, the posts that enough people will like to upvote and few will find faults with.

This results in the highest rated comments almost always being puns, memes, and reaction GIFs, even in specific sub-reddits.

Chief Delphi is better for a community like FRC for a few reasons:

1. Unlike Reddit, most people with accounts on CD have met other people from CD in real life at events/competitions/etc. As such, most people here tie their accounts to their real name/photo and/or team number. True anonymity is rare and discouraged by the site rules.
2. Forums like vBulletin (which is what Chief Delphi uses) are much better suited for long-term organization of topics based upon sub topics, like programming, motors, CAD, competitions, etc.
3. The "voting" on posts here is limited in daily quantity, limited to how often you can give it to one person, is entirely private in how they are doled out, but public in their rolling total. By "voting", I'm talking about reputation points. As such, it tends to be used more sparingly, and generally isn't used much in a negative way unless there is egregious behavior (trolling, baseless accusations behind veil of anonymity, etc).
4. Because of the above, trolling isn't very common here, and conversations are almost always civil and respectful.
5. Chief Delphi has been around for a long time (longer than some current freshman have been alive!), and has a very large and active community of students, mentors, alumni, and sponsors. There is a huge amount of knowledge here via threads, photos, whitepapers and more, and lots more available by just asking a question.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

I think both communities have a place, for silly stuff on Reddit and serious discussion on CD.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

This is an excellent summary for why /r/FRC isn't a great community forum.

I know it was joked about earlier, but there truly is a hivemind on reddit, and that's not really welcoming to someone new. Chief has been the longstanding giant for the FRC community, and it's got a good system going. It's down to each individual user, but most of the time on here, when a new person posts (and is a little out of line) we gently remind them of the forum rules instead of red-dotting them into oblivion. Exceptions, of course, are made for straight-out rude or offensive posts.

As a contrast, I posted the same sort of reminder you'd find here on Chief (a game hint isn't a game hint unless FRC explicitly calls it out as one) and I got downvoted for ruining the fun. "You must be fun at parties", etc. Classy.

One of the things I really enjoy here is that even when you get 'dots', you're allowed to leave a response or comment - and even reply to it! You can't get that with downvotes. It's another tiny facet where CD allows for constructive discussion, rather than just 'I disagree with this, downvote'. On here, it's more of a quick way to leave direct, personal feedback and take it to PM's rather than calling each other out in the thread and detracting from the discussion.

Reddit is, as others have said - good for memes, and sharing 'look at this thing my team did', but Chief is the winner when it comes to long-term constructive discussions in this community. I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

This is definitely a less broad point than those above, and certainly one that effects less people, but Reddit is blocked on our school computers for good reason. It makes sense for it to be blocked on other school's computers, as well. Chief Delphi, on the other hand, is totally fine. If Reddit were the hotbed of FIRST conversation, accessing Chief Delphi during meetings would be harder/more annoying for at least 1712.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

CD is: of the people, by the people and for the people.

Anyways about the game hint and flood of ideas, there is nothing wrong with it, its just a place where young adults with hyper active ideas come and showcase them. Some ideas are plausible and others are outrageous funny. I don't believe anyone reads the thread to find anything close to real game.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

This one's easy.

Reddit doesn't have an images and whitepapers section. It also doesn't have "comment-based reputation" which is really a feedback mechanism for the community to curb unwanted behavior.

Reddit is a bit too ADD for me, personally.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

My opinion has definitely been swayed away from reddit, but I must ask the question "Is it possible that CD will improve its discussion format, at least in terms of replying to user posts?" Having a reddit-like reply where it becomes a discussion within the original comment

Comment A

Reply B

Reply C

would be improvement enough IMO.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

You can do that!

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/fa...b_threadedmode

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/pr...do=editoptions

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

OMG THANK YOU THIS SOLVES ALL MY PROBLEMS!

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

Every now and then I think that chief delphi has been taken over by mentors. CD being purely techincal will never happen. It is just not the FIRST culture. If we start using Reddit I fear that the FRC community will become less fun, the personality of the community would change.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

Many of the previous post have noted the lack of anonymity and the close community on here as positives, but I feel that these are a double edged sword.

It can be extremely intimidating for a student, especially a new member, to post on the technical side of this forum, and the fact that many of the older members know each other gives off a cliquey vibe. The single biggest benefit of /r/frc, in my opinion, is the fact that new users can join very easily and slip into the conversations due to the anonymous nature of reddit.

Even as a four year senior on my team I am still hesitant to answer technical questions on this site, to avoid being torn apart by some 10+ year FRC mentor with 10 green dots and 1,000+ comments. Unfortunately, I have learned that some mentors on this site have no qualms about being the fourth person to pile on to a new member's "dumb" question with a page long response about how it was a stupid post.

The onymous nature of CD can make it very unwelcoming to new members for the very same reason that it makes it fun for veteran users.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

This is honestly the main reason. r/FRC could in theory be a good community, but just happens not to be, mostly for historical reasons.

I'm honestly not so sure this kind of thing is bad. Some posters are real pieces of work, and I think they deserve to have that reputation follow them around for a while. Getting negreped is also a humbling experience, people who you know think what you said was really bad. I know getting negreped changed how I behave, and helped me be a better part of the community. I believe red dots can be a force for good, when sparingly (or sometimes not so sparingly) applied.

This is another great reason why FRC type discussion wouldn't fit well on reddit. Reddit for whatever reason tends to be basically democratized clickbait, and although there are some great communities on reddit (looking at you r/surfing), they involve images or questions that generate somewhat random discussion. The feel to the site even across different subreddits is very different from CD, in a way I'd argue is largely negative.

That's annother great thing about CD, even if a user is anonomous (which almost none are), I still can "get to know" their username, and find out their rep, how many posts they have, how long they've been posting, etc. Usually, I know a fair bit about their team or region, and sometimes even know them personally. On reddit, I essentially never care about who posted what, unless they are a mod or something.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

I was the person who said "You must be fun at parties" on /r/FRC. Sorry about that, I guess it left you with a bad taste of Reddit. You have my apologies.

I think that incident is a good example of how people behave differently on different communities - I know I do.

On Reddit, people are more abrasive and quicker to call each other out. "You must be fun at parties" is a phrase that has been said countless times on Reddit in response to someone taking a joke/satire too seriously. People who get downvoted for making the wrong comment are expected to tough it out and not take it personally - it happens to everyone at times.

Meanwhile, on Chief Delphi and other similar forums, making a similar reply would obviously not be acceptable, because of the prevailing mindset that we are polite to each other so as not to drive each other away from discussion.

The two communities have different rules and social norms, and people observe and imitate them, perpetuating them. It's what makes Chief Delphi a better place for serious discussion.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

Reddit works better if you ignore the karma score for posts, and go to threads with the most comments. And it's not like CD is immune from the kind of behavior people are ascribing to Reddit - just take a look at any game hint thread...

I honestly think that a threaded discussion format is vastly superior for most of the kinds of discussions that take place here, and should be default, if not mandatory, here. The flat view generally used in CD means posts get lost incredibly easily, which is probably the best thing about Reddit - good posts get found, not buried.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

But I think one of the big problems everyone is pointing out is that the rationale for what makes a post "good" vs. "bad" is too shoddy and unreliable. There's ample evidence that most of the highest rated posts will just be the ones that are mildly humorous or unoffensive and appealing to the greatest number of people. This is what leads to that hivemind claim, because the best way to get noticed is to go along with the mindset of the populous.

Polite, respectful disagreement is what drives deep, thoughtful discussion. Reddit inherently suppresses that, and I could flip your statement around and say the voting system generally used in Reddit means minority arguments get lost incredibly easily, which is probably the best thing about CD - good discussion gets promoted, not buried.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

HERE WE GO!
What I find insanely helpful about Chief Delphi is how easy it is for you to look at the quality of the poster. In this manner if I see a certain name next to a post I don't need to do a lot of digging and question or call out for citation to know its fairly trust worthy. You don't get mad green bars by posting cats on here its from HELPFUL INFORMATION or FANTASTIC MEASURES OF CHARACTER in this manner it is fairly accurate cause the standard for receiving this praise is high and the way it scales is done in a very smart manner.


That format of commenting has this insane ability to make it easy to take a broad topic and filter out information. Comment A would be something worth noting and reply b and c are added onto it and it helps "control" the de-railing of a Thread. This being said I find it a very simple and intuitive way to streamline the process of finding relevant information.
But that is never what I want from this site. When I come on chief delphi I come in to start a fire (well not like a complete forest fire) but I want to fuel some thought and get some nice conversation going. A lot of emphasis on chief delphi goes into people not digressing which may for all I know just be coincidental. From my experience once you have the start of something in Reddits format it quickly breaks down to these side conversations based on random trains of thought but when I go on chief delphi when I say "I think there should be a mobile safety zone in this years game because of x, y, or z, then I know that due to the format of chief delphi what I will get is a discussion not side chatter about different points. Hope that makes sense!

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

The implication being that there isn't a CD hivemind?

By the way, congratulations on being made a moderator there, it seems odd to get involved in a format that you think isn't a great community platform.

I think r/FRC could fulfill a necessary and interesting role that CD doesn't. There is a RoboRIO Beta Test Team doing an AMA right now, and it has been very informative to read, they've answered questions that probably would have been ignored or answered with links.

The reddit community can be more abrasive, but I choose to believe it is more lighthearted as well. To me CD often feels like dinner with my parents, everyone is uptight and smiling until it devolves into accusations and reputation comparisons.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

As you mentioned, /r/FRC has the potential to reach a niche of users who don't necessarily feel comfortable posting on ChiefDelphi. That's why I offered to become a mod - to help /r/FRC grow as a forum and to help ensure that it upholds the standards and values that FIRST, and our community, are proud to stand for.

Anonymous, passive-aggressive swipes at individuals are not one of the things we should be proud to stand for.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

I know this post is long, and tends to ramble, but if you read nothing else, read the last paragraph.

I have only ever been on reddit a few times, and found it rather confusing, I can see both sides to this story. Having had some of my own first posts on CD be negative, and having been called out by one of my own team members, I know what it can be like.

Also, it was mentioned that these forums seem like they are all mentors posting at times, I would like to point to Andy Grady's amazing Ri3D blog post today. http://www.robotin3days.com/our-legacy/ Most of us mentors were you at one point. This is a point I make sure to mention at every drivers meeting I hold, and most students who I interact with know this as well.

We have met each other over the years, and I consider FIRST my second family. I talk to FIRSTers on a daily basis, and no, it's not just because I work for AndyMark now. I choose to maintain the friendships I have grown with people from various regions across the country and world!

When Libby originally started posting on CD, I had no idea who she was, and I honestly thought she was a spammer account. Then I got to know her as a person, and she truly is one of the nicest people in FIRST. I hate seeing friends bashed here, and in other places, when no one bothers to get to know who they are bashing. That's why I like CD. It is personalized in that way. I encourage anyone who wants to, follow me on Twitter, come say hi at a competition. This is how you meet the people you are afraid of on the forums.

While it had been a long time since I have been truly active here, and they may still exist, the web hugs were a fantastic place to meet everyone you only knew by profile picture and their posts. That said, I encourage every student to get to champs at least once in your student career, even if not with your team. You will get to see and meet some AMAZING people who will be more than willing to talk to you if they aren't super busy with a robot at the time.

If you can't do that, start volunteering! I had some students on my team last year make friends with other students because they were volunteers together and wouldn't have met otherwise. Volunteering has changed my life. I have volunteered for FRC, FVC(throwback I know), FTC, and FLL in some capacity since 2003(where applicable). That is where I met people like Libby, Billfred, Dave Lavery, Dr. Woodie Flowers, Dean Kamen, Will.I.Am, and more. While I may not stay in constant contact with Dean, I have stayed close friends with a lot of my fellow volunteers. Competition season is near and dear to my heart because it is my family reunion time every year.

Basically, the point is, CD is only what you make of it. I encourage everyone to make the most, and if you think you will get bashed for a dumb question, then find someone you respect, tell them flat out that you are worried about it, and ask them in a private message. If they give you a good response, maybe ask the community at large, but still, ask someone. That is how you learn, and that is how you can gain your confidence even amongst the biggest names on ChiefDelphi.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

I completely agree with your last statement, I'm sorry you read sarcasm or otherwise took offense to my previous statement, your position simply didn't make sense to me. I'm not the best at phrasing.

Why is anonymity the first thing you took offense to?
I've seen that response on here before, does this community put that much stock in doxing yourself?

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

As a Network Administrator at a school, I can tell you we block Reddit but not CD. Most work environments have a similar policy. From a strictly access point of view, CD is much less likely to be filtered by most organizations.

Not that we CD at work anyways, right mentors?

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

This community does promote self identification, because it does help both students and mentors learn from their mistakes. While public shaming may not be the best tool, by self identifying, you typically are less likely to spout off nonsense or inflametory comments because you do risk running your name through dirt, or worse yet, destroying a reputation your team has worked very hard to build for years before you came to them.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

It wasn't the first thing, but I appreciate your question. (For the record, it was your sarcasm. Now I know it wasn't intended. :) )Generally here on CD we appreciate accountability for your actions. For example, I'd love to continue some of the discussions I've had on here at events, so knowing what team or region a poster is from really helps. It's also a general good-faith gesture to represent yourself accurately. It's just what we do, and a part of why the CD community works. For example, I could have joined reddit as "omgrobots", or something along those lines- but I thought it would be better in the long run to be up-front about who I am. Unfortunately it appears to have caused more trouble than it's worth.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

Yes, in a way. There are some reasons, too.

Let's start with the easy one, it's really nice to be able to walk up to someone at an event and go "I'm [username] from CD, glad to meet you". Now, I happen to have met quite a few folks at various places and times (anybody at Inland Empire or Los Angeles, feel free to come find me--let's go with "if you're able to" because I'm likely to be busy doing stuff related to the event) and it really is nice to be able to associate a name and a face.

But the other thing is this: Who are you more likely to take seriously, some person you know and trust or somebody you don't know from Adam? That second person could be the world expert in their field (which we'll assume is the one you're currently interested in)... and yet you're more likely to take the first person's advice if you don't know that little fact. Why? You recognize them.

Now, there are some semi-anonymous accounts out there. But I know (or think) that somebody in CD probably knows who they are, and sometimes I know that they're highly productive, thought-inducing members of the community.

And the final couple of reasons, which are flip sides of the same coin... Often, anonymity is used as a shield for negative comments. But if you attach identifying information, someone you know could hold you accountable--if needed!--or otherwise contain "bad behavior". I've seen a least case where someone made the "mistake" of posting with "their" team number, and a member of that team then proceeded to call them on the carpet, something on the order of "if I find out you are in fact a member of my team, you and I are having a little talk". Conversely, if you've got a team number attached, and you're thinking right, you just might think twice about the reputation you're carrying with you--not just your own, but your team's.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

At my school, Chief Delphi and other forums are blocked simply for being forums :(

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

Sometimes you can work with the network admins or the school admins to have CD unblocked from the firewall based upon the fact that it is used for a school related function. Worth a shot.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

Yes, actually.

In addition to the accountability already mentioned, lots of people here on Chief Delphi actually meet in person at competitions, kickoff events, workshops, practice sessions, etc. Using your real name and team numbers on Chief Delphi helps a lot if you try to introduce yourself to someone else from Chief Delphi in real life, most people can't remember other people by usernames, only real names.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

I know if a student came to me and asked for something like CD to be unblocked, I would pass it to my boss for review and it would get whitelisted, no questions asked. Also, try cookies.

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

What about a StackExchange community ?

A new one can be started here Area51

Re: Why don't we use reddit.com/r/frc
 

I think a FRC stackexchange would be useful, but mostly as a supplement. StackExchange's format is-suited for tech support, and little else.