If that is the consensus of the FIRST community, then I agree to abide by it.

April 1st is too obvious

here is Dr. Joe's thread: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ohnson+em ail

I should have learned the first time... It's amazing how things come back to you really quickly.

I honestly hope so too. That was not the intent of this, in the least.

There are people that think that. I don't personally, but there have been discussions about it on these forums before.

I can guarantee that I won't

How come no one informed me that a team in Rochester, NY could get funding from JPL? Oh, well, there goes that opportunity :(

ouch

wait, did I misspell a name somewhere?

That was not something I needed to know. :p

You may come visit me. I will be in Rochester (about an hour away from you) starting Nov. 30th. If anyone else would like to have a personal word with me, I will be in LA until then. You can also contact me via AIM, or e-mail, both of which are listed.








To all the people who were affected by this, I am sorry. I truly did not expect for this to have the impact that it did. It was meant to be an innocent joke, and unfortunately, it was blown way beyond what I thought it would. I have apologized to FIRST.

Once the cat is out of the bag, it isn't possible to get it back in, at least not without sustaining injury.

I know I'm just repeating what others have already said, and I also know that I was not at all adversely affected by the joke, but I thought it was good.

Don't let this steal your sense of humor, Joe.

No worries Joe. I thought it was funny as hell. I was laughing hard for 5-10 minutes after I read the frantic replies ;). No need for you to sweat it if people can't take a good hoax/joke like this (or fall for the phoney url). Take it easy dude.

It was a hoax
 

don't worry, it was a hoax. I was fooled too

I thought it was funny. Of course I knew it was fake because I went to the FIRST site and saw the official note before I came here on Thursday.

I vote that we let Joe stay.

I thought it was pretty funny. Anybody who got to the end of the announcement and clicked the 'more info here' link shouldn't have been fooled by it.

Anyway, as Mr. Aubry said -- check the forum ... RUMOR mill = not necessarily true. :)

I emailed the link to team and others before checking the more info, then quickly emailed the more info link which didn't work for our members, so unbeknowst to me the hoax was still being spread by word over the next days.

I was reeling for the evening. It had sunk deep into my head that there wouldn't be a championship. Can't say I was thrilled about the hoax, but boy do I admire the skill and timing.

And, yes, taught me again about checking the subject of the forum, checking that the link truly is what the words say it is...

*shrug* good lessons all around.

BeachBot, Team 330 Hoax Response
 

Trustworthy Engineers and Trustworthy Engineering
November 17, 2002

The prank instigated by Joe Ross has just about run its course and it is time to reflect on some of the lessons learned from episodes like these. As the leader of BeachBots, Team 330, I am sorry and apologize that one of our past team members caused this mess.
Engineers have been given a great responsibility by society to provide the buildings and machines that we all use in our daily life. In many cases, our lives depend on the successful operation of these machines, e.g. airplanes, cars, buses, etc. In general, the people that use these machines have little insight into how they work but trust that they will. This trust is based on a past history of successful use.
In the brave new world of the World Wide Web, a few people know about the inner workings of web page design, how URLs work, use of html, etc. The great majority of users look at the web browser as a window to the web and knows little more about its inner workings. Someone with superior knowledge of web mechanics can devise a hoax that can fool other members of the community. Our natural inclination is to trust the word of others and behave accordingly. If the messenger has been trustworthy in the past then the message is more believable.
This is what makes the prank so sad. As an engineering manager with 28 years of engineering experience, I look for trustworthy engineers. I base recommendations to launch satellites on the recommendations of my employees. The outcome of anything less than the best possible effort causes a satellite to land in the ocean. There is no room for practical jokes or hoaxes in my business. I suspect that there is no room for them in any other engineering field either. As engineers, the coin of the realm is trust. We must tell the truth all the time and we must not lead others astray.
The motto of FIRST is gracious professionalism. Its value is to show what energy, skill and knowledge can accomplish. My job is to represent the values of my profession to those students involved in FIRST who are considering engineering as a career. To be a successful engineer you must tell the truth and be trustworthy. I know of no other way to be truly successful.

Tom Freitag, Leader
BeachBots, Team 330

Meh. Give him a break. It's also been on this board that there was going to be a water playing field, that there will be no seat-saving, and even the location of regionals has been questioned.

A) Don't believe everything you see or hear.

I don't think we should ban any kid for playing a prank in a thread called RUMOR MILL from FIRST. Dean or Woodie... personally, I think they'd get a good laugh out of this.

Just laugh at yourself for falling for it, and next time, don't be so quick to run off and spread the rumors.

Fooled just as much as everyone else,
Amanda

I didn't care to read all these replies, but the @ symbol in the address doesn't make it a usfirst.org site. I hope people didn't read that and believe it to be true.

Joe - from one prankster to another, well done. You left just enough clues for the observant few to catch on. Half of the rest appreciate a good joke (even when they are on the receiving end). The other half are ticked off because they were caught falling for it. They will get over it.

-dave

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Always tale your work seriously.

Never take yourself seriously.

Anyone who has the intelligence and brilliance to pull off something like that and cause mass chaos in the FIRST community deserves special recognition...

I’ve been referred to as the prankster of my family (I’m the oldest, go figure ), but I never could have come up with something so brilliant....


like Dave said, they will get over it...heck I’m already over it, and so should everyone else. It was a "harmless" prank, I don’t think it killed or injured anyone (besides their ego's, for falling for it) so I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.


If I had the chance to pull something of that magnitude off, heck I would do it.


Get your butt back here, cause Joe must not go!



-D.J.