How about we settle for something like this?

Team A post a picture. The chain is loose, the light is illegally placed, and a drill motor mount is about to fall off.

Person 1 comes and comments on the chain being loose. Member of Team A thanks Person 1.

Person 2 comes and comments on the drill motor falling off, Team A thanks them.

Person 3 comments on the light, Team A, once again, thanks them.

No one else need post comments about the chain being loose, the light being illegal, or the drill motor falling off. Team A has realized these problems and taken them into account, anything else is just annoying and wasting memory on the chiefdelphi.com servers.

What I'm trying to say is pointing out problems is good, the first time. Otherwise it's just plain stupid.

Sometimes, I feel like I've hit some sort of time warp, and ended up back on the playground...in 3rd grade again.

We are all in the same boat here, highschool students, college students, adults and maybe even some middle-school kids, given the same 6.2 weeks to design, build and perfect ( hopefully ) a robot that does it's best to complete one or more aspects of a game. We ( the users of this forum ) share this common bond, not many people get to have this wonderfull expierence. Yes, some robots are going to be far superior to others, and some robots will just sit there and "cook" themeselves, but regardless of which side of that robotic spectrum you are on, that doesn't mean you can nitpick and point out every little flaw in another team's machine. Look at it this way, a simple example if you will...Ask someone what they think a battery powered drill is capable of, and if they are any ordinary person, their answer will more often than not be along the lines of "drill holes" with the occasional "what's a battery powered drill?"...little to they know, there exists a large group of teenagers, that can take that simple drill, and turn it into part of a robot that completes a task, that is very, very different than drilling a simple hole. If a robot runs, that's a triumph itself! Most people would look upon these pieces of metal and wood that we call robots and say "whoa" pointing out all the wires and crazy mechanisms. We all worked hard to get to the point where we have a robot that at least moves, and plays this game called "Stack attack" to the best of our abilities. If your robot does one thing, and you see a robot that you feel doesn't do that task as good as your robot can, don't tell the owner of that robot how you think your machine is better than theirs, instead, offer them tips on how they, and you, could improve upon the current design. This may be hard for some people, sadly, there are a few individuals here who are inable to present someone with a positiive opinon, instead of an "I'm better than you because..." We've put our blood, sweat, and tears into these machines, and to tell someone some little detail about their robot that doesn't seem kosher is like telling a person that a single hair is out of place, without offering them a comb to fix it. Let's grow up everybody, were here for eachother, and bragging, nitpicking, and making unfounded claims sure as heck isn't an example of gracious professionalism.

Okay, you are all right.

For some reason, my hopeless negitivism draws out the worst in me. Like a small dog needing to bark. Sad huh.

6 weeks of effort from hundreds of teams needs to be respected.

Anyone in FIRST is better than anyone not in FIRST.

I love all robots big and small.

I feel that this is somewhat directed at me, more often than not i am a real...'?' (future edit by Martus).

I guess I will try not to be such a '?' and focus on the goal of FIRST. Sorry everyone.

I agree with M. There's just too much negativity going around here. Constructive comments and advice are fine with me, but I get tired of the "your strategy will never work" comments. Let's wait for the game to be played before we make any pronouncements on the viability of certain strategies.

Just because this is the internet doesn't give you the right to post comments without the regard of other people's feelings. This forum happens to be one of the most valuable tool in FIRST to help all FIRST participates to communicate, connect, share, learn and teach. If you do not understand that, than please find some other places to post your opinions. Feel free to start your own forum.


Also, constructive critism, suggestions, questions, compliments are ok to post, as long as you aren't citizing others needlessly.

apparently you didnt read both of my posts.

Yup, and I apologize for missing it the first time.

since I do not care to read all of the posts except skim the first one (because I'm tired). I would have to agree w/ M. I have seen a lot of negative posts that are not just constructive criticism. Just posts that are putting people and their hard work down. We have all worked very hard on our designs and all deserve credit for what we have done. Remember what FIRST stands for. It is not about winning, but inspiring technology and learning.

On the bright side, I have seen a lot of courteous posts, and a lot of posts that are very positive! Reading those posts is what makes me want to post more because I know people really enjoying all that FIRST has to offer when I read them.

my 2.5 cents (just 2 cents if you are in a bank since they truncate everything).