[EricH]

I think there are several different things that are riling people up a little bit.

1) Leftover politics from FTC's kit change. Short version, a lot of people went with what they already had when FIRST changed the FTC kit suddenly. Now FRC says that we need to support FTC and their kit (I can show you where FRC said that), which some people really aren't happy with. So you get a lot of negativity from that that's been simmering for a while. 3-4 years is a long time to let something simmer...

2) Red/Yellow cards. There's quite a few--you could get it for something as simple as your partner showing up without passing inspection, or for something as nasty as intentional tipping. Problem is, a lot of them can be judgment calls. In most cases, I don't question the ref's judgment. In a couple others... Well, let's just say that I've seen some matches on webcast that could easily have been flag-fests, or had the potential to have impeding called, that had zero penalties called, and leave whether they actually should have been flag-fests or impeding penalties to the refs who called it and the armchair refs with infinite instant replay who will try to call it "right" (and whose opinion matters about as much as that of a random CD member when your robot is failing inspection).

3) Amount/type of penalties. There's a lot of 3-point penalties when someone's just trying to do what they need to do, and are barely to the point where it's a violation. LOTS of penalties--anyone remember <G22> from 2008? Just makes the ref's job harder.

4) You know it's bad when not one, but two members of the GDC resign mid-build. Only one has chosen to share his reasoning--a personal choice between principles and being a member of the GDC--and I'm not going to ask any farther of either.

What are the ramifications? I really don't know. Most of it will just drive Logomotion's popularity down a bit with respect to some other games. Some of it can really hurt FIRST later, if it's allowed to, in the form of decreased participation.

Most important: What do we do about it? Do we walk around pretending everything's OK? NO. Bill and the FRC staff responded to a request for a bit more transparency with just that. Now, we need to return the favor. We need to be open and honest with them about what we're seeing within the community. I'm certain they check CD, but it doesn't hurt to talk to them if someone gets the chance. Something on the order of, "I'm seeing X, and it kind of disturbs me because Y. I might suggest Z as a solution if it's feasible." If enough people are seeing something and bringing it to their attention, they will pay attention! If it's serious, they'll deal with it right away if they can.

In short: I think a lot of the negativity and frustration is a function of the amount of penalties and some past politics that were not forgotten. I am reasonably certain we can get over that. But if there's stuff that is serious, we should probably let FRC HQ know that there is something that may need dealing with on the horizon.