[TEE]

I didn't read where this post came from (until just now) and so here's my serious response.

I'm willing to bet that within the FIRST community, when most people think "nerd", they think smart and unique, and so in this way, "nerd" has a positive connotation.

In (pretty much) the rest of the world, "nerd" means socially inept or weird, a negative connotation.

In the context of this issue (relating to the world outside of the FIRST community), I would say being called a "nerd" would be bad thing unless its definition is somewhat changed.