[Bob Steele]

i think that perhaps we are actually seeing a response to "don't lawyer the rules"

The rules committee was pushed into a corner...had to make a decision and now (after 3 + weeks) we have that decision.

I doubt seriously if they were going to tell the inspectors that this was the interpretation at the beginning of the season, it was going to be a loose definition of appendage probably.. If they did have that idea at the beginning and never told the teams it would have been a disaster at regionals so I doubt that this was their intention.

By asking all of our questions we have forced them into a narrow interpretation of this rule and now we have to live with it.

I think, now that we have created this narrow definition, it is incumbent on all of us to make sure that ALL teams know about it. (It would seem that this should be done through an update but) Update or not we HAVE to tell all of those other teams that don't follow the Q and A. (Or even sometimes the updates...)

As a community we could easily say that it is all of their responsibility to do this themselves but this would not be gracious. Many teams (especially newer teams) don't look at CD and some don't even know about the Q and A. I don't even think that team contacts are sent an email when an Update comes out any more...

Young teams are struggling just to build something. We need to help them understand the rules so we can all compete together.

I know as an inspector last year I had teams struggle with the bumper rules.
I mentioned the Q and A and they stated they didn't have time to watch it... it was difficult to pour through... this year it is substantially improved but still many teams won't use it..

Let's get the word out...