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Unread 23-02-2012, 16:59
Cal578 Cal578 is offline
Passionate FIRST-er, CD donor
AKA: Gerry
FRC #0578 (Red Raider Robotics)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Rookie Year: 2008
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 256
Cal578 has a brilliant futureCal578 has a brilliant futureCal578 has a brilliant futureCal578 has a brilliant futureCal578 has a brilliant futureCal578 has a brilliant futureCal578 has a brilliant futureCal578 has a brilliant futureCal578 has a brilliant futureCal578 has a brilliant futureCal578 has a brilliant future
Re: Why do people ignore team websites?

Good question on an important subject.

We take our website fairly seriously, especially the last few years. We've won the Excellence award and Best Website (regional) several times. For the last couple of years, I've been pushing our website developers to make the website more USEFUL. This might be a partial answer to your question. I've seen many teams make websites that look cool, especially to teenagers. But I have no reason to go back to their website, or refer other people to it, because I don't get anything valuable from it. Now we have a website I'm proud of, not just because it looks good, but because it contains useful content like:
  • Many ways to contact our team
  • Instructions for joining the team forums
  • Instructions for joining the team Yahoo! mailing list
  • Team calendar (which is kept up to date)
So, for example, whenever I host a parent meeting for new members, I show them the website first. And I say, "If you don't remember anything else from this meeting, remember 'fairportfirst.com'. It will get you all the information that I'm presenting here." And it works! So now, I don't care if we win the website award or not (though I certainly think we deserve to); I know we have a website worth not ignoring!

Of course, there's still room for improvement. But I like the direction we're going. And I encourage all teams to take their website seriously, support the developers, and get mentors for them. The website is a crucial part of the technology that we're supposed to be inspiring.
__________________
Cal
R3: Red Raider Robotics (FRC Team 578)
Fairport, NY, USA
www.FairportRobotics.org
2016 Finger Lakes Regional: Semifinalist on Alliance 7 (1128, 2010, 578)
2016 NYC Regional: Finalist on Alliance 3 (3419, 578, 3017), 4th seed team, Team Spirit Award
2015 Finger Lakes Regional: 8-3-0 in qualification, 7th seed, Quarterfinalist
2014 NY Tech Valley Regional: 8-4-0 in qualification, 13th seed, Semifinalist
2013 Finger Lakes Regional: 4-5-0 in qualification, 26th seed, Alliance 6, 1-2 in tournament
2012 Buckeye Regional: Gracious Professionalism Award, 7-3-0, 14th seed
2011 Finger Lakes Regional: Engineering Inspiration Award
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