[EricH]

Originally Posted by Libby K

I'm a little confused. Is there any reason right now that we're turning this into a big protest/spectacle? Why is it impossible for this community to trust that FIRST is working on the issues and trying to make it right?

[...]

I really hope this is a gesture of good faith and I'm just mis-reading the purpose as something angrier.

I think what it is is that the teams want to know when they're likely to see results. It's nice that it's a priority. But is it a priority like polishing the 2013 FRC game (due out early next January) or like finalizing the FTC and FLL games (August/September timeframe, IIRC, though from a different part of FIRST)? Or is it to be done sooner, say in July? In short, is there a deadline for a root cause location/problem solution, and if so when is it?

Basically, we'd like to know where FIRST is in solving the problem. If FIRST were to issue some form of status update, via Bill's Blog or email blast or whatever means they choose to use, on a regular basis, that would probably go a great ways towards soothing a lot of the ruffled feathers among FRC teams who have been squawking about "We've been saying it's the field not our robot for a while now! What are you going to do about it now that you have evidence?" for a few days now.

I think it's a gesture of good faith. It's also a suggestion to help get progress moving on a solution. Deadlines are a great motivator for some reason (though I'd imagine a public failure is at least as good a motivator).