[EricH]

For everyone who is saying that the team should come forwards:

Do you REALLY want that team's members to be known as "the team that ruined Einstein 2012" for years down the road? In their careers, even?

Whether or not that is your intent, that is what will happen. The team will gain that reputation, like it or not, if they come forwards. No amount of "This was an individual, not the team, we as a team don't go that route" and "This individual is no longer part of our team" will stop it. If it was one of your students or mentors, and you put forth your team as their former team, could you handle that stigma for years to come, in addition to any other mis-informed and unfair ones you may already carry or aquire in the future? Or would you or your sponsors simply cut the team?

If the individual were to announce himself or herself by issuing an apology, while leaving team identity out of it, that's another matter. In that case, one person gets the stigma--again, they have to deal with it. But again, certain curious ones may probe deeper and discover the team. See above paragraph.

If this act was truly the act of a lone person, operating without the consent or knowlege of the team, then the best way to keep the team from being tainted is to keep the person's identity--and that of their team--a secret known only to FRC staff, and as few of those as possible. If, on the other hand, the team was involved in some way, then there are other measures that FIRST can impose, which they have not.


With that said: The report, as a whole, shows a thorough investigation of the Einstein problems. It was never meant to investigate all the comm problems in FRC this year--such a study would take a full year. However, it does provide a path forwards to eliminating comm problems, and better diagnostics in the future. I like the report, both as a very well-written piece of technical writing and as an explanation of what happened on Einstein, and also as a guide to places to start looking for other issues that may be plaguing teams.