[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by martin417

I respectfully disagree. FIRST wants all teams to conform to the rules, even the rules that aren't readily inspect-able. I believe that most teams want to comply with all the rules. To do that, teams have to be able to understand what those rules are. When they answer a question without giving a basis for the answer, and that basis is not obvious, they are leaving it up to teams to interpret what they mean. If some teams interpret things differently than other teams, or differently than inspectors, it can lead to trouble.

Multiple people here have pointed you to R21 as the likely basis for the ruling. the GDC doesn't need to qualify or explain every single answer. They include additional explanation when they feel the question requires it. In this case, they didn't feel the question required additional explanation. Their answer is in accordance with the rules as they are written. If you're getting so worked up about this, why aren't you also getting worked up about all of the responses disallowing specific items from use with the pneumatic system? It's the same thing... the GDC listed exactly how you need to set up your system and what you're allowed to use (just like they did with the bumpers in R21), and teams ask if they can use something that's not on the list.