[Madison]

I am frustrated.

Am I the only person who sees that most of the posts in this forum have become profoundly negative? Perhaps I am just looking at the past through rose-colored glasses, as the saying goes, but I can't ever recall a time when the participants on ChiefDelphi showed such little regard for the efforts and accomplishments of other teams.

Remember, everyone, that we've each put in an amazing amount of work into getting these machines finished in the past six weeks.

There have been some amazing achievements this season. Veteran teams are returning with some amazing, unusual machines. Some people are doing what we might expect. Others are not. There are returning second year teams that have machines that are beautiful. I'm quite amazed at the improvement in quality that we've seen from some teams. Likewise, the rookies are doing quite an amazing job. I can't recall a time when rookie robots were built with such quality and ambition. Congratulations to everyone for overcoming an incredibly difficult challenge.

So, rather than nitpicking about every little detail (under the veil of constructive criticism, no less), can we please start to respect the achievement of each of these respective chains. Think less about winning and what your robot does that theirs doesn't. Worry less about their weaknesses and examine their strengths.

Don't make pointless comments about slack chain, or the light, or team numbers, or your robot can push theirs. Your robot may pick up and stack bins, as do many others. Examine how they did it. Look at the thought that has gone into these robots, for a change, and stop drudging on endlessly about all of the things you think the team's didn't think of.

It's tiring, annoying, and childish. Try learning from what you see rather than trying to make people learn from you. It's all mutual, and we'll all learn in time if people just back off a little.

Sheesh.