[EricH]

Originally Posted by Citrus Dad

It's the problem with Internet postings--you can't hear tone of voice.

As for the complaints about the event, I wasn't the one complaining about the event--it appeared that you were.

True on the tone of voice. Incorrect on the complaining about the event--I got that out of my system at the event, mainly about specific aspects that made life a lot more difficult than it needed to be (and had a concrete fix that will be in place next Fall Classic if it's needed for the game). I wasn't complaining about the event, but about the response (and the response type), reference below. Partly noting that it didn't go far enough to meet the suggested emphasis/goal/experience... but that got into the sarcasm/satire range.

and found it disturbing that so many teams chose their second robot as an alliance member. Even though there were only 18 teams total, many were left out of the 16 robots that were in the semifinals.

The emphasis on fall competitions should be inclusiveness and encouraging new participants. Draft choices that narrow the alliances to just a few teams seems to run counter to that experience. I hope the teams left out at that tournament weren't too disappointed.

Referencing the post that opened the thread, the bold parts seem to indicate some complaining/concerns; the rest sort of emphasizes those as more on the complaint side, at least to me. Sort of a "These teams/this event just don't get it, they aren't working the way they should be working, I hope it worked out but I don't think it did", if you see where I'm going. Which, if you look at it for a couple of minutes, might look rather familiar, though usually it's expressed on a much different topic. And the usual response is something to the effect of "Says who, it's run differently from you but still in a valid way, don't try to dictate how another team/event is run..." [I think y'all can fill in the rest if you're so inclined].

Incidentally, I think I can answer the second bold portion for two teams. One declined due to a sidecar issue (fried, I think they said); the other due to unknown electrical gremlins that they didn't want to burden their alliance with, or something to that effect. I think any disappointment there would be directed within the teams, as in disappointment at their own issues, which would be an issue at a regional as well, not at being left out of eliminations due to twin-picking.