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Originally Posted by MrRoboSteve
FIRST could easily have considered that effect of the decision without consulting you or the mentors you know.
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If they did, they showed no evidence. I'll explain that farther down.
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I'm sorry if it's insulting to you, but I have no knowledge of any of the teams listed in your signature. I see they're quite successful.
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Only one is still in existence: 330, BeachBots. (Other than the team I currently mentor--1197, Torbots.) I might suggest playing Fantasy FIRST next year; it'll greatly broaden your teams horizon. I attend local regionals and I know those teams--but I know other teams, or know OF other teams, from either their (long-past) travels out this way, or through Fantasy FIRST, or through discussions on Chief.
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Based on the history of those teams you've been affiliated with, it's likely that you're well connected in the "mentor of successful team" community. .
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Right conclusion, wrong reasoning. The "well connected" part is because I've been on CD for quite a while.
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A final goal I have in these threads is to get people to speak precisely about what they mean, and that's why I'm asking clarifying questions about your statements. Does your statement above mean that you think FIRST is not taking the change seriously?
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No: It means that they really give that appearance.
Let me put it this way: You're thinking about some major life change that will affect you, your family, and your friends. You know that that change will be a difficult one. Do you make it without talking to at least some of your friends? What about your extended family? How about your immediate family? If you're like most people, you'll talk to both sets of family, at least to say "hey, I'm considering this" (and for immediate family, some serious discussion would naturally ensue). And the vast majority of people will also at least mention it to their close friends (not necessarily acquaintances, and maybe not even distant relatives). If you just make the decision without talking to your immediate family, you probably didn't give the decision the weight it deserved. Probably. It might have taken a while to reach that decision, but it still looks like you didn't give it enough weight to consult others, when maybe it should have.
And that's exactly what appears to have happened here: There was no outside discussion. The usual folks who'd be the first in line to know before the decision came out knew NOTHING, at least that's what I've been picking up via the grapevine. In the districts case some years back, some folks from both HQ and MI said "Oh, yeah, we've been quietly discussing this for this long". This time? "I heard nothing", all across the board. FIRST could have been considering this since 2011, for all we know--and yet, nobody heard anything. Not even folks who'd be generally counted in the "family" part of that example I gave. That means that no matter how much weight was given the decision, the appearance is that it was somewhat spur-of-the-moment (which I'm fairly certain it wasn't). For that matter, there wasn't a hint that venue contracts were under consideration, and usually there is something somewhere.