[gblake]

Originally Posted by Caleb Sykes

There is no need to attack me personally. I posed a question because I wished to gain a better understanding of others' viewpoints on this topic. Dean, Woodie, and Dave would be among the first to say that being inquisitive should be lauded. I am very happy with the results of this poll and thread, it has already helped me to gain insight on this subject.

No need to think I was attacking you personally.

I took the time to strip your user ID out of the quotation, and I bemoaned that once again someone in the large group that believes they know better than FIRST's founder(s), what FIRST is supposed to do and be, was contradicting what those founders have said.

I didn't write that you should be singled out as a special member of that group. I instead intended to write about the entire group.

I did not intend to attack you or anyone personally; but I did and do intend to reject the notion that FRC exists to put robots into matches, or to select "champion" robots-plus-drivers (and pit crews and scouts and ....). Putting robots into matches is something FRC does; but it simply is not why it exists.

I don't know how FIRST, it's founder, or it's "elders" (is there a better term?) could possibly be more clear about this than they already have been. The matches exist to put on a good show and get some adrenaline flowing. The matches exist to show cultures that the result of investing in STEM is something worth celebrating. But... FRC doesn't exist to put on competition matches.

Blake