[David Brinza]

Posts that question the interpretation or rationale for the rules are certainly fair game for CD. The "powers that be" at FIRST often analyze and accept the criticisms and subsequently change the rules. This constructive criticism helps FIRST improve at many levels.

Posts that attack the integrity of individuals or teams are "out-of-bounds" as far as GP is concerned. Even if the person writing the post believes there is substantial evidence to support their view, this is something that should be handled discretely.

As a member of the team that was a target of the post that claimed that bribery was involved in the alliance selection process in the SoCal regional, I can tell you that reading that post was a painful experience. I'm glad that the post was closed, because it would have stayed at the top of the recent activity list for some time to come. I appreciate the supportive replies from Bill Gold, EricH and several others who recognized this case of "sour grapes" for what it was - bunk. I sent a PM to Cory thanking him for closing the post and provided a response to be aired at a later date.

CD should remain an open forum where positive and negative attributes are freely discussed in the FIRST community. The FIRST community is sophisticated enough to filter the garbage and focus on improving the FIRST experience for everyone. The CD moderators should do as was done in the case of last night's thread: close it down until cooler heads can prevail.