[GaryVoshol]

Do teams "do stuff" because it will look good on Chairman's? No doubt. Are people less served because the motives of the servers are not complelely altruistic? Not hardly.

Part of the rationale toward Community Service requirements for graduation is to get people used to volunteering, so that they might continue it later in life. The same could apply to projects that are part of a Chairman's submission.

As far as duplicating other successful programs, why not? We duplicate the robots, sometimes via cooperation and sometimes via copying good ideas. The same can apply to volunteering, outreach, mentoring and informational efforts that FRC teams undertake. If something was successful on the East Coast, why not have another team try it in the Midwest? Or even in the next town next door?

One area where I've seen some contentious feelings in the past is when a team had a good idea for publicity. They made that idea known to others, but then didn't follow up with execution. There were hard feelings when another team picked up the fumbled ball and ran with it. If the original team doesn't have the time or resources to complete a program, why should they feel slighted when another team accomplishes the goal? It's not about who does it, it's about getting it done. Get the word out there.