[dtk]

This represents my personal opinion, and only that.

One of the major guiding principles of FiM has been that the team is the customer and it is their experience that is paramount. Whether the staff is volunteer or not, teams are paying not only in money, but also through hard work, endless hours and emotions spent over the course of the season and they deserve the best possible event experience.

To that end a list of the positions at an event that have the biggest impact on the event experience were identified and labeled as key volunteer positions. The staffing of these positions was opened up to a larger group for discussion. When an individual’s qualifications were unknown additional information was sought from people who better knew the individual. This process would seem less disposed to abuse than an individual making the decisions alone.

FiM is not a gang of malicious, self interested, power hungry people. It is, much like the rest of the FIRST world, filled with people who are passionate about this program and who are working extremely hard to further its success. Certainly mistakes are made, and these mistakes should and will be, addressed. Yet there is no reason, however great the temptation, to demonize the other side and assume they are operating with nefarious goals.

I’m sorry you had a bad experience trying to secure the volunteer position you wanted, but staffing decisions were not based on personal bias against any individual. There is no black list and, as fun an idea as it might be, there is no conspiracy.