A reminder before the big day

[EricH]

As seen in this sticky from the Rules/Strategy forum, people have an annoying tendency to not read the game manual.

Folks, I want to point out that the Game Manual is important. It has the field diagrams, the game rules, the robot rules, and the tournament structure. Yet every year, I come on after Kickoff and there are hundreds of questions about the game, the robot, the tournament, what can we use on the robot, can we do xyz [illegal] action, and the like. 99% of the time, the answers are in one place: the Game Manual.

Read the Manual before posting your question. 99% of the time, the rules will be crystal clear. The other 1% of the time, everyone else has the same question. So you might want to search before posting your question. Chances are somebody has asked and answered it already

I remember last year that someone was confused over a very clear rule. Somebody had said something at Kickoff that was--while not in conflict with the manual--interpreted the wrong way. This is a perfectly reasonable time to ask a question. However, simply saying something to the effect of, "What is the maximum size of the robot?" or "Can we use CO2?" will almost always get you a very annoyed-"sounding" "Read the Manual!!!!" from everyone around you.

What I'm trying to say is, hold off on posting rules questions until you have actually read the manual and checked for any other questions on that topic here. (Hint: when looking for an answer in the Manual, use <Ctrl-F> to look for a particular word or phrase that will help you.)

[Alex Dinsmoor]

Great post! Somebody should sticky this as it applies to every years game.

[Vikesrock]

Thanks for posting this Eric.

I would like to add that not being able to get the manual off the FIRST site is not really an excuse.

Every year after kickoff the FIRST site becomes bogged down as thousands of people rush to download the manual. I recommend that everyone grab the encrypted copy of the manual off the FIRST website tonight and use the password given during the kickoff to decrypt it (write the password down!). You can replace the encrypted copy with a new decrypted copy tomorrow night or Sunday as the traffic starts to die down.

[Libby K]

Agreed, agreed, agreed. A thousand times over. I'm in the process of printing out the sections I can access, so they're in the team binder before kickoff, just for organization's sake.

What we like to do is, right after kickoff, come back and read through the robot and game sections, as a team. That way, we know what we can and can't put on our designs as we start that phase of the process. Also, it avoids the situation where one person (guess who?) knows the manual inside out, and nobody else has read it. If you go through the parts that are most questioned (The Robot and The Game) as a team, nobody has an excuse to ask questions that are clearly defined therein.

[meaubry]

One major point also needs to be made -
ALL answers provided, commented on, or discussed on CD are UNOFFICIAL.

We love that everyone in the FIRST community migrates to our website to share thoughts and ideas, BUT ...

ONLY FIRST can provide the OFFICIAL answers.

It's okay to refer the posters to the appropriate answer - if that answer is derived from the official response, but if you do that, please include the official response number too.

Otherwise, it's just another opinion and that may only create more confusion.

So, in closing...
Have fun and ask all the questions you want to, but just remember that the answers are NOT official unless they come from FIRST.

Mike Aubry
Team 47

[Tetraman]

Forget making a sticky, these should be big bold words on the CD forum home page.

[BenB]

Another thought,

With the FIRST website being bogged down after kickoff, does it become difficult to download the game animation? If so, could someone post the video on youtube, for teams to watch with out having to wait for it to download off FIRST's site.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by 2166BlueBotics

Another thought,

With the FIRST website being bogged down after kickoff, does it become difficult to download the game animation?

Yes

If so, could someone post the video on youtube, for teams to watch with out having to wait for it to download off FIRST's site.

No - the videos are copywrite protected.

[Tetraman]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

No - the videos are copywrite protected.

really?

[cbudrecki]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

really?

you may want to read this thread...

Another reminder that I feel should be on the Portal page: DONT' START A NEW THREAD!!! There will be one started titled something along the lines of "2009 Game name here discussion/rules/etc..." Find that thread, and post all questions to it, it'll probably right at the top of the portal list.

Originally Posted by meaubry

One major point also needs to be made -
ALL answers provided, commented on, or discussed on CD are UNOFFICIAL.

This should definitely be kept in mind. If it isn't quoted from the FRC Manual, or the FRC forums (please use "[quote]" tags!!!) than it should only be taken as speculation and NOT FACT!!!

[Tetraman]

Originally Posted by tb222

you may want to read this thread...

Thanks for the link. I will remember not to add the game animation to my YT channel this year.

[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

Thanks for the link. I will remember not to add the game animation to my YT channel this year.

the important post was this one:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...3&postcount=32

you can use it on your website, just give props to Dave (or whoever does it this year)

[gblake]

Originally Posted by Alex Dinsmoor

Great post! Somebody should sticky this as it applies to every years game.

Perhaps it could become part of a (somewhat annoying, but not terribly so) pop-up that appears before you are allowed to start entering/editing each new post in the appropriate forums?

Originally Posted by Tetraman

Forget making a sticky, these should be big bold words on the CD forum home page.

Perhaps it could become part of a (somewhat annoying, but not terribly so) pop-up that appears before you are allowed to start entering/editing each new post in the appropriate forums?

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

While I agree with your comments, let me add one thing. Take a look at the upper right corner of the offending post before saying, "dude, read the manual!" or "search before posting, man!" If they are new, welcome them to our little community and POLITELY point them to where they can find the answers they are looking for. Remember, your post maybe someone's first impression of the CD community specifically and the larger FIRST community in general.

Time for a little soapboxing (I think that wilsonmw04 and I agree about this.) Let's be clear. There is no harm in politely pointing someone toward the manual, the Q&A, or existing threads. Let's not chatise folks simply for doing that (i.e. for writing "You can find that information in Section X of game manual - Download it from the FRC pages of the FIRST web site and come back to ask questions if you don't understand some specific part of it.")

Politely telling someone the answer is in the manual, or suggesting that they use Search to get information that is easily obtained by investing their own time, is not a "flame". It is reminding them of what they have been told by just about every single teacher or mentor they ever had.

I feel it is far, far more of a valuable lesson than a flame. The lesson is that when you approach (in age and activities) assuming "professional" responsibilities, and begin participating in the associated attractive and rewarding activities, you have to start acting like a professional.

Some folks might disagree.

Originally Posted by tb222

... Another reminder that I feel should be on the Portal page: DONT' START A NEW THREAD!!! There will be one started titled something along the lines of "2009 Game name here discussion/rules/etc..." Find that thread, and post all questions to it, it'll probably right at the top of the portal list. ...

Perhaps it could become part of a (somewhat annoying, but not terribly so) pop-up that appears before you are allowed to start entering/editing each new post in the appropriate forums?

Blake

[cbudrecki]

Originally Posted by gblake

Perhaps it could become part of a (somewhat annoying, but not terribly so) pop-up that appears before you are allowed to start entering/editing each new post in the appropriate forums?

I like where you're going... Make it so that when you log in, it brings you to a page of "friendly reminders" about posting etiquette.

[Mike AA]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

No - the videos are copywrite protected.

Don't Forget that hosting copies of the manual encrypted or not are also copyrighted. So please don't host copies of the manual either. Either wait for the downloads or download now and de-encrypt the files tomorrow with the password.

-Mike AA