2012 New York City Regional

[Tom Bottiglieri]

I've gotten a few PMs questioning my integrity and the integrity of my team. Seriously? I was ready to let this thread go but now I think I'll chip in a bit more.

Here's the bottom line. Don't cheat. My team doesn't, nor should yours.

However, I believe we should encourage open discussion about the merit of these rules and whether they are actually helping to improve safety and experience for teams. There are obviously opinions on both sides, but a valid defense for the upkeep of a rule is NOT "this is the way it is, deal with it". This viewpoint is incredibly unscientific and hinders forward progress.

Questioning merit behind a rule does not condone breaking it. I don't know how people are confusing this.

Originally Posted by RoboTigers1796

By saying this rule isn't a big deal, you are condoning illegal actions, that gave a team (that competed against most of you here!), an unfair advantage over your own robots.

Wow, I don't know what kind of mental gymnastics you had to do come up with this statement. This is completely illogical. You can ABSOLUTELY question a rule, and still follow it. How can you expect things to get better if people don't do this?

Originally Posted by RoboTigers1796

If you really have an issue with a rule, write a carefully worded letter to FIRST after the season and argue your point for a change in rules the following year. NOT decide to take things into your own hands and decide the rule is dumb so carry on doing whatever you want to do anyway during an already announced FRC season.

Once again, I don't think anyone who has expressed that they think the rule is silly has broken it. Don't accuse people of things.