The FIRST Alliance - A whole new way to play

[basicxman]

Originally Posted by mobilegamer999

Haven't seen that site before, but I'm not suprised that there is something similar out there, I'ts the most compact way to show that information.

It's been a pretty popular site launched a couple weeks ago. FRC Miner has gotten a lot of publicity.

[Clinton Bolinger]

Originally Posted by mobilegamer999

Haven't seen that site before, but I'm not suprised that there is something similar out there, I'ts the most compact way to show that information.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...7&postcount=11

-Clinton-

[jwfoss]

I think it show a lot of interest and great work, but with large number of new FRC resource sites showing up, I'm left wishing that teams would have worked together on a single site.

Personally I've always been a fan of TBA, and they've always looked for more people to help out... seems people are choosing to go on their own instead.

[Eugene Fang]

Originally Posted by jwfoss

I think it show a lot of interest and great work, but with large number of new FRC resource sites showing up, I'm left wishing that teams would have worked together on a single site.

Personally I've always been a fan of TBA, and they've always looked for more people to help out... seems people are choosing to go on their own instead.

That's why TBA is open source, as opposed to many of the newer sites popping up. This way, developers can contribute to a single resource and make it better as opposed to having a fragmented developer community.

[Zach O]

Originally Posted by EugeneF

This way, developers can contribute to a single resource and make it better as opposed to having a fragmented developer community.

I'd be cool if we could have seen the same continuity between watchfirstnow.com (since 2011) and madstream.team1323.com (since 2012)

[GGCO]

So a couple of things I should clarify guys.

First, we've been getting some feedback about our stats mode on the site recently. Specifically people have been accusing us of copying FRC Data Miner. There is also evidence that I saw the page and liked it a lot.

Ben never actually saw the site, I just suggested incorporating a layout and design like Data Miner's into this page we were already planning on building. Having said that, we're constantly pushing forward and incorporating new ideas into the site so when we see something good and that fits into our vision of TheFIRSTAlliance.org we try to incorporate it into the site. We also make plans to improve what is already out there and tailor it to our needs. There's nothing wrong with that guys, competition makes all solutions better.

Now to address why we're not releasing TFA as open source or trying to work with other existing services.

1. We're still starting out. We have a vision and a strong following already, but we're not ready to let many other people have control over our idea that we recognize is still young and fragile.
2. We're committed to building the best stats portal on the Internet. Doing so requires a determined, fast moving team (Ben and I right now) to make changes on the fly, respond quickly to feedback, and build a truly awesome service. The reason we don't find the existing services adequate is because of what we see as design or usability flaws, technical flaws, or both.
3. This just summarizes points 1 & 2. We envision a unified system. A single go-to place for FRC stats. When we started this, our vision was building a killer API. It still is. Everything you see on TFA is utilizing our publicly accessible API. Anyone can build what we've built! Just use our own API. As we move forward, we're going to be expanding our API's and site's abilities and features. You can get a general idea of where we're headed by checking out our roadmap.

I hope that addresses some of the concerns or maybe even anger we've been hearing out there. We're always looking for new ideas to bring into TFA, so if you have something to tell or show us drop us a line! We're super excited to be working and interacting with so many passionate FIRSTers to make the best stats portal out there. Thanks again, hope this clears things up.

[Eugene Fang]

Originally Posted by Zach O

I'd be cool if we could have seen the same continuity between watchfirstnow.com (since 2011) and madstream.team1323.com (since 2012)

On hindsight, that might have been good. MadStream started as just a webcast service for a few California off-season events, but it grew quicker than we thought. Before we knew it, the competition season had started. However since then, we've open sourced our code and are looking into contributing to TBA's codebase to provide a more seamless user experience hopefully sometime in the future.

[bduddy]

Originally Posted by GGCO

So a couple of things I should clarify guys.

First, we've been getting some feedback about our stats mode on the site recently. Specifically people have been accusing us of copying FRC Data Miner. There is also evidence that I saw the page and liked it a lot.

Ben never actually saw the site, I just suggested incorporating a layout and design like Data Miner's into this page we were already planning on building. Having said that, we're constantly pushing forward and incorporating new ideas into the site so when we see something good and that fits into our vision of TheFIRSTAlliance.org we try to incorporate it into the site. We also make plans to improve what is already out there and tailor it to our needs. There's nothing wrong with that guys, competition makes all solutions better.

Now to address why we're not releasing TFA as open source or trying to work with other existing services.

1. We're still starting out. We have a vision and a strong following already, but we're not ready to let many other people have control over our idea that we recognize is still young and fragile.
2. We're committed to building the best stats portal on the Internet. Doing so requires a determined, fast moving team (Ben and I right now) to make changes on the fly, respond quickly to feedback, and build a truly awesome service. The reason we don't find the existing services adequate is because of what we see as design or usability flaws, technical flaws, or both.
3. This just summarizes points 1 & 2. We envision a unified system. A single go-to place for FRC stats. When we started this, our vision was building a killer API. It still is. Everything you see on TFA is utilizing our publicly accessible API. Anyone can build what we've built! Just use our own API. As we move forward, we're going to be expanding our API's and site's abilities and features. You can get a general idea of where we're headed by checking out our roadmap.

I hope that addresses some of the concerns or maybe even anger we've been hearing out there. We're always looking for new ideas to bring into TFA, so if you have something to tell or show us drop us a line! We're super excited to be working and interacting with so many passionate FIRSTers to make the best stats portal out there. Thanks again, hope this clears things up.

While I understand where you're coming from, lately FIRST data has felt a little like this...

[GGCO]

Originally Posted by bduddy

While I understand where you're coming from, lately FIRST data has felt a little like this...

Hahaha yeah I definitely understand that feeling. However, we just need to make the best standard and hopefully people will adopt it. So far it seems like that's happening.

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by jwfoss

I think it show a lot of interest and great work, but with large number of new FRC resource sites showing up, I'm left wishing that teams would have worked together on a single site.

Personally I've always been a fan of TBA, and they've always looked for more people to help out... seems people are choosing to go on their own instead.

My thoughts exactly.

Originally Posted by bduddy

While I understand where you're coming from, lately FIRST data has felt a little like this...

I almost just posted that exact same comic, but scrolled down before hitting Submit.

[basicxman]

Originally Posted by GGCO

So far it seems like that's happening.

Why does it seem that way?

[plnyyanks]

Originally Posted by bduddy

While I understand where you're coming from, lately FIRST data has felt a little like this...

Originally Posted by artdutra04

My thoughts exactly.

I almost just posted that exact same comic, but scrolled down before hitting Submit.

I too, almost linked to the same comic. xkcd always seems to have something appropriate... I just feel like there are too many websites out there that do similar things, and if we focused our resources as a community, we could build one superior site. This looks like a cool resource and all, and it looks like some quality coding, but I'll stick with good 'ol TBA for the time being.

[GGCO]

Originally Posted by basicxman

Why does it seem that way?

So far we've got several people who are constantly writing in to us with their ideas or bugs they've found. Users have started uploading photos and videos as well. Since launch (which is closely approaching the two week mark), we've been getting 5,000 api hits per day.

What we're super excited about also is how many people have emailed or PM'ed us asking us about our API and how we've helped them and guided them as they've built their ideas. It's exciting to think about how we're helping empower so many other people do amazing things with our work.

[GGCO]

Originally Posted by plnyyanks

I too, almost linked to the same comic. xkcd always seems to have something appropriate... I just feel like there are too many websites out there that do similar things, and if we focused our resources as a community, we could build one superior site. This looks like a cool resource and all, and it looks like some quality coding, but I'll stick with good 'ol TBA for the time being.

Maybe a good question to ask is why? Currently the only things we are missing are stats from previous years (which I don't think many people use anyways) and videos (which are a priority right now).

What features would The FIRST Alliance need for users to switch over?

What other features does the FIRST community want to see? If you're looking for ways in which the community can help build a great site, then help us out here. We're two committed individuals who have so far proven they can respond quickly and release updates in very little time.

[jwfoss]

Originally Posted by GGCO

Maybe a good question to ask is why? Currently the only things we are missing are stats from previous years (which I don't think many people use anyways)

I disagree, i'd like to look at a teams performance over time. It can show you their consistency and if they are trending up or down as well.