Forums not used as much anymore

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by Madison

I have a few thoughts about why there's less technical discussion happening today than in the past, but they're not fully baked. I think, generally, that there are fewer authoritative voices in the discussion today and that people posing questions do not adequately communicate respect for the authorities they're soliciting help from. That is to say that it seems like people are asking for answers before having done any research on their own; or that they ask a question and receive an answer, but never reply to acknowledge the help they've received. That makes people answering questions work harder and they receive less in return. That's lose-lose for everyone.

I don't know how you fix problems like these. They seem institutional; like there's been a great shift in the attitude of students in the last ten years or so.

I think this is probably reflective of a change in team composition. I would wager that the average team today has less technical talent than the average team 10 years ago, which is partially enabled by the barriers to entry being lowered. Think of how hard it was to just build a moving robot frame in 2003 vs. today. In my rookie year (2004) we did not move until week 4, and our drill motor gearboxes had a nasty tendency to fail every third match. Today there are rookies that leave their kickoffs with basically bulletproof moving robots!

I would agree with what others have pointed out, most of the posts on CD consist of hive mind or hero worship, neither of which are productive. On an individual level, I would think the most productive thing is to simply not post in threads you don't find productive.

CD's reputation for being a potentially hostile place is not new, I was aware of it when I signed up over 8 years ago.

I actually thought early on there was more technical information being shared than usual. Whether it was Ri3D, #thebucketalliance, or the small wheeled shooter thread, I think there was much more to be gained by perusing CD in Weeks 1 and 2 than has historically been the case. During the competition season there is always less technical stuff being shared as people get caught up in the rush of competition and comparing minutia of the OPR of top tier robots.