Cheesecake: How far is too far?

[piersklein]

I think that the biggest thing to remember when talking about cheecaking is that Winning is inspirational.

Every team in FRC wants to win. That is why it is a competition. And the reason of FIRST is inspiration, so we should be honor bound to do anything to inspire students. Cheesecaking, being cheesecaked, or even watching a cheesecake from 2000 miles away can be inspirational. I know even just sitting at home, I was inspired by some of the cheesecaking done by 1114 and company (and the secret 4488 cheesecake), engineering on that scale and in that timeframe is inspiring no matter what. That being said it must still be approached with caution. If the following rules were enforced (not by FIRST but by the community) I think cheesecaking would become an integral and inspiring part of every FRC season:
1. Never pressure a team into changing their robot
2. The Cheesecaking team may help with mentors, parts, tools, and students, but the cheesecakee must lead modifications.
3. Cheesecakee's should be allowed to keep modifications within reason (anything under a few hundred dollars)
4. Make sure the modifications are a learning experience for all involved.
5. Make it awesome