FIRST Server Issues

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by ScoutMom700

Did anyone see that regionals are listed as Tuesday through Friday instead of Wednesday through Saturday in tims? Part of the glitch?

Edit - I just looked at the calendar and the Tuesday - Friday dates are for the 2016 calendar, some one didn't put in the 2017 dates for regionals.

I don't think it's a 2016 to 2017 problem. My hypothesis is it's a time issue. Namely they only put in dates and didn't put in a time. The system probably defaulted to 12AM Eastern Time, so it shows up as 11PM Tue-Fri for me since I'm in Central Time instead of 12AM Wed-Sat. Someone in another timezone want to confirm that the times aren't set to 11PM?

[cpapplefamily]

fixed 1 event teams get first choice.

[nuclearnerd]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Nichols

This would alienate a lot of teams that only attend 1 event and its the closest/least expensive/local event. I know several teams that a system like this would effect.

Why? How is it more fair to give an event to teams that click on it quickest instead of randomly splitting the spots amongst the teams that prioritize it most?

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by nuclearnerd

Has this been suggested already?

Why the heck can't we submit a ranked list, and have the machine choose who gets where based on their chosen priority and a random draw? You could even do it in multiple draws if you want to give teams the chance to adjust their second decision based on the results of their first result. We already do this for FIRST choice, and it works perfectly well.

What use is forcing people to all click refresh at the same time when we already have an alternative system that is easier on mentors' time and server load?

I have been vocal in the past about not having to click the fastest to get the event we want.
However, I am not sure submitting a ranked list is what I would want either.
Getting an event you want involves so much preparation and planning weeks in advance and afterwards. It can also be quite costly not getting the event you want, especially for a team like us having to fly to events. If we sign up for an East Coast event Week 1, our next event choice priority would be to find something else as close as possible.
Someone from our team asked why not do San Francisco Week 3 next? Biggest hurdle is an extra 3-4k shipping cost to get it there.
FIRST donates 2 airbills per year to us. We use it to get our robot to the US mainland, and then back to Hawaii for our event later during competition season.

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

Anybody have ideas for a crowdsourced solution?

Yes, the Payne Protocol:

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

If a reliable scaling solution is too infeasible, perhaps you register 2-3 district systems per day, then open up regionals?

Let District systems A, B, and C register on Monday Districts systems D, E, and F register on Tuesday. Districts systems G, H, and I register on Wednesday. Let all regional teams register on Thursday. There's no reason district and regional teams need to sign up for their initial events on the same days.

After initial registration, the next registration opening (October 6th) is just for 2nd In-District Events and Championship for Pre-Qualified Teams. The servers should be able to handle that. I would split up the following registration opening (October 20th) into two dates, one for 2nd Regional events and another for the Championship Waitlist. The November 3rd registration is for Unrestricted Regional events and 3rd In-District events, and November 10th is for Inter-District events, both of which the server should again be able to take care of.

[MeGuttieri]

Faith in FIRST restored (not)

[nuclearnerd]

Originally Posted by waialua359

I am not sure submitting a ranked list is what I would want either.... If we sign up for an East Coast event Week 1, our next event choice priority would be to find something else as close as possible.

Forgive me, but I don't understand the objection. Wouldn't ranking "East Coast Event" first, "close events" second through whatever capture your intent? You could adjust your priority list for the second draw after learning the results of the first.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Nichols

This would alienate a lot of teams that only attend 1 event and its the closest/least expensive/local event. I know several teams that a system like this would effect.

Perhaps a "silent auction" type of system. Each team is given a budget of X points to allocate among events they want to attend. Single event teams can dump all of their points into their local event that way.


Granted, any system is still going to need some leeway for the regional directors and reserve capacity slots. Hopefully reserve slots accommodate those single event teams, regardless of what system is used for registration.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by nuclearnerd

Forgive me, but I don't understand the objection. Wouldn't ranking "East Coast Event" first, "close events" second through whatever capture your intent? You could adjust your priority list for the second draw after learning the results of the first.

It would work, if you didnt factor in not wanting the 1st event anymore because you couldnt get your 1st choice.
Based on the current system in the past, it has allowed me to pick and choose what I want, cancel when I want, and then repick somewhere else. The suggested system puts everyone on the same time block for preferences vs. on the fly in trying to secure a spot at an event.
Having the ability to choose, based on the number of remaining slots available is a strategy to try and ensure you get all of the package of events you want to participate in.

[mathking]

I would like to see a system where each team submitted a first and a second choice or just a first choice. Try to give as many teams as possible their first choices, using a lottery or auction model, whatever seems appropriate. This would allow regional directors to use some of the slots that are held back to place teams earlier. (Ex: If there are 10 slots held for late registering rookies and nearby teams, and four nearby teams were unlucky and didn't get one of the open slots, they could get one of the reserved slots.) Give teams their second choice if possible and they selected a second choice. This would allow teams to submit a ballot by the given date, and the system could spit out the results. A little work by the people at HQ and the regional directors and they publish a list of who got their slots where.

Then a few days later let all of the teams that have not yet registered for a competition resubmit a request for one of the still available slots.

[Lil' Lavery]

And 1712 is registered for the Seneca event. Quick and painless.

[MrForbes]

yay! it works

[MooreteP]

Like butter.

[sanddrag]

Completed registration for Los Angeles by 9:00:11 PDT. By 9:00:23, 15 teams were registered. By 9:01:00, the site is non-responsive. Now showing server runtime error at 9:02:25.

[guniv]

We just got our registration in, confirmation page, refreshed to see what other teams had signed up and it's down again.