[FRC Blog] FIRST Robotics Competition Registration Update

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by Tyler Olds

I'm not in favor of those (if any) who would use a bot but part of that blame lies upon the current system that is in place of first come/first serve .

Unfortunately, FIRST isn't the only system burned by bots... just look at concert/sporting ticket sales! A report here in MN earlier this summer said that, of 10 recent concerts in the cities, over 20% of tickets were put up for resale within hours of the tickets first becoming available.

While first is changing the system (which is something I do support) next year, there really is nothing inherently wrong with a first come, first served system, and even with such a system it's relatively easy to stop bots - captcha, as Frank mentioned, would basically put an end to it for FIRST registration, and they can set up a system to lockout teams that are found to be using a bot by running statistics on page requests.

If this issue really lies with the system, then the system can be fixed without replacing it. Replacing it with a new system isn't because a few teams are using bots... it's because a new system can better serve the community with fair and easy access to registering for their events.