Q&As-How Long for an Answer?

[KathieK]

It seems like some of the questions asked on the Q&A section of the FIRST web site are taking a while to get answered. Is this typical or unusual?

[JVN]

Originally Posted by KathieK

It seems like some of the questions asked on the Q&A section of the FIRST web site are taking a while to get answered. Is this typical or unusual?

This is typical.

FIRST tries to ensure accuracy with every reply. Sometimes it takes time to get a ruling, while maintaining consistency with the "spirit of the rules".


Be patient, answers will be come eventually.

[Joe Ross]

There are 90 questions that were posted before Friday (FIRST genererally doesn't reply on weekends, so any questions asked Saturday or Sunday are irrelevant, and questions that are asked on Friday are hit or miss as to whether they could be answered in time.

Now, out of those 90, 10 are about the ball release mechanism. I would assume that since drawings are not out yet, and those questions aren't answered, FIRST doesn't have detailed plans, and those questions will have to wait.

A lot of the other questions are probably things that need to be debated before hand. For example, one team asked if they could use a reflective surface to deflect the IR beams. If FIRST says no, do they have to disallow all reflective surfaces on robots? What about teams that polish their aluminum to look good. And if FIRST says yes, they have the issue that 1 robot could mess with a lot of team's autonomous modes.

Other questions should be answered by now because they are easy, including the one where a team asked if they could use both last year's and this year's van door motor. When I checked last week, they had answered all the easy questions, so I would guess that they are falling behind because of the increased number of questions asked

I'd give FIRST a B- on answering questions this year, compared to previous years.

[Andrew]

Is it my imagination or did the question about whether tpast year van door motors being "identical" disappear from the Q&A forum? Not only did it not get answered, it seems to have been eradicated.