Chief Delphi went to three regionals?

[FIRSTfan]

Originally posted by Jason Morrella
This is a team forum, not a FIRST sponsored forum. The clear, logical, and public explanation of FIRST actions in letting teams add regionals HAS been available ALL ALONG on the FIRST web page.

How ironic, one of the spurned teams WENT to that area of the website and LOOKED at the openings, and calling FIRST is EXACTLY what that team that was denied did.

As far as "getting correct answers when going to the source", I doubt I can completely trust the word of an organization that sets up a message board on Yahoo to answer questions about rules and other FIRST-related issues only to issue completely contradictory rulings a couple weeks after the answers were posted to the board. I think this team is growing weary of going to FIRST and getting explanations only to have FIRST reverse directions later in the season. They know FIRST has it in their power to end all these inconsistencies, they know the people of FIRST are honorable people, but for whatever reason, they don't see any improvement. In fact, to them, it seems the problem is getting worse.

Originally posted by Jason Morrella
It is also somewhat risky to assume one has a complete understanding of the economy, the finances of an organization (non-profit), and the cost of running a program such as FIRST - things tend to not quite add up when lacking all that information.

This isn't the local food bank we're talking about here. This is an organization founded by one of the richest entrepreneurs in the world. Mr. Kamen would never lie back and let this program fall because of "tough economic times" - in my opinion, he instantly nullifies all arguments about potential financial hardship for FIRST. Maybe not, maybe he would let his non-profit organization go into the toilet (assuming FIRST would ever be in a position to circle the drain in the first place), but do you REALLY believe that he would let that happen?

Originally posted by Jason Morrella
The information I have pasted below from the FIRST web page has been there for quite some time. All teams had access to this, FIRST clearly stated the open capacity at all regionals, and that any interested teams should contact FIRST. Team 47 and others just monitored the web page, the status of the capacity at regional events, and contacted FIRST - all things EVERY team could have done and had equal access to. Hopefully this information (on the link below and also pasted below) clears up the issue raised in this thread.

http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/rgevents.htm

Events Overview and Openings
A summary listing of all event attendance information and openings.

Event Openings

Here is a summary view of the registration status of each event. If you would like to attend an additional regional event, please contact Team Support at FIRST by calling us or emailing.

Thank you, Jason, for that information. I'm sure many teams who read Chief Delphi were completely unaware that that was on FIRST's website. But that is one of the main problems, isn't it? There seems to be an inconsistency in (or even total lack of) communication from FIRST to many of its teams regarding very important issues. What is a more appropriate way to announce that there are regional openings? A blurb on a webpage, or a community-wide announcement to ALL teams? Why are they making us go to THEM for this information? I wonder what Mr. Sparks would have done differently earlier in the season had he known about this website. But here's the real kicker.......

THE TEAM THAT WAS DENIED ENTRY KNEW ABOUT THE PAGE YOU JUST MENTIONED!

*SHOCK and AMAZEMENT as a gasp rings out from the crowd* In fact, it was that very web page you just mentioned that drove that team to asking FIRST to permit them to register for an additional regional. They saw that there were openings, they called FIRST and politely requested entry, and they were denied. FIRST even had this team's third registration fee IN THE BANK at the time they requested the third event. Yet the team was rejected. At the end of the season, FIRST's website STILL shows open slots for the regional they were interested in. So why weren't those spots ever filled???

Originally posted by Jason Morrella
On one other note, I have a great deal of respect for the people who post concerns or make comments about other teams AND do it under their name and team number. A post has much more foundation and respectability to it when it isn't made annonomously.

This is a team-neutral inquiry into the decision making practices of the FIRST organization. As Mr. Sparks helped demonstrate, this issue is NOT isolated to the teams I have been talking about - it affects the ENTIRE team community as a whole. Knowing the team numbers of those who were rejected by FIRST would lend NOTHING to this discussion and would only cause undeserved harm to those who have already been hurt enough by FIRST's decisions this season.

I am personally not going to continue this thread any further. I've presented my case, and it remains to be seen if anything will come of it. In the very least, I hope that some teams have been made more aware of this newest inconsistency in the rules, and I hope they will join the teams that were denied in strongly protesting such inconsistencies when the postseason meetings begin. I thank all of you for your time. I'd like to especially thank Team 47, Chief Delphi for providing us all with such a great forum to express our issues.

Here's to a truly exciting and entertaining Championship Event in Florida. Good luck to all teams involved!

FIRSTfan