Please stop complaining...

[David Brinza]

You can call it complaining, criticism, or even just plain whining, but members of the FIRST community that have problems with how rules are written or interpreted, how poorly match schedules were arranged, or any other issue they may are providing feedback to the rest of the FIRST community. Sometimes the members that speak out in CD are saying the same thing that many others are thinking. Sometimes their perception of the issue is a bit misguided, but still they have the right to voice opinions. If they're opinions are way off-base, there are plenty of CD members who will try to set them straight.

I say that if a FIRST member believes that something is wrong, CD is the place to initiate discussion. If there's consensus among the CD community that something is broken in FIRST, there's a really good chance that it will get fixed. There are senior FIRST people scanning CD regularly. I think it's part of their "continuous improvement" process.

[Lil' Lavery]

There is a difference between criticism and whining.
Constructive criticism in a necessity. Debate is healthy. Revealing new and potential problems is an absolute must. Whining and flaming are not.
An example would be the Banebots issue. A few teams originally posted the problems they experienced with them, revealing the issue to the members of CD (good). Teams, Mentors, Banebots, and FIRST then began analyzing the issue and determining whether it could be a serious issue (good). They then began working towards a solution (perfect). Some offered criticism and complaints about FIRST and Banebots letting this happen, but mainly withing bounds of sanity (alright). Other then continued to complain, even starting new threads, about issues that were already revealed, and offered no new productive solutions to the issue (bad), even after it was announced that not only was FIRST aware of the issue, but that they were working on a solution. There is no use beating a dead horse, so please don't bother.

[David Brinza]

Right on the front page of Chief Delphi forums under the "Welcome to ChiefDelphi.com" heading are some important rules/guidelines for users of this forum. In particular, there's an imbedded link to the following announcement that new and/ or infrequent users really must read:

Read these threads first!

After you've read these, you'll understand why whining is not GP. If you have a problem/issue/question, read the game manual first, then search the CD forums. If there's nothing already posted, then create a new post. But remember, you are associating your team with your post. It's very easy to gripe about a problem, it's harder (but much better) to offer a solution...