A Corrupt FIRST?

[the man]

Ok so trying to start a team back up 7 or 8 days before kick off is not what i started this thread for, nor do i desire to attempt this.

[Bryan Herbst]

Originally Posted by the man

Ok so trying to start a team back up 7 or 8 days before kick off is not what i started this thread for, nor do i desire to attempt this.

Which is perfectly reasonable.

However the people here are providing these suggestions because we very strongly believe in this program and do not want to see teams disbanding. We do all we can to help keep teams together. Though you may need this year to get back on your feet, having your team back together for next year is a perfectly reasonable goal.

As Keehun and a few others have stated, we may actually have something to gain by examining FIRST's financial records. Financial information is very relevant to teams, especially with the economy going the way it has been. However, I (and it seems a number of others here) believe that the root of the problem is not what FIRST is doing with the money, but your team's sustainability.

[Tom Ore]

Jacob, posts like these, e-mails, etc. often come across sounding more harsh than was actually intended. I'll give you the benefit of doubt that you didn't really mean to sound the way we took it.

I'm guessing you were looking for some ideas on how to proceed but the negative tone of your post got in the way.

One thought I had - I have no idea if this is possible or not - is to follow the FRC season in unofficially. Build a robot that is designed for the game but don't register and don't attend any regionals. Maybe you can find off-season events to compete in.

[the man]

I really just want to know where the money actually goes. I want to know what the kit cost, where first spends its money, and who gives money to first. Such a lego.

[artdutra04]

Your team has difficulty raising money to compete in FRC, so your reaction is to project these shortcomings onto a third-party by making baseless/libelous accusations about them on a public forum?

Creating a sustainable FRC program is a long, time-consuming process that isn't necessarily guaranteed to succeed. Sometimes for various reasons, the critical mass of resources does not exist to create a sustainable FRC team. That's why FTC and VRC (and many other low-cost robotics competitions) were created. If you still want to be involved with FRC, build a FRC robot anyway and only compete at off-season events, merge with another team, volunteer at events, or follow the universal advice for nearly everything in life: stop whining about something that can be solved by working harder.