Organized timeout bypass aversion strategies

[guineawheek]

Given that FIRST seems reticent to fully fix the timeout rules this year, what are some strategies that teams and volunteers can employ to:

• avoid unfair bypasses being used in matches
• organize other teams and volunteers to go along with those strategies
• increase political pressure from program sponsors to fix the issue longterm?

Of course, these will not fix the issue, but they will certainly help bandaid them over.

[Berkeli]

Don’t stop staging your robot until asked to leave or everyone else is done. (Have it ready to go but stay next to it). This keeps the gates open.
Question box the issue any time a team is excluded. Argue that the delay was not significant.
If forced to play a match with missing robots, don’t play. Either e-stop in auto or just let your robot sit. Both are completely legal.
Call timeouts early, even if you aren’t sure you need to. We went through our whole tournament without using ours. We could have used it if either alliance had needed a timeout.
Don’t let the heat of competition stop you from being a gracious professional. Try to help your opponents so you can beat them fairly. Lend them parts or tools if they need them, etc.