I’ve asked a few of the “what’s best” questions. The main reason I ask them is because I’m not sure how well the idea will hold up in competition, and testing it myself at a competition is not how I want to find out. My personal least favorite is people writing paragraph-long responses to RTM questions, mercilessly roasting someone who is obviously very new to VEX and the forum, without providing any helpful information whatsoever.
In certain cases, yes I agree they are ok. For example, on VTOW I asked a few people about the properties of anti-static traction wheels on drivetrains to see if it was worth buying any (dumb me thought “why buy expensive omni wheels and just not 8 cheap{er} traction wheels?” ). Things like “what’s the best drivetrain” as a friendly debate are also ok (usually the OP posts his/her opinion too so we know they aren’t just trying to copy what people say).
However, while I don’t necessarily dislike them, I would prefer if someone asked like “what is your comparison on {idea 1} vs {idea 2}? I know that ___, but I don’t know _____” This at least demonstrates that (1) they have settled on two ideas, (2) they demonstrate what they do and do not know, so (3) I better know what to help them on instead of making giant “brain dumps”
It still kind of necessary. It specifically says in the inspection rubric that teams ought to know the game manual and q&a in full, so not providing the answer and “encouraging” (it does get out of hand sometimes, usually if the post was made 1 hour before I assume 4 people already corrected them) them to read the manual will end up being for their good.
As a rule of thumb though, I usually have a 1 or 2 strike policy depending on the question.
As much as I would have liked to check that box, with the limit of 3 choices, my other choices I think were more significant to the quality of the Forum, with my number one choice being to always answer “rules questions” with a reference from the game manual.
When it says this is the first time we’ve seen Xyzzy post, I try to be good and not slam them. I attempt to think the eyes on the other side is a middle schooler. On the other hand, once you get a few posts out there, clearly know what’s going on then I’ll respond. But when they go “I’m an adult/parent/etc” and then say something that is bat crazy (no offence Batman, Brick Bat and the Vampire ) I will mock them first post or not.
So the First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press … " So the government isn’t supposed to censor people. On the other hand a corporation, on a forum that they run, can do what they want. I run a number of websites, and have taken down comments in heartbeats. I miss being able to post, fix errors, and DM’s, but it’s their forum, not mine.
Obviously private entities can censor anything they want on a site they control, that’s their right. But it’s still censorship, it’s just not censorship that the First Amendment prohibits
And of course some censorship by private entities is totally fine, the internet would be unusable if you could just post anything as long as it’s legal anywhere and nobody could do anything about it. But just like a private entity has the right to censor anything they want on their site, people have a right to have opinions on that censorship.
Ya got me here. I’m all "It’s not about the robot, it’s about … " and the ability to elucidate, understand and maybe include others opinions may possibly be one of those skills.
There is an excellent XKCD comment on censorship. (Text isn’t really suitable for here) One of the things that gets missed is the alt text of “I can’t remember where I heard this, but someone once said that defending a position by citing free speech is sort of the ultimate concession; you’re saying that the most compelling thing you can say for your position is that it’s not literally illegal to express.”
On the other hand, I need to give you points for the information hidden by your avatar. I see your name and I know that you have been here almost forever. But when I got the VEXForum email notification, I was “ummm, what is that about”.
But to put us back on track to the topic: I’m also not a fan of a question being posted in one subforum like VIQ and getting a response that says "I’ve never used VIQ and my school doesn’t have VIQ but adding flame throwers to the front of the robot is allowed. " Like going all in on a poker hand BEFORE the cards have been dealt.
And seeing Meng’s post above me, a huge fan of people that reply to him along the lines of "never been to Singapore, most likely couldn’t find it on a map, don’t really know anything about Singapore, but you should force them to act like my local school". The cultural gap dissonance clang is audible.
And since I appear to be on a roll and well under the 60,000 character limit, I’m also a huge fan of the 'how mutch cun i majange a sentunce with bad gramma and poor speling asking brodudes questions. " Oh screen just melted, got to go…
some of these mechanisms have already been named and its not always people making “new terminology”, rather its more likely you just have not called it that, namely the bling drive as others have pointed out, I can see what you mean as people have begun calling the asterisk drive scorpion drive which is just a pointless rename
Anyways, worst is probably just the sheer amount of blatant misinformation I’ve seen shared. Don’t post something without a source (and no, my teammate told me isn’t a source).
I thought we were following the industry best practices, walking in the footsteps of the giants - those legendary inventors whose hubris and vanity were overshadowed only by their ingenuity and wild imagination.
Sure, please, help yourself. It is on the top shelf, behind the bottle of Gorilla Glue and a roll of duck tape, right next to the bullhorn, between the old rabbit ears and shark fin antennas. Just be careful not to touch that hanging wire with banana plug because it is connected with an alligator clip to the liveTeslacoil. Sorry, I don’t have enough chicken wire to build a Faraday cage around it at this moment.
Oh, you are saying you dropped by to borrow that USB pigtail adapter { squareplug to zip) to help debug crab { slither snake} drive mode on your new spider crane {walkie lifty} robot.
Sure, please, help yourself. It is on the top shelf {can’t reach place} , behind the bottle of Gorilla Glue {finger grab goop} and a roll of duck {quacker} tape, right next to the bullhorn {snout yeller}, between the old rabbit ears {marshy cook sticks} and shark fin antennas.
Problem isn’t using animal / people names, it’s not using the term that is currently in use. If you are first, you get to name it. If you are third, you use the accepted name.
It reminds me of what happened in 1984 when the long-distance phone company had to break up.
what phones were like before smart phones
Back in the days before cell phones, each home had a phone, permanently attached to the wall by a cord. Amazingly, we would answer the phone without knowing who was calling us… but I diverge. We had to pay extra (sometimes alot extra) for a long-distance call…that is, any phone number out of our particular area code.
After the breakup, there were many choices for which long-distance carrier would route your call (and bill you the charges), so when you dialed the number, the operator (a real person) would ask you what long distance carrier you wanted. Some clever entrepreneurs started companies with names like “I don’t care” and “anyone” to pick up the business.
). Things like “what’s the best drivetrain” as a friendly debate are also ok (usually the OP posts his/her opinion too so we know they aren’t just trying to copy what people say).
flame throwers 
