I am aware that my opinion on this is already well known and some people will be going "no, Joey, please don't" upon seeing this, so apologies in advance but I would like to propose this rule be abolished for the following reasons:2j) Robots must be clearly labeled with their names. A clusterbot must display the name of the cluster on all botlets.
- it's never been especially well enforced - in theory it should be checked before every event, but I've only seen this happen a few times and it doesn't fulfil any sort of safety purpose;
- The main reason I've been given when asking about it in the past is so robots can be distinguished and identified on video - I don't believe the resolution of video or live streaming is anywhere near good enough to make out the text on most robots, and with recent events commentary tends to fill the role of identifying robots for the audience;
- The other main reason I've been given is to prevent people swapping out one robot for another between rounds - surely there's enough differences between robots that look similar to be able to tell, and I'd like to think as a community we're above that in any case!;
- The other other main reason I've been given is to identify robots to the event organiser, and I would argue that the start of the day tech check would provide enough opportunity for the event organiser(s) to learn which robots were which - and as most event organisers are roboteers themselves, they tend to know already!
- The rule allows for a lot of abuse while remaining within the letter of it (mostly by me), as there's no requirement that the name be written in a prominent location, in the English language, or using the Latin script, so a robot can have its name written in Japanese, or indicated on the base panel in Braille, and technically comply with rule 2j while not providing any of the supposed benefits.
Therefore, I'd like to politely request for the rule's removal if possible?
(Also, I do wish to point out that in rule 5e, the references to earlier rules are wrong - it identifies the name label rule as 2i and edge protection as 2j)