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Disqualified from a National Web Design Competition for Using GitHub

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Re: Disqualified from a National Web Design Competition for Using GitHub

#231
People are dissecting the minutiae of the rules and the role of github but at the end of the day its bananas that some kids got banned from a 21st century web competition for using the proper tools.

edit: As a consolation prize HNers could follow the OP and his team-mates on medium or elsewhere

Re: Disqualified from a National Web Design Competition for Using GitHub

#232

I’m not sure why the non technical teacher is getting flak, as much as I hate to admit it, they were just following rules and avoiding future headaches. Assuming they were super technical and didn’t disqualify the students, what would happen when other competitors call foul for using GitHub? Now this makes the approver look bad, but also could have unintended consequences in the competition. Me, I would have told the…

How about the teacher have some curiosity, hear what they're saying, figure out the thing you don't understand, and suggest changes to the rulebook?

> Me, I would have told the kids to use Gitlab or one of the other non explicitly mentioned repositories, because sometimes, as silly as rules can be, need to be followed literally.

After they were already disqualified? The teacher doesn't even seem to know what git is if they thought this was actual grounds for disqualification.

Re: Disqualified from a National Web Design Competition for Using GitHub

#233
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have been using this argument against me since I was a child: "this is good for you because the big bad world will crush you", but frankly I thought it was nonsense back then and I still do. The world is not filled with teacher-type people who will crush you for breaking rules. The world is filled with people who want to get things done, and know that the rules are only there to facilitate getting things done.…

I see someone doesn't actually have to follow any legal regulations in their line of work. After your 12th hour straight in an IT call with a bank trying to fix a simple issue multiple compliance officers are on the call all fighting each other, you come to realize the nightmare teacher types do exist.

If you ignore the legal regulations that don't make sense, maybe you'll get fired and end up working at a better job that doesn't have those regulations.

If enough people ignore the regulations, they'll become unenforceable. It's always a good thing to break rules you don't like.

Re: Disqualified from a National Web Design Competition for Using GitHub

#234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rule is to not use "Template engine websites, tools, and sites that generate HTML from text, markdown, or script files..." They didn't do that. They uploaded the HTML to Github directly.

They quote the rule and link to the full rules. GitHub is explicitly mentioned. They failed on a technicality. https://tsaweb.org/docs/default-source/themes-and-problems-2... She then points out this rule in the Official Rulebook: I. Template engine websites, tools, and sites that generate HTML from text, markdown, or script files, such as Webs, Wix, Weebly, GitHub, Jekyll, and Replit, are NOT permitted.

Note: Technically speaking, they can't use any tools. Even notepad, which can generate "HTML" from text, counts.

Nothing is valid. The websites given were examples, and not limits.

Any tool used to generate HTML from text (and HTML is text), is at fault here.

Re: Disqualified from a National Web Design Competition for Using GitHub

#235

I’m not sure why the non technical teacher is getting flak, as much as I hate to admit it, they were just following rules and avoiding future headaches. Assuming they were super technical and didn’t disqualify the students, what would happen when other competitors call foul for using GitHub? Now this makes the approver look bad, but also could have unintended consequences in the competition. Me, I would have told the…

It would be like having a creative writing competition that includes the rule: "You must not use AI generated text tools such as: ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Microsoft Word, Notepad, Google Docs". The problem with their rule is that half the tools are actually templating tools, the other is a set of vital tools to any sort of development. Whoever wrote that rule clearly knows next to nothing about what tools are actually use…

I don’t disagree with you at all, and your examples only exemplify my point. Someone, somewhere, has to make a decision or the rules need to be changed.

If the competition rules explicitly stated your example above and someone submitted a docx file or link to a google docs, they shouldn’t be allowed. You could argue you used eMacs or vi instead of notepad (as long as you don’t publicly state otherwise). However, it should be pointed out how stupid this rule is and have it changed.

Let’s use a real world example of this- if you apply to a job that only accepts docx resumes, what recourse do you have if they don’t take pdf? You can either not apply, or play by this specific “competition” rules, even if they were made by someone who is nontechnical.

Re: Disqualified from a National Web Design Competition for Using GitHub

#237

"GitHub IS NOT the industry standard for hosting code collaboration and version control through Git, an expected tool for anyone entering the industry and a priceless skill for any aspiring developer." Is this a conflation of Git and GitHub?

Practically speaking Github is Git. It's the industry standard. In the last 10 years, I've not worked at one place that didn't use github.

[deleted]

Re: Disqualified from a National Web Design Competition for Using GitHub

#238
post #232

I’m not sure why the non technical teacher is getting flak, as much as I hate to admit it, they were just following rules and avoiding future headaches. Assuming they were super technical and didn’t disqualify the students, what would happen when other competitors call foul for using GitHub? Now this makes the approver look bad, but also could have unintended consequences in the competition. Me, I would have told the…

How about the teacher have some curiosity, hear what they're saying, figure out the thing you don't understand, and suggest changes to the rulebook? > Me, I would have told the kids to use Gitlab or one of the other non explicitly mentioned repositories, because sometimes, as silly as rules can be, need to be followed literally. After they were already disqualified? The teacher doesn't even seem to know what git is i…

Assuming the teacher was a reasonable person, I would have expectations that they would tell the children to make changes before denying them. There were many paths the teacher could have chose to teach (and learn!) that they chose not to, and resulted in their reasoning by exercising ignorance and disqualification of these students.

Re: Disqualified from a National Web Design Competition for Using GitHub

#239
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a quote. Where can the words "it's stupid" be found? Here, let me show you a quote: > > lecturing everyone "No, you really want to have 0 risk, you fools" > On HN, please don't use quotation marks that make it look like you're quoting someone when you're not. It may seem a minor point, but we've found that it's important for clarity and respect. > Also, "lecturing everyone" is borderline name-calling, whic…

> See? That's how quotes work. See, if you're going to make fun of someone because you think that they are ignorant of some piece of tech, then people are going to point out that you're no smarter, when you were ignorant of the rules.

Not to let your attempt to change the subject and retreat to the motte from the bailey go unnoticed, but I wonder: who is it that you think you're replying to?

Re: Disqualified from a National Web Design Competition for Using GitHub

#240

I’m not sure why the non technical teacher is getting flak, as much as I hate to admit it, they were just following rules and avoiding future headaches. Assuming they were super technical and didn’t disqualify the students, what would happen when other competitors call foul for using GitHub? Now this makes the approver look bad, but also could have unintended consequences in the competition. Me, I would have told the…

You really don't know why the person enforcing the most extreme interpretation of a rule without any interest in hearing why they might have made a mistake in order to disqualify a group of passionate young people from a competition they clearly worked hard for would get flak? Honestly, reading the replies to this post I'm relieved and surprised that you all didn't choose to go into Law Enforcement.
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