First and foremost, I would like to thank Scott and the rest of the NSRCA board for their volunteering to do what is, for the most part, a thankless job.

That being said, the whole rules proposal cycle this year was done bass-ackwards. Now that I have decided to become a full-fledged NSRCA member again I don't have to hold back letting the board know when they did something wrong. It is not the job of the board to provide a solution to a problem that has not been clearly defined. This year a committee was formed and they came up with rules proposals based on grumblings at the field, or complaining here on RCU or other online forums or mailing lists. None of that constitutes a problem. If the NSRCA board thinks a problem exists the first thing they need to do is poll its membership directly. Unfortunately the polls should not be open to just anyone at all because then we'll have the problem of people who don't fly pattern at all or don't fly in the USA participating. Their opinions are irrelevant, and the only way the NSRCA can filter them out is to keep it to active membership. The content of this poll should not be specific rules proposals, but simple questions regarding how people feel about the rules that are being called into question: Do you think the weight limit should be changed in pattern? (YES/NO) If you think the weight limit should be changed should it go up or down? How much do you feel it should go up or down? Once the polling is completed the data should be crunched to see how many people actually think something needs to be done. I've seen in the past it took a 60% affirmative before the Board would push a proposal through to the AMA. This year simple majority was used. Frankly, given the long-lasting ramifications of making rules changes it should require a 2/3 majority before any rules are even looked into. Once it is verified there is a problem, the detail questions on each "issue" could then direct the committee on how to word the proposal with their members' interests in mind. Finally, the proposals should be presented to the membership for discussion, re-working if needed, and a final poll done to make sure 2/3 of the community actually wants the change proposed.

While I appreciate the board's work, I do not appreciate the product they produced this year. Frankly, they should ask the AMA Contest Board to ignore all proposals from the NSRCA this year and gear up now for the next rules cycle.