Poorly thought out FAQ

[jgrischow1]

I must have missed this, but an FAQ last month said "No, per Rule 3.a.i, only ink barcode markings, or markings from the construction processing are allowed. Labeling pieces with ink is not permitted." in response to a question if kids could label the wood on their tower. I don't know any serious builder that doesn't label every stick they get with mass, density, stiffness, etc. I guess my kids could just use post its or something, but what is the rationale for this interpretation? How is this an advantage to label sticks of wood?

[chpatel]

I agree.

Labelling is so important for these kids to keep track of the components, during gluing process as well as documenting in thier logs.

Really looking for a justification or adverse affect of using ink on wood for marking.

Regards,
Chirag

[pumptato-cat]

As someone who used to mark every piece with density and dimensions, I think this is incredibly stupid. It discourages good building practices(taking detailed logs on components and allowing for data collection to analyze and improve for future structures) and like jgrischow1 said, doesn't provide any advantage.
Is it possible for someone to submit another FAQ requesting that soinc change this? I just think it's awful...
A possible workaround may be to label with pencils(not ink) although that has a higher risk of damaging the wood.

[SPP SciO]

The rules state, "markings from the construction process may be left on the wood." This is identical wording to previous years rules, and I think any ES (including myself) would consider that sort of labeling to be legal. The FAQ is very strange, but there isn't a related official rules clarification - what exactly constitutes legal "markings" then? Is there a difference between a "marking" and a "label"? Maybe they're trying to close the window of possibility for pre-cut tower kits to be sold somehow? I think any sort of student-placed ink should be ok - imagine tiering some middle schoolers for this offense!

[knightmoves]

We generally label sticks with a small square of paper with a hole that we poke the stick through. Paper label has an index number (A1, A2, A3 etc.), and a separate reference table has mass, density, dimensions & bending strength.

As far as label vs markings goes, I suppose the person answering the question was imagining marks to show where to cut, or where to attach braces were legal, but "labels" were not. I don't really understand this either. I'm not sure that in many cases you could tell whether a residual mark on a tower leg was a "label" or a "construction mark".