B teams

[Duplode]

First, a little background: In last year's pre-season, there was some discussion about increasing team sizes, given that most teams were at or over the 4-member limit -- and, with Slowdrive having recruited a fourth pipsqueak, all teams are now in such a situation. The proposal didn't succeed, with the advice to teams being to instead lean on the distinction between, so to speak, unofficial members (as many pipsqueaks as desired racing together) and official ones (at most four people registered and scoring points for the team).

Thanks to @Overdrijf , though, I have realised there's an effective compromise solution right under our noses, one which can be implemented right now, under the current rules: B teams! If, for instance, Team Orion were above the size limit and had four of their pipsqueaks already active in the season, the extra members could be registered as Orion II (or The Belt, et cetera). Using B teams, I believe, allows us to steer clear of the potential problems with both a team size increase and an inflexible limit:

• Extra members now are recognised and shown on the scoreboard as being part of a team, which is much more welcoming and avoids any harsh feeling of exclusion.
• The scoreboard team affiliations now correctly show that the extra pipsqueaks aren't actually racing alone, making things a little more transparent.
• The official size limit keeps being 4, so there's no risk of affecting the competitive balance.
• There's no need for the rule book to continuously play catch-up with the trends, as a size increase might induce. (For instance, if we were to increase the limit to 5, it's not unlikely that the teams would take up the opportunity and expand, leading us to restart the discussion, but now about increasing it to 6).

As I mentioned above, it should be possible to start using B teams right now, as soon as the circumstances call for them. The only slight tweak to the procedures we'd need to do is waiving the minimum size of 2 restriction for B teams (and only B teams), as they are an extension of the main team, and it doesn't really make sense to allow 6-member teams to use them but not 5-member ones. A feature that would be nice to have but isn't essential is displaying B team status on the site, perhaps through a link between the team profiles in the database, or even just a notes field in the profiles that allows us to mention the affiliation.

[CTG]

https://youtu.be/tS35tbktcLo?si=pTv8o0kHmK4h3dnt

Sorry, I couldn't miss it.

[Duplode]

https://youtu.be/tS35tbktcLo?si=pTv8o0kHmK4h3dnt

See, they also agree that B teams don't need a lower size limit 

[Spoonboy]

https://youtu.be/ZOdn3D4xfs4?si=jfrc-LfLGGHr1B0x

"You may be on B-Squad, but you're the B-Squad *leader*!" 

[alanrotoi]

We almost did it in meganium in the early days. It looks a good idea. There are pipsqueaks without team yet and we know it helps a lot.

[Shoegazing Leo]

Will a Slowdrive B team be called Mojaudi 3?

[Duplode]

Will a Slowdrive B team be called Mojaudi 3?

And for Rolling Stunts, The Beetles?

[Shoegazing Leo]

Will a Slowdrive B team be called Mojaudi 3?

And for Rolling Stunts, The Beetles?

The Kinskids