OK, so is gymnastics a full on replacement for dodge? If I have a gymnastics of 3, is there any reason to take dodge?
For example, instead of Dodge + Dodge + Reaction for melee would it be Gymnastics + Gymnastics + reaction?
Or is it exactly like the book says and I'd get Dodge + Dodge + Reaction + gymnastics?

Jesus Christ, son, don't start this argument again. From a pure crunch perspective, Gymnastics is the way. From RP, it could be either, depending on the char.

[edit]: Misunderstood: Gymnastics is a numbers replacement to Dodge. Also, Dodge isn't doubled. Dodge skill is only used during a Full Dodge action. Otherwise, straight Rea is used. During Full Dodge, its REA + Dodge/Gymnastics.

The answer is: We need an official FAQ.

Among other things.

As I understand it, dodge is used for regular melee avoidance (reaction + dodge) for when you don't want to go into full defence. Gymnastics can only be used only for full defence in place of dodge.

Of course if you have a melee weapon skill and your weapon is out, dodge becomes useless when you have gymnastics for dodging bullets.

from the nice tables:

Ranged
----------
Defender Rolls: Reaction +/– modifiers
Defender using Full Defense: Reaction + Dodge +/– modifiers

Melee
---------

Attacker Rolls: Agility + Combat skill
Defender Rolls: Reaction + weapon skill (parry)
Reaction + Unarmed Combat (block)
Reaction + Dodge (dodge)
Defender using Full Defense: Reaction + weapon skill/Dodge + Dodge

For ranged, dodge only comes into play on full defense (and is replacable by gymnastics)

For melee, dodge can be used as a substitute for a melee skill in your "dodge pool" and for full defense also, where you roll rxn+ weapon skill + dodge OR rxn + double (2x) dodge

gymnastics can be substituted for dodge in the ranged full defense and for dodge in the melee full defense (which means you roll rxn + weapon skill + gymnastics)

so, if you have no melee combat skill, dodge is good because you can use it on regular melee defense and full defense (for both melee and ranged). if you have a melee skill of some sort, you're probable better off (from a crunchy standpoint) with gymnastics, and you only miss out on the double dodge for full melee defense (which may be balanced out if you have a high melee and high gymnastics)

Where does it say you can use gymnastics instead of dodge? Just because you can do flips and you're good on the high bar doesn't necessarily mean that you're better at getting out of the way of bullets.

As a GM I'd level a much more hefy penalty on a glitch for a gymnastics glitch compared to a dodge glitch.

And from a RP perspective you can dodge and hardly move, but a gymnastics dodge is going to look pretty silly. Espeically if you still get hit.

Nothing is going to cost you street cred faster than going into backflips everytime you hear a gunshot.

you can use dodge when it's not your turn.

otherwise, melee skill + gymnastics generally replaces dodge numbers wise (but not RP wise)

Previous discussion of this here.

Dodge must be important in the eyes of the developers because almost every single sample character has dodge at level 2 or higher, almost every single sample goon (yes, even the Tir Ghosts) has dodge at level 2 or higher and even some of the critters have dodge, i.e. devil rats. Hell, even spirits have Dodge as a skill. If it wasn't important, then why do all those samples have it?

Also, dodge is useful to riggers avoiding pedestrians (reaction+dodge) and when you don't have initiative passes; pg. 134 states