Trying to get Admin support for our league situation

[jxroth]

Just to let you all know that I have sent Admin three messages over the past month or so telling them that we are down four owners now (and Texas hasn't signed on in a week -- so maybe five). I suggested merging with another league as a possibility. Not surprisingly, I have gotten nary a peep out of Admin. And with these many owners out our leagues have now turned into a non-competitive pair -- teams with owners at the top, winning most games, teams without are at the bottom. That's not a recipe for real competition. Frankly, guys, if this doesn't get rectified soon -- if Admin doesn't respond and help us out -- I'm out of here, too. I don't like the lack of competition. Basically, nothing has been done to keep Sim up to date or to serve the customer base for a few years. And Admin is still taking our money. So anyway, just an update....

Jx

[bmarkley]

Thanks for keeping us updated. I agree, it is getting a little boring without healthy competition.

[ballmark]

I believe Admin will not support a Salary League merge due to the potential wrinkles and problems it would cause because of the advanced code for those leagues.

The best way to go about this would be to do a "voluntary" merger with, say, the Catfish Hunter League, where duplicate owners would give up one of their teams (i.e., cancel their subscription) and take one of the vacant teams in the other league, thereby essentially accomplishing the same result: one full, complete and active league. Let the other one die. Admin would have no problem mothballing one with all vacant owners.

[Admin]

I believe Admin will not support a Salary League merge due to the potential wrinkles and problems it would cause because of the advanced code for those leagues.

The best way to go about this would be to do a "voluntary" merger with, say, the Catfish Hunter League, where duplicate owners would give up one of their teams (i.e., cancel their subscription) and take one of the vacant teams in the other league, thereby essentially accomplishing the same result: one full, complete and active league. Let the other one die. Admin would have no problem mothballing one with all vacant owners.

This would be the better solution. I honestly don't even know what the merger code would do to a salary league.

Chris

[jxroth]

I'm all for whatever brings us back to full competitiveness. But frankly, I think all of these comments are BS. We pay money monthly to be in a competitive league. It is Admin's job to make sure that is delivered to its customers. It's amazing that Admin is saying we don't understand our own code well enough to give customers what they deserve. Pure bureaucratic BS.....and no paying customers should fall for it. Fix it, one way or the other. It's not our job to facilitate a change to improve our user experience; it is up to Admin to do this. We have stated our complaints....and so far their answer is -- sorry, this part of our product is too complicated for us to manage. Not an acceptable answer.

Jx

[ballmark]

Well, in a larger sense, that's what the business of Sim Dynasty is saying, I suppose, yes.

But what I think Admin Chris is saying, only because I know a little of the situation, is that to do what the 12 of us want would mean putting the hundreds of other users on complete and total lockdown for however long it takes for him to investigate, write, test, repair and implement the coding changes necessary to make Salary League merges viable.

And that's probably not fair to those hundreds of other users, because for whatever reasons - and no, I am in no way in agreement with this - the business side of our game has not seen fit to provide Admin Chris with the help and support he clearly could use.

It's one of those "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" situations. Maintaining the site, putting out fires, dealing with the occasional RichardNoggin that flares up and causes way too much strife for a league (I'm thinking specifically of another league, not you JX), and still managing to implement a few user experience improvements - let alone game engine improvements - is about all one guy can handle.

Is that fair for all? No. Is that a full experience for our money? Maybe, not necessarily. Is that working for you? Clearly not. Can Sim Dynasty do better? Hell, yes. Will they? Future unclear. Shake the 8-Ball again.

[GhostofKong]

This is the first time that we have only 17 unique, active owners across the 2 leagues.

These guys are in both:
GhostofKong - BZL AL Oakland, CHL NL New York
BMarkley - BZL AL Detroit, CHL AL Oakland
Ballmark- BZL AL Kansas City, CHL AL Los Angeles
Kyleturf30 - BZL NL Arizona, CHL NL Montreal
Blumer5 - BZL NL Houston, CHL AL Texas
KSwetnam - BZL NL Montreal, CHL AL Washington

BZL only:
Kozpan - BZL AL Baltimore
Hitnrun - BZL AL New York
Timemry - BZL AL Washington
TheProfessorAND1 - BZL NL Brooklyn
Num014 - BZL NL San Diego
Jxroth - BZL NL St. Louis

CHL only:
HeavyT - CHL AL Cleveland
Piper108 - CHL AL Seattle
Zoocorp - CHL NL Los Angeles
CHbutt - CHL NL Pittsburgh
Mrspikey - CHL NL St. Louis

The CHL technically has 3 more unique owners, but their last log ins were all more than 4 months ago. Safe to assume they are gone.

IMHO we would sunset the CHL given it is in worse competitive shape than the BZL. If we do that, we would need the following:
- 1 owner from either league (not one who is in both) to volunteer to completely leave
- If they opt to join the BZL, HeavyT and Piper108 to take Boston and Texas then move them to Cleveland and Seattle, respectively and maintain their CHL cities if they choose.
- Same as above, if joining then Zoocorp, Chbutt, Mrspikey could take the 2 BZL NL vacancies and move to their preferred cities.
- This is a question for the league for willingness and Chris for feasibility but I imagine with a voluntary league sunsetting, would we consider a one time reallocation/expansion draft to redistribute talent?

I’ll set up a vote on our willingness to take on the remaining CHL-specific owners. If unanimous then we could set up a vote in the CHL to see if they would join us. What do you guys think?

[ballmark]

Great background work, Steve! I'm in total agreement --> I note that Kane (though listed as Commissioner, as a chaperone!) hasn't checked in for awhile in the CHL (February, I think) so there may be six vacancies there, not five.

But I'm super happy he's here!

Let's make this happen, people!!

(Should we have to? No. Will we end up having a better league because we do? Most definitely.)

Also, I don't think we need to worry about an expansion draft. Free agency will automatically redistribute talent in due time.

[kswetnam]

I guess I am still technically the commish of the CHL!! I got tired of the mess over there, so I quit paying but stayed on as a chaperone. Then, I got a message saying that something was wrong with the PayPal subscription to the league, so I just quit messing around with it.

I'm all for whatever we can do to make this league better.


--Kane

[piper108]

Okay, I cancelled in the CHL and bought Boston here.