Fantasy Sports Arena 2015 Feedback thread **Mod warning post 121**

Nody

Thread will be unlocked on 2nd of Jan; preliminary duration until 16th of Jan but may run longer if it's still active at that point.

This thread is to give feedback on the Fantasy Sports Arena forum; any feedback is welcome but note the word is feedback, not criticism. This means you can complain about something and give examples to posts of said complaint but simply stating that FPJ sux or Newbies should not be allowed to post is not on as it does not help anyone. Anything brought up will be reviewed but is not in any way guaranteed to be implemented.

If you think nothing needs to be changed that's perfectly fine; that's also feedback

Currently the following points have been brought up as discussion points; you're not limited to these points only. The original source of these points can be found in this thread.

• Tidy up the amount of threads to consolidate discussion - please include suggested grouping(s)
• Introduce set times before certain game week threads can be created
• Ban the "oh no I've made a terrible mistake transferring in Play A instead of Player B"
• Creating a sticky for FAQ & terminology for new players
• Creating sub forums for non FPL leagues / sports or alternatively implement a tag system

Please note ALL feedback is welcome; this means this thread will be heavily modded yet will also allow breaches of forum policy including discussion of mod decisions on thread with in reason; if you're not sure if it may be going to far please PM me or FutureGuy first for a green light.

Once the thread is deemed to have wound up I'll summarize all the feedback and discuss with FutureGuy on what, if any, changes to be implemented and how. Once again there are no promises that any suggested changes will be implemented but they will be reviewed.

//MOD

Please read post 121 before posting; failure to read the post is not an excuse.

//MOD

Nody

And the thread is unlocked; post away

CSF

First and foremost, threads shouldn't be littered with people asking questions about how the game works. There is a very comprehensive page on the site which goes through it all.

Anything that isn't covered on there, is certainly worthy of discussion.

You could go with a sticky with the list of rules on it, but really that isn't so necessary because the information is very easily accessed. It is only laziness that leads to people using the forum as their own personal FAQ rather than a venue for constructive discussion and somewhere to bounce ideas off each other.

This should be something that we can report to the moderators, and they will infract accordingly.

At the same time, I appreciate that one could look for something and possibly miss it, so where someone clarifies they've looked for the information (and it isn't glaringly obvious that they haven't), or just don't understand wording, and seek to clarify that wording, no infraction should apply.

alchemist33

I think we could do with a subforum for FSA competitions e.g. the leagues, draft league, any cup competition we run. I can scan the list of threads easy enough to get what I want, but there are a good few of these threads and they make it harder for newbies to negotiate the FSA.

Otherwise, sterling work everyone.

CSF

alchemist33 wrote: »

I think we could do with a subforum for FSA competitions e.g. the leagues, draft league, any cup competition we run. I can scan the list of threads easy enough to get what I want, but there are a good few of these threads and they make it harder for newbies to negotiate the FSA.

Otherwise, sterling work everyone.

Personally I think the main forum would lose out greatly from the lack of these, but then again I'm biased.

Lucas Hood

Too many threads serving the same purpose imo.

Just a little thing that has always annoyed me. People posting their teams in the match day thread, I've read all about your team in the transfer thread I don't want to be reading about it in the match day threadz keep that thread for updates on games.

Lucas Hood

alchemist33 wrote: »

I think we could do with a subforum for FSA competitions e.g. the leagues, draft league, any cup competition we run. I can scan the list of threads easy enough to get what I want, but there are a good few of these threads and they make it harder for newbies to negotiate the FSA.

Otherwise, sterling work everyone.

There's an option on the soccer forum to remove superthreads, maybe they could do something similar here.

Nody

alchemist33 wrote: »

I think we could do with a subforum for FSA competitions e.g. the leagues, draft league, any cup competition we run. I can scan the list of threads easy enough to get what I want, but there are a good few of these threads and they make it harder for newbies to negotiate the FSA.

Otherwise, sterling work everyone.

Would tags help? I.e. we can have a list of tags to show what the thread is applicable to?

CSF

Lucas Hood wrote: »

Too many threads serving the same purpose imo.

Just a little thing that has always annoyed me. People posting their teams in the match day thread, I've read all about your team in the transfer thread I don't want to be reading about it in the match day threadz keep that thread for updates on games.

Would agree with this, but if you're going with this, you'd want to be separating the matchday thread into 2 threads, the actual matchday thread, and the 'Your Team Gameweek 22 Thread' which will have people complaining about even more threads on the forum.

Personally I don't buy too much into the too many threads argument. I've never had too many problems navigating here. A thread will usually stay comfortably on the first page even 2 days after anyone has bothered posting in it.

Scorpion Sting

Yeah I agree with CSF, no problem with the amount of threads. It's not as if we have a load of new threads popping up on a regular basis.

KevIRL

First and foremost, it has to be said the forum is well run and enjoyable to read, post and follow. A feedback thread is a good idea as well just to get the users thoughts out in the open.

Considering this we shouldn’t be looking to implement lots of hard and fast rules imo. If its broke don’t fix it, and the forum certainly isn’t broken. A lot of forums on Boards.ie have been destroyed by too many rules and it simply takes the fun out of things. This is supposed to be a game and the forum should be relaxed rules wise

Regarding threads. I don’t believe there are too many threads. There is the standard General thread, RMT thread and then the individual GW capt, transfers and matchday threads. A lot of FSA league threads granted, but that should be encouraged as its good community stuff. I also don’t have any issue with the timing of a thread being created. What difference does it make if a matchday thread is started at 5 past midnight or 5 past 9 in the morning, likewise with the transfers thread being started as soon as the new deadline has passed. The only stipulation around timing of threads being started should be that its on the matchday (for match day threads) or past the deadline (for transfers threads).

I would like to suggest that users on the forum add a simple indication to their sig to identify their FPL/UFPL team. It would be useful to be able to check others teams and performance to evaluate advice given. A FPL button exists on FISO for this, but would probably be too much to ask the site developers on Boards.ie to implement one but just a simple F:team ID number would work well. This doesn’t need to be mandatory but should be encouraged imo.

However, I also feel that users using others ranking to say their opinion isn’t valid shouldn’t be allowed and should be moderated heavily. An opinion or advice should be given, its up to others to take it up or not, no one should be subject to getting a response along the lines of ‘your rank is 1 million and therefore your advice is rubbish’. If you don’t agree argue the case its just a bit lazy relying on rank or past performance

Something which has crept in a little recently and needs to be stamped out quickly and strongly is posters deliberately posting misleading or fake calls during matchdays. Not genuine mistakes now, but for the laugh posting ‘AUSTIN!!!!!’ and then further down the post something please ‘please score’. This sort of thing should be an auto ban imo. It is rife on sites with chatboxes (totalfpl for example) and shouldn’t be allowed at all here. Genuine mistakes are different of course but the deliberate stuff should be stamped out.

The game can be frustrating, and sometimes on match threads posters can get frustrated with others posting about a good or bad score or the famous ‘happy enough with that’ after a good score. Collective chill pills need to be taken there lads. Its become a bit of an in joke on the forum now, embrace it

Agree fully about the FAQ, but problem is people still wont read it. But if someone (CSF) could just link to the thread every time someone asks a question that’s already answered as opposed to answering it again then that would be great.
One suggestion for the moderating team, I’ve noticed a few times that troll type posts are deleted, presumably the poster warned in private etc, but is it not better practise to deal with it on thread as it sets the example to follow

Swiper the fox

Very good post Kev, I agree with practically everything, that Austin post yesterday is the prime example of what this forum is not about and probably should have been dealt with severely and publicly (as you said Kev)

Being honest we cannot ever stamp out the silly questions and shouldn't take ourselves so seriously when it is a newcomer who is asking about the rules, no point giving grief that will discourage them from looking in again, simple response (CSF:P) in a friendly way will do.

All in all it is a brilliant forum, nothing broken, nothing to be fixed.

CSF

KevIRL wrote: »

First and foremost, it has to be said the forum is well run and enjoyable to read, post and follow. A feedback thread is a good idea as well just to get the users thoughts out in the open.

Considering this we shouldn’t be looking to implement lots of hard and fast rules imo. If its broke don’t fix it, and the forum certainly isn’t broken. A lot of forums on Boards.ie have been destroyed by too many rules and it simply takes the fun out of things. This is supposed to be a game and the forum should be relaxed rules wise

Regarding threads. I don’t believe there are too many threads. There is the standard General thread, RMT thread and then the individual GW capt, transfers and matchday threads. A lot of FSA league threads granted, but that should be encouraged as its good community stuff. I also don’t have any issue with the timing of a thread being created. What difference does it make if a matchday thread is started at 5 past midnight or 5 past 9 in the morning, likewise with the transfers thread being started as soon as the new deadline has passed. The only stipulation around timing of threads being started should be that its on the matchday (for match day threads) or past the deadline (for transfers threads).

I would like to suggest that users on the forum add a simple indication to their sig to identify their FPL/UFPL team. It would be useful to be able to check others teams and performance to evaluate advice given. A FPL button exists on FISO for this, but would probably be too much to ask the site developers on Boards.ie to implement one but just a simple F:team ID number would work well. This doesn’t need to be mandatory but should be encouraged imo.

However, I also feel that users using others ranking to say their opinion isn’t valid shouldn’t be allowed and should be moderated heavily. An opinion or advice should be given, its up to others to take it up or not, no one should be subject to getting a response along the lines of ‘your rank is 1 million and therefore your advice is rubbish’. If you don’t agree argue the case its just a bit lazy relying on rank or past performance

Something which has crept in a little recently and needs to be stamped out quickly and strongly is posters deliberately posting misleading or fake calls during matchdays. Not genuine mistakes now, but for the laugh posting ‘AUSTIN!!!!!’ and then further down the post something please ‘please score’. This sort of thing should be an auto ban imo. It is rife on sites with chatboxes (totalfpl for example) and shouldn’t be allowed at all here. Genuine mistakes are different of course but the deliberate stuff should be stamped out.

The game can be frustrating, and sometimes on match threads posters can get frustrated with others posting about a good or bad score or the famous ‘happy enough with that’ after a good score. Collective chill pills need to be taken there lads. Its become a bit of an in joke on the forum now, embrace it

Agree fully about the FAQ, but problem is people still wont read it. But if someone (CSF) could just link to the thread every time someone asks a question that’s already answered as opposed to answering it again then that would be great.
One suggestion for the moderating team, I’ve noticed a few times that troll type posts are deleted, presumably the poster warned in private etc, but is it not better practise to deal with it on thread as it sets the example to follow

The sig thing is a great idea. I'll look to add it into mine ASAP. Agreed completely on the timing of the matchday thread as long as it is on the day of the game. We shouldn't be having a matchday thread days before the game because it isn't the matchday and there are transfer threads etc that deal with the buildup to it.

Hadn't noticed the fake goal alert things thankfully (because that would infuriate me if it affected me). Should be clamped down on in the worst way. It is one of the worst offences someone could commit on this forum. That person might think its a great joke but people really care about their FPL team.

As for the silly questions, I don't want to be constantly providing links to people. Nobody does. I was largely doing it to point out how simple it would be for them to find the information themselves, rather than because I think these people really deserve to have me or the forum teach them the basic mechanics of the game. They need to go for the link themselves, and should be dealt with if they don't.

KevIRL

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Being honest we cannot ever stamp out the silly questions and shouldn't take ourselves so seriously when it is a newcomer who is asking about the rules, no point giving grief that will discourage them from looking in again, simple response (CSF:P) in a friendly way will do.

.

That sums up what I meant perfectly.

Lemlin

I'm happy with the forum. I think Kev's idea about a link to your team in your sig is a good one. I'll add mine on Monday when I'm back on a PC at work.

Re people asking stupid questions and trolls, you are never going to stamp it out completely. I think those that do pop their head up are dealt with well by the forum.

CSF

KevIRL wrote: »

That sums up what I meant perfectly.

They're becoming all the more regular though, and really do clog up threads and disrupt actual FPL related talk. If it was once every few months that would be a fair approach.

alchemist33

CSF wrote: »

Personally I think the main forum would lose out greatly from the lack of these, but then again I'm biased.

Indeed

Fair enough, I'm not involved in any so have a different perspective, but it's not a biggie. Maybe Nody's tag suggestion would be good, althiough I can't for the life of me remember seeing these on boards before.

As for fake goal shouts, that should be cardable.

CSF

alchemist33 wrote: »

Indeed

Fair enough, I'm not involved in any so have a different perspective, but it's not a biggie. Maybe Nody's tag suggestion would be good, althiough I can't for the life of me remember seeing these on boards before.

As for fake goal shouts, that should be cardable.

Join in next year, hopefully we can win you over still

Lucas Hood

Another thing maybe someone could edit In the teams to the first post of the match day thread. Would save you having to search the thread for them.

Iused2likebusts

Lucas Hood wrote: »

Another thing maybe someone could edit In the teams to the first post of the match day thread. Would save you having to search the thread for them.

That's a great idea.

CSF

Lucas Hood wrote: »

Another thing maybe someone could edit In the teams to the first post of the match day thread. Would save you having to search the thread for them.

You'd wanna have a dedicated person who makes the matchday threads and posts the team in that case. I'm not able to edit your posts for example, so it would all fall on one person.

I know which Finn Harps supporting person I would nominate if he were willing

Mr.Prodston

I think the forum has been running extremely smoothly for the past few months now, and it always has run smoothly in my time here posting really. I agree with Kev that if forum is working fine then we don't need to go mad with new, stricter rules for the sake of it.

The 3 main things that I've picked up on as gripes of varying sizes are: 1. Threads being opened too early, 2. Becoming overwhelmingly an FPL forum and 3. The forum being used as a personal google for simple questions that would be quicker to check in the actual rules section.

1. I have absolutely no problem with Matchday threads and Transfer threads being opened early within reason. The whole purpose of the forum and the website is debate and discussion so if somebody has something to contribute to such a topic then work away. Obviously not starting a Matchday thread a week early and applying common sense but the transfers thread has every right to be opened straight after the previous one closes. It's the logical time to do really.

2. There's no denying that about 99% of threads in the forum are English Premier League related but that's surely down to demand. 2/3 Rugby games are played throughout the year without any problem and I remember golf used to have a thread early on in my time here. If more games were introduced or played in here then perhaps we could look at tags etc. I see no reason for sub-forums right now but perhaps I'm too close to see clearly.

3. It seems more of these basic questions are being asked and regardless of whether it works or not you could include a sticky with the rules. Copy and paste the rules in full. There is absolutely no harm in questions being asked assuming there's a good reason for them to be asked. I'd be against the reporting and actioning on such things as it could leave a bad taste in new posters mouths and the fact that it'd drive the mods barmy (well it would have for me anyway :pac: ) But these questions do seem to be clogging up a little more than they used to.

I'm not sure if I can think of anything else just yet but I'm sure we'll have more things coming up over the next few days.

It's important to say that the Fantasy Sports Arena is a fantastic community with great people that runs really well and has such a sense of camaraderie. The very fact such a competitive game is met such a genuine friendliness in here is an absolute testament to the place.

PARlance

CSF wrote: »

You'd wanna have a dedicated person who makes the matchday threads and posts the team in that case. I'm not able to edit your posts for example, so it would all fall on one person.

I know which Finn Harps supporting person I would nominate if he were willing

Give that Mr. P back his mod-hood

Personally I think it's an awful lot to ask one or two people to do. They would have to be online and ready at 5 or 6 specific times each weekend.

It'd be extremely handy if it was posted in OP...but it's not exactly hard to find the teams as is. Head to the page that starts 50mins before gametime. It's a few clicks away.

CSF

PARlance wrote: »

Give that Mr. P back his mod-hood

Personally I think it's an awful lot to ask one or two people to do. They would have to be online and ready at 5 or 6 specific times each weekend.

It'd be extremely handy if it was posted in OP...but it's not exactly hard to find the teams as is. Head to the page that starts 50mins before gametime. It's a few clicks away.

I certainly wouldn't be volunteering for it thats for sure.

Mr.Prodston

PARlance wrote: »

Give that Mr. P back his mod-hood

Personally I think it's an awful lot to ask one or two people to do. They would have to be online and ready at 5 or 6 specific times each weekend.

It'd be extremely handy if posts in OP...but it's not exactly hard to find the teams as is. Head to the page that starts 50mins before gametime. It's a few clicks away.

I'm quite happy with my retirement, still getting payments for another few months :pac:

Yeah I used to do it a lot before and have no problem doing it from time to time but as for putting it on the first page you'd need either a mod or the thread starter to be online at 2:15 and that's not going to work every week. Could certainly be done some of the time but it's not too hard to find the teams really. It's a good idea but it's not something we could get working at 100%

Lucas Hood

PARlance wrote: »

Give that Mr. P back his mod-hood

Personally I think it's an awful lot to ask one or two people to do. They would have to be online and ready at 5 or 6 specific times each weekend.

It'd be extremely handy if it was posted in OP...but it's not exactly hard to find the teams as is. Head to the page that starts 50mins before gametime. It's a few clicks away.

We've 2 mods on here plus whoever starts the thread, so 3 people can edit threads ,if whoever started the thread isn't available for some games you, me or anyone else on here could pm the teams to a mod and they could edit in the teams

Does anyone read r/soccer? Your not allowed start match threads without following set guidelines. Something similar should be brought in here imo.

Copper_pipe

I can take Team line up duty if ye want?

PARlance

CSF wrote: »

I certainly wouldn't be volunteering for it thats for sure.

You've already got your rules page job anyway

I couldn't be relied upon. A few bad GWs and I'm in hiding.

Scorpion Sting

I personally don't think there's any need to put all the lineups in the matchday thread opening post. It's a bit like the newbie question asking really as it requires a bit of searching but in essence is not hard to find at all. Plus it would require a lot of effort for such a small thing when you think about it. As PARlance said it isn't a hard task to find. Just head to page 4 or 5 (for those on 40 posts per page) during Saturday afternoon and they are usually all there.

Rikand

Nody wrote: »

Would tags help? I.e. we can have a list of tags to show what the thread is applicable to?

I think the tags is a good idea. it's used very well over on the Weather forum

jive

As mentioned by KevIRL on first page, "AUSTIN!!!" posts should be an automatic 1 week ban if the poster is obviously trolling.

The Austin rule

CSF

jive wrote: »

As mentioned by KevIRL on first page, "AUSTIN!!!" posts should be an automatic 1 week ban if the poster is obviously trolling.

The Austin rule

Permaban preferably.

The worst possible offence on this forum.

Neoulous

jive wrote: »

As mentioned by KevIRL on first page, "AUSTIN!!!" posts should be an automatic 1 week ban if the poster is obviously trolling.

The Austin rule

CSF wrote: »

Permaban preferably.

The worst possible offence on this forum.

I'm more a reader than a poster in here but I'm glad I didn't notice this one. Austin was my captain and I'd have reported this post had I seen it. Heavy penalty should be given to such offenders. The last thing I want to see is this place becoming a totalfpl chat like place.

Overall have no problem with the forum. A great place for valuable FPL info with a good camaraderie atmosphere.

A sticky linking to the game rules is a good idea.

Not sure I get the whole point about team line-ups. Ben Dinnery twitter and BBC website have all the info early enough, at least from my point of view.

Think that's about it. Fair play to the mods and all the contributors for making it an enjoyable forum to follow :cool:.

Smartguy

There is still a lot of people saying things like " i only got 80 points but if I had picked the right captain/not subbed Boyd etc etc, I would have 120 points." When the gw average is say 50, this is very annoying. I am exaggerating a bit here but it happens every week that someone complains about their score when it is actually a decent score.

Everyone has their own hard luck story and if people want to tell these, then a separate thread should be set up. I am pretty sure that the gambling and pokers forums have such hard luck threads.

AdpRo

KevIRL wrote: »

First and foremost, it has to be said the forum is well run and enjoyable to read, post and follow. A feedback thread is a good idea as well just to get the users thoughts out in the open.

Considering this we shouldn’t be looking to implement lots of hard and fast rules imo. If its broke don’t fix it, and the forum certainly isn’t broken. A lot of forums on Boards.ie have been destroyed by too many rules and it simply takes the fun out of things. This is supposed to be a game and the forum should be relaxed rules wise

Regarding threads. I don’t believe there are too many threads. There is the standard General thread, RMT thread and then the individual GW capt, transfers and matchday threads. A lot of FSA league threads granted, but that should be encouraged as its good community stuff. I also don’t have any issue with the timing of a thread being created. What difference does it make if a matchday thread is started at 5 past midnight or 5 past 9 in the morning, likewise with the transfers thread being started as soon as the new deadline has passed. The only stipulation around timing of threads being started should be that its on the matchday (for match day threads) or past the deadline (for transfers threads).

I would like to suggest that users on the forum add a simple indication to their sig to identify their FPL/UFPL team. It would be useful to be able to check others teams and performance to evaluate advice given. A FPL button exists on FISO for this, but would probably be too much to ask the site developers on Boards.ie to implement one but just a simple F:team ID number would work well. This doesn’t need to be mandatory but should be encouraged imo.

However, I also feel that users using others ranking to say their opinion isn’t valid shouldn’t be allowed and should be moderated heavily. An opinion or advice should be given, its up to others to take it up or not, no one should be subject to getting a response along the lines of ‘your rank is 1 million and therefore your advice is rubbish’. If you don’t agree argue the case its just a bit lazy relying on rank or past performance

Something which has crept in a little recently and needs to be stamped out quickly and strongly is posters deliberately posting misleading or fake calls during matchdays. Not genuine mistakes now, but for the laugh posting ‘AUSTIN!!!!!’ and then further down the post something please ‘please score’. This sort of thing should be an auto ban imo. It is rife on sites with chatboxes (totalfpl for example) and shouldn’t be allowed at all here. Genuine mistakes are different of course but the deliberate stuff should be stamped out.

The game can be frustrating, and sometimes on match threads posters can get frustrated with others posting about a good or bad score or the famous ‘happy enough with that’ after a good score. Collective chill pills need to be taken there lads. Its become a bit of an in joke on the forum now, embrace it

Agree fully about the FAQ, but problem is people still wont read it. But if someone (CSF) could just link to the thread every time someone asks a question that’s already answered as opposed to answering it again then that would be great.
One suggestion for the moderating team, I’ve noticed a few times that troll type posts are deleted, presumably the poster warned in private etc, but is it not better practise to deal with it on thread as it sets the example to follow

Agree with almost every point made above. Definitely think that more visible moderation will help educate people on what is acceptable and what is not and makes it clear what will not be tolerated.

Personally I do think a sub forum for all other fantasy sports would encourage more people to participate and get involved. If someone is playing fantasy games in baseball, golf, etc this forum is not really practical for them as any thread will get lost very quickly.

Another suggestion might be to create super threads for transfers and match days. not sure if this would work but it would cut down on the amount of threads being created for people who think there are too many, it works for the RMT, General threads so might work here as well. Alternatively I think each match day and transfer thread should be locked a couple of days after the GW ends.

All in all it's a great forum, by far the best of any I look at on boards, that is down to both the mods and all who contributes, there are not many changes needed. There is a little trolling etc but not near as much as other forums.

KevIRL

Smartguy wrote: »

There is still a lot of people saying things like " i only got 80 points but if I had picked the right captain/not subbed Boyd etc etc, I would have 120 points." When the gw average is say 50, this is very annoying. I am exaggerating a bit here but it happens every week that someone complains about their score when it is actually a decent score.

Everyone has their own hard luck story and if people want to tell these, then a separate thread should be set up. I am pretty sure that the gambling and pokers forums have such hard luck threads.

Is it really that annoying though? Or even all that frequent. I find its easy to ignore those sort of posts

kevinroche3333

Excellent forum that needs minimal changes.

This forum is capable of meeting the needs of the numerous users who have reletively straight forward questions.
Quoting the rules is plenty sufficient usually, but the poster may even have already found the relevant rule and cannot interpret it or trust their own interpretation and come asking their questions.
A simple FAQ (no strategy) with the rules and, more importantly, the regular scenarios could be easily linked to on the forum without sending users away from this forum.

I feel the FSA threads are maybe a bit too common. One for each league might be overkill. The majority of forum users have no use for these as they are a specialist area, though they are for the more regular users and so I dont feel strongly about it, just something that crept into my head as a possible way of reducing threads.

Smartguy

KevIRL wrote: »

Is it really that annoying though? Or even all that frequent. I find its easy to ignore those sort of posts

Different things bug different people as a lot of the things raised in this thread would not bother me in the slightest.

Some weeks are worse than others but the sob stories can be a bit much at times.

Ace2007

Like others have said, the forum is ran pretty well.

A few things bug me about threads,

1. Transfer thread opening at 11:30 on the dot before this GW has started,maybe wait until all games that GW are over or at least the Saturday games, so often the first few pages are about getting x player out even though he could score a hatrick today and folks mind changes come 5pm.

2. Number of different threads serving the same purpose, for example - rate my team thread - what exactly is this for - i see posts of folk putting up their team and looking for transfer suggestions. But then i look in say the Wild card thread or the transfers thread and the same questions are being asked.

3. The general FPL chat thread is only really used by a handful of posters - there have been a fair few threads recently that could easily have gone in there, going over last 2 weeks, i reckon there could be up to 8 threads that could have gone in there.

Regarding folk asking about the rules, it's not a big thing - i've seen regular posters asks far stupider questions but they don't get the same sort of reply that a newbie gets, equally not so long ago CSF even asked a question that was answerable my reading the rules.

Regardless of what others may think this forum is pretty much just a FF forum, people say for example that if others Fantasy games wanted to join they could - but there is just so many threads (21 threads bumped/started since 1st Jan) that a thread about darts/rugby would be just pushed to second page and go unnoticed. Like recently i found a link for a dart FF league buried in the FPL Chat thread.

CSF

To be fair, I did read the rules and posted the quote from the rules which was what I thought needed clarifying.

Not nearly the same as someone not being bothered to research how the game works and expecting the forum to educate them on the most basic mechanisms in the game.

OneColdHand

In general I think the forum is very well run, with some really excellent contributors.

One minor thing that probably annoys only me, but I'm going mention it anyway: I find comments on specific bets that people have placed very annoying. For example: 'Get in Costa, have a tenner on him at 3/1 anytime scorer.' I think these comments are completely irrelevant to FPL, and if general football chat isn't allowed, I don't think these type of comments should be allowed either.

I should distinguish these comments from those that are often posted that outline general odds for things sure as anytime scorer, or cleat sheet odds. These are relevant, and are often posted in relation to picking a captain, or deciding which defenders to pick. I have no problem with these, and often use them myself!

dahat

Isn't that nit picking really?

Odds form a part of a FF decision as you said and if you land a little bet using the same thought process why not mention it on a post?

Moderation of something g that small would be a nightmare as well

OneColdHand

dahat wrote: »

Isn't that nit picking really?

Yes it's completely nit picking! As I said in my post, it probably only annoys me. So nothing is done about it, that's fine with me, I'll get over it!

Nody

I've tried to roughly summarize the main points raised so far and potential solutions proposed (once again this is not a promise anything will be implemented but simply to structure it a bit):

Problem: Threads / posts on how the game works covered by FAQ for it
Solution: Sticky and/or infraction

Problem: Make competitions (i.e. the leagues, draft league) more visible
Solution: Sub forums, tags

Problem: To many threads serving the same purpose
Solution: Superthreads on a topic, add sig with their FPL/UFPL team

Problem: People claiming someone’s opinion is not valid due to ranking
Solution: Infraction (already applicable under personal attack?)

Problem: Posting misleading or fake calls (i.e. Austin!!! – Please score)
Solution: Automatic ban

Problem: Editing in the teams to the first post of the match day thread
Solution: OP to add it with in 24h, Mod added

Problem: Early Matchday / Transfer threads being created
Solution: Come up with acceptable margin & report anything outside it to be locked

CSF

Nody wrote: »

I've tried to roughly summarize the main points raised so far and potential solutions proposed (once again this is not a promise anything will be implemented but simply to structure it a bit):

Problem: Threads / posts on how the game works covered by FAQ for it
Solution: Sticky and/or infraction

Problem: Make competitions (i.e. the leagues, draft league) more visible
Solution: Sub forums, tags

Problem: To many threads serving the same purpose
Solution: Superthreads on a topic, add sig with their FPL/UFPL team

Problem: People claiming someone’s opinion is not valid due to ranking
Solution: Infraction (already applicable under personal attack?)

Problem: Posting misleading or fake calls (i.e. Austin!!! – Please score)
Solution: Automatic ban

Problem: Editing in the teams to the first post of the match day thread
Solution: OP to add it with in 24h, Mod added

Problem: Early Matchday / Transfer threads being created
Solution: Come up with acceptable margin & report anything outside it to be locked

Looks about right yeah.

lassykk

I must say this is a great forum and one I read extensively.

I rarely comment here as I don't feel I have much to add that someone else hasn't already covered but I agree with most of the points already raised.

The main point I would like implemented is for people to include their team name in some manner but one issue with them being included in signatures is that people on mobile won't see it. I use the mobile site extensively especially on match days when I wouldn't be at home/work.

Now to be fair it's not a big issue for me as I read so many of the threads I know who are the stronger players and I look out for their comments.

I must admit the early opening of threads, etc don't really concern me but I do generally jump to at least Sat at 5pm in the GW Transfer thread to avoid early predictions!

Mr.Prodston

While I see the logic behind including the team id somewhere eg signature (something I have never used and have had switched off since day 1). I don't think it really fits with boards. It's a public forum and I don't want every passer by to have almost instant access to my name, which is linked to our fantasy team.

Anyone who spends a bit of time in the forum can figure it out through the leagues we're in and that level, once removed, from public is fine. I would be very uncomfortable with forcing/positively encouraging posters to include the ID if they don't want to. It also encourages people to become more active in the forum.

Perhaps you could have a thread where people can put their history without the need for links/ID if they feel so inclined. We don't want to be overrun with stickies threads either though. Not that I have anything to hide and I think most would agree I'm very honest about my ups and downs but I would be firmly against anything like that becoming mandatory or close to mandatory.

iroced

Nody wrote: »

I've tried to roughly summarize the main points raised so far and potential solutions proposed (once again this is not a promise anything will be implemented but simply to structure it a bit):

1.
Problem: Threads / posts on how the game works covered by FAQ for it
Solution: Sticky and/or infraction

2.
Problem: Make competitions (i.e. the leagues, draft league) more visible
Solution: Sub forums, tags

3.
Problem: To many threads serving the same purpose
Solution: Superthreads on a topic, add sig with their FPL/UFPL team

4.
Problem: People claiming someone’s opinion is not valid due to ranking
Solution: Infraction (already applicable under personal attack?)

5.
Problem: Posting misleading or fake calls (i.e. Austin!!! – Please score)
Solution: Automatic ban

6.
Problem: Editing in the teams to the first post of the match day thread
Solution: OP to add it with in 24h, Mod added

7.
Problem: Early Matchday / Transfer threads being created
Solution: Come up with acceptable margin & report anything outside it to be locked

Very good summary Nody :cool:.
Since I haven't posted yet in here I'll start by commenting on each of these points. And add whatever I can think of afterwards...

1. FAQ is a good idea. Newcomers will have no excuse for asking basic questions (which can "pollute" threads). FAQ could consist of:

1. a link towards the game rules official page specifying that both "Frequently Asked Questions" & "Rules" tab shall be consulted. 99% of the answers you'd be seeking are there. It just requires a little effort and time.
   
   
2. a few FSA "nicestness" about popular misunderstandings of the official rules e.g. any saved transfer will be lost if you play your WC ; you can activate your WC anytime during the GW you chose to play it and yes it will wipe out all your previous, present and future transfers in this given GW ; the transparency of the current Bonus Points system could be addressed here too by posting the full detail of how it is calculated...
   
   
3. a few season updates on how the game is working/changing e.g. the price change system this year which doesn't include WC transfers anymore.
   
   
4. a few links to popular FPL related sites. I think this thread did/does exist but is probably buried in the umpteenth page so it may be wiser to include it in the overall FAQ sticky...
   It could be organised by category like price change predictions sites (FFF, FPLS, fiso, totalfpl), general info site (FFS, FFCheat...), FPL stats sites (FPL Discovery, FFF, FPL Statistico tool), useful twitters (Ben Dinnery FFS twitter, FPL official twitter...) etc...

2. Since FPL occupies 99% of discussions here, sub-forums for the other Fantasy related games would give a better visibility to them. FSA was created to gather most fantasy-related games so giving the non-FPL games more visibility sounds fair. I generally play some Fantasy Rugby and it's true that it can be a pain to scroll down the 1st page or have to go to the 2nd one of the FSA to find it...

I'm not sure the tags system would work here. We'd end up with the same amount of FPL related threads and the [FPL] tag will not make it that much easier to find the [6N] or [Autumn Tests] threads.
This leads me to 3.

3. This point is closely linked with 2. I think one of these solutions should be applied. If it's decided sub-forums are the way to go, I don't see it necessary to regroup the weekly threads into superthreads. Since we'd have a fully FPL-dedicated forum, the already existing superthreads would continue to be fed on a daily basis and the weekly ones will slowly make their way to the second page and beyond. A few threads (e.g. GK selection, Christmas preparation...) will continue to "suffer" from it and could be relegated to the second page but I don't see it as a major issue. Maybe to sort that out and avoid the creation/use of threads serving similar purposes, a sticky could be added (and updated from time to time by the mod) with a list of the long term active threads and what they are about if it's not obvious. That should prevent us from creating similar threads a few months apart and lead us to (better) post and discuss our matter in the most appropriate thread.

And If we don't go for sub-forums, superthreads could be created. I have to be honest and say that I'd largely prefer the first option. The GWs-dedicated threads work fine as they are IMO and if we could regroup the Transfers and Matchday ones we can not do it for the captain poll. I know it's a very minor detail but it is sometimes interesting to go back to the weekly threads from the previous seasons. Superthreads would impede that.

4. Ok with the solution here. Having our FPL ID in our sig may be interesting though as long as any point is argumented, rankings is absolutely irrelevant to the debate.

5. OK with the solution here. Same issue than the "lol at xxx owners" which was well dealt with by Futureguy earlier on in the season.

6. Not sure I get this one. If it is to be edited within 24h what's the point? We can get this info easily and early enough from a few twitter accounts and from the BBC website.
In principle that'd be a nice little info at the start of the Matchday thread but in practice a nightmare to apply wouldn't it? The OP and/or the mods would be slaves to the team line-up official announcements ...

7. I have no pb with that. I don't think we ever had abusively early opened threads. The one from this GW is a genuine mistake from the OP. Nothing wrong about it. I understand that GW transfers threads are opened very early (I mean between the 12:45 Sat game and the Monday night one, so many games have to be played that you can change your mind 10 times about iyour transfers) but in the meantime price change can force your hand to move on a player as soon as Saturday eve and it's natural that FSA allows you to discuss it in the appropriate thread.

---

Not sure I have much to add. I'll just say again that this is a really nice place to discuss the game with a great camaraderie despite the high "competitiveness" we all put in it. I'll add that personally it allows me keeping practicing my English about a nice and fun matter .

Just one thing actually about the tags system. I think it's already mostly implemented but a [FSA] tag to all FSA competitions could make the forum even more clearer.

Finally I remember when we moved from the FPL superthread in the Soccer forum to this place, many were questioning the real interest of such a forum, that FPL was not worth more than a superthread and that a dedicated forum would quickly see its popularity and activity diminish and reduced to a couple of threads only. We had to "fight" to obtain it and the very existence of this feedback thread and all the questions raised in it just show that we made the right choice and the very little troubles we had to deal with is a credit to all the contributors and the mods. Whatever changes (or not) this thread will cause, I think our main focus is to keep this place as civil and enjoyable as it's been and is now.

CSF

The rankings thing is a touchy one, because I doubt I'm alone in that I would attach more weight to the opinions of someone who'd been in the top 5k 4 years in a row.

Of course you would, the same way you're going to trust the opinion of someone with a proven track record of success in any field over someone who you feel may be still learning the trade.

The problem creeps in when people start using it as a stick to beat people with on the forum. Ie. Why should I listen to you, you're 500000 in the world or 'who are you to have a go at me, I'm a regular top 10k finisher'. I did the latter once, apologised soon after, and really there should have been rules infracting me for doing so.

extra gravy

RE: the line ups. The Premier League's twitter page could be included as a link at the beginning of each match thread. They retweet each club's line up as soon as they are posted so it would be easy for posters to just go there 45 minutes before kick off and see the line ups for themselves. I think it's unfair to expect one person to go to the trouble of posting all the line ups every week.

I'd just like to add my appreciation for the forum, it's a fantastic tool and I'd honestly be lost without it at this stage!

CSF

extra gravy wrote: »

RE: the line ups. The Premier League's twitter page could be included as a link at the beginning of each match thread. They retweet each club's line up as soon as they are posted so it would be easy for posters to just go there 45 minutes before kick off and see the line ups for themselves. I think it's unfair to expect one person to go to the trouble of posting all the line ups every week.

I'd just like to add my appreciation for the forum, it's a fantastic tool and I'd honestly be lost without it at this stage!

Ideally everyone would just make a Twitter and follow the 20 clubs. Works a treat.