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Topic: WHERE IS THE LIFE? (Read 3356 times) |
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steelkings
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We are getting ready to start week 15 in the NFL. For most leagues this is the best part of the season. Its Fantasy playoff time. Where is the life in this site? I am so disappointed. Its the same 20 guys that hang around from time to time. Only 6 or so of those ever participate in anything. Even I dont get involved in many of the supporting threads like I used to. Seriously, if you take out the Red Zone, where people parrot news about a few of the teams, its only use is for the team reports that nobody reads. Other than the Red Zone activity, has there been more than 10 posts in the last week? I doubt it. I really like the Duece and its mother. I think the supporting leagues are great too; but there is a stark reality setting in here. Facts are facts. Alot of people are only here to compete in the leagues but could not give a shit about daily participation. Lack of participation is the certain death of this site. Steve talks about money from time to time. But its not money that makes this place go. Its people being involved. Its being active. If no-one is active nobody will want to be here. That holds true for Steve too you know. This has become an additional job for Steve. He doesnt have fun here like he used to. The passion is almost gone. Anyone can see that. What do you suppose the odds are that the post season contests will happen. Steve, are you up for more work?
It's a real bummer because I really feel that everyone here, Steve, Jeff, Callie, Ken, Rob and everyone; you guys have become my friends. Even though Ive never met you; you are my friends. It seems its slowly going away. I really think that this wont be here this time next year. Seems sad yet funny. The funny part will be that I wont get more than 5 responses to this post. Cause I dont think anyone really gives a shit.
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| « Last Edit: Apr 7th, 2008, 6:10am by Stegfucius » |
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Gridiron Great
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Re: WHERE IS THE LIFE?
« Reply #1 on: Dec 11th, 2007, 9:34pm » |
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Response #1:
I think of you as a friend, too. If I could actually get back home for a good visit, I'd try to get you and your wife together with us for dinner. (Might even happen down the road. Western PA. Meet in the middle. Just not this year.)
I don't think that anyone is dissing this place, though. On a site like this, activity generates activity. Most people seem to be scrambling with life right now. People are spread out all around the country. Most of them have young families to deal with. It's just about dealing with what they have to deal with.
I hope more happens, but it isn't about lack of interest. They just don't have time to do this place like it's beyond a hobby. (Jobs, families, etc., are there.) It isn't a diss on anyone.
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“If life gives you lemons make orange juice. Let the rest of the world figure out how you did it.”
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steelkings
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on Dec 11th, 2007, 9:34pm, Callie wrote:
Quote:| I think of you as a friend, too. If I could actually get back home for a good visit, I'd try to get you and your wife together with us for dinner. (Might even happen down the road. Western PA. Meet in the middle. Just not this year.) |
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Middle? That would be Columbus Ohio. However it would give me a great excuse to visit the beautiful rural NORTH western PA.
Quote:I don't think that anyone is dissing this place, though. On a site like this, activity generates activity. Most people seem to be scrambling with life right now. People are spread out all around the country. Most of them have young families to deal with. It's just about dealing with what they have to deal with. hope more happens, but it isn't about lack of interest. They just don't have time to do this place like it's beyond a hobby. (Jobs, families, etc., are there.) It isn't a diss on anyone.
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Activity does generate activity. Thats the main point. I'm sure Steve doesn't want me speaking for steve, but...he's weighed in on this before. It must feel un-rewarding to maintain, by that I mean, lose money to operate a fantasy football web site that is treated like a bunch of glorified email boxes.
Case and point: on the 11th there were 2 post that were not created by Steg. Yikes!
While I cannot speak for Steg; read between the lines on this post from Steg on the 11th. This Actually was submitted before my post.
Quote:Well, (before all is said and done  ) we made our way to 20,000 posts up in "the Red Zone"!!!  |
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| « Last Edit: Dec 12th, 2007, 7:26am by steelkings » |
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GM
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Re: WHERE IS THE LIFE?
« Reply #4 on: Dec 12th, 2007, 2:41pm » |
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on Dec 12th, 2007, 1:28pm, MordecaiCourage wrote:I consider you all friends too. Todd you are right....I think WE can all do a bit better here and participate more on these threads..the GBRFL and the deuce have the participation thing going, we need to transfer that onto the big board.  Influx that energy boys and girls!!!!!!!!! |
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I can't speak for Steve either but I did read his earlier post and caught the same line. For me, I can easily see his frustration. He is working hard on his own stuff in Hawaii and then he works hard on the Gridiron. He really doesn't have a ton of time for his family and his own life. Plus, he hemorrhages money doing the Gridiron.
I know I am one of those who frequents the site quite a bit but I don't post that often. I have given money in the past when I could. So, I am probably one that doesn't do enough to give back to this site.
Since we are in the giving season, I was trying to think of a creative way to bring some more customers Steg's way (and in the process show them some of the great analysis that all you guys provide). So my thought is this:
1) I will purchase 4 2008 "In Season" packages to StegsList. Each one of these will get a member five weeks to get into Stegslist.com and have access to his weekly rankings. All four will be available FOR FREE to either new members or people who have been around but not really participated.
2) I will purchase five Co-Commisioner decisions. These will be given out freely to five users of the Gridiron, again to either new members or people who have been around but haven't actively participated.
This could be a really bad idea and I don't want to burden Steve with more work but I thought that if new people can see really what this site offers, they will be more inclined to stick around and again, participate. Plus, it's money back to Steve which I don't think can ever hurt. Thoughts?
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| « Last Edit: Dec 12th, 2007, 2:41pm by Drew Rosenhaus » |
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She turned me into a newt!
A newt?
I got better. Burn her anyway!
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steelkings
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Quote:If you are reading this, I challenge you all to match my 20 bucks. Whats twenty bucks?
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Did anyone match my 20 spot? Anybody?
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Gridiron Great
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Re: WHERE IS THE LIFE?
« Reply #10 on: Dec 22nd, 2007, 6:14pm » |
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on Dec 21st, 2007, 4:31am, StegRock wrote:
BTW - I just got back in here and wanted you to know that Steggie's blank post wasn't anything neg about you guys. I had put in a snarky post one night, and I went in to take it back out when I got up the next morning (and I did delete it). His timeframe in the middle of the Pacific meant he got to see it and respond. Ignore me when I've been working for nearly 24 hours straight.
I managed to get about 3 hours sleep that night, but at least I got my snarky thing out of there before getting back to work.
We'll get back on track after the holidays. 
Merry Christmas, all!!
---
Edit: I was just thinkin' that to be fair I should tell you something about the snarky post I made. It was just about how more people should do team reports, and that there were a whole lot of teams available. (But my tone could have been nicer. ) I knew it was dumb and snarky when I realized that the people who would be reading my remarks were probably all doing team reports at that point anyway.
Again. Merry Christmas, all!
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| « Last Edit: Dec 22nd, 2007, 6:51pm by Callie » |
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“If life gives you lemons make orange juice. Let the rest of the world figure out how you did it.”
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Philosopher King
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Re: WHERE IS THE LIFE?
« Reply #15 on: Jan 1st, 2008, 5:06pm » |
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on Dec 12th, 2007, 2:41pm, Drew Rosenhaus wrote:I can't speak for Steve either but I did read his earlier post and caught the same line. For me, I can easily see his frustration. He is working hard on his own stuff in Hawaii and then he works hard on the Gridiron. He really doesn't have a ton of time for his family and his own life. Plus, he hemorrhages money doing the Gridiron.
I know I am one of those who frequents the site quite a bit but I don't post that often. I have given money in the past when I could. So, I am probably one that doesn't do enough to give back to this site.
Since we are in the giving season, I was trying to think of a creative way to bring some more customers Steg's way (and in the process show them some of the great analysis that all you guys provide). So my thought is this:
1) I will purchase 4 2008 "In Season" packages to StegsList. Each one of these will get a member five weeks to get into Stegslist.com and have access to his weekly rankings. All four will be available FOR FREE to either new members or people who have been around but not really participated.
2) I will purchase five Co-Commisioner decisions. These will be given out freely to five users of the Gridiron, again to either new members or people who have been around but haven't actively participated.
This could be a really bad idea and I don't want to burden Steve with more work but I thought that if new people can see really what this site offers, they will be more inclined to stick around and again, participate. Plus, it's money back to Steve which I don't think can ever hurt. Thoughts? |
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As per my latest announcement on the "Site Donors" thread (http://www.fantasyfootballer.com/cgi-bin/theGridiron/YaBB.cgi?board=58;a ction=display;num=1068780634;start=100), Markie made good on his word here. As such, five FREE Co-commissioner decisions are available to our "viewing audience" here on "the Gridiron". For more info on the "Co-commissioner Services" offered here via the FantasyFootballer.com network, click here: http://www.fantasyfootballer.com/stegmissioner.htm. I'm guessing that there probably isn't great need for these in the immediacy, so come next summer Mark and/or I will make sure to remind everybody of this, and I will incorporate information about this on that afore-linked-to page for the "Co-commissioner Services". At present, because it really is so far off at this point [and what I'd really like to make happen this (early) offseason is the magazine,... yet again unlikely, but...], I am not in a position to accomodate the StegsList.com portion of Mark's generous proposal. I just don't know at this time what it's going to look like next year. I doubt, if I make it to then, I will give up on it entirely. But, I will almost definitely have to scale it down. Perhaps, we will reapproach this later in the year.
But, I digress... This has been a ROUGH season on me. This site continues to balloon outward, and I'm at my wit's end with it all, especially when the return isn't even close to being commensurate to the effort. Also, and I will address this in greater detail in a more appropriate place down the line, there has been something that has been weighing on my mind here. It's a behind-the-scenes technical matter that none of you on the front end are going to be able to even remotely appreciate (no matter how much I bitch and whine about it) but will cause me umpteen hours, days, weeks, months of work and will, again, behind the scenes, fuel my frustration, perhaps even letting it turn the corner and morph into full-on resentment. In very short, Hostica, our hosting company, is going to cease support of FrontPage Server Extensions. This could happen any day. In fact, back in August they had told me that it was likely to happen before the year was out. Thank God that didn't end up being the case. That could have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Mind you, FSE are a low-end form of CGI-processing. I don't rely on them very much. But, I do here and there, remnants of days,... nights long ago when I was just trying to figure all this computer crap out...
 ...  ... ... ... ... ...
There is one somewhat buried to most of you but not to a core group of you place that FSE are employed in a significant way that will be very headachy for me to deal with. That is the lineup submission forms for the GBRFLeagues. They are all FSE-driven. Reworking that environment and doing the technical upgrade on it (all on my lonesome) is a HUGE job that is staring me in the face this offseason. (Perhaps, this puts into context my snippyish posts on the GBRFL2 board and explains my heart sinking when I saw a roll eyes ( ) response from one of the members.)
Anyway... That's all for now. Thank you Mark,...  and thank Mark! People who, especially financially at this point in this (ad)venture, step up to the plate and make good on their words are the only hope this site has in the long run. I just hope we have enough of them...
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Philosopher King
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Re: WHERE IS THE LIFE?
« Reply #16 on: Jan 10th, 2008, 10:13pm » |
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I have another more general, more important response to (add to) this thread. I, however, want to address something more specific(ally relevant), first. In fact, it regards Callie's post that she took down (which, incidentally, I have no problem with her having done; what I am going to write here is not directed toward her). It regarded the "contributing" factor of the (addition) of the FF-specific team reports (three seasons ago now).
As I discussed with a few of our gridironers, I think I made a mistake with these things, at least the timing of them,... too soon. It was a "business" miscalculation due to over-enthusiasm. At the end of the day, the FF-specific team reports have worked against the "bigger picture" here. Here is how... Please do remember, though, that not all of this may apply to YOU specifically,... but if it doesn't, know that you are, generally speaking, an exception rather than the rule...
First, the FF-specific team reports have limited our ability to generate revenue via donations because they give the guys doing them the feeling that they are already making a significant contribution and don't need to donate. Not only does this miss the point, but it is not even an accurate impression under which to operate.
Second, they have actually taken away from the energy of the forum, specifically "the Red Zone" but ultimately the whole of "the Gridron". I say this insofar as that is where these kinds of things had been taking place. They weren't "professional", but they sufficed and, in any event, added much (much needed) fodder to our main board. But, also, in general, it seems as though some people just "clock in" to do their team reports and don't even hang out on the boards anymore.
Third, they have been a burden on me. They've created more work for me on both the technical and administrative sides of the ball. (I digress... As many of you are experiencing, I am draggin' ass with the football stuff at this point. Week 17 CBFL is still pending. The Postseason stuff is all in limbo. The GBRFLeague stuff is getting put off until the last minute. Not only are my last dimes getting spent,...  I'M SPENT.  )
And, finally, I don't know how much the whole show has enhanced the web site. We still do not have all 32 teams covered, of note the Patriots (which someone, Todd in fact, around midseason did offer to do, but I couldn't come up for air to set it up for him, just like I didn't have time to set someone else up with the Bears). All the time, though, dummy me,  I thought I was offering up an opportunity that dudes would be all over. In any event, of the teams that have been covered, some of the coverage has been a mess when guys have crapped out on me. Honestly, and I am one of the writers, I would grade the whole production, at best, a B-. Don't get me wrong. Some of the efforts made, especially given the fact that we're talking volunteer effort, are A+'s. But, the overall show... "eh". I'd give myself a B-. Of course, in my defense, the Broncos team report is but one VERY, VERY small hat that I have to wear around here.
In the end, I think I made a big mistake. Again, in short, they've, on the one hand, been extra work and very costly in terms of activity on the boards, and, yet, on the other, not much of an enhancement to the site, something that has put a chip on the shoulders of some and cost us revenue.  Ouch! Point being, why I even take the time to bring this up, I think the "attitude" about these reports is very MYopic. All things, the bigger picture just as regards the reports themselves, no less the site as a whole, aren't being considered. Yes, I am thankful to those of you who step up to the plate and have done them. But, it's unfortunately not just as simple as that, at least not at this point in the venture. Someday I hope it is, BUT I need help getting there.
Anyway, another post to come on the near horizon... In the meantime, there is "work"  to be done,... right???  Oh, well,... it wouldn't have been that bad had I not procrastinated it all week...
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steelkings
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I have some idea's. Only if you wish to hear them though. My ideas are thought through, however not talked through. Let me know
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Gridiron Great
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Re: WHERE IS THE LIFE?
« Reply #18 on: Jan 11th, 2008, 1:50am » |
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OK. This one stays up.
Steg knows that my family teams include the Raiders, 9ers, and Bears. And some that are already being done here for team reports very well thank you very much.
I'll do the Bears on top of the Raiders and 9ers if that is wanted.
On top of that (other than GBRFL2 and CBFL), leagues I play in either pony up or play on either Yahoo or AOL or MFL. For free (Yahoo or AOL) or for a fee (MFL) that's around ten bucks per season. Yeah, all that much for a whole season of FF. That means that someone pays for that with ads or whatever.
Want ads? OK. Pony up? OK. Play for free? Weasel.
Oh, yeah. And for other things with no ponying up? Weasel.
Edit: The ten bucks for MFL only covers the site charges. How much time do people spend doing stats around here? Just sayin'.
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| « Last Edit: Jan 11th, 2008, 1:56am by Callie » |
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Philosopher King
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Re: WHERE IS THE LIFE?
« Reply #19 on: Jan 11th, 2008, 2:36am » |
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on Jan 10th, 2008, 10:48pm, steelkings wrote:| ...however not talked through. |
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Well,... access is granted,...  especially since you are in one of the GBRFLeagues. There it is always so via the "Owner Info" page... Though, I'd probably give my digits out to anyone who expresses genuine concern and care. Given personal/work schedules and the difference in time zones, it would probably have to be during the weekend. But, I shut the ringer on my phone off when I go to bed, so 24-7 is fine. Plug away, man!  Or, just lay it out here. However, if you are already asking me whether I'd like to hear your ideas out or not, that's not a good sign. I'm guessing I probably won't...
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Philosopher King
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I love ''the Gridiron''!
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Re: WHERE IS THE LIFE?
« Reply #20 on: Jan 11th, 2008, 3:20pm » |
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on Jan 11th, 2008, 1:50am, Callie wrote:| Want ads? OK. Pony up? OK. Play for free? Weasel. |
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Call,... not only is that NOT the prevailing attitude, but, when I get these private messages or e-mails that "enumerate" "ALL" that so-and-so does for the site, "playing" in the leagues and participating in the special, "premium" activities, like the postseason stuff, get included in that outline. 
...
That's not playing for the team.
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steelkings
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ELI SUCKS! Very Funny
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. Times are tough for me this time of year, money wise. 3 kids and a huge family to buy gifts for. My wife is quite the shopper! However I found a twenty spot for Steg. I try and give 2 or 3 times a year. It may not be much, but if everyone sent him a couple of bucks, purhaps his holiday will be a little brighter. Purhaps Mrs. Steg could do a little shopping herself. 
The most activity I've seen in two months. That's a good thing. 
