If you want to sign up for a super slow draft ...

[marisschris]

Just a thought. I was in that draft with KJ and it was brutal. I want to do more, but it's painful. I will stick to the Express leagues.

[RiFF]

how is someone violating the rules by taking 8 hours to pick? the rule is you have 8 hours to pick....

!

Technically, of course you are correct. But it certainly isn't the intent of the sponsors nor 99% of the drafters to adhere to this abnsurdity. Taking it to its conclusion, assuming everyone was of the same mind and took the full 8 hours for every pick, the draft would last 140 days. Therefore, no slow drafts of 35 rounds should start after April 20th to ensure its completion.
The sponsors and I'd guess almost all signees see the 8 hour time limit as a safeguard to ensure adequate time in the case of emergencies and/or overnight dead time. Most drafters respect the spirit and intent of the draft and check in periodically and either draft if they are up or set autopick if the draft is within a pick or two of their selection.
Unfortunately, many of these drafts do include drafters who circumvent the spirit of the draft, and wait out the 8 hours, in an attempt to gain a small advantage; or others that just don't give a fuk and check in only once every day or so. Then there are others who do sign up understanding that they can only get access very infrequently and are depending on the other 11 drafters to maintain a decent flow while waiting on them for every pick.
Every year a few of these guys crop up and once they are identified I try to avoid them. As the sponsors have indicated they have no intent to dissuade these players from entering, although this may be penny wise and pound foolish.
But fortunately the vast majority of the players here do participate as intended....but dealing with the outliers is a big pita.

[Tom Kessenich]

Rich, as Greg has pointed out the DC drafts typically are taking 2-21/2 weeks to complete. In my opinion, that is not an unruly amount of time for a football "slow draft" to last. As both Greg and I have stated, if drafts are being threatened and/or someone is intentionally violating the rules in some fashion we have and will intercede.

There are often quite legitimate reasons why people aren't around to draft as often. I can recall one league from last year where several owners emailed me about a particular player who wasn't drafting as fast as they would like. I got in touch with the person and it turns out he had a serious life issue occurring at that time which was not only preventing him from making his picks in a timely fashion but even from contacting others in the league to let them know of the situation. Would it have been a penny wise and a pound foolish to banish this person from our contests? Of course not. And yet, if I had just gone by the word of the people who were upset that is what they would have wanted us to do.

Granted, that's one example and possibly an outlier but it strikes to my point that without having more context, making a rash decision like banning or labeling people is a terrible move to make. So I strongly disagree that preventing people from participating is a sound direction for us to take. If we need to do a better job of providing more rules and guidelines for the DCs we can do that. That's on us and we probably should be doing a better job of that. But simply banishing people or labeling them merely because you or a few other people don't like they way they take part would be a terrible move on our part in my opinion. I don't think that's the proper or intelligent way to run our business.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Again, the facts show that recent drafts are moving along nicely. Here are the drafts that started since July 1st:

2 days ago - now in Round 8
4 days ago - now in Round 15
7 days ago - now in Round 19
8 days ago - now in Round 31

None of these are going slowly. And yes, it's possible that they can be bogged down by one or more slow drafters and we'll definitely keep an eye on them. There is one DC that started on June 24th that is going slowly and we'll stay on top of it, but for the most part I commend everyone in our DCs for keeping these going at a good pace and finishing them within 14 days or less.

We appreciate all of the suggestions to improve the DCs and communication between the 12 owners is the biggest key, but right now we think the format is working well. And for those who like the DC Express Leagues, we'll continue to offer more of those through July and August. We are on pace to top last year's record total of leagues and we look forward to rewarding one owner with the record $20,000 grand prize and continuing to add to this top prize each year.

[RiFF]

Rich, as Greg has pointed out the DC drafts typically are taking 2-21/2 weeks to complete. In my opinion, that is not an unruly amount of time for a football "slow draft" to last. As both Greg and I have stated, if drafts are being threatened and/or someone is intentionally violating the rules in some fashion we have and will intercede.

There are often quite legitimate reasons why people aren't around to draft as often. I can recall one league from last year where several owners emailed me about a particular player who wasn't drafting as fast as they would like. I got in touch with the person and it turns out he had a serious life issue occurring at that time which was not only preventing him from making his picks in a timely fashion but even from contacting others in the league to let them know of the situation. Would it have been a penny wise and a pound foolish to banish this person from our contests? Of course not. And yet, if I had just gone by the word of the people who were upset that is what they would have wanted us to do.

Granted, that's one example and possibly an outlier but it strikes to my point that without having more context, making a rash decision like banning or labeling people is a terrible move to make. So I strongly disagree that preventing people from participating is a sound direction for us to take. If we need to do a better job of providing more rules and guidelines for the DCs we can do that. That's on us and we probably should be doing a better job of that. But simply banishing people or labeling them merely because you or a few other people don't like they way they take part would be a terrible move on our part in my opinion. I don't think that's the proper or intelligent way to run our business.

As I indicated in my post, the problem is with continual infractions by the same drafters in multiple drafts. As I also indicated the 8 hour time frame is intended to allow for emergencies, which you accurately point out, does happen. I do not believe anyone would or is chastising those instances. But every year there always seem to be a handful of drafters who if not circumventing the rules certainly stretch the spirit of the rules. And as has been pointed out within this thread...some of these drafters have been identified...with no consequence. Personally, I would have done at least a couple more drafts so far this year but didn't enter once I saw their names on the sign up list. Again, I have no problem with how you choose to administer these situations...I'll react accordingly. But as has also been pointed out, there are some people who have "given up" even considering these type of drafts because of the annual infractions by a very few. That, imo, may be penny wise and ppound foolish on your part. But again, there may be extenuating circumstances that I or others are not aware of...may be these same inconsiderate drafters are entering 3 or 4 ME leagues, etc. I would like some policing of these drafts, but I'm....unlike others...ok if that doesn't happen and will adjust accordingly.
And I'm not suggesting banishment or other drastic steps...but I do believe the issues address in this thread are impacting signups for this particular format. Which I wish wasn't occurring, because I'd like to see this format's growth explode.

[Tom Kessenich]

As I indicated in my post, the problem is with continual infractions by the same drafters in multiple drafts.

And as Greg and I have said, if there are people putting a draft at risk we have and will intervene. To this point, the drafts have been getting done in a reasonable amount of time as Greg has posted. But if ones are at risk we'll take the necessary steps to get them back on track.

[RiFF]

As I indicated in my post, the problem is with continual infractions by the same drafters in multiple drafts.

And as Greg and I have said, if there are people putting a draft at risk we have and will intervene. To this point, the drafts have been getting done in a reasonable amount of time as Greg has posted. But if ones are at risk we'll take the necessary steps to get them back on track.

I don't believe people are saying most drafts aren't being completed in between 2 to 3 weeks. And if you avoid the few inconsiderate drafters they're being completed in 8-12 days. What the inconsiderate drafter does is destroy the rhythm or flow of the draft. Most everytime it gets to them the draft may go on hold for 6 or 7 hours. If all other 11 drafters are reasonably punctual the draft will still get completed in a couple weeks. But what the inconsiderate drafter does is add 4 or 5 days onto the time of the draft, but more importantly he has caused a lot of frustration to other drafters...some to the point that they just say fuk it...it don't need this.
And what I believe may elevate the level of frustration to some, is after a number of rounds the inconsiderate drafter is confronted on the chat board and his response is something to the effect "read the ruiles I have 8 hours to pick so just chill"
But I absolutely agree, unless you get 2 or 3 inconsiderate drafters in the same draft, drafts will be completed within 2+ weeks.

[Don Draper]

Greg/Tom: this is very confusing to watch unfold. Here you have some of your core customers telling you that they are either playing in fewer DC leagues or in some cases not even playing in any DC leagues due to inconsiderate drafters. While the company line is that MOST drafts are getting done within 2 to 2.5 weeks and to report anyone abusing the clock.

The only reason these drafts are getting done in 2 to 2.5 weeks is because most of the owners are making up for the inconsiderate owners by making their picks in a much more reasonable timeframe. Without these owners, the DC leagues would take an extra 1 to 2 weeks to finish, if not longer. Do the math...having a SINGLE owner using an average of 5 hours per pick adds 175 hours to the draft, ie, over 7 days

If I were management, I'd listen to your customers and find a way for technology to provide a better time management system, whether that is a "time bank" or a 4 hour day clock and an 8 hour night clock. If the number of inconsiderate drafters was essentially eliminated, drafts would be over in 1 to 1.5 weeks, your customers would be signing up for a lot more leagues and your company would gain additional revenue

As it is now, I have a blackball list and I won't be signing up for any DC that includes any names on it. Sorry, but I'm not going to let an inconsiderate drafter ruin my experience

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg/Tom: this is very confusing to watch unfold. Here you have some of your core customers telling you that they are either playing in fewer DC leagues or in some cases not even playing in any DC leagues due to inconsiderate drafters. While the company line is that MOST drafts are getting done within 2 to 2.5 weeks and to report anyone abusing the clock.

The only reason these drafts are getting done in 2 to 2.5 weeks is because most of the owners are making up for the inconsiderate owners by making their picks in a much more reasonable timeframe. Without these owners, the DC leagues would take an extra 1 to 2 weeks to finish, if not longer. Do the math...having a SINGLE owner using an average of 5 hours per pick adds 175 hours to the draft, ie, over 7 days

If I were management, I'd listen to your customers and find a way for technology to provide a better time management system, whether that is a "time bank" or a 4 hour day clock and an 8 hour night clock. If the number of inconsiderate drafters was essentially eliminated, drafts would be over in 1 to 1.5 weeks, your customers would be signing up for a lot more leagues and your company would gain additional revenue

As it is now, I have a blackball list and I won't be signing up for any DC that includes any names on it. Sorry, but I'm not going to let an inconsiderate drafter ruin my experience

Mark, nothing is unfolding here with the Draft Champions format. It's the same complaints that this format has always had. However, this year there was one or two people who entered a lot of leagues who started slowly and became "avoid" candidates. Well, even those owners are now in tune with the setup. Again, a "time bank" sounds good, but is it really the solution? And even if it is, it's not something we will be able to develop overnight. As for a night clock, as Jules and Mark said, when is your night somebody else's day or when does East Coast night time overtake West Coast night time? We certainly are listening to our customers, but not every suggestion is necessarily the answer.

There is no perfect solution for what were once called Slow Drafts. We have talked with some owners who people had concerns with and we don't see as many delays as we saw in April and May. Looking again at recent drafts, you can see yesterday's DC is already through 3 rounds, another one averaging 3+ rounds per day and another that started 4 days ago in Round 18. These are moving along well and I'm not seeing 2-3 inconsiderate drafters in each league as reported here.

We all want this format to grow, but we're not putting scarlet letters on owners and we're not kicking certain owners out of this format for not picking immediately. We will deal with those owners with calls and emails if needed, but the goal is to keep each league moving along slowly. We see that happening recently and we aren't seeing inconsiderate owners at this point. This is a unique format that deserves some patience, but right now it does look like it's working as well as ever before. Hopefully everyone is on the same page right now and it continues that way.

[Don Draper]

Here is a situation that happened yesterday in rounds 28/29:
Team 11 took a few hours to make their pick (which is typical)
Team 12 made both of their picks within 30 min
Team 11 took over 3 hours to make their next pick

When it was posted on the league chat that we were again being held hostage by the owner, here is the response we received:

Tony Mendez: Another Dietzman held hostage situation. Set your auto one plz.

Team Dietzman: why don't you tell me exactly how long you would like me to take for each pick and then i'll make sure to follow you r own personal version of the rules??

Team Dietzman: play the game by the rules and please don't complain about others doing the same. remember that YOU signed up for a SLOW draft with the rules indicating that each players gets up to 8 hours to make each pick

Team Dietzman: also guys, remember that what YOU feel is prime drafting times for you may not be the case for others. not everyone works bankers hours. good luck all - have fun!!!

Team Dietzman: thank you. as always, i will do my best to make quick picks. i typically travel 15 hour days a few days per week with averyfew breaks to even look at my phone between client visits. i also quite often have crisis work that makes my schedule unpredictable. on the days in which that isn't happening,

This is called blacklist