glitch in software.. players beware

[nails]

- i ran into an issue this thursday night. on my roster i had two tight ends. ENGRAM and his back up RHETT ellison.

when i found out RHETT was inactive, i attempted to remove both of them from starting lineup however since i did not have any other tight ends on my roster the system would not save an empty spot at tight end even though i had the opportunity to pick up a tight end during the Friday night free agency period.

i notified TOM AND GREG in writing in email of the issue, i told them that the system would not allow me to remove either tight end from the starting lineup even though it was well before game time ...

i got an email from TOM telling me that i could pick up a tight end on friday (which i knew already) but could not drop either tight end from my roster (which i knew ) however i had another player i could drop off the roster to grab a tight end that i knew i could play. Make sense?

fast foward to tonight. i did pick up another tight end but Rhett Ellison is still on starting roster even though i notified the ownership that the system would not allow him to be removed (even though i tried to remove him well before game time on thursday night). the system will not allow you to save a roster with an empty roster spot (this is a problem, because with 2 free agent periods, we have the right to address inactive news on Friday night..

so if your carrying ONE KICKER on the thursday night game, and you find out an hour before game time that the kicker is not going to play, guess what , you can't remove that kicker from the lineup even though it's before game time and even though you can pick up a kicker on Friday night and supposedly use that kicker. the system (since you don't have another kicker on your roster won't allow an empty spot or at least wouldn't allow me to do it as i tried and i notified ownership BEFORE GAME TIME IN WRITING OF THE TECHNICAL ISSUE).

now Tom says im stuck. even though i notified him and GREG before game time that the system would not allow me to leave the tight end spot blank. i emailed them this all thursday night before game time. they did respond.. thought there was no issue, then tonight, it's an issue.

so no matter what occurs, you should be aware. this is an issue.

[nails]

UPDATE, tom and greg corrected the issue. Thank you. but just be aware .. Sometimes it takes a wierd situation to find glitches in software.

[JohnP]

Doesn't seem like a software glitch.

What would have happened if you got outbid on your entire string of Friday pickups? You would have been allowed to retroactively "play" one of the Giant tight ends or just leave the spot blank?

[chriseibl]

Doesn't seem like a software glitch.

What would have happened if you got outbid on your entire string of Friday pickups? You would have been allowed to retroactively "play" one of the Giant tight ends or just leave the spot blank?

Agreed, I would have thought the TE had to stay in your lineup to prevent the possibility of not having a legal lineup. I've always assumed this was the case when doing free agent bidding. (i.e. if I have one defense and they play on Thursday, I've always thought I had to replace them on Wednesday instead of benching them and waiting until Friday, potentially leaving me with an illegal lineup if I don't win a defense).

Perhaps someone can clarify? Only asking so I understand what the rule is and what happens in the scenario John mentioned.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Yes, this is the first year that we've changed the software to make sure you have a legal lineup at all times. In the past, we allowed you to not have a legal lineup after Wednesday's FAAB with the trust that you'd have a legal lineup after Friday's FAAB. But then as was stated here, people would contact us and say they made a mistake and it just created more confusion. So we designed the software this year to make sure you MUST have a legal lineup at all times.

Unfortunately, it doesn't allow you to bench a player that is playing on Thursday if it's the only player at that position you have on your roster. Again, the computer can't assume that you will pick someone up on Friday, so in that case the owner should have picked up a replacement on Wednesday instead of Friday to make this work. We thought it would allow the benching and thus gave wrong advice and corrected it.

We believe the software is designed correctly and anyone in this situation going forward should take care of their replacement during Wednesday's FAAB period. Again, we've designed it so that you have a legal lineup at all times and if your only TE, K or D is playing on Thursday and you want to bench him, then pick up a replacement on Wednesday so that you have that option. Otherwise, he's staying in your starting lineup. The computer is NOT assuming that you will make a pickup on Friday.

[chriseibl]

Yes, this is the first year that we've changed the software to make sure you have a legal lineup at all times. In the past, we allowed you to not have a legal lineup after Wednesday's FAAB with the trust that you'd have a legal lineup after Friday's FAAB. But then as was stated here, people would contact us and say they made a mistake and it just created more confusion. So we designed the software this year to make sure you MUST have a legal lineup at all times.

Unfortunately, it doesn't allow you to bench a player that is playing on Thursday if it's the only player at that position you have on your roster. Again, the computer can't assume that you will pick someone up on Friday, so in that case the owner should have picked up a replacement on Wednesday instead of Friday to make this work. We thought it would allow the benching and thus gave wrong advice and corrected it.

We believe the software is designed correctly and anyone in this situation going forward should take care of their replacement during Wednesday's FAAB period. Again, we've designed it so that you have a legal lineup at all times and if your only TE, K or D is playing on Thursday and you want to bench him, then pick up a replacement on Wednesday so that you have that option. Otherwise, he's staying in your starting lineup. The computer is NOT assuming that you will make a pickup on Friday.

Makes sense, thank you for clarifying!

[eliasond]

My opinion is the system should allow us to save an illegal lineup until after the Friday faab is complete. I almost had the same situation a couple weeks ago with vinatieri on Thursday night. I understand your side of the argument but this would still be my preference. If Greg and Tom would prefer to handle these types of situations via direct email on a case by case basis before the Thursday game like they did with the first poster I guess that works going forward but it's more work for them. Just my 2 cents.

[Sandman62]

My opinion is the system should allow us to save an illegal lineup until after the Friday faab is complete. I almost had the same situation a couple weeks ago with vinatieri on Thursday night. I understand your side of the argument but this would still be my preference. If Greg and Tom would prefer to handle these types of situations via direct email on a case by case basis before the Thursday game like they did with the first poster I guess that works going forward but it's more work for them. Just my 2 cents.

+1

[Greg Ambrosius]

My opinion is the system should allow us to save an illegal lineup until after the Friday faab is complete. I almost had the same situation a couple weeks ago with vinatieri on Thursday night. I understand your side of the argument but this would still be my preference. If Greg and Tom would prefer to handle these types of situations via direct email on a case by case basis before the Thursday game like they did with the first poster I guess that works going forward but it's more work for them. Just my 2 cents.

No, we aren't handling this by a case-by-case basis going forward. This is it. We gave him advice that it would work the way it used to be on Friday and learned with him that that's not the case.

From a player's perspective, I understand why it would be best the old way. But we found that some folks didn't have full lineups after Friday's games, so we tried to program it this way for all sports to prevent anyone from having an illegal lineup. Obviously if someone doesn't have a K or a D or a TE in football, it can't help them at all for that week. But in baseball if you don't have a second Catcher it actually can help you more than hurt you. So we designed it this way for all sports.

We can definitely discuss the pros and cons of this internally since football has two FAAB periods, but that's the rationale behind the programming. Thanks for the feedback.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

Awful rule to not be able to bench them. Who gives a damn if they don't pick up anyone Friday? They get a zero anyway.