Some time back I started using Player X, who rarely got used and when he did, it was a more expensive and less potent season. I could list him at the very bottom of my draft card with a minimum 90% probability I would get him. Player X hit extremely well and the teams were successful. Since then Player X has been drafted in every 80M league I've entered, usually used in the same ballpark I use him in. I now have to list him first to have a chance to draft him.
Happy me? No. But them's the breaks.
I don't care if someone would want to copy my team, my park, or individual player choices. If I'm successful, which sometimes I am, then why wouldn't a new or struggling manager not want to try some or all of the things which the veteran managers with proven tracks records are doing.
I think this happens all the time. The evolution of player/park/balance/bias choices in ATG is sort of like a snake dance. The successful managers forge their way through the player and stadium pools and the rest of the managers sort of form in a snake line behind them, not always sure where the dance is taking them or why, but assuming that somewhere along the dance line they'll get it all figured out. At least that's the way it seems to me.
Copying someone else's team chapter and verse is rather audacious. Most would try to conceal their intentions to some degree. But it still doesn't bother me.
This thread is sort of ironic in that in real life baseball, copying is done all the time. If one franchise has success by trying a new formula, other teams follow suit and before long it becomes the standard. Eventually another team will step out in front and challenge the standard by trying something new. And if they're successful, all the other teams will turn course and start off in the new direction. That's why I'm rooting for Nolan Ryan, who is determined to develop SP's who can pitch complete games. If he's successful and the Rangers win consistently with that approach, alot of GM's are going to start asking themselves why they are paying all these middle men and setup guys 3M a year to get a couple of outs.
Kevin A