Strat-O-Matic.com transition info/FAQ

[bernieh]

This thread is intended to be a one-stop shop for all the info I want to make sure you know about Strat-O-Matic Online's transition to Strat-O-Matic.com - [b:919539e56e]currently in process, which began with a shutdown of the old site on Friday, June 8 at 4pm ET[/b:919539e56e] - and also all your FAQ's.

[i:919539e56e]Edit:[/i:919539e56e] We were not able to launch the new site on Monday, June 11 as planned, and thus the transition continues. Please stay tuned to http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com for updates on the process.

[size=16:919539e56e][b:919539e56e]About the Transition[/b:919539e56e][/size:919539e56e]

[url=http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=627198][b:919539e56e]"So I'm rebuilding the site..."[/b:919539e56e][/url] - original post from 10/26/11
[i:919539e56e](excerpt)[/i:919539e56e] In a nutshell, I'm rebuilding the Strat-O-Matic Online site from scratch, and in the process, making it better, and opening up the possibilities for it to get a LOT better. We're making a deep investment in the future of this game, and giving it a much greater chance to get to the next level.

[url=http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=628278][b:919539e56e]ANNOUNCEMENT: Strat-O-Matic.com to be taking over SOM Online[/b:919539e56e][/url] - original post from 2/3/12
[i:919539e56e](excerpt)[/i:919539e56e] This spring, Strat-O-Matic Baseball Online will be moving from SportingNews.com to Strat-O-Matic.com. Strat-O-Matic Media will officially own and operate all aspects of the game going forward.

[size=16:919539e56e][b:919539e56e]When is Moving Day?[/b:919539e56e][/size:919539e56e]

Strat-O-Matic Online's old site was shut down on Friday, June 8 at 4pm ET. We are still in the process of moving everything over and we will be bringing it up at its new home at Strat-O-Matic.com as soon as we can.

Games initially scheduled for that Friday night, June 8 or later will be resumed at a point after the new game site launches at Strat-O-Matic.com, to be determined. Be sure to check http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com for updates on when gameplay will be resumed. You will be given enough time to re-gain access to your teams and to prepare.

[size=16:919539e56e][b:919539e56e]What you really need to know[/b:919539e56e][/size:919539e56e]

[color=blue:919539e56e][b:919539e56e]Edit, Jun. 8, 10pm ET:[/b:919539e56e] The deadline for explicitly registering a Strat-O-Matic.com account that automatically absorbs your teams has passed. But [b:919539e56e]don't worry if you didn't get the chance to[/b:919539e56e] - in that case, an account will be made for you and [b:919539e56e]we will get you into it so you can get to your teams.[/b:919539e56e][/color:919539e56e]

[color=#cccccc:919539e56e]It's our biggest priority to make the transition as seamless as possible for you, so we're designing this process so that there's really only one thing you [b:919539e56e]need[/b:919539e56e] to know to prepare for Moving Day:

[size=14:919539e56e][b:919539e56e]Visit Strat-O-Matic.com and register a user account there, and make sure the email address on both that account and your current SportingNews.com member account matches.[/b:919539e56e][/size:919539e56e]

[b:919539e56e]At the time of the switchover, all of your active SOM Online teams will be automatically transferred to your Strat-O-Matic.com user account with the matching email address, and you'll proceed to log in with that new account thereafter. [/b:919539e56e]

So for example, if you play SOM Online under the account "Montgomery Burns" with the email address "montyburns@yahoo.com", register a new account on Strat-O-Matic.com called "Montgomery Burns" (or anything else; the name can be different if you want), using the same email address "montyburns@yahoo.com". That new account is where you'll find your teams after the switchover.

I've created a [b:919539e56e]special info page with more details on this, personalized with your info[/b:919539e56e] (this is no longer accessible).
[/color:919539e56e]

Other than that, you should know:

- All existing team credits will transfer over to Strat-O-Matic.com.

- All games on our main SOM site (ATG, 2007-2011, 1999, 1986, '90s), along with The '70s Game and Back to the '80s, will continue uninterrupted through the switchover to the new site. In addition to (of course) existing leagues, that includes all credits, teams that are still drafting, and leagues that are still filling.

- To prepare for the switchover, the following older games were closed for new team registration on Friday, February 10: 1969, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and FantaSim. All teams not in a full league by then will be credited back to you at a point before Moving Day. Existing full leagues in those games with an Opening Day of Monday, February 13 or earlier have played through to completion on the existing site.

[size=16:919539e56e][b:919539e56e]What will be awesome about the new site?[/b:919539e56e][/size:919539e56e]

A whole lot. I talked about the site rebuild in general way back when I first announced it [url=http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=627198]here[/url]. Since then, I've been posting some teasers revealing some of the cool new things I've been working on... and this is just the tip of the iceberg:

[b:919539e56e]Site rebuild teasers[/b:919539e56e]
[url=http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=627484]Teaser #1[/url] - Improved player search options
[url=http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=628151]Teaser #2 & #3[/url] - Mooooore staaaaats
[url=http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=628444]Teaser #4[/url] - Drop players upon trade completion
[url=http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=628813]Teaser #5[/url] - Pitchers' hitting stats
[url=http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=628856]Teaser #6[/url] - No ads
[url=http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=629108]Teaser #7[/url] - New visual cues for injury & position listings
[url=http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=629109]Teaser #8[/url] - New menu style
[url=http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=629111]Teaser #9[/url] - Per-inning scores in score displays
[url=http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=629503]Teaser #10[/url] - Recap/boxscore/pbp facelift
[url=http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=629504]Teaser #11[/url] - Draft list - full stats displayed

[size=16:919539e56e][b:919539e56e]Forums situation[/b:919539e56e][/size:919539e56e]

These existing forums here at SportingNews.com [b:919539e56e]will stay up through transition weekend[/b:919539e56e] and for the near future. This is so that you can continue to chat, and I can continue to communicate with you through the process without interruption. The only quirk you have to remember is that you'll continue to use your old/existing SportingNews.com login to post here on the forums for the time being, while you'll be using your new Strat-O-Matic.com account over at the new site to play the game.

Within a few weeks, once everything at the new site is humming along, we'll set our sights on setting up a brand new forum for you over there with shiny new software (and with search functionality, for crying out loud). Migrating over all your posts from all these years will be considerable effort, but I'm lobbying hard to make that happen.

But the main point is your forums access will be uninterrupted, and I'll include a link to here on the "We're moving..." page you see when you come to the game site after we shut it down.

[size=16:919539e56e][b:919539e56e]Is there anything that might be (temporarily) missing when we switch over?[/b:919539e56e][/size:919539e56e]

It can't be overstated that my #1 priority is to simply get the new site working with minimal gameplay disruption to your existing leagues. Though I'm confident that I can achieve that mission, it's been and will be a monumental task. As such, there are a few, less integral parts of the site that won't be available on the new site at switchover, and may take some time going forward for us to fully restore them (and/or likely improve upon them). I thank you for your understanding and patience on these things.

- Live Drafts. I've stated before that we're no longer running Live Drafts for our last few weeks here at SportingNews.com, because that old mess was on its last legs and breaking down seemingly every other week. I think we can all agree that our new official Live Draft needs to be done RIGHT, tailored for SOM Online, with salary cap support and everything. The good news is SOM is hiring a dedicated programmer to help build it (!). It'll take some time, but it should be worth it. There's a [i:919539e56e]chance[/i:919539e56e] that if we can find some decent, free service or software that we can patch up to run live drafts for us, we'll set it up for you as an unofficial stopgap, but no promises.

- Access to your older teams. One of the biggest culprits involved in any of our database issues during our tenure here at SportingNews.com was the sheer amount of your data that we've been keeping around. 10+ years, hundreds of thousands of teams, hundreds of [i:919539e56e]millions[/i:919539e56e] of player stat records. A tiny percentage of which is being accessed by you at a given time, but still we've been consuming crazy expensive resources keeping it in one giant database which runs more slowly as you guys generate more data, and is tough to maintain and troubleshoot when there are problems. Well we're going to be smarter from now on; we'll be archiving your older teams into a separate database, which will allow us to keep the main database lean and mean with your active teams. Don't worry, we still intend to have your archived teams accessible to you going forward, but it might take just a little time to set up smoothly and properly.

[size=16:919539e56e][b:919539e56e]Gameplay Schedule for Moving Day[/b:919539e56e][/size:919539e56e]

[i:919539e56e]Edit:[/i:919539e56e] The old Strat-O-Matic Online site was taken offline on Friday, June 8 at 4pm ET. Games initially scheduled for that Friday night or later will be resumed at a point after the new game site launches at Strat-O-Matic.com, to be determined. Be sure to check http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com for updates on when gameplay will be resumed. You will be given enough time to re-gain access to your teams and to prepare.

[size=16:919539e56e][b:919539e56e]FAQ[/b:919539e56e][/size:919539e56e]

I'll be trying to answer as many of your questions as I can - [i:919539e56e]about the transition in particular[/i:919539e56e]. I won't be answering general questions about Strat-O-Matic's plans for the future, e.g. if we're bringing Football back eventually, or what our next new player set will be. And I won't be answering questions about whether a specific new feature will be available on the new site at switchover - assume the answer is "no", unless I specifically tell you otherwise.

That said, feel free to post whatever questions you'd like; I'm just telling you that I'm going to be targeting the ones most relevant to the upcoming transition in particular. If I do have an answer about something else I'd like to share, then I'll share it.

[b:919539e56e]What will happen with the player sets that were suspended (1969, 2001-2006, FantaSim)?[/b:919539e56e]
I don't know exactly, because at this point we're focusing all our energy on the transition. The transition still poses some uncertainties that may affect the when and how of re-introducing these older player sets, but I do hope to iron them out before too long. Sorry I don't have a clearer answer than that.

And in general, I'm guessing that many of my answers to subsequent FAQs will be a similar, "I don't know yet" because I'm unable to look too far ahead right now. But I know that an explicit "I don't know yet" is better than silence, so I'll do my best to address as many of your questions as I can, even when that's the best I can give you.

[b:919539e56e]What will happen to the '70s and '80s games on Moving Day?[/b:919539e56e]
They'll finally be making the move from the garage to the main house, immediately starting to enjoy the latest amenities (like 24-team leagues, Bullpen v2 and Game Replay watching!), but the "re-boot" of the player salaries and new card infusing will not be happening right away. I'm still dying to do it like I've been promising you Mystery Card-ers, and will push to my new bosses at SOM to do it as soon as we can after the transition.

[b:919539e56e]What will happen with the forums?[/b:919539e56e]
We're planning to port over the entire history of posts from here to a new forum... we'll probably be sticking with PHPBB, but if we do, it'd be a clean installation that can stay current with its new releases and features, including search. We haven't started planning out the move yet, so I don't even know how smooth it would be. Again, our main focus is on keeping the game play transition smooth, so that takes precedence.

[b:919539e56e]What will happen to the Manager Ratings when we move?[/b:919539e56e]
As far as I know, they will be preserved as intact as possible.

[b:919539e56e]Should recurring leagues be making any consideration re: the switchover when consider our next seasons?[/b:919539e56e]
(asked by budo73) Nope: our goal is to keep all leagues intact through the transition, save for the 4-day postponement of games.

[b:919539e56e]Any idea on pricing? Have 5 team packs remained the same?[/b:919539e56e]
(asked by B-RocK) Pricing is staying the same for the time being.

[b:919539e56e]Will the new site work better on mobile devices?[/b:919539e56e]
I can safely say that it'll work way better on iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) than the existing site does. I can only guess that that goes for other platforms as well, since I've rebuilt the site much more properly this time around, but I personally don't have any devices to test on other than iOS.

[bernieh]

The handful of questions I've answered at this point aren't the entirety of those I'm already aware of; I just wanted to get the ball rolling and open up the floor to you guys.

I'll be trying to answer as many of your questions as I can - [i:641ecf5b8b]about the transition in particular[/i:641ecf5b8b]. I won't be answering general questions about Strat-O-Matic's plans for the future, e.g. if we're bringing Football back eventually, or what our next new player set will be. And I won't be answering questions about whether a specific new feature will be available on the new site at switchover - assume the answer is "no", unless I specifically tell you otherwise.

That said, feel free to post whatever questions you'd like; I'm just telling you that I'm going to be targeting the ones most relevant to the upcoming transition in particular. If I do have an answer about something else I'd like to share, then I'll share it.

[geekor]

How soon until the old sets (2001, 2002, etc) are brought back? Will they still be half price? Will the player pricing be redone? Can we have an option to use the old or new player pricing when setting up a league?

Ability to do multi-season keeper leagues?

Will we have the ability to search our own teams for a player? Like when someone asks, how has player a done for you, I can easily find which of my teams had him before?

Who wears short shorts?

How excited are you to actually be doing all this coding. From a programmers perspective it seems like a fun job!

[doug_tucker10]

Bernie, i've already got a strat user id (for stratomatic.com website), will that be the same one i use on the new forum?

[hackra]

any guess on timeframe for the return of Fantasim?

[bontomn]

Same question as jamesgang77. I, too, already have a Strat account with the same logon name and password as The Sporting News.

[bernieh]

[quote:c120afa465="jamesgang77"]Bernie, i've already got a strat user id (for stratomatic.com website), will that be the same one i use on the new forum?[/quote:c120afa465]
Your Strat-O-Matic.com account simply has to have the same email address as the one your current SportingNews.com has, and then your SOM Online teams will automatically find their way over there on Moving Day. I'm assuming forum access will be similarly consolidated, but I don't know for sure yet.

Again, don't do anything just yet until I give you full instructions.

[quote:c120afa465="geekor"]How soon until the old sets (2001, 2002, etc) are brought back? Will they still be half price? Will the player pricing be redone? Can we have an option to use the old or new player pricing when setting up a league?[/quote:c120afa465]
Don't know. Don't know (nothing's been decided yet). Yes. Yes, [i:c120afa465]if possible[/i:c120afa465], but there may be logistical issues that may force some changes.

[quote:c120afa465="geekor"]Who wears short shorts?[/quote:c120afa465]
We wear short shorts.

[quote:c120afa465="geekor"]How excited are you to actually be doing all this coding. From a programmers perspective it seems like a fun job![/quote:c120afa465]
If this project were just coding, I'd be in heaven. I wish I had the time to do a write-up comparing the hoops I had to jump through to accomplish the littlest thing on the old existing site versus how quickly I'll be able to do that same thing on our new platform. Case in point, this morning I just hammered out a brand new, simple, long-requested feature in just 15 minutes, that was impossible before. I'll be teasing that one soon :).

Of course this project involves much more than coding good times; managing the migration of 10 years' worth of game data is insane and it's stressing me out. But as for the coding - yeah, that part's a blast :). Thanks for asking.

[ROBERTLATORRE]

26 years in IT, I can test the crap out of it for you!

[keyzick]

Last estimate was mid-to-late May...still on track for that?

[Salty]

[quote:ad3dbe2cd0="latorrer"]26 years in IT, I can test the crap out of it for you![/quote:ad3dbe2cd0]

Suggestion:

Toilet paper. Scented, non-bleached.