Barnstormers and the "invite" feature. Waiting for Semi's.

My email that went out spells out DH or no DH plus everyone can always visit the main Barnstormers Page to get event details.

70+ have entered and that's about average since the announcement (and invites) went out. Half a dozen leagues have 5 or more, some 6 and 7.

I agree that this is a change but I am also looking at this as a test and it may not continue. The reasons that have been brought up I already knew would be a problem (delays in filling a league) but the advantages of disrupting cherry picking leagues are the plus.

Also, many years ago, players were "assigned" to leagues. It was only to make things easier for me that a change was made to allow you to enter any league. Again not ideal.

Once I get this event kicked off, I will circle back around to the board for discussion. The end result is the same, everyone has the same potential delays in getting started.

We are the guinea pigs for the invite feature. How it works for us and maybe sharing our experience with others (and getting potential bugs revealed) will help pave the way for all theme league and other tournament creators to benefit from the new feature. We encourage you to give thanks to SOM for all their hard work to implement this KILLER feature !

And by the way - random.org spit out the list whether you believe it or not. I have no interest or concern who goes into what leagues. This is the random.org result. The four players on the tail of the list have been informed that they are on standby waiting to be invited where needed to replace no shows or players that bail from the tour.

-------------------------------------------------------------

List Randomizer

There were 229 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

hendrix08
chris_s
der geist
Decius
warrenbob52
Dodgerfan Always
blineimages
The Last Druid
Rod McCabe
garyclausen01
AZHawg
marty9057
Elmo041209
gfg001
sheepdog61
dharmabums
glanny
FALCON29
robmb
newsgame
rangrfan
LJs
McDaddy
nicholasbarella
RICHARDGAGNON
thecrawdad
DALE VAN DEVEN
a1lionfan
mjruth
danielz
Edthrelkeld
1787
mducharme
Say Hey
Blurt
jugslavin
Phila01
Treyomo
HistoryProfessor
sjudd
stevea47
Sox040713
quarterdozen
ashleyjoe
TrolleyDodger55
MICHAELTARBELL
caimrisek
Brothersatm
Dmorgan90275
tmatthews
Bunze0
crgoddu
Eveldrive
earlylights
CassidyGT
mikebarrett
DWG
REDHOOK
Hamilton17
egvrich
Jack377
Betthemax
ducyacy
Bitters
Goreds54
lk340988
pretzel_logic
hallerose
rickburr
PETERLE
Metsfan12
YettieJohnston
Roosky
brimacqc
chaberlal
MonkeyMaker
mastermosser56
komodos069
Muadib1950
BruceF
tmfw30
djmacb
doc x
Chuck1234
ksher58
clayface9
BDWard
KAD1988
dinsdale
chunga1
Rocket Robin Hood
Hank Henry
swades
MIKEARCHAMBAULT
tombar3
bk7171
Macmathman
sakdl4
jlkahn
Skulls
unctarheel
dmatusen
dgbarella
JOHNBORELL
wwwalrus
rookssa1958
tkl33
bmilner
laughren.francis
RICKWIEGAN
devinehalo
BC15NY
pwoelfle22
Hack Wilson
RangerJoe
Mr Regulator
Mr Baseball World
gcaraballo
Dougout
lectrition1
pacoboy
samh0711
captnjeter
mburatti76
Minoso Express
childsmwc
BRYANLEWIS
BrookeBryce911
Ron4yanks
cminton
Lindonman
tplatypi
joemay3rd
bigjimed
ScumbyJr
1Can1
alvarndc
Spider 67
RB44
Ptolemy323
estern
rolandzeut
Mathew Quigley
Sneaky Snake
JMROZINSKI
DOHowser1
MATTMARTELL
Hola
Big Willie
Moon3232
Takanahana
Bigsplitter
Scoops Baseball
vjpeak
RiggoDrill
mditka891
freeman
mesquiton
Semper Gumby
big sideburns
Torr59
andycummings65
doktorhendor
bluedonkey
Daviddec
CirrhoticLiver
JimmyJames209
jmdziuban2
murf4
killermarc
marsta58
Joestradamus
jamespoohbear
labratory
Irishfalcon
Rocket05
SteadyEddie33
jmoore1966
dwightskino21
ShakeyBoomer
bigbadboog
Dougess
gkhd11a
PaulAlanWeintraub
Ballbuster
Aray0113
nels52
scorehouse
mwelter
watershark1967
Egnaro
cascboas
malamutt2002
fouldawg
dappleg1
MickeyRuth73
treybeckiii
dl385
denorien
Outta Leftfield
JohnnyBlazers
Red Beards
Brannu
Toyboys
boyer14
The Timelords
Zimharry
jeffdoh
jlt53
Rwlamb1959
Badriders
Simon31
twonewb
grazoontite
dgrish
Hittmens
Jayson.lastarza@gmail.com
HD48
gepes
wbonn63
Rube
Chemosh
sociophil
chuckwonup
Musialfan6
Chompsky
unclerowser
FrankieT
Supersore
daddyk
nwelter
toston

IP: 24.6.29.179
Timestamp: 2020-07-17 14:22:49 UTC

Now 96 have entered in about 18 hours since the announcement and invites went out. Although none have filled, 9 leagues have 6 or more. I'd say that's a good start.

Thanks for posting the randomization list, it is good to know how that went down.

I still have a concern about when the drafts will actually take place. In theory, all managers could enter their assigned league but if one team is not "ready" then it appears that we have to wait until they are. Is there a mechanism to prevent this sort of scenario where one person might hold up a league indefinitely?

Has worked well so far and seems like a good method, but extending Druid's point--if the four unmatched players at the end are ready to go, how long do they have to wait before they can replace someone?

In some cases, there could be unmatched players who are definitely always ready to go diehards, being held up by someone who missed an event or is usually late to an event. Conceptually, there are two harms (the unfilled league and the waiting unmatched player) caused by the one laggard.

Nothing is ever perfect, but I think it was a valid point he raised that could help tweak this good feature moving forward.

Thanks

This is of course the first time for this scenario so its still a work in progress. I will still continue to monitor who is in and who isn't and send the every 2 or 3 day NAG emails to "get your team in". This is a hard push but it is necessary. Deadlines will be given as usual. At some point in time, an evaluation for EACH league will need to be done. If only 1 is needed, it may be time for a filler or turning the league back to public to finish up. It may also be necessary to disband a league and asking the players in them to move to other leagues to fill them. As usual, some players enter in the first hour, others wait 10 days, so with this many players, we know these groups will faceoff against each other. Again, EVERYONE is in the same boat and I am not going to try to rationalize who is a "jump in right away" and who is a "foot dragger". That brings us right back to one person deciding the league composition.

The four unmatched have already been given a home as some dropouts have already emerged. I also have a good list of players who have requested to play as a filler when needed. If they agree to play as a filler, they can be invited to fill vacancies.

We are less than 24 hours into this adventure so this is far too early to panic and start questioning the process. It's being developed.

As far as the four players who tailed the random sort, I could have easily created a league 20 and put them in it. But that would have left 8 spots for fillers and experience says that I can expect more and more dropouts the later we get into the tour, especially with so many this time not being close to making the semifinals.

And tell me, would you prefer to have your Top 9 being dominated by those who are good at waiting until the last minute to drop into a SOFT league ? This IS the reasoning behind this.

Oh hey--I am surprised it has gone so smoothly. This is all just tweaking the what-if scenarios.

I liked just clicking and going without having to search for a league.

And no--at least from my perspective this is a righteous way to handle league assignments. Everyone gets the same opportunity.

Thanks again

I think maybe in the future you should overinvite. That way leagues will get closed. Maybe invite 14. This prods people to load quickly. Then randomly assign leftovers to two or three leftover leagues.

Overinvite sounds like a great idea. In fact for the 4 on the bottom of the sort, 1 of them was invited to the league that had the fewest entrys AT THAT TIME, giving it 13.

Also thanks to everyone for making me feel like we are able to work this new thing out together, rather than everyone being all upset about it.

League 5 we got put in divisions then 1 team dropped. Now what?