START-UP guy has gone radio silent, how to handle

[ArrylT]

It is a very tough decision - and I know because I've been through it.

It is very difficult to balance the line between individual rights and collective need/want.

I think there is no issue with an owner taking a full time - provided he/she explains why. Like

"hey guys I work overnight, and cannot access draft at work, so I'll only be able to make picks before/after my shift".

If you're starting a draft and you know you have a conflict of sorts and do NOT tell the league about it AND never respond to requests to communicate that to me is a red flag. Most owners I know at least say "i'll be on a plane for the next X hours" or I'll be camping for 2-3 days with limited access (whenever I go to the cottage near draft season I specifically tell the Commish that).

It is common courtesy to let others know. No one is stopping an owner from taking their full allotted time - but at the same time you have 11 other owners who have schedules of their own - and are being inconvenienced by one owner who may or may not be making any effort to communicate is definitely a frustration that does cause owners to question why they are in a league.

So if the owner is doing it repeatedly and has made no effort with even a token explanation, then he may not be the right fit for the league and it is better to replace now, than have it happen every rookie draft. But if he/she has made some communication and has explained why they are slow to pick then I think they should be allowed the allotted time, and owners will just have to be patient - use the extra time to talk trade, work on draft strategy, research incoming rookies etc.

[James McGhee]

Don't set a 12 hour timer if you aren't going to allow owners the allotted time. Most smart commissioners put in a provision that the draft time lowers in each passing round

It's freaking March. Why are you in a rush to finish a startup in MARCH?!

This. It's more annoying when a league sets a 12 hour timer then complains about it non stop.

[ArrylT]

Don't set a 12 hour timer if you aren't going to allow owners the allotted time. Most smart commissioners put in a provision that the draft time lowers in each passing round

It's freaking March. Why are you in a rush to finish a startup in MARCH?!

If it is being done on MFL they may want as much of it done before the April 1st maintenance scheduled. Anyone who uses MFL knows that 2-3 days can easily turn into 1 week of downtime.

[Dynasty DeLorean]

Why are you guys hassling him? If the timer is set to 12 hours, he has 12 hours. People are busy. He's making picks and therefore active. This is the same as vetoing trades because you think it's "unfair". Let owners manage their teams as they like. Maybe he's just a really indecisive person.

Yeah this is really bizarre. The other owners are at fault here for harassing this guy. While it would be nice, he doesn't have to explain anything to anyone, he doesn't have to respond to your emails and he doesn't have to pick in less than the 12 hour time limit.

[James McGhee]

Why are you guys hassling him? If the timer is set to 12 hours, he has 12 hours. People are busy. He's making picks and therefore active. This is the same as vetoing trades because you think it's "unfair". Let owners manage their teams as they like. Maybe he's just a really indecisive person.

Yeah this is really bizarre. The other owners are at fault here for harassing this guy. While it would be nice, he doesn't have to explain anything to anyone, he doesn't have to respond to your emails and he doesn't have to pick in less than the 12 hour time limit.

[Friction]

This is exactly why i stopped doing email drafts with long timers. Now, i am the type who makes sure i get my picks in fairly quick and always am baffled when a pick on the turn gets one in and disappears for the next. That said, i also understand rules are rules and people have lives. So i avoid these drafts as opposed to complaining. Easiest way fo me to avoid it.

[jordanzs]

I can see though why the lesgue would deem him to be the villlage idiot and turn on him though.

It’s not the whole taking 12 hours thing but the lack of communication thing. I’ve been in many startups where the owner’s have families, or jobs where they can’t get online, or different sleep schedules. I’m in hawaii which is 6 hours behind the east coast. So I let owners know that if I’m on the clock while I’m asleep, I wake up at 7am “my time” so the draft is frozen until 1pm their time.

But no big deal, everyone knows, so nobody cares.

Communication is a common courtesy and helps build league camradarie.

But I would just vote to shorten the clock to 8 hours after the 1st 4 rounds.

[clarion contrarion]

Don't set a 12 hour timer if you aren't going to allow owners the allotted time. Most smart commissioners put in a provision that the draft time lowers in each passing round

It's freaking March. Why are you in a rush to finish a startup in MARCH?!

100% this what is people's issue -

I can see it now a couple idiots throwing a fit because a guy is following the rules . Look morons he is doing you a favor taking his time every minute he takes when you are following him allows for more breaking news that may benefit you - like zay jones getting charges dropped ( wonder how much that cost him?) or frank gore inventing a time machine or allan hurns signs with cowboys .
It sounds like the whiner dude had a couple trades rejected and freaks out or is just an impatient tool hard to guess?

[CooperCrush]

It is a very tough decision - and I know because I've been through it.

It is very difficult to balance the line between individual rights and collective need/want.

I think there is no issue with an owner taking a full time - provided he/she explains why. Like

"hey guys I work overnight, and cannot access draft at work, so I'll only be able to make picks before/after my shift".

If you're starting a draft and you know you have a conflict of sorts and do NOT tell the league about it AND never respond to requests to communicate that to me is a red flag. Most owners I know at least say "i'll be on a plane for the next X hours" or I'll be camping for 2-3 days with limited access (whenever I go to the cottage near draft season I specifically tell the Commish that).

It is common courtesy to let others know. No one is stopping an owner from taking their full allotted time - but at the same time you have 11 other owners who have schedules of their own - and are being inconvenienced by one owner who may or may not be making any effort to communicate is definitely a frustration that does cause owners to question why they are in a league.

So if the owner is doing it repeatedly and has made no effort with even a token explanation, then he may not be the right fit for the league and it is better to replace now, than have it happen every rookie draft. But if he/she has made some communication and has explained why they are slow to pick then I think they should be allowed the allotted time, and owners will just have to be patient - use the extra time to talk trade, work on draft strategy, research incoming rookies etc.

Very much agree with this

[BigJoeWall72]

What a bizarre thread... If you weren't prepared for every single pick to take 12 hours, then you shouldn't have set the time limit to 12 hours. It is 100% within this person's right to take 11 hours and 59 minutes every single time, and they shouldn't get any flack for it. The entire point of a slow draft is to accommodate people with different schedules or times they can't be on their phones or whatever other reason they damn well please to not be drafting 1 hour after they've been on the clock.

It’s become clear that he wasn’t attempting to trade, it was unnatural. He was purposefully doing it, not going to get into why. Trying to get lowered.

If the above happened to me while (a rule change during the draft), I would immediately demand my money back and leave the league. That's a horrible precedent to establish.

[Valhalla74]

As I was reading this, I immediately thought of when I was in the National Guard, and had drill on the weekend. I wouldn't have been able to draft. While I'm in the middle on this one, seeing both points, the reality of it is you never know what happens in their personal life, hence the auto picks. What if the guy was hurt and in the hospital?! It could happen!

I'm a super fast drafter, knowing who I'm usually going to pick several rounds ahead of time depending on the situation, but you can't get angry at the other type of drafter if the timer is 12 hours - that's the way it was set up.

[Bad News Barrett]

The more I read this, the more I'm glad that my leagues are filled with people I play in nearly all leagues with

When I do a startup, for one, I get people I've been in other leagues with

I set a timer, and don't go back on it. The most we will do is make fun of people that take a while in a groupme chat

Never threaten to kick someone out. You don't know if they are doing research on potential gems (True story, a guy sent a screen shot from his pc with a tab that had a Marquess Wilson label on it during our startup last year)

This game is supposed to be fun. Sounds like your league is doomed from the start if you have people throwing a fit about a draft time in MARCH

[Vcize]

Nothing more annoying than people complaining about people using their allotted time to pick in a draft taking place months before the season.

I did a startup last year where several people, but one guy in particular would throw some huge hissyfit every time someone took more than a couple of hours even when they communicated about it. Maybe he should have taken some extra time with his picks because his team sucked and he predictably quit after the first season.

In this case yea some communication would be nice, especially the first time, but now that you know he's making his picks and hasn't gone AWOL does it really matter? Heck at this point he's probably just going to troll you all the rest of the draft and wait 11:59 for each pick even if he wasn't planning to before, and I can't say it's not deserved.

[zoster80]

Everyone has lives outside of this silly game. You don't know what's going on in his life. If he had 6 mins to spare, then he probably made the pick. So he's there and active. Cut the guy some slack.

I agree here, we had a similar issue in one of my startups and everyone was pressuring to get this done and one guy every round would slow it down every round. He was busy with work and kids. You can't fault people who have lives and are playing within the rules that were set before.

What I would ask is for common courtesy to at least let people know that your working on it by shooting a text, just a little communication would help. As the commish I would call personally and let them know that it is important to be respectful of others and their time. This will help later when people are reaching out to trade. I hate when people don't respond to text, emails or trade offers, tell me no or not interested, hold on I'll get back to you, but don't just leave me hanging.

[jordanzs]

Last year in our startup that had some guppies & unknown drafters, we put our expectations in writing as such:

When you're on the clock, please pick as soon as you're able to, but you'll have up to 12 hours to do so.

Owners abided by that, although we got 1 owner who builds highrises so he can't be on the phone. The "you're able to" part for him was literally 8 hours at times, plus time for him to do research. No harm no foul, everyone knew.