League Activity Requirements

[Pullo Vision]

I've seen Commishes spell out requirements to join/stay, like respond to emails/trade offers quickly, be active in the chat and threads, or log onto the platform at least once a week. Even seen leagues with dedicated forums, and the expectation for owners to be active and post there. Is it better to have a rule like this that you can point to if there are issues, or is it so obvious (like don't cut all your players) that it shouldn't need to be said?

This isn't just a commish question, because owners (ideally) are reading the bylaws thoroughly. Would that be a factor in joining? Is that a sign of a good commish, or a domineering one?

Is some sort of a minimum for league activity excessive, or does it serve a vital purpose that no league should be without?

[Anteaters]

Pay all your fees on time.
Fully participate in draft.
Set starting lineups every week.
Manage your roster so you have a valid starting lineup each and every week.
No collusion.

Those are the only rules I view as mandatory. Everything else is a want, not even close to a need. Things like responding to trade offers promptly are draconian. I mean, what if there's a guy who sends a lot of crappy offers. Am I expected to respond to all his crappy one-sided offers? And once we say "no, you don't have to" for that guy, then the rule is dead in the water.

And I'm definitely not agreeing to post a minimum number of messages on a chat/message board. I'm joining a fantasy football league, not a social network. Chatting, to me, is a want for a league, not a requirement.

I'm doing this quickly off the top of my mind ... there's a chance I forgot one or two.

[Pac_Eddy]

That woud be a big factor in joining a league, as in a big red flag to have mandatory participation. Aside from the very subjective definitions needed, the micromanagement is likely a sign of other issues.

It does stink when some owners never respond to trade offers, but you can't say for sure how often someone is on the league website. If it's an MFL league for instance, it can be accessed via apps that the main MFL site doesn't note as having been visited.

[Jigga94]

Pay all your fees on time.
Fully participate in draft.
Set starting lineups every week.
Manage your roster so you have a valid starting lineup each and every week.
No collusion.

I feel like to have to spell this out might be a bit strange, but this is really the bare minimum. If you aren't going to do those, then don't bother playing

[Bronco Billy]

Are you prepared to kick an otherwise good owner out of the league because they don’t post at a league message board enough? Or because they take 3 days to respond to a trade offer?

Good grief. There’s enough to do to be a good commish without adding all the nannying suggested above, and if you’ve got good owners let them behave socially as they see fit. There’s not a chance I’d joining any league that has some of the rules above.

[abloom]

The only thing I would require as far as activity is to pay due on time. Trying to force activity isn't as effective. Instead work on getting good owners in when other owners leave.

[jordanzs]

The best way to handle this is when you’re forming the league, lay out all these rules in bold in the bylaws. Then take your time to find 11 other owners who say “hell yes, minimum participation rules are AWESOME. This is the way”.

Do that from the get-go and you shouldn’t have to enforce anything.

To be honest, I’m in enough leagues (7 dynasty and 3 redrafters) where I don’t want them all to have active chats. That would be annoying. I have some that have active groupme’s and active text chains. Some of those are really active. I enjoy that but I don’t want to have to post the same meme across a bunch of chats. Other leagues are solid leagues but sorta dormant on the chats and trades. I’m good with that too. So yeah I'm simultaneously the most active owner and one of the most dormant owners, depending on the league

[moishetreats]

At the risk of being overly generalizing, I'd say it's not good or bad, clear or domineering. Some people want to be in a league with lots of activity -- trades, chats, trash talking, etc. Some are content doing the "basics": meeting deadlines, setting rosters, responding to trade requests. And others yet are fine in a casual league where some are people are just inactive even for a couple of weeks at a time.

As long as the expectations are clear and it's a good league/fit for owners, then any of the above work. If it's unclear what the expectations are for all/new owners, then that's a Commish/constitution issue. If someone is joining an existing league but doesn't really want to buy into the established league activity norms, then they might be in the wrong league.

So I don't really see any of the possibilities as good or bad. Different leagues for different people. We're happy when it aligns and frustrated when it doesn't. So it goes (nowadays, that allusion is probably far less known than the contemporary and ubiquitous "This is the way". ).

[thebeast]

I think it sets expectations. So, owners that don’t like it or think they won’t have time for it won’t join the league and those that want to be highly engaged will.

[Pullo Vision]

Great points here. To your points Pac and Bronco, I have seen rules where owners would get booted for not logging into the platform frequently enough. There was no good response to the point that you can log in through the app but it doesn't register on MFL's "last logged in" tracker. I've even logged in through one device while viewing the league activity on another and it show me as not actively on the site.

I completely agree with you Moishe from a large scale perspective. To you, beast and jordanzs, it can serve as a useful filter. People who want to be in "active" leagues will be pulled in, while others will stay away. The problem is the rules can lack precision, like respond "quickly" or be "active", along with examples like repeated poor offers.

I added a poll to the OP with various options for "league activity". Would be interesting to see each individual's subjective standard of the larger community.

[wickerkat1212]

The ONLY ones that are mandatory to me are setting a lineup and keep a valid roster. Even the draft timeouts happen. The rest I wouldn't make mandatory. Optional IMO. Even fees, as long as they are paid before the season starts. I guess that's mandatory.

[Csl312]

Our league works like the NFL - if your pick isn't in on time you can still pick but the next pick is on the clock as well. But if someone messages the league and says they need a little more time everyone is cool with extending the clock generally. My league mates have real lives - anything beyond setting valid lineups every week would just deter good members from sticking around.

[DLF3000]

My league mates have real lives - anything beyond setting valid lineups every week would just deter good members from sticking around.

I chuckled here because it reminded me that what defines a good league member... has more variation than you'd expect.

I mean... only setting up valid lineups every week makes you a good league member? Well, I guess so for some folks.

However you set activity/investment expectations, If you're going to spell them out I definitely agree you spell out both the positive and and negative behaviors.

And then remember there's going to be some people who disagree on whether some of those good or bad behaviors are even valid.

The gray areas are the tough part - like the mentioned high volume rapid fire terrible offer trader. Which naturally reminds me of the "zero interaction/all trades die on the vine" owner which I equally abhor.

The sad part with all this is the main reason these "rules of conduct/activity expectations" ever come up is because of one or a few bad apples, like usual. Some jerk deciding not to follow some of the most basic or unwritten rules of gaming etiquette or social interaction to an extreme.

I hate the idea of having to address the entire league on the most basic crap because of one jackass - but that's life, not everyone acts like a decent person, for whatever reason, no matter what we're talking about. Address the issue at a bare minimum. Or go further and replace them, or leave - or don't join - the league.

[Csl312]

We have guys who trade when they need to, participate in the draft, set lineups every week and compete, and never participate in the group chat. I'd say they are good members. Basically policing people for having lives outside their fantasy football league is how you end up booting someone who may be dependable to participate to am acceptable degree. Not that someone who just sets their lineup is good - I mean more that you can't make these sort of rules and selectively enforce them when there may be perfectly acceptable reasons why someone broke the rule.