what happened to the shark pool? (1 Viewer)

[Hipple Long Ware & Peete]

bostonfred....hmmmm.....while I generally agree with his sentiment in this thread I believe that's the guy who made several flippant posts in an otherwise serious thread a couple years ago trying to belittle me about my choice of screen names

I remember that. It was about three years ago.Fred's comment was "Are you really a 57-year-old guy who calls himself Dragon?"Gotta admit, I laughed.

I thought it was funny too considering it came from a guy who had Tinky Winky as his avatar I noticed Tinky Winky disappeared soon after I made a comment to that effect.

no sense of history huh...

 

[Eminence]

Shark Pool needs moderation. This thread, eye sore.

 

[Hipple Long Ware & Peete]

Been lurking around here since cheatsheets.net. Used to read this board every day, but now I only look maybe once a week during the NFL season and not at all during the offseason.The message board's viability as a place to communicate has been long compromised, social media is killing off all the boards. This place is just a standard example.My favorite time period for this board was like 7-8 years ago. Some of the guys on here historically have had nothing better to do than to treat certain professional football players like adopted sons, lol---who was the guy who swore up and down that Joseph Addai (a replacement-level talent if there has ever been one) was the second coming of Jim Brown? BTW I believe (but am not entirely sure) that I played live brick & mortar poker with Boston Fred once, and that we somehow discovered our common membership to this forum through some random conversation about fantasy football. I told him I liked his posts. It was probably at Foxwoods, circa 2006 or something.

 

[12punch]

Shark Pool needs moderation. This thread, eye sore.

fred will learn that as you grow up you need to learn how to interact with people.you won't like everyone, not everyone will like you, and the world is not made in your image.this is why they have an ignore function built in -- for the people who haven't learned how to actually ignore others without the use of software.fred could've silently used this feature, but that wouldn't create the internet drama he needs, or put the spotlight on him.he wouldn't get a chance to play the grieving widow, hoping other grown men would come to comfort him with a big cyberhug.he had a choice between using ignore, or creating and starring in his own real housewives of jersey shore --- the problem with the former being, like most of the actual football discussion here, it doesn't get you 7k views.

 

[Mr. Pickles]

Pretty sure domer said Rice wasn't a Hall of Famer.

 

[Amused to Death]

I miss JoeT and LHucks, as they had their quirks, but usually brought some great info.

I don't know who you are, but take what you know about FF and then multiply it by 100...that's about where I'm at.

Willing to admit that I know nothing about FF.....now where does that leave you?

I would say you know just SLIGHTLY less about FF than the average poster. I would give you a score of -1.

LHucks or Epic?

Please refrain from participating in discussions about math.

This exchange has me And is the proper response to the toolish reply by LHucks, which is a good example of what the OP is pointing out. That "I'm better than you" mentality.

 

[12punch]

I miss JoeT and LHucks, as they had their quirks, but usually brought some great info.

I don't know who you are, but take what you know about FF and then multiply it by 100...that's about where I'm at.

Willing to admit that I know nothing about FF.....now where does that leave you?

I would say you know just SLIGHTLY less about FF than the average poster. I would give you a score of -1.

LHucks or Epic?

Please refrain from participating in discussions about math.

This exchange has me And is the proper response to the toolish reply by LHucks, which is a good example of what the OP is pointing out. That "I'm better than you" mentality.

lol ironyI think the op was pointing out he is better than us

 

[Amused to Death]

This exchange has me

And is the proper response to the toolish reply by LHucks, which is a good example of what the OP is pointing out. That "I'm better than you" mentality.

lol ironyI think the op was pointing out he is better than us

I read the OP as "we need more discussion and less condescending attitudes".

 

[joffer]

Pretty sure domer said Rice wasn't a Hall of Famer.

Pretty sure pickles said Eli would suck

 

[joey]

This apology is all well and good but the real question is:SSOG, does your return to the scene also signal a return to updated rankings on dynastyrankings.net?

Probably not, but I do have some other fun stuff in the works.

Just a SP thread with your dynasty rankings would be fine. No web site to maintain that way.

 

[Soulfly3]

just got a pm/email from my buddy here..i do not have the time right now to sift through this entire thread to find the posts but its said some bassnbrew person has a problem..me welsh on a bet?? NOW THAT AS FN FUNNY AS ANYTHING IVE EVER HEARD OF ABOUT MYSELF!...not sure if anyone might remember my old sig i used here before Tilman is my hero but it was all about aholes who makes side bets and don't pay out here and how it pisses me off to no end! I made what must be in the hundreds of side bets on all kinds of things Ff related out here and never once not paid when i lost (i do have a pretty good winning % tho but have one to many times not gotten paid for a win. But that's beside the point. Now as for this crazy accusation...i was suspended here for like three years and i'd did not come back here even once for at least 2-3 years after that. So what you're talking about has to be 7-8 years ago? Well excuse me! Not only could i not log in i could not see the entire board for two years! If i had a bet i have no idea what it was how it got made how it finished or if i won or lost for that matter or how much it was for even! I must have more more than one side bet going on here over the years i was active here before getting suspended! Strange i see no one claiming they lost any to me huh? Bass whoever do you see me changing my user name or trying to hide? Never happen, are you that desperate and hurting really or did you yapp so much and talk BS that you might not have deserved to get paid IF a bet was even had? But i got to run right now ill get back to this when i have time to and time to think about what the heck ur talking about and i better not remember or see any BS talk pointed at me from you or you wasted your time..but again if i lost a legit bet and its proved to me i have no problem paying up even if it was 7 years ago and i was blocked form this site for half of them. Whats funny here is my email never changed and i never heard a word about this from you or anyone for that matter that i recall and i have been bouncing in and around here every now and then even posted some and never heard this..but now this comes up? Shocked to say the least but if you point me to this 'be' i made ill pay with bells on with interest as long as you didn't talk BS when i had no chance to even log on or read this site know outcome of any bets and defend myself. I say that because i know what ive had to deal with here(and yes i given back just as well)over those past years. How much was this bet? I spend a small fortune every year playing this hobby. Cash is not the issue here. Ill be back at a better time for me..but don't talk BS.. PM me some details but please understand i wasn't able to log in or view this site for many years when this may have gone down.

I had to get my reading glasses. Copy and paste this into Word. Enlarge the text size and then double space to even begin fathoming what this clusterfunk of a post was supposed to represent. How an individual with what resembles the education of a block of Old Cheddar cheese can afford 10k/year on make-belief football is beyond me. Inheritance? Lottery? Full of carp?After lurking for nearly 10 years, I had to register just to tell you that you're a shmuck.

 

[Biabreakable]

just got a pm/email from my buddy here..i do not have the time right now to sift through this entire thread to find the posts but its said some bassnbrew person has a problem..me welsh on a bet?? NOW THAT AS FN FUNNY AS ANYTHING IVE EVER HEARD OF ABOUT MYSELF!...not sure if anyone might remember my old sig i used here before Tilman is my hero but it was all about aholes who makes side bets and don't pay out here and how it pisses me off to no end! I made what must be in the hundreds of side bets on all kinds of things Ff related out here and never once not paid when i lost (i do have a pretty good winning % tho but have one to many times not gotten paid for a win. But that's beside the point. Now as for this crazy accusation...i was suspended here for like three years and i'd did not come back here even once for at least 2-3 years after that. So what you're talking about has to be 7-8 years ago? Well excuse me! Not only could i not log in i could not see the entire board for two years! If i had a bet i have no idea what it was how it got made how it finished or if i won or lost for that matter or how much it was for even! I must have more more than one side bet going on here over the years i was active here before getting suspended! Strange i see no one claiming they lost any to me huh? Bass whoever do you see me changing my user name or trying to hide? Never happen, are you that desperate and hurting really or did you yapp so much and talk BS that you might not have deserved to get paid IF a bet was even had? But i got to run right now ill get back to this when i have time to and time to think about what the heck ur talking about and i better not remember or see any BS talk pointed at me from you or you wasted your time..but again if i lost a legit bet and its proved to me i have no problem paying up even if it was 7 years ago and i was blocked form this site for half of them. Whats funny here is my email never changed and i never heard a word about this from you or anyone for that matter that i recall and i have been bouncing in and around here every now and then even posted some and never heard this..but now this comes up? Shocked to say the least but if you point me to this 'be' i made ill pay with bells on with interest as long as you didn't talk BS when i had no chance to even log on or read this site know outcome of any bets and defend myself. I say that because i know what ive had to deal with here(and yes i given back just as well)over those past years.

How much was this bet? I spend a small fortune every year playing this hobby. Cash is not the issue here. Ill be back at a better time for me..but don't talk BS.. PM me some details but please understand i wasn't able to log in or view this site for many years when this may have gone down.

Here are the pertinent details...

Linky Worth the read as there are some other nuggets in this thread.

fyi...counter to his claim above, he was e-mailed.

You guys need to know the real story about the DonnyT character since he's spreading falsehoods around here, so here's the 411 on DonnyT/DLeo... After DLeo drafted an embrassingly pathetic survivor team last year and BAGGED HOW HE AS THE GRAETEST (Hopefully I captured his writing style) I challenged him to the following wager... "How about $25 on total points and $25 on who lasts the longest." His reply..."sure...ok..lets do it.." I have documentation via PMs and posts on this board about the wager. He now claims that we have a second wager which never existed. I was never able to get him to commit to sending the funds to a neutral party. I just got lip service such as this..."Actually as far as my money is concerned I could wait until the bets are over to pay or get paid..figure it out..we both post here since day one and very likely wont stop for 25 or fifty bucks and get slammed here its almost better than having the money in hand because these guys would never look at us the same again if one didn't pay and I am the one guy who short of death would ever stiff any bet debt...think about it..again either way the bets are on the minute I committed." Well DonnyT lost his wagers, got banned from this board, and refused to pay. I e-mailed him about payment and got this response..."I would not know Bass. Problem is that Bryant BANNED me for some unknown reason and i have not been at the site since week 2 or around there. I will make good when i he puts me back in. Try and put in a word for me or find out when i might be let back in. But I will make good on it once I get in and check things out. I was not sure what league we had the bets in and have not been able to track the league since being unable to log in the boards...." Fast forward to this summer and DLeo is now "filling in" for his buddy DonnyT. Same writing style, same caps, same IP. I ask for my payment again and he claims not to be the same guy. Here's the first PM I got from DonnyT/DLeo "don't dare start this BS! My Dame is Dennis not Donny! I know who you are talking about but he was BANNED FROM THESE BOARDS LAST YEAR or so he has told me. I asked if could help draft with him last year in the Anarchy leagues and he let me because he was worried about missing a pick with such a short timer. I did not post last year only read these boards. This year i decided I was good enough to come out and play with my own user name. Please don't get this confused! Now how could he even owe you any monies if WE BEAT YOU IN THIS LEAGUE? Our team out scored your team meaning he should be owed the money and I know you two had a $50 bet in the Anarchy leagues last year so what are you even trying to pull? Just to end this now I have not been in touch with DT since he told me last year that he was Banned from using the boards and was Pissed off at Joe because of it. Please now, this ends right here as far as that goes. " Note how he said he hasn't been in touch with DonnyT for a year but less than an hour later I get this e-mail from DonnyT...Bass. Are you forgetting out $50 bet on who finishes with more points in our Anarchy leagues last year? We did have a $50 bet on that as well and i did out point you. So wouldn't that make us all even..strange you would possibly forget this or were you confused.? I never forget a bet just wasnt sure where this other leagues was posted becasue of my being banned from posting or even reading that board. Please dont be asking my friend DL about being me because that will only get him banned from that dictator lead MB. I will never have anythign to do with the board again and am so pissed at Bryant it does nto matter anyways. Please do not tll me you dont remember our anarchy bet from last year? So DLeo/DonnyT....please point to one post or e-mail that references a second bet between us? Better yet, stop making up stuff and paid your fantasy football debts. You are the Michael Vick of the fantasy football world.

Now this...this right here, that is good stuff... LOL If footballguys had a reality show... this would be the main focus of an entire episode

I was there and all that Bass says is true. It was even more hilarious then than it is now. Me and Sonny are huge Donny fans! I think Donny has gotten better at writing since then!

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Wow, this is a fun thread to go back and read from start to finish all at once. In the early days of my psycho keeper-dynasty-hybrid league, one of my buddies mentioned this really cool site called Footballguys. I started visiting the site, and frankly it took awhile to get up the nerve to join AND post in the Shark Pool. Back then there were seemingly a ton of smart people with both mainstream and contrarian insights - typically backed up by either facts or a reasonable assessment. After months of lurking, I joined under an earlier username....one that was, in a bizarre fashion, made obsolete out of concern that I would be confused with the actor who played my current SP character. That was a long time ago.

The culture of any organization requires the investment of time, energy, leadership.....and constant reinforcement.....to maintain. This is the best fantasy football site of any - no qualifications, it just is. But the Shark Pool has slipped. And it has slipped gradually, but continuously. Starting out it seemed like people were eager for fact-based discussion of players, but over time the trolls started to take over. And honestly, at some point you get so sick of dealing with the BS, that you become one of the crowd, reacting to juvenile stupidity with a does of less vile stupidity. The ongoing presence of LHUCKS is just one example of this. If you were a legitimate business and had a court jester standing outside your office everyday, insulting anyone who walked in the door, how long would you expect to remain in business? On a more serious note, the intellectual curiousity of this place seems to dissipate gradually year-by-year. From a personal perspective, I spent hours a few years ago digging into team defensive stats, and basically *proving* that prior year strength of schedule (from year "N") had little predictive power in year N+1. In a community of fantasy aficionados, you might expect a fairly excited response....but in this case...not so much. (full disclosure - I might be a terrible writer, perhaps the topic was less compelling to others....)

Anyway, all of the above contributed to 3 reactions from me:

1. FBGs is still a really cool site, and Joe/David continue to have a better product than anyone else

2. That said, my willingness to invest time in new ideas to share....is close to zero

3. the BS has beaten me down gradually, and now it's more fun to jump on the site every couple weeks and make fun of stupid people. Of which there are many.

Yeah, I'm honest to a fault. My time - 2 kids, a wife, a demanding job - is precious. This place gets about 10-20 minutes per week of my time on average. This week is an exception.

Here's to hoping that somebody turns this place around. I have no energy to do that, but it would be great to see someone do it.

 

[GregStarling]

Anyway, all of the above contributed to 3 reactions from me:1. FBGs is still a really cool site, and Joe/David continue to have a better product than anyone else2. That said, my willingness to invest time in new ideas to share....is close to zero3. the BS has beaten me down gradually, and now it's more fun to jump on the site every couple weeks and make fun of stupid people. Of which there are many.Yeah, I'm honest to a fault. My time - 2 kids, a wife, a demanding job - is precious. This place gets about 10-20 minutes per week of my time on average. This week is an exception.

This. A lot of us used to be on here 1-2+ hours every day, debating things like your "are past defensive stats a predictor of future performance?" topic. I truly believe the Shark Pool became the center of fantasy football thought, and this led to it becoming really popular. This popularity has led to a lot of casual ff fans joining the board. Inevitably, the noise increased while the quality (as a % decreased). Spending 10 hours researching and writing a topic only to see it fall off page 1 in favor of troll fights and veiled WDISs, will dishearten even the most diehard ff players.I'm like you, I hope somehow it can be fixed, but like a lot of things, I think it is likely past that point. Here's to hoping.

 

[redBourne]

I skimmed through this topic itself just to post this very reply; I noticed a lot of the back and forth unnecessary banter, well, unnecessary. I'll try to be brief but I tend to be winded.

I started noticing the riffraff posting back and forth between members sometime ago (no members specifically just in general) and posted my own distaste about it in no particular thread where I found some users crying to each other and trying to get the last word. I recognize some of the names on this board but not all of them. As you can tell from my bite count, I lurk more than I post but I hope that my contributions have been insightful and beneficial to everyone. I put time into them and I'm proud of what I post. I've been playing FF casually for 12 years and this year is the first that I've considered purchasing online content rather than buying a store magazine and using free online data/tools.

My first inclination was to purchase tools/content from FBG but my only experience's with FBG is the daily emails, the Excel spreadsheet and this forum. I've used the spreadsheet every year since I've found FBG and found it to be a decent tool for free at least. I've grown to really like the emails this year. Not sure if the content is better or because I haven't purchased a book but good job. However, my experience with this forum, whether it be the moderation or conditioning and the lack thereof, has gone down considerably. I skim through everything now whereas I used to find so much good information I would complain to my bud's that my "site" (I wouldn't give them my source of information ) would have too much good info lol. I would have considered other options anyway as it's best to pool your resources. Again, my first inclination was to buy FBG but the way this shark pool is handled sways my decision. If you can't keep this pool in check than what are you doing with the rest of the site that does requires a subscription?

I'm not crying to FBG or this shark pool of members but giving those who care a sample of data to consider as they move on with how they deal with everything they manage. Maybe I'm just a lost guppy, which is probably the case.

 

[Beckster]

Pretty sure domer said Rice wasn't a Hall of Famer.

Yep.And I remember the epic discussions in the shark pool between Topes and the first "ham" (who later appeared as Vivian Darkbloom). I learned a lot about fantasy football reading what they had to say every day.

 

[ImTheScientist]

R.I.P. the yellow boards.I'm sure most will blame Obama for the change in the Shark Pool waters.

 

[Saint]

to Fred. I have to admit reading through this thread was nostalgic seeing some of the original posters showing up. For those of us that frequent the board, there are some tremendous posters out there that have great content if you know what to look for. More kudos to MOP as I automatically read all of his posts as I know there is going to be some nugget of knowledge gleaned there. I even enjoy the posts from Otis on his hawk draft, if only to tell me who to avoid drafting.... (J/K Otis, but I truly do avoid your players... ) But here's the thing, the guys are posting information that they believe is good information and they back it up, and they may be right... or they may be wrong. Either way, if they are backing it up, that's worthwhile and these threads usually have a ton of great information in the debate with people backing up their views.

I come here for the different points of view each person brings. Always have. I've been a subscriber since the beginning and personally, the DD and the news are worth the price of subscription every year. Then again just getting into the 35k and getting into the discussions with Iggy and Drinen are worth the price of subscription. There's a lot of pissing in the pool, no doubt about it, but it was always there. We have more forum members now and hence more pissing.. just the way it is.

FWIW, the subscriber only forum has been brought up multiple times in the past. You run the risk of alienating some of the decent posters that just enjoy the forums and are not subscribers. And at the same time, you have subscribers who really like to piss in the pool. Either way, it's not a silver bullet to fix the problem.

Bottom-line, do the right thing and be excellent to each other.

 

[culdeus]

Not sure what value this place has in general anymore. With the right twitter feeds you can get all the information you need on any player or team and avoid all the bull#### slapfights.

You still can share your opinion and debate your side of a point if done right. To me this place has been more than just a place where you get news, I think that's the same for you too, Culdeus.

10 years ago people had only Hector and Victor to advise them. Now you can get real time updates from every beat writer you want. A lot of what people were posting here were not "opinions" 3 years ago it was facts they were getting from obscure sources. Sources are not obscure anymore if they want to be relevant. Now to get "noticed" here you have to make a Skip Bayless type hyperbolic rant which requires no data to back it up and no source material to draw from. I could give to ####s that Snookiefan111 from peoria thinks that Matt Shoob has no "heart", or whatever intangible that you can or can't prove. That's all that's left here except the crying and the WDIS stuff.

 

[12punch]

I skimmed through this topic itself just to post this very reply; I noticed a lot of the back and forth unnecessary banter, well, unnecessary. I'll try to be brief but I tend to be winded.I started noticing the riffraff posting back and forth between members sometime ago (no members specifically just in general) and posted my own distaste about it in no particular thread where I found some users crying to each other and trying to get the last word. I recognize some of the names on this board but not all of them. As you can tell from my bite count, I lurk more than I post but I hope that my contributions have been insightful and beneficial to everyone. I put time into them and I'm proud of what I post. I've been playing FF casually for 12 years and this year is the first that I've considered purchasing online content rather than buying a store magazine and using free online data/tools.My first inclination was to purchase tools/content from FBG but my only experience's with FBG is the daily emails, the Excel spreadsheet and this forum. I've used the spreadsheet every year since I've found FBG and found it to be a decent tool for free at least. I've grown to really like the emails this year. Not sure if the content is better or because I haven't purchased a book but good job. However, my experience with this forum, whether it be the moderation or conditioning and the lack thereof, has gone down considerably. I skim through everything now whereas I used to find so much good information I would complain to my bud's that my "site" (I wouldn't give them my source of information ) would have too much good info lol. I would have considered other options anyway as it's best to pool your resources. Again, my first inclination was to buy FBG but the way this shark pool is handled sways my decision. If you can't keep this pool in check than what are you doing with the rest of the site that does requires a subscription?I'm not crying to FBG or this shark pool of members but giving those who care a sample of data to consider as they move on with how they deal with everything they manage. Maybe I'm just a lost guppy, which is probably the case.

I'm not subscribing unless they make me a mod

 

[Hooper31]

I wonder if it wasn't the exit of Shick! that started the decline. Love him or hate him he ruled the forums with an iron fist and really took to heart the "no pissing in the shark pool" mantra for the most part. The faceless mod thing is a joke and seems to be even more arbitrary than he was...which is really saying something.

I miss him and thought he was awesome. I know others don't share that passion.

You guys are high. That dude was the worst.

 

[urbanhack]

I wonder if it wasn't the exit of Shick! that started the decline. Love him or hate him he ruled the forums with an iron fist and really took to heart the "no pissing in the shark pool" mantra for the most part. The faceless mod thing is a joke and seems to be even more arbitrary than he was...which is really saying something.

I miss him and thought he was awesome. I know others don't share that passion.

You guys are high. That dude was the worst.

 

[Hooper31]

I wonder if it wasn't the exit of Shick! that started the decline. Love him or hate him he ruled the forums with an iron fist and really took to heart the "no pissing in the shark pool" mantra for the most part. The faceless mod thing is a joke and seems to be even more arbitrary than he was...which is really saying something.

I miss him and thought he was awesome. I know others don't share that passion.

You guys are high. That dude was the worst.

 

[bagger]

I wonder if it wasn't the exit of Shick! that started the decline. Love him or hate him he ruled the forums with an iron fist and really took to heart the "no pissing in the shark pool" mantra for the most part. The faceless mod thing is a joke and seems to be even more arbitrary than he was...which is really saying something.

I miss him and thought he was awesome. I know others don't share that passion.

You guys are high. That dude was the worst.

lol<3 !

 

[Clifford]

This three-digiter concurs. Place needs more meat.

Not a 3-digiter, but let's clarify meat (and this is just my opinion)I'm going to catch a lot of hell for this, so I'm going to say it very, very carefully:While the content here is better than just about anything you will find anywhere else, the writing is subpar and the editing is either beyond atrocious or nonexistent. I never encountered such a needless glut of opinion and "me too-ism" in terms of writing than I have on this site. That is why I was 1 and done as a subscriber. Again, the content, the actual meat of the opinions and analysis is fantastic, but they write and put out content like everyone here can slow time to ingest 55 single-spaced pages of camp digests before they become completely irrelevant in 6 days.Because people see this on the site, they start posting like it hearing how posters have become staffers. Frankly, this place needs another writer about as bad as it needs more AC forums. There is too much content, and too much of it is simply longwinded and repetitive. The free content they give out every summer just reminds me of this when I think about buying a subscription. Take the overrated/underrated series: do you really need to hear the same paragraph about Cam Newton written six different ways by six different people?People should post better content with fewer words. Don't try to be funny, don't explain the situation or player in exhaustive detail before making your point. If a sentence begins with the word "Obviously" don't write it unless it is refuting a point made the sentence before. Posters should strive to be more like the hosts of the Audible (brief, knowledgeable, informative, funny) than the articles.That being said I really don't see the point in hashing this out every single offseason.

 

[rizzler]

just got a pm/email from my buddy here..i do not have the time right now to sift through this entire thread to find the posts but its said some bassnbrew person has a problem..me welsh on a bet?? NOW THAT AS FN FUNNY AS ANYTHING IVE EVER HEARD OF ABOUT MYSELF!...not sure if anyone might remember my old sig i used here before Tilman is my hero but it was all about aholes who makes side bets and don't pay out here and how it pisses me off to no end! I made what must be in the hundreds of side bets on all kinds of things Ff related out here and never once not paid when i lost (i do have a pretty good winning % tho but have one to many times not gotten paid for a win. But that's beside the point. Now as for this crazy accusation...i was suspended here for like three years and i'd did not come back here even once for at least 2-3 years after that. So what you're talking about has to be 7-8 years ago? Well excuse me! Not only could i not log in i could not see the entire board for two years! If i had a bet i have no idea what it was how it got made how it finished or if i won or lost for that matter or how much it was for even! I must have more more than one side bet going on here over the years i was active here before getting suspended! Strange i see no one claiming they lost any to me huh? Bass whoever do you see me changing my user name or trying to hide? Never happen, are you that desperate and hurting really or did you yapp so much and talk BS that you might not have deserved to get paid IF a bet was even had? But i got to run right now ill get back to this when i have time to and time to think about what the heck ur talking about and i better not remember or see any BS talk pointed at me from you or you wasted your time..but again if i lost a legit bet and its proved to me i have no problem paying up even if it was 7 years ago and i was blocked form this site for half of them. Whats funny here is my email never changed and i never heard a word about this from you or anyone for that matter that i recall and i have been bouncing in and around here every now and then even posted some and never heard this..but now this comes up? Shocked to say the least but if you point me to this 'be' i made ill pay with bells on with interest as long as you didn't talk BS when i had no chance to even log on or read this site know outcome of any bets and defend myself. I say that because i know what ive had to deal with here(and yes i given back just as well)over those past years. How much was this bet? I spend a small fortune every year playing this hobby. Cash is not the issue here. Ill be back at a better time for me..but don't talk BS.. PM me some details but please understand i wasn't able to log in or view this site for many years when this may have gone down.

oof. at least I keep my piles of BS to one liners.So, this is what the shark pool has "regressed" to since the "good old days"?Then by all means, let's rewind the clock

 

[urbanhack]

I wonder if it wasn't the exit of Shick! that started the decline. Love him or hate him he ruled the forums with an iron fist and really took to heart the "no pissing in the shark pool" mantra for the most part. The faceless mod thing is a joke and seems to be even more arbitrary than he was...which is really saying something.

I miss him and thought he was awesome. I know others don't share that passion.

You guys are high. That dude was the worst.

:buttslap:

 

[Hooper31]

I wonder if it wasn't the exit of Shick! that started the decline. Love him or hate him he ruled the forums with an iron fist and really took to heart the "no pissing in the shark pool" mantra for the most part. The faceless mod thing is a joke and seems to be even more arbitrary than he was...which is really saying something.

I miss him and thought he was awesome. I know others don't share that passion.

You guys are high. That dude was the worst.

:buttslap:

:ImpishSmile:

 

[cracKer]

cracKer

I've been away for far too long

 

[Big Sug]

see, i've been gone for so long that i don't even know what a reply with just this emoticon means!IDGI.

 

[Tau837]

Black dotting is really the most selfish thing you can do on a forum like this

Black dots are non-negotiable for reasons already mentioned.It amazes me that you find this annoying enough to pursue this issue with multiple posts. Of all the behaviors exhibited in the Shark Pool, many of which are being discussed in this thread, black dots are by far and away the least offensive.

 

[Tau837]

Good post, Fred.

I have contributed my fair share of bickering to the Pool but have generally tried to provide a lot more signal than noise. I'll try to pay a bit more attention going forward to avoid slipping. (But I'm not going to stop posting posts!)

I've been here since the cheatsheets.net days. I have had great debates over the years here with many of the older posters, like SSOG and Fred himself. I enjoyed the Pool more in those days. It seems to me that it used to be the case that staffers posted more frequently in the Pool... as that has changed, IMO it has contributed to the decline of the quality in the Pool. I realize they are busy, but one of the reasons many of them became staffers is because of the quality work they were doing here.

All that said, I come here every day, at least briefly. I still think it's the best place for fantasy football information and discussion that I am aware of, it just takes more patience and sifting to get to the good stuff.

 

[joffer]

cracKer

I've been away for far too long

[keanu] whoah [/keanu]

 

[ConstruxBoy]

cracKer

I've been away for far too long

We're getting the band back together

 

[ltaylor]

Great Post, Fred! Been a lurker since 2000 and I miss the days where I considered the shark pool to be the single best source for fantasy football on the web. I think another factor is the increasing age of the FF community. I know many of us got in board in our 20's in the late 90's or early 2000's. Now, we are 30-40 yrs old, and have jobs and kids. These new kids coming up now are just a diferent breed.

 

[12punch]

Great Post, Fred! Been a lurker since 2000 and I miss the days where I considered the shark pool to be the single best source for fantasy football on the web. I think another factor is the increasing age of the FF community. I know many of us got in board in our 20's in the late 90's or early 2000's. Now, we are 30-40 yrs old, and have jobs and kids. These new kids coming up now are just a diferent breed.

and you want them off your lawn

 

[David Yudkin]

cracKer

I've been away for far too long

I think I just hit a tree. And I wasn't even driving.

 

[Sarnoff]

I wonder if it wasn't the exit of Shick! that started the decline. Love him or hate him he ruled the forums with an iron fist and really took to heart the "no pissing in the shark pool" mantra for the most part. The faceless mod thing is a joke and seems to be even more arbitrary than he was...which is really saying something.

I miss him and thought he was awesome. I know others don't share that passion.

You guys are high. That dude was the worst.

:buttslap:

:ImpishSmile:

 

[Borat]

If you are playing FF for more than just entertainment, you are stupid.It's all entertainment, fellas. All of it. Football guys subscriptions, the subscriber contest, the SP, the FFA, hell even the IDP & Baseball forums.... if you want to tie up $10K a year, that's your prerogative, but acting like people can't be less serious around here because you don't like it is just asinine.I play in one dynasty league with a $15 entry fee and gladly pay the $30 or whatever it is to join FBG because I enjoy the whole experience. If you want real insight and information that is useful, pay for the subscription, read until your eyes bleed and use the MyFBG feature. If you want to debate who you should take at 1.10 or what effect Dez's off the field antics mean to his dynasty prospects, then come in here. If you want to act like a 13 year old and debate politics with lunatics, then go to the FFA. But don't for one second think that any of it is more than entertainment. So when some of us blur the lines a bit, just blow it off and keep looking for what you want. The search function is your friend.glll peas

Says the guy who joined the board yesterday.

I've been on this board under various names since at least 2003 or 2004, and I agree with everything Magic Football Shoes has said.Some of you people seriously need to get a life. The board is really no better or worse than it ever has been. Posters like Rizzler add personality to the board.Also, love him or hate him, Kool Aid Larry is one of the most informative posters on this board when it comes to Patriots-specific material. He knows (and clearly understands) the team better than Yudkin does (and he certainly has more of his own original opinions & insight to offer).

 

[Bruce Hammond]

Skip Bayless

Not sure how this dirty word made it through the language filter. We're gonna have to have this looked into.

 

[Bruce Hammond]

I can't say whether good content has declined more recently, because I can't be on the board as consistently the last few years as I used to be and don't have as good a perspective on the daily flow of threads and their dialogues as I used to. When I am here now, I try to make it count more. I used to read everything and post on almost anything, but I've had to be more selective in the threads I open due to time constraints. But if good content has declined, maybe it's a natural process of the hobby maturing and there not being as many "new" things to learn. You can only rehash the same concepts and ideas so many times.

As far as the rest of the conversation goes, I dunno. I've followed and posted on this board and its predecessor from the beginning, and I know there was usually a lot of good content to digest... but I also remember a lot of obnoxious guys always around riling people up. That part of it has been around all along and there's only so much that can be done about it. No one wants to spend their lives playing board cop. I had to learn to develop a thicker skin and ignore them. I wish those kinds of guys cared that they aren't adding anything but annoyance for the rest of us and would raise their standards, but I guess they think they are cool or something.

I will say though, thicker skin or not, it's still a little bothersome to try to post good info or opinion and then have some dupe who knows little and studies nada come behind you and tell you you're stupid. Very hard to ever get used to that, but that's humanity I guess. There's a segment of humanity that has never failed to disappoint vs what it's capable of, so you accept it and take the good where you can find it and just live with the bad.

 

[griff321]

Really the only way to get the board to a point where some want it is to come in with draconian style moderation, e.g. Have only one topic for every player/team/concept discussion and then delete every post/topic that adds nothing to the discussion. This thread would immediately be sent to a dung heap forum because it's off topic. I'm not sure that would ever work here without alienating a lot of people.

 

[Daywalker]

I blame PPR.

 

[12punch]

I wonder if it wasn't the exit of Shick! that started the decline. Love him or hate him he ruled the forums with an iron fist and really took to heart the "no pissing in the shark pool" mantra for the most part. The faceless mod thing is a joke and seems to be even more arbitrary than he was...which is really saying something.

I miss him and thought he was awesome. I know others don't share that passion.

You guys are high. That dude was the worst.

:buttslap:

:ImpishSmile:

I guess newer posters will never know what they were missing

 

[SWC]

i will tell you a story at high school back in the day and this does go back in to the day there was a group of guys who grew up earlier than others and through junior high they were the jocks but then bam they hit the end of there growth spurt and that was it and other guys normally the farm kids kept growing and kept getting bigger you know probably becuse they actually went home and worked throwing hay and bringing in cattle and whatnot like real americans not playing with sci fi comic books and guess what by junior varsity all of the old jocks were either last string or could not make the team and you would see them sitting at lunch talking about how the new starter guys who had kept growing and gotten bigger and better from working instead of complaining were spazzes and dweebs and other names like that but guess what brohans those same spazzes and dweebs were the ones playing on friday night having the town cheer for them and leaving with the paper shakers at the end of the night well those old junior high jocks just kept sitting at that table talking about junior high and how they hit some shot in some game that no one was watching or even cared about anyhow and which they probably lost because they stunk up the joint so long story short take it to the bank brohans

 

[squistion]

i will tell you a story at high school back in the day and this does go back in to the day there was a group of guys who grew up earlier than others and through junior high they were the jocks but then bam they hit the end of there growth spurt and that was it and other guys normally the farm kids kept growing and kept getting bigger you know probably becuse they actually went home and worked throwing hay and bringing in cattle and whatnot like real americans not playing with sci fi comic books and guess what by junior varsity all of the old jocks were either last string or could not make the team and you would see them sitting at lunch talking about how the new starter guys who had kept growing and gotten bigger and better from working instead of complaining were spazzes and dweebs and other names like that but guess what brohans those same spazzes and dweebs were the ones playing on friday night having the town cheer for them and leaving with the paper shakers at the end of the night well those old junior high jocks just kept sitting at that table talking about junior high and how they hit some shot in some game that no one was watching or even cared about anyhow and which they probably lost because they stunk up the joint so long story short take it to the bank brohans

Exhibit A for what happened to the Shark Pool.

 

[SWC]

i will tell you a story at high school back in the day and this does go back in to the day there was a group of guys who grew up earlier than others and through junior high they were the jocks but then bam they hit the end of there growth spurt and that was it and other guys normally the farm kids kept growing and kept getting bigger you know probably becuse they actually went home and worked throwing hay and bringing in cattle and whatnot like real americans not playing with sci fi comic books and guess what by junior varsity all of the old jocks were either last string or could not make the team and you would see them sitting at lunch talking about how the new starter guys who had kept growing and gotten bigger and better from working instead of complaining were spazzes and dweebs and other names like that but guess what brohans those same spazzes and dweebs were the ones playing on friday night having the town cheer for them and leaving with the paper shakers at the end of the night well those old junior high jocks just kept sitting at that table talking about junior high and how they hit some shot in some game that no one was watching or even cared about anyhow and which they probably lost because they stunk up the joint so long story short take it to the bank brohans

Exhibit A for what happened to the Shark Pool.

i am not going to argue with you because frankly maybe i do stink up the joint and you are probably right and i have a lot of deamons and stuff that i have had to deal with and probably should not type it out of my system around here but it sort of gives me a little something to break up the junk so my bad on that but just for the heck of it what comic book are you in to right now brohan

 

[simey]

i am not going to argue with you because frankly maybe i do stink up the joint and you are probably right and i have a lot of deamons and stuff that i have had to deal with and probably should not type it out of my system around here but it sort of gives me a little something to break up the junk so my bad on that but just for the heck of it what comic book are you in to right now brohan

You may stink at punctuation and sentence structure, but I don't think you stink up the shark pool, SWC. Your commentary is like a puzzle, and I can usually piece it together. I especially like your commentary on "randall the touchdown robber cobber."

 

[Doxology]

Seems like this thread pops up every year. Sure, like in every forum, there may be a few bad apples, but this place is still great. The question is, if you think this place is so crappy, why are you still here?

YET THEY KEEP COMING BACK...

 

[corpcow]

What about a new "Shark Pond" forum, which is heavily moderated and invite only?