Fantasy Platforms ..... What's the best? (1 Viewer)

[Kai's Hero]

I've used Myfantasyleague for 10+ years but I feel it's got a little "tired" over the years. I am looking to start a new dynasty league and was curious to get some opinions and insight from others on other sites. Thanks, in advance.

 

[Cjw_55106]

It might be "tired" to you, but it's still the best. Sportsline is terrible for what you pay. ESPN isn't bad for a free site, but they are bad with updating player status. I'm still in a league that uses Yahoo, which is kind of a joke. Of those four, MFL is the easy choice.

 

[NeverEnough]

MFL

 

[Adam Harstad]

Unless I specifically need one of the boutique rules that only MFL can handle, I hate MFL. It's an absolute mess and a bear to navigate.

My host of choice is Fleaflicker. Free, keeps great historical statistics, up and running all year long (which is mandatory for dynasty), and the best, easiest-to-navigate interface around. Also, it's free, which I know I already said, but which is kind of a big deal.

I've been hosting a dynasty league there since 2007 with nothing but positive experiences. The only complaint is that the built-in message board sucks, but the built-in message board sucks at every fantasy host. We use an off-site board.

Edit: Also, they have a very responsive customer support team, and are probably the most feature-rich site this side of MFL, (though nobody is close to MFL on features). Though I haven't played on Sportsline in years; we used to run our leagues there, but switched to Fleaflicker because there was so much site downtime in '05 and '06, which is unacceptable for a service that cost that much. No down-time issues of note in the last nine years.

 

[BillyJoeBob]

I will agree with Fleaflicker, have been using for years and it is a good free site.

One other observation for me is ESPN's FantasyCast is great. I find myself using it all the time to monitor my team on Sunday. Very cool for a free tool. If ESPN covers your rules (not as flexible as Fleaflicker) they are definitely worth a look.

 

[tangfoot]

I hate MFL. It's an absolute mess and a bear to navigate.

 

[tone1oc]

I hate MFL. It's an absolute mess and a bear to navigate.

I've said this in many threads like these, but it's an abomination that MFL is not reinvesting any of their money into improving the UX. It's quite stupid too, because once one of the big guys release a dynasty product they will be crushed. I would instantly move my leagues to Yahoo if they supported rookie drafts and year round activity.

 

[TheBottomLine]

Love MFL, run a fairly complex league and have no problem navigating it. It's far from perfect but with a lot of practice, I'm very comfortable running my league on there. I somewhat agree with some of your comments though, and while I love Yahoo! for my baseball and basketball leagues, it doesn't give commissioners enough abilities.

 

[Tom Hagen]

I hate MFL. It's an absolute mess and a bear to navigate.

I've said this in many threads like these, but it's an abomination that MFL is not reinvesting any of their money into improving the UX. It's quite stupid too, because once one of the big guys release a dynasty product they will be crushed. I would instantly move my leagues to Yahoo if they supported rookie drafts and year round activity.

After years of using MFL I have started getting complaints from owners about the outdated design and lack of native mobile apps. I do agree that MFL needs to freshen things up.

 

[tone1oc]

I hate MFL. It's an absolute mess and a bear to navigate.

I've said this in many threads like these, but it's an abomination that MFL is not reinvesting any of their money into improving the UX. It's quite stupid too, because once one of the big guys release a dynasty product they will be crushed. I would instantly move my leagues to Yahoo if they supported rookie drafts and year round activity.

After years of using MFL I have started getting complaints from owners about the outdated design and lack of native mobile apps. I do agree that MFL needs to freshen things up.

Trying to navigate MFL on a mobile device is also a trainwreck.. At least they could adapt their archaic design to display right on mobile.

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

I know there are a lot of CBS haters here but it's the easiest on the Commissioner with good enough content and they are improving. And it's expensive, I justify this with I'm not paying for it by myself so what's 10-15 bucks a team extra. If the league setup is fairly standard, it has a worse rep than it deserve imo. Been on it since they opened their door (and was free!), haven't really considered moving out of it seriously based on what the competition offers.

Tried MFL couple of years in parallel as a free trial, it offers the most features by far but agree with many of you that it's not user friendly. I tried fleaflicker when it first released but it was like MFL in the UI department. I'll check that out again, maybe they've done some work to it since. Sidenote about MFL, I've seen some league sites by people who know how to program and they looked fantastic. Unfortunately that would take too much work and I am guessing the actual functions of running the league is the same as everyone else and it just looks better.

 

[Arodin]

Love MFL, run a fairly complex league and have no problem navigating it. It's far from perfect but with a lot of practice, I'm very comfortable running my league on there. I somewhat agree with some of your comments though, and while I love Yahoo! for my baseball and basketball leagues, it doesn't give commissioners enough abilities.

Note the two bolded parts. That is the issue in a nutshell. Us dinosaurs who cut our teeth on MFL decades ago can find our way around easily, by experience. New recruits are going to find it clunky and awkard and need a lot more handholding and explanation, even for little things.

Like what the difference between "Add Player" and "Add Free Agent" is, and when to use each...

Interface needed an upgrade in 2005. It still does.

 

[TheBottomLine]

Love MFL, run a fairly complex league and have no problem navigating it. It's far from perfect but with a lot of practice, I'm very comfortable running my league on there. I somewhat agree with some of your comments though, and while I love Yahoo! for my baseball and basketball leagues, it doesn't give commissioners enough abilities.

Note the two bolded parts. That is the issue in a nutshell. Us dinosaurs who cut our teeth on MFL decades ago can find our way around easily, by experience. New recruits are going to find it clunky and awkard and need a lot more handholding and explanation, even for little things.

Like what the difference between "Add Player" and "Add Free Agent" is, and when to use each...

Interface needed an upgrade in 2005. It still does.

Can't argue with that.

 

[Genester]

The interface isn't the only downer on MFL. Customer service has gone downhill as well. The first response to any issue you submit these days is "here's a helpful article on this topic - does this solve your problem?" Most of the time, completely ignoring the fact they were told explicitly in the original request that the article didn't help. It now takes 2-3 conversations to get to real help.

 

[TheBottomLine]

The interface isn't the only downer on MFL. Customer service has gone downhill as well. The first response to any issue you submit these days is "here's a helpful article on this topic - does this solve your problem?" Most of the time, completely ignoring the fact they were told explicitly in the original request that the article didn't help. It now takes 2-3 conversations to get to real help.

I agree completely with this. It doesn't matter if you state that you had already read through the Help Center. What I hate most is that they constantly blame my computer whenever problems arise, and it takes several messages for them to get past that and actually find the source of the problem. I still like MFL, as stated above, but there's no doubt it has its flaws and still needs to improve in many ways.

 

[Deamon]

Love MFL, run a fairly complex league and have no problem navigating it. It's far from perfect but with a lot of practice, I'm very comfortable running my league on there. I somewhat agree with some of your comments though, and while I love Yahoo! for my baseball and basketball leagues, it doesn't give commissioners enough abilities.

Note the two bolded parts. That is the issue in a nutshell. Us dinosaurs who cut our teeth on MFL decades ago can find our way around easily, by experience. New recruits are going to find it clunky and awkard and need a lot more handholding and explanation, even for little things.

Like what the difference between "Add Player" and "Add Free Agent" is, and when to use each...

Interface needed an upgrade in 2005. It still does.

Can't argue with that.

The interface isn't the only downer on MFL. Customer service has gone downhill as well. The first response to any issue you submit these days is "here's a helpful article on this topic - does this solve your problem?" Most of the time, completely ignoring the fact they were told explicitly in the original request that the article didn't help. It now takes 2-3 conversations to get to real help.

I agree completely with this. It doesn't matter if you state that you had already read through the Help Center. What I hate most is that they constantly blame my computer whenever problems arise, and it takes several messages for them to get past that and actually find the source of the problem. I still like MFL, as stated above, but there's no doubt it has its flaws and still needs to improve in many ways.

What do you suppose their issue is? I love MFL and will keep using them, but am starting to wonder why they aren't listening to the feedback. Do they just not care and are raking it in as they can? Are FBG users the only ones who think and tell them that they need an upgrade but most other people just tell them they're perfect? Did (and no disrespect meant at all here), the owner passing away have an effect on the company moving forward? Just seems so strange that a company with that many users and with that much income would not be listening when all their customers are yelling for the same thing.

 

[ConnSKINS26]

I'm one who likes MFL because I'm used to it and all my leagues are on there.

But I really miss the "player history" feature on Flea Flicker, specifically. Other than MFL being unwieldy and ugly, which needs fixing, this is the only feature they're missing that I've ever consciously wanted.

In case anyone's not aware of what I'm talking about, it's just a screen that shows the history of a player in your league, like:

drafted in may 2010

Cut in September 2010

Added as FA by Team A in November 2010

Traded from Team A to Team B in October 2011

Cut in April 2012

Etc.

It's just cool to be able to track a players history, especially in leagues like mine that trade a ton.

 

[Andrew74]

I'm one who likes MFL because I'm used to it and all my leagues are on there.

But I really miss the "player history" feature on Flea Flicker, specifically. Other than MFL being unwieldy and ugly, which needs fixing, this is the only feature they're missing that I've ever consciously wanted.

In case anyone's not aware of what I'm talking about, it's just a screen that shows the history of a player in your league, like:

drafted in may 2010

Cut in September 2010

Added as FA by Team A in November 2010

Traded from Team A to Team B in October 2011

Cut in April 2012

Etc.

It's just cool to be able to track a players history, especially in leagues like mine that trade a ton.

MFL has this. When you are on a player page, click "Transaction History" in the menu list by the player's name.

 

[ConnSKINS26]

I'm one who likes MFL because I'm used to it and all my leagues are on there.

But I really miss the "player history" feature on Flea Flicker, specifically. Other than MFL being unwieldy and ugly, which needs fixing, this is the only feature they're missing that I've ever consciously wanted.

In case anyone's not aware of what I'm talking about, it's just a screen that shows the history of a player in your league, like:

drafted in may 2010

Cut in September 2010

Added as FA by Team A in November 2010

Traded from Team A to Team B in October 2011

Cut in April 2012

Etc.

It's just cool to be able to track a players history, especially in leagues like mine that trade a ton.

MFL has this. When you are on a player page, click "Transaction History" in the menu list by the player's name.

Wow, I've been an owner and commissioner for years on MFL and never knew this. That's awesome, thanks!

 

[TheBottomLine]

Dang, I hadn't realized that either. Pretty sweet!

 

[TheBottomLine]

Well, the transaction histories for some of the players are screwed up. For instance, it says I traded for DeAndre Hopkins last year and then, without ever trading him away, traded for him again this year (league is a dynasty). Some other players are screwed up too, but some of them are correct.

 

[Arodin]

I'm one who likes MFL because I'm used to it and all my leagues are on there.

But I really miss the "player history" feature on Flea Flicker, specifically. Other than MFL being unwieldy and ugly, which needs fixing, this is the only feature they're missing that I've ever consciously wanted.

In case anyone's not aware of what I'm talking about, it's just a screen that shows the history of a player in your league, like:

drafted in may 2010

Cut in September 2010

Added as FA by Team A in November 2010

Traded from Team A to Team B in October 2011

Cut in April 2012

Etc.

It's just cool to be able to track a players history, especially in leagues like mine that trade a ton.

MFL has this. When you are on a player page, click "Transaction History" in the menu list by the player's name.

Wow, I've been an owner and commissioner for years on MFL and never knew this. That's awesome, thanks!

This is also an indictment of mfl, imo. That veteran owners (myself included) can still find features we never knew about points to a severe lack of documentation and poor layout of features.

Love the flexibility, but using mfl always makes me feel like I'm doing Unix in a Windows world....

 

[Dismattle]

I hate MFL. It's an absolute mess and a bear to navigate.

I've said this in many threads like these, but it's an abomination that MFL is not reinvesting any of their money into improving the UX. It's quite stupid too, because once one of the big guys release a dynasty product they will be crushed. I would instantly move my leagues to Yahoo if they supported rookie drafts and year round activity.

A friend named Taz hosts quite a few drafts on MFL.. Its probably hard to beat..

However, while its true afaik that Yahoo Leagues do not support year round activity.. (guess ya could use a forum/e-mail to address roster changes)..

Basically, I just wanted to point out that my Commish always has been able to show rostered players already rostered.. Its more or less only rookies/free agents in the pool for our drafts..

I imagine you might have meant the ability to do two separate drafts.. ie. Rookies Only draft, and then a veterans draft.. I dont believe Yahoo supports such a thing (as you stated)..

This is just my two cents from tweets n such.. But, I believe Yahoo smokes all the big sites.. ie. ESPN CBSports Basically the guys seem to know what their talking about..

I mean sure they will give some bad juju.. But its like nine times out of ten, when I read something of interest (chit I didnt know or forgot) Its good info..

A few yrs ago, Im quite sure most of us on this board, could have written better info for players, found on other sites besides Yahoo

Oh yeah, the only lame thing Yahoo has is a "No Drop" list of players.. Im sure it has been a pain for some, from time to time, but I have seen it adjusted in a more timely manner, more recently