Shark Pool - Report Card for Sept 9 (1 Viewer)

[MIMN]

I agree with those that say this is by far the best board on the net. My biggest challenge is identifying the posts worth reading. I'm not sure what is available with the BB software but:

A way to "Like" or "Dislike" a post could help reduce on the posts and flame posts.

There is a subset of posters on here that post thoughts in a well thought out manner. I'd like to be able to have the board highlight my fav posters in a thread. That would make skimming through the garbage much easier. Don't get me wrong, I like a flamefest every now and again but I often don't have the time for it.

I'd also like a periodic thread from staffers and non-staff MVC (most valuable contributors). I'm fine with having the staffers select these people. A clean thread once a week on a topic without the "so's your mother" or "finley" responses would be refreshing.

Overall a B/B+.

 

[shader]

Solid A. Nowhere else will you get such quality information.

Yeah, there are tools, and guys who argue, and arguments that hijack threads. But I find it pretty easy to skip threads that have hijacked. I just don't click on them!

BTW, I'm glad we don't have a "Like/Dislike" button. I've never been a big fan of those. It discourages posting. One person makes a rash post (as we've all done), gets 50 "dislikes" and gets embarrassed and never posts again.

I like it the way it is and I do agree that this has been a good summer. Glad it's over though!

 

[roadkill1292]

Solid A. Nowhere else will you get such quality information.Yeah, there are tools, and guys who argue, and arguments that hijack threads. But I find it pretty easy to skip threads that have hijacked. I just don't click on them!BTW, I'm glad we don't have a "Like/Dislike" button. I've never been a big fan of those. It discourages posting. One person makes a rash post (as we've all done), gets 50 "dislikes" and gets embarrassed and never posts again.I like it the way it is and I do agree that this has been a good summer. Glad it's over though!

In the FFA we'd have guys actively competing for the most number of "Dislikes."

 

[Da Bizness]

I am new to the site this year and i have to give this forum an A! Lots of great info, and nothing can be completely perfect in a forum...people will post what they post. But on the whole, posts are very informative. I am still learning how everything works around here but I enjoy the format of various threads. Looking forward to this season and many more to come!

 

[heropretend]

voted b but if i voted relative to fbg past then it's a c or c+ for all the reasons stated by members who probably lurked in 03 or so and became forum members soon after.

all in all it takes a lot of sifting through the detritus but this is still the biggest reason why my teams do well.

 

[Banger]

Long time poster and I'd give it an A as well. Way better than the Patriot days of a couple years ago where it would be p###ing match after p###ing match. Some solid newer posters and still many of the older posters that made me lay my roots down here.

 

[cvnpoka]

imo, threads need to be consolidated. no reason to have 4 threads on mendenhall not getting the gl work yesterday. likewise, no reason to have 4 threads on the browns rb situation after hardesty went down.

also, really bad ops should be insta locked to reduce clutter.

 

[Silver & Black]

Grade A

I too am a vet from the old yeller days. There is still a bit of the "tool" factor in many threads and a lot of people still have difficulty following the simple rule of not peeing in the shark pool. But there can be no doubt that most threads contain tons of quality opinions and thoughts. It just sometimes takes a bit to weed through silly posts.

I also agree, this year seems to be much better.

Definitely a solid A. And thanks to all the folks at FBG who make this such a great place to visit.

 

[higgins]

I'm thinking some free beef brisket and cajun corn would go a long way towards an A+. Should I pm you my address, Joe?

 

[SSOG]

I gave it a C+. Still WAY too many posts where people interrupt the thread to tell everyone they picked up/drafted/traded for the player being discussed. I get far more from the "catfight" stuff (sometimes great info/perspective can come from an argument no matter how nasty it gets) than I've ever gotten from someone posting they have the player being discussed on their fantasy team. Those posts make up 10-15% of the forum. They're completely useless and need to be instantly deleted by moderators to make this place into an A in my book.

Also, for preseason 2011 I'd make an effort to whack threads where guys use creative ways to tell everyone about the team they just drafted. "Hey, I used what xxxxx said in his article or so and so's draft strategy and here is my team." Those thread add little and are just a way for people to say hey look at me and look at my team. If we all started that thread the place would be unreadable.

This is my biggest complaint. I don't mind when someone makes an entire thread about how awesome they are, because I can usually tell those from the title and avoid them, but I hate it when I'm reading about Maurice Jones-Drew's injury and I have to scroll through an entire page of "should I draft him at #3?" and "I was going to draft him at #3, but luckily the guy at #2 took him, boy I sure dodged a bullet" and "I was going to take Rashad Jennings but someone picked him 4 picks before I was set to take him my season is ruined!" and "I'm debating whether to start him in week 1 against Denver's improved D-Line" and the like. Overall, I'd give the forums a B. Better this year than in years past, but (and this may just be because I've been around for so long) I really feel like there's nothing new under the sun anymore. This season seems to have fewer of the really thought-provoking threads that I've loved in years past. I feel like most of the strategy and fantasy theory threads are just re-hashes of the old standbys ("how much is consistency worth", "Always start your studs?", "Should I handcuff?", "Two WRs on the same team?", "QB early or wait until late?"). It seems like in years past I've found more threads where people are putting forward different ideas, or old ideas in a different manner. The Shark Pool is still on point in terms of injury reports and depth chart updates and the day-to-day fantasy minutia (which is incredibly valuable), but I miss threads like this one, or valuable studies like Couch Potato's look at how appearing on the injury report affects a player's per-game scoring average (hint: it doesn't). You know, the meta-fantasy stuff.

I also preferred the days when we could have more than 5 quotes in a post. For someone like me who will respond to 8 posts at once, it's just an inconvenience. Plus, it makes a lot of the older threads borderline unreadable because of all the broken quote tags.

Still, at the end of the day, the Shark Pool delivers news quickly and with a bit of analysis thrown in for good measure. It's populated by a diverse group of dedicated fantasy football players. It's a very strong resource. There's always room for improvement, but even without improvement it's something you guys should be proud of.

 

[Iwannabeacowboybaby!]

I think the flaming is down from the past several years which is cool. I've noticed that a lot of the regular posters when seeing something posted that may not fly here take the time to respond appropriately, kind of cool.

The one thing I seem to see more of now than ever though are posts where people are saying things like "Megatron will be a stud, you heard it hear first," or "Barber is the guy to have in Dallas, believe me."

Those two names are hypothetical with no posters in mind but it's almost as if people want to be the first to make those kinds of posts as if to get "credit" for being the one to make a post about that player.

I prefer threads that are more geared towards discussion with statistical information provided to back certain claims when appropriate. Some guys are very good at doing this. If you don't know what I'm talking about, follow David Yudkin's posts this season and he'll provide plenty of good examples.

Overall it's great Joe and it's evident you guys really care, just creating a thread like this is proof of that.

 

[Bankerguy]

Been around since cheatsheets. I have 2 observations.

-Attacks and name calling are down.

-The glut of dumb posts start after week 1 games once people are 0-1 in their leagues. Then the should I drop Reggie Wayne posts start.

Joe...check back around week 2 or 3.

 

[Bigboy10182000]

I gave it an A+

I'm new here but not new to message boards. If you want good, well though out data on a player or leagues this is the place to be. I don't expect any message board to be filled with flawlessness so there's some stuff you'll have to skip but if you want something you can find it here and with many varying opinions supported by plenty of well thought out reasons.

Since finding this board I've abandoned the others and also use the podcasts as well.

 

[ScottNorwood]

The sigs are somewhat weak this year, imo

 

[identikit]

FWIW I voted B+.

I just saw this AM the thing that makes the SP less than excellent IMO.

It was in the 'Rotoworld irresponsibility' thread that was apparently deleted moments ago.

When FBG staff ridicules SP contributors/posters because they aren't thought of as 'smart' as he is, solely because they have a different viewpoint.

Poor manners.... and bottom-line, bad business.

Un-excellent.

Non-staff would get warned/banned for this sort of thing.

In this particular case, the thread gets erased.

Was actually a good discussion going on in there; was definitely useful for this hobby we all enjoy.

 

[AcerFC]

Unfortunately for me, I don't have as much time to devote to fantasy since my kids arrived and I have found myself in the FFA these days more then the SP so not sure how I would grade it.

BUT

Everyone made fun of MOPs thread where he made some suggestions for the SP to be better. It is unfortunate that there is MOP hatred because a lot of the suggestions he made were good ones. There must be 100 threads on Vincent Jackson. If the people who started them just looked on page 2 or even page 1 then we wouldn't have to sift thru all 100 threads.

Jason does a great job with his player spotlights. Everyone who has questions or comments about a player who has a spotlight should be using that thread IMO. Makes it much easier to find info.

 

[Sullie]

I voted B+, another old timer here. Years ago it seemed it was pure money (A+), went downhill to C- for the past few years, last year (to me) I felt the upswing starting. You still read some garbage posts but belonging to a lot of different types of forums keeps my bs filter sharp. I'll say this, I think or at least this forum "feels" well moderated and that's a big plus to me. Some room for improvement but overall very good!

 

[tangfoot]

I think this place is unique and I like the fact we can interact with the writers, owners, and staff which is pretty comforting.

This. I don't know of any other site where authors/site employees will respond to criticisms and explain their reasoning. I may not agree with the opinion, but I LOVE the fact that many of the personnel will take the time to explain why they came up with the ranking/projection.

 

[beto]

Another long timer here. I gave us a B.

I'm looking for more in depth stuff for my dynasty research and quite often I don't see it here. I think the fact that a lot of us are in money leagues together really dilutes the quality of posts (I'm guilty of it myself).

 

[footballnerd]

Now the SP is buzzing like it used to. Just takes a week to get it going. Grade A again.

 

[Courtjester]

Grade AI too am a vet from the old yeller days. There is still a bit of the "tool" factor in many threads and a lot of people still have difficulty following the simple rule of not peeing in the shark pool. But there can be no doubt that most threads contain tons of quality opinions and thoughts. It just sometimes takes a bit to weed through silly posts.I also agree, this year seems to be much better. Definitely a solid A. And thanks to all the folks at FBG who make this such a great place to visit.

And to think I have to agree with a stinking Raider fan....oh sorry TOS, I forgot.

 

[Bigboy10182000]

Everyone made fun of MOPs thread where he made some suggestions for the SP to be better. It is unfortunate that there is MOP hatred because a lot of the suggestions he made were good ones. There must be 100 threads on Vincent Jackson. If the people who started them just looked on page 2 or even page 1 then we wouldn't have to sift thru all 100

I don't know MOP but I will say the same about the multiple player threads all over the place. Today is Brandon Jackson mania!

 

[urbanhack]

I might have to opt out of the pool. It's getting way to serious.

Monkeysee is actually sending PMs to let other people know they were "wrong."

 

[BassNBrew]

I go WAY back, so I have a broader spectrum to draw upon. IMO, these days there are still too many tools, personal attacks, and schtick for my liking. Ten years ago, there was a lot of great football posts and people's informed opinions, but there were no cliques or much name calling. A lot of people would read and absorb posts and add content and comments to threads to futher things along and keep the conversation going with value added information.In more recent times, people would simply post a link or a story and get their head handed to them . . . as if they wrote the story, getting attacked by people who somehow think that by posting something then they are an idiot. There's no more of a buzz kill than having a decent thread get ruined by a few folks who want to take it outside.A few years ago things were way worse than they have been in recent months, so that's a plus. I would say that 8-10 years ago things were an A or an A+, things dropped way down to a C or a C+ for a couple years, and have now settled into the B something range.There still are some A level threads that come along, and I think part of me is afraid that what others might rate an A, I might give a B-. Overall though, still a great place to find information and share ideas, even if there may be more rubble to have to sift through at times.

Great post. I agree with all of this. If it's better than in recent years, it's only because things had gotten pretty bad for a while. It's still not close to what it once was IMO. And it's still not nearly as good in season as during the offseason. But that is probably to be expected with the growth in popularity of the forums.I know all the staff is quite busy, but it would help a lot if staffers like Jason, Chase, Doug, Maurile, and David could post more often. (Or maybe I am somehow just missing a lot of their posts...)

Agree with these two guys except for the off season thoughts. Things are better this year, but the best posters seem to be MIA. Surprisingly enough, i thought the off season posts were way below par this year and the in season posts have been vastly improved over years past. Some dead on and helpful analysis early in the season this year. As i went through my early season drafts and looked for analysis in the shark pool I came up empty more often than not.

 

[Gr00vus]

If you ran this poll right now I'd give this place a D, maybe an F.

 

[nysportsfan]

If you ran this poll right now I'd give this place a D, maybe an F.

Why?I agree that golden posts are tough to find, and some quality posters have been marginalized, but all in all a great spot (esp. on game day).

 

[Gr00vus]

If you ran this poll right now I'd give this place a D, maybe an F.

Why?I agree that golden posts are tough to find, and some quality posters have been marginalized, but all in all a great spot (esp. on game day).

Tons of uniformed posts couched in sheer toolishness seem to be the order of the day recently. Very little useful information being offered right now, and as often as not when someone actually does offer up some useful information they get blasted for it.

 

[nysportsfan]

If you ran this poll right now I'd give this place a D, maybe an F.

Why?I agree that golden posts are tough to find, and some quality posters have been marginalized, but all in all a great spot (esp. on game day).

Tons of uniformed posts couched in sheer toolishness seem to be the order of the day recently. Very little useful information being offered right now, and as often as not when someone actually does offer up some useful information they get blasted for it.

I think people should report more, as lame as that sounds. I don't like trolls, either, but I think when people make well informed arguments, they are still recognized. I'd rather see some posts that are on the fringe as long as there is some thought behind them. Do I think this place is as good as 2007? No, probably not. But it's not THAT far off.

 

[Joe Bryant]

If you ran this poll right now I'd give this place a D, maybe an F.

Why?I agree that golden posts are tough to find, and some quality posters have been marginalized, but all in all a great spot (esp. on game day).

Tons of uniformed posts couched in sheer toolishness seem to be the order of the day recently. Very little useful information being offered right now, and as often as not when someone actually does offer up some useful information they get blasted for it.

I think people should report more, as lame as that sounds. I don't like trolls, either, but I think when people make well informed arguments, they are still recognized. I'd rather see some posts that are on the fringe as long as there is some thought behind them. Do I think this place is as good as 2007? No, probably not. But it's not THAT far off.

Absolutely. The report button is a key factor for helping keep the board on track. There's no chance I get to read every post. Not even close. So helping us by reporting bad posts is a huge thing to help.J

 

[Joe Bryant]

If you ran this poll right now I'd give this place a D, maybe an F.

Why?I agree that golden posts are tough to find, and some quality posters have been marginalized, but all in all a great spot (esp. on game day).

Tons of uniformed posts couched in sheer toolishness seem to be the order of the day recently. Very little useful information being offered right now, and as often as not when someone actually does offer up some useful information they get blasted for it.

Thanks Groovus. I know you're a good poster so I value what you see here. Can you give me some links to posts you're talking about? There are always a certain number that are not good but I've seen some good discussion. But maybe I'm being too optimistic.J

 

[comfortably numb]

If you ran this poll right now I'd give this place a D, maybe an F.

Why?I agree that golden posts are tough to find, and some quality posters have been marginalized, but all in all a great spot (esp. on game day).

Tons of uniformed posts couched in sheer toolishness seem to be the order of the day recently. Very little useful information being offered right now, and as often as not when someone actually does offer up some useful information they get blasted for it.

I think people should report more, as lame as that sounds. I don't like trolls, either, but I think when people make well informed arguments, they are still recognized. I'd rather see some posts that are on the fringe as long as there is some thought behind them. Do I think this place is as good as 2007? No, probably not. But it's not THAT far off.

I report so many posts, I wonder if the mods roll their eyes when they see em comin.

 

[Joe Bryant]

If you ran this poll right now I'd give this place a D, maybe an F.

Why?I agree that golden posts are tough to find, and some quality posters have been marginalized, but all in all a great spot (esp. on game day).

Tons of uniformed posts couched in sheer toolishness seem to be the order of the day recently. Very little useful information being offered right now, and as often as not when someone actually does offer up some useful information they get blasted for it.

I think people should report more, as lame as that sounds. I don't like trolls, either, but I think when people make well informed arguments, they are still recognized. I'd rather see some posts that are on the fringe as long as there is some thought behind them. Do I think this place is as good as 2007? No, probably not. But it's not THAT far off.

I report so many posts, I wonder if the mods roll their eyes when they see em comin.

Not at all. And you don't report that many. True, we don't act on every post that is reported. But we want to see and take a look at posts people see that they think are over the line.Bottom line is people need to please help us in reporting posts they see that are wrong.In some ways, people that are saying the board is now full of bad posts but have never let us know one they see seems like people that don't vote complaining about the elected officials. J

 

[SSOG]

In some ways, people that are saying the board is now full of bad posts but have never let us know one they see seems like people that don't vote complaining about the elected officials. J

Good analogy. I saw the thread was bumped and was planning on doing some #####ing. Instead, I'll do something productive and do some reporting.

 

[Gr00vus]

I'm not a reporting kind of guy. That said, This thread, is a good example of the kinds of things that aren't so great currently. In particular, stuff like this is an overall bring me down in relation to this board.

 

[Couch Potato]

I was out of town when this thread was started in Week 1 and I'm seeing it today for the first time.

Some interesting comments here. I really appreciate that Joe would take the initiative to start a thread like this.

 

[Romulan]

Still my favorite forum and one of the few Football forums I visit.

I gave it a B- as in my years here this year it doesnt seem like there have been a lot of useful "shark pool" threads but instead more Pi$$ing contests then in the past. Still a great forum just my observation.

 

[daveR]

I'm not a reporting kind of guy. That said, This thread, is a good example of the kinds of things that aren't so great currently. In particular, stuff like this is an overall bring me down in relation to this board.

I thought that thread ended well and was a good example of decent posters getting to an understanding.

 

[Gr00vus]

I'm not a reporting kind of guy. That said, This thread, is a good example of the kinds of things that aren't so great currently. In particular, stuff like this is an overall bring me down in relation to this board.

I thought that thread ended well and was a good example of decent posters getting to an understanding.

It did indeed end well (which happened after I bumped this thread) - but it really didn't need to get to the point it did in the first place. Joe asked me for an example of what I was talking about, so I was obliging him, not really attempting to bring the hammer down on anyone in particular.

 

[stuckinthemuck]

A++

I've come to depend on this board to get NFL players before everyone else in my FF leagues. When I see an intelligent discussion about a player who's <5% owned then I know I'm going to leverage that into actionable info. Examples include LeGarette Blount and Chris Ivory. Of course there are more false positives than not but that's fine. Thanks to the boards I know the next diamond in the rough is lurking somewhere in the shark pool. HUGE thanks to all those who contribute here.

 

[road warrior]

You're going to get degrees of toolness on every board. BSPN, CBSSportsline, etc. Either you learn to filter it, report it, or just move on like I try to do... not always successful.