RotoPass Message Board / RotoPass Message Board / Site Suggestions and Feedback / New Members? / Latest Posts

RE: New Members?

radioheadok311 — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:37:53 GMT

I basically became a ghost months ago. But am interested in giving it a shot somewhere else. http://textgenfantasysports.rapidboards.com

That's where I've heard some of the old and new DP's are going. Personally, after as long as this board has been neglected, I don't think we should feel obligated to stay here. Branch out and conquer, keep the trolls to a minimum and just bootstrap a new site.... At least we can say we tried.... I can't remember the last time I visited ESPN, and they clearly are of the mindset that believe in quanitity over quality (when it comes to readers). My take, quality breeds quantity, and then you have a readership that will follow you no matter where you go. If you neglect that readership, it seems only natural for the diehards to leave and try to start something else.

For what it's worth. I was a DP and I never received payment (outside of the great Draft kits every year). Also, despite being willing, it doesn't seem like posting, and taking "no post left behind," seriously really meant anything in the long run (at least for migration of job duties to ESPN).

RE: New Members?

BCBarney@Hotmail.com — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:12:08 GMT

Hey guys! Keep me updated if anyone sets up a site. I think the main issue seems to be that the few people left around here all have overly full lives and no one has quite the enough time to set something up. Need to find that one person willing to devote the time to set it up. I'll see if I can work on something. I know that I don't have the time but maybe one of my contacts does. I'll take a look at it.

Brian

BCBarney@Hotmail.com

Email me with any updates.

RE: New Members?

lloydy — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:19:29 GMT

well be sure to keep me in the loop if anyone figures something out.

this place is dead - obviously nobody gives a rat's ass about it so it's only going to continue to fade away. Baseball is around the corner, and that's THE fantasy sport IMO - if anyone has a decent message board/or a group is going somewhere else, I'm down.... Every time I check on this message board I feel like punching a wall in frustration

RE: New Members?

Daver — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:38:58 GMT

lloydy,

The rumor you heard is probably right. It makes sense that TMR's deal with ESPN would prohibit him from marketing this message board. As for the prior poster's comment about "paying", I'm with you too. I think the vast majority of us are here and involved in fantasy baseball because of our passion (ok, maybe obsession) over baseball and fantasy sports ... not sure money factors into the equation for us at all.

RE: New Members?

lloydy — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:59:35 GMT

[quote][b]dharvey34@comcast.net (12/29/2007)[/b][hr]If the forum is what people want, then maybe all it would take is for someone to set up a board somewhere (as I think someone has tried) and then just start posting; with any luck. word spreads and voila!

But to me, when I'm not *paying* for something, I'm not as inclined to use it - that is just human nature. The other thing not paying means is that responses are not reliable, no matter how well intentioned we all are. I know the old guys at TMR were not paid much, but they were paid to make sure we all got responses, and there was an expectation on the customer side that had to be met.

So while I would love to see the TMR community live on in another form, I just don't trust that the free message board will do that. One idea I have had was for some sort of private board within ESPN's offerings. I have always thought they were missing something by not offering that option.

The idea would be to (perhaps for a modest fee) for ESPN to set up a choice few member-only boards - call them "communities" if it sells better. If they limited membership to say 100 per community, ESPN could put an expert in charge of each , and that person could respond to that community's questions exclusively. Imagine - if I was part of the board that say C-Dub (as an example) ran, I could ask my questions and get answers without all the noise. I'd also have some assurance my questions would be answered - unlike the crazy chats ESPN runs. For that matter, community-only chats might be great (one of the things I really miss from the TMR days).[/quote]

FWIW, I was (am?) a DP and the football board moderator and wasn't paid anything - can't say the same about Dub or Dave, but DP's weren't paid... we did it because we wanted to be part of something special, the rising of the TMR site.... and now I spend my time trying to find another message board.... :(

Dunno guys, pretty obvious that this place is a ghost town now that ESPN has bought everything else. I've heard thru the grapevine that we shouldn't expect any kind of promotion for this message board - so I guess it is what it is as Bill Bellichick would say....

RE: New Members?

Tbone — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:11:18 GMT

That's a terrific idea.

RE: New Members?

dharvey34@comcast.net — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 12:59:49 GMT

If the forum is what people want, then maybe all it would take is for someone to set up a board somewhere (as I think someone has tried) and then just start posting; with any luck. word spreads and voila!

RE: New Members?

uconnhusky — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 08:51:05 GMT

Ditto for me on Daver's sentiment. There's still nothing else under the sun to mirror the quality interaction that took place on these boards prior to the big merger. I'd love to see all former TMR members have access to these forums, after getting the rest of the necessary info (articles, draft kits and the like) from the WWL.

RE: New Members?

Tbone — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 13:22:42 GMT

I agree Daver. The ESPN boards are terrible. Too many kids, no moderators, nothing to stop juvenile behavior. As far as I know, this board is "owned" by TMR as a part of Rotopass, which he also owns - and there may be another partner involved. That complicates the whole membership thing. But it's worth noting that nobody seems to be selling Rotopass memberships anymore. So it's entirely possible that Rotopass and these boards will also be integrated into World Wide Leader. Once again - I'm just speculating, and don't know anything for certain.

RE: New Members?

Daver — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:54:56 GMT

It would be great if we could all stay together on this site (or another) throughout the baseball season and also add a few (or many) more knowledgable members like we had at TMR. I refuse to get involved in boards on other sites which seem to be loaded with name-calling and misinformation. The TMR boards had the best people and the best advice out there.

RE: New Members?

RagerXS — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:39:06 GMT

My hope is that we could get Janet to send an e-mail to all former TMR subscribers, as well as open up these boards to all of them (us) with no account expiration. Maybe it is a pipe dream, but that would be way cool.

~ Fred

RE: New Members?

Tbone — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 05:07:15 GMT

Hi Bookiebob and all,

I'll take a look at what you set up later today (I'm at work now) - when I have a chance to check it out. Rager - re: who would be invited - the only person I know of with access to membership lists is Janet Becker. I doubt she could help with a move to another board - but she may be able to help us revive these boards by sending out an email to everyone who subscribes. But you do have a point about subscriptions running out etc. Mine will run out at some point also - April 1st, I believe.

Having said that - I get the feeling TMR may just be waiting for everyone's subscription to run out and the board to fizzle before using it for some other venture, possibly with WWL. But I really don't know for certain.

RE: New Members?

RagerXS — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 03:27:34 GMT

I think the ultimate would be if these forums were open to all former TMR subscribers rather than just Rotopass subscribers. I can see where one might think they couldn't open it up and send a notification e-mail to all former members due to ESPN and the potential conflict of interest thing. But if it is just a forum and there are no articles, league management, etc. then I'm not sure you could say this forum is in any way competing with ESPN. The bottom line is that the old TMR forums were the best in the business.

~ Fred

RE: New Members?

bookiebob — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:58:22 GMT

Here is a sample site:

http://textgensports.hyperboards.com/index.php

I spent about 30 minutes on setting it up.

TextGen - get it? Like NextGen, but with Text....

Not so much? Ahhh crap - whatever - a wordsmith I ain't......

I'm just looking for someone to lateral the ball to.

RE: New Members?

bookiebob — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 09:58:02 GMT

I think the timing is right to start a new board somewhere. We would have time to notify everyone where the "old TMR" crew has migrated to.

I think our guest subscriptions to these boards are going to expire with our TMR payments (mine ends during Spring Training).

Nothing against RotoPass, but I'm not going to renew if we are asked to. I signed up with TMR, and now all that content belongs to ESPN. I'm not paying for Insider access there either. I like much of the work over there, but the noise level is just too much for me.

Here are the links to free message board sites that I posted earlier in this thread:
http://www.hyperboards.com/
http://www.rapidboards.com/
http://www.ezboard.com/
http://www.runboard.com/

The first two look the best to me, and can be skinned to make them "feel" the way we want them to.

Can someone (Jumphook, TBone, Havok) take the lead on this?

(Good to see some of the old posters still around!!)

RE: New Members?

Tbone — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:43:08 GMT

Hey Jumphook and others,

If there is a consensus among those that are still hanging around the site to keep this thing rolling, then who am I to say no. I would be willing to contribute to the site in a meaningful way if it is going to keep rollin'. We could figure out a way to loosely organize so that all posts get answered. Football is just about over (fantasy wise, that is), so I guess it's baseball season we should be targeting. I would love to have a message board for baseball season that can be a place where all the old TMR subscribers and employees could keep a continuous interaction and dialogue going - and folks can feel free to ask advice or offer advice on whatever they like as it pertains to fantasy baseball. While it would be nice to have TMRs blessing on this - I don't think we actually need it. He left this space active for his subscribers. So I think we should go ahead and use it as he intended. Anybody out there with me????!!!

TBone (Tim)

RE: New Members?

jumphook14 — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 20:18:27 GMT

[quote][b]dharvey34@comcast.net (12/4/2007)[/b][hr

Now the site creators have moved on to ESPN, and that is great, but it seems several people still see a need for a place that caters to the really hardcore fantasy players. Rotopass, while useful, is just a resource portal - not really a community. If I can make a suggestion - why not follow TMR's original example? Band together and start your own site![/quote]

Despite knowing absolutely nothing about it, I looked into this, but most of the board services that I found had a shitty interface (and I really like this one). We have what we need right here, don't we? I think it's just a question of recruting some die-hards w/o having to charge a fee. Is this possible to do here?

I work 60+ hours a week but still might have some time each day to contribute to something... Any suggestions or ideas?

RE: New Members?

Goatlocker@gmail.com — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:09:30 GMT

Miss the site also, just haven't had time to get on.

Will try to participate a little more.

Cliff

RE: New Members?

dharvey34@comcast.net — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:23:00 GMT

Hey all,

Been a looong time since I was here. I am reading the posts, and yeah I too miss the old TMR; it was such a great resource because of the quality of the people involved.

Now the site creators have moved on to ESPN, and that is great, but it seems several people still see a need for a place that caters to the really hardcore fantasy players. Rotopass, while useful, is just a resource portal - not really a community. If I can make a suggestion - why not follow TMR's original example? Band together and start your own site!

I would think that a site with a small membership of dedicated players would do well; ESPN and others siphon off the hordes of casual and immature players, but if you could fill the niche TMR used to hold, I think you would do well. And if I'm not completely misreading them, I would think that Matthew and Pete and the rest would see that as a compliment (and probably give you support and advice). It is after all how they got where they are today.

RE: New Members?

janbec — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:57:58 GMT

Hey guys,

I'll look into adding new members to the board. I'm not sure what the plans are that way.

Bstone - If you've emailed Pete, he hasn't received it.

If you guys have any problems or suggestions, you can email me at support@rotopass.com

Janet

RE: New Members?

The Atavist — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:33:32 GMT

Just a thought off the top of my crazy head: Perhaps the forum might offer an opportunity to promote and market RotoPass memberships? It's a shame that all those TMR members - who were not RP members - were cut-loose.

RE: New Members?

havok — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:24:37 GMT

I think the hockey boards are even a bit more lively than the basketball ones. I thought this was America people?

RE: New Members?

jumphook14 — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 21:41:31 GMT

[quote][b]The Game (10/31/2007)[/b][hr]It would be good if we could keep the board alive somehow. I've tried to stay relatively active. The basketball board seemsespecially barren. Usually this time of year there were too many questions to count.

I'm for supporting the boards.[/quote]

I know man - I feel like you, me and havok are together floating on a raft out in the middle of the Pacific or something in the basketball forum. It the very least it's now a free forum for us three to B.S. in...

RE: New Members?

C-Dub — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 20:28:23 GMT

Sorry guys I am trying to find time for the boards. Like Dave mentioned the Asnwer Guys has blown up, and aside from that I also spend up to an hour a day updating the baseball depth charts at ESPN. Right now I can barely find time for my wife. I love the new job, don't get me wrong, it just does not leave me with time for much else.

RE: New Members?

The Game — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:54:20 GMT

It would be good if we could keep the board alive somehow. I've tried to stay relatively active. The basketball board seems especially barren. Usually this time of year there were too many questions to count.

I'm for supporting the boards.

RE: New Members?

havok — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 06:14:35 GMT

Couldn't agree with you more lloydy. I'd give anything to have that back - the boards filled with posts and quality articles coming out everyday. Just the way America works now.

RE: New Members?

lloydy — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:02:31 GMT

[quote][b]Dave Hunter (10/28/2007)[/b][hr]Hey Guys,

Real sorry I haven't been around lately, which only has to do with one thing - ESPN's The Answer Guys, which I run now.

Actually, it's pretty much me and C-Dub...and all of our time is spent there. It's actually a full-time job, for the both of us. This week alone, we each put in about 70-75 hours each. The only time we really get "off" during the football season is on Sunday..and parts of Monday..maybe. Yeah, crazy huh?

It's not like I don't want to check in daily, but to be quite honest, when you've answered 200-250 emails in one day, you're sort of sick of the computer. Don't getme wrong...it's ESPN and I wouldn't trade my job for anything, but I think you understand, right?

[/quote]

I remember when we were better than ESPN.

RE: New Members?

Dave Hunter — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:44:49 GMT

Hey Guys,

Real sorry I haven't been around lately, which only has to do with one thing - ESPN's The Answer Guys, which I run now.

Actually, it's pretty much me and C-Dub...and all of our time is spent there. It's actually a full-time job, for the both of us. This week alone, we each put in about 70-75 hours each. The only time we really get "off" during the football season is on Sunday..and parts of Monday..maybe. Yeah, crazy huh?

It's not like I don't want to check in daily, but to be quite honest, when you've answered 200-250 emails in one day, you're sort of sick of the computer. Don't get me wrong...it's ESPN and I wouldn't trade my job for anything, but I think you understand, right?

RE: New Members?

Tbone — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 19:59:02 GMT

Thank you for the kind words. Jumphook - sorry to hear about your tough week. Ouch. I'll still check in here now and then. I'd certainly like to be part of any kind of move to another place if it happens. Though I'm not sure how happy anyone would be to see another place promoted here. I've enjoyed the boards and would like to see them go on. Just wish that at least some of the others from the original group had stuck around. I'd even be happy if they would just check in here once in a while and maybe assign some DPs and moderators so that people who want expert answers can get them. I'm sure we'd be told that they offer this now at ESPN. It's called "Answer Guys" and it's basically like the "Urgent" message board, except that you email your question.

RE: New Members?

jumphook14 — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 19:54:43 GMT

[quote][b]Tbone (10/26/2007)[/b][hr] I wish I could help and give you more answers and advice, but my emails to TMR and Pete Becker go unanswered. Not sure why, but they just continue to ignore me. This board was left intact because so many of the members asked for it. Yet, there seem to be very few of them hanging around. There is nobody "running" the boards as far as I can tell. I'm not even sure CDub is still checking in at this point. I'm this close { } to calling it quits here as well. I'm pressed for time, and need to start trimming where I can - posting here is one of the activities that I'm going to have to chop out of my life to make time for more worthwhile and productive things. The future of these boards appears to be a painfully slow "fade to black" and I don't intend to stick around to see that happen.[/quote]

I wonder if there is a clause in TMR's EXPN contract that says that he can't come to these boards anymore. I won't be renewing an Insider membership next year, I can tell you that...

RE: New Members?

jumphook14 — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 19:12:27 GMT

[quote][b]havok (10/26/2007)[/b][hr]I'd be willing to look into other board options but is there a good enough following for this? Can I count on the help of a couple others to bring this thing back to life?

I can't blame you Tbone although your contributions have always been brilliant and helpful to us all. If you choose not to continue on; best of luck in whatever it is you are pursuing. You've been a great asset to all of us around here.[/quote]

Yes, thanks for all the help Tbone.

As far as a future board goes, you can count me in. Sorry I haven't been around this week, let's just say the gf and I broke up and also I landed in the hospital after having a bad reaction to an antibiotic I was taking! Great fucking week!

RE: New Members?

havok — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:13:46 GMT

I'd be willing to look into other board options but is there a good enough following for this? Can I count on the help of a couple others to bring this thing back to life?

I can't blame you Tbone although your contributions have always been brilliant and helpful to us all. If you choose not to continue on; best of luck in whatever it is you are pursuing. You've been a great asset to all of us around here.

RE: New Members?

bookiebob — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:23:14 GMT

Hey guys -

Maybe it's time to break away from Rotopass and start a Board that we can invite new users to join.

There are still a few high quality posters hanging around here - let's see about blazing a new trail for quality fantasy sports discussion!

Here are a couple of places that host free boards:
http://www.hyperboards.com/
http://www.rapidboards.com/
http://www.ezboard.com/
http://www.runboard.com/

Does somebody have the time/passion to get things moving?

RE: New Members?

Tbone — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:33:31 GMT

Unfortunately, I think you're right in thinking that the only way to get access is to buy a rotopass membership. I wish I could help and give you more answers and advice, but my emails to TMR and Pete Becker go unanswered. Not sure why, but they just continue to ignore me. This board was left intact because so many of the members asked for it. Yet, there seem to be very few of them hanging around. There is nobody "running" the boards as far as I can tell. I'm not even sure CDub is still checking in at this point. I'm this close { } to calling it quits here as well. I'm pressed for time, and need to start trimming where I can - posting here is one of the activities that I'm going to have to chop out of my life to make time for more worthwhile and productive things. The future of these boards appears to be a painfully slow "fade to black" and I don't intend to stick around to see that happen.

New Members?

havok — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:41:22 GMT

Am I correct in that there is no way to get new members for the boards unless they sign up for RotoPass? There is no option to just have a board membership, correct?

I've been looking to get some new recruits for the boards to bring some life back here but it's going to be awfully hard without them able to see or use the boards. Any help would be much appreciated.

According to the bottom of the page, our last new member was from 7/26. That's 3 months ago! This is not good news.