I think I know now why this is being called the "Draft to End All Drafts"... This is gonna go for another 10 rounds? It'll be Christmas before it's done at this rate.
I don't really have a problem with the slow pace of the draft (except that it holds back other drafts) because it seemed like some drafts moved too fast. When Slim introduced the music draft I think his first post suggested it would get us through the offseason. However I think when it gets to the point that some of the same people enter multiple drafts and hold them up maybe they should be excluded from future drafts.
If you sign up you ought to be able to commit to checking once a day and if you go on vacation for a few days you can send a pick to a neutral party to be made for you and extend the courtesy of making an announcement to everyone before you go.
My instinct is to skip past kings4lyfe32 and Kings Faithful (and generally shorten the clock on anyone who has timed out so often), but since that would make it my turn I don't want to appear self-serving.
Question for SLAB...Did you take the island of Hawaii (the big island), or the Hawaiian Islands (all of them, Kauai, Maui, Molokai, Oahu, etc.)?
The entire state of Hawaii, so all the islands.
My instinct is to skip past kings4lyfe32 and Kings Faithful (and generally shorten the clock on anyone who has timed out so often), but since that would make it my turn I don't want to appear self-serving.
Ok thats ridiculous. How am I supposed to know I'm up? I checked who was on deck, Kings4lyfe... I don't know when he is timing out so I check my inbox every once in a while to see if he has timed out yet... I get no message. It's not my fault if I'm not notified when Kings4lyfe has timed out. It also doesn't state anywhere between where I said "im running out of things to pick" and now that Kings4lyfe has timed out. If someone would have messaged me I would have been right on top of it, but no one does. I don't deserve a shortened clock because other people aren't doing their job.
Kings Faithful showed up long enough to announce he was running out of items to pick and then disappeared...
I don't really have a problem with the slow pace of the draft (except that it holds back other drafts) because it seemed like some drafts moved too fast. When Slim introduced the music draft I think his first post suggested it would get us through the offseason. However I think when it gets to the point that some of the same people enter multiple drafts and hold them up maybe they should be excluded from future drafts.
If you sign up you ought to be able to commit to checking once a day and if you go on vacation for a few days you can send a pick to a neutral party to be made for you and extend the courtesy of making an announcement to everyone before you go.
Okay, wait. You can put the lid back on that can of "righteous indignation"...
The REAL point is that this draft has been inexorably slow, and the idea it's barely half over is really a bummer for people who have drafts waiting to start. I think the main consideration is that a couple of people have disappeared, only to show up once a week or even less.
The PMs are meant to be a courtesy, and if you didn't get one, someone dropped the ball. I know it's frustrating but it's equally hard on commissioners to try and keep these things going when they don't have any more time than anyone else to spend trying to police the participants. You've made your pick - no harm no foul.
Ok thats ridiculous. How am I supposed to know I'm up? I checked who was on deck, Kings4lyfe... I don't know when he is timing out so I check my inbox every once in a while to see if he has timed out yet... I get no message. It's not my fault if I'm not notified when Kings4lyfe has timed out. It also doesn't state anywhere between where I said "im running out of things to pick" and now that Kings4lyfe has timed out. If someone would have messaged me I would have been right on top of it, but no one does. I don't deserve a shortened clock because other people aren't doing their job.
With all due respect, if the rules are you have 18 hours to make a pick you should not be begrudged for using 17 of those hours. Nor should people be PMing other people reminding them to hurry and make their pick just 2 or 3 hours after they went on the clock. If people want quick pick drafts then make 2 or 3 hour draft clocks, but then there will be lots of time outs.We have a waiting list of drafts so having one draft - or two - drag on interminably simply defeats the whole purpose of having TDOS drafts to begin with. Whatever Slim may or may not have thought would happen with the original music draft so long ago, they've evolved to a much more active pastime than I think anyone could have imagined.
I think 20 rounds of this particular draft is way too many, but that's beside the point. I do agree that certain people may have great intentions but simply do not follow up. They shouldn't be kept on draft boards and allowed to bring everything to a screeching halt. As G3 said, it's just passing time on a message board, but it's something a lot of people enjoy and those who don't honor the small commitment required should either not sign up or bow out if it turns out to be something different than what they anticipated.
At this point, I think anyone who has missed two consecutive turns should be dropped. Plop. And anyone who times out more than once in the same draft without cause should be dropped. Plop. The majority of participants in these things are having a lot of fun and enjoying themselves. Why should one or two unreliable participants ruin it for all of them?
I'll accept responsibility for the fact that I should have PMed you about the fact that kings4lyfe32 had timed out, and the fact that I was making the decision to move on with the draft. I didn't, and I apologize if my lack of a PM kept you from realizing that it was your turn. Since I have noticed that this summer there is no shortage of posters who have been stepping in with reminder PMs, so admittedly I've been erring on the side of not clogging everyone's inbox with repetitive information.
Additionally, I apologize if I lumped you in with a group of people who've timed out repeatedly if it wasn't deserved. I'd be lying if I said I was keeping a tally of how many times each individual poster has timed out, but it feels like I've had to update several make-up picks for you, and that simply isn't the case for other participants in this draft.
Lastly, as a note not just to you but to the rest of the draft, as well, I have made it a point to update the draft board several times a day, whether or not there are PMs to accompany those updates. I would suggest giving it a glance when you sign in just to keep track of where things are in here. I don't like the idea of unceremoniously dropping people who aren't picking fast enough, so I won't be doing that, but if the pace of this draft continues to be an issue or prevents other drafts from starting, I don't know how long I'm going to stick with an 18-hour clock. For anyone. The category is broad enough, and the selections diverse enough, that I don't feel particularly compelled to do so in the same way I would for a draft with a more limited pool to choose from.
With all due respect, if the rules are you have 18 hours to make a pick you should not be begrudged for using 17 of those hours. Nor should people be PMing other people reminding them to hurry and make their pick just 2 or 3 hours after they went on the clock. If people want quick pick drafts then make 2 or 3 hour draft clocks, but then there will be lots of time outs.
That said there are 3 or 4 bad drafters that have ground this to a halt and if you want to kick them out that is fine. I'd merely suggest barring them from any future drafts and let this run its course but that isn't my call. I don't think this draft is too long and without those 3 or 4 people this draft could have easily been over a week ago.
Maybe a good future system would be to give everyone the original 24 hour clock but each time they time out cut their future time outs in half. Time out once and you get 12 hours until your next time out. After that 6. Then 3. I'd say stop at that point and you've solved that problem real fast. But I don't think you should just change rules mid draft.
Also if a draft really is that slow and is dying on the vine there's no real reason you can't allow the next super awesome can't fail draft to start early, is there?
With all due respect, if the rules are you have 18 hours to make a pick you should not be begrudged for using 17 of those hours. Nor should people be PMing other people reminding them to hurry and make their pick just 2 or 3 hours after they went on the clock. If people want quick pick drafts then make 2 or 3 hour draft clocks, but then there will be lots of time outs.
That said there are 3 or 4 bad drafters that have ground this to a halt and if you want to kick them out that is fine. I'd merely suggest barring them from any future drafts and let this run its course but that isn't my call. I don't think this draft is too long and without those 3 or 4 people this draft could have easily been over a week ago.
Maybe a good future system would be to give everyone the original 24 hour clock but each time they time out cut their future time outs in half. Time out once and you get 12 hours until your next time out. After that 6. Then 3. I'd say stop at that point and you've solved that problem real fast. But I don't think you should just change rules mid draft.
Also if a draft really is that slow and is dying on the vine there's no real reason you can't allow the next super awesome can't fail draft to start early, is there?