2018 Draft suggestions

[Jave]

The draft clock will run from 8 am EST to 12 am EST. From 12 am to 8 am time limits will cease to count down, however owners may still make picks if they are currently on the clock

Draft Times:
Round 1: 4 Hours
Round 2: 3 Hours
Round 3: 2 Hours
Round 4: 2 Hours
Round 5: 2 Hours
Round 6: 1 Hour
Round 7: 1 Hour

Changed to:
The draft clock will run from 8 am EST to 12 am EST. From 12 am to 8 am time limits will cease to count down, however owners may still make picks if they are currently on the clock

Draft Times:
Round 1: 2 Hours
Round 2: 2 Hours
Round 3: 1 Hours
Round 4: 1 Hours
Round 5: 1 Hours
Round 6: 30 Minutes
Round 7: 30 Minutes

Now the "Safety net" so to speak will be, someone can log into their draft utility and put a list, or even just one player in there and set it to max time. That way, they have a safety net in the fact that by setting it to max time they can still have the entire 2 hours before they have to pick, but if they no show, they still have a player they choose in the utility.
But what I'm finding more and more, it's the same 10 owners who are active throughout the draft, and we are sitting around waiting max time for owners who are not. So the argument that were trying to rush through the draft holds no water because since round one it's only the same owners who are here regardless if it's their pick or not. Speeding the draft up makes it more fun for us owners who are active.

Thoughts?

[Kobeck]

I say its up to the guys doing the heavy lifting - Matt, Suicane and whoever else pitches it to make it run.

[DakotaGeorge]

Well I am behind purposed times above only if they are seen to be needed by everyone though. I thought a few people said that this had been one of the fastest drafts to date so who knows. Seems we kind of hit a wall in the 3rd round.

[morellomre]

I think 1st round should stay 4 hours. it can have such a large impact on a team that the extra hours it takes to finish the draft are worth it .

Maybe an idea, if possible, could be to tier the time limits in the 1st round (4 hours 1-15, 3 hours 16-32 - or 4 hours 1-10, 3 hours 11-20, 2 hours 21-32).

Im definitly a fan of speeding up the rest of the rounds.

[Chris Rex]

I think the times for the 1st and 2nd were dead on as we sped along nicely. I think the 3rd forward should definitely be much shorter.

The way I see it, the draft classes are becoming less 'exciting'. Thats fine with me, but it also breeds a bit of apathy.

If theres one thing we learned today in the third round: If someone doesnt show up after an hour, theyre not gonna show up within 2 hours.

[BOSS]

I'm with Jave on this matter and i like his times. I can see possibly going 3 hours for a 1st rounder as they are very important to your team. The rest of the rounds should be like Jave has them listed.

[markc]

Anything that gets me through my crappy picks faster is fine with me!

[JesterBlaze]

I like it as is, especially while riding through the fastest IFL draft yet by a good margin I believe.

[ukpatfan]

I've got say this league is probably the fastest drafting league I've been involved with but even so I'm with Jave on this one, I think his timings are spot on.

The way I see it, speeding things up actually encourages guys to 'attend' the draft and will make it flow even smoother.

[Kozure]

draft pace is fine. Happy with the how the deadlines work right now.

[JesterBlaze]

The way I see it, speeding things up actually encourages guys to 'attend' the draft and will make it flow even smoother.

While this is true the other side of this is that due to work, vacations, life, sudden sickness, etc... sometimes a person simply can't log on for a certain period of time. Had I got sick one day sooner I would have been fully prepared yet still missed almost the first 2 rounds!

While we don't like a specific pick to take up too much time, I'd choose forced-patience (at what I think is a reasonable level) for the group over long-term repercussions to a GM's team due simply to time coincidences.

[Chris Rex]

From being very active in the chat room, I would say that 90% of the owners were actively participating at some point. This is to simply speed up the other 10 percent who decide not to show up at all. As I said earlier, if theyre not here after 2 hours, theyre most likely not going to be here after 4.

All this being said, when the smoke clears, why dont we take a vote of sorts, with more than a simple majority needed to make changes? (Say 19 votes out of 32?)

[Jave]

While this is true the other side of this is that due to work, vacations, life, sudden sickness, etc... sometimes a person simply can't log on for a certain period of time. Had I got sick one day sooner I would have been fully prepared yet still missed almost the first 2 rounds!

While we don't like a specific pick to take up too much time, I'd choose forced-patience (at what I think is a reasonable level) for the group over long-term repercussions to a GM's team due simply to time coincidences.

I agree with you, but your going on the presumption that an owner is active, however due to circumstances beyond his control such as work, sudden illness, family issues etc, they are unable to make their pick. That's not the owners we are referring to and those arn't the owners this schedule is intended for.
It's the owners who may be here for round 1, and they check in every couple days, but are really not active, nor interested in the draft. They don't make lists, they don't confer with Matt or Sui on their absence, they don't log in and leave a post with instructions or make their pick, they simply, don't care. And we sit here hour after hour waiting for their picks to expire.

[Suicane]

I'm bumping this because I'm trying to decide on draft times.

I know there is alot of clamor for reduced times but the fact of the matter is that we will have almost 6 full days from the time the draft starts till the time it NEEDS to be over. I almost always try and listen to you guys and take into account what you want, but I really don't want to shorten the middle rounds as I feel those rounds are important to a majority of teams as the early rounds are.

I know it feels like tedium at times when you're waiting for picks to be made but we have stopgaps in place to penalize teams who don't make picks, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

Alot of us have the ability to be here from start to finish, some of us don't have that luxury and I want to make sure they're accomadated as much as the rest of us.

The other thing I want to stress is that despite our swift offseason movement, the draft in this league has long been our most communal event, yes it's filled with bitching and moaning but it's also filled with analysis and chat room chatter, and I think it would be a shame to minimize that in an effort to move through the draft quicker than needed. Invariably we end up finishing 2-3 days ahead of schedule even with all the "problems".

With that said, here is what I'm thinking for this years draft.

Round 1: 4 Hours
Round 2: 3 Hours
Round 3: 2 Hours
Round 4: 90 Minutes
Round 5: 1 Hour
Round 6: 1 Hour
Round 7: 1 Hour

I know alot of people were bummed about us stalling out during round 3 last year but in any given year there can be a number of make or break picks on that round and I don't want to minimize it or make people rush through it for the sake of nothing except a longer break between the drafts end the next stage start so i'd like to keep it at 2 hours.

[tarcone]

I think the most important part of a draft is we have someone to monitor the draft at all times. I can act as an admin. Another who is around a lot would be great.
Give s the parameters for picking a missed selection and it will be gold.

This is what makes a draft run smoothly. A monitored draft.