I have to ask myself, do I trust Fanball?
I trust in Greg and Tom and Geoff. They are what keep us here at the NFBC.
But, I get a picture in my mind of this trio being in the iditarod being pulled by Fanball's poodles against other teams huskies.
Another thread suggests that Fanball has made 'great strides' over the last four days. Of course, ALL of these 'great strides' were driven by Greg and the customer's themselves.
Also, these 'great strides' are stuff that should be taken for granted. Standings, correct rosters, faab, league pages, the lists go on....Is it really great strides when they should be commonplace?
I have been bitterly disappointed with Fanball. In my opinion, they are more about looks and glitz than substance. And never has that been more apparent than over the first week of this season. Substance, in the way of stats, formats, and programming have failed miserably.
The face of Fanball is the first one to get on the Boards and announce that there is a Diamond League, and an MVP Party, or a Rich Gannon dinner...He is also is apparently the last to get on the boards and defend his product.
I have every faith that things will be ok in the end. I really do. But that faith comes from Greg, Tom, and Geoff overriding some of Fanball's previous way of doing business. The sometimes overreaction from customers has been harsh and sometimes not merited. But a lot of that overreaction stems from promises that were given about Fanball being a first class organization and how they have done so many similar leagues in the past.Personally, I don't get the sense that Fanball was an established company when looking at league pages or standings or live scores, more as if they were a start-up company.
The time for talk has passed. It is not about what Fanball will do, rather it is, what is done. From that aspect, they have failed.
If this is perceived as a negative post, fine, I can live with that, but it comes from the heart. For NFBC diehards, the baseball season has lost some luster. For the first time in six years, even though a lot less money rides on the outcome, I am enjoying my other leagues more than my NFBC teams.
So again, I have to ask myself, do I trust Fanball?
The answer is no.
With that said, I have nowhere to go for the next six months. Which gives them six months to change that answer. I'll be rooting for them.
[ April 08, 2010, 11:56 AM: Message edited by: DOUGHBOYS ]
Fanball
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sportsbettingman
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Agreed.
It reminds me of a lemon.
Sure...you can take it to the mechanic to have it fixed over and over and over based on all the feedback to give, and eventually it will run.
But when you go ra-ra and try to hype how well it now runs, it defeats the purpose of making a well made and tested product from the beginning.
It reminds me of a lemon.
Sure...you can take it to the mechanic to have it fixed over and over and over based on all the feedback to give, and eventually it will run.
But when you go ra-ra and try to hype how well it now runs, it defeats the purpose of making a well made and tested product from the beginning.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."
~Albert Einstein
~Albert Einstein
Fanball
obviously, you do not run anything. i have no idea what you do for a living, but my guess it is not in management. If you were in management, you would realize that nothing works perfect out of the box. No matter what it is, large or small, huge budget or no budget. Lets use Apple Computer or Microsoft. When did their launches go perfect. as a matter of fact, never. and some of their budgets were half a billion dollars and they had years to prepare. I remember the Bill Gates introduction of some new software, maybe Windows Xp or the like, where he was on a press conference stage and it did not work at all. Iphone had many problems at the beginning including not enough broadband or the like. Get real. Move to the real world and congratulate the staff for making it 90% in 3 days. A Miracle
Fanball
Dough, I think the root of the problem is a disconnent between who is writing programming code and managing that process, and fantasy knowledge.
I had several conversations with John, a key IT guy for fanball in Vegas. So did KOQ, RT and a few others. He assured us that the intent is to design the site according to customer preference, but admitted that having it look nicer also was a priority. I'm ok with a better look so long as its not at the expense of functionality.
So far its been a mixed bag. I'd say 90% of what I and others in LV have suggested has been ignored. They clearly want our input, but unfornately don't seem to fully trust us over their own instinct.
I think the next 2 weeks will prove whether or not they "get it" as an organization, designing a site that we will be happy with for years to come, or imposing their own fantasy-capped vision of what they think we should want. That said, I'm still optimistic.
I had several conversations with John, a key IT guy for fanball in Vegas. So did KOQ, RT and a few others. He assured us that the intent is to design the site according to customer preference, but admitted that having it look nicer also was a priority. I'm ok with a better look so long as its not at the expense of functionality.
So far its been a mixed bag. I'd say 90% of what I and others in LV have suggested has been ignored. They clearly want our input, but unfornately don't seem to fully trust us over their own instinct.
I think the next 2 weeks will prove whether or not they "get it" as an organization, designing a site that we will be happy with for years to come, or imposing their own fantasy-capped vision of what they think we should want. That said, I'm still optimistic.
Fanball
hey richie...get a clue...obviously u havent been on the boads since november when we were all pesimistic and upper management was telling us everything will be fine. they had 4-6 months to get this right and they didnt.....bottom line!! i live in the real world my brotha and i run a very successful business. i deliver what i promise!!! we all warned them of this and it fell on deaf ears!!! i guess in your mind if everything is OK by sept it was a success right?? wrong!!! it should have been right from the start...thats what i paid for!!! lets see how fanball delivers this weekend!!! i am rooting for them BUT i dont have much to go on right now. 
" i have never lost...just ran out of time!"
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Chest Rockwell
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Originally posted by Richie:
obviously, you do not run anything. i have no idea what you do for a living, but my guess it is not in management. If you were in management, you would realize that nothing works perfect out of the box. No matter what it is, large or small, huge budget or no budget. Lets use Apple Computer or Microsoft. When did their launches go perfect. as a matter of fact, never. and some of their budgets were half a billion dollars and they had years to prepare. I remember the Bill Gates introduction of some new software, maybe Windows Xp or the like, where he was on a press conference stage and it did not work at all. Iphone had many problems at the beginning including not enough broadband or the like. Get real. Move to the real world and congratulate the staff for making it 90% in 3 days. A Miracle Richie a lot of us manage staffs and companies a heck of a lot bigger than fanball. Your comments are complete BS. This is not a new product launch. Fanball has been in the business of fantasy baseball for a long time. I would dare to say this is not a very large stretch from exactly what their core business is. By the way Dan is a great guy and he may not run a company. I do and I have a hell of a lot of respect for him. The entire real world comment was complete BS too.
obviously, you do not run anything. i have no idea what you do for a living, but my guess it is not in management. If you were in management, you would realize that nothing works perfect out of the box. No matter what it is, large or small, huge budget or no budget. Lets use Apple Computer or Microsoft. When did their launches go perfect. as a matter of fact, never. and some of their budgets were half a billion dollars and they had years to prepare. I remember the Bill Gates introduction of some new software, maybe Windows Xp or the like, where he was on a press conference stage and it did not work at all. Iphone had many problems at the beginning including not enough broadband or the like. Get real. Move to the real world and congratulate the staff for making it 90% in 3 days. A Miracle Richie a lot of us manage staffs and companies a heck of a lot bigger than fanball. Your comments are complete BS. This is not a new product launch. Fanball has been in the business of fantasy baseball for a long time. I would dare to say this is not a very large stretch from exactly what their core business is. By the way Dan is a great guy and he may not run a company. I do and I have a hell of a lot of respect for him. The entire real world comment was complete BS too.
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Chest Rockwell
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Originally posted by RoundTrippers:
hey richie...get a clue...obviously u havent been on the boads since november when we were all pesimistic and upper management was telling us everything will be fine. they had 4-6 months to get this right and they didnt.....bottom line!! i live in the real world my brotha and i run a very successful business. i deliver what i promise!!! we all warned them of this and it fell on deaf ears!!! i guess in your mind if everything is OK by sept it was a success right?? wrong!!! it should have been right from the start...thats what i paid for!!! lets see how fanball delivers this weekend!!! i am rooting for them BUT i dont have much to go on right now. Yeah and what Rick says too.
hey richie...get a clue...obviously u havent been on the boads since november when we were all pesimistic and upper management was telling us everything will be fine. they had 4-6 months to get this right and they didnt.....bottom line!! i live in the real world my brotha and i run a very successful business. i deliver what i promise!!! we all warned them of this and it fell on deaf ears!!! i guess in your mind if everything is OK by sept it was a success right?? wrong!!! it should have been right from the start...thats what i paid for!!! lets see how fanball delivers this weekend!!! i am rooting for them BUT i dont have much to go on right now.
Yeah and what Rick says too.-
Chest Rockwell
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Originally posted by KJ Duke:
Dough, I think the root of the problem is a disconnent between who is writing programming code and managing that process, and fantasy knowledge.
I had several conversations with John, a key IT guy for fanball in Vegas. So did KOQ, RT and a few others. He assured us that the intent is to design the site according to customer preference, but admitted that having it look nicer also was a priority. I'm ok with a better look so long as its not at the expense of functionality.
So far its been a mixed bag. I'd say 90% of what I and others in LV have suggested has been ignored. They clearly want our input, but unfornately don't seem to fully trust us over their own instinct.
I think the next 2 weeks will prove whether or not they "get it" as an organization, designing a site that we will be happy with for years to come, or imposing their own fantasy-capped vision of what they think we should want. That said, I'm still optimistic. Sorry for posting like 5 times in a row here but again well said. Ryan Houston is not a programmer, but he is paid to be a leader. He has a chance to fix this. How does he fix it? 4 things IMO
1) Acknowledges that they were going down the wrong path. No excuses.
2) Holds these people accountable to deadlines and listening to the customer. He has to define what listening to the customer means and communicate that both externally and internally. Customers are going to have differing opinions and you cannot please all of them.
3) Dedicate the resources to this to get it fixed. I would personally have already spoken to every programmer with subject matter expertise in the St Louis area and beyond. Supercharge this area of the business with resources. It may hurt the bottom line in the short term, but will be money well spent long term.
4) Listen to guys like Dan and tell Richie to **** off that it really is an unacceptable beginning. Not even close to acceptable.
Dough, I think the root of the problem is a disconnent between who is writing programming code and managing that process, and fantasy knowledge.
I had several conversations with John, a key IT guy for fanball in Vegas. So did KOQ, RT and a few others. He assured us that the intent is to design the site according to customer preference, but admitted that having it look nicer also was a priority. I'm ok with a better look so long as its not at the expense of functionality.
So far its been a mixed bag. I'd say 90% of what I and others in LV have suggested has been ignored. They clearly want our input, but unfornately don't seem to fully trust us over their own instinct.
I think the next 2 weeks will prove whether or not they "get it" as an organization, designing a site that we will be happy with for years to come, or imposing their own fantasy-capped vision of what they think we should want. That said, I'm still optimistic. Sorry for posting like 5 times in a row here but again well said. Ryan Houston is not a programmer, but he is paid to be a leader. He has a chance to fix this. How does he fix it? 4 things IMO
1) Acknowledges that they were going down the wrong path. No excuses.
2) Holds these people accountable to deadlines and listening to the customer. He has to define what listening to the customer means and communicate that both externally and internally. Customers are going to have differing opinions and you cannot please all of them.
3) Dedicate the resources to this to get it fixed. I would personally have already spoken to every programmer with subject matter expertise in the St Louis area and beyond. Supercharge this area of the business with resources. It may hurt the bottom line in the short term, but will be money well spent long term.
4) Listen to guys like Dan and tell Richie to **** off that it really is an unacceptable beginning. Not even close to acceptable.
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sportsbettingman
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Originally posted by KJ Duke:
I had several conversations with John, a key IT guy for fanball in Vegas. I guess I'm the only one who thinks this isn't where IT needs to be (in Vegas a few weeks before launch), and that a conversation (with or without notes) in Vegas lacks in comparison to a detailed e-mail.
I had several conversations with John, a key IT guy for fanball in Vegas. I guess I'm the only one who thinks this isn't where IT needs to be (in Vegas a few weeks before launch), and that a conversation (with or without notes) in Vegas lacks in comparison to a detailed e-mail.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."
~Albert Einstein
~Albert Einstein
Fanball
Originally posted by sportsbettingman:
quote:Originally posted by KJ Duke:
I had several conversations with John, a key IT guy for fanball in Vegas. I guess I'm the only one who thinks this isn't where IT needs to be (in Vegas a few weeks before launch), and that a conversation (with or without notes) in Vegas lacks in comparison to a detailed e-mail. [/QUOTE]Jealous Next time draft in Vegas!
quote:Originally posted by KJ Duke:
I had several conversations with John, a key IT guy for fanball in Vegas. I guess I'm the only one who thinks this isn't where IT needs to be (in Vegas a few weeks before launch), and that a conversation (with or without notes) in Vegas lacks in comparison to a detailed e-mail. [/QUOTE]Jealous Next time draft in Vegas!
Fanball
If you say fanball already had almost what we need, then lets see if you would be happy just taking their existing platform. Would you?
There were changes needed as we are a custome program. If you expect perfection the first time, watch the kids
There were changes needed as we are a custome program. If you expect perfection the first time, watch the kids
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sportsbettingman
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Originally posted by KJ Duke:
quote:Originally posted by sportsbettingman:
quote:Originally posted by KJ Duke:
I had several conversations with John, a key IT guy for fanball in Vegas. I guess I'm the only one who thinks this isn't where IT needs to be (in Vegas a few weeks before launch), and that a conversation (with or without notes) in Vegas lacks in comparison to a detailed e-mail. [/QUOTE]Jealous Next time draft in Vegas! [/QUOTE]I'll be there!
I'm giving Fanball IT a hard time because they deserve it. I predict they'll get everything right and they will have my business in Vegas 2011 also because I predict they will have earned it.
quote:Originally posted by sportsbettingman:
quote:Originally posted by KJ Duke:
I had several conversations with John, a key IT guy for fanball in Vegas. I guess I'm the only one who thinks this isn't where IT needs to be (in Vegas a few weeks before launch), and that a conversation (with or without notes) in Vegas lacks in comparison to a detailed e-mail. [/QUOTE]Jealous Next time draft in Vegas! [/QUOTE]I'll be there!
I'm giving Fanball IT a hard time because they deserve it. I predict they'll get everything right and they will have my business in Vegas 2011 also because I predict they will have earned it.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."
~Albert Einstein
~Albert Einstein
Fanball
Originally posted by Richie:
If you say fanball already had almost what we need, then lets see if you would be happy just taking their existing platform. Would you?
There were changes needed as we are a custome program. If you expect perfection the first time, watch the kids I'm in the FSTA Experts League run by Fanball as the site is not well designed. It boggles the mind that Fanball bought TQStats once and shut it down for this.
The functionality and layout of the site just isn't close to what TQ used to be.
When I click on "FAAB", you'd think that's where I input my faab moves, instead it just lists my faab moves upcoming.
I have to click "players" tab, then "free agents" to leave a bid. How is that intuitive?
Why isn't there "free agents" a tab?
I have to figure this site out every time I go into it.
is this easy to read? (MB messes the columns up a bit, but imagine this in five tightly squeezed columns)
Batting Average
Team Current Pts Season Pts
Baseball HQ 0.358974 14 0.358974 14
Fanball.com 0.297710 13 0.297710 13
Real Time Sports 0.283465 12 0.283465 12
ESPN 0.281553 11 0.281553 11
Fantasy Baseball… 0.275000 9.5 0.275000 9.5
Fantasy Dispute 0.275000 9.5 0.275000 9.5
Fantasy Factor 0.273504 8 0.273504 8
Starlytics 0.270270 7 0.270270 7
World Fantasy Gam… 0.259615 6 0.259615 6
Hotbox Sports 0.257426 5 0.257426 5
The Fantasy Geek 0.255172 4 0.255172 4
KFFL 0.250000 3 0.250000 3
Draft Zone 0.237705 2 0.237705 2
NBC/Sonnenschein 0.210526 1 0.210526 1
If you say fanball already had almost what we need, then lets see if you would be happy just taking their existing platform. Would you?
There were changes needed as we are a custome program. If you expect perfection the first time, watch the kids I'm in the FSTA Experts League run by Fanball as the site is not well designed. It boggles the mind that Fanball bought TQStats once and shut it down for this.
The functionality and layout of the site just isn't close to what TQ used to be.
When I click on "FAAB", you'd think that's where I input my faab moves, instead it just lists my faab moves upcoming.
I have to click "players" tab, then "free agents" to leave a bid. How is that intuitive?
Why isn't there "free agents" a tab?
I have to figure this site out every time I go into it.
is this easy to read? (MB messes the columns up a bit, but imagine this in five tightly squeezed columns)
Batting Average
Team Current Pts Season Pts
Baseball HQ 0.358974 14 0.358974 14
Fanball.com 0.297710 13 0.297710 13
Real Time Sports 0.283465 12 0.283465 12
ESPN 0.281553 11 0.281553 11
Fantasy Baseball… 0.275000 9.5 0.275000 9.5
Fantasy Dispute 0.275000 9.5 0.275000 9.5
Fantasy Factor 0.273504 8 0.273504 8
Starlytics 0.270270 7 0.270270 7
World Fantasy Gam… 0.259615 6 0.259615 6
Hotbox Sports 0.257426 5 0.257426 5
The Fantasy Geek 0.255172 4 0.255172 4
KFFL 0.250000 3 0.250000 3
Draft Zone 0.237705 2 0.237705 2
NBC/Sonnenschein 0.210526 1 0.210526 1
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Chest Rockwell
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Originally posted by Richie:
If you say fanball already had almost what we need, then lets see if you would be happy just taking their existing platform. Would you?
There were changes needed as we are a custome program. If you expect perfection the first time, watch the kids What is custom about it? 5x5 no, 15 teams no, no trading no, faab no, conditional bids no? Enlighten me?
If you say fanball already had almost what we need, then lets see if you would be happy just taking their existing platform. Would you?
There were changes needed as we are a custome program. If you expect perfection the first time, watch the kids What is custom about it? 5x5 no, 15 teams no, no trading no, faab no, conditional bids no? Enlighten me?
Fanball
Fanball what a first week.I agree with almost all if not for Greg ,Tom and Geoff Fanball would be in big trouble.Im now giving them this first week to get it together and i think if they survive this week and the waiver wire works this sunday and the stats work on monday then they will be ok.If we have promblems going into next week then i dont even want to think what will hapeen.Im a big fan of Greg and the boys and i like E so im hoping bigtime they get through this first week. good luck Fanball.
EDWARD J GILLIS
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King of Queens
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I blame Tiger Woods.
Glenn Beck, too.
Glenn Beck, too.
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Greg Ambrosius
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Originally posted by sportsbettingman:
quote:Originally posted by KJ Duke:
I had several conversations with John, a key IT guy for fanball in Vegas. I guess I'm the only one who thinks this isn't where IT needs to be (in Vegas a few weeks before launch), and that a conversation (with or without notes) in Vegas lacks in comparison to a detailed e-mail. [/QUOTE]Lance, KJ did it BOTH!! He talked John's ear off in Las Vegas AND he gave the most detailed explanation of what we need. I don't believe his comments went on deaf ears and John was the only IT guy out there. He had daily meetings with the IT guys back in ST. Louis about the suggested recommendations and I know some were implemented immediately.
As for you coming to Vegas next March, PROVE IT!!
I'd love to buy you an umbrella drink around the Bellagio pool!!
quote:Originally posted by KJ Duke:
I had several conversations with John, a key IT guy for fanball in Vegas. I guess I'm the only one who thinks this isn't where IT needs to be (in Vegas a few weeks before launch), and that a conversation (with or without notes) in Vegas lacks in comparison to a detailed e-mail. [/QUOTE]Lance, KJ did it BOTH!! He talked John's ear off in Las Vegas AND he gave the most detailed explanation of what we need. I don't believe his comments went on deaf ears and John was the only IT guy out there. He had daily meetings with the IT guys back in ST. Louis about the suggested recommendations and I know some were implemented immediately.
As for you coming to Vegas next March, PROVE IT!!
I'd love to buy you an umbrella drink around the Bellagio pool!! Greg Ambrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius
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Greg Ambrosius
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Originally posted by RoundTrippers:
hey richie...get a clue...obviously u havent been on the boads since november when we were all pesimistic and upper management was telling us everything will be fine. they had 4-6 months to get this right and they didnt.....bottom line!! i live in the real world my brotha and i run a very successful business. i deliver what i promise!!! we all warned them of this and it fell on deaf ears!!! i guess in your mind if everything is OK by sept it was a success right?? wrong!!! it should have been right from the start...thats what i paid for!!! lets see how fanball delivers this weekend!!! i am rooting for them BUT i dont have much to go on right now. This post here should summarize how this week has gone. Never -- and I mean NEVER -- have I heard RT talk like this to anyone live or via email or on our boards. You won't find a nicer person in our event and to see this shows the frustration of all our players. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just that if anyone knows RT you know this is beyond anything I've seen from him.
The posts are being read by everyone here. But we're not meeting to improve our P.R., we're doing everything we can to improve this product and get it where you expected it from Day One.
Folks want Ryan on here to explain. I don't. I want programmers finishing this up and getting this smoother than ever and better than we had before. ALL features should be live soon. Fire me if you want, but we ALL feel like crap right now. What we need is the programmers to finish up what we are working on now and as Eddie said MAKE DAMN SURE SUNDAY'S FAAB WORKS PERFECTLY.
I love ya RT. I feel it. And in fact my gut hurts A LOT more than yours.
hey richie...get a clue...obviously u havent been on the boads since november when we were all pesimistic and upper management was telling us everything will be fine. they had 4-6 months to get this right and they didnt.....bottom line!! i live in the real world my brotha and i run a very successful business. i deliver what i promise!!! we all warned them of this and it fell on deaf ears!!! i guess in your mind if everything is OK by sept it was a success right?? wrong!!! it should have been right from the start...thats what i paid for!!! lets see how fanball delivers this weekend!!! i am rooting for them BUT i dont have much to go on right now.
This post here should summarize how this week has gone. Never -- and I mean NEVER -- have I heard RT talk like this to anyone live or via email or on our boards. You won't find a nicer person in our event and to see this shows the frustration of all our players. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just that if anyone knows RT you know this is beyond anything I've seen from him.The posts are being read by everyone here. But we're not meeting to improve our P.R., we're doing everything we can to improve this product and get it where you expected it from Day One.
Folks want Ryan on here to explain. I don't. I want programmers finishing this up and getting this smoother than ever and better than we had before. ALL features should be live soon. Fire me if you want, but we ALL feel like crap right now. What we need is the programmers to finish up what we are working on now and as Eddie said MAKE DAMN SURE SUNDAY'S FAAB WORKS PERFECTLY.
I love ya RT. I feel it. And in fact my gut hurts A LOT more than yours.
Greg Ambrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius
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GOD Loves You
- Posts: 997
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 6:00 pm
Fanball
Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:
quote:Originally posted by Richie:
This is not a new product launch. Fanball has been in the business of fantasy baseball for a long time. I would dare to say this is not a very large stretch from exactly what their core business is. [/QUOTE]Exactly. Some people seem to think the product is new and the wrinkles are being worked out. Wrong. Fanball has experienced the programing/IT problems for years.
I'm sure most will pass over what I am reposting below, but for those who read, doesn't it resemble a few of the current problems????their software stinks.
This is from the NFFC boards, Sept. 2008.
I'll just come right out and say it....fanball.com sucks/isn't up to par/has problems/however you want to explain it. The site does have some positives, but the negatives greatly outweigh them.
I played in 4 baseball leagues hosted by fanball.com this season and here are some of the things I noticed.
First of all, the league page takes forever to load at times.....it seems to need time to download many different things on the page. As the page is loading, you are unable to go many of the pertinent areas on the page.....Set Linuep/Live Scoring/Rosters/Finances/etc.
This is because the links are located in a (I'm not sure what it's called) a semi drop down box where you have to place your cursor over the link and then it provides the clickable links. This is the same thing we have on our league pages for the NFFC, but with the NFFC the page loads quickly enough for us to easily get to where we need to go. Fanball.com pages need to be refreshed at times to get the links to work. Ultimately, this is only a few seconds---to a half a minute to fix. To some, no big deal, to me....I know the capability of the internet and of the programmers and this is a problem for me as a customer, epecially when so many games are being played on the site.
Next problem....setting a lineup can be as burdensome as watching a Chiefs/Rams game. There were many times this season when I attempted to submit a valid lineup and the system wouldn't allow it. Most of the time I had to log out and back in to get it to work. Other times I had to clear out my internet history/cookies to get the lineup submission to work. Something simple like entering your lineup shouldn't be a problem. I actually had a friend quit a league due to this. He kept having problems and decided to give up.
I will give them credit for having the one of deepest database of players, but this database includes doubles and different variations of players names. This allows the same player to mistakingly be rostered by multiple teams. Easily fixable, sure....should this happen?? nope.
We used the FAAB system for our leagues and I'm not sure if the finances were correct for the season. For instance, after the first week of FAAB, if I remember correctly, it didn't subtract our weekly bid. Of course, our commish corrected it, but the system should be handling this....not the commish. And at the end of the season, in one of the leagues, my finances showed I still had $21....yet I could only bid $4. Guess what my finances show now...still $21. I don't know if this has something to do with the problem at the beginning of the year, but the amount shown should be correct....who's to say the finances were handled correctly all season long?? BTW, I have no interest in going back through and calculating them myself.
And, finally, the coup de grace....the locking or should I say non-locking of free agent bids. While I was submitting my bids one Sunday, I noticed the time was past the deadline in one of my leagues, YET I was able to continue submitting my bids as if it was before the deadline. I obviously found this quite odd and decided to a little investigating. What I found out was the bids didn't lock at the desiginated time for every league. For instance, I had a league drafted in April and a league drafted in February. The bids for the April league would get locked AND awarded before those in the February league were LOCKED. If I wanted to, I could've seen the winning bids in my April league and then changed them accordingly for my February league.....but with fanballs setup, this is almost impossible to do because the site doesn't allow the editing of $$$$ amount.
I also had a league drafted at the beginning of March and the end of March. From the looks of things....the free agent bids aren't locked at the designated time and the leagues aren't awarded at the same time, looks like they are awared in order from latest drafted to the earliest. I've actually noticed the same thing with STATS, the Mag league I participated in for the NFBC was the first league drafted and every week it was the first one awarded....but the thing with STATS and the NFBC is the bids were locked, so no funny business...fanball.com....bids not locked, so funny business abounds.
I played in a football league hosted by fanball.com about 6 years ago and hated the site then....it hasn't gotten much better since. To be honest, I'm really fed up with the lack of accountability with companies in this country/world. Heck, I can't even get cbssportsline.com to return one of my 10 e-mails [Roll Eyes] These minor to major problems shouldn't occur with fanball.com, a company hosting so many different games.
So, to some this might not be that big of a deal, but for us that expect our games to be ran to the best of their ability, fanball.com sucks. I could ask most of my leaguemates from baseball and they will say the same thing. I'm pretty sure some of the fanball people play in the NFFC/NFBC....if you read this WAKE UP AND IMPROVE YOUR GAMES. Like I said, there are some positives, but they are dwarfed by the negatives.
I actually cringed when I heard the FFOC was planning on using fanball.com as their host site, especially with all the drama surrounding the event to begin with.
When I heard fanball acquired the NFFC/NFBC, I was quite disheartened. Fanball is really bad and has been for years. Greg/Tom/Geoff may be able to walk on water, but it's going to take more than the Trinity to get things turned around.......Sad but true.
[ April 08, 2010, 02:39 PM: Message edited by: GOD Loves You ]
quote:Originally posted by Richie:
This is not a new product launch. Fanball has been in the business of fantasy baseball for a long time. I would dare to say this is not a very large stretch from exactly what their core business is. [/QUOTE]Exactly. Some people seem to think the product is new and the wrinkles are being worked out. Wrong. Fanball has experienced the programing/IT problems for years.
I'm sure most will pass over what I am reposting below, but for those who read, doesn't it resemble a few of the current problems????their software stinks.
This is from the NFFC boards, Sept. 2008.
I'll just come right out and say it....fanball.com sucks/isn't up to par/has problems/however you want to explain it. The site does have some positives, but the negatives greatly outweigh them.
I played in 4 baseball leagues hosted by fanball.com this season and here are some of the things I noticed.
First of all, the league page takes forever to load at times.....it seems to need time to download many different things on the page. As the page is loading, you are unable to go many of the pertinent areas on the page.....Set Linuep/Live Scoring/Rosters/Finances/etc.
This is because the links are located in a (I'm not sure what it's called) a semi drop down box where you have to place your cursor over the link and then it provides the clickable links. This is the same thing we have on our league pages for the NFFC, but with the NFFC the page loads quickly enough for us to easily get to where we need to go. Fanball.com pages need to be refreshed at times to get the links to work. Ultimately, this is only a few seconds---to a half a minute to fix. To some, no big deal, to me....I know the capability of the internet and of the programmers and this is a problem for me as a customer, epecially when so many games are being played on the site.
Next problem....setting a lineup can be as burdensome as watching a Chiefs/Rams game. There were many times this season when I attempted to submit a valid lineup and the system wouldn't allow it. Most of the time I had to log out and back in to get it to work. Other times I had to clear out my internet history/cookies to get the lineup submission to work. Something simple like entering your lineup shouldn't be a problem. I actually had a friend quit a league due to this. He kept having problems and decided to give up.
I will give them credit for having the one of deepest database of players, but this database includes doubles and different variations of players names. This allows the same player to mistakingly be rostered by multiple teams. Easily fixable, sure....should this happen?? nope.
We used the FAAB system for our leagues and I'm not sure if the finances were correct for the season. For instance, after the first week of FAAB, if I remember correctly, it didn't subtract our weekly bid. Of course, our commish corrected it, but the system should be handling this....not the commish. And at the end of the season, in one of the leagues, my finances showed I still had $21....yet I could only bid $4. Guess what my finances show now...still $21. I don't know if this has something to do with the problem at the beginning of the year, but the amount shown should be correct....who's to say the finances were handled correctly all season long?? BTW, I have no interest in going back through and calculating them myself.
And, finally, the coup de grace....the locking or should I say non-locking of free agent bids. While I was submitting my bids one Sunday, I noticed the time was past the deadline in one of my leagues, YET I was able to continue submitting my bids as if it was before the deadline. I obviously found this quite odd and decided to a little investigating. What I found out was the bids didn't lock at the desiginated time for every league. For instance, I had a league drafted in April and a league drafted in February. The bids for the April league would get locked AND awarded before those in the February league were LOCKED. If I wanted to, I could've seen the winning bids in my April league and then changed them accordingly for my February league.....but with fanballs setup, this is almost impossible to do because the site doesn't allow the editing of $$$$ amount.
I also had a league drafted at the beginning of March and the end of March. From the looks of things....the free agent bids aren't locked at the designated time and the leagues aren't awarded at the same time, looks like they are awared in order from latest drafted to the earliest. I've actually noticed the same thing with STATS, the Mag league I participated in for the NFBC was the first league drafted and every week it was the first one awarded....but the thing with STATS and the NFBC is the bids were locked, so no funny business...fanball.com....bids not locked, so funny business abounds.
I played in a football league hosted by fanball.com about 6 years ago and hated the site then....it hasn't gotten much better since. To be honest, I'm really fed up with the lack of accountability with companies in this country/world. Heck, I can't even get cbssportsline.com to return one of my 10 e-mails [Roll Eyes] These minor to major problems shouldn't occur with fanball.com, a company hosting so many different games.
So, to some this might not be that big of a deal, but for us that expect our games to be ran to the best of their ability, fanball.com sucks. I could ask most of my leaguemates from baseball and they will say the same thing. I'm pretty sure some of the fanball people play in the NFFC/NFBC....if you read this WAKE UP AND IMPROVE YOUR GAMES. Like I said, there are some positives, but they are dwarfed by the negatives.
I actually cringed when I heard the FFOC was planning on using fanball.com as their host site, especially with all the drama surrounding the event to begin with.
When I heard fanball acquired the NFFC/NFBC, I was quite disheartened. Fanball is really bad and has been for years. Greg/Tom/Geoff may be able to walk on water, but it's going to take more than the Trinity to get things turned around.......Sad but true.
[ April 08, 2010, 02:39 PM: Message edited by: GOD Loves You ]
Fanball
Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
The time for talk has passed. It is not about what Fanball will do, rather it is, what is done. i wish you and others chimed in when i was one of the only ones beating the drum in Nov and Dec.
even though most of you are late to the party, at least you arrived
The time for talk has passed. It is not about what Fanball will do, rather it is, what is done. i wish you and others chimed in when i was one of the only ones beating the drum in Nov and Dec.
even though most of you are late to the party, at least you arrived
Fanball
Originally posted by Richie:
obviously, you do not run anything. i have no idea what you do for a living, but my guess it is not in management. If you were in management, you would realize that nothing works perfect out of the box. No matter what it is, large or small, huge budget or no budget. Lets use Apple Computer or Microsoft. When did their launches go perfect. as a matter of fact, never. and some of their budgets were half a billion dollars and they had years to prepare. I remember the Bill Gates introduction of some new software, maybe Windows Xp or the like, where he was on a press conference stage and it did not work at all. Iphone had many problems at the beginning including not enough broadband or the like. Get real. Move to the real world and congratulate the staff for making it 90% in 3 days. A Miracle Richie - You post is utter crap. Fanball knew EXACTLY what they had to get done beginning in NOVEMBER. they had STATS as a baseline. what they delivered reeks of waiting until the last minute to try and deliver AND USING US AS BETA TESTERS. GRADE SCHOOL SHITT. maybe that's how they treat their normal customer base, however, they will learn quickly this market will find a new home if our issues aren't resolved very quickly.
if you think it can't happen, you don't know your fantasy history too well.
obviously, you do not run anything. i have no idea what you do for a living, but my guess it is not in management. If you were in management, you would realize that nothing works perfect out of the box. No matter what it is, large or small, huge budget or no budget. Lets use Apple Computer or Microsoft. When did their launches go perfect. as a matter of fact, never. and some of their budgets were half a billion dollars and they had years to prepare. I remember the Bill Gates introduction of some new software, maybe Windows Xp or the like, where he was on a press conference stage and it did not work at all. Iphone had many problems at the beginning including not enough broadband or the like. Get real. Move to the real world and congratulate the staff for making it 90% in 3 days. A Miracle Richie - You post is utter crap. Fanball knew EXACTLY what they had to get done beginning in NOVEMBER. they had STATS as a baseline. what they delivered reeks of waiting until the last minute to try and deliver AND USING US AS BETA TESTERS. GRADE SCHOOL SHITT. maybe that's how they treat their normal customer base, however, they will learn quickly this market will find a new home if our issues aren't resolved very quickly.
if you think it can't happen, you don't know your fantasy history too well.
Fanball
Well I think the Doughboy nailed it.
As I posted 4-5 days ago in my very first site-bashing post in seven years, this is all inexcusable.
I dare say, it's like paying cash for a new car without taking a test drive - so you open the door, get inside, try to start the ignition...and then find out there's no battery, some valves and plugs are missing, the AC compressor is rusted, the roof leaks, and the flat tire the dealer put air back into behind your back, is flat again.
Next year, we MUST take a test drive. At least 2 teams of regulars should be formed before drafting begins, mock draft, load it all in, make multiple trades, load phony stats, and make sure everything works before the NFBC unleashes it.
I'll trust Doughboy, RT, Chest, and other regulars...even Gekko, any day, before I ever trust the folks again behind this site.
So we Beta test, every year, to make sure this crap never happens again...BUT BEFORE WE DRAFT! (tip to Gekko, who summed it up well about Beta testing)
[ April 08, 2010, 03:06 PM: Message edited by: SluggoJD ]
As I posted 4-5 days ago in my very first site-bashing post in seven years, this is all inexcusable.
I dare say, it's like paying cash for a new car without taking a test drive - so you open the door, get inside, try to start the ignition...and then find out there's no battery, some valves and plugs are missing, the AC compressor is rusted, the roof leaks, and the flat tire the dealer put air back into behind your back, is flat again.
Next year, we MUST take a test drive. At least 2 teams of regulars should be formed before drafting begins, mock draft, load it all in, make multiple trades, load phony stats, and make sure everything works before the NFBC unleashes it.
I'll trust Doughboy, RT, Chest, and other regulars...even Gekko, any day, before I ever trust the folks again behind this site.
So we Beta test, every year, to make sure this crap never happens again...BUT BEFORE WE DRAFT! (tip to Gekko, who summed it up well about Beta testing)
[ April 08, 2010, 03:06 PM: Message edited by: SluggoJD ]
Fanball
Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
Folks want Ryan on here to explain. people want to know why fanball dropped the ball on the programming end. they knew in november what had to be done. simple question and one that you shouldn't have to answer greg.
Folks want Ryan on here to explain. people want to know why fanball dropped the ball on the programming end. they knew in november what had to be done. simple question and one that you shouldn't have to answer greg.
Fanball
And live scoring is still not working. Fanball has become a punchline. Instead of saying "my car is a piece of crap" you can say "my car is fanball'd" or "I just took a Fanball." It's really kind of fun.
Greg, I'm not sure how long your contract is with Fanball, but I leave them and the NFBC and start something on your own. You know we'd all follow you and Tom. Maybe work out something with ESPN or Yahoo to use their back end. Do something, but every hour it is becoming more apparent that Fanball is worthless.
[ April 08, 2010, 03:07 PM: Message edited by: Jules Winnfield ]
Greg, I'm not sure how long your contract is with Fanball, but I leave them and the NFBC and start something on your own. You know we'd all follow you and Tom. Maybe work out something with ESPN or Yahoo to use their back end. Do something, but every hour it is becoming more apparent that Fanball is worthless.
[ April 08, 2010, 03:07 PM: Message edited by: Jules Winnfield ]
Fanball
What I don't get it that after so many years of hosting fantasy sports leagues Fanball still can't get it right. Message to Fanball: Create a free team on Yahoo or CBS Sportsline and see how they have their leagues set up. This is how it is supposed to be done. I remember back in 2000 or 2001 yahoo was just getting into the biz, and even back then their baseball league sites were 10x better than Fanball's are today. This to me is what is inexcusable. Not only that, but the Fanball web pages are clunky and lack common sense. It's like the programmers handed off the work to their 12 year old nephews to learn HTML programming. And customers shouldn't have to tell programmers how to do their job. I could come up with a list of about 40 things that need to be done to the league sites. This isn't right.