Things to improve MockDraftCentral

headhunters · Post by **headhunters** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 8:01 am

tom, my issue will probably occur in round 21- when i examine my team and ask for a restart!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 8:23 am

Guys, I monitored both drafts last night as well and didn't see any problems. We always stop the drafts if needed and make sure you're getting the picks you want. Man, I left midway and thought everything was as smooth as silk, once we got 15 owners in the $100 league. The MDC site is extremely user-friendly this year and I think their rankings are much improved, which speeds up the drafts because it's easier to find players. If Lance had any problems he can certainly call me or Tom and we'll address them.

The satellites are done in about four hours, which is faster than the main events. That seems like a good time for $100, $250, $500 or $1,000 and a good way to open your season of drafting. As for potty breaks, I know four hours is a long time but we should be able to make it through without delaying for another 10-15 minutes.

Let's keep this thread as constructive criticism of MDC's site and keep providing site improvements, but as for last night's drafts they were extremely smooth and I hope the next 25+ go just as well.

headhunters · Post by **headhunters** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 8:43 am

just to be sure- i wasn't in either of last nights draft. and thanks again for responding.

Cherokee Nation · Post by **Cherokee Nation** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 8:51 am

Tom,

I was gettings posts from here to send to Mockdraft, when I saw your question, so I'll give you a direct answer...

One of the members was posting on the message board during the draft how the site was stuck for him...I couldn't join in to tell you the same because my site was even more stuck, not allowing me to post...but you just blew the dude off, and me (without knowing it) and kept drafting...time obviously your main concern. I ended up with Andy Marte, computer pick, it's ok cause it was the end of the draft, etc.

It's a difficult site to draft from without being pushed for time. The suggestions were valid from my experience drafting on that site. Read the suggestions....find the fault...spin away

It doesn't matter.

Keep it the way it is. It's not my business and I'm certainly not one of the brownie hound squad. The suggestions were to make the satellite draft work better. That's all. Dismiss them...send your Gekko butt squad to get the spin going...it's forgotten bud. Draft away

sportsbettingman · Post by **sportsbettingman** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 8:57 am

Seemed like two pretty good ideas.

1) The ding indicating a selection was made.

2) A minimum of 20 seconds per selection.

If the draft is acceptable with every selection taking 90 seconds...it seems to set a minimum of 20 seconds for the auto selections or "que" selections to be a fair request.

I'm not Cherokee Nation if that's what you think, Greg. (I've got Sioux blood!!!) I see another Lance in the league, though.

In every draft on MDC I've done...all problems are paused and fixed with speed and accuracy.

~Lance

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:00 am

Originally posted by Cherokee Nation:

Tom,

I was gettings posts from here to send to Mockdraft, when I saw your question, so I'll give you a direct answer...

One of the members was posting on the message board during the draft how the site was stuck for him...I couldn't join in to tell you the same because my site was even more stuck, not allowing me to post...but you just blew the dude off, and me (without knowing it) and kept drafting...time obviously your main concern. I ended up with Andy Marte, computer pick, it's ok cause it was the end of the draft, etc.

It's a difficult site to draft from without being pushed for time. The suggestions were valid from my experience drafting on that site. Read the suggestions....find the fault...spin away

It doesn't matter.

Keep it the way it is. It's not my business and I'm certainly not one of the brownie hound squad. The suggestions were to make the satellite draft work better. That's all. Dismiss them...send your Gekko butt squad to get the spin going...it's forgotten bud. Draft away Lance, I did not "blow anybody off." That's not how I operate and if it was Greg would make damn sure it didn't last that way for long. Trust me. If a problem exists in any draft, it can be brought to my attention via the chat area and there is also a "Call Commissioner" button on the site which contacts the MDC rep. Both of those functions are used frequently in our drafts when people have issues they want us to look at. Why would I work hard to correct all of theirs but ignore yours? The answer is I wouldn't nor do I.

Furthermore, "time" is not my main concern for these drafts. The main concern is to ensure everyone who participates enjoys the experience and has a great time and hopefully has a fun season. If we need to be there for 6 hours to get a draft done I'll be there if that's what it takes to ensure the draft is run properly.

As I have now said three times in this thread, Greg and I welcome constructive comments that can help us make our events better. If you believe I did not act appropriately and it ruined your draft experience I do apologize for that. But I take issue with the comment that I blow people off or I don't give a damn and so forth. Greg and I work very hard on the customer service aspect of this event (and the NFFC) and quite frankly I believe it's one of the primary reasons why both events have grown so much in stature.

I'm not perfect. If you disagree with something I've done in a draft I welcome your comments on what I could do in the future to improve things. But the personal commentary is getting way out of hand here. If you're upset with me, I apologize again. But I will continue to listen to any constructive comments you and all of our participants have that will enable us to do a better job going forward.

GOD Loves You · Post by **GOD Loves You** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:21 am

Originally posted by Gordon Gekko:

No problems here. Mockdraftcentral is doing a great job. Couldn't agree more, Mark.

GOD Loves You · Post by **GOD Loves You** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:30 am

Originally posted by UFS:

quote:Originally posted by Cherokee Nation:

I totally agree with Headhunters. I have found, even at the main event draft some folks want to get it over with....which to me makes no sense to me...wait all year...pay a bunch of money...then race through it like you hate it so much you just want it to end. Or.... come in 100% prepared, know exactly who you want each round, and then put pressure on those that are not prepared. Love it so much when others squirm

[/QUOTE]Well guys, I echo the statement above. I'm a speed drafter. In the main for the NFFC, after a couple of rounds, the facilitators didn't even start the clock for me since I already had my pick on the tip of my tongue. I know who I want and am ready to take them, if they are selected the pick before, I'm ready with my next guy.

It really seems as though many aren't fully prepared from some of the previous posts. Heck, I could almost pre-pick my players, go on auto, and end up with the team I want because I am prepared and basically know what will happen beforehand.

There's been many satellite draft were I've made my selection and left my computer to start dinner for my family, I even took a quick shower one night during draft and didn't miss a thing. Another time I actually ran up to the gas station, quickly and still didn't miss a thing. MDC has a gridview, the abiliity to scroll through the draft on the left side, and you can see all the players drafted in the rankings so I am quite confused as to why people would have a problem crossing players off their lists and needing more time.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:30 am

Originally posted by GOD Loves You:

quote:Originally posted by Gordon Gekko:

No problems here. Mockdraftcentral is doing a great job. Couldn't agree more, Mark. [/QUOTE]Hey - it's a post where youu're not trying to "give it to me". Refreshing to say the least

GOD Loves You · Post by **GOD Loves You** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:40 am

Originally posted by Gordon Gekko:

quote:Originally posted by GOD Loves You:

quote:Originally posted by Gordon Gekko:

No problems here. Mockdraftcentral is doing a great job. Couldn't agree more, Mark. [/QUOTE]Hey - it's a post where youu're not trying to "give it to me". Refreshing to say the least [/QUOTE]C'mon, you know I don't really "give it" to anyone. But I would be inclined to with some of the peoples comments and accusations toward Tom/Greg/MDC. MDC is fantastic, the rankings are a little skewed, but I love drafting on the site. It really is a breeze if you are prepared. There's been many drafts when I talked to Jason P. during the latter stages of the draft because I was so bored/tire of waiting and didn't realize it was my pick until the time was counting down and it didn't bother me at all. I guess in that instance, a chime would be nice, but it wouldn't help me due to my computer needing a new sound card.

Tom, tell MDC to keep up the great work!

Spyhunter · Post by **Spyhunter** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:56 am

All,

After reading all the posts I can see the following issues that can occur with a Satellite (and I know they happen as the Java crashes)

1. People's applet crashes. They of course can't post in the chat on the java applet because the whole applet freezes. This is a serious issue. I think that I heard the solution however: TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THE CALL BUTTON ON THE WEBSITE. I had never heard of this and this probably would have solved the issue.

2. I like Sportingman's idea!!! I think it is a very reasonable compromise to add a 15 or 20 second 'pause' for the next pick after a person who uses the auto-pick. Frankly for many of us who aren't super human, we have to mark off players taken and pick the next person. A 15 second pause would be a great compromise.

Just my 2 cents,

Spy

Geoffrey Stein · Post by **Geoffrey Stein** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:39 pm

I just got home from a few days out-of-town, so I'll make post a quick message, then respond to direct posts in the morning.

We do everything we possibly can to see to it that the NFBC satellite drafts go off 100% smooth, but we are dealing with technology and humans together, 100% is impossible. So what we do is inform you folks of what to do if anything goes wrong, which includes being accessible through both e-mail and telephone -- heck I give out my personal cell phone number before each draft, and when you're as pretty as I am, that can be dangerous.

Once the draft itself starts: The first thing I do when everyone arrives is tell the drafters if they experience any troubles to hit the "orange CALL COMMISH button located directly above this chat box" -- there hasn't been a draft in over a year where that reminder has not been given. And as previously stated, I give out the number to my cell phone which is sitting directly next to me.

Tom, Greg, and myself can only do so much to prepare you of what to do if something does indeed go wrong. What we can't do is know when you're having a problem without you telling us. In the reminder e-mail sent out on Monday before I left, I gave out the home phone number of the MDC rep in-charge of watching the draft with the instructions to call in case of emergency. Until we create the MDC/NFBC version of the bat signal, there's not much more we can do -- the drafters have to do their part in reading over all of the pre-draft instructions.

As for turning heads and ignoring issues: That's simply not the case. When it comes to dealing with you fine folks, MDC tries to give the same great customer service that you've come accustomed to from Greg and Tom. That includes: Making ourselves available at all times of the day, and taking care of any issues, problems, questions, etc. as soon as they come in.

Sorry to ramble on; I'll do some more responding in the morning.

[ February 21, 2007, 09:41 PM: Message edited by: Geoffrey Stein ]

bucks66 · Post by **bucks66** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:49 am

The way I see it....the dings would be nice but not necessary. I figure it's up to me to become accustomed the the draft, not the other way around. If you do enough mock drafts prior to the actual draft, no big deal. But then I'm more into my own personal responsibility versus others being responsible for me.

Geoffrey Stein · Post by **Geoffrey Stein** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 5:44 am

Originally posted by bjoak:

I don't know how I'm managing to be so unclear. Yes, I know how to pre-rank players. My issue is that it takes FORever to do it because you have to search through the rankings to find a guy. If they were in alphabetical order you'd go to K for Kuzmanoff and rank him how you like. Now you have to search through a list of 500 guys to find him because there is no way to divine where Geoff decided to rank him. We've never had complaints about this before; not saying your argument isn't valid, but switching the player order to alphabetical is something that probably isn't going to happen.

Just a hint: If you hit the control button (Ctrl) button and hold down the letter f, your browser -- whether IE or Firefox -- will bring up a box where you can search everything on the entire page. For example, if you wanted to find Kouzmanhoff, all you'd have to do is hold down CTRL + F, type in any part of his name, and hit enter. All of the results on the page will then be highlighted for you.

Geoffrey Stein · Post by **Geoffrey Stein** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:02 am

Originally posted by Cherokee Nation:

Drafted yesterday and want to give this feedback before I forget

1. It would help me greatly if there was a ding every time a player was selected so that I would know to turn my head slightly to the left, catch the player drafted and scratch him off my list. When it is my turn the mock draft tells me so with a voice, don't imagine having a ding when a player gets selected would be too difficult. Between scratching players off my list and making sure players I want are actually still available ( it's a multiple step process to check on a player by name, very time consuming and slow, jammed a lot when I employed, when the draft is flying ) I missed scratching off several drafted players. I know you can scroll up and see the list of players drafted, and I did that several times.. but that's an entire additional activity in a crazy busy draft that I'd have to employ constantly because I'm obviously not aware when I miss a player being drafted. A ding when a player is selected would help me greatly.

2. Your site kept jamming up, other people were talking about it, and I was listening to MLB 411 while drafting ( background noise )and it never jammed up. I got stuck with Andy Marte on a computer selection because one of the times your site jammed up it was my turn. It was the end of the draft so it wasn't a huge deal, but if it had happened in the first 25 rounds I would have become angry about losing my choice.

3. There should be some sort of automatic delay of 20 seconds or so between picks. At the main event a player is selected and there is a natural pause while that players card is found and he is added to the tote board. In yesterdays draft there were 6 and 7 picks in 15 seconds a few times, making it impossible for me to keep my sheet properly updated, causing me to miss that certain players had been drafted. I'm not interested in a speed draft...and that type of speed is totally unreasonable and gives the edge to computer heads over baseball people.

4. Why the hell did our group have to catch the other groups ? We had a problem before the draft with the commissioners...and then when we finally did start the main talk on the message board was to catch up to the other groups drafting, who now had a 15 minute head start on us. WHY ? Who gives a sh*t if we catch up to the other groups drafting....yet most of the people I was drafting with...after prodding from the commissioners became enthralled with the idea of catching the other drafts....WHY ? Why couldn't we just take our time and do a normal draft ? We didn't even get a break, drafting right through the site jamming up ( I read others posting that it was jamming for them too), leaving me with superstud Andy Marte.

5. Breaks should be mandatory. We didn't get a single break....we had to catch the other drafts...WHY ?

You asked for feedback. Here's my feedback fresh off Feb 20th draft 1- Something similar is in the works.

2- I can't comment on what happened because I wasn't there, but I am more than positive that if there were a user-wide problem that Greg, Tom, and/or Ryan -- the MDC rep -- would have seen that it were taken care of before the draft was allowed to resume.

3- I believe this has been answered by Tom.

4- Once again, I wasn't there, so I can't comment. However, you are entitled to all 90 seconds of your picks -- if you so choose.

5- This is for Greg and Tom to decide.

Geoffrey Stein · Post by **Geoffrey Stein** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:04 am

Originally posted by Dak:

Agree 100% with Cherokee and headhunters! Cherokee's recommendations should be implemented IMMEDIATELY! Especially the "dings", "pauses" and breaks !!!!

Geoff - you may fix ASAP!! Thanks for the green light.

Geoffrey Stein · Post by **Geoffrey Stein** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:07 am

Originally posted by Gordon Gekko:

No problems here. Mockdraftcentral is doing a great job. Thank you fine sir.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 7:10 am

Originally posted by Geoffrey Stein:

quote:Originally posted by Gordon Gekko:

No problems here. Mockdraftcentral is doing a great job. Thank you fine sir. [/QUOTE]Geoffrey - I've been a part of 10+ real drafts on MDC, along with 50+ mock drafts. Back in the old days, my screen might have frozen once or twice while doing a draft. For the past year or more, no freezes, no issues, and no complaints.

Some users have issues, but my guess is that it's because they are unprepared or haven't demo'd the website and interface. Even then, MDC has been there to fix the issues.

Again keep up the good work. Carry on.

P.S. Instead of having a ding when every pick is made, can you direct all of your resources into developing an "MDC Mindreader" interface, you know an interface that can read owners minds on what player they want to select. This will save time on trying to search for players. Thanks, LOL

Quahogs · Post by **Quahogs** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 9:00 am

how about making the voice "NOW IT'S YOUR TURN" a female voice ?

Q

KJ Duke · Post by **KJ Duke** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 9:13 am

Originally posted by Quahogs:

how about making the voice "NOW IT'S YOUR TURN" a female voice ?

Q If Halle Berry does voiceover work, that would be pleasant ... I don't that's an unreasonable request, is it Geoff?

Geoffrey Stein · Post by **Geoffrey Stein** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 9:27 am

Originally posted by KJ Duke:

quote:Originally posted by Quahogs:

how about making the voice "NOW IT'S YOUR TURN" a female voice ?

Q If Halle Berry does voiceover work, that would be pleasant ... I don't that's an unreasonable request, is it Geoff? [/QUOTE]A lot more likely to happen than some other requests we've received over the years.

KJ Duke · Post by **KJ Duke** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 9:35 am

Originally posted by Geoffrey Stein:

quote:Originally posted by KJ Duke:

quote:Originally posted by Quahogs:

how about making the voice "NOW IT'S YOUR TURN" a female voice ?

Q If Halle Berry does voiceover work, that would be pleasant ... I don't that's an unreasonable request, is it Geoff? [/QUOTE]A lot more likely to happen than some other requests we've received over the years. [/QUOTE]

Get it done and I will join three more satellites of Greg's choice!

Geoffrey Stein · Post by **Geoffrey Stein** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 9:37 am

Originally posted by KJ Duke:

quote:Originally posted by Geoffrey Stein:

quote:Originally posted by KJ Duke:

quote:Originally posted by Quahogs:

how about making the voice "NOW IT'S YOUR TURN" a female voice ?

Q If Halle Berry does voiceover work, that would be pleasant ... I don't that's an unreasonable request, is it Geoff? [/QUOTE]A lot more likely to happen than some other requests we've received over the years. [/QUOTE]

Get it done and I will join three more satellites of Greg's choice! [/QUOTE]How many for Roseanne Barr?

Quahogs · Post by **Quahogs** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 9:44 am

" NOW IT's YOUR TURN " the 4 words you want to hear at any bachelor party you've ever attended

Q

[ February 22, 2007, 03:45 PM: Message edited by: Quahogs ]

KJ Duke · Post by **KJ Duke** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 9:53 am

Originally posted by Geoffrey Stein:

quote:Originally posted by KJ Duke:

quote:Originally posted by Geoffrey Stein:

quote:Originally posted by KJ Duke:

quote:Originally posted by Quahogs:

how about making the voice "NOW IT'S YOUR TURN" a female voice ?

Q If Halle Berry does voiceover work, that would be pleasant ... I don't that's an unreasonable request, is it Geoff? [/QUOTE]A lot more likely to happen than some other requests we've received over the years. [/QUOTE]

Get it done and I will join three more satellites of Greg's choice! [/QUOTE]How many for Roseanne Barr? [/QUOTE]I may have to pull out of the competition if you land Roseanne. She spits when she talks, or is that just when she sings?