why does no one answer any of the topics? what's the deal?

[Marry]

why do people just view and not reply? this is lame!
I have a serious question, what's the problem?

I am in a Touchdown League only
I have both Kurt Warner and Aaron Brooks

Someone wants to give me:

Ladianian Thomlinson
Tim Brown

for

Warner
Alstott (sits on my bench)
W. Walls (Also sits on my bench)

should I do this?

[SolarfluX]

Calm down...

Why do some people post questions as Guests and not register? I think that's equally lame.

Maybe some people don't know enough about your situation, or won't answer your question because they don't feel like it. I read posts and sometimes don't feel like answering, because:

Guests originated the post
Some people post the same question more than once in a 24-hour period (my pet peeve)
Someone already has answered the question sufficiently

I'll answer your question in a minute.

[SolarfluX]

I am in a Touchdown League only
I have both Kurt Warner and Aaron Brooks

Someone wants to give me:

Ladianian Thomlinson
Tim Brown

for

Warner
Alstott (sits on my bench)
W. Walls (Also sits on my bench)

should I do this?

Let's see, if Warner throws 30 TDs (an off year for him), LT and Tim Brown will have to each put up some combination of 30 TDs and then you're still giving up a position that can score as well! I think Brooks maybe gets 30 TDs this year.

On that basis alone, that'd be a dumb trade, don't even consider it for a TD-only league.

Then again, I don't have your complete lineup, and can't see how your starters compare to LT and Brown.

[Guest]

PostPosted: Thu Sep 19, 2002 5:21 pm Post subject: help a girl out ..... I have a trade offer should I take it?

You waited a whole 11 minutes before posting the same question again. Please don't do that anymore...

I think it's time I suggested that people must register in order to be able to post.

[DraftDodger]

The message board isn't a chatroom; you can't expect instant answers. Personally, if I see that someone like Solarflux, with a good grasp of the game, has posted an answer, I skip answering unless I have something more to add, or actully disagree. For example, I started writing this reply over an hour ago, but a friend dropped in and I postponed my writing.

My own pet peeve is EVALUATE MY TEAM! Um ... why? Once it's drafted, there isn't much I can do but give you a virtual or just sit back and laff my @$$ off. In a few cases, the overall selections are very good and you can just point out one or two weaknesses.

Even worse is COMPARE THIS MATCHUP! It's enough work to evaluate a team's overall chances (especially without seeing how the other people in the league drafted). An off the top of my head kind of answer won't do the question justice, and I'm not going to be inclined to look at all of the relevant NFL matchups to see how some stranger's team is going to perform.

I can offer some tips for anyone seeking replies to their post:

A. Put the Major Question in the Title of the post. "Which WR Should I Start?" is not a good subject, althought it does beat "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HELP ME!" which did make me smile. "Patten or Walker?" will suffice in most instances, because if someone doesn't know who they are, they probably can't offer good advice.

B. Don't answer your own question. If you start off with, "I'm 99.9 percent sure I should start Faulk but ..." I don't need to read further, much less answer a question you've all ready answered.

C. Use the Preview key. It's easier to pick out your spelling and grammar errors when you see the post in "finished" form.

D. Don't type in all caps LIKE THIS OR YOU WILL LOOK LIKE A RETARD WHO JUST BOUGHT HIS FIRST COMMODORE 64. If it's unavoidable because of the machine you're using, you would be wise to say so at the beginning of your post

E. People like to pontificate and speculate ... the more intriguing your question, the likelier you will get a good answer. For example, the title: "Should I start McAllister or George?" will suffice to get your post read, but the inside question will have more appeal if it's something like, "Should I start a slightly injured Eddie George at home vs Cleveland OR Deuce McAllister against a tough Chicago Bears defense?"

The first question will mainly get you biased answers from people with a clear-cut every-week bias for George or McAllister. The second question will often get responses which comment on George's injury, detail the Bear's defense, etc.

F. You definitely get an "F" grade if you leave out pertinent information. My answer about which WR to start may be different based on the rest of your team's makeup, and I might advise startign someone who is sitting on your bench. A good idea is to list your team, any good free agents who are available in your league, and then ask your lineup question. One strategy is generally not much worse than another in roster management, but mixing strategies can be devastating. If you're going to start your best athletes, start your best athletes. If you're going to play the favorable matchups, play the favorable matchups. Too much mixing and matching of your general strategy will likely work against you, because some athletes will fail against tough D's and some mediocre players will fail vs easy matchups. Lean more in one direction than the other.

[mikey]

don't feel bad. no one has answered my question either and i followed all the "rules" interesting question with tons of pertinent info and insight. i guess it is too tough a question for people to answer. the thing that really makes me upset is that i answer everyone elses in quite a bit of detail. i have answered about 7 tonight, including yours, but i get nothing in return.

[Homeless]

One of the main reasons is this:

MOST of the people who visit here are looking for info, help or some kind of advice. Only a few are here to actually try to help, or are able , confident enough to help.

Take me, very little knowledge of the game, but i read a lot of the posts, just like this one, but usually I cant offer an opinion so i dont reply.

[Arlo]

First of all, thanks for bringing this up, and thanks for the comments that have already been added.

It's obviously an exaggeration to say that nobody answers any of the topics - if you check, you'll see that the vast majority of questions posted have received answers (usually multiple answers). Both the moderators and a number of Cafe regulars go out of their way to look for questions that haven't been replied to yet, and they don't miss very many. Kudos to those folks!

Still, sometimes questions do go unanswered, even if it's an interesting question with all the relevant information included (as well as all the other factors on DraftDodger's checklist). If your question does fall off the current board without receiving an answer, by all means bump it back to the top.

At any rate, there's nothing wrong with viewing a topic without replying. If you're asking a question about Isaac Bruce, for instance, quite a few Bruce owners will look at that thread in order to gain some insight for their team, without intending to comment themselves. As Homeless said, that's a great way to find information. Incidentally, our reply per view rate is rather high compared with other forums.

As far as requiring users to register for this board, I'll add some comments to SolarfluX's post in the Suggestion Box.

Oh yeah: I actually find rate-my-team posts rather interesting, especially during the preseason when preparing for drafts of my own. Reading through a number of those posts can give you a good impression of the unexpected things that can happen in a draft.

Now to go look for mikey's question...