What is expected of our GMs
Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 12:26 pm
We get it. You have lives. You have jobs. You have a lot going on and SLOE is your getaway. But you can't always get away as much as you'd like. While some of us live, breathe, and sleep SLOE we also understand that it is not realistic to expect everyone to be as involved as the "most involved" members. That said, it is not in the best interest of the league to have neglected teams.
Here's what you, as a GM in this league, are expected to do, in rough order of importance.
1. PARTICIPATE IN THE OFFSEASON
The off-season is probably THE most important time for teams, as a misstep in the off-season - especially allowing a key free agent to depart - can set a team back for many seasons. You should make sure that you are choosing the players your team's draft picks entitle you to in the rookie draft and especially need to make sure you are participating in Restricted Free Agency if you have an RFA and Unrestricted Free Agency, especially if you have cap space. I should note here that the decision NOT to make free agent bids and preserve your cap space in order to absorb contracts and assets from other teams is a perfectly legitimate strategy, but that it can be very difficult for the commissioner's office to distinguish a team that is strategically forgoing Free Agency to preserve its cap from a team with a GM who is absent. If you are taking this tack, dropping a line to the commish or The Negotiator saying, "I am aware of Free Agency and am choosing not to participate" is a great way to make sure we know you're not absentee.
2. READ YOUR PRIVATE MESSAGES (AND RESPOND)
One of the easiest ways for us to tell you are paying attention is to see you are reading Private Messages sent your way. Private messages sit in the Outbox until read, at which point they move to the Sent Box so it's obvious to the sender when you haven't read something yet. If we have reports of PMs sitting in the Outbox for more than a couple of days, that's a red flag for us.
In addition, few things are more frustrating than spending time crafting a trade proposal, making sure the salaries work, and sending it off... and then seeing it was read and getting no reply for days. You don't have to respond as soon as you read it, but in general it's nice to send a reply back within 24 hours of reading a PM, even if it's something like "no thanks" or "let me get back to you."
3. SET A DEPTH CHART
We've tried to make setting a DC as easy as we can with the TeamViewer nodes and with the option for you to just post in thread. It is expected that you will make some sort of DC submission, especially prior to the first sim and also any time a key rotation player is injured for an extended period. Like reading and responding to your PMs, this really doesn't take much effort - if your team is rolling, we're basically asking you to type "Same" or "Recommended" three times per week. If you aren't involved enough to manage this, it's a pretty big red flag.
4. LET US KNOW WHEN YOU'LL BE ABSENT
If you have a vacation (we hope!) or a family emergency (we hope not!) just drop a quick line in the league chat letting us know, "hey, I'm going to be unavailable between dates X and Y" (we don't need to know why you're busy, especially if it's a family emergency). If we know you're going to be away, you missing one of the items above isn't an issue - we expect you're taking care of your life first and we won't penalize you for that. Even the commissioner uses this from time to time - I generally take one week off every summer for Boy Scout camp where internet access is spotty if it's available at all. I let everyone know in advance, and the rest of the input team runs the sims. Nobody is concerned they haven't heard from me for a week because I have told everyone I'll be away. It's no big deal, just keep us in the loop.
5. EARN POINTS WITH MEDIA ARTICLES
You don't have to do this, but it's one of the best ways to take a deeper dive and involve yourself more in the league. And you earn points. What's not to like?
WHAT WILL GET YOU REPLACED AS AN OWNER?
If you're wondering, "what is the least active I can be and keep my team" you're probably not having a good time with SLOE and frankly, might want to voluntarily consider stepping down. But since you asked, I'll lay out scenarios. Note that all of these things have a room for commissioner discretion. If we know you're generally pretty active but you happen to miss something and continue to stay active, we will usually let it pass. But since it's a popular system, think baseball - three strikes and you're out (but it's possible to get yourself out directly, too).
1. You never write articles to earn media points and don't do preseason press conferences.
This doesn't really put you in danger. You can be just fine without doing any of these things as long as you're handling the core business of running a team (drafting, free agency, responding to trade offers, submitting depth charts).
2. You miss an occasional depth chart
Again, not really an issue. We all miss occasionally.
3. You miss at least 5 depth charts in a season (unexcused)
This earns you a strike. Again, DCs are about the easiest thing you can do - they take between 10 minutes and 5 seconds to set.
4. You are AWOL during the first round of the draft.
Not posting your pick during the draft and getting it "simmed" is going to earn you a strike unless it's clear to the commissioner you were active during draft time and your two hour pick window happened to fall at a bad time (for instance, you make a couple of trades but one of your picks happens to come up to the clock early in the morning or late at night and it gets simmed because you're asleep).
5. You do not submit bids in round one of UFA.
This is going to get you a strike unless there's an obvious reason for it (example: you're capped out and you already have 14 guys on your squad).
6. You do not make a decision about whether or not to exercise rights on an important (read: blue potential or higher) RFA.
If there's even a little bit of doubt in the commissioner's mind about your activity, this is an immediate "you're out" so the league office can step in and take control of your team and exercise RFA rights. Missing this is how franchises get screwed up for years at a time and we're not going to let that happen to your successor.
7. The league office has multiple complaints that PMs have gone unread for a week or more.
This one is going to get you a strike. Read your PMs.
8. The league office sends you a formal warning about inactivity.
Once things are to the point of a formal warning, you're at "two strikes" - and usually in the formal warning will be an explicit list of things you need to do (which may not appear on this list) to avoid being removed as a GM (missing those things will knock you out even if they don't appear here). The fact that league office has noticed your inactivity and feels it's bad enough to warn you is NOT a good look.
REMOVING STRIKES
Generally, each season you go without accumulating a strike will "remove" a past strike. Note the league office is also inclined to cut a little more slack to long-time owners who have been extremely active but have a little lull in activity than guys without a long track record. In addition, if you have informed us in advance that you'll be away when one of the above might happen, it's not a "strike" - you have an excused absence.
THE FINAL SAY
Ultimately, the commissioner has the final say about removing a GM who is neglecting his team. I really do try to make sure you have plenty of rope and at least one warning before I remove you from GMing. It's never pleasant for me, either, but I have to act in the best interest of the league and that means making sure every team has an owner that is making an effort to maintain their team.
Here's what you, as a GM in this league, are expected to do, in rough order of importance.
1. PARTICIPATE IN THE OFFSEASON
The off-season is probably THE most important time for teams, as a misstep in the off-season - especially allowing a key free agent to depart - can set a team back for many seasons. You should make sure that you are choosing the players your team's draft picks entitle you to in the rookie draft and especially need to make sure you are participating in Restricted Free Agency if you have an RFA and Unrestricted Free Agency, especially if you have cap space. I should note here that the decision NOT to make free agent bids and preserve your cap space in order to absorb contracts and assets from other teams is a perfectly legitimate strategy, but that it can be very difficult for the commissioner's office to distinguish a team that is strategically forgoing Free Agency to preserve its cap from a team with a GM who is absent. If you are taking this tack, dropping a line to the commish or The Negotiator saying, "I am aware of Free Agency and am choosing not to participate" is a great way to make sure we know you're not absentee.
2. READ YOUR PRIVATE MESSAGES (AND RESPOND)
One of the easiest ways for us to tell you are paying attention is to see you are reading Private Messages sent your way. Private messages sit in the Outbox until read, at which point they move to the Sent Box so it's obvious to the sender when you haven't read something yet. If we have reports of PMs sitting in the Outbox for more than a couple of days, that's a red flag for us.
In addition, few things are more frustrating than spending time crafting a trade proposal, making sure the salaries work, and sending it off... and then seeing it was read and getting no reply for days. You don't have to respond as soon as you read it, but in general it's nice to send a reply back within 24 hours of reading a PM, even if it's something like "no thanks" or "let me get back to you."
3. SET A DEPTH CHART
We've tried to make setting a DC as easy as we can with the TeamViewer nodes and with the option for you to just post in thread. It is expected that you will make some sort of DC submission, especially prior to the first sim and also any time a key rotation player is injured for an extended period. Like reading and responding to your PMs, this really doesn't take much effort - if your team is rolling, we're basically asking you to type "Same" or "Recommended" three times per week. If you aren't involved enough to manage this, it's a pretty big red flag.
4. LET US KNOW WHEN YOU'LL BE ABSENT
If you have a vacation (we hope!) or a family emergency (we hope not!) just drop a quick line in the league chat letting us know, "hey, I'm going to be unavailable between dates X and Y" (we don't need to know why you're busy, especially if it's a family emergency). If we know you're going to be away, you missing one of the items above isn't an issue - we expect you're taking care of your life first and we won't penalize you for that. Even the commissioner uses this from time to time - I generally take one week off every summer for Boy Scout camp where internet access is spotty if it's available at all. I let everyone know in advance, and the rest of the input team runs the sims. Nobody is concerned they haven't heard from me for a week because I have told everyone I'll be away. It's no big deal, just keep us in the loop.
5. EARN POINTS WITH MEDIA ARTICLES
You don't have to do this, but it's one of the best ways to take a deeper dive and involve yourself more in the league. And you earn points. What's not to like?
WHAT WILL GET YOU REPLACED AS AN OWNER?
If you're wondering, "what is the least active I can be and keep my team" you're probably not having a good time with SLOE and frankly, might want to voluntarily consider stepping down. But since you asked, I'll lay out scenarios. Note that all of these things have a room for commissioner discretion. If we know you're generally pretty active but you happen to miss something and continue to stay active, we will usually let it pass. But since it's a popular system, think baseball - three strikes and you're out (but it's possible to get yourself out directly, too).
1. You never write articles to earn media points and don't do preseason press conferences.
This doesn't really put you in danger. You can be just fine without doing any of these things as long as you're handling the core business of running a team (drafting, free agency, responding to trade offers, submitting depth charts).
2. You miss an occasional depth chart
Again, not really an issue. We all miss occasionally.
3. You miss at least 5 depth charts in a season (unexcused)
This earns you a strike. Again, DCs are about the easiest thing you can do - they take between 10 minutes and 5 seconds to set.
4. You are AWOL during the first round of the draft.
Not posting your pick during the draft and getting it "simmed" is going to earn you a strike unless it's clear to the commissioner you were active during draft time and your two hour pick window happened to fall at a bad time (for instance, you make a couple of trades but one of your picks happens to come up to the clock early in the morning or late at night and it gets simmed because you're asleep).
5. You do not submit bids in round one of UFA.
This is going to get you a strike unless there's an obvious reason for it (example: you're capped out and you already have 14 guys on your squad).
6. You do not make a decision about whether or not to exercise rights on an important (read: blue potential or higher) RFA.
If there's even a little bit of doubt in the commissioner's mind about your activity, this is an immediate "you're out" so the league office can step in and take control of your team and exercise RFA rights. Missing this is how franchises get screwed up for years at a time and we're not going to let that happen to your successor.
7. The league office has multiple complaints that PMs have gone unread for a week or more.
This one is going to get you a strike. Read your PMs.
8. The league office sends you a formal warning about inactivity.
Once things are to the point of a formal warning, you're at "two strikes" - and usually in the formal warning will be an explicit list of things you need to do (which may not appear on this list) to avoid being removed as a GM (missing those things will knock you out even if they don't appear here). The fact that league office has noticed your inactivity and feels it's bad enough to warn you is NOT a good look.
REMOVING STRIKES
Generally, each season you go without accumulating a strike will "remove" a past strike. Note the league office is also inclined to cut a little more slack to long-time owners who have been extremely active but have a little lull in activity than guys without a long track record. In addition, if you have informed us in advance that you'll be away when one of the above might happen, it's not a "strike" - you have an excused absence.
THE FINAL SAY
Ultimately, the commissioner has the final say about removing a GM who is neglecting his team. I really do try to make sure you have plenty of rope and at least one warning before I remove you from GMing. It's never pleasant for me, either, but I have to act in the best interest of the league and that means making sure every team has an owner that is making an effort to maintain their team.
