Advice for 1st time Commish / League owner

[jetsdude]

Hi guys,

Considering starting up my own league when version 2 is released. I would appreciate any advice or tips for someone starting a new league. I'm likely going to pay the $35 for the sim portal website, and the $45 for version 2 of the sim. Any advice regarding how to do things in the portal? Any good free web hosting sites? Anything advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys!

[Kramden23]

Hi guys,

Considering starting up my own league when version 2 is released. I would appreciate any advice or tips for someone starting a new league. I'm likely going to pay the $35 for the sim portal website, and the $45 for version 2 of the sim. Any advice regarding how to do things in the portal? Any good free web hosting sites? Anything advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys!

Here is some quick advice.....

1. Don't double post of the forum
2. Stay away from the portal unless you have a base of knowledge in HTML and MySql
3. If you do have a base of knowledge in HTML then stay away from the portal and build your own site. Too many limitations in the portal
4. If you're going to spend $80 on the program and portal then don't be cheap, spend a few extra bucks getting a real domain and hosting from godaddy.com
5. Be prepared for A LOT of work and time running a league by yourself

[SimonT]

Quick Note : It might take some time before the portal work version 2.

[Icepilot]

The portal which will be version 2 compatible has yet to be released and there is no scheduled date for it either.

So if you start a season when version 2 of the sim comes out you will probably have to wait until your 2nd season before using the version 2 of the portal.

[DHLB Commish]

I find KRAMDEN's points somewhat "negative" towards a new league. While I may understand that many commish's start up new leagues and close them off after 1 season it is not alwasy the case (hey we are here, no?)

Butr some of his points are QUITE valid:

1) The Portal is not to be bought if you have no idea what your doing in PHP programming or if you can't troubleshoot. I myself was NIL in PHP programming but I like to reverse engineer stuff so I basically learned and found it was quite easy. Seeing the posts many commish's post on the web site though, many aren't that way. Plus, to make the portal effective, you NEED to be able to troubleshoot yourself. If not, then your going to hate the website.

2) As they said, buying version 2 and the WEBPORTAL as well won't do when it comes out as a final version of v2 is still not out so web portal will take some time to be adapted to the new "files". You'll thus need to make either a temporary website using html OR program your own php site if you can.

3) That website domain comment is too true. That will not only show seriousness for your league but also attract people to it as GMs hate going to GOOGLE sites or stuff like that.

4) Make sure you realize the work involved. Talk to some commishes out there. Everyones work ethics are slightly different but the good leagues have leagues with commishes and/or teams of co-commish's that help out with the tasks. If you think it is just a SIM and be done with it, don't start a league. You'll have spent the money for no reason as you will hate it and thus close the league.

5) Set the rules for your league from the start but be ready to modify them if they are "untested" rules. Basic leadership skills here. Whatever you do, be fair to all and be neutral. One thing that kills leagues in the first year are constant RULE CHANGES during the season. Players like stability as BUILDERS of teams need that to prepare to make strong teams of the futur.

Hope it helps.

[Kramden23]

I find KRAMDEN's points somewhat "negative" towards a new league. While I may understand that many commish's start up new leagues and close them off after 1 season it is not alwasy the case (hey we are here, no?)

Since you basically agreed with everything that I said, I see no reason why you found the need to post that you felt my comments were negative. He asked for advice, I gave it. And since you didn't contradict a single thing I said, there was no need for that.

[jetsdude]

thanks for all the honest tips guys. I appreciate it.

[Steelhawk]

From the other side of the coin

I bought the sim, and bought the Portal as well, while it does have a few bugs, alot of them have been supplied with a fix here in these very forums, and if you encounter new bugs, there is always someone ready to help out here. I have been assured by the Portal creator that once Version 2 of the simulator is released he will release an updated version of the Portal to accomodate version 2 outputs. The most current version of the Portal is 2.4 and has fixed many of the bugs from the intial release.

I agree with the purchase of both domain name and hosting though, it really does show the dedication of the Commissioner, if you are willing to pony up the coin, then you are definitley going to pony up the time!!

If you are not willing to put the time in then my suggestion is hold off until you are sure you will.. GM's hate when leagues fold after 1 or 2 seasons!!

[jetsdude]

Guys I have another question. If I choose not to use the portal, I have no problem at all settign up a website with all the output files. But how do I go about having GM's upload their lines to the site? Any advice?

[Steelhawk]

Guys I have another question. If I choose not to use the portal, I have no problem at all settign up a website with all the output files. But how do I go about having GM's upload their lines to the site? Any advice?

There is an option on the Web Portal just for that... if you decide not to go with the Portal, then have your GM's email you their lines

[CMHLCommish]

Guys I have another question. If I choose not to use the portal, I have no problem at all settign up a website with all the output files. But how do I go about having GM's upload their lines to the site? Any advice?

There is an option on the Web Portal just for that... if you decide not to go with the Portal, then have your GM's email you their lines

You could also just create a basic web form for GM's to upload their lines to a folder on your server.
Here's a pretty easy to follow tutorial on how to do that: http://www.tizag.com/phpT/fileupload.php