Post by ECFHL Commissioner on Aug 25, 2011 1:47:20 GMT -5
I'll be honest, the last few weeks haven't been very fun for me running this league. In the past couple of days, I've been bombarded with e-mails and have watched our Forums explode with complaints, accusations and controversy. The latest 'controversy' involves our new Pittsburgh GM and his recent trade with St. Louis. First, I'd like to start out by saying that the new Pittgm was recruited from the FHLsim discussion forum and to my knowledge had no prior affiliation to Alex or any other GM in our league. Also, Will has posted a pretty long and in my opinion, very truthful reply and explanation of the recent events. I personally didn't see anything suspicious with the trade. For one, Alex(St. Louis) is by far the most active GM as far as making trades. It has been brought to my attention, for better or worse, that he sometimes has a tendency to send out a lot of offers and emails to different GMs. Many a GM has told me this even some of you who've been in leagues with me for years. When the whole controversy was brought up last time involving St. Louis, I extensively investigated it and found no proof of any side dealings or shady business. Since then, I've been closely watching all trades and activity for any signs of possible cheating. I haven't found any.
Many of you know me from the old WHL leagues and there are those of you I am friends with in real life. I have always tried to be as fair as possible and show no bias. Hell, I even threw one of my groomsmen out of our league(old tbgm) because he couldn't get his computer situation figured out. I'll admit, that I have been suspicious in the past about certain trades that have been made and it will always be a worry of mine that someone would try and undermine the integrity of our league. It's fantasy hockey. We all play because we have a passion for the greatest sport on earth. After running previous leagues, I wanted to try and make this league one of the best run FHLsim leagues around. I purchased a domain and have really tried to miss the least amount of sims as possible. As many of you probably know, it's not often that you can be in a league that has close to all GMs being very active. We have that. I will always do what I feel is best for our league, even if it means removing my own friends from it. You can all rest assure that if anyone was ever caught cheating they would be removed immediately.
Let us all remember, that all of us have lives outside of this league. Also, some of us personally know other GMs in the league and that makes communication a lot easier with certain GMs than others. For example, I'll often text SJ trade offers because him and I work opposite schedules and are rarely online at the same time. I try, but sometimes don't reply to all trade offers I get emailed or sent via aim or msn. There are times when I'll check email at work or before bed and get messaged by 3-4 different GMs at once on MSN. It doesn't mean I'm ignoring some to trade with others. I think sometimes we under-estimate the amount of email offers one can receive. As Pitt said in his message, once he posted up his trade block, the flood gates opened. It can be very overwhelming.
Lastly, let's try and put all of this crap behind us. Starting tonight, the league transaction board will only be for Transactions only. When a trade is posted, only the two confirming GMs, myself or PJ are allowed to post in the thread. Same goes for waivers. Only those making a waiver claim or league management can post. Those who break this rule will be fined and repeat offenders could lose their message forum privileges. Also, from now on, please send all personal complaints or suspicious directly to myself or PJ. You feel a trade is fishy or unfair, let us know privately and we will do our best to handle it. Don't feel that I'm condemning anybody for raising suspicions. I'm not doing that at all. I just would prefer that they be made privately from now on. You have a complaint about a rule or something involving the league, feel free to post it in the league forum. There's just been a lot of bad blood and back and forth arguing going on and if I allow it to continue, I'm afraid the league will begin to fall apart. We've already had two GMs quit over stuff like this. I really do not want to lose anymore.
I'll be posting a copy of this email on the message forum so feel free to comment or reply with any of your thoughts. I plan on running this league for as long as possible and hope that everyone can continue to enjoy it.
Nick DeCristo
ECFHL Commish
Many of you know me from the old WHL leagues and there are those of you I am friends with in real life. I have always tried to be as fair as possible and show no bias. Hell, I even threw one of my groomsmen out of our league(old tbgm) because he couldn't get his computer situation figured out. I'll admit, that I have been suspicious in the past about certain trades that have been made and it will always be a worry of mine that someone would try and undermine the integrity of our league. It's fantasy hockey. We all play because we have a passion for the greatest sport on earth. After running previous leagues, I wanted to try and make this league one of the best run FHLsim leagues around. I purchased a domain and have really tried to miss the least amount of sims as possible. As many of you probably know, it's not often that you can be in a league that has close to all GMs being very active. We have that. I will always do what I feel is best for our league, even if it means removing my own friends from it. You can all rest assure that if anyone was ever caught cheating they would be removed immediately.
Let us all remember, that all of us have lives outside of this league. Also, some of us personally know other GMs in the league and that makes communication a lot easier with certain GMs than others. For example, I'll often text SJ trade offers because him and I work opposite schedules and are rarely online at the same time. I try, but sometimes don't reply to all trade offers I get emailed or sent via aim or msn. There are times when I'll check email at work or before bed and get messaged by 3-4 different GMs at once on MSN. It doesn't mean I'm ignoring some to trade with others. I think sometimes we under-estimate the amount of email offers one can receive. As Pitt said in his message, once he posted up his trade block, the flood gates opened. It can be very overwhelming.
Lastly, let's try and put all of this crap behind us. Starting tonight, the league transaction board will only be for Transactions only. When a trade is posted, only the two confirming GMs, myself or PJ are allowed to post in the thread. Same goes for waivers. Only those making a waiver claim or league management can post. Those who break this rule will be fined and repeat offenders could lose their message forum privileges. Also, from now on, please send all personal complaints or suspicious directly to myself or PJ. You feel a trade is fishy or unfair, let us know privately and we will do our best to handle it. Don't feel that I'm condemning anybody for raising suspicions. I'm not doing that at all. I just would prefer that they be made privately from now on. You have a complaint about a rule or something involving the league, feel free to post it in the league forum. There's just been a lot of bad blood and back and forth arguing going on and if I allow it to continue, I'm afraid the league will begin to fall apart. We've already had two GMs quit over stuff like this. I really do not want to lose anymore.
I'll be posting a copy of this email on the message forum so feel free to comment or reply with any of your thoughts. I plan on running this league for as long as possible and hope that everyone can continue to enjoy it.
Nick DeCristo
ECFHL Commish