But that's another subject.  I'd hate to derail my own thread.  I'd like to hear from Mr "this will never happen" patrickm on this subject.

This time of year is always tough.   I don't think the biggest problem is a handful of new worlds.   I think it's a problem more related to the worlds themselves.  Established worlds have established guidelines.    You have to find the right fit.   The more worlds I join, the more I believe I'm going to end up only playing in the two worlds I commish.  I'd like to have at least 3 but that's beginning to look less likely all the time.

Posted by shobob on 9/10/2010 9:10:00 AM (view original):
Are you guys noticing that there aren't many nibbles right now?  Or is it me?  I just counted up the number of apparent open spots as advertised in the classifieds, and it's at least 55.  This all goes back to my annoyance at WiS for creating 5 new worlds in the last 3 months.

Took a lot of legwork, but I approved Mordecai within 48 hours of rolling over, needing 4 new owners. CLEARLY the hardest time I've had recruiting to this point. And I definitely agree that opening 5 new worlds at the end of baseball season/beginning of football season was a terrible way to go.     

Thank you.  Good to see that not everyone likes to argue every little thing out here!

I have been away for awhile and just added my 2nd team in Cubswin, we are still trying to fill. As someone who looked at a ton of open teams in open worlds, let me tell you some things that turned me off. There are literally worlds out there that have 120 and 130 win teams AND I AM NOT KIDDING. Who wants to compete with that? It's ridiculous. I am almost positive that one of the worlds I looked at had 3 or 4 teams with 115+ wins and one of them was like 132-30. I ended up taking a 40-122 team in a fairly balanced world but only because it has a tiny payroll and I can do a lot in free agency.

I think the problem has to lie with commissioners who allow their worlds to go in that direction. If I can build a team that wins 130 games every season I will. I mean I am not going to try to lose. But some owners need to be kicked out of worlds. If they can't compete then what happens is they feed the rich. Honestly I need to get into one of the more competitive leagues because I am sick of seeing those guys who either tank on purpose or simply stink because they haven't learned the game.

Posted by smoelheim on 9/10/2010 11:54:00 PM (view original):

Posted by shobob on 9/10/2010 9:10:00 AM (view original):
Are you guys noticing that there aren't many nibbles right now?  Or is it me?  I just counted up the number of apparent open spots as advertised in the classifieds, and it's at least 55.  This all goes back to my annoyance at WiS for creating 5 new worlds in the last 3 months.

Took a lot of legwork, but I approved Mordecai within 48 hours of rolling over, needing 4 new owners. CLEARLY the hardest time I've had recruiting to this point. And I definitely agree that opening 5 new worlds at the end of baseball season/beginning of football season was a terrible way to go.     

Every season I start recruiting about 7 days before the world ends, every season I have enough people to replace the owners leaving the world, and every season the world rolls over within 24 hours. I wonder how many commish put a ad in the classifieds and feel that their job is done.

The nice thing about you recruiting plague, is that you still have a lot of contacts from GD that you encourage to come over to HBD. I dont play any other WIS games anymore, so my contacts are pretty well limited to HBD.

That being said, it is some SERIOUS slim pickings out there right now... people just aren't into baseball right now. And at the end of the seasons that are about to trigger off, you'll be contending with Christmastime, which could be another bludgeoning.

Posted by plague on 9/11/2010 4:54:00 AM (view original):

Posted by smoelheim on 9/10/2010 11:54:00 PM (view original):

Posted by shobob on 9/10/2010 9:10:00 AM (view original):
Are you guys noticing that there aren't many nibbles right now?  Or is it me?  I just counted up the number of apparent open spots as advertised in the classifieds, and it's at least 55.  This all goes back to my annoyance at WiS for creating 5 new worlds in the last 3 months.

Took a lot of legwork, but I approved Mordecai within 48 hours of rolling over, needing 4 new owners. CLEARLY the hardest time I've had recruiting to this point. And I definitely agree that opening 5 new worlds at the end of baseball season/beginning of football season was a terrible way to go.     

Every season I start recruiting about 7 days before the world ends, every season I have enough people to replace the owners leaving the world, and every season the world rolls over within 24 hours. I wonder how many commish put a ad in the classifieds and feel that their job is done.

Good point.  This also requires your owners who are not returning to let you know, and not all provide that courtesy.  

But recruiting for your world is much like selling any product.  Since most of us probably aren't sales reps, think about it like selling your house.  There are 100 other similar houses out there that potential buyers have to choose from, so you have to do something to distinguish your world from the others.  And because there are more available teams than there are people actively looking to add a team, you will likely have to go find folks to takeover a team and convince them that buying a team from your world is a good idea, even if they're not looking for one.  If you wait for them to come to you, you'll likely be waiting a while.

Posted by mhulshult on 9/11/2010 10:21:00 AM (view original):

Posted by plague on 9/11/2010 4:54:00 AM (view original):

Posted by smoelheim on 9/10/2010 11:54:00 PM (view original):

Posted by shobob on 9/10/2010 9:10:00 AM (view original):
Are you guys noticing that there aren't many nibbles right now?  Or is it me?  I just counted up the number of apparent open spots as advertised in the classifieds, and it's at least 55.  This all goes back to my annoyance at WiS for creating 5 new worlds in the last 3 months.

Took a lot of legwork, but I approved Mordecai within 48 hours of rolling over, needing 4 new owners. CLEARLY the hardest time I've had recruiting to this point. And I definitely agree that opening 5 new worlds at the end of baseball season/beginning of football season was a terrible way to go.     

Every season I start recruiting about 7 days before the world ends, every season I have enough people to replace the owners leaving the world, and every season the world rolls over within 24 hours. I wonder how many commish put a ad in the classifieds and feel that their job is done.

Good point.  This also requires your owners who are not returning to let you know, and not all provide that courtesy.  

But recruiting for your world is much like selling any product.  Since most of us probably aren't sales reps, think about it like selling your house.  There are 100 other similar houses out there that potential buyers have to choose from, so you have to do something to distinguish your world from the others.  And because there are more available teams than there are people actively looking to add a team, you will likely have to go find folks to takeover a team and convince them that buying a team from your world is a good idea, even if they're not looking for one.  If you wait for them to come to you, you'll likely be waiting a while.

Therein lies the problem: we shouldn't be the sales rep for Whatifsports.com.  This is their website and we are the consumers.

You aren't the sales rep for Whatifsports.com.  The clients are here.    You're the sales rep for the particular world. 

Posted by deandg on 9/11/2010 12:52:00 AM (view original):
I have been away for awhile and just added my 2nd team in Cubswin, we are still trying to fill. As someone who looked at a ton of open teams in open worlds, let me tell you some things that turned me off. There are literally worlds out there that have 120 and 130 win teams AND I AM NOT KIDDING. Who wants to compete with that? It's ridiculous. I am almost positive that one of the worlds I looked at had 3 or 4 teams with 115+ wins and one of them was like 132-30. I ended up taking a 40-122 team in a fairly balanced world but only because it has a tiny payroll and I can do a lot in free agency.

I think the problem has to lie with commissioners who allow their worlds to go in that direction. If I can build a team that wins 130 games every season I will. I mean I am not going to try to lose. But some owners need to be kicked out of worlds. If they can't compete then what happens is they feed the rich. Honestly I need to get into one of the more competitive leagues because I am sick of seeing those guys who either tank on purpose or simply stink because they haven't learned the game.

Just to be clear, I want everyone to know that the info I am using about my world is not to be misconstrued as an attempt to slip some recruitment into here.  My motivation for providing this info is only to support my argument.  If any one has bothered to read the ad I have posted for my world, you'll notice that we have been through a cheating scandal (7 seasons ago - still recovering), and parity is getting pretty good, with three teams finishing with 100 + wins, all tied at 102.  We only had one team finish with 100 + losses, at 105.  The last three champions have all been different teams, and this year it will be a different team again.  Before that (we're talking about over a year and a half real time), the championships were generally going to one of two teams, one of which was the cheater, who was booted.  I've been diligent trying to keep the ad visible, but so far, I've only gotten one nibble (who took a team in Alexander instead), and we've had one opening filled because one of our current owners has a friend who wants to try HBD out.  Besides that, NOTHING.  I don't think our world is an "elite" world, but we veto unbalanced trades; our owners care about competitive balance.  We don't have the problems described here as being "typical" to worlds right now, and I know that there are other languishing worlds that don't as well.  The only reason I can think for the lack of interest is that there just aren't any takers right now.  The reason for that?  Maybe there's a perception that people just have to wait, and a new world will be created soon enough?  It seems like they are creating them, no matter how stupid it is...  Maybe our luck will change once our world actually rolls, which is still 5 days away.

Worlds are filling.  3 public worlds filled yesterday. 

29 public world openings yesterday.  20 today. 

Good for them.  I still haven't had any inquiries.

Oh, and by the way Mike.  Are you a commish of a world that is rolling?  If not, stop trying to derail my thread

Your thread went from making a point to a whinefest to a recruiting thread.   

You're acting as if the creation of a couple new worlds has derailed HBD.   It hasn't.   This happens every September.  

And, yes, I have a world that will roll in 27-28 days.  As I always do, I started a thread the first weekend once we're under 30 days.