Online League Advertising Tips - Page 2

disposableheros · 09-22-2004, 03:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enuttage

...(read: smartass)...

disposableheros · 09-22-2004, 03:16 AM

one thing that might help is to advertise in places other than this forum, ie. other sports forums, college buddies, shool bulletin board, personal webpage, work, etc.

Treches · 09-22-2004, 05:33 AM

First off, always state the complete name of the league (like Roderick posted above). For some odd reason, most of the fellas announcing their leagues go with the abbreviation as if there only existed a fistful of leagues out there and the sole sight of the acronym brought an image of their leagues automatically.

Secondly, post the type of league and pace. How long has it been in existence, if not a new one. A link to the rules and website.

Finally, show that you run/intend to run a decent league by avoiding one-liners and spending more than two seconds typing the announcement.

All that should make anyone interested to check the league.

I'd agree that some leagues may have as much trouble finding solid owners right now as back in the days of OOTP2. Not many people interested in online play back then, too many leagues nowadays. However, I think many of the ones that pop up these days fail to start/last mostly for the commish not knowing the land he's entering and setting up a league that has "fold" written all over it. But that's another story.

rem · 09-22-2004, 09:50 PM

Riles335 (9:41:02 PM): Hi. Are you there?
remangiii (9:41:07 PM): yes
Riles335 (9:41:13 PM): wana join a new ootp6 league?
remangiii (9:41:21 PM): you asked me last night
Riles335 (9:41:26 PM): oh sorry
Riles335 signed off at 9:41:35 PM.

(probably blocked me)

jnshmoo · 09-22-2004, 09:56 PM

Where's ootpbleader when you need him!

Dagrims · 09-23-2004, 09:29 AM

This is from the perspective of a GM:

If I'm considering an on-line league to join, I look at the history of the commissioner. I would not join a league if I didn't either know the commish or know people who know him and can give me a good reference. I would not sign up for a new league unless I absolutely knew the commish had a good track record.

I look at the list of owners in the league. Being on these boards for a couple of years, there are lots of names I recognize (either in a positive light or, well, the opposite).

I look at the website and the different features that it has. A league that uses Cato or BOSI is a plus. I check out the league's message board. The more active the board, the better. I love to see lots of posts from GMs about their team. I'll usually go back far into the forum posts to see if there have been negative threads voicing concerns about the league.

I look for low turnover in a league - stability is important. When the owner list shows a number of guys who have been around since inception, that's a big plus.

I read the league rules carefully. I've seen lots of these, so anything that looks unusual jumps out pretty quickly. I'm also looking for unique features that separate the league from others, since there are so many out there. Is there a new approach to salaries? Is the league set in a fictional world? Are there brothels in the clubhouse (I'm still searching for a league like that)? You get the idea.

For the first couple leagues I ever joined, I made sure to send an email detailing my experience playing baseball sims (both solo and otherwise), and offered some information about myself to show how I'd be a contributor to the league.

I am a very discriminating GM when it comes to selecting a league to join. My personal time is valuable (primarily because it's rare), and I don't want to feel like I've made a mistake a month or two after joining a league. I would hope that the commish of any league I'd be interested in joining would be just as discriminating in his search for owners.

New GMs and new commishes can certainly do a great job. I, along with everyone else, was new at one time. It's just more difficult to be trusting of someone with whom you're completely unfamiliar when it's an on-line setting. That's a disadvantage that new commishes have when trying to fill a league, which is why I'd suggest becoming an owner in a couple leagues first, to get your name and reputation known as well as learn the ropes of running a league. People are much more willing to take a chance on a new GM than a new commish, and rightfully so.

jaxmagicman · 09-23-2004, 09:43 AM

No wonder you turned me down Dags.

bigphesta · 03-27-2005, 07:31 PM

Riles335: Hi. Are you there?
Big Phesta: hello
Riles335: wana join my ootp6 2005 rosters sim?
Big Phesta: url? Teams open?
Riles335: we dont have the site up we are working on it now
Riles335: but the forums and rules page is up
Riles335: http://klew5.proboards19.com/index.cgi
Riles335: http://free.hostultra.com/~Klew1987/NBULRules.htm
Big Phesta: nope
Riles335: and you can check the general board in the forum for the teams taken
Riles335: why?
Big Phesta: cubs are taken
Riles335: so?
Big Phesta: so that's the only team I'd want to be
Riles335: wow people like you are so annoying
Riles335: when they only want one team
Riles335: and if htey dont get it they dont want to have fun with another
Riles335: and they leave
Big Phesta: I'm in a few leagues already
Riles335: k
Big Phesta: I don't have the current Cubs in any
Riles335: so why dont you want to be in another
Riles335: i never get my team
Big Phesta: I run a league and don't even have the Cubs
Riles335: can i see the leaguee you run?
Big Phesta: so I told myself, Chris, you're working 40 hours a week, in law school full time, and if you want to join another league it'll be with the Cubs and Nomar
Big Phesta: http://nahhbl.ootp-online.com/
Riles335: where is the owner page?
Big Phesta: on the home page
Riles335: k
Riles335: cant find it
Riles335: nm
Riles335: found it
Riles335: lol
Riles335: can you send me the buddy list of your league?
Big Phesta: no
Riles335: so i can ask if anybody wants to join my league
Riles335: please?
Big Phesta: why would I help the guy who called me annoying just 5 minutes ago?
Riles335: becuase you are
Big Phesta: nice

Another good no-no, call me annoying then try and get my owners to join.

disposableheros · 03-28-2005, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigphesta

Riles335: Hi. Are you there?
Big Phesta: hello
Riles335: wana join my ootp6 2005 rosters sim?
Big Phesta: url? Teams open?
Riles335: we dont have the site up we are working on it now
Riles335: but the forums and rules page is up
Riles335: http://klew5.proboards19.com/index.cgi
Riles335: http://free.hostultra.com/~Klew1987/NBULRules.htm
Big Phesta: nope
Riles335: and you can check the general board in the forum for the teams taken
Riles335: why?
Big Phesta: cubs are taken
Riles335: so?
Big Phesta: so that's the only team I'd want to be
Riles335: wow people like you are so annoying
Riles335: when they only want one team
Riles335: and if htey dont get it they dont want to have fun with another
Riles335: and they leave
Big Phesta: I'm in a few leagues already
Riles335: k
Big Phesta: I don't have the current Cubs in any
Riles335: so why dont you want to be in another
Riles335: i never get my team
Big Phesta: I run a league and don't even have the Cubs
Riles335: can i see the leaguee you run?
Big Phesta: so I told myself, Chris, you're working 40 hours a week, in law school full time, and if you want to join another league it'll be with the Cubs and Nomar
Big Phesta: http://nahhbl.ootp-online.com/
Riles335: where is the owner page?
Big Phesta: on the home page
Riles335: k
Riles335: cant find it
Riles335: nm
Riles335: found it
Riles335: lol
Riles335: can you send me the buddy list of your league?
Big Phesta: no
Riles335: so i can ask if anybody wants to join my league
Riles335: please?
Big Phesta: why would I help the guy who called me annoying just 5 minutes ago?
Riles335: becuase you are
Big Phesta: nice

Another good no-no, call me annoying then try and get my owners to join.

someone from this league spammed me today as well. warn then ignore gets the point across pretty well.

I Am The Game · 03-28-2005, 04:59 PM

Yea Riles335 contacted me, and a couple others to join his league. Begging, I should call it. Knowing Klew runs it was enough for me to say no, but curiousity got the better of me though.

I decided to just take a team and give it a shot at least to see, until I took Anaheim and he kept calling them the "Anahiem Angles" over and over (including in my created board name), and the liklihood that Riles is just klew under the alias, along with the lamest group of owners around, was enough for me to call it quits just 15 minutes in.

Basically, proper spelling goes a long way (A typo every now and then is fine, but to keep calling them the anahiem angles?). And then having a good group of GMs = big plus. And not begging

, simply just tell these guys to contact you if things change. Or in a case like bigphesta's, just simply say "Alright, thanks, if the Cubs open up in the next few days I'll contact you." There's no guarentee he says yes but, at least you left the door open that he accepts.

Crapshoot · 03-28-2005, 05:37 PM

What Dags said is important- especially the personal time bit. I'm in only league now, because I don't like not being able to care a lot about my teams, and I feel its unfair when I do that to other leagues. The UBL and ABA were both damn good leagues- but I just didn't have the same availability or interest in them. I got into the OTBL when I was in college, and I had the time to get familiar with it - and I enjoy it a fair amount. To me, any league I join would probably be one which already has a lot of the owners I know from the OOTP/OTBL boards, and would be fairly active - I'd love a decent real-player league for example, but they only seem to be started by 12 year olds who want the Marlins and Braves..

Fool Inc. · 03-28-2005, 05:49 PM

It seems like starting a dynasty thread about the team you are running works wonders for both recruitment and getting spammed.

In the short time I started the thread 3 more people joined and I have been getting people like Riles335 IMing me too. I guess a dynasty thread makes the league and myself seem more credible because if someone makes a thread it means they are active and the league must also be active in turn because who would make a report of a team in an inactive league.

Then again I don't know how someone who's list of accomplishments consists of winning 83+ games (6 games left in the season) and finishing 3rd (WWBL), losing to a team that was inactive for half the season in the League Championship (NEBL), and changing a name of team after themselves when they had a worse payroll than the New York Mets and the record to match (CLB) can have any credibility what so ever.

PS: How's that for product placement!

majormet · 03-29-2005, 02:48 AM

I currently commission a bunch of leagues in all 4 major sports since 1998, simming the past year at a time, and the word of mouth aspect ends up doing well. I had to recruit back in the late 90's and demand for new leagues occurred, but each league has it's own feel, you will lose owners because you can please everyone and you will have owners that go "hot and cold".

I have flirted with the idea of running an OOTP league way back since OOTP3 and it seems to be a lot of work to maintain those leagues, I give OOTP commissioners a lot of credit.

So have I made a mistake joining Riles new league, I did it on a whim having been long absent from these forums.

09-22-2004, 05:33 AM	#23
Treches Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Damned Hell Posts: 2,150	First off, always state the complete name of the league (like Roderick posted above). For some odd reason, most of the fellas announcing their leagues go with the abbreviation as if there only existed a fistful of leagues out there and the sole sight of the acronym brought an image of their leagues automatically. Secondly, post the type of league and pace. How long has it been in existence, if not a new one. A link to the rules and website. Finally, show that you run/intend to run a decent league by avoiding one-liners and spending more than two seconds typing the announcement. All that should make anyone interested to check the league. I'd agree that some leagues may have as much trouble finding solid owners right now as back in the days of OOTP2. Not many people interested in online play back then, too many leagues nowadays. However, I think many of the ones that pop up these days fail to start/last mostly for the commish not knowing the land he's entering and setting up a league that has "fold" written all over it. But that's another story. __________________ The Computer Baseball League

09-22-2004, 09:50 PM	#24
rem Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: College Park, Md. Posts: 5,024	Riles335 (9:41:02 PM): Hi. Are you there? remangiii (9:41:07 PM): yes Riles335 (9:41:13 PM): wana join a new ootp6 league? remangiii (9:41:21 PM): you asked me last night Riles335 (9:41:26 PM): oh sorry Riles335 signed off at 9:41:35 PM. (probably blocked me) __________________ OTBA: Washington Filibusters CLBR: Minnesota Twins 2005 Winner of LL's Pick the Loser Contest! - 15-0

09-22-2004, 09:56 PM	#25
jnshmoo All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Not Here Posts: 1,226	Where's ootpbleader when you need him! __________________ Beer Snob and Baseball Sim Geek

09-23-2004, 09:29 AM	#26
Dagrims Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 3,827	This is from the perspective of a GM: If I'm considering an on-line league to join, I look at the history of the commissioner. I would not join a league if I didn't either know the commish or know people who know him and can give me a good reference. I would not sign up for a new league unless I absolutely knew the commish had a good track record. I look at the list of owners in the league. Being on these boards for a couple of years, there are lots of names I recognize (either in a positive light or, well, the opposite). I look at the website and the different features that it has. A league that uses Cato or BOSI is a plus. I check out the league's message board. The more active the board, the better. I love to see lots of posts from GMs about their team. I'll usually go back far into the forum posts to see if there have been negative threads voicing concerns about the league. I look for low turnover in a league - stability is important. When the owner list shows a number of guys who have been around since inception, that's a big plus. I read the league rules carefully. I've seen lots of these, so anything that looks unusual jumps out pretty quickly. I'm also looking for unique features that separate the league from others, since there are so many out there. Is there a new approach to salaries? Is the league set in a fictional world? Are there brothels in the clubhouse (I'm still searching for a league like that)? You get the idea. For the first couple leagues I ever joined, I made sure to send an email detailing my experience playing baseball sims (both solo and otherwise), and offered some information about myself to show how I'd be a contributor to the league. I am a very discriminating GM when it comes to selecting a league to join. My personal time is valuable (primarily because it's rare), and I don't want to feel like I've made a mistake a month or two after joining a league. I would hope that the commish of any league I'd be interested in joining would be just as discriminating in his search for owners. New GMs and new commishes can certainly do a great job. I, along with everyone else, was new at one time. It's just more difficult to be trusting of someone with whom you're completely unfamiliar when it's an on-line setting. That's a disadvantage that new commishes have when trying to fill a league, which is why I'd suggest becoming an owner in a couple leagues first, to get your name and reputation known as well as learn the ropes of running a league. People are much more willing to take a chance on a new GM than a new commish, and rightfully so. __________________ "Read books, get brain."

09-23-2004, 09:43 AM	#27
jaxmagicman Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Retired defloration-maker living in Myrtle Beach, SC Posts: 7,801	No wonder you turned me down Dags. __________________ See ID Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Minor League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with the permission of Minor League Baseball. All rights reserved.

09-22-2004, 03:16 AM	#22
disposableheros Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,332	one thing that might help is to advertise in places other than this forum, ie. other sports forums, college buddies, shool bulletin board, personal webpage, work, etc.

03-27-2005, 07:31 PM	#28
bigphesta Banned Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Des Moines, Iowa Posts: 1,366	Riles335: Hi. Are you there? Big Phesta: hello Riles335: wana join my ootp6 2005 rosters sim? Big Phesta: url? Teams open? Riles335: we dont have the site up we are working on it now Riles335: but the forums and rules page is up Riles335: http://klew5.proboards19.com/index.cgi Riles335: http://free.hostultra.com/~Klew1987/NBULRules.htm Big Phesta: nope Riles335: and you can check the general board in the forum for the teams taken Riles335: why? Big Phesta: cubs are taken Riles335: so? Big Phesta: so that's the only team I'd want to be Riles335: wow people like you are so annoying Riles335: when they only want one team Riles335: and if htey dont get it they dont want to have fun with another Riles335: and they leave Big Phesta: I'm in a few leagues already Riles335: k Big Phesta: I don't have the current Cubs in any Riles335: so why dont you want to be in another Riles335: i never get my team Big Phesta: I run a league and don't even have the Cubs Riles335: can i see the leaguee you run? Big Phesta: so I told myself, Chris, you're working 40 hours a week, in law school full time, and if you want to join another league it'll be with the Cubs and Nomar Big Phesta: http://nahhbl.ootp-online.com/ Riles335: where is the owner page? Big Phesta: on the home page Riles335: k Riles335: cant find it Riles335: nm Riles335: found it Riles335: lol Riles335: can you send me the buddy list of your league? Big Phesta: no Riles335: so i can ask if anybody wants to join my league Riles335: please? Big Phesta: why would I help the guy who called me annoying just 5 minutes ago? Riles335: becuase you are Big Phesta: nice Another good no-no, call me annoying then try and get my owners to join.

03-28-2005, 04:59 PM	#30
I Am The Game All Star Reserve Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Red Sox Nation Posts: 691	Yea Riles335 contacted me, and a couple others to join his league. Begging, I should call it. Knowing Klew runs it was enough for me to say no, but curiousity got the better of me though. I decided to just take a team and give it a shot at least to see, until I took Anaheim and he kept calling them the "Anahiem Angles" over and over (including in my created board name), and the liklihood that Riles is just klew under the alias, along with the lamest group of owners around, was enough for me to call it quits just 15 minutes in. Basically, proper spelling goes a long way (A typo every now and then is fine, but to keep calling them the anahiem angles?). And then having a good group of GMs = big plus. And not begging , simply just tell these guys to contact you if things change. Or in a case like bigphesta's, just simply say "Alright, thanks, if the Cubs open up in the next few days I'll contact you." There's no guarentee he says yes but, at least you left the door open that he accepts.

03-28-2005, 05:37 PM	#31
Crapshoot Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: watching: DArwin's missing link in action Posts: 3,112	What Dags said is important- especially the personal time bit. I'm in only league now, because I don't like not being able to care a lot about my teams, and I feel its unfair when I do that to other leagues. The UBL and ABA were both damn good leagues- but I just didn't have the same availability or interest in them. I got into the OTBL when I was in college, and I had the time to get familiar with it - and I enjoy it a fair amount. To me, any league I join would probably be one which already has a lot of the owners I know from the OOTP/OTBL boards, and would be fairly active - I'd love a decent real-player league for example, but they only seem to be started by 12 year olds who want the Marlins and Braves.. __________________ Senior Senor Member of the OOTP Boards Pittsburgh Playmates- OTBL

03-28-2005, 05:49 PM	#32
Fool Inc. Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Dearborn Heights, MI Posts: 342	It seems like starting a dynasty thread about the team you are running works wonders for both recruitment and getting spammed. In the short time I started the thread 3 more people joined and I have been getting people like Riles335 IMing me too. I guess a dynasty thread makes the league and myself seem more credible because if someone makes a thread it means they are active and the league must also be active in turn because who would make a report of a team in an inactive league. Then again I don't know how someone who's list of accomplishments consists of winning 83+ games (6 games left in the season) and finishing 3rd (WWBL), losing to a team that was inactive for half the season in the League Championship (NEBL), and changing a name of team after themselves when they had a worse payroll than the New York Mets and the record to match (CLB) can have any credibility what so ever. PS: How's that for product placement! Last edited by Fool Inc.; 03-28-2005 at 05:55 PM.

03-29-2005, 02:48 AM	#33
majormet Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 2,536	I currently commission a bunch of leagues in all 4 major sports since 1998, simming the past year at a time, and the word of mouth aspect ends up doing well. I had to recruit back in the late 90's and demand for new leagues occurred, but each league has it's own feel, you will lose owners because you can please everyone and you will have owners that go "hot and cold". I have flirted with the idea of running an OOTP league way back since OOTP3 and it seems to be a lot of work to maintain those leagues, I give OOTP commissioners a lot of credit. So have I made a mistake joining Riles new league, I did it on a whim having been long absent from these forums.