The Suspension Tightrope Returns

My team comes second now.

I now cheer when my fantasy player scores against my team, which as a QPR supporter was frequent last season. I know I should be ashamed but I'm not.

I will be totally honest and say that my FPL team has become more important.

I know it's sad but it's true.

I vowed to never have any Liverpool players in my team partly because if this. The other reason was because the players I had were Carroll and Downing. 😯

Loved it when Palace got a goal at the weekend, as I'm one of the few that don't have Mignolet.

I'm off up to watch Saints play at Man Utd in a couple of weeks and Rooney will NOT be my captain. I couldn't travel all that way and go through that.

However, I am looking forward to seeing all the Man U fans on the same train as me travelling to their home town team from the south coast 😉

i have never understood this. clearly you 'wanting' fpl points dont make any difference in real life so i would recommend everyone to focking enjoy the football match. check the fpl team later

Always want Man Utd to win come what may, even if its a Friendly so they always come 1st for me. FPL matters a lot to me as well. S its basically a case of if a player from the opposition team scores against us then it should be the player I own, but Im never happy about it or celebrate, rather Utd win than my FPL team doing well.

Personally, real life outweighs fantasy but I normally stock up on players from the team I support, so that makes it easier.

The only solace i take from my shocking fpl season is that liverpool are 2nd!

Crikey I couldn't cheer against my own team! I see it as insurance, ie my mates all support arsenal so by having Chesney as keeper he's a differential and I'm not too down if they do well. Similarly I try not to have too many of my team's (Liverpool) players, which raised a few eyebrows in my ML at the start of the season when I had three!

I try to avoid players that will be playing against my team if I am transferring in the GW they play my team. So, if Man U is playing Arsenal that GW, I avoid Rooney or RVP being transferred in that GW, but if I already have Rooney or RVP in the squad, I might field them, if I think they will do well that GW.

The recent lot of 'traitors' from the Arsenal are players I am extremely reluctant to transfer in at any time though: Nasri, RVP, Clichy etc. Last season, in the case of RVP, it was very hard to ignore his scoring for a stretch there, so he was recruited in, but the moment I saw his form dip, I booted him again and was happy to see the back of him.

My favourite team in the world being Barcelona, it goes without saying that I avoid the fantasy league for La Liga like the plague. I like my Spanish football to be just about the joy of watching Barca play, and usually win.

I play UEFA CL fantasy though and I avoid recruiting players who will be playing against Barcelona or Arsenal, if its possible. At the later stages of that competition, that is very hard to accomplish though and you end up with a few rivals in your team.

No. Real life is more important. It's just nice when they both do well 🙂

Having players from rival teams if a win-win in my books. If they do well then I'm happy, if they lose then I'm even more delighted! If I had to choose I'd rather Terry conceded 4 and Chelsea lose than if he scores a goal and cs for my team but I'd be happy either way 😀

The ideal thing is if your players on the opposing team score but your team still beat them!

Real football over FPL. All day. Everyday.

Like they're ever going to reply.

🙄

Casuals getting slagged off when asking for advice on rmt's cant help. Everyone has to start somewhere

A lot of us use this site to get opinions or views about our FPL teams, or about the transfers we want to make. In many cases, these questions have already been asked and answered before and it's only a matter of spending time to go through previous posts. I do ask a question or two when I don't find something I have been looking for, but otherwise it's just a matter of 'lurking' to get the information you need. There are hundreds of people giving out opinions, so I'm pretty sure someone has already said what I want to say. Ultimately, I would say it is a personal choice to just 'lurk' and not comment.

Perhaps they're just happy lurking

Quite a few lurkers just want your advice and not your social contact.

They're cold and ruthless or selfish and uncaring or just not interested in you.

They come here to get information about a simple Fantasy game. They don't "get" the community spirit. hey don't need to.

What is the point when they only want to see who is hot or not this GW?

They go to other sites as well and this one is no different. just a source of info.

Smoking less weed

Not sure what constitutes a lurker. I used to post a little bit more some years ago, but I dont now as I believe the overall standard of discussion and quality of poster has declined. If I wanted to talk about fantasy football you'd struggle to do it here.

Regulars on the site have quite strong opinions so it can seem a bit daunting sometimes in case you get shot down. Also, it's excellent just to be able to browse through the comments quickly on your phone when you're busy to keep up to date and there's not necessarily anything positive to add.

Can I take a moment to say that I have never really given advice to anyone.

I just come on here to entertain.

I have been reading the site for 3 years now and been a member for the last two I think.
I will sometimes ask for advice on my team but don't often respond to others. The reason for this is probably more lack of confidence in my own opinions! I feel there are others that know more that would be better placed to answer.
I'd say more most likely to respond to a/b/c questions.
I have had a couple of not so nice responses to my questions as well, which doesn't help.
I definitely think that an article that covered frequently asked questions would be a great idea!

When I first joined (at the start of this season) I was looking for advice, or hot tips on soon-to-be high scoring players.

My first few posts followed the RMT standard pattern. I got very few replies. I changed how I posted my RMTs by including more information, my thought process behind my suggested transfers, the lack of replies continued.

It would be easy to get put off by that. It would be easy to assume that the lack of responses is down to cliquishness. But I don't believe that is 100% accurate. Sure, there is some unwritten rule that older posters get more replies, but that is more an example of friendships forged than people hating random new guys.

Having only been here a couple of months myself I am already bored with answering different RMTs which differ by 0.001% from the last one I answered 3 posts up. I can empathise with those that have had it for 5+ years, not giving a toss for some new stranger's query, but answering the one from their friend.

I think for the passive user to move to an active, contributing, member, they have to want to themselves. They have to have enough confidence in themselves to keep posting. Opinions, humor, Croatian, whatever gets their voice to be heard. I don't believe there is a change the existing community could/should/would want to make that would stick over time. And I don't think you would enjoy the quality of poster you would gain if it became less of a trial.

Would definitely encourage me to post more if I get more replies to my post. Been around since 1.5 year now but lurk more than I comment since I don't get too many responses . Also not a member and don't divulge too much into stats so don't have those fascinating tables and long posts regarding them, which makes a huge difference since those are the kind of posts n members getting all the replies more often than not.

with all the great responses, why isn't this a hot topic

quite possibly the most interesting conversation of the day

Hi I just joined a short while ago to get the inside scoop for my ff team,I find all the articles and comments help me mould my team each week..I only started to play this game last season and won two mini leagues so obviously now I'm hooked,although struggling this yr.

My posts just disappeared.
Am I being moderated ?

In answer to the topic
a) No longer a lurker and glad to contribute to a site that has given me years of pleasure.
b) Previous hesitation in posting...confidence mainly. Hard to give opinions when you feel like there are other experts in the field. You have hunches but aren't sure they always stand up to minute scrutiny and so let others do the talking ?

Seems like a good opportunity to make my first comment!

I am generally quite content reading the articles, following the discussions and using the Member tools. I am not all that sure what I would gain from asking questions/advice as I usually see an RMT very similar to mine or a Player A>Player B that I am considering given the number of posts.

On the flip side, with a highest rank of just under 40k I am not sure who on here would want my advice!

I keep meaning to get involved in the match day chat but in recent weeks have not been online much over the weekend.

Great topic - got lots of replies and still not a HOT TOPIC c'mon mods 😉

I've been on here 4 years I think and still get ignored most of the time. I contribute where I think I can add some opinion but mostly respond to the should I do A, B or C type posts because those are the ones I want people to respond to when I do them. I would say 90% of my posts are ignored and get no response. Can be very frustrating.

I don't think the Scout help themselves by encouraging every comment to be posted under the most recent article.

This means a diverse variety of posts and users rubbing shoulders with each other in the same space. So the witty banter, Southampton's clean sheet potential, off topic run of the mill randomness, what's on TV tonight, RMTs, player A or player B, in depth statistical analysis of players, beach volleyball, discussions over formations, I hate Nate/Forca/(insert name of latest pantomime villain), value for money discussions, is Breaking Bad the best show ever, ... all gets lumped into a single article, which makes it more difficult than it needs to be, to find the posts which are relevant for whatever mood you happen to be in at any given time.

If they tried to encourage these different types of post to be segregated a bit more, it would (in my view) definitely make the place more relevant and encourage more discussion.

Just my opinion, I know a lot of people think otherwise (and quite strongly so).

I try and post things but the honest fact of the matter is that im not as good at ff than a lot of the ppl on here so mainly just lurk. I try anf give my opinion here and there anf aso for an RMT every few weeks but mainly just read whats going on. People being rude or sarcastic when you're asking a genunine question are a big turn off for me and probably partly why i dont post more.

But i like that Forca fella, he keeps me entertained although i followed his arnautovic advice weeks ago and it hasnt worked out so far!

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

I'm off to bed now but I will keep checking back for comments so feel free to add your voice to the discussion if you haven't already!

I think my primary goal when I log in here (probably 5x per week) mainly to CONSUME information/data/opinion, rather than to share it. This site has been a bookmark ever since i found it 2 seasons ago.
I am a paying member, and the stats I had been cobbling together from FPL, ESPN, etc, are all here in one place. it's a fantastic and efficient way to make decisions about lineups, transfers, hits, upcoming schedules... anything you could want.

I do spend time commenting on RMT's, but as you said earlier, having any kind of discussion is difficult on gamedays. I'm a lurker unless it's time for DZ...
to answer OP's question, i don't know that there's anything about the site preventing me from posting more often, other than my own preference.

I think its difficult to get a reply if you time the post wrong, plenty i'm sure have posted once, been ignored and not bothered after that.

Not interested in posting here. This place is a sausage fest.

I just scan through the pages like an absolute machine and ensure that i never enter the ring on a friday or saturday and rarely ask questions, thats my fill. Aaaan i pay a membership!!

Why? Because everything is a matter of opinion on this site. When a discussion reels, that is when you start to find hidden gems, not asking a one dimentional question to a wide range of 'experts'.

Trust your gut, get a feel of the common ideas of the posters and crack on with your day.

If you would like to be a fully fledged 'legend' of the FFS posting boards the get yourself a 'grav', find some average whitty remarks, learn to type fast/check emails/refresh page at blistering speeds and over time you will become an 'expert'

Interesting discussion, fantastic hot topic. It reminds me of when I first joined two years ago and what it was like to 'get in' with the crowd. Here's a few tips for how anyone new can quickly become established on this site.

- Start by posting regularly at a particular period of the day. Soon you will become recognised and you will get more responses as you become a familiar face (Gravs also help).

- Give an opinion, no matter how daft you might think it is, many posters are fairly open minded and are willing to listen to your point of view. Often the more 'alternative' it is the more interesting the discussion. Don't be afraid of differing opinions.

- Respond to others with your genuine opinion. Even if its simply, "I like those moves, go for it". This board thrives when we all respond to each other. Intern you will likely get more responses yourself as you are seen to give as much as you receive.

This is just the beginning and like anything building relationships take a bit of effort. Once those are forged you will receive plenty more responses and you might be more inclined to post more regularly.

I post on a couple of Liverpool forums and i love my fantasy football so decided to post on here. Haven't had any issue with the people on here who have been helpful and understanding of my questions and made me feel quite welcome. Once you understand how to take people on the internet you should be ok on most forums.
I guess the reason why i don't bother with a membership is because it's just a game and i feel i have a decent enough understanding of football to take the challenge on.
I also don't see what benefits it could possible have for a casual such as myself when the game is pretty random anyway.

15 quid is expensive these day's and it's only for a fantasy football game.

If it were a fiver i would probably sign up but 15 quid is too expensive.

After two years of non-stop lurking (non-member, no profile), I joined this year and have posted a little, but I find it tough.

My time zone probably isn't great for evening posters (west coast) and usually whenever I'm on, whatever topic I'm keen to hear views on has been hashed over pretty extensively by a lot of expert posters. Hot topics have helped a little, but I get pretty much no traction posting on old threads and don't feel I'll get many takers with a duplicate post.

I don't really like posting RMTs/questions - would rather chip in on an existing discussion, but struggle to find the right topic at the right time.

Still love the site, although I'll note that my FPL performance has imploded since I went from lurker to member this year.

Good question

here are a few reasons (in no particular order):

1. My posts have been shot down
2. My team / credentials have been challenged
3. I'm too lazy / slow to have to explain / prove myself thus changing the tone of dialogue
4. The topics change so fast

Note: due to self-imposed restrictions, I don't field any players from last season's top four clubs...I am ranked in top 2000 (lucky start), finiahed top 20, 000 w/restrictions (at one point in top 400)...

Great conversation. I'd just encourage people to throw their opinion out, it is as valid as anyone else's.

Especially this season when "we" are all wrong. And I'm not even sure if I am "we" or "they" but don't let it stop you posting.

I am usually busy reading other peoples comments and opinions

Ah, finally made it to the bottom 😉

Enjoyed 'lurking' in on this discussion Tinkerman

Having been a lurker for the lady few years, I am making an effort to get more involved this season.
I do try and give advice where I feel I have an opinion, but don't tend to ask for much as I generally make my decisions through reading a lot of the posts and the articles.
The hot topics are a great help to find the interesting topics (eg, this one), and I would probably post more if there was a forum type set up with topic threads.

when I first starting using this site I never even read the comments, just the articles. Maybe some people do that.

Timing is definitely everything if you post with the intention of starting a discussion. Pre season and early on I was a hot topic hunter. I would spend upwards of an hour writing my YouTube player analysis and player reviews and really wanted the reward of a hot topic partially because of a geeky need for research validation, but also because I wanted to help as many as people possible with my
research. sometimes my posts got completely blanked (pages flying by) and others they got a positive response but no hit topic (no mods around), so I started waiting for mods to comment a few times on other posts before unleashing my own as I knew they would see it. I've almost always got a hot topic on those posts since.

This is one of the most interesting hot topic posts I've read in a while.

Two suggestions to greatly improve the site:

*hot topic archive with a search bar (I still link some people to my old hot topics and they're really grateful

*comments search bar

Just about read all this now - intriguing stuff from start to finish and some real food for thought for everyone involved I think - lurkers, regulars, mods, admin...

What's you next question Tinky? Hope it's a good one 😉

What could I say. Although I have been playing 3 years,I still know little and play badly,so I read what the experts say.

I have attempted somewhat to get involved but the 'comments' system on this site just doesn't appeal to me. As a busy working man it is too much effort to get involved with the community with this current system in place. I come from a history of being active either posting or moderating on web forums which have their own specific threads for different topics. It was easy to post regularly on my previous forum (neoseeker.com) because the forum was separated into different sections and everything was organised.

On here it is just one long list of comments after a contributor has updated a new post. I get lost reading through them most of the time, and usually there are at least 5 different discussions going on at once.

How easy would it be to implement a forum onto this site? People can start their own threads about specific topics and everything would have a bit more of a structure. For me this site is very useful for Fantasy Football intelligence but it is hard scrolling through pages and pages of tripe (most of the time) in order to find some interesting discussions. The implementation of 'Hot Topics' was a good idea but could you guys go that one step further?

Greatest discussion ever. Nearly 200 replies... 😯

This is my 1st season following FFS alongside FPL. I'm still considering whether or not I want the added benefits that a paid membership brings. So far though, reading discussions have been useful but only to an extent as I have had to learn a few lessons already.

I follow my gut rather than subscribe to mob theory but I imagine this is a trait of the kind of person you would like to contribute. However, I did have to learn to do this the hard way. My pre-season team was set with Barkley in midfield but following a last check on here I changed to Kim as I didn't want to miss out on "possibly the next Michu". This is where I learned to always make informed decisions based on what I saw rather than what I read. I had never actually seen Kim play and to be honest I now think he's a poor footballer (by Premier League standards) having seen him a few times. Kim to Barkley was my transfer following GW1 as I quickly reverted back.

But, I digress, my point was to try and explain that when "lurking" I now use the discussions in two main ways.

1. Matchdays - if I see something I like from a player over the weekend I will come to see if others have latched on to the same thing or have made a good case against it.

2. Weekdays - in quieter times when posts tend to differ from the "OMG Pilkington" style ones found on matchdays, I'll read through posts to see if someone has spotted something I hadn't over the weekend. Rather than taking their word for it though I'll now watch back and form my own opinions.

So there's a few problems here (from Mark's/your perspective). In 1, at no point do I feel I should share what I have seen and in 2, I don't follow up with my own opinions. This is because I don't think writing something suitably substantial will be read or considered enough to be worth it as the page with my post on it will be long gone within 10-15 minutes. I do have a suggestion which I think could be a possible solution here and perhaps quite a good one. I'll describe how it may solve these problems below using the GW1 Barkley situation as an example.

Tagging posts.

Problem:
I've seen Barkley and regret not sticking with him, I want to put him back in. I decide to read what others are saying first though. Flicking through page after page in the hope of finding the odd Barkley post gets frustrating. Anything I read tends to say Gibson will replace him when he's back. I disagree as they play two very different roles in the midfield. Frustrated by the time it's taken to find a few posts on the subject, I no longer want / have time to share this possibly useful opinion - how many would see it anyway, I think.

Solution:
Here, had people been able to tag their posts on this subject with the player's name I could have searched and found them all together in a matter of seconds. Time would have been saved and I may feel more inclined to add my thoughts knowing they would more likely be seen by those who were interested in that particular player.

Also, it doesn't compromise those who like to read through all posts. Think of how a twitter feed works and how hashtags can help you find a particular discussion - it's a similar idea that I propose here. Any player's name could be tagged, of course, but you could also use it for things like rate my teams or this beach soccer thing that's going on. In that case you could even extend functionality to filters so that those not taking part could block out those posts.

I know this post was long but I hope at least a few people take the time to read it, particularly those who make these kind of decisions around here.

Oh and, for what it's worth, my final rankings in the last two years were 1,710 and 102,610.

@Tinkerman

Sir, I've been lurking here for 3 years & this is my first with a membership. The community has helped me greatly in my mini-league. So many thanks...

When I first started however, I think one of the biggest obstacles was understanding some of the slang / acronyms. (e.g. WC, RMT, ML, CS, Uber, Burner v. Murner etc...)
To veterans this is old hat but for 'casuals' it can be rather daunting.
Therefore, I feel a moderated glossary would be great for encouraging lurkers to become more active.

Further, I feel hints to posting would help as well.
An 'FAQ' or 'Tips for Posters' as it were...
Examples off the top of my head:

- "When posting a RMT or WC it helps if you add some of the concerns your having or players you're targeting."

- Don't post questions that the community can't possibly answer: "I'm down 11pts, have Lukaku & RVP but, my rival has Yaya do you think I'll beat him this week?"

Finally, I feel FFS should look into helping casuals understand the how, when & why of price changes. To the new players this is often a great mystery & to the regulars it's a nuisance to repeatedly answer the same question... (e.g. "What time do price changes happen?")

Great topic and great discussion - brings to light some really good points.

I was a bit of a latecomer to this site, especially as an active participant. Like a lot of online communities, it can appear quite clique-y. It might not seem that way to regular uses, but if you tend to visit this site on occasion it seems that the very same posters keep cropping up.

Homecrowd this year - despite the complaints - seems to have encouraged more people to speak up. Whatever you call it - looking for points, trying to get hulked, and so on - the new system has encouraged people to make meaningful contributions that are recognised by the rest of the scout community. The sort by rating and sticky filter make it much easier to pick up the interesting and insightful posts. And while there are great arguments for switching to the forum style system, the current blog-style means people do have to move on. Important discussions are highlighted, and sometimes given a mention in the weekly roundup. In the moving world of FPL, it seems sensible to have what may appear an archaic system. 'bumping' topics, flame wars that go on for pages while remaining at the top of the thread list, the list goes on. All are rendered moot in this set up, which gives a finite timespan to any discussion.

Finally - as to why some people will never post. Perhaps it's a hark back to a century or two ago, when amateurism was the highest form of competition to an English sportsman, and anything even remotely resembling training or payment was frowned upon! People are always worried about getting found out about going on here..despite the fact that anyone who types 'fantasy premier league help' 'fantasy football tips' , 'player line ups' into google or just clicks on the scout on the FPL homepage can get here. As was mentioned a few months ago, it does make for a Shakespearean farce when the scout differentials are drafted in en-masse in a mini-league while managers feign ignorance!In all seriousness, most casual users can get their questions answered without having to post, there are enough RMT's to gain opinions on almost any reasonable player permutation.

'Fantasy Scout mate? What's that?'

*furtively drafts in Victor Moses*

I'm hardly a lurker but I think some articles sand ideas on here can be a bit hard for newbies to understand - took me most of last season !

My scroll wheel's broken

I'm a very occasional poster (maybe one or two posts a week). I think that the biggest challenge for me browsing these pages is the separate the bullshit from the useful posts... To tackle this I have identified a few posters whose opinions I respect the most and I have bookmarked their profiles.

I don't post much because the pages move so quickly and anything I post is likely to be hard thought out only to be read by a couple of people at the bottom of a page.

I think that having threads separated into topics like traditional forums is an obvious development and one which would definitely get me posting more, as this would have the 'quality' conversation concentrated to returnable areas.

I'm a very passive user. I've been using this site for years and it has been very useful and helped a lot. I tend to take a very balanced look at things and weight up the opinions of a number of people before I sort out my team. I don't tend to give my 10ps worth because usually I don't usually have time. It is difficult to get your point across quickly and concisely and invariably someone else makes the same or similar point during a discussion. I like to make my own decisions and ultimately I think others should do too. I would hate to say to someone on the site definitely captain x and then x has an absolute mare! I do enjoy some of the banter on here though. Keep up the good work one and all!