Help with dynasty infractions

[roenick27]

Hi guys,

It's a keeper dynasty cap league. There have been some issues with teams breaking rules and I'm looking for some ideas on what should be done. There are vague rules in place (the penalties are quite vague). No one wants to be too harsh, but there should be some penalties, no? Some of the rules that were broken were:
Cap infraction
Leaving guys on IR way past the date they were activated irl (so almost parking a guy in IR so you don't have to make a roster move etc)
General activity-some teams are active. Others are not. But some of the "infractions(again vague by rules)" are guys not really trying to put their best lineup in order. Not even tanking so much(which I personally don't care about if the team is trying to tank to get better next year etc), but moreso just laziness.

Again it's a fun league and no one wants to be a pain. But it has become an issue. What should be handed out as a penalty? Loss of a pick? A player? Expulsion?
Clearly, my agenda is to re-write the rules so the penalty(s) are clear and concise.(I am not the mod). I want to have some leniency in the rules as real life happens, but in this format, your making a commitment to be active. So in my
Mind, a warning then a penalty, then a severe penalty, replacement has to be the type of order.


Any ideas on what you guys do in your leagues? Thanks

[MasterByte]

cap infractions:
I haven't played in many cap leagues, but that seems like a pretty severe infraction. The the NHL's route with the NJD and moved their first round pick to the end of the first round regardless of their draft order. If they are already at the end because they are winning (making it much worse), then make it more severe.

Leaving guys on IR:
From my experience, and from what I've read in forums and listened to on podcasts, this is considered to be a legitimate strategy that people should take advantage of. Yahoo prevents you from making waiver wire moves while you have an illegal lineup. If your fantasy software doesn't do that, perhaps instigate that rule.

General Activity:
This is the hardest with any fantasy league. You either have a theme of commitment or you don't. If you don't, then it will be very difficult to enforce any lack of activity unless it is blatently not logging in for weeks/months.
Perhaps set a limit, like someone who doesn't set there lines 3 days in a row, or doesn't 10 times on the year, and it affects a lottery chance for their next years draft order.... but that may require you to introduce a lottery system for the first few picks. One of my leagues does that, drawing the names makes for a fun get together or google hangout event.

[Jouko-Pouko]

Warning, loss of late draft pick, loss of higher draft pick... Eventually GM replacement if the GM cannot get his act together.

Especially if your league has money involved, you need to have some sort of clear-cut infraction system in place. It hurts if it happens to you but not enough to make you want to leave the league if you're serious.

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Warning, loss of late draft pick, loss of higher draft pick... Eventually GM replacement if the GM cannot get his act together.

Especially if your league has money involved, you need to have some sort of clear-cut infraction system in place. It hurts if it happens to you but not enough to make you want to leave the league if you're serious.

[Eskimo Brother]

Warning, loss of late draft pick, loss of higher draft pick... Eventually GM replacement if the GM cannot get his act together.

Same thing I would recommend. And it has to be followed through with.

[roenick27]

Thanks guys. Repped you both. It is a money league but the money is small. To me its more of an issue of commitment. Its supposed to be fun, but there needs to be some sort of repercussion. It also helps to make it more active.
I appreciate the help as Im trying to gather ideas to propose or potentially, to start a new league if it doesn't get better.
Its a shame as its a league with pretty low turnover and has been around for a few years, but its losing some of its luster with the carelessness (I don't think people were cheating, but still).

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Thanks guys. Repped you both. It is a money league but the money is small. To me its more of an issue of commitment. Its supposed to be fun, but there needs to be some sort of repercussion. It also helps to make it more active.
I appreciate the help as Im trying to gather ideas to propose or potentially, to start a new league if it doesn't get better.
Its a shame as its a league with pretty low turnover and has been around for a few years, but its losing some of its luster with the carelessness (I don't think people were cheating, but still).

[Mr. Guru]

It depends greatly on the type of league you're in.

Close friends/family?
Work people?
Online?
Friends of friends?

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It depends greatly on the type of league you're in.

Close friends/family?
Work people?
Online?
Friends of friends?

[roenick27]

Id say online. Some people know each other I think, but primarily online. Biggest issue to me is to have it out front and clear, but like said above, it needs to be followed up on. Trust me..no one wants to hand out punishments in a fun fantasy league, but there have to be rules and order so it stays fun, active, and enjoyable for all. Otherwise things get "bent" a little and that to me is when it really becomes less fun.

[Mr. Guru]

In our league the commish can fine you $20 for violating the rules.

If the GM doesn't think he deserves it he can appeal the decision.
He proposes his appeal to the league. The league votes (everyone except the accused and commish)
If found guilty, the GM pays double the fine.
If found not guilty, the commish pays half the fine.

Democratic league we are.

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In our league the commish can fine you $20 for violating the rules.

If the GM doesn't think he deserves it he can appeal the decision.
He proposes his appeal to the league. The league votes (everyone except the accused and commish)
If found guilty, the GM pays double the fine.
If found not guilty, the commish pays half the fine.

Democratic league we are.

[roenick27]

Wow! Not sure that would fly in this league, but there needs to be accountability, so we agree on that for sure.

Repped you as well

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Wow! Not sure that would fly in this league, but there needs to be accountability, so we agree on that for sure.

Repped you as well

[Moses]

Our dynasty cap league is hosted on Fantrax. We pay the premium fee (whatever amount that is). There are controls built into it that you can set conditions around these infractions to make line-ups illegal and points for those days not count.

For example...
You can set it up where if guys are taken off of NHL injured lists they must be taken of of your fantasy IR. Our league is set up that players must be taken off of your IR within 48 hours or your roster is frozen until that move is made. It gives GMs a buffer of a few days to notice and/or correct the problem. It could be set to 12 hours if you want to be overly strict or 7 days if it is more casual. Rosters are illegal and no points are awarded until you clean up the roster. Salary cap is also set up so that if your team is over your roster is illegal.

These two simple built in tools force teams to comply and at the same time also force teams to be somewhat active. You are proactively helping to solve issues before they arrive. Each GM has the ability to tailor email alerts about their team and league. I have mine set up to send me an email if/when my roster is illegal. There is also a way for all teams to see when teams have violated the rules on a day by day basis. Our league has a rule in place to punish teams when their team has had "X" number of infractions. The rule is black and white and has not had to be enforced yet. If it does it is in the open for all GMs to see.

Hope this helps point you in the right direction. I think you need to put steps in place to help solve the root cause rather than punish the result.

[roenick27]

Thanks Moses. Can't rep you yet but will asap.

I agree with fantrax. That solves most of the issues

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Thanks Moses. Can't rep you yet but will asap.

I agree with fantrax. That solves most of the issues

[VintageVibe]

Our dynasty cap league is hosted on Fantrax. We pay the premium fee (whatever amount that is). There are controls built into it that you can set conditions around these infractions to make line-ups illegal and points for those days not count.

For example...
You can set it up where if guys are taken off of NHL injured lists they must be taken of of your fantasy IR. Our league is set up that players must be taken off of your IR within 48 hours or your roster is frozen until that move is made. It gives GMs a buffer of a few days to notice and/or correct the problem. It could be set to 12 hours if you want to be overly strict or 7 days if it is more casual. Rosters are illegal and no points are awarded until you clean up the roster. Salary cap is also set up so that if your team is over your roster is illegal.

These two simple built in tools force teams to comply and at the same time also force teams to be somewhat active. You are proactively helping to solve issues before they arrive. Each GM has the ability to tailor email alerts about their team and league. I have mine set up to send me an email if/when my roster is illegal. There is also a way for all teams to see when teams have violated the rules on a day by day basis. Our league has a rule in place to punish teams when their team has had "X" number of infractions. The rule is black and white and has not had to be enforced yet. If it does it is in the open for all GMs to see.

Hope this helps point you in the right direction. I think you need to put steps in place to help solve the root cause rather than punish the result.

I came here to say the exact same thing as Moses. Fantrax is great for customizable regulations.

As for league activity; we set up a rule where every GM must sign in at least 100 times a season. Our league is in its 4th season. As commish I kept tabs. There is a page within your fantrax league that shows how many times each GM has logged in (Team > Owner List). Most GMs would sign in 200-300 times a season. The GMs that didn't last long were signing in 0-100 times (they were all eventually replaced). We've weeded out 5-6 weak GMs through the first 3-4 years now. And the league has never been better.

Today all GMs have signed in 100-225 times already this season. Now that I look at it, one GM has signed in only 42 times and I plan on replacing him this summer!

I found this method helped improved the overall health of the league with increased activity which has also led to a more balanced league parity-wise.

Good luck with your league!

[Mr. Guru]

Our dynasty cap league is hosted on Fantrax. We pay the premium fee (whatever amount that is). There are controls built into it that you can set conditions around these infractions to make line-ups illegal and points for those days not count.

Easy way for a GM to tank.

[Mr. Guru]

We also added another rule this year to our league (year 8....all original GM's and 2 expansions) that at the end of the year we take the average of all games played for all teams.....whoever is under the average games played threshold will have to pay $1 per every game under that they are.

This helps with "tanking" GMs keeping injured players in their lineup. If they do this all year they will likely be under the average games played threshold and thus be punished at years end.

- - - Updated - - -

We also added another rule this year to our league (year 8....all original GM's and 2 expansions) that at the end of the year we take the average of all games played for all teams.....whoever is under the average games played threshold will have to pay $1 per every game under that they are.

This helps with "tanking" GMs keeping injured players in their lineup. If they do this all year they will likely be under the average games played threshold and thus be punished at years end.