We regularly get some excellent submissions to the Community Articles section of Fantasy Football Scout, from statistical analysis to Red Lightning’s mini-league round-ups and everything in between.
In the article below, site regular Notlob Legin gives tips on how users can enhance their experience of our comments section.
It was about eight years ago that I stumbled across Fantasy Football Scout and I spent two years reading all articles and most of the comments posted. It was only about six years ago that I plucked up the courage to start posting. I now feel a complete part of the community, having also become a member at the same time.
People use the site for various reasons – predicted team line-ups, stats, Rate My Team, comparison tools etc. but, in the grand scale of things, only a small proportion post in the comments section or answer questions.
I spend most days on here as I work from home – hopefully my boss doesn’t ever read this! – and answer whenever I can but I’ve learnt a few things that I wanted to share, as they may make your use of the site more enjoyable. These are just my views and please don’t take any of this as patronising or critical. It’s all about helping each other get the best out of the FPL community.
Firstly, timing is everything. I see posts on here during matches asking for an RMT – no one responds to these as everyone is fully engrossed in the current gameweek. It’s probably best to ask these questions at a more appropriate time.
Towards the deadline, so many posts go unanswered – why leave it to the last minute to ask for advice? I personally find the best conversations on here happen at the beginning of a week when people have time to give a considered response.
Secondly, when asking for advice it’s better to put some reasoning into the question being asked. I often see questions asking who is the better option between player one and player two. Adding a little more thought tends to bring better responses and an intelligent conversation. Also, if asking about whether to play or bench a particular player, no one can answer this sensibly without seeing your whole squad.
With the amount of advice and information now available, we need to make our own decisions – you may get some good, reasoned responses but ultimately the final decision always rests with ourselves. I personally get quite frustrated when I see sarcastic comments after some taken advice didn’t go to plan.
When somebody replies to your post, I would advise thanking them – even if you disagree with their view. So many people on this site answer several questions but rarely get thanked. It takes seconds to do and in future you’ll get more replies with this sort of approach.
Answering other managers’ questions is so, so important. I’m sure we’ve all asked for advice in the past and had no responses – how does this make you feel? If you can spend more time helping others, you will feel so much better. I love that so many give good, honest, sensible advice and they only do it to help out, with no agenda. When replying, adding a small justification to your response goes a long way.
I would also advise getting a Grav picture. It doesn’t make you a better manager or have better knowledge but it does get you recognised and remembered, often leading to more responses.
These little things do make a difference and, as we’re communicating with people from all over the globe, it’s such small things that may benefit you in future.
My last few thoughts are regarding the articles. Recently, some Scout articles have been using quotes from the community – long may this continue, as it makes people feel even more engaged. Two posters with nine and 13 years of experience on the site commented on how great this made them feel.
Hopefully, authors can start getting more involved once their articles are posted, rather than disappear. If they were to hang around and get involved with the comments section, even just for an hour, it would help us feel more engaged with them.
Finally, people use this site for many different reasons. Some in the comments section are bedbound, some are terminally ill and quite a few have mental health problems. As none of us knows each other personally, I advise everyone to always post with some respect – we simply don’t know the problems that each other is experiencing. Please and thank you still go a long way.
I hope you enjoyed reading this. Please remember that these are just my thoughts but, if in any way it helps you get more out of the site, it was worth writing. This community is great and is well worth being a part of.