As a habitually-late submitter of subscriber content, I wanted to respond to this thread. Please keep in mind that all thoughts and experiences posted here are strictly my own; I could not possibly speak for anyone else on staff. I just agree that people deserve to know what's going on with the product that they paid for, so I figured I would share my own personal experiences.
First off, as a subscriber for ten years, I completely get the frustration when things are posted inconsistently or even late. I remember refreshing the page ten or fifteen times a day on Tuesdays until the Top 200 Forward was live so I could start using it to craft some trade offers. I totally get it. And it absolutely kills me whenever one of my own projects falls behind schedule, (which recently has been a frequent occurrence). I don't want to delude myself into thinking I'm producing cornerstone features and all of the subscribers are clicking refresh waiting for my articles to go live, but I do know that some people depend on the resources I'm providing, and every time they are delayed, I'm letting those people down.
I take that very seriously. I have a job that I love solely because subscribers like you have entrusted us with this big responsibility to provide you with advice and resources to help you manage your fantasy teams. Again, I don't want to delude myself into thinking that scores of people are subscribing specifically to hear what I have to say, but they're subscribing for the complete suite of features that FBGs offers, and I'm part of that suite, and I'm sometimes failing to deliver on my part in a timely manner. It's a failure. I hate it.
$30 is a lot to pay for fantasy advice, especially with so much quality stuff out there. I remember wondering if I couldn't make do with something for free, instead. And that was a decade ago; the quality of free offerings has increased exponentially since then. I just want to make it really clear that I don't take any of this lightly. I get where you're coming from. It's a perfectly legitimate place to be coming from. I've failed, you're mad, and that's totally legitimate.
I also completely get the frustration by non-DFS players, (or light DFS players), with all of the DFS content everywhere, (not just on Footballguys). I get that because I'm a non-DFS player, (or a light DFS player). I entered the Millionaire Maker one week last year to do research on a FBGs project. I entered a small GPP with the rest of the staff during the playoffs last year. The entire staff this year does a small weekly tournament for fun and bragging rights on FanDuel. That's the entire extent of my DFS experience- one large GPP, five small GPPs, and that's it.
While it seems like this increased attention on DFS at footballguys has coincided with a tend to ignore redraft and dynasty, I can say that with a few key exceptions, FBGs' DFS and non-DFS sides are separate entities. FBGs hires DFS staff using DFS funds to create DFS content. In the last two years, I believe somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 people have been added to staff, and most of them have been focused on DFS. I agree that the DFS team has been killing it, producing tons of great content. But that's just a reflection on the quality of guys who've been hired. They're total bosses.
Anyway, on to me. Again, these are just my experiences, and are meant to explain my tardiness rather than excuse it. There is not an excuse for failing to deliver promised content in a timely manner, and the only appropriate apology is to rectify the problem and begin delivering content in a timely manner again. This is all just full transparency, because I know, (again, from experience), that sometimes a FBGs subscription feels like you put money in a slot and at some unknown point in the future content comes out. This is just a look at how the sausage is made. Or, rather, how I go about making the sausage that has been assigned to me to make. I don't often ask the other staff members about their sausage. Err... wait, that didn't come out right.
Personally, I'm responsible for five pieces of content a week. Every week, I'm the guy who does the Denver Broncos game recaps, the weekly upside projections, the weekly dynasty value charts, and a pair of dynasty strategy articles, (Dynasty, in Theory and Dynasty, in Practice). In addition to that, there are various other tasks which I perform which aren't technically a paid part of my job description, but which are pretty much essential to my role and my ability to execute the things that are in my job description. Namely, I will watch, re-watch, and make notes on as much of the prior week's action as I can. I will also answer emails, participate actively on Twitter, and maintain a presence here in the Shark Pool, answering fantasy questions, addressing concerns, engaging in discussions, and generally participating in the fantasy community as much as possible. (Like I'm doing right here, natch.)
Before the season, we submit a proposal for what weekly content we're going to provide, and then that plan gets approved. The weekly dynasty value charts that I'm doing now were something that came together very late in the preseason- it wasn't until the last week of August or so that I really had enough pieces to where I realized that this was something I could do. I honestly thought they were a really cool, potentially powerful tool for the dynasty community to use, so I scrambled to get something working together for the season kickoff.
The big problem was that my charts are reliant on the top 200 forward feature to feed them data, and that feature doesn't appear until Week 2, so I essentially couldn't test and troubleshoot them in advance of the season kickoff. So for the first couple of weeks, I've been behind the 8-ball, trying to fix things like format, troubleshoot errors in my formulas, look for potential improvements, and generally just build these things on the fly. It's been a
much bigger challenge than I initially anticipated... but even if I'd anticipated it, I still probably would have forged ahead, because I think the product is potentially very powerful and I think these are just early-development growing pains.
Essentially, it's been a choice between not delivering something potentially useful, or delivering it late. I think it's better to have something too late than not at all. If I could fix the process and get everything running on schedule, that would be even better, still. I took a shot on something really big this year, and so far the process has been a bit rough. But it's the first quarter, and I'm really trying to get everything straightened out and provide something even better than anticipated over the rest of the year.
For those who don't know, I'm a stay-at-home dad, so I'm basically able to work on football projects while my son is either at preschool, (M/W/F), down for a nap, or asleep for the night. I can browse Twitter while he's awake, or read the forums and craft shorter replies, but by and large those are my main "work" windows. The original preseason plan had me devoting Monday to the Denver recap and catching up on the week's action, Tuesday night to the weekly projections, Wednesday morning to my value charts, and then I'd try to use the rest of my time to get my strategy articles out sometime on Thursday/Friday so they're ready for the weekend readers. (As strategy articles, they're a lot less time-sensitive than the other material.)
The problem, of course, is that the value charts have been eating up my entire Wednesday and most of my Thursday, leading to me scrambling on Friday to try to get both articles published by Friday night or Saturday morning. Which means I fear a lot of people who might be interested are missing them entirely. Like I said, this kills me. I hate it. (This week I'm even further behind, thanks to a super-fun stomach bug that decided to come and spend a few days with us all.)
So, again, since this is explanation and not apology, where do I go from here and how do I fix this going forward? Luckily, I've largely got the major bugs worked out of my charts, and (*fingers crossed*), should be able to finally get them out in a more reasonable timeframe. Hopefully this creates a cascade effect, which means value charts on Wednesday, articles on Thursday/Friday, and Saturday free for me to spend time with my family again. That's the plan.
Am I going to fall short of that in the future? I really hope not, but I'm not sure. I recognize that I don't have the greatest track record. As a primary caregiver, illnesses have a habit of wrecking my well-planned schedules. If I do fall short in the future, you all absolutely have a right to be upset about it and to hold me accountable for it. And, as consumers, you have a right to "vote with your dollars". It's not your job to be happy with what we provide. It's our job to make you happy with what we provide. And if we aren't doing that, then we don't deserve your business. That's really the bottom line.
Anyway, that's just where I'm at, and if anyone has been wondering what's been up with my pieces over the first four weeks, that's what's up. Again, I really want to stress that none of this is an excuse. I'm just trying to make things a bit more transparent, because some of you want to know what's going on, and I think you deserve to.
Thanks again to everyone who does subscribe. Because of you, I've been able to quit a job I didn't like to stay at home with my son. I get to spend my time doing something I love. I'm incredibly grateful for that opportunity, and I never take it for granted, not for a second. There's a lot of great content out there, and there are a lot of guys who would kill to be where I am right now. And it's incumbent on me to never give you all a reason to go elsewhere. I'm really trying. And I'm going to continue to try my best to do that. I just wanted to say that I really do appreciate you all.
Also, like I said, I know things sometimes seem pretty opaque and confusing, but I'm always going to be really open about everything. Because I feel like you all have a right to know. I'm always happy to answer any questions anyone might have either via PM, over Twitter (@AdamHarstad - also the quickest and most consistent way to get a hold of me if you want an answer fast), or via email, (harstad@footballguys.com). I'm also around on the forums, and I'll be sure to monitor this thread going forward, so if you have any other follow-up questions, go ahead and ask them here.