I'm going to try something radical this year and if it goes well I may keep it this way for good. I want to try public voting on trades. In other words, instead of a trade counsel voting on deal behind closed doors the entire league votes pass or fail. This way should a trade fail there's a transparent league wide consensus for everyone to see why.
This year I'm going to hand pick a few trades here and there that I think could be big ones that may go either way. If it goes well then next season all deals will be handled this way with the TC remaining in tact merely for league discussion amongst vets and perhaps for a tie breaker.
I'm going to use the Veto'd Trades Forum for the time being, so everyone keep an eye on that subforum. But if this works and I go full speed ahead in 2054 a more appropriate sub forum will be created (or perhaps just renaming that one since I never use it).
However, there are some concerns here in why I haven't introduced this long ago and why I'm only testing the waters with it before going full throttle. As such, there'll be guidelines and rules to handle any anticipated problems.
THE RULES AND PROCESSES
- An open poll thread will be posted with the proposed trade allowing GMs to vote pass or fail. I'd prefer anonymous voting, but that wouldn't allow me the ability to make sure all votes are coming from league GMs.
- Each trade participant is allowed the opportunity to state their case why the trade should pass via responses in the thread, which I'll copy into the first post. Suggestions are to explain why it helps your team and why it's an even talent swap. This is not a requirement, just something you can do if you so choose.
- All votes, pass or fail, must be accompanied by a response in the thread explaining why you think the trade should pass or fail. Trades should be judged solely on league parity and whether or not either GM is being overly swindled. If you do not accompany your vote with a reason in a response your vote will not count.
- You are allowed to change your vote, but if you do please state clearly in a reply as you can't change a poll vote on your own in the forums.
- There will be time limits set on trades to allow for expedient processing.
- If there is a tie I will tally up the votes by current TC members and use that as the tie breaker.
- Debate over the merits of the trade is allowed, but if it gets personal the trade will be taken to the TC and voted on the old fashioned way. GETTING OVERLY INSULTING AND ATTACKING ANOTHER GM BECAUSE YOU DISAGREE WITH THEIR VOTE CAN RESULT IN A LOSS OF A 1ST ROUND DRAFT PICK.
Seriously. The risk of flame wars over votes is the number one reason I've hesitated to try this yet, so I won't mess around with that. You can debate the trade all you want, but don't make it personal. At the end of the day all GMs are entitled to their vote and opinion.
Things that can cause this to go away (Please don't ruin this for everyone.)
- If it becomes apparent the fail reasoning for fail votes is half-assed and there may be an ulterior motive (undercutting offers, hurting division rivals, et al)
- Too much flaming over other people's votes
- obvious attempts of buddy voting and back scratching
- Bickering and complaining over results of trades
This league is supposed to be fun, and for the most part I think it has been, but trades can always be a touchy area especially when they fail. I think by putting voting in the hands of the entire league we can all partake in deciding what trades can go through.