Hello,

Two seasons ago I suggested to create an "Interested teams list" in addition to the current "Interested players list". This idea was liked by a couple of people. Can we have it before TL47 please?

I would like to be able to publish the following information on the list:
- who is looking for a player (the name of the team, FICS logins of the teams contact person(s))
- who is the team looking for (any text e.g. a rating range, a spoken language, whatever requirements a team captain may have).

I think that one of the advantages of the "Interested teams list" is that I'd consider team captains to be more reliable in cleaning the list than the interested players :-). "Interested players list" is quite often rubbish containing players who stopped seeking a team ages ago.

If creating a separate list similar to "Interested players list" is too much work, what about creating a forum here, and linking it directly from the main page, just close to the "Interested players list"?

Thanks,
MichaÃ…‚

I would definitely like this.

Ok, I have got no answer from any TL admin. I hope you do realize that the Interested Players e.g. now is *complete* rubbish. Would you consider always removing a player from the list when he is added to a team? If a player wants to remain on the list, he should explicitly add himself again.

Btw, if it is too much work to maintain the Interested Players list, I volunteer to do it :).

PankracyRozumek, thanks for your offer on maintaining such a list. Unfortunately, the set up, not the maintenance is the issue. I will chat with our beloved programmer(s) on this idea.

I am not clear on your comment that the interested list is "rubbish". A couple of weeks ago, I updated the list, and removed names of people who had not been on FICS for some time. I also remove players who are on teams, but do not do this daily.

The interested teams idea is one of the next projects on tap! While not ready for T47, perhaps we will see it on board for T48.

Great to hear that :).

I didn't mean to offend you or anyone with my comment about rubbish list. Right now I can only find the following players who seem to be already on teams: MlodyBog, cytrus, Tablajedrez, foxchaseii, calcomar, but the time I wrote my previous comment I could count at least 10 of them (those listed before and oldengawy, gabarony, rizwan, kasperyan, dentistkbz).

Is it possible for the programmer[s] to share the code (just the code used for the list is fine)? Perhaps I or someone knowledgeable could take a stab at editing and improving upon it.

In case anyone is still interested (ha), I am an admin now and would be willing to create an interested teams list. It would be nice to set up one before the next TL edition.

It seems to me there are two separate categories of interested teams. My team is always on the lookout for nice and dependable players of any rating. But sometimes we might need, say, a player between 1500 to 1647 before next Monday.

So maybe there could be two lists. The first would list all the teams open to new players. It would have the name of the team, a short blurb (say 20 words or less), a website, and whom to contact. The blurb and website would be optional. Example:

ArchBishops | Always seeking friendly, reliable players of any rating. Informal interview required; be prepared to give your real name (kept confidential). | http://gamerselysia.com/archbishops/ | contact wmahan

The second would be for specific openings. It would have a team name, a rating range, an optional deadline, and a contact person. This list would only work if we keep it up to date. Example:

ArchBishops_Artists | 1700-1834 | before this Monday | contact milpat

Any thoughts?

Updating lists by teams that fill positions would be critical.
We could also consider putting expiration dates on "ads" for players.

Expiration dates would be great. There could even be a default 30-day expiration date so that a player or team has to renew a message.

As far as team messages. There can be an editable space for each team, if possible, and when the team's needs change from "All are invited" to "We need someone less than 1720," then the team can edit it.

Automatic expiration dates would be possible, but would require some programming. For next TL I was thinking I could just maintain the list by hand, with captains messaging me any changes to the messages. Likewise for allowing teams to edit the messages themselves--it would take some work to make that possible.

My objection to having the "all are invited" and "we need someone less than 1720" messages in the same list is that they seem logically separate. A team could have multiple ads looking for players in certain ranges, but it shouldn't be necessary to have more than one description and website link per team.

I think this becoming complicated. I wouldn't like to sound ungrateful, but this little feature is already taking 5 seasons! Can we start with something simple, but available before end of March, and only then gradually improve?

Bumping this topic up.

I've added a list of teams to the Interested Players page, based on what I could find about each team. I also merged in the How to Find a Team page, to try to simplify the menu.

It could use improvement, but it's a start. I hope captains will send me more information.

Thanks a lot, that's a very good start!