Tom Kaplan deleted my thread- why?

[khan]

I had a poll regarding the difficulty of different positions and Tom Kaplan deleted it. Whats the deal?

Tom also wrote me an e-mail saying that what I posted was "not true." He was referring to the post in which I said Tom is a company man and always votes in favor of Sports Mogul. If he didn't like that comment, he could have just deleted the single message.

Deleting player threads (especially ones that don't contain vulgarity or personal assults) is not cool. Why even have a forum then?

[khan]

What I said in that post that really angered Tom was that when players complain about something in BMO, Tom almost always takes BMO's side (as he should since he works for them) and disagrees with the players. Obviously Tom is biased. I was just asking that he not vote in my poll because it was a given that he would say the game is great "as-is."

I don't have a lot of free time, but I will try to get some evidence of what I'm talking about.

[khan]

At least 10 BMO players posted that they thought it was unrealistic for fielders in BMO to make 50+ errors in a season. You can see those complaints in the following two threads.
By the way, the record for most errors in a season in real life is something like 30.
http://forum.sportsmogul.com/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=13045

http://forum.sportsmogul.com/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=18136


This is Tom's take on the situation:


Originally posted by takaplan
He has a "D" rating for fielding. It makes sense to me...

Anyone below a C really shouldn't be playing in the majors...do you think someone with a "D" rating should not be making that many errors?

[khan]

Three different BMO players in the following thread felt that Vincent Padilla's ratings go from A+ to C in the game. Instead of admitting that there is a problem, Tom says the following:


Originally posted by takaplan
Then most likely when the database was created, his ratings were fairly low.

By saying slumps, that's all the fun of the game. You might have a player hit 45 HR one year, hit 20 HR the next year, and then come back for 60 HR the next year...with the ratings changing the whole time :)



Basically, Tom is saying that its normal for a guy to go from A+ to C in every league he is in and compares it to a guy hitting 45 HR one year and 20 the next.

Thats two times Tom has basically said that there is nothing wrong with the game. Everything is great.

[khan]

In this thread, a BMO player feels that it is unrealistic for BMO to generate 2-3 new rookies who are over 36 (years of age) every season. Another BMO player supports that claim with stats.

http://forum.sportsmogul.com/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=17385

Tom's reply- It might surprise you, but he thinks that this is very realistic and there is nothing wrong with BMO.


Originally posted by takaplan

However, whether it is intentional or not, it makes sense. The movie "The Rookie" was about Jim Morris, a 36 year old journeyman rookie who came up and played on the Devil Rays. Or the Astros' rookie catcher Alan Zinter, who spent a long time in the minors (he is 34 now in his rookie season).


Thats three times Tom took the company's side and said the player's claims are unfounded.

[khan]

In the following thread, 4 different people (including the Marketing VP of Sports Mogul- partially) suggest that it unrealistic for a team to change expenses from 1 to 999 overnight (as teams can in BMO).

http://forum.sportsmogul.com/showthread.php3?s=&postid=64042#post64042


Believe it or not, Tom thinks the game is great the way it is and makes sense to him.


Originally posted by takaplan
I respectfully disagree. I think you do spend more money throughout the season on your different expenses. For instance, in the Majors Leagues, a GM could send a scout to Japan to check out somebody, thus costing more money. Or a trainer could send a player to a medical specialist in another state, thus costing more money. Or they could hire a different roving minor league catching coach, thus costing more money.

Anyone else have an opinion about this?

Thats four times.

[bsessler]

Khan:

I can't count the number of times you have taken the PLAYERS side. I would say just about EVERY post. What makes you so different then Tom Kaplin. Your just the negetative that equals out his positive. What we end up with is the same as what we started with. Which is NOTHING... They designed this game and it is up to us to adjust to it, not change it. We can suggest improvements and let it go. I would have deleted your post. It was disrespectful and whinny.

"crying, there's no crying in baseball!!!!!", Tom Hanks

[khan]

Oh yeah- Tom has complete, unchecked control over the threads so he might delete or edit some of the threads I linked to. Just like he deleted my thread.

Thanks Tom

BTW- what were the results of the poll when you deleted my thread? When I last checked it (when it hadn't been deleted), 10 people had voted that OF should convert well to 1B ( and since they don't, BMO is unrealistic in that aspect). Two people (you and Shock) had voted that 1B is a harder position to play than RF or LF.

[khan]

Thanks for the feedback bsessler. You are 100% correct. I take the players' side lots of time. A couple of thoughts.

-Regardless of who made this game, the players pay for it and therefore keep it online. So the players have a right to speak their mind about the game.

-Most of the guys who gripe about the game (including me) have been here since the beta days. Without them, BMO would not be what it is.

-Tom can speak all he wants in the SportsMogul board room. I am not allowed in that room. Just to be fair, I would like to discuss the game with other players in a similar "closed" environment. 10 of the 11 players who voted had the same gripe as me. Tom comes along and votes on behalf of BMO and then deletes the thread.

What exactly did my whiny thread say? Do you recall?

[amunoz2001]

Hey guys,

First thing that I am going to say is that the job of a moderator is to moderate the discussion forum. As a moderator for this company, I look to answer questions, edit post that suggest an explicit word and maintain calm on the boards.

Now, I dont know the full story, but I will forward this Tom so he can answer some of the problems you are having with him. He should be with you within a day. Thank you for your support and we should resolve this soon.

-Ariel

[DodgersGM]

I have a feeling now is not a good time for me to chime in?


:D

[bsessler]

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What exactly did my whiny thread say? Do you recall?
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Kahn:

I wasn't going to reply to this.... but what the heck..


*No animals where hurt while collecting the data for this thread*
~The following is a KAHN production:eek: All right reserverd
Roll em'


This is highly unrealistic. 1B is easier to play than RF or LF. Look at guys like Mo Vaughn, Cecil Fielder, John Kruk, etc. If they can play a good 1B, a good OF should definitely be able to play 1B well.
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This is definitely a problem. I've seen it happen several times. It shouldn't be hard to program into the game at all
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Jason Giambi also. He used to play LF when some guy named McGwire was playing 1B in Oakland.

Giambi is not a great 1B (wasn't a great LF either), but he doesn't make 30 errors a year.

Also, I would...
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Thats the problem Tom. Star rookies don't want 5-10 points for a short-term deal anymore. They want 25-30 for even a one-year contract.

Explain the Pujols thing. Would you not say he was a star rookie?
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IMO, the AI "overachieves" (cheats) with certain teams. In Houston, for example, DanTurk won 55 games in 2004 before getting the boot. The AI takes over in 2k5 and wins 40 more games WITH THE SAME TEAM....
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The revenue structure for small market teams is pathetic. You can win and win and win and have low ticket prices and Normal Broadcast and the revenue still doesn't go up. This is neither realistic nor...
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I agree with Lancelot. I'm in the same league, don't use PAYTV, win year after year after year and the attendence still sucks. And no, my ticket prices are not high. They've never been higher than Normal,...
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The inconsistency of this...
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: For the record, my strategy was more based on anger than rational thought. I spent 250 points on farm last year and another 100 on scouting. My record was 81-81 so I expected to get some good prospects....
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As far as I am concerned, the playoffs are wayyyyyyyyyy toooooooooo random.
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Hello??? Anybody home?
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It doesn't look like anyone is interested :(.
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Those where just a few of my favorites. I had to stop so I could get back to work :D

Peace,
B-Diddy

[James Grove]

Hi Guys -

I think I need to chime in here.

Kahn - One of the policies I try to enforce on these boards is No Personal Attacks. Players can complain about the game, they can say they like other games better, they can even talk trash to one another, as long as it is in fun.

Unfortunately, this thread falls into the category of one big personal attack on Tom.

Personal attacks on other players make the game unpleasant; personal attacks on moderators just creates an us-versus-them mindset.

If you have an issue with any of the board moderators, please send an email to me: james@sportsmogul.com. That way we can address the issue without inflaming everyone's passions, and try to find a good, constructive resolution.

I can see from this thread that you are upset about Tom deleting your post. But I think we can deal with that issue separately from an analysis of Tom's past postings.

If you would like to re-post your original poll, we can try again to get responses.

Meanwhile, I'm going to close this thread, because I think we will have a better discusssion about these issues if we start fresh.

Thank you for understanding, and thank you for playing BBMO.

-James Grove

P.S. DodgersGM - You make me laugh!