So...you want to be an NSFL expansion GM. Well, that’s an interesting journey that I can guide you along. First I want to start with the basics. Let’s make sure you ACTUALLY want to do this. Let’s talk about the stark reality of what you’re walking into. You likely won’t see any real success for 3-4 seasons at minimum. That’s 5-7 months of real time AFTER your team started playing games, on top of the 2.5ish months you’re going to spend going from being hired to that first game. That’s having to wade through countless roadblocks like rules that make it harder on you and sometimes make very little sense, players who aren’t interested in expansion teams or waiting in general, loss of prospects that seemed like slam dunks, and the simply unpredictable events that can set you back entire seasons. Those are just the facts. That’s not even the onslaught of opinions and criticisms you’ll deal with from outside that can and sometimes will alter how the team is viewed, which can then affect re-signings, free agents, etc. All of these things can and will wear on you.
But wait….there’s more. You see you also have a litany of additional responsibilities. Scouting, budgeting, contracts, negotiating with other GMs, setting up and running your war room, maintaining your locker room environment, and assisting in the running of the league. You’ll be on the hook for numerous votes, expected to take active part in rule suggestions, discussions, and alterations. You’ll be expected to scout talent for league jobs, work well with people you’re otherwise competing with, help handle any league situations that may require immediate addressing, and generally be one of the faces of the league. While balancing about 25 other people who all have their own views and opinions. And I’ll be really blunt. Quite a few of those are dumb as fuck. You’re going to run into brick walls of people who can’t figure out why “let's make it so contracts can't change by more than 50% year to year” or “let's change the entire contract system to one that’s built for an entirely different structured league” or “let people spend tpe into a stat up to 120 but secretly the cap is still 100” are bad ideas. People are generally terrible at thinking beyond themselves and when you’re running a league for hundreds of people, you have to deal with people who simply can’t figure out that “I don’t like that other teams are good when they do X thing and I’m not so it shouldn’t exist”. Even when people don’t have ulterior motives (aware or unaware as they may be of the reasoning for their judgement) sometimes stupid ideas just happen. Sometimes they’re not and you get good rules or sometimes bad proposals get discussed into being good rules. Sometimes good rules die on the floor. Sometimes good ideas turn out to create bad results.
This is a taste of what you’re walking into. You’re putting aside many hours in every week for this in addition to anything you may want for your own player. Oh yeah…about that. You’re almost certainly going to have to play a position you don't really want to unless you happen to get lucky. More than half of GMs position switch at some point in their career, and often to a position so far removed from what they were doing that things like the Hall of Fame are just not an option. The team needs to be your main source of fun. Yeah quick reminder. You’re still supposed to be having fun. If this list doesn’t at least mostly sound fun to you, you probably shouldn’t apply. Only some of it is even unique to expansion GMs. And I want to stress something here. I’m not exaggerating to scare you off. I don’t do that sort of thing. In fact I skimped on details and examples at points because it’s already plenty of description. If you still think you want it by the end of that, you’re either probably going to make it or too dumb to listen anyway. So either way, let’s presume you’ve made it to this juncture and you’re still ready to go. Let’s break down the process.
Part 1: Applying
The first competition and judgement you’re going to face is right away. So here’s what I want you to do. Have a basic idea of your team already in place. When you apply to HO don't just say “hey toots, i wanna gm, you sweet thing”. For one it doesn't leave the impression that you know what you’re doing and for another it makes BigRed very uncomfortable. Prepare your damn message. DM it on site with basic info on what you’d like to do. Cities that are in your final list. Ideas of brands and colors for each. I’m not saying these need to be the final answer. I’m saying they need to know you’re already working on it and are potentially able to arrive at the answer quickly. For example I presented my brand to the Commissioner at the time within 12 hours of being told i’d gotten my team. If you need someone to bounce ideas off of by the way, don’t hesitate to ask me. There is literally no one more qualified to help you. And if you ask around you’ll find out I give a shit about this league. Along with your branding ideas, throw in a short message about why you want to do this. It’s highly likely HO already knows you but you should treat it as a job interview anyway and if they don’t know you then you’re competing with people they do know. So you’re already behind and should act accordingly. If you happen to have a particular member of HO that you get on well with and feel comfortable talking to about ideas, message them. The worst they can say is no and it's highly unlikely they’re gonna do that when it comes to something like this. Also don’t be afraid to accept critiquing. Like..real critiques, not people talking smack. If you pick New York as a location and somebody says “what if we try something a bit less well used”, that’s good critique. “Fuckin New York everywhere. Why is everything New York? Probably SLM’s idea. I bet he‘s bald”. Technically that’s a combination of different statements one person made on the same subject at different times. And it was also the origin of a certain picture when I responded. Main point here is to understand the difference between good and bad criticism and accept good criticism. Also, just in case you don’t know...accepting good criticism isn’t the same as changing to fit the criticism. Listening and considering it and more importantly the reasons for the criticism are much more important than just swaying in the wind every time someone makes a half decent point.
This is just step 1. You’re still writing the application here. And I want this to be clear. When you’ve given a brief description of why you’re applying and what your potential brands and locations are, you need to end your application with some form of “I’m open to any questions you may have”. Send that shit to one HO member (likely the commissioner) and inform them via message that you have sent them an app for all of HO. These steps are clean and simple. It creates one copy that one person will then share with the rest of HO. It creates one point of contact from you to them and any additional contacts will then flow from them to you. Waiting is hard. Deal with it. If you have that member you could lean on this will likely be easier as you will already have worked through some ideas. Now, one last bit of advice between submitting your application and hearing that you have the team. Shut the fuck up about your plans. Think that’s too harsh? Everyone and their mother knew I was applying strongly. I announced in GM chat who my CoGM would be because we’d already talked about it extensively. Someone then hired them to GM a different team instead. So keep your mouth shut. Don’t even consider further reaching details if you can. Unless you’ve got someone who’s ready to go and you both can stick together. You’re in the game now. Not having an actual team yet in no way means that other GMs won’t try to outmaneuver you. Remember, you signed up for this.
Part 2: Congratulations
You now have been informed that you’re one of the expansion GMs. Okay. You’re now on the clock. You have to finalize team plans. You have to chat with anyone you are legally capable of talking to about your CoGM position. You have to decide when and what to announce now that you can actually make decisions. You need to start scouting the upcoming DSFL class. You need to get ready to have a logo created, or at least have someone picked out who will make it. Start working with them. Create your team discord. Start building the foundations of what your team is going to become. At this point once you’ve been announced you will likely be invited into GM Chat. You get to see the basics now of how thigns are done so take some time to learn. Yes, search your name, everyone does it. Fun fact. I once edited a 2 year old comment to include someone’s name and say hi to someone joining the chat. This is the time period between being announced as a brand new expansion GM and your very first draft and you have a ton to do in what will likely not be a very long time period. I was informed I got the job and drafted my first ever player 9 days later. Actually 8 minutes short of 9 full days. This is not a lot of time to finalize all of these things, start logo, hire CoGM, get your discord ready, announce your plans and branding, etc. You get a little extra time due to the necessary lag between the actual drafting and the draft presentation. Still, it’s certainly not enough time to scout everyones you need to be proactive as hell. Keeping notes, trying to see what is what and who is who. Being ready to MOVE when you’re announced as GM is the difference between coming strong out of the gate or trying to scout people several rounds into the draft while you’re on the clock. And you're mostly on your own. If you're lucky you have a CoGM for seven of those nine days. That's it. No war room to assist. No roster to give you tips and opinions based on other interactions. No DSFL alumni sitting in DSFL lr's who can update you on how people are.
So what do you do here? Come in with a plan. A roster plan. A locker room plan. A forward thinking plan. Preferably solidified with your CoGM since you need to be working together to build this thing. Make extensive use of media. There are always mock drafts and articles detailing prospects. Read them. Treat them as helpful guides. Go through each DSFL team and look at people's TPE and activity. Talk to DSFL GMs. Use the resources you do have to make up as much of the giant gap as you can. Look for big name recreates who may be interested in starting with your franchise. But the most important thing I need you to do in that moment is to stop and breathe. Let's talk about the draft.
Part 3: The Draft and Beyond
You're going to get multiple shots at this. That's the first and most important thing you should understand and plan around. Before my Copperheads stepped foot on the field in S16, we had the S15, S16, and Expansion Draft to build our roster along with the S16 free agent period. Plus the chance for trading. You're going to be able to field a team. It's a hill to climb but it's not impossible. Take the long view. If that means you take the best locker room person and their position doesn't seem "important", you're going to get savaged by media and hot takes. I know this first hand. People outside have no idea what you're actually doing. This can also be a good thing however, as it makes you more unpredictable. Use the strategic advantages you have because they are few and far between. Other teams having no idea what you're doing next means you have some degree of leverage because you could be about to draft their pet favorite at any moment. Snatch up all those people who are down for position switching. Take the best person as often as possible. You have nearly infinite flexibility in your first draft, which will be huge. Talk to as many people as you can. Get their views on position switching and on staying down in DSFL an extra season (this will likely happen as it did with my expansion so as to afford team that time to adjust). Ride the draft for as much value as you can in players and future picks.
This is when you start building that culture. You'll have people in your discord now and you'll be interacting. If any of them are those veterans I mentioned, consider putting them in your war room to help. You don't have a team yet though and you're likely going through some form of estrangement with your existing team. Perhaps it's working out. And perhaps they've opted to ignore offers from most of the league to take you for one season so that they can lose one less person in the expansion draft, while sidelining you and taking up space and cap on their roster. It really depends on what kind of team culture you're coming from and whether your GMs philosophy is based on exploiting people or not. Presumably what I said is an extreme example. Hopefully. If it's not, don't hesitate to get ahold of me.
Your second draft will be somewhat less freewheeling than your first was. In the leadup depending on quality and size you'll have to get much more picky. You'll also start with better picks that you may be able to parlay into more. But this point if you're lucky you have a starter ng war room, an lr buzzing with activity, and plan for going forward based on what's happened. I would strongly suggest you spend the entire season leading up to your 2nd draft as a fixture at DSFL games. Support your players already drafted. Get to know players who are going to be drafted. Really immerse yourself into it so you can better be ready. That second draft is going to be incredibly important for rounding out edges on your team. Then shortly after comes the Expansion Draft. In my experience, each team was allowed to pick 6 of its own to protect and then add another player each time one of theirs was chosen. That plus a hard cap on how many players could be taken from teams made it very tricky to properly figure out who to take. There’s of course always the chance to talk to people on the unprotected list (the ones who are active anyway). And of course you’re competing for talent with your fellow expansion team who has just gone through all the same steps you have. If you align too closely in ideas then you’ll probably stumble over each other in picking players. There are still obstacles here as you get closer to the finished product that is your team actually getting on the field. And then you’re most likely going to suck for a few seasons as well. So all these players that you just spent all this time getting together? You need to be on top of making sure they know the situation. Or you might face players leaving, getting frustrated, and not engaging the way you need.
Well, you made it. You’ve gotten to this point and you’re still reading. If you’re still interested, send that application in. Properly. Start the process. We’re almost certainly going to need two teams at minimum there’s an off chance we could need four so we need people who have their eyes open and ready to go through the wringer with their expansion squad. While I in no way can claim this is a comprehensive list of the obstacles and responsibilities you’ll face, this is a good taste of it. I hope it helps.
I want to talk about one more thing that hopefully also helps you. Relationships. It's one of the least discussed aspects of all forms of leadership but specifically here I mean your relationships with your fellow GMs. Now at first glance it might not seem that important. These are your competition after all. But with the way our league runs and how interwoven so many aspects are, you need good working relationships. So here's my wisdom on the topic. You need to have 3 separate relationships with every other GM. I know that sounds weird but bear with me. There's the management relationship. This is how you interact when it comes to league based situations. Rules, punishments, overall league decisions and situations. You could very well not be on the same page in these aspects. Then there's the trading relationship. It's important to have a good foundation IMO and I'll cut right to the heart of how to make that work. You're not on Shark Tank. Don't act like you are. Trying to maximize every possible teeny tiny little drop of blood out of your trading partners is a great way to make them not your trading partners. This may require ignoring your war room at times because every war room's response to every trade offer in the history of time has been "can we get that pick but one round better?". Be a good trading citizen. And sometimes ignore when your advisors tell you that you're not getting max immediate value. On top of that, trading should always be focused on getting what you need rather than winning anyway. The real winning trades are where everyone ends up happy. The third relationship is personal. The behind the scenes not directly related to team running type relationship. I have very good personal relationships with basically all the GMs that my team essentially rivals with. And I'm very happy about that. I famously often cite an example of SLM and myself when we were in HO together. In HO we frequently fought over our differing personal philosophies about things. We literally had actual situations, plural, where we'd be slinging hard (and I mean HARD..we both argue hard) at each other in HO chat, cracking jokes together in GM chat, and casually chatting in general chat, all at literally the same time. Because we maintained those different relationships relative to the context they were in. There's a summarized version of this that basically goes..leave the argument where the argument is. Compartmentalize.
Okay..that's the last of the basics. Maybe much later I'll go into more of my philosophies on building and trading after my proteges have a chance to use it themselves first.
But wait….there’s more. You see you also have a litany of additional responsibilities. Scouting, budgeting, contracts, negotiating with other GMs, setting up and running your war room, maintaining your locker room environment, and assisting in the running of the league. You’ll be on the hook for numerous votes, expected to take active part in rule suggestions, discussions, and alterations. You’ll be expected to scout talent for league jobs, work well with people you’re otherwise competing with, help handle any league situations that may require immediate addressing, and generally be one of the faces of the league. While balancing about 25 other people who all have their own views and opinions. And I’ll be really blunt. Quite a few of those are dumb as fuck. You’re going to run into brick walls of people who can’t figure out why “let's make it so contracts can't change by more than 50% year to year” or “let's change the entire contract system to one that’s built for an entirely different structured league” or “let people spend tpe into a stat up to 120 but secretly the cap is still 100” are bad ideas. People are generally terrible at thinking beyond themselves and when you’re running a league for hundreds of people, you have to deal with people who simply can’t figure out that “I don’t like that other teams are good when they do X thing and I’m not so it shouldn’t exist”. Even when people don’t have ulterior motives (aware or unaware as they may be of the reasoning for their judgement) sometimes stupid ideas just happen. Sometimes they’re not and you get good rules or sometimes bad proposals get discussed into being good rules. Sometimes good rules die on the floor. Sometimes good ideas turn out to create bad results.
This is a taste of what you’re walking into. You’re putting aside many hours in every week for this in addition to anything you may want for your own player. Oh yeah…about that. You’re almost certainly going to have to play a position you don't really want to unless you happen to get lucky. More than half of GMs position switch at some point in their career, and often to a position so far removed from what they were doing that things like the Hall of Fame are just not an option. The team needs to be your main source of fun. Yeah quick reminder. You’re still supposed to be having fun. If this list doesn’t at least mostly sound fun to you, you probably shouldn’t apply. Only some of it is even unique to expansion GMs. And I want to stress something here. I’m not exaggerating to scare you off. I don’t do that sort of thing. In fact I skimped on details and examples at points because it’s already plenty of description. If you still think you want it by the end of that, you’re either probably going to make it or too dumb to listen anyway. So either way, let’s presume you’ve made it to this juncture and you’re still ready to go. Let’s break down the process.
Part 1: Applying
The first competition and judgement you’re going to face is right away. So here’s what I want you to do. Have a basic idea of your team already in place. When you apply to HO don't just say “hey toots, i wanna gm, you sweet thing”. For one it doesn't leave the impression that you know what you’re doing and for another it makes BigRed very uncomfortable. Prepare your damn message. DM it on site with basic info on what you’d like to do. Cities that are in your final list. Ideas of brands and colors for each. I’m not saying these need to be the final answer. I’m saying they need to know you’re already working on it and are potentially able to arrive at the answer quickly. For example I presented my brand to the Commissioner at the time within 12 hours of being told i’d gotten my team. If you need someone to bounce ideas off of by the way, don’t hesitate to ask me. There is literally no one more qualified to help you. And if you ask around you’ll find out I give a shit about this league. Along with your branding ideas, throw in a short message about why you want to do this. It’s highly likely HO already knows you but you should treat it as a job interview anyway and if they don’t know you then you’re competing with people they do know. So you’re already behind and should act accordingly. If you happen to have a particular member of HO that you get on well with and feel comfortable talking to about ideas, message them. The worst they can say is no and it's highly unlikely they’re gonna do that when it comes to something like this. Also don’t be afraid to accept critiquing. Like..real critiques, not people talking smack. If you pick New York as a location and somebody says “what if we try something a bit less well used”, that’s good critique. “Fuckin New York everywhere. Why is everything New York? Probably SLM’s idea. I bet he‘s bald”. Technically that’s a combination of different statements one person made on the same subject at different times. And it was also the origin of a certain picture when I responded. Main point here is to understand the difference between good and bad criticism and accept good criticism. Also, just in case you don’t know...accepting good criticism isn’t the same as changing to fit the criticism. Listening and considering it and more importantly the reasons for the criticism are much more important than just swaying in the wind every time someone makes a half decent point.
This is just step 1. You’re still writing the application here. And I want this to be clear. When you’ve given a brief description of why you’re applying and what your potential brands and locations are, you need to end your application with some form of “I’m open to any questions you may have”. Send that shit to one HO member (likely the commissioner) and inform them via message that you have sent them an app for all of HO. These steps are clean and simple. It creates one copy that one person will then share with the rest of HO. It creates one point of contact from you to them and any additional contacts will then flow from them to you. Waiting is hard. Deal with it. If you have that member you could lean on this will likely be easier as you will already have worked through some ideas. Now, one last bit of advice between submitting your application and hearing that you have the team. Shut the fuck up about your plans. Think that’s too harsh? Everyone and their mother knew I was applying strongly. I announced in GM chat who my CoGM would be because we’d already talked about it extensively. Someone then hired them to GM a different team instead. So keep your mouth shut. Don’t even consider further reaching details if you can. Unless you’ve got someone who’s ready to go and you both can stick together. You’re in the game now. Not having an actual team yet in no way means that other GMs won’t try to outmaneuver you. Remember, you signed up for this.
Part 2: Congratulations
You now have been informed that you’re one of the expansion GMs. Okay. You’re now on the clock. You have to finalize team plans. You have to chat with anyone you are legally capable of talking to about your CoGM position. You have to decide when and what to announce now that you can actually make decisions. You need to start scouting the upcoming DSFL class. You need to get ready to have a logo created, or at least have someone picked out who will make it. Start working with them. Create your team discord. Start building the foundations of what your team is going to become. At this point once you’ve been announced you will likely be invited into GM Chat. You get to see the basics now of how thigns are done so take some time to learn. Yes, search your name, everyone does it. Fun fact. I once edited a 2 year old comment to include someone’s name and say hi to someone joining the chat. This is the time period between being announced as a brand new expansion GM and your very first draft and you have a ton to do in what will likely not be a very long time period. I was informed I got the job and drafted my first ever player 9 days later. Actually 8 minutes short of 9 full days. This is not a lot of time to finalize all of these things, start logo, hire CoGM, get your discord ready, announce your plans and branding, etc. You get a little extra time due to the necessary lag between the actual drafting and the draft presentation. Still, it’s certainly not enough time to scout everyones you need to be proactive as hell. Keeping notes, trying to see what is what and who is who. Being ready to MOVE when you’re announced as GM is the difference between coming strong out of the gate or trying to scout people several rounds into the draft while you’re on the clock. And you're mostly on your own. If you're lucky you have a CoGM for seven of those nine days. That's it. No war room to assist. No roster to give you tips and opinions based on other interactions. No DSFL alumni sitting in DSFL lr's who can update you on how people are.
So what do you do here? Come in with a plan. A roster plan. A locker room plan. A forward thinking plan. Preferably solidified with your CoGM since you need to be working together to build this thing. Make extensive use of media. There are always mock drafts and articles detailing prospects. Read them. Treat them as helpful guides. Go through each DSFL team and look at people's TPE and activity. Talk to DSFL GMs. Use the resources you do have to make up as much of the giant gap as you can. Look for big name recreates who may be interested in starting with your franchise. But the most important thing I need you to do in that moment is to stop and breathe. Let's talk about the draft.
Part 3: The Draft and Beyond
You're going to get multiple shots at this. That's the first and most important thing you should understand and plan around. Before my Copperheads stepped foot on the field in S16, we had the S15, S16, and Expansion Draft to build our roster along with the S16 free agent period. Plus the chance for trading. You're going to be able to field a team. It's a hill to climb but it's not impossible. Take the long view. If that means you take the best locker room person and their position doesn't seem "important", you're going to get savaged by media and hot takes. I know this first hand. People outside have no idea what you're actually doing. This can also be a good thing however, as it makes you more unpredictable. Use the strategic advantages you have because they are few and far between. Other teams having no idea what you're doing next means you have some degree of leverage because you could be about to draft their pet favorite at any moment. Snatch up all those people who are down for position switching. Take the best person as often as possible. You have nearly infinite flexibility in your first draft, which will be huge. Talk to as many people as you can. Get their views on position switching and on staying down in DSFL an extra season (this will likely happen as it did with my expansion so as to afford team that time to adjust). Ride the draft for as much value as you can in players and future picks.
This is when you start building that culture. You'll have people in your discord now and you'll be interacting. If any of them are those veterans I mentioned, consider putting them in your war room to help. You don't have a team yet though and you're likely going through some form of estrangement with your existing team. Perhaps it's working out. And perhaps they've opted to ignore offers from most of the league to take you for one season so that they can lose one less person in the expansion draft, while sidelining you and taking up space and cap on their roster. It really depends on what kind of team culture you're coming from and whether your GMs philosophy is based on exploiting people or not. Presumably what I said is an extreme example. Hopefully. If it's not, don't hesitate to get ahold of me.
Your second draft will be somewhat less freewheeling than your first was. In the leadup depending on quality and size you'll have to get much more picky. You'll also start with better picks that you may be able to parlay into more. But this point if you're lucky you have a starter ng war room, an lr buzzing with activity, and plan for going forward based on what's happened. I would strongly suggest you spend the entire season leading up to your 2nd draft as a fixture at DSFL games. Support your players already drafted. Get to know players who are going to be drafted. Really immerse yourself into it so you can better be ready. That second draft is going to be incredibly important for rounding out edges on your team. Then shortly after comes the Expansion Draft. In my experience, each team was allowed to pick 6 of its own to protect and then add another player each time one of theirs was chosen. That plus a hard cap on how many players could be taken from teams made it very tricky to properly figure out who to take. There’s of course always the chance to talk to people on the unprotected list (the ones who are active anyway). And of course you’re competing for talent with your fellow expansion team who has just gone through all the same steps you have. If you align too closely in ideas then you’ll probably stumble over each other in picking players. There are still obstacles here as you get closer to the finished product that is your team actually getting on the field. And then you’re most likely going to suck for a few seasons as well. So all these players that you just spent all this time getting together? You need to be on top of making sure they know the situation. Or you might face players leaving, getting frustrated, and not engaging the way you need.
Well, you made it. You’ve gotten to this point and you’re still reading. If you’re still interested, send that application in. Properly. Start the process. We’re almost certainly going to need two teams at minimum there’s an off chance we could need four so we need people who have their eyes open and ready to go through the wringer with their expansion squad. While I in no way can claim this is a comprehensive list of the obstacles and responsibilities you’ll face, this is a good taste of it. I hope it helps.
I want to talk about one more thing that hopefully also helps you. Relationships. It's one of the least discussed aspects of all forms of leadership but specifically here I mean your relationships with your fellow GMs. Now at first glance it might not seem that important. These are your competition after all. But with the way our league runs and how interwoven so many aspects are, you need good working relationships. So here's my wisdom on the topic. You need to have 3 separate relationships with every other GM. I know that sounds weird but bear with me. There's the management relationship. This is how you interact when it comes to league based situations. Rules, punishments, overall league decisions and situations. You could very well not be on the same page in these aspects. Then there's the trading relationship. It's important to have a good foundation IMO and I'll cut right to the heart of how to make that work. You're not on Shark Tank. Don't act like you are. Trying to maximize every possible teeny tiny little drop of blood out of your trading partners is a great way to make them not your trading partners. This may require ignoring your war room at times because every war room's response to every trade offer in the history of time has been "can we get that pick but one round better?". Be a good trading citizen. And sometimes ignore when your advisors tell you that you're not getting max immediate value. On top of that, trading should always be focused on getting what you need rather than winning anyway. The real winning trades are where everyone ends up happy. The third relationship is personal. The behind the scenes not directly related to team running type relationship. I have very good personal relationships with basically all the GMs that my team essentially rivals with. And I'm very happy about that. I famously often cite an example of SLM and myself when we were in HO together. In HO we frequently fought over our differing personal philosophies about things. We literally had actual situations, plural, where we'd be slinging hard (and I mean HARD..we both argue hard) at each other in HO chat, cracking jokes together in GM chat, and casually chatting in general chat, all at literally the same time. Because we maintained those different relationships relative to the context they were in. There's a summarized version of this that basically goes..leave the argument where the argument is. Compartmentalize.
Okay..that's the last of the basics. Maybe much later I'll go into more of my philosophies on building and trading after my proteges have a chance to use it themselves first.