12-06-2023, 11:43 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-14-2023, 01:41 PM by lemonoppy. Edited 1 time in total.)
Welcome to a little sappy media piece of going down a little rabbit hole of memory lane. If you do not want that, click off now as that picture is the main reason for this article (and maybe i’m gunning for a Gemini nomination and it is part of my plan to have a whole range of articles come out) and it is easy enough to be understood.
1000 days
Only 11 people in the leagues over 6 years the league has run has gotten to 1 year. Only 4 have made it two, and now the first to make it to 1,000. Not really surprising to see all the top names be commissioners at one point in time. Next stat, there are only 7 ISFL commissioners and that is 4 of them.
But yes, this is a little post I wanted to make because it felt like something I should do. For what reason you may ask? Truthfully, I am not sure. I don’t want this to be like gloating. I have wielded power, but I don’t want to act like its nothing and beneath me to celebrate, however I don’t want to be celebrating myself for holding a position I choose to hold on. Celebrate having little life in the real world that allows me to hold on to being a part of Head Office? Nothing really feels like an adept explanation as to why this post should be made, yet here I am.
18th of March 2021 was when I became HO, would be when S28 started, and boy have I seen some things. For example, it was within 24 hours of becoming HO that Zamir leaked the entire first round, leaving the league agasp, going on a goose hunt as to how this happened and who told him, only to eventually find out he leaked it to himself…through his multi….who was also a HO intern (at least we weren’t going to keep him on after the season). In total, there have been 48 punishments in my time of HO, admittedly sounds less when you think about the idea that the league always seems to have some drama or hot topic each season. Some of those would have been DSFL only and not overseen, whilst 8 of those have occurred in the last two months since becoming commish. That is, 1/6th of the punishments in the last 1,000 days have occurred in the last 60, 16% of the punishments in 6% of my tenure. Wild stuff.
That is just one area of being HO, and the most negative of it. In 1,000 days, for those here back in S28, I know a lot of you are older and can think when you first joined the league, just think how far the league has changed. Whilst expansion hasn’t been a part of that time period, most would have seen the league constantly grow, and constantly innovate itself. Remember moving the entire league to a new forum? Moving to a quite substantially different newer version of the sim (one that you brought instead of pirating)? New features, bots and tools all around the league, the TPE checklist, bank portal, wolfiebot, fantasy bot (before wolfiebot took that over), bank bot (before wolfiebot took that over). Changes to core existing facets of the league, such as the forced change of removing twitter pay for discord pay, streamlined player/update pages, rise and fall of the stock market, Dotts had a whole new website made, Dynasty Fantasy has became a thing, OL and individual Defensive Players in standard league fantasy has became a thing. The league has constantly evolved and change, and whilst some elements may not be enjoyed by all or even myself personally (looking at you fantasy IDP), it cannot be understated that the league, as a result from the community, has excelled from this constant addition and tweaking to keep things fresh and engaging.
Overall though, there is definitely one area of my HO tenure I am most proud of - charity drives. I am not sure if there were any others before S24, but everyone after that (S28, S32, S38 and S43) I have had the duty and pleasure to organize. I remember for S28, when charity was the last thing in the then “HO task draft”, where we took turns taking responsibility for a task, so it became mine, and now its gone from last pick to most treasured thing I do in the league. Over $10,000 has been raised in those 4 charity drives, and all to such amazing causes, from helping out after devastating disasters, to helping our own users or donating in their honour, it is always the most amazing time to see the community go all out as one combined force. I wish I could find that conversion with Infi when for S28, he was concerned about having a $2,000 milestone being overly high, and with good reason since S24 drive didn’t reach that right after the massive S22 class. Yet we ended at $3,387.50, the proud smugness as that number kept going up was off the charts.
In effort to keep this short, I will stop there SOMEWHAT. I could go on and on about things from my HO times. I have always said, the day I leave HO, I will put up a podcast thread for a AMA/tell all podcast from my experiences, akin to those that remember Dwyer’s podcast series of stories before dipping from the league.
I would be remiss if I didn’t go over some of the people I have worked under or alongside during my time, and that is what I will end this off with. My calculations, since becoming a full HO member, I have worked alongside 21 other members in the league, honestly impressively small for the amount of time passed and work done, to be only this amount of full time HO members. Its a great feeling seeing such a large majority be not only active in the league to this day, but such big parts of it, whether still in HO, or other jobs and facets of the league.
@SDCore@Colabear@JPach and @r0tzbua - Yous were members of HO when I was intern, so whilst I never worked alongside you as a full member, you still helped me even get into intern-ing and selecting me, and deserve a shoutout.
@iStegosauruz, @Mooty99, @abh89, @dude_man, @qWest, @.emfaith, @.simo, @Amidships, @woelkers, @zeagle1, @Opera_Phantom, @I Love Feet!, @XaveValor, @DREAMSLOTH, @firstfray, @Thor, @slate and @Muford - You are all the ISFL members i've worked alongside, and whether that be 650 days like Amid, or just 21 days with Woelkers (although now you are my fellow commish buddy), you have all had a profound impact on the league whether you think so or not. Your time and effort given for no benifit, just to try and improve the league or monitor it to ensure its running smoothly can never go without being thanked. It would be too much to go into details for yous all, bur nonetheles too little is just this ping to say thank you for working alongside me and for this league.
@bex and @.Laser - Two commisioners I have worked under, both always putting the league first, whilst doing stupid amounts of work when considering both spent a good portion of their reigns as sim head as well. Firstly Bex, like the first shoutout, thank you for bringing me on and teaching me all about the league and what it means to be in the leadership group. @.Laser I may have less special words towards you, but anyone who becomes commish just to help the league when someone wants to step down, considering I didn't want it when you took over from Swanty, deserves endless praise for that step up
@nunccoepi, @TomHanks, @yonggarius, and @Asked Madden - You are only some of the DSFL members I've worked with, but some of the most memorable ones (probably cause you are all the six longest members) from my HO times. Nunc and TH, as past commishes, I will always salute your work in bringing in the newest rookies and rawest GM's and being the guiding hand behind the scenes to ensure all is taught and learnt before the big leagues and under the ISFL guise. The rest of you, like the ISFL HO members, I tip my hat for your dedicated work towards progress and giving back to the league
Whilst not HO, @infinitempg and @TeyonSchavari, you two don't even know how much I put you guys as influences on me as a HO member, honestly more then the majority of HO members i've worked with. Yous influenced me before I was even in HO or wanting to be in HO, with how you conducted yourselves in responses to drama or questions, constantly providing input that garner the respect of the community for being the HO voice, or being a middle ground from someone who knows what its like to be HO but also the community who is in the unknown. It is how you two communicated that I always took as the inspiration for what I wanted to achieve when joining HO, and following that is what I think is at the core as to why I feel the league has always respected me in my tenure. You were a beacon for what it means to be HO, and hopefully I have done that justice to yous.
@Swanty Of course I save you for last, we spent 2 years together through HO, and even longer when you consider we became interns together. To interns to both becoming Commish's, we have had such a journey and it is just insane how with your family, you still put so much into this league, constantly innovating with projects and resources that just went completely over my mind. The understanding you had of the back-end of the forum and index, ability to put tools together just on a whim, as well as your constant drive to complete tasks and see them through, you were an absolute champion of this league and I will never let anyone ever forgot that.