| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| admin |
Posted - 11/04/2003 : 18:18:47
Hi hockey pool users.
I received an email today essentially asking me if the pools are going to stay free forever. It's definitely not the first time I've been asked but I figure this is a good time to open it up to everyone for some discussion. We have ideas but I'd like to hear from you. WARNING: Posts that are not constructive will be removed.
QUESTION: "I just wanted to say your doing a great job, and I was wondering if this site will remain free indefinitely or if it will be one of those thanks for the advice now pay us sites. I don't mind banners if it means it will remain free. Thanks, Dan"
ANSWER: "Hi Dan, Thanks for the email and you are very welcome. Bonus points to you for cutting to the chase, so I'll do the same. Here's the scoop...
I'm a huge hockey fan. A good Canadian kid who's played the game his whole life. I enjoy surrounding myself with everything hockey. We would do this for free for ever if it didn't cost an arm and a leg to do so. But as you can imagine we're definitely not in business to lose money...but that's a gimme I think. Are we going to lose money this season offering this free service? Definitely!
Starting at the playoffs the plan is to offer 2 versions. We'll offer a free version and a pay version. The free version will not be very sophisticated however. It will be better than when we first started a month ago but probably not very advanced in the grand scheme of things. The exact functions available in the free version are not yet clear but we'll let everyone know when it gets closer to the time. As for the pay version it will not be as pricey as some of the others out there, we'll find a happy medium that is fair and affordable. Probably in the ballpark of $10 to $15 Canadian???
You may have noticed that Pickuphockey.com is more than a hockey pool service. It's a meeting place for hockey players to find each other to get together for hockey games, events etc. It's a resource to discover the pockets of hockey in neighborhoods throughout North America. Stop by the "who are we?" page http://www.pickuphockey.com/whoarewe.asp for more info. Feel free to submit hockey related things from your city. Again, this community service is also available for free.
We're always looking for feedback on all sorts of things so feel free to let me know what you think. I think I'll post this on the site and see what others in the community think about the subject." |
| 1 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| admin |
Posted - 12/10/2003 : 17:19:24
Hi Scott.
Thanks for the reply. (SEE BELOW)
It's great and I see your point. However I do have to respectfully disagree with one part. I don't think it's misleading at all. We said it was free for this regular season and it has been and will continue to be for this season. Although, maybe we could have posted it more prominently rather than just in the body of the text.
Here's the way I see it, (but I'm still forming my opinion.) The NHL stops collecting stats at the end of the regular season and starts new in the playoffs. We're currently doing the same. From what I've seen in the past (although I don't have current info) our online competitors do the same. Right now our system isn't designed to roll over the data, we're still in the prime building phase. I do think that it is a great suggestion though and it is something that I would like to do for the next regular season/playoffs. But if that is the case then a pool like that would probably cost a few bucks more or maybe it will just be a feature of the pay version. Your thoughts?
And, don't forget, there will still be a free option the playoff season.
I do like your idea of keeping historical data and in fact we thought of that before. No sense throwing this information out right? How we structure this is still up in the air though and likely (but I haven't thought about it much) this historical data will be accessible by pay pools only??????????
Thanks Scott
Leigh
PickupHockey.com Support.
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>
> Hey Admin
>
> The thing is I do not have a problem paying for a hockey pool manager as I
> understand that there is a cost in both time and money to start up and run
> this sort of thing. You guys are doing a good job...I will probably be here next
> year whether it is pay or not.
> I do have concerns, however, with starting this "pay thing" at the start of
> playoffs. It is misleading to say that the pool is free for the 03/04 season
> and not include the playoffs (I was mislead...probably my own fault though in
> not reading carefully enough). My pool for example is structured to payout a
> certain percentage at the end of the season and again at the end of the
> playoffs...idealy I would like to continue to collect players points
> cumlitavely throughout the regular season and through the playoffs.
>
> Another thing that may be neat is to have historical data. What I mean is
> something like keeping track of previous months scores, best score in a month,
> etc. I am doing this in an Excel spreadsheet to track progress of pool teams
> throughout the season. Just a thought...I might be the only one that does
> this.
>
> Cheers, SC |
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