Single post in Opinions on TR team threads

Okay, lots of thoughts on this, including Several things that haven't been addressed yet. tl:dr - I believe the purported net benefit of the new system is not worth having it - in its current form at least. Advantages of having the current apply/voting system: 1) Avoids the whole 'rush to be first' scenarios that often occurred, Sometimes resulting in a less than desireable host for Some teams, Some races. 2) due to time zones, and a worldwide userbase, means some users who would never have had a chance to host, have that chance now. That's it. Those are the only ones I see. (To be fair, #2 is a very good one) Disadvantages of having the current apply/voting system: 1) Unhosted Race Threads - straight up? They suck doo doo. (See point 1 below under things that Haven't changed as well). And stepping in to 'ghost' host one is not much fun either. 2) there are months where the current process pushes right up against the start of the race. Time to sign up, coordinate, prepare, support preparation efforts and the like is often vital to a good, fun, supportive, and ultimately successful type race, for some/many teams. 3) there are users, who Would be good hosts, who might have created threads, but will not necessarily do so if they risk being part of a competition to, or not at all if they see someone has already applied (see point 3 in possible fixes) 4) 'known' names both have an advantage in any voting (as has been previously stated), but might also deter quality hosts from even trying (again see point 3 in possible fixes) 5) clearly there is/are some sort of (unstated) problem(s)/issue(s) being seen, discussed by, or reported to staff/ownership, otherwise this thread would be unnecessary (if everything was going swimmingly). Cynical? Yes. But also from learned experience. Things that Haven't changed having the current apply/voting system: 1) Bad race hosts. Possibly the only thing Worse than an unhosted thread. There are still a disproportionate number of (way) less than desireable hosts. Example - ones who apply Knowing (and sometimes even Stating outright) that they do not/will not have the time to even minimally, let alone properly host a thread for a week long event. Example 2 - a race host who stops hatching team type eggs after a day or two (or not at all), or quits on the team days before the race is over (regardless of team score). Not participating in a race is fine, but Not when one has Applied to Host that type. Thoughts on Rewards for hosting: 1) no. Just no. If users previously (under the old system) Rushed to be first to create a type race thread, why would you feel you need to 'reward' those who do now? (Especially bad ones?) What was the incentive before, and why not look to harness that again instead? 2) I have, in the past (and I am sure I am not the only one), 'rewarded' a good/great/excellent race thread host with a little something for all their hard work, effort, encouragement, etc. <edit - did this because their performance deserved it - not just that they hosted. I do not think the Site should be rating hosts to determine reward(s) either> 3) we don't Allow type race raffle hosts to be rewarded in any way (even if they are the biggest contributor to a race team's success), and that is usually far more work (having done both), so why should a race host be any different? 4) and what about those who 'ghost' host an unhosted thread? They haven't gone through the process, but probably deserve a reward more than someone who put themselves forward to host ahead of time. Possible fixes? 1) Window to sign up to host an unhosted thread while any host voting is going on. Before the unhosted threads are system generated. (Would require staff vetting, but no more than if all threads had applications in the first place) 2) Some sort of separate race host reporting system (for participants of that type race team) that only staff sees, to help weed out problematic race hosts from being allowed to host in the future for a period of time, and/or without a discussion beforehand. Specific reporting criteria could be listed (and maybe should be a part of the type race setup/Application information, regardless) 3) similar to the block on seeing any user reports other than your own, an initial 24+hr blackout on type race thread hosting 'applications' (except ones own), then revealing them all at once. With or without time to openly apply further before voting begins. 4) shorten the whole process so there are at least a few/few more prep days in months the race starts early in the <edit> first second week of a month. Just my thoughts. Thank you for reading this far.