2008 Site Help/Subscriber Information
Updated: 5/13/08
If you’re a new subscriber or aren’t clear on all the site’s
features and benefits, here’s a quick overview of our offerings,
not getting specific as to the actual content we’ll produce this
year. If you’re interested in what we’ll be producing this year,
feel free to
head here.
Publishing Schedule
You can see what we’ll be producing in the preseason
and in-season
here,
but we will soon be adding an actual content schedule (in July)
on this page. For now, you can expect 2-3 feature articles per
month on the site until the preseason kicks in (8/1), with news
headlines added daily, depth charts updated weekly, etc.
Starting 8/1, we’ll officially kick off our preseason coverage, with daily news and injury updates sortable and searchable by day, player, team, and 10-15 articles posted/updated each week. All totaled, we’ll probably post/update 100+ features in the preseason covering a wide variety of topics. Again, head here to see exactly what we’ll be producing.
Content Delivery/E-Mail
In the preseason, we post our content only online and do NOT e-mail it because we produce too much stuff to e-mail. We do, however, generally e-mail you 2-3 a week to let you know what’s been updated and what’s new on the site.
During the season, we e-mail a large
portion of our content (we can't e-mail the web-based items that
are not text articles). We generally post content online and
then e-mail it shortly thereafter when all the items for a
particular day are completed. That’s usually around 2-3 PM ET,
and we typically update injury info online all day after sending
out our daily e-mails.
Due to various spam/junk mail issues, we
cannot guarantee you will get our e-mails, but the service we
use generally does a great job in terms of not being blocked as
spam. However, all ISPs are different. If you are not receiving
e-mails, first check any spam or junk mail folders and make sure
you allow mail to come to you from our servers (fantasyguru.com)
and our mailing company's servers (sparklist.com). You may have
to contact your ISP to make sure they accept mail from
fantasyguru.com and sparklist.com.
If you're still having problems receiving our e-mails, you
should create a free e-mail account somewhere. Currently, we
have no issues sending mail to AOL, Yahoo, MSN/Hotmail, and
Gmail.
Tip: Gmail has a service that can forward all your e-mails to another e-mail account, which is a viable solution for those with e-mail blocking issues.
Accessing the Subscriber Homepage
As long as your browser is accepting
cookies, there’s no reason for you to have to login each time
you access the
Subscriber Homepage.
Simply bookmark the page and access it directly without logging
in. If you are not being kept logged in, on the
login page,
there is a box to check off to stay logged in. There is no
reason to continually go to our main homepage (fantasyguru.com)
to login when you can simply bookmark and go directly to our
Subscriber Homepage.
Changing/viewing your Information
Once logged in, you can change your e-mail address on record, which is also your username, by hitting the “my account” link on the upper right. Once you change your e-mail, your username will change to your new e-mail and you will receive our e-mails at your new e-mail address. You can also change your password. No matter where you are logging in from, your login (username & password) remains the same. Remember: Your entire e-mail address is your username. Also in "my account" you can view when your subscription is scheduled to expire. If you do not know your password (your username will always be your complete e-mail address on record), there is a password retrieval tool that can e-mail your password to your registered e-mail address.
Note: If you’re a former footballinjuries.com subscriber, your password has been set to ”injuries,” but you can login and change it to whatever you’d like.
Logging out
You can stay logged in
by clicking the "remember me" button, so you will automatically
bring up our Subscriber Homepage without having to enter your
credentials. If you'd like, you can log out by clicking the
"logout" link on the upper right side of the homepage.
Accessing the Message Boards
and Blogs
Our
Message Boards
and the main
FantasyGuru Blog
do require a separate login, so you cannot use your usual login
for the site. We’re hoping to eventually merge all logins, but
for now, if you would like to access our MBs or reply to a blog
post, you have to create a separate login. But the MBs and the
Blog have password retrieval tools in case you forget your
password.
Chat Room
You’ll find a link to our Chat Room on the upper right hand side of our Subscriber Homepage. If we’ve scheduled a preseason or in-season chat, simply head here and create a dummy username (that will be displayed in the room) and a temp password (use whatever you’d like). From there, you can access the chat and view the Q & A and/or participate by asking questions of the host.
Video, Podcasts, and RSS
We periodically post some video reports
simply for added content, information, entertainment. You should
not need any special software to view the video reports, and
everything covered in them will be covered elsewhere in print,
so we are not forcing you to view these to acquire some
information and analysis. We also produce regular Podcasts, and
while we cover most of the information and analysis in print, we
can’t guarantee that all info and analysis contained in the
Podcasts will be in print. Users are welcome to subscribe to an
RSS feed and also to the Podcast via itunes
here.
Those familiar with RSS can subscribe to an RSS feed to easily
see when the Fantasy Guru Blog (written by Publisher John
Hansen) has been updated.
Layout/Content
Our layout will change during the season (we present a daily calendar layout with all content arranged by the day released). In the preseason, we have general groupings that are pretty self explanatory. Many articles will fall under the Guru Report category (3rd-year receivers, contract year players, etc), Player & Team Analysis (Values, rookies, O-Line Previews, etc.), Keeper League content, Strategy Stuff (Draft Plan, etc.), IDP, Statistical Articles (ADP, etc.).
Generally, newer content will be listed near the top of its respective section and will have an icon next to it. We also use various icons to help you recognize the type of content. They are:
Archives –
Previously published items
IDP –
Anything related to individual defensive players.
Keepers –
Keeper-related content.
Players –
Any article that covers a specific group of players, such as
rookies.
Projections
– Player rankings, projections, cheat sheets, etc.
Reports –
General articles/features that feature a specific topic.
Stats – Any
statistical analysis or stat-related article.
Strategy –
Anything related to strategy.
Teams –
Covers teams, like Depth Charts, O-line previews, etc.
Site Tools
We have added a lot of new features the last two years, so a quick primer on how to utilize our site is needed for all to take full advantage of what we have to offer.
Here’s an overview and explanation of all our offerings in 2008.
Note: These are only items currently on the
site; we will be adding others in 2008.
-
Interactive Depth Charts – Toggle by team, offensive or IDP, or view printable versions all from one page. You can even sort by rookies, players currently injured, etc.
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Team News Search – This tool is being re-worked for 2008, but when it’s up in the summer and all year, you can easily view links to articles on all 32 teams. You can also pick the teams you want to watch (you can select all 32 with one click) and keep up with all the news on your teams as our system scans the Internet M-F for headlines, article, etc. on all 32 teams.
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Player News - We add updates to this database periodically in the off-season, but this is really the place to go in the preseason for daily news tidbits, and also during the season. Using this tool, you can view the top news items every day (starting 8/1) and easily sort by date, type of news (injury, general, etc.), and player name.
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Injury Update Search - Same as the news reports, but these are updated more frequently. Utilize this tool search specifically for Injury Updates, which are provided daily.
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Projections – When you click on the “Projections” link on the top navigation bar, you’ll be taken to a page that displays our Site Default scoring system QB projections. From there, you can quickly link to all other positions, including IDPs. These are our generic site rankings as well as our current and most up-to-date offensive and defensive projections. You will see the date they were last updated on each position page. Our site default is a basic Yardage/TD system that does not award points for receptions. Defensively, it awards points for sacks, tackles, assists, INTs, passes defended, and TDs. NOTE: During the season you can toggle back and forth from rankings JUST for the current week or for rankings JUST for the rest of the season. The rest of the season rankings are based on our projected weekly stat and fantasy point averages for the rest of the season.
Of course, these projections aren’t customizable, but if you want customized rankings you can head to MyGuru. -
MyGuru – There are a few ways in which you can view customized information on our site, but the easiest and best way is to do so through MyGuru. This is a personalized portal to all of your fantasy football information. Let’s break this tool down by its components and start with what should be your starting point:
Team Manager: Head here to create a team for your fantasy team(s). Name the team, and if you already have your players on the team, you can add them to your team here. Then tell the system how many players you can start at each position. Then give us your scoring system (see below for tips on adding your scoring system). Hit “Save,” and you’re done.
Then you’ll be able to utilize this power tool’s other features, such as:
News: Once you have entered players onto your team(s), and once we begin our daily news and injury updates (8/1), you’ll see customized news and injury information for all the players on your time.
Stats: Check here for all the stats on your players, including fantasy points scored per your scoring system. You can also sort by date range and year if you’re interested.
Projections: Here’s where you’ll view customized projections for your players, including projected fantasy points for your scoring system for the preseason and during the season for each current week.
Analyzer: Too busy to research your starting lineup? No problem. Since we already have your players, the numbers of starters at each position, and your scoring system, simply click here each week during the season and see our suggested lineup for your team(s), complete with projected fantasy points, recent news, and we’ll even rank all your players for the week, regardless of position.
Player Manager: If you do not want to go ahead and create a team for MyGuru and enter all the information required, you can still add players to your “Watch List” here and view news and customized news on these players. But this tool is not tied to the Team Manager, which is the ideal tool.
Scoring Systems: If you do not want to go ahead and create a team for MyGuru and enter all the information required, you can create just a custom scoring system for your league(s) and then as you navigate through our sections such as Projections, Leaders, Points Allowed, etc., you can toggle from our Site Default scoring system to your person system to view information customized to your scoring system.
Highlighted Players Added Bonus: You’ll notice that if you add players to one of your teams or your watch list, they will be highlighted, so you can easily find them in our projections, leaders, red zone report, etc. -
Customized Cheat Sheet – This tool allows you to generate a customized cheat sheet for your scoring system(s), both offensive and IDPs. You have many options, such as printing only a one-page sheet (font is very small), displaying our comments on the players, and including the top 75 or 150 overall, along with the positional rankings (keep in mind the top overall list is generated by points, so QBs will come out higher on the list because they score the most points). We also produce our own generic top-150 in the summer that can be used as a guide when drafting). Another feature is the drop-off feature. You can enter a value, we recommend using 5, and when there are 5 or more points separating one player from the next, a “Drop-off” is indicated on the sheet to illustrate tiers in the rankings.
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Trade Analyzer – Use this tool to analyze a trade, based on your scoring system. Simply enter both sides of a trade, and we’ll crunch the numbers based on our future projections for the rest of the season and indicate which side of the trade is favored. Not only that, but we’ll show whether the trade is Heavily Favored, Moderately Favored, or Slightly Favored. NOTE: The values for this tool are based on our projected fantasy point totals for all players involved in the preseason and for the projected weekly average point totals during the season (starting after Week One). For example, if we are projecting Peyton Manning to average 250 yards passing and 2 TD passes per game, his weekly average projection would be 22.5 in a typical yardage/TD league. If Drew Brees is projected to average 20.0 points, the Trade Analyzer will skew the trade to Manning's side. The TA is usually more useful when there are multiple players involved in the trade. However, it goes only by projected fantasy points for all players involved, and there are many other factors to consider when trading, such as your depth, other available players, etc.
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NFL Leaders: View the current fantasy points leaders at all positions for your scoring system(s) for the season, on the road or home, for a specified period of time, and more. You can view all the leaders from last year in the preseason, and once the season starts, for the 2007 season.
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NFL Players: Search our player database and easily view stats such as pass targets, red zone activity, current news, community ratings for the season (in preseason) and for each week (during the season) and more.
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Points Allowed Tool: Use this to see the fantasy points each team has given up to each position (including IDPs) based on your scoring system (s) for the season, on the road or home, for a specified period of time, and more. You can view all the numbers from last year in the preseason, but this tool really isn’t utilized until the season starts, since it uses current numbers. For example, in Week Three, you’ll be able to see the teams ranked by points given up to QBs, RBs, etc. through two weeks of the season.
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Pass Target Data: Check here to see the current pass target leaders for the season, for a specific timeframe, and more. To view the target leaders for last year or for the season once it starts, click “Leaders” and then sort RBs, WRs, and TEs by TGT. You can also sort by RZT (red zone targets) and GLT (goal line targets).
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Red Zone Activity: Check here to see the current red zone numbers for the season, for a specific timeframe, and more. Click on “Leaders” and sort by things like RZPa (red-zone pass attempts), GLPa (goal-line pass attempts), RZRu (red-zone rush attempts), GLRu (goal-line rush attempts) and more.
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IDP Stud Report: Use this to see which IDP are truly getting it done (see help/key for more info).
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SOS Tool: Coming after Week One (see help/key for more info on SOS page), this tool will utilize the current stats each team has given up for the season and can then rank the teams in order of Strength of Schedule based on points given up to all positions in your customized scoring system(s).
Entering values in the Customized Scoring System
Most common scoring rules are set up so that “x” of something equals one point. For example, many leagues use 20 yards passing equals one point. That translates to 0.050 Points Per Passing Yard, which you would type into the box labeled that in the Passing Section.
Here’s the common yardage translations:
5 yards = 1 point means 0.200 points per yard
8 yards = 1 point means 0.125 points per yard
10 yards = 1 point means 0.100 points per yard
20 yards = 1 point means 0.050 points per yard
25 yards = 1 point means 0.040 points per yard
50 yards = 1 point means 0.020 points per yard
100 yards = 1 point means 0.010 points per yard
If you get points per some number of repetitions (receptions, completions, rushing attempts, tackles, assists, etc.), you might be able to use the yardage translations above. Just replacing yards with completions or whatever, for example: if 5 completions = 1 point, you can substitute “completions” for “yards above,” meaning that you get 0.200 points per completion.
Here’s the other common “repetition” translations, starting with the obvious:
1 repetition (reception, completion, attempt, tackle, assist) = 1 points means 1.000 point per repetition
1 repetition = one half point means 0.500 points per repetition
2 repetitions = 1 point also means 0.500 points per repetition
3 repetitions = 1 point means 0.333 points per repetition
4 repetitions = 1 point means 0.250 point per repetition
5, 8, 10, etc. repetitions = 1 point: see yardage translations above
If you have a scoring rule not covered yet, you’ll need to find a calculator. Enter the number of points divided by the yards or repetitions to achieve those points and hit the equal button. For example, if 33 yards equals one point, enter “1” divided by “33” = 0.030 points per yard (you’ll need to round off to three digits to the right of the decimal point).