Facebook page (An Administrative Note)

When I launched this blog nearly 18 months ago, I set up a parallel Zen and the Art of FPL Facebook page.

If you've never visited it, you haven't really missed anything. I only used it as a platform to share links to posts here on the blog, and it didn't really include any 'original content' (except that in providing short introductory summaries to each linked post, I would occasionally frame its topic or purpose in a slightly different form of words than I had used in the original piece...). I was only using the Facebook page to try to gain a slightly wider exposure - to try to increase the blog's prominence in search-engine results, and perhaps to make it easier for folks to share any piece of mine that they happened to like.

I'd only just remembered to put a link to the Facebook page in the sidebar here a month or so ago....

And almost immediately I'd done that, I got shut out of my Facebook account... again.

Now, this has been happening more and more frequently over the last year. Indeed, just lately, I seem to have been getting 'locked out' once or twice a month! Most of these exclusions are rescinded within a day or two, sometimes after just a few hours; but more often I'm cut off for a full week; and, in the worst cases, once or twice for a month or so.

This latest interruption of service looks like being a particularly bad one - so, I've given up, for now, even trying to get back in; I'm expecting that I won't be able to regain access until at least the end of January.

Hence, there have been no posts on the Facebook page since just before Christmas. Indeed, at the moment, it doesn't appear to be visible any more - which may be an escalation over Zuck the Schmuck's previous persecutions of me.

Now, the loss of this rarely-visited-by-anyone page does not grieve me all that much. But I also maintained an FPL info page for my country of residence - which I saw as being a useful public service, and which put me in touch with a small community of fellow enthusiasts for the game. (That page still appears to be visible; but it's effectively now 'dead' since all posting rights seem to have been suspended.)  The loss of that second FB page galls me considerably.

The loss of access to every other Facebook page, however, and to my account details, my list of contacts, the messaging service - that is little short of a disaster.

In East Asia (and in many other parts of the 'developing world', I shouldn't wonder), Facebook is enormously popular. Most small businesses can't be bothered to set up and maintain their own website, so rely on a Facebook page instead; thus you can't readily keep abreast of openings and closings of local restaurants etc., special offers and promotions, special events like concerts and parties and such, without Facebook. The dratted site has also become the default option for setting up mutual support forums for various interest groups, especially among the expat community; so, you can't access 'buy & sell' groups, property rental listings, or general advice on how to deal with health issues, noisy neighbours, or whatever... without Facebook. And, worst of all for me, Facebook Messenger has become the preferred means of communication for just about everyone out here (I imagine there are alternative messaging services in the local languages of the region, but these perhaps don't support the use of English; so, anyone who wants to communicate with anyone else in English uses FB - not SMS, not even Whatsapp,.... Facebook!!); hence, when I'm shut out of my account, I can't contact my landlady or my visa agent or my doctor... or the handful of friends I have out here....  

Being cut off from all of that is not just an enormous hassle, it is potentially life-threatening. It is downright irresponsible of Facebook to shut people out of their accounts (without warning or explanation; and without providing any avenues for seeking redress!).

I hate you, Mark Zuckerberg, and all your incompetent minions! And most of all I hate your botlets of Artificial Stupidity which repeatedly judge me (oh, the irony!) to be potentially 'not a real person' - which is why I keep getting locked out.

Takin' it easy.....

These international breaks may seem irritating to some, interrupting what soon become cosy, familar routines in our FPL life. But we should rather be luxuriating in the rare joy of TIME OFF.

Here's one of my favourite-ever celebrations of goofing off, Louis Armstrong and Gary Crosby (a son of the great Bing, with a very similar vocal style) in a 1950s recording of the Johnny Mercer/Hoagy Carmichael song Lazy Bones.

Now we are ONE

 

Gosh, yes - it is ONE YEAR AGO TODAY since I started this blog!

I wasn't at all sure back then that I would persist with it this long. (And I don't know how much longer I'll continue with it. But at the moment, I'm still having fun with it. And I still don't have a proper job....)

It does seem I am starting to build something of a following. According to Google statistics, at least, most of my posts are racking up 10 or so 'unique page views' within a day or two (although I suspect a lot of this is just Web spider-bots rather than genuine traffic...), and overall I'm drawing in 400 or so visits per week (with a sharp rise during the recent Club World Cup).

I haven't yet identified any 'regular readers' - but it would seem likely that there are at least a few such out there now. My THANKS to you for your time. I hope I am - at least occasionally - making it worth your while to come here.

And I think I'll probably be soldiering on with this for at least one more year.....

My policy for COMMENTS

I'm still a little unsure how to proceed on this, so I might well amend this later when I have a clearer idea if allowing commenting here might be productive for anyone. (All moot at the moment, since I have no readers yet anyway!)

However, I think I will allow comments only on selected posts - where a variety of opinions from other Fantasy Premier League enthusiasts might be illuminating.

And I will ask for, and strictly enforce, basic standards of coherence, relevance, and civility.

Unfortunately, the community of FPL managers does seem to attract an awful lot of dingbats, berserkers, and haters; and I don't want people like that running amok around here.

 And, alas, I fear the modern obsession with ultra-short-format social media exchanges is wrecking everyone's literacy levels and attention span!

Sorry, but I am only going to allow comments that have something useful and relevant to say, give clear reasons for their positions, and use reasonably full and correct sentence structure. Anything else will be deleted.

So, readers (if I ever get any) will be welcome to contribute from time to time in the 'Comments' (on certain posts, at least) - but please make the effort to write properly.

And any kind of abuse or disparagement - of me, or anyone else - is, of course, not going to be tolerated. 

You are all welcome to disagree with me. But please express your dissenting opinions politely, and give reasons.

That is all...

My aims for this blog

I really don't know if my musings here will attract much attention. And I don't care very much. 'Fame and glory' are not my things.

I decided to try writing some pieces here primarily because I like writing. And I also enjoy thinking about Fantasy Premier League. So, this blog provides an opportunity for reflection, a pretext for reviewing my own learnings from playing the game over the last several years, and perhaps an aid to getting my thoughts well in order and finding some new insights for the season ahead.

Over the past year-and-a-half or so, I have dipped in and out of a number of online FPL forums, mostly on Facebook; and I have found that quite diverting, and occasionally enlightening. During lulls of no work and drab weather (rather too frequent lately!), these online forays have threatened to become a bit of an addiction for me - and I try to impose lengthy spells of abstinence on myself so that I don't fall too deep into that mire.

But quite a few of the regular posters I've encountered on those pages - many of them still relatively inexperienced in the game; or, like me, struggling with being in a distant country without ready access to good football coverage and prompt team news updates - have been very appreciative of my comments. Some  have sought me out specifically for further advice; a few have even PM'ed me, begging me to become their FPL 'mentor' (sorry, never going to happen). And, you know.... it is kind of nice to feel wanted and appreciated like that, to start to believe again that you might actually be useful to someone, just once in a while..

So, although I won't be obsessively checking my traffic stats to track the size of my 'following' (I wouldn't be surprised if it remains forever limited to two or three old buddies in my mini-league....), and although I have no goals or expectations for building a large audience here... I do have the modest hope that gradually some handfuls of people may find their way here.... and find at least some of my pieces interesting and helpful.

Let us see. Fingers crossed!

I am preparing a long-ish post (it might have to be cut into two instalments!) on 'Choosing an initial squad'' - which I hope to be able to post in a day or two.  Keep an eye out for it!  

(And if you have somehow found your way here within days of this blog's launch - WELCOME!)