About nine days ago, I started a new job. The training for this job has successfully managed to fill most of my work day and a good chunk of my free time, and will continue to do so for the next month or so. This new career is something I am very passionate about it and presents a great opportunity for me and my family.

This has clearly had an impact on Fantasy Ethos as there has not been a new post in over a week. This is a clearly a transition period for the site, and I ask that you bear with me while I find a new personal equilibrium that will allow for the continued operation of the site. Having the time to write this very post is a sign that things will be returning (semi-)normalcy soon.

Sincerely,
Derrick Eckardt, Editor

I am going to go off on a personal note right now.

In 2007, my fiancée ran the New York City Marathon in support of her Uncle Rick’s recovery in his battle with cancer. Unfortunately, he lost his fight the following year. In his final month, he was supported by the Hosparus of Louisville. This weekend, she and I will be running in the Kentucky Derby Festival in a fundraising effort for the Hosparus of Louisville. I will battle 26.2 in the Derby Festival Marathon to raise as many funds as I can for these two great charities. Please help us raise money for the National Hospice Foundation and the Hosparus of Louisville.

If you would like to donate you can donate on my fundraising page.

Thank you for allowing this brief personal note.

Last month, I boldly wrote that Fantasy Ethos would churn put 65 posts in the month of March. Like most people’s March Madness bracket, that plan went terribly astray. But, by no means, do I consider it a failure.

Fantasy Ethos published a total of 36 articles in March, which is still nothing to laugh at, as it was 100% increase in production over the previous three months. In addition, traffic was up 90% compared to the previous month, and a 12% improvement over the previous three months. The biggest difference in terms of traffic was that regular readers came to the site more often, and that new articles were getting better placement on search engines.

Another positive side effect was that Fantasy Ethos’ Google Page Rank increased from a 3 to a 4. While this could be completely coincidentally, publishing more original content probably contributed at some level, since Google loves fresh content.

For me, the whole purpose of March Madness was to kick start some momentum for the site, and that has been achieved. Articles are published much more often, people are checking the site more often, and more new people find the site everyday. Going forward, March will be my benchmark that the next month needs to beat. I still have plenty of tricks up my sleeves for Fantasy Ethos, so who knows what you will find here next! (Well, I do, but you know what I mean!) While 65 posts in a month seems like a lofty goal right now, there will be a day when that is a bad month. Thanks for supporting me and Fantasy Ethos on this journey!

In honor of the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament, Fantasy Ethos will publish 65 posts in the month of March, one for every team in the tournament. This is part of a greater effort to bring you (our beloved reader) much more regular content, because I know you want it. To get to the 65 posts, I will be throwing out a few new features, some interviews, maybe a contest or two, and few more tricks that I have up my sleeve.

This post is officially the first post of the 65. While some may consider this cheating to get, I ask how many of us consider the NCAA tournament to truly consist of 65 teams. Other than the two teams involved, no one cares about the play-in game. Therefore, just as March Madness starts with a teaser of the whole tournament, as will I.

Just in case, I do not want to leave you without something to challenge your mind, so here is a nugget of interest for you–the National Football League is looking at changing its overtime format. The new format would create a higher level of fairness of the current system, and would result in more scoring for overtime games. For fantasy football, this means more points from players in overtime!

What are your thoughts on the proposed format?

Starting a new business is always a difficult task. With that in mind, from time to time, I will go on a tangent where I talk about an issue that is on my mind. I want these to be open discussion pieces, so, please feel to comment and add to the conversation. Here is the first installment of the Start-Up Chronicles.

Today, I am talking about single points of failure. In case you are not familiar, a single point failure is when one part of a system (or business), when it stops working, can cause the entire system to stop working. When I worked with rockets, this would be something like an engine nozzle. If an engine nozzle cracked, there was a very good chance that the engine would fail, which would cause the rocket to fail (think: Kaboom!). On a blog, like this one, it is having only one regular writer (me). This past week, I probably did five different things to improve this site, but I never found the time to post a new article. This is bad. Writing articles was on my mind, it just did not seem like as big a priority as the immediate issues I was dealing. With people coming to the site regularly, there needs to be regular content, and I failed. Without regular content, everything I have done to promote the site is wasted.

There are many ways to prevent single points of failure. The easiest way is with redundancy. If you can afford to have two of something, then you should do it. For my blog, the easiest way is to hire another writer to ensure there is a regular stream of content. Something that I should have done when I launched. If you know someone interested in writing for me, have s/he contact me at derrick@fantasyethos.com.

Now, if we are talking about my rocket engine nozzle example before, sometimes redundancy is not practical. You probably are not going to have a second engine nozzle. In this case, what you need to do is make sure that nozzle never gets damaged. Everyone who comes near it is trained on how to move near it. The nozzle is inspected for damage every time it is moved. Maintaining the integrity of that nozzle is of the utmost priority for everyone. In terms of this site, until I am able to get someone else producing content, this might mean stockpiling articles so that if I am unable to write a new article that day, I will still have something to run.

Unfortunately, every business will have its share of single points of failure. I want this site to be something big, I know this site will be something big, and how I overcome and mitigate these single points of failure will be essential to the long term health of the site.

Quietly in the night yesterday, Fantasy Ethos published its very first article. A small piece about Fantasy Sports Blips, but a giant leap for Fantasy Ethos. After taking a sabbatical from the fantasy sports industry in order to keep my perspective fresh, I am happy to announce the launch of Fantasy Ethos. The goal of this site is for fantasy players and fantasy sports professionals to learn and discuss about the fantasy sports world. From the fantasy sports business to its unique culture, from industry news to some lighthearted fantasy humor, and even fantasy sports jobs and videos, there is a lot occurring on a daily basis in the fantasy industry.

Fantasy Ethos is built on the premise that there is a better way to operate in the fantasy sports world. If you leave our site a little smarter, a little more knowledgeable, then we are doing our job, and that kind of quality is what will bring people back to our site.

Fantasy Ethos is going to try a lot of different things. Some will work, some will not. For all of them, we see the reader as our partner, and any feedback you can provide as immensely valuable. Feel free to use the contact page or email me personally at derrick@fantasyethos.com.

Why Ethos?

When trying to create a memorable name for the site, the name Ethos just made the most sense. Originally suggested to us by a friend, the word is short, memorable, and really gets at the core of what we are doing here. The ethos of a society refers to the norms, the standards, or the essence of a culture. Fantasy Ethos aims to capture just that–the heart of the fantasy sports world and the fantasy player.

Secondly, ethos also bring to mind the notion as to how we should conduct ourselves. Ethos is the root in which ‘ethics’ is based. Fantasy Ethos conducts itself in the highest of professional manners. We will not stoop to a low level. No mud-slinging here. No thinly-disguised self-promotion. If there is a high road to be taken, that is where Fantasy Ethos will be. If you ever feel that we are not being honest and conducting ourselves with the highest of ethical standards, please let me know.

The fantasy world is big and is in constant motion–please join us while we examine it.

Sincerely,

Derrick Eckardt
Founder and Editor-in-Chief
derrick@fantasyethos.com