You are asking for ideas, I'm posting comments to a public forum. If that seems to be trading 101 in your mind, then so be it...some of these people need a course in trading (not that they are reading this message board anyway) :-)

I like the schedule how it stands right now, and this "dead time" after the post season is usually when I see alot of action and can't get a response from other owners. Like I said in my other post, it's all about being aggressive in your trading. I routinely get on ICQ and AOL IM and talk to my fellow league owners (the ones that actually use these), and the ones that don't.....I have detailed email conversations. Most of these conversations are started by me, after scoping out their roster and trying to see if something fits. I know you are more active in some of your other leagues, but in 99T2 you've made only 6 trades in 2yrs and none in 10 months.

It seems that posting to the trade forum is a waste of time, I normally update that thing at least once per week, and rarely get a response from it. In my 3yrs of experience with PB, and many more years in other fantasy sims (roto included), it seems that the most fruitful trade activity comes from seeking out your trading partner yourself, rather than waiting for them to come to you.

It's true that most of my 99T2 trades are due to the fact that I'm retooling for 2001, but I've made alot of trades in other leagues where I'm not doing that and I plan to contend again in the 2000 season. Also, if you look at some of the other more active owners in that league of ours (Tim, Ian, Joe S., Anthony, etc) they aren't all stripping a 2000 championship team and retooling for 2001. None of them are in fact. What do they all have in common with me? They are all active on AOL IM, ICQ, and/or email. They all search out trading partners and look to make deals when they need them.

It's all about communication, not trying to reschedule the league structure to make inactive people trade. Changing the schedule, or adding a new interface on the website, or having a league live chat room.....none of those things will work.

That's my 2 cents,
Jon