*** VD 9 Commentary Thread ***

[johnnya24]

In the previous drafts, if someone picked a player from the past few years, we just updated that players stats on the fly.

I think this might be a better option with incomplete data in the Lahman database. I'll add what I have to a separate spread sheet, but I don't want to add incomplete numbers to the actual scoring spreadsheet

So the spreadsheet I'll add this evening will just be for reference, that is, if you want to sort through the stats from the last 2/3 years. But if you want to pick one of these players / years in the draft, we'll manually update it at the time.

[Kevin Seitzer]

The Lahman Database does not have IP as a pitching category ... WTF? What the hell is "IPouts"?

IPouts is outs. IP = IPouts / 3. I presume they did that so they could have an integer field in the database rather than a decimal/float value.

[johnnya24]

IPouts is outs. IP = IPouts / 3. I presume they did that so they could have an integer field in the database rather than a decimal/float value.

Hey ... welcome back to the old neighbourhood

Any reason you can think they didn't add IP to the 2014 pitching stats? Seems bizarre.

[Kevin Seitzer]

Hey ... welcome back to the old neighbourhood

Any reason you can think they didn't add IP to the 2014 pitching stats? Seems bizarre.

No idea.

I can give you a dump of 2014 (and 2015) stats if you need it. I don't have bbref IDs linked up for all the players, but I do have other IDs (e.g., the six-digit MLBAM ID). I forget which IDs the Lahman database uses.

[johnnya24]

No idea.

I can give you a dump of 2014 (and 2015) stats if you need it. I don't have bbref IDs linked up for all the players, but I do have other IDs (e.g., the six-digit MLBAM ID). I forget which IDs the Lahman database uses.

Thanks, I got the batting stats OK. But I don't think I'll add them all. I think for ease of use, I'll just add the obvious BY's, and then we should add new stats on the fly, and update the SS properly at some point.

I think that any stats we've added since the website move have been al la carte. So adding complete 2014/15 stats, when we don't have complete 2011/12/13 stats would be a bit strange.

They seem to use both ID's actually ... one is the ID we used (NYY, BOS etc) and a different one (NY1, BS2 etc). I haven't bothered to figure out why or when they use the different ID's.

[johnnya24]

Does anyone have an alternative to Dropbox so I can share only "download links" from local files on my PC.

I do not want to give people access to edit the file on the fly, or in the cloud, but I want people to be able to access the latest update of any shared file and download it to their PC.

I'm not paying $15 per month to Dropbox just to share a couple of VD links. Dropbox seems to have changed their basic settings to only allow a cloud "shared" option (similar to Google Drive), and I don't want that.

When I try to link to the previous VD Scoring Sheets I get:

"We've disabled access to this link as a security precaution"

Yeah, get fucked Dropbox. "Security precaution " my ass.

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I'm still amazed Google don't have a simple way to share links to local files though Google Drive without providing access the file for editing.

[revo]

Does anyone have an alternative to Dropbox so I can share only "download links" from local files on my PC.

I do not want to give people access to edit the file on the fly, or in the cloud, but I want people to be able to access the latest update of any shared file and download it to their PC.

I'm not paying $15 per month to Dropbox just to share a couple of VD links. Dropbox seems to have changed their basic settings to only allow a cloud "shared" option (similar to Google Drive), and I don't want that.

When I try to link to the previous VD Scoring Sheets I get:



Yeah, get fucked Dropbox. "Security precaution " my ass.

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I'm still amazed Google don't have a simple way to share links to local files though Google Drive without providing access the file for editing.

Why can't you just provide 'viewing only' for a file on Google Drive? That should work.

[mjl]

yeah, you've said that before but I'm not sure what you're seeing in Google Drive. Note that the "can edit" thing is a dropdown, and you can change that to "can comment" or "can view".

[johnnya24]

Why can't you just provide 'viewing only' for a file on Google Drive? That should work.

Yeah I can use Google Drive, and even play with the url to provide a direct download link. But it's much more of a pain in the ass than Dropbox (well the Dropbox you now have to pay for).

I'll probably default back to Google Drive, but surprisingly for Google, it's not very user friendly.

[johnnya24]

yeah, you've said that before but I'm not sure what you're seeing in Google Drive. Note that the "can edit" thing is a dropdown, and you can change that to "can comment" or "can view".

The XL sheet will not render properly on Google's cloud Spreadsheet program. So I need to bypass that (even with the "viewing only" option selected).

So I will have to do this for every file I share:

http://lifehacker.com/share-direct-links-to-files-in-google-drive-and-skip-th-1493813665

Dropbox have seemingly withdrawn this simple feature as a marketing tactic because they know that Drive can't/won't/don't provide it.

[mjl]

ah ok. Is it an Excel spreadsheet? I haven't played with it much but you might try OneDrive?

[johnnya24]

Google Drive is great for many people to share / edit /view common files

Dropbox is great for a single person to share local files across many different devices

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I am often using many computers to update the SS as a draft goes along, so Dropbox is perfect for my needs. It was always very easy for me just to link the file via Dropbox without any hassle or having to do anything to change my methods.

Dropbox seem to be a pretty horrible company with their marketing strategies. They seem to be trying to force people to update to the "Pro" version, and using every underhand tactic in the book to do so.

Free users can't seem to update an old version of Dropbox direct from the program, and because the program just stalls if it's outdated, it seems like you have to buy the "pro" version to make it work. You don't. The only thing that works on an outdated version is the "update to Pro" link. BUT ... you if manually update the program, it works fine (though you can't go beyond the free 2GB limit)

... only to find out that they have removed the most user friendly function from the open access version ... the ability to directly link files. Why? Presumably because they know Google don't offer this, so they can use it as a way to force users to sign up to the "Pro".

Get you by the balls and SQUEEZE.

[johnnya24]

ah ok. Is it an Excel spreadsheet? I haven't played with it much but you might try OneDrive?

Yeah, the XL sheet is pretty heavy on the formatting etc, and it just won't render properly with the Google Spreadsheet program (shush ... don't tell KS ... he's lurking!)

I'll find a way

[johnnya24]

I have dropbox pro. Are you just concerned that folks will edit the master file on Dropbox? Just tell everyone not to do that and save a fresh copy on your computer. I'm happy to use my Dropbox to share with everyone.

Dropbox have literally blocked my ability to link to the file (check the links ont eh old VD Draft Threads). I don't want to pay like $150 a year for a Dropbox function I really only use for VD (linking a file for download).

I use Dropbox for sharing data files across my PC's, so 2GB is sufficient for my needs.

Can you try and post a direct download link to a random file just so I can confirm I'm not going mad?

[revo]

I assume we're using stats through the 2014 season?